The Date Inspired by the Letter "S"

Thanks for reading along with our crazy adventures yesterday. I am thankful to report that both Tuesday and Wednesday went much better than Monday!

I do need to catch you up on our weekend, though! We had another alphabetically inspired date. This time the letter S themed the evening. (If you're paying very close attention, yes we have skipped the letter R. I have plans that I want to save for closer to our engagementversary, so I skipped it for now.

See what I did there? We skipped ahead to the letter S!

The theme for the night was supper at Sonic and a selfie scavenger hunt. SWEET!

We'll start with the obvious: supper at Sonic. Our new Sonic is one that has indoor dining (most don't) so we ate our dinner in there along with all the employees on break. Ha!

I want to pause to say I got part of the evening's inspiration (via Pinterest) from this blog post. I know nothing about these bloggers, but I enjoyed their selfie scavenger hunt ideas!

We each picked a statement to describe the other, and then we went to the Treasure Mart (a fun place here in Kokomo) to look for letters to spell out our words. The Treasure Mart is a perfect place to find letters. I thought we did pretty well!

My word for Ryan:

Ryan's word for me:

We had so much fun with that!

Also while we were there, we looked for something super crazy to use as a prop in a picture. If you heard this week's blog, you know I "won" that round, although we really weren't keeping score. But seriously! A golf bag PHONE!

I really liked Ryan's find, though! (He had two. I'll show them both. The eagle figurine AND the wooden shoes!

Next up? A trip to Kohl's to pick out outfits for each other to try on. Silly outfits, we said. Of course then my mom worried we would post the photos and one of you would own one of these outfits and we would offend you. So then I started worrying about that too! So allow me to offer the disclaimer that these outfits just aren't representative of our personalities.

I picked Ryan's first, and I was already at at disadvantage. NOTHING could trump the flamingo suit he tried on at Easter.

I actually hunted around the store to see if they still had any left, but I couldn't find any! So I went with the Hawaiian shirt. Ryan's not a Hawaiian shirt kind of guy, so that's why I picked it.

And then he picked mine. In defense of this dress...it was CRAZY comfortable. (It was also too big, so that might have been why. It had pockets, and the material felt like jammies. And three cheers for vertical stripes. Every girl's friend!) Other than that, I just don't think I can pull off this look!

We also did still life portraits with mannequins, but those pictures were a little dumb looking, so I won't post them.

Next up was a challenge for each of us to pick a place in town that had been significant to our relationship. My top pic would have been the jewelry shop where he bought my ring, but alas, it's a vape lounge now. I wasn't sure that really matched our theme for the evening. We learned the town hasn't created too many significant locations for us yet, other than (of course):

 and:

Our last planned stop of the night was the Dollar Tree, where we were supposed to buy each other one surprise with only a dollar to spend.

Happily, both of our finds started with an S!

Shortbread cookies for Ryan...

 A silicone oven mitt for me!

Ryan threw in one fun extra before we went home (since we hadn't gotten dessert at Sonic). A sweet treat at the yogurt shop!

We ended the night with smooching but I don't have a picture!!!

It ended up being even more fun than I imagined...three cheers for a hometown date!

(You can read about all our alphabetical dates so far right here!)

The Shaffers and The Day that Couldn't Go Right

I fear that you may think things are always perfect here in the land of Shaffer. That nothing ever goes wrong, that apart from questionable early-morning hair, we are always sparkly and funny, and that I deliver perfectly presented meals (on time) each day.

You would be very wrong, if you think that. We are, after all, human, and we have bad days too. Sometimes comically bad days. (Of course they're never comical IN the moment, but they're still comical.) And I feel to fairly represent our lives, I should tell you the bad days along with the good.

So settle in, people. Settle in.

For us, it started Sunday afternoon, when Ryan was watching the Colts play the Cardinals. (I know you think I'm going to say THAT was part of the bad day, but it actually wasn't. At least this week our coach knew the name of the team we played!) While Ryan watched, I sat in the corner of the living room, copying some photos from my hard drive onto my laptop for a project I'm doing.

My leg started to fall asleep, so I shifted it and in the process, my foot tugged against the cord of my hard drive. That dragged a little ways, knocking over my half-full coffee cup. I didn't know whether to grieve the loss of the coffee or fear the stain that might settle into our carpet. So I did both.

I ran into the kitchen, got some towels, ran water over them, and scrubbed that spot of the carpet. I got out the Tuff Stuff and sprayed it on the spot, scrubbed some more, and went on with my day. But that night, when the natural light had faded and our lamps were on, a huge, ugly, brown spot shouted at me from the corner. I gulped and pointed it out to Ryan. (By the way, Ryan HATES carpet stains. He will work tirelessly to remove them, and I feared we had a whole tireless chore ahead of us.)

He ran to the garage for the actual carpet cleaner. Not like a can of it. The machine. He patiently ran it back and forth over the spot, trying to draw out the coffee stain on this carpet that is barely past its first birthday. The carpet we put in because the old carpet had stains on it. THAT carpet. 

He put another kind of stain remover over it and we went to bed, hoping for the best.

Guess hoping wasn't enough, because we woke up to still-stained carpet Monday morning. I'm pretty sure it was a good thing I didn't check my blood pressure, because I was sweating this spill pretty significantly. Why can't this stuff ever be his fault? I always feel much better when it is!

I had the whole day at home on Monday, and my main goal was to knock out some writing that had been giving me fits. Normally writing sort of falls out of me, but this assignment (due this week) was proving to be a long and somewhat painful labor.

I worked busily the entire morning and about 11, I went into the kitchen to prepare our lunch. It was a chicken and broccoli bake that I've made before, so I figured it would go quite smoothly. About 11:15, I put it in the oven, so it would be ready at 11:50, per the instructions. That would give it a few minutes to cool before Ryan got home for lunch, right?

Right, except when I checked it at 11:45, the chicken was still raw.

This is not winning me wife of the year.

Somehow, and I still don't know how, when Ryan walked in the front door for lunch a little after noon, the chicken was cooked all the way through. Whew!

I was supposed to put our dinner in the slow cooker right after lunch, but I didn't even think of that until about 3:30, right after I had birthed the end of the rough draft of my writing assignment. How did I mess up two meals in one day? Sigh. On to plan B for dinner!

So as I was trying to figure out what to do for a plan B dinner, I went to the bathroom (the one in our master bedroom) and said to myself, "Why do I smell cat pee?" I looked at the rug by the shower and saw a huge wet spot. Ryan and I had both showered early that morning, so I knew the rug could not still be shower-wet. I sniffed it. Cat pee.

WHAT!? WHY!?!!?

Then I remembered that Braeya had been crying hard and long all afternoon, but I hadn't figured out why. (She cries hard and long every morning at 4:00, too, so she cries wolf enough that I didn't really explore her afternoon meltdown!)

I will interrupt my story to explain a recent change in Braeya's world. For about the last year, we have housed her litter box in our guest bathroom, inside this super nice box that looks like real furniture. During Phoebe's visit, we'd brought in a regular covered litter box with a swinging door and put it in our master bathroom so Braeya had a bathroom to use without trying to sneak through the house, unnoticed by Phoebe. Ryan had decided that when Phoebe went back home, he wanted to relocate the main litter box to a closet in our office, so our guest bath didn't have pieces of litter scattered about. I understood, especially since we're hosting a small group now.

So he had relocated the swinging door litter box on Sunday, from the master bathroom to the office closet. He'd showed her where it was and she went and we thought everything was okay. He had turned around the fancy box over the guest bath litter box so the door faced the wall and she couldn't get in. (Training process.) 

So when I discovered this spot on the bathroom rug, I immediately feared Braeya was rebelling because of Phoebe's visit, much like she had rebelled after we moved. (That rebellion led to new flooring in the office!) I picked her up and carried her into the office, to the newly planted litter box and that's when I discovered somehow the swinging door had gotten lodged shut and she couldn't get in. Bless her heart! That's why she'd been crying!

I felt much better that this wasn't an act of rebellion, put the rug in the washer, cleaned the floor, turned on the diffuser, and tried to figure out how to tell Ryan we not only had a coffee stained carpet, but a freshly violated bathroom rug.

When he walked in the door after work, he could smell the telltale ammonia right away. He asked if maybe there was another spot somewhere, so I crawled on my hands and knees over every spot of carpet, trying to find more wet spots. Every. Square. Inch. I found nothing. I diffused and diffused the rest of the night, trying to get the smell out.

After dinner, Ryan went outside to dig another trench for the gutter drains he's installing. About halfway through his work, I sauntered outside and said (mostly to be informative) "Hmmmm the internet and TV stopped working." His eyes slid shut very slowly, and he said, "I think I hit the line."

WHAT?!?!?

And also, THIS TIME IT WASN'T ME!!!!

Apparently when he was digging, he dug right through the cable line and nicked the coating on the outside. He put tape on it and that fixed it, so THANKFULLY we didn't have to pay for a service call.

We thought the night of mayhem was over.

We thought wrong.

Before bed, Ryan emptied Rosie (the vacuum) and as he did, he said to me, "Did Rosie get in the bathroom today?" (We close the bathroom doors when she runs because she tends to get stuck in them and not be able to vault herself back onto carpet.) I said yes...Braeya had managed to open the door and Rosie got in. He said, "Was that before or after the pee?"

And that's when I knew.

She had gotten stuck in that bathroom after Braeya's emergency, and with nowhere to go, she just went over and over that rug. And then I found her. And I set her free in the rest of the house. Which she happily swept, spreading that vile smell everywhere she went. No WONDER he could smell it when he walked in!

And that was when I collapsed on the floor and cried. By bedtime I just laid there and laughed because what else could I do?

Are you KIDDING ME, Monday?

PS we took Rosie apart and sanitized every part of her that we could not soak.

Double Dates and Belly Laughs

First of all, I have to tell you I laughed so hard putting together this week's podcast. Ryan cracks me UP! I laughed when we recorded it, and I laughed when I edited it. So if you're having a rough day, you should definitely listen.

Also.

If you're ever thinking of changing my food order without letting me know, you should definitely listen.

Listen here.

About half the stories from today's Spill the Beans were born out of a double date Ryan and I enjoyed Friday night.

We haven't been too far from home for the last month, because we had Phoebe. So she went home fully and officially on Friday night, and we headed right out to Ivanhoe's for a double date with our friends, Jon and Julie.

If you're not familiar, Ivanhoe's is a local restaurant (and by local, of course, I mean an hour away from us) that specializes in sundaes and shakes. 100 versions of each, to be exact. If you've read the blog for a while, you might remember that I have a fond affinity for their legendary strawberry shortcake.

Jon and Julie are our friends (via my pre-Ryan life) who live way too far away for either of our tastes. Two hours is too far when you click as friends, right? (Why does this sound like a bad parody of a Michael W. Smith song?)

They're busy, we're busy, and although Julie and I meet up now and then for lunch and talking, the four of us haven't been out for almost five years. That's just crazy talk right there. So they got a sitter and we gave our furry-borrowed-kid back to her own parents and the four of us went to Ivanhoe's.

The stories of the evening cannot possibly be written as well as they were told (amid snorts and laughs) in the podcast, so I won't try to recreate it, but if you would like to see what I actually ate for dinner, here it is.

 Facial expression explained in the podcast. Shadow of my nose on my cheek is just unfortunate. Some people don't need two noses, and I'm one of them. LOL!!!

This evening was just flat out lovely. I am convinced that more people (and I include Shafferland in that generalization) need to slow down, meet up with friends who can tell the best stories and create loads of laughter. Slow down and have dinner with dessert.

There were times the four of us were laughing so hard that others were staring, and I know I probably should have cared, but I didn't. I mean, we ended up sitting at that table for four hours and I barely knew any time had passed. It was that easy and that fun.

We laughed, we told stories, we dreamed up vacations for the future, we ate dessert...oh you want to see that too, do you?

Please let the record show I only ate half that shortcake. (Don't worry. I finished it the next day.)

We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, each of us trekking an hour home in opposite directions.

On the way, Ryan and I stopped for groceries, and we decided to go back to our old stomping grounds in Marion, just to be different. We've been in Kokomo a little over a year now and are officially lost at the Marion layout of the store now. But it was still fun, and we got home after midnight, which felt a bit rebellious, like we'd missed curfew or something.

But what a fun way to spend an evening. Seriously...if you haven't gone out for big desserts and belly laughs with friends, stop right now, get your calendar, and make a date. It's a soul-blessing!

29 Years Ago...

I don't blog about this every year, and it's actually been a couple of years since I have mentioned the significance of September 18th, so I want to do it today.

Today is my nephew's 29th birthday - the day we said hello and goodbye all in one breath.

We met him in a whirlwind of emotions we hadn't planned to feel. We didn't know about people losing babies to stillbirth. Even as recently as 29 years ago, people just didn't talk about it. We had no reason to expect it would happen to us until the doctor walked into the room and told us he was gone.

The hospital staff was kind. They encouraged us to hold him and take photos. (This was long before the time of organizations that came in and took pictures for families. This was also long before the Bekahrazzi found her razzi.)

So we did what they said. In those early Sunday morning hours, we held him, we took pictures, and we alternated between crying and sitting in shock.

Perhaps it was this day that instilled in me the importance of story. Maybe this is what began to drive me to capture the moments and not apologize for it.

I do know that about three years later, I wrote about this day for a school assignment, and it is a treasured possession to me now. I was still close enough to my ten-year-old emotions that I could capture the day as it happened. It was my first raw writing, and it taught me how important those pieces can be. Time robs of us of so much memory that journals and pictures can preserve if we'll only take the time to commit them to paper.

Even though everything about that day (and season) was unexpected, God was so faithful to sustain our entire family. People who had perhaps never spoken before of their own losses hesitantly approached us and confided that they knew what we felt. God gave strength where we had none and loved us through our hurt.

We never forget Kirk. He's part of our family, and even though he doesn't live here with us like we had always hoped and dreamed he would, he's still making an impact on each of us.

He was an honorary groomsman in our wedding, a reminder that his life helped shape mine into the woman I became for Ryan.

Twenty-nine years is a long time, and yet I remember that day vividly. I am grateful for Kirk's life, for the impact he had that day and continues to have on me every day.

Twenty-nine years ago I became an aunt, and I celebrate his life today.

Linking up with Tamar today

The Shafferland Shuffle

* Last Sunday was supposed to be Phoebe's last day with us. Her people had been traveling overseas, and her dad was supposed to be home on Sunday. I soaked up the whole afternoon with her because I knew she was leaving that night. But while I was fixing our homemade pizza rolls for dinner, he texted and asked if she could spend one more night. He was back on US soil, but he was too tired to drive the rest of the way home yet that day. So we happily kept her one more night. More bonding time with Ryan is never a bad thing, Phoebe decided, and I agree!

* Monday morning, Phoebe's dad showed up before he went to work and they shared the sweetest reunion. He was worried she might have forgotten him, but SO NOT THE CASE!!!! Since her mom wasn't back yet (she stayed overseas an extra week), Phoebe spent the work hours with me throughout this week too. Since Monday was September 11th, she curled up and watched documentaries with me all day. When the end of the afternoon came, I packed up all her stuff and she went home with her dad for the night. Braeya stepped outside our bedroom (very cautiously) for the first time in a month.

* Pheebs was back on Tuesday, snuggling with me while I worked on my computer. We held our first small group meeting that night, so I spent the afternoon baking cookies and assembling the house for our meeting. I know I already blogged about that, but we thought it went really well, and we were grateful.

* Pheebs was extra snuggly on Wednesday. She did not want me to put her down THE WHOLE DAY. I think she was feeling the weirdness of shuffling back and forth between two homes! Despite dog cuddling duty, I did manage to make a new recipe that was delicious. Philly sloppy joes!

* I worked at my volunteer job on Thursday and finished assembling the newsletter for the week. (That's one of my jobs at the school.) I have gotten really great feedback on the newsletters from different people, which is really encouraging. Came home to more kisses from Pheebs, and then that night, Ryan and I ran some errands, which included road rage at the gas station. Apparently we took a guy's pump. Whoopsie!

* We had SO MUCH FUN on Friday night, and I can't wait to tell you more about it. We met up with our friends Jon and Julie. Dinner (AND STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKES) at Ivanhoe's! We had a great evening and were grateful for that double date!

* Ryan had a much-deserved day off yesterday. He made me breakfast in bed, and then spent his day off working in the yard, which pretty much made his entire day. I scrapbooked. We were both in our happy places. Then last night, we went out for our date inspired by the letter S. It was FUN!

The Saturday Six

One.

A Beauty and the Beast themed wedding? I think it's probably good for Ryan that I didn't see this idea before OUR wedding!

Two.

Did you see this article from the New York Times? The couple named Harvey and Irma? What are the chances! (Also: relationship goals!!)

Three.

Pretty fascinating piece! Places featured on postcards in the 1960's, photographed again today and compared.

Four.

If you need a flipped house reveal to brighten your day, check out this one! I am impressed!

Five.

Oh my heart! You know we love AGT, and this article about the death of Evie Clair's father just made me so sad. Evie Clair is one of my favorites. So much poise! (Any of you watch AGT and have a favorite in the finals?)

Six.

Need a new snack/appetizer to share at fall gatherings? This candy corn dip is just stinkin' cute.  

God's Not Hiring a Personal Assistant

I have to remind myself of this now and then. (And of course, by now and then, I mean regularly.) God isn't hiring a personal assistant, so I can turn in my resume all I want, but it's entirely in vain.

This week was our inaugural meeting for our new small group. We're hosting it through our church, and since we're new to the church itself, we don't really know anyone. When we received our roster of people who had either asked to be in our group or been arbitrarily assigned to join us, we knew exactly two names: Ryan's boss and his wife. (And they don't even go to our church. They just wanted to be part of the group.)

Though we didn't set out to have a couple-focused group, we ended up with a list of couples, and we looked them all up in the church directory to try to guess ages and learn names.

The day of the study, I ran Rosie (that's our iLife vacuum), dusted the house, cleaned the bathrooms, put away all the Frank-and-Marie-Barone blankets that had been covering our furniture during Phoebe's visit, and baked a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies.

I arranged the napkins, turned on the Keurig, pulled out the creamer and coffee syrups. I arranged extra chairs from other rooms, and wrote a welcome message on our chalkboard.

Then I stewed for a bit.

I stewed because I worried that these couples wouldn't gel. My guess was that we had about an equal number of younger and older couples, and even though I dearly love a good mixed group, I wondered if those in attendance shared my love of a mixed group. What if the older crowd didn't care for impulsive whippersnappers? What if the younger crowd didn't care for the careful ways of their elders?

From there, the what-ifs just got out of hand. What if someone was allergic to Braeya? What if no one liked coffee? What if the house smelled like a dog and cat had been fighting for chief resident for a month? What if the house smelled like anything from the diffuser that someone was sensitive to? There are so many things to worry about these days!

The first car pulled into the driveway and as soon as that couple walked into the house (with all other members following shortly thereafter) all the worries went away. They took off their shoes and made themselves at home. They stirred up coffee concoctions and took seconds on cookies.

We engaged in obligatory ice-breaker conversations, where they opened right up and shared without judgment. They laughed together and sympathized over the hard stuff. And when the study officially concluded, they stayed. For over a half hour, they sat in their seats, continuing to get to know each other, blending easily over the decades that separated them, asking great questions (without the help of icebreakers) and eating more cookies.

All those prayers I'd paced through, telling God I just wasn't sure He'd assembled the right group seemed a bit ridiculous to me by the time we closed the door for the last time that night. I'm not sure a group of matched souls could have done much better than this group did on a first time meeting. It was comforting and encouraging, and I was both thankful and convicted.

God's not hiring a personal assistant. He doesn't need me to create His rosters or direct the conversation. He just needs me to sit back and appreciate the work He's doing.

It's a truth I knew, but clearly I needed a reminder. Maybe you do too, today. Withdraw your resume. He's got this, my friend!

Sharing here today!

Random Questions for Your Thursday

As you know, Phoebe went home to her own house this past Monday, but for the remainder of this week, she's spending the daytime hours here with me, and for some reason, yesterday she needed all the hugs all day long. It was a writing day for me, and at one point, I was in my office, balancing on my ball chair, holding her in my lap, while peering around her to write on the papers spread over the desk. I tried to get her to sit in Ryan's chair beside me, but she'd have none of it. She wanted to be on my lap, with her head resting on my shoulder. Oh! And if I could rock her gently, that would be great.

I still worked hard, and by the time Ryan came home from work and Phoebe went back to her house, I was mentally exhausted. (You know it's bad when your husband says, "Are you okay? You look really tired." There are some things even eyeliner can't fix.)

SO! I recuperated with some of my favorite go-to mental vacations, and I began to wonder if any of these are just weird Bekah practices. Do any of you do any of these things? (I'll go with my most frequent forms of therapy.)

Read one star reviews on Amazon for pure entertainment. When I write book reviews, I avoid reading any Amazon reviews until I have written mine, but then I look up the book and read all the best and worst reviews to see how mine fared against other opinions. But when I need a brain break, I'll look up something (not necessarily a book) and read all the one star reviews, because those can be awfully entertaining. When people are that disgusted, they tend to skip all filters.

Last night I looked up a children's book (which shall remain nameless, in case you love it) and read all the one star reviews. My favorites were: "Haven't received the book yet." (That's a review?!?!??) and "Adored this book." (Maybe that reviewer thought one star meant first place?)


Read Facebook threads for pure entertainment. I'll admit that this one often falls under looking for grammatical entertainment. But anytime I see a Facebook update that has anywhere from dozens to hundreds of comments, there are sure to be some real gems hidden among them. Ryan knows he better just set aside some time if I pipe up with "LISTEN TO THIS!"


Create secret Pinterest boards for dreams that are unlikely to ever take shape. It's like the grown-up version of a dollhouse. You can design the house you would build, the trip you would take, or the restaurant you would open, all for free, right there on Pinterest. I won't tell you how many mindless, secret boards I've created over the years, but they all make me very happy.



Watch sitcom episodes I've seen a thousand times and quote every line. I'm convinced I could have memorized my multiplication tables a lot faster in elementary school if they had been worked into television scripts. Think of all the recesses I could have actually enjoyed! Alas, I stayed inside and tried to memorize the test itself so I could pass it. (True confessions of your Bekah-girl.) Anyway. the whole sitcom recitation thing is a good mindless activity. Yesterday the line was PIVOT!!! PIVOT!!! PIVOT!!!!!!

Watch a show I know good and well will make me cry just to have a good cleansing. I did NOT do this one yesterday but if my head feels full, I'll do it in a heartbeat. My latest cure-all? Long Lost Family. Do you watch that show? Tears for DAYS. Every time. (Phoebe had to sit with me through this show a few times while she stayed with us. I'm pretty sure she thought I'd lost my mind.)

Anyone else do any of these? No? Just me? (Maybe you have a new one I should try?)

Linking up with Tamar!

Siesta Key on My Heart

Five years ago, this December, we said our vows on the sands of Siesta Key Beach.

As you know, I'm quite the planner-girl (perhaps over-planning at times) with no less than three backup plans. When I look back on that wedding day and realize I had put all my eggs (and even a few borrowed ones) in the single basket of a beach wedding with absolutely NO backup plan in the event of inclement weather, I barely recognize myself.

The girl who spent her entire life vehemently declaring she would NEVER, I repeat never get married outside because it was just too risky, got married outside with no backup plan.

And we could not have asked for a more perfect day. December 2 gave us 82 degrees, full sun, and the most perfect slight breeze that kept the full sun from being overwhelming without messing up an expensive hairdo.

I read over the weekend that they evacuated Siesta Key Island as Irma made her way toward Florida. So we waited to hear how our beach fared, and Monday, the resort where we stayed did a couple of live Facebook videos, showing the property and this very stretch of beach where we stood to say our vows.

The beach was a bit messy, and some of the sidewalks hid beneath a couple inches of water, but the resort suffered no extensive damage. Power outages, a downed tree, debris (of course), but nothing that can't be cleaned up with time.

I saw our beloved gazebo where we first saw each other on our wedding day.

And I saw the walkway (beneath the couple inches of water) where this photo was taken at the end of our wedding day:

We know there are so many people and places facing extensive damage/repair/rebuilding, and of course, we never want to minimize that. But for us, this was a special place where our life together began, and we were happy to see it is still standing.

We haven't yet heard from all our Florida friends, but the ones who have reported in are all doing well. We continue to pray for those who have a long recovery road ahead. We may never be able to live there, but Siesta Key is on our hearts always, and especially now!

The End of Another Era

Eras are ending left and right around here, aren't they?

Before we talk about it, we have some new podcast stories for you. We were a bit slaphappy this week, but I think it made us even better. Enjoy some laughs!

Listen here!

So back to the eras...

Yesterday I told you about Mid-Morning ending here in the next few weeks. The end of a long and Spirit-saturated era.

In a much shorter (and while we won't eliminate the presence of the Spirit, He might not want as much credit and/or blame for it) era, our dear Pheebs went back home to her people last night.

They had been traveling extensively, so we ended up having Phoebe for just shy of four weeks. We'd gotten pretty comfortable with the sweet little thing and had developed our very own routine with her. She was (thankfully) quite a creature of routine, so she fit in very well here in Shafferland.

She ate, slept, played, and use the bathroom like clockwork. (Right down to the very yards-of-choice for her bathroom activities.)

And she was the most perfect writer's dog. She spent many hours at a time camped out under the desk while I worked on my writing, only stirring to switch sides or follow me into the kitchen for a warm-up on coffee.

She was a great cuddler, and hugs and kisses were never at a shortage when she was in the room.

But all good things must come to an end, right? So yesterday I packed up all her stuff and sent her home with her people.We spent the evening washing sheets and blankets (we'd been living like Frank and Marie Barone when it came to covering living room furniture), taking down the barricade between our room and the rest of the house, and not taking an evening walk. (I foresee my step count going down tragically.)

It was such fun to have Miss Phoebe, but I think our dear Braeya is ready for a return to the run of the house. Here's to hoping she lets us sleep sometime in the coming week. We may be paying for our hospitality for a while!