Where Memories Begin...

It has been a LONG time since I have posted!!! I am making myself do it now just to say it hadn't been an ENTIRE year since the last post! Not much has happened in the Highley household lately.

We did get a new dog, Woodley (after the Steeler's Lamar Woodley), and he is a trip! What bad habits he came to us with! We adopted him from a no kill shelter. My qualifications for a new dog were: 1. smaller than Lila (less than 90 lbs) 2. not a huge shedder and 3. less slobber. This is what we ended up with...

He is big, he slobbers, and he sheds like CRAZY! But he is a nice dog...most of the time. We have only had him a month, but he has already escaped the backyard twice, sending Eric and I, and Jess once, on a wild run around town trying to catch him. Literally, we ran all over town trying to catch him! He has a goofy gait and often would look back at us and grin. true story. I could even hear him laugh and say, "you can't catch me, na-na-na-na-na-na" He has shredded his fair share of trash already as well. He's tall enough that he can jump up on window and look out the top portion of the double hung! He also chooses to jump OVER Lila going up and down the steps when he decides she is going too slow. However, he does love his new sister.

Lindsay's Wedding

Wedding season has officially started for Eric and I. My cousin Lindsay's wedding was last weekend and it was beautiful! Here are a few pictures from the day!

Job, No Job, 3 Jobs...

It's been a stressful few months in the Highley household. We found out in April that Eric would not have a position at NorthWood next year. This came as no surprise since this has happened 3 out of the 4 years Eric has been at NorthWood. However, it still did not dull the shock and disbelief that he would have to start job searching again. This year as different from past years as he would not have any "outs" to be able to somehow keep the job and he was the only teacher being RIF'd. Needless to say the moral at our house was low. But we knew things would be ok in the end. I never worried that Eric wouldn't find a job...eventually. In May Eric had a few interviews. One was REALLY far away, and one was in a great location, but only a 1/2 time position. Eric got both jobs! Now we had the decision to make...which school? We made our decision and the next day Eric was going to call and accept the 1/2 time position (along with a head wrestling coach position!). Then NorthWood decided to throw us for a loop again! That very morning, they offered Eric his job back! Now we had another difficult decision to make. In the end, Eric chose to stay at NorthWood. I was relieved because I get to redo my bathroom now!

A Blessing in Disguise

Today Eric and I took the day off. I had an appt. this morning and he decided to call in sick and we spent the day together. We had brunch at Steak n' Shake and then did a little shopping at ABC Warehouse. We got a new TV for our bedroom, then headed home. I took advantage of the wonderful warm weather and sat outside for about 3 hours. I watched Lila play in the yard and read a book. Eric took a nap on the couch and watched basketball. I loved spending time together, but the little bit of "me time" was great too. The day off was just what we both needed...a time to rest, relax, and do something we loved. I'm starting to come down with a cold, so the extra rest time was well spent! I even got a "March sunburn" while sitting outside! I can't wait for spring to be here!!!

Bad blogger :(

I'm such a bad blogger! I can't even seem to find time to post a few times a week, a few times a month...no, a few times a year! My last post was in October when my mom reminded me that I had not posted since June! And before that it was March. I guess I don't feel like my life is that interesting that I have things to post about. Other blogs that I follow post about their interesting jobs or their adorable children. While I do have a job that keeps me busy, I can hardly say it is super interesting. As it may be, Eric limits me to a few 'school' stories a day. Since we have no children, I can not rely on their cute and adorable things that they do day in and day out. I do have my dog that I can write about, but I don't want to be one of "those people" that treat their dogs like children. So here I am, back at the problem of not having anything to write about. I can at least post a few pictures of what has been going on in our lives!



Eric and his 26th birthday cake!



Lila and Wrigley were frolicking in the backyard...they are best buds!




The booth at the Chili cook off...Holy Cow Chili: It's hot in hell, but it's 'chili' in heaven.

Our 2nd Totalled Car of the Year

Last Friday night I was at home making cookies with my friend Jess...The boys (our husbands) were in Warsaw coaching a Varsity football game. All of a sudden Jess and I heard a crash...We finally realized it was coming from outside and went out the front door. The scene before use was this...

Apparently a silver Jeep Liberty had SMASHED into the front of my PARKED car. As Jess and I walked out the door of my house and saw this scene, we also saw a man running down the alley, away from the scene of the accident. The next problem we encountered was the location of Jess's car. Originally she was parked right behind me...when we came out of the house, her car was nowhere to be seen. We thought it was stolen! Turns out, her car had been hit by my car and rolled 100 feet down the street!

The back of my car...The front of Jess's car..
How far away from my house Jess's car rolled...

How close Jess's car was from hitting the next car on the street...

Turns out that they car that hit us was driven by a drunk driver...and it was stolen! Here are some more pictures of the damages...

They caught the driver who fled the scene...he is being charged with theft. Our car ended up being totalled, and so did Jess's. We are both getting new cars!

With the help of a few of our 'boys', we started working on our patio. We dug out a section of grass in front of our pond and started making a patio.

We had this much of the patio finished, when we got a call on a Saturday in June...we had a showing the following Wednesday. We HAD to get the patio finished! The problem was each day was over 90 degrees...We got it done!