The Shafferland Shuffle

 

Good morning and a happy first Sunday of Advent to all of you!! This week is ANNIVERSARY WEEK for us! Can you believe it? Eight years - and I'm so excited to celebrate it. This past week officially began busy season here in Shafferland...Thanksgiving, Christmas, anniversary...it all piles up together here at the end of the year!

* Last Sunday we received our first actual snow (not just flurry snow) here in Grabill. It wasn't nearly as much as predicted, but it was pretty! Ryan and I were still on our four day break that day, and we thoroughly enjoyed our day of rest. We also decorated our Shafferland tree that night - with almost ninety ornaments that tell the story of our eight years! It looked so pretty and cozy when we were done!

* Monday we had a visitor! PHEEBS!! (And her people.) We all finally had a day off together, so they came to see us, and I was so happy to see my girl again. That was twice in one week after three months of not seeing her! That evening was our switchover back to being on duty, and Ryan was so sweet: one of our tenants was working on a craft project for a birthday gift and she got a bit overwhelmed by it. Ryan sat at the table with her and helped her finish the whole thing. (SWOON!)

* Tuesday we were back on duty, and on his breaks, Ryan painted the LAST of the doors for Miss Abby. Listen to this: it took him 196 coats of paint to cover all the doors. (4 coats of paint front and back for each door, plus the drawer fronts.) He was so glad to be done with that project! I did a far less important project that day: laying out a capsule wardrobe idea for December. :) 

* Wednesday morning we did inventory in an empty apartment so it will be all ready for a tenant! It's been a looming project for us for a while and we finally got to it! Ryan hung the LAST of the cabinet doors in Abby and she just looks cute as a little button. We still have some projects to finish, but that was a big one. That evening we watched our tenant's little boy for a while...he loved all the Christmas lights in here. 

* Thursday was Thanksgiving, and it was a work day for us. First time I've ever worked a major holiday, and it wasn't too bad. Ryan and I cooked our whole meal together and it was delicious! We had checked out a Christmas tree farm down the road and learned that this year you had to make an appointment to go, so we grabbed one for that afternoon and had the best time picking out our tree! Came home, decorated it, and called it done for the year on decor! And that evening we watched a cute little Christmas movie with one of our tenants - and we squeezed in one more apartment inventory late that night!

* We did a little hall-decking around WillowBridge on Friday. Ryan worked on outside decorations since the weather wasn't too bad, and I worked on sprucing up the entry. (Official decorating for the Community Room is next weekend.) I wanted to go check out a few little sales in the cute downtown shops Friday afternoon, so we did that - and Ryan discovered after we had done a whole store that he had his mask on UPSIDE DOWN. Oh good grief. We got a good laugh out of that. We had a little coffee shop date while we were out, too! It was a fun evening - and a consolation prize from the community tree lighting getting cancelled this year. 

* And then yesterday was a catch-up day around here. We did some chores around the building and then had some visitors! Ryan's dad and step-mom came to see us, and we enjoyed showing them where we live and work! After they left, we went to get the groceries for the WillowBridge Thanksgiving dinner, and then it was home for a relaxing evening at home - with a Hallmark movie!