First post in 2021????

 I always try to update this blog when I have time off school!!!!  I realized I didn't update during Winter or Spring Break and now SUMMER BREAK is over in two days!!!!

A lot has happened since my last update!  

Christmas was just us - COVID Christmas wasn't much fun - but it was still nice!

  

This year's ornaments

Gifts for co-workers

Anyone who knows me - knows this is the best gift EVER!  

GIFT CARDS

My new office chair 

Ryan was excepted into the manager training program with Jewel and has been going full steam from department to department learning the ins and outs of the grocery business!  He was transferred to another store a few months ago and will be going into another store in about a week.  He's hoping to return to the store he is currently at because he enjoys working there!  Fingers crossed!

All three of us are fully vaccinated and hoping to stay healthy.  In February, Bill tested positive for the coronavirus!  Five days later I tested positive.  It was HORRIBLE!  With Bill's diaphragm condition it was scary!  He had to get chest x-rays every other day and was put on many antibiotics!  Thankfully he recovered.  I was off work most of February and experienced the typical symptoms: WORST HEADACHE EVER, loss of taste and smell for over a week (horrible), cough, and tired!  I was unable to even lift my head from my pillow with the COVID Headache! 

Bill continues to have many procedures, tests, and infusions in hope they will begin to see improvement with his diaphragm! We continue to hold out hope we will see some improvement, but at times it gets very discouraging considering it's been a year of treatment.

 

In May, we celebrated the lives of three of my uncles who passed away during the pandemic. It was great to see family who we haven't seen in a long time, however, the circumstances wasn't ideal!

These were the gifts I gave at the end of last school year.  

With most of the year remote and on zoom - I only worked with a small amount of people!

Retirement Gifts for another Teaching Assistant and for the person I am replacing in the LMC!

The first week out of school, I purchased a new car!  It doesn't LOOK any different than my former Impala - same body style and color - but a few years newer and only 1700 miles on it!

My niece is getting so BIG!  The last time I updated she was only a month old and now in a couple months will already be ONE!  Look at this sweet face!

The biggest news is that I was approached about making a change at work/school!  I was asked to be the LMC (Library Media Center) Assistant in the mornings and continue as a Special Education Teacher Assistant in the afternoons!

The library has not been updated or "cleaned up" in a very long time.  I've spent a good portion of my summer over at the school creating, cleaning and learning the new responsibilities of a LMC Assistant!

Here are some BEFORE and AFTER comparisons!

These are the signs I created for the displays

Here is the final results!

Here are some other projects I have been creating!

Back to school little gifts

Classroom signs

These gumball jars from Target were a hot commodity and hard to find!  Everyone was posting how to paint them to use them for displays!  Here's some of my creations: 

Now they have them in WHITE!  I hit the jackpot on a Saturday morning!

Lastly, I already ordered Ryan's ornament for this upcoming Christmas!

That's the latest!  Hope to update sooner next time! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR (DECADE)!

December was busier than usual!  Ryan walked in the graduation ceremony to celebrate his August graduation!

The event started bright and early on a Sunday morning December 15th.  

He invited seven guests to witness the monumental moment!

 Proud parents

Proud Grandparents

Proud Aunt and Uncle

Proud Girlfriend

Proud Graduate! 

Afterwards, we went over to my parent's clubhouse and took some Christmas pictures since we were all dressed up (and matching!)  This picture will definitely be appearing on next year's Christmas Card!

This was this year's card

This year's ornament(s) all celebrated the graduation.  I found an artist that makes personalized ornaments by hand - I LOVE how this turned out!

I also purchased a Hallmark ornament to place a picture of the graduate in! 

Here they are on our tree.

This year I ordered vinyl names to place on plastic Starbucks cups.  They turned out so cute and everyone seemed to like their gifts!

I made personalized gift bags from items I found in the dollar section at Target to place them in:

After weeks of wrapping and months of purchasing gifts.....this is how everything looked after it was wrapped.  They were stored in an extra bedroom at my brother and sister-in-law's house until they were ready to be placed under the trees.

Because I can't get a single picture with all the gifts - here's a video to show the finished piles:

This is our home Christmas Eve.  (These are just Bill, Ryan and my gifts). 

Side note:  This is the last year for this Christmas Tree!  We purchased a new one for next year!

Sure hope it is as full as this tree!

After the gifts were opened:

Our annual Christmas picture before we go over to celebrate as a family with my parents, brothers and sisters-in-laws and nephew. 

These are some of my favorite Christmas gifts that I received!

The sign says it all!

My beloved gift cards! LOVE LOVE LOVE!

I LOVE this HOME sign that has an interchangable "O" for each season of the year!

I used a couple gift cards to purchase the following wall decor for the Kitchen and the Boy's Bathroom:

Bill has had a short period of time off of work, so he's painted the kitchen for me!

I started collecting Rae Dunn items for my home!

Since the bathrooms were just redone, I decided to buy several of the bathroom pieces to add the finishing touches. 

The collection has now spilled over to most areas of the house!

This is next to our bed.

The entryway: 

Bill is #1, Me #2 and Ryan #3

Bill keeps his wallet in his cube! 

Little area in the living room:

Valentine's decoration by Television: 

 I could do an entire post on my kitchen collection!  I started a Pinterest board to document all the pieces I have!  Similar to the Skechers board to ensure I don't buy a duplicate in error!!! 

We purchased a new artificial Christmas Tree from At Home for next year.  Although I was hoping to find a smaller/thinner tree we all voted that this one was the best looking.  Our current tree was going on six years old and the needles were starting to fall off and two branches were broken.  The tree is 7.5 feet and has 1000 lights.  We were fortunate to be able to see it on display.  It looks full and the lights appear bright.  I can't wait to see what it looks like next year!

(The bottom rows of lights were unplugged)

Now that reality has set in and it's time to return to work (school), I made these cute snowmen out of Trident White gum!  I saw the idea on Pinterest and took it a little further and made a background to attach them to.  You'll see he's holding a sign that says " PROUD SNOW DAY SUPPORTER"!

As always, here are the latest Skechers purchases: 

Happy New Year and New Decade!!!!!