HHS Dual Retirement Party!

Laurie Ceccarelli and Jeffrie Young are retiring from Highland High School after years and years of service so we all put together a lunchtime potluck party for both of them.  We invited folks from our admin, from the district office and even their families!  It was a great turn out and everyone had a good time...there were mini speeches, hugs, laughs, and even a few tears!  They will be missed, but we wished them many of  relaxing and enjoyable retirement years!!! 

Dozens, Dozens & more DOZENS of cookies!!!

Kim and I must've gone CRAZY this year because we decided to give the gift of sugary treats to all the folks in our SPED department!  We made boxes for all the aides, teachers, clerical secretaries, bosses, etc!  We had found these really cute bakery boxes in Visalia at Hobby Lobby on one of our road trips in search of creativity and bargins.  I think we made 10 different kinds of goodies by the time we filled up all of the boxes!  We had peppermint bark, snicker-doodles, pumpkin bars, toffee chip cookies, spice cookies, haystacks, chocolate covered peanut butter patties, peanut butter covered Nutella patties, sugar cookies with a white chocolate peppermint Hershey kiss, and chocolate chocolate chip cookies!  They were VERY well received!!!  I then made some plates of cookies that I had left over to take to family!       

When idioms attack!!!

Dad had hip replacement surgery today and now has a literal hitch in his giddy-up!  Working at a hospital he was actually able to take home an example of the "ball hitch" component they use during surgery and it really looked just like what you see on the back end of a truck!  The photos here are similar to what he had, because I forgot to take a photo of the real thing when he showed me!

Christmas Pics at HHS!

Me an a few of my CRAZY art students...we were taking photos for a project!

Cute Creativity...

These wooden blocks were hand-painted, lettered, and dressed up with 4 corners of mini-crystals for subtle bling...really a cute idea.  Lena created this and it hangs at Dad's house over their entertainment center in the living room.

Highland's SPED Department

All the slightly crazy people I work with in the Special Education Department at Highland!  (Sure hope the bottom two photos don't make it in the yearbook!)

NEW Phone!!!

I got a new phone!  It's a Motorola Droid Razr and I LOVE it!  Now I just have to learn how to utilize all of its features!!!

My Girls & Our Christmas Tree!

Baylie has always been photogenic for a pup and more often than not she will "smile" for a camera...Ginger on the other hand rarely has that smile face (unless I get her to run around enough to pant first!) so unfortunately she looks a bit more stoic .

Holiday Bazaar!!!

Kim was able to participate in this Relay for Life fundraiser thanks to her sister's connection to the Kern County Police Department so we decided to team up!  Kim had learned to make cute hair bows after her daughter was born and so she had a bunch of those on display.  Her and her sister also made some cute baby onesies that had added crystal bling on them.  I had a BUNCH of diaper wipes cases on display, some key chains,  along with my dog collars and leashes.  Just for fun (and hoping I'd sell some) mom and I wrapped up some pretty sagos and took them along too!  Truly, this day was long and a total bust when it came to profit margin!  By the time we donated (AKA Paid) for our booth I'm not sure if either of us broke even let alone made any money!  We had to remind ourselves that it was a charity event to make ourselves feel better after putting in so much crafting time!

I Bid You Adieu...

So, today was the the day I broke it off with Paul...he was a really nice guy, no question there but I think he will forever live in his 20's (even though he's already to his thirty's)!  Our lifestyles just didn't mesh well together, I had mortgage and a house to take care of and he was footloose and fancy free with 1/3 of rent and utilities (with 2 other roommates).  With his membership to the 20/30 club he stayed busy with fundraisers (that part I didn't mind) but he also went to a club to drink/socialize 3-4 times a month MINIMUM (and that was too much for me!).  In short, I think we were on different paths and there was no sense in dragging on any longer (or through another holiday for that matter) so I pulled the plug and wished him well! 

"Grama's House" to swim!

Ginger is poolside and I was helping Mom in the Garage.  Ginger doesn't like to be separated but unfortunately, she doesn't fit through the old doggie door.  She did keep a constant eye on us the whole time though!  Shockingly, not too long after this, we ran an errand just down to Lowes and were gone like 30 minutes.  We'd left the girls in the backyard (because they were both wet) and when we returned Ginger greeted us IN the garage!?!  She'd somehow pushed herself through the door and her poor little belly was rubbed raw!  She'd also bit around the side of the cutout (no doubt trying to make it bigger).  Next time Wayne came through town we planned to put in a slightly bigger doggie door to cover up the gnarled parts and make it so she fits through!