The Shafferland Shuffle

 

It has been a long, long week here in the land of Shaffer. Not a bad week, but definitely a long one. We've been on an extended work stretch, and our minds are starting to get a little muddled. Maybe I'll learn a thing or two about what happened this week as I tell you! (Edit: I learned I didn't document much of the actual work we did this week, but rest assured, it did happen!)

* Last Sunday was sunshine and smoothies all the way to church! We had just a few days of warm weather left before the cold set in, so that afternoon, Ryan added some paint to Abby's fridge and freezer. It made a HUGE difference. No more wooden fridge! Since it was so pretty and warm, we made sure to take time for a long walk on our favorite path. 

* Monday was the next-to-the-last last warm day, and OH how pretty it was. I took some leaf pictures, because I feared they would soon be gone (and I wasn't wrong). Ryan finished all the touch up paint in Abby JUST in the nick of time before the cold. Ryan did a driver's ed study session with one of our tenants that night, and I rocked the baby while they worked. (Tough gig, right?) And right about the time we were finally sitting down for the night, the power went out in the building - and across town. Our first power outage since we've been here. Fortunately it came back pretty quickly, and we have great emergency lights here!

* We started out our Tuesday taking one of the girls to the BMV for her permit test. I hung out in the car with the baby while she and Ryan went in to test. When we got home, Ryan scurried to do the last lawn mowing of the season - and he treated the yard, too. And then? One more walk. Found the horses up close this time! They are so beautiful!

* We moved to indoor projects on Wednesday, because the cold arrived right on schedule. We knocked out a bunch of WillowBridge work, and then Ryan cleaned hinges from Abby so he could spray paint them. So he spent some time with steel wool and COKE, of all things! Worked pretty well! And check out our fancy new stainless steel straws we got for our smoothie cups! (We had been using some straws I got back when I worked at the station, but that box of 500 finally ran out, so we purchased reusable ones!) The last picture is our glazed-over late-night look!

* We woke up to a hard frost on Thursday morning, but it was SO PRETTY! I took some pictures while I waited to do a transportation run. Ryan worked on spray painting the freshly painted hinges that day - and he said the attempt went pretty well! (Cheaper than all new hinges!) And since it was so cold outside, it was a soup and salad day for us! Yummy!! 

* Friday morning I enjoyed my coffee in a new coffee cup (gift from one of our tenants) - and it changes colors! How fun is that?!?!? Also exciting in Friday's news...our Christmas cards arrived! We loved how they looked! We were able to get out for a few hours that evening to get groceries, and while we were out, my Good Samaritan husband volunteered us to push a car that was stranded on a busy road. I was not in the right shoes for that, but I helped as much as my limited upper body strength would allow. We also learned that pushing a car in cold temps is rough on the lungs! We finished our work day close to midnight...picking up leftover Panera, sorting it, and taking it over to the Gateway campus! 

* Yesterday was a work day for us, but it was blissfully low-key, which was a blessing. We started out the day with more driving testing/training with one of the tenants, and then I caught up on some computer work. It was kind of a blah day outside, so I was glad to be able to work from the couch - while watching Braeya nap. When we got to the end of the day, I was so hungry and realized I had missed eating one of my protein servings - no wonder! Ryan was a sweetie and made me some scrambled eggs!