New Year's Eve - The End of 2008

Well, I can't believe that 2008 is almost over and 2009 is about to begin. Also, can't believe that it's been 3 months since I've updated our blog. Time flies, yada, yada. Not sure what I am doing updating it right now. I have 30+ people coming this evening for a New Year's Eve party and I should be getting ready for that but nope! - I am sitting in my pj's updating our blog.

We've had a good 2008. Paul's business has been steady and he will be without a partner in 2009 so will have more control over the direction of the business. Katie finished 6th grade and is half-way through 7th and loving every minute of it. I've cut my hospital work from 64 hours a month to 32 hours so I'm enjoying a more normal life with a couple of weekends off so with my real school job - I'm still staying busy.

As I reported earlier this year, Katie had a wonderful month at Camp Honey Creek for Girls in Hunt and was chosen Dream Girl (outstanding camper for her age group) by the director and best Cabinmate by her cabin.

Katie's in 7th grade now and turned 13 in November. We had an outdoor birthday party with all of her friends and a new cellphone as the big present. Unlimited texting, of course.


Katie is staying busy with tennis, cello at school and she also plays in the Hill Country Youth Orchestra. This picture was taken on stage at our new Cailloux Theater during Katie's Christmas concert. This was much more formal than her school concert the week before - black velvet gown and all! With MILES of hem that had to be taken up before it could be worn!


Our BIG NEWS for 2008 is that Paul and I will become grandparents around May 20th of 2009. Paul and Martha are expecting and we found out a couple of nights ago (after the sonagram) that it is going to be a boy! Paul and Martha want us to think about what we want the baby to call us - any suggestions? I think he will call us whatever he can pronounce.

Our other news for those of you who have been waiting YEARS to stay in our barn/guest house (you know who you are - Donna) - is that we are actually many steps closer to completing that project. After many moves, my mom's death, Shelton Ranch's demise, we accumulated a ton of stuff. This summer, I asked our older children to give us two days of their time as their Christmas gift to us in order to get the barn cleaned out so we could start the remodeling process.

At first they didn't want to participate but I told them it was fine - they could wait until Paul and I died and they could clean it out then. (Was that blackmail???) Anyway, they all made good on their promise and spent two long days going through boxes, sorting, threatening, cajoling us into getting rid of stuff. THEY WERE RUTHLESS!!! The result was 4 1/2 tons of junk went to the landfill, a car load of teacher materials was donated to my school, another load went to Salvation Army and a huge pile of old papers were burned. Paul and I were allowed to keep a few things but each item was examined by the "Wrecking Crew" for it's worthiness to be kept.
We have been threatened with our lives if we put ANYTHING in there until we get it remodeled. My daughter scares me and we have been warned. It was hard work, physically and emotionally but fun to be with all of our children and their spouses. We laughed alot and we know Paul and I will be the subject of joking for years to come. I have to admit - I couldn't believe the amount we had accumulated. BUT, it is done and it has prompted me to do the same in the house. Here are a couple of photos from THE EVENT!!! This was one of four loads that went to the landfill.

That is about all to share right now. We miss all of our family and friends who are far away and just know that you are in our thoughts and prayers.
HAPPY NEW YEAR and best wishes for a bright 2009!

**For those of you who haven't seen the family in a while - Left to right: Camy, Katie,
Paul Sr., Jason & Lisa Johnson, Martha and Paul Simone Jr.

Long Time - No Slice!!!

Well, here are the photos of Katie's room that I promised. It is quite a change over pink stripes, yellow walls and white battenburg window treatments. It's more grown-up looking. Almost all of the art work on the walls is Katie's work. We framed everything we could that didn't require custom sizes. Have only the odd size pieces left to do.
I made the window treatments - Katie picked out the fabric.

The black chest isn't finished - it will get white paisley design painted on it that will be highlighted with white mother of pearl buttons. The top is crackled. The cedar chest at the end of the bed was my mom's and is full of antique dolls and linens. This was my way of keeping it in Katie's room. I padded it and covered the top in fabric as well as painting the trim on the bottom. I left the main body the cedar color since the wood is still pretty.

The bulletin board frame is covered with jewels, pearls (both white and pastel) and pieces of the black and white check that was used as the lining of the drapes. It is really McKenzie - Childs looking and displays all of Katie's favorite, inspirational "stuff".

Most of the art work between the doors is Katie's.
The small table was a find at a neat store in San Antonio. It has a black and white tile top that goes along with all of the black and white check. The teapot that is sitting on the table is what inspired Katie to go with turquoise/aqua. It was a birthday gift from a good friend of hers and it has red cherries on it - another of Katie's favorite things.

The entertainment center was an old piece of furniture from Lisa and Jason. We stained and polished it to freshen it up. The small lamp is covered with the same fabric as the lining of the drapes and was in Katie's nursery as an infant.

The last picture is a not very good close-up of Katie's baby changing table/dresser that has been painted black and crackled. I'll post another when I actually get it finished. I couldn't resist the fake cherries. I've always liked the " Life is just a bowl of cherries" quote (or Chair of bowlies if you are a Mary Englebreit fan!!!) Notice out the back window -------No screen house!!! It has made a huge difference in the appearance of the yard.

Well as they say in the old cartoons, "That's All Folks!!!" Until next time - Adios from the Simones!

A Few More Slices!!!!

Cabin picnic on the banks of Honey Creek

Hi All. . .Well we are down to the last 5 days or so of camp and I am hustling to get Katie's room completed so I can move on to food for our party on Saturday. My plan is to be finished today!!!
(I'll let you know how that goes!)

This past weekend we had horse show and Cabin #4 picnic. We got together with several other families to host the picnic on the banks of Honey Creek. It is always a fun time to get to know the girls and other parents a little better and the girls look forward to having food from town. This time it was Subway.

Every Sunday the girls dress in "Whites" with their Tribe scarves and usually their camp necklaces. They have a wonderful flag ceremony in the center of camp and then move down to a spot closer to the Creek for a non-denominational worship service.




Paul is plugging away on the house on the hill. This is the most recent photo I have but they are further along now - replacing the siding on the whole house and waiting on the windows to be delivered. He is keeping busy getting the backyard ready for the party - helping me hang drapes and working on the house. Poor guy! He is pretty tired when he falls in bed at night.

Got to run - have more furniture painting to do! Just 6 more days of freedom for me before I'm due back at school. This is the beginning of my 30th year! I don't know where the time has gone. Seems like it was yesterday that I couldn't wait to get out of school so I could teach, now it's almost over! There is a great article in the new AARP magazine called, "Fifty reasons to Love being 50+". There are some great quotes in there but one of my favorite reasons for loving being over 50 is " Because if Keith Richards can make it into his 60's, there's hope for all of us!"
Life is good in the Hill Country!

Camp Honey Creek Carnival

Hi All from the beautiful and HOT Hill Country.
Things are rocking along and closing in on the end of camp and the beginning of school. Katie
comes home on August 9th and I start to work on August 11th! UGH!

Just thought I would post a new picture from Carnival that the girls had at camp on Sunday night.
They have booths, food, jumping castle, music and lots of fun. Oh and I forgot the best part, the dressing up!!! The girls come up with their own costumes and some of them are pretty crazy.
Lisa gave Katie a "Thing 2" t-shirt (You know, from Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss) and she found some others at camp and may have made a couple. I supplied the blue hairspray. We are just hoping it really does what the can says - Washes out!

Next weekend is Horse Show and Cabin picnic. We share the hosting with several other families and it is lots of fun sitting by the creek and having lunch with the girls. These girls are all Katie's cabin mates.
That's all for today. Bye from the Hill Country!

More Camp and Construction

Well, Tribe Show was last weekend and I thought I would include a couple of pictures of Katie in her part as Larry. The Pawnee's won the show with a take off of Grease. It is amazing that the girls get the theme on Tuesday night and have to be ready to perform the skit on Saturday night. That is also the first visit evening with parents so they have a full house for the first and only performance. They
have just Wed, Thurs., Fri. and Sat. a.m. to get the skit written, props, costumes, songs and backdrop painted. This has to be done between classes, meals and other activities. We are always amazed at how creative and well performed the skits are every year. Guess there is no limit to what young minds can do!

Progress is being made on the house that Paul is working on outside of Kerrville. Since this picture was taken, they have added a porch off of the left end of the new addition. Rain slowed them down on Thursday but they had sun on Friday and were able to complete the porch.

My summer project has been Katie's room. It is going from a sunny yellow to a really pretty aqua with new bedspread, window treatments (that I am sewing) and repainted and rearranged furniture. We are shedding the little girl look for a more sophisticated young teen look. The painting on the walls is completed and I have half of the window treatments sewn. Still have a couple of pieces of furniture to do as well as get some of Katie's art work framed to hang. The new rule is no nails or scotch tape on the walls!!! I always wondered what happened to all of my scotch tape....after cleaning up Katie's room, I now know it was all over her walls! Got to run - Work today at the hospital and I want to get some more sewing completed. Bye from the Hill Country!

Summer Catch Up

Well, summer is almost over for me and it seems like it has just begun. Katie is at camp in Hunt and we saw her for the first time in 10 days this past Saturday (the 19th). She looks good, is happy and having fun. She had a part in the Tribe Show on Saturday night (which is a big deal) and her tribe, the Pawnees, won the Tribe Show competition. We went back on Sunday morning for the flag ceremony and devotional service that they have every Sunday and had a picnic afterward in the shade by the creek. Katie is on the right in the grey t-shirt for some of you who haven't seen her in awhile. The other girls are two of her cabinmates, Britany and Mary. Camy surprised us this weekend with a visit. She was home for her 20th high school reunion and ended up going to the camp functions with us. Katie was thrilled to have her "big stister" at camp since she wasn't really expecting to see her until camp closing on August 8th.

Paul is busy completing a large addition on a house outside of Kerrville, high on a hill. This is an earlier picture of the addition. They now have the walls up and are setting trusses today. It is really hot here but they start early and are drinking lots of water.


Paul also received his official 1st Dan Black Belt from the World Tukong Moosul Federation from Grand Master Wonik Yi. He has been going to Austin a couple of times a month for classes as well as working out in the local dojang. The plan was for him to have the black belt before Katie started dating and he made it. We expect no dating for several more years! Katie is just going into 7th grade but the pressure is on. Paul is also turning 65 this summer! We plan on having a
"Happy 65th Birthday; Happy 17th Anniversary and Happy Camp Homecoming Party" on August 9th after camp closing. All of the kids are coming home for camp closing so it seemed like a great time to have a family party with a few friends thrown into the mix.

I'm still working at the hospital two days a week and am working on my principals certificate. (Why I don't know!!!!) School starts for me in three weeks and so far we have no office and 7 new staff members and two new classrooms coming to campus. We will hit the ground running on August 11th. Katie starts on August 25th which is a little later this year but still cuts into the summer we used to have! Not much else to share. . .we are blessed to have each other, our wonderful friends and family; our health; and our jobs in this time of economic upheaval. So long from the Hill Country!!!

A Quick Hello!

Life is busy! Paul's business is doing great and he is booked until probably July or later, Katie is doing well - orchestra and keeping up with school work, with soccer starting soon. I am busy recruiting new children for our Head Start and PK program plus we are taking 3 year olds this year. I'm still working at the hospital on weekends. I'm still getting over bronchitis which I have remnants of two weeks after first going to the doctor. Seems like our evenings and weekends fly by. The one thing I seem to make time for is a little bit of reading plus my new passion, digital scrapbooking. I have been paper scrapbooking more, too! Currently working on pages for my son-in-law, Jason. Promise to post more later but in the meantime, look at my gallery at Designer Digitals - member's gallery - c - then about 2nd or 3rd page over, find csimone AND that's me!!! I'll also put a link on the blog. Bye for now all!