Family Fridays!!! Michael and Ashley

Guess this Friday I am a little sad.   My nest is totally empty again.  Michael and Ashley have rented an apartment in Kelso, and they moved out.  It's been really quiet here, but Phoebe (the dog) has been quite entertaining.  She has also been quite the lapdog - which is what Aimie wanted - me, not so much.  I have other things that need to be on my lap, like my laptop, or my Kindle, or my book, or my papers to grade, or my.....well, you get the idea.  She has really been missing Michael and Ashley too.  Ash has come home a couple of days to get more stuff, but it's just not the same.

I AM happy and excited for them though, they really stayed longer than I thought they would! Ha!  Oh well, Aimie will be home for the summer, so I only have a couple of months of "us" time.

In honor of their move, here is a picture of Michael and Ashley.

Thanks for reading!

Sharon

Thursday: What I wore this week

Even though some of the things I wore this week probably don't look as cute as I think they do, I'm still going to post them! Haha!  I may have to switch my Wednesday and Thursday posts so on Wednesday I can start linking up with Erika and her What I Wore Wednesdays

Before I let you see the clothes, I just want to say that my cuteometer, (I am a great inventor of words, aren't I?) besides Aimie and Gary, are the wonderful ladies I LOVE to work with!  I truly believe they are comfortable enough to tell me if I look really bad!  At least I hope so!  Ha!

My thoughts are also that if I feel like I look cute, then I will FEEL better health wise! (fingers crossed)

Here's Monday:  Got a LOT of compliments on this one.  Not so much from Aimie.  She said she didn't like the sweater with the shirt.  Couldn't give me a reason other than she just didn't like it!  I wore it anyway!!

 Tommy Hilfiger moccasin type shoes from TJMaxx (I think), trousers from Christopher Banks, Pink Button up shirt from American Eagle, and Tommy sweater from TJMaxx.

On Tuesday:  still wanted to look cute, maybe look a little too much like I gained that weight back??  Yep!  I will lose it before the big wedding, (I hope), but right now, not motivated.

 Black boots from ??? (I got them last year), Black leggings from Target, Black tank from Dress Barn, Black scarf from Charlotte Russe, and Yellow sweater from Charlotte Russe.

For  Wednesday:  So wanted to look comfortable, BUT had a dinner with Gary and some other important people, soo.....

Brown Clogs from American Eagle, Brown cotton dress pants from Christopher Banks, White tank - one of Gary's old men undershirts, Brown/tan/cream sweater New York and Company

For Thursday:   A surprise jeans day to celebrate the Varsity Hornets Basketball Team playing for the District Championship (Which we won, I would like to add)!!!  Go Big Orange!!

Nike leather tennis shoes from Shoe Carnival, Miss Me Jeans from the Buckle, Orange Fear the Beard hoodie - courtesy of Advance Cross Country Team

Here's hoping you liked what I wore.  It might not have inspired you to wear anything similar to what I wore; however, I do hope you will realize you don't have to be a skinny pencil to feel like what you have on is cute! 

On a side note, I am really going to have to work on my picture taking skills, as well as clean my mirror! Haha! 

Thanks for reading!

Sharon

Wonderful Wednesdays! What have I read lately?

Well, I finished the Divergent series, and started a new book by Jodi Picoult, "The Pact".  BIG DIFFERENCE in the subject matter/content, but both excellent reads.  The Divergent Series, last book, "Allegiant", didn't end quite the way I would have wanted, but was still good.  There's another book out by Victoria Roth that is a perspective of all the stories as told by another character in the series.  Personally, I think that may be a bit of overkill, so I'm not going to read it!  

"The Pact" was so amazing, and makes you think back to your teen years, and how hard things were to "get".   It also makes you think about just how well do you know your very own children??  

 I haven't read much by Jodi Picoult, but that is going to change!!!

 

On another note, what do I read now??  I have downloaded so many things on my Kindle, but I think I'm also ready to hold a book in my hands and smell the pages!  Sounds weird, but I do so love a good book and how it feels in my hands, so every once in a while, I will just read a real book!  I have a few of those stashed away for when I need a "fix".  Guess you will have to find out next week what I'm reading!  If we get a snow day, I may just have a couple of books read!!!  Hahaha!!

I also pre-ordered Deborah Raney's new book "Home to Chicory Lane:  Book 1".  Yay!  I love to read Deborah's (AKA Tobi's mom) books!  She writes Christian fiction, and Tobi got me hooked when we worked together at Zalma!  The sad part, it doesn't come out until August.  (picture me making a frownie face here)  Oh well, ANTICIPATION!!! Can't wait to read it!!

Happy Reading!!!

Sharon

Tuesday's Top Two! Two of my favorite things at a time

I think I'm going to LOVE this topic!!!  I have LOTS of favorites, and I can't wait to share.  I decided not to overwhelm with too many at a time, and Two begins with a T, the same as Tuesday, so I'm going with this title!! Ha!

Favorite #1:  EOS lip balm

 

This stuff is AMAZING!!!  Aimie introduced me to this, saying Blue was the best.  I, personally thought the whole idea of an egg shaped lip balm was crazy and stupid, but now I'm in love!!  The taste is great, it doesn't get gawmy (I know, not really a word, but it's gummy and awful, so it's gawmy),  I can find it easily, but most of all - IT WORKS!!!  I have one in blue and in green.  You can find this pretty much anywhere, but I get mine at Target for $2.99.

Favorite #2:  My Purple Pen

I know, sounds kinda crazy, huh?  I have NEVER liked to use RED ink when grading papers!  I feel like red is a negative color - even before the "experts" said it was!  I always hated getting seeing other kids get their papers back with all that red ink!!  Haha!  I decided I would use green at first, because they didn't make any other color that I could afford, and I was teaching at Zalma, after all (y'know Green and Gold)!!  When I moved over to Advance, I did try the orange (y'know, Orange and Black), however, it just didn't show up hardly at all, so I went to purple!  My kids know when I have sent a note or anything, because it's always in purple!!  I order mine through School Specialty, but you can find them at Staples and on Amazon!

Hope you enjoyed my Two Favorites for Today!!

Sharon

Monday's Musings: Random thoughts on a Rough Day!

Mondays!  The only reason I am thankful for them, is that God has blessed me and given me another day! I absolutely do not like Mondays!!  Besides the fact that it was Monday, I woke up at 7:05, which is about 20 minutes later than I normally do!  Grrr....

The weekend, however, was pretty dang awesome!  Aimie came home Friday night, and we did Family pics Saturday.  We had so much fun!!  Aimie pretty much hung out with her daddy and I all weekend.  

Church on Sunday was a blessing I needed.  We haven't been going as regularly for quite a while.  Weren't sure that's where God wanted us, so we tried several different churches.  Liked all of them, but decided we weren't leaving because we felt God wants us at Bethel.  


My Monday did end on a happy note!  Gary and I went to dinner at Chan's (Chinese restaurant in Cape) and had a lovely evening.  
 
Not going to bore you with these random thoughts, and I feel quite scattered with them,  BUT that's why I called  today's post Monday's Musings.  


Thanks for reading!
Sharon

Family on Fridays

So, I get these ideas spur of the moment, and have decided my Friday posts will be about my family!  In my first post I told you a little about my family, so now I will have to elaborate.  

Gary, my husband, has been blissfully wedded to me for 25 years, 6 months, and 22 days.  Ha!  Marriage is HARD, but we have managed to survive it so far!

This is our Wedding Day.  Yes, it appears we were 12; however, I can assure you, we were both legal! LOL!

This is my 25th anniversary present for being able to put up with this man for that long!  Anybody who knows Gary knows that is an out and out lie!  I don't have to put up with him at all!  He's the absolute best!!!

From this union, we had two beautiful children.  As we were children ourselves, we waited about 3 years to get used to living with each other before we decided to add one to our craziness.  Michael came along in November 1991.  Yes, I know, it is hard to imagine I have a 22 year old kid!  I don't look near old enough!  (you can laugh out loud if you would like).

 Michael, one month old:  December 1991. 

I don't have a pic of Michael by himself all grown up, but he does have his beautiful fiance in the pic with him.  Ashley will become one of the Simmers Crew on August 2nd.  Before you ask, I am NOT the dreaded Mother In Law!!  Can't wait for the wedding!!!

Aimie then made her appearance 3 1/2 years later in June of 1995.  Michael decided that was one of the worst days of his life! LOL!  Really, though, they do get along quite well!  I was so glad Aimie would have a big brother to take care of her like mine did me.

Aimie, one month old: July 1995.

Aimie, freshman year, JeffCo Lady Vikings, 2013.  Gary and I always hoped all that jumping she did from the time she could stand would pay off! Ha!

Then our last addition came just last year, in February 2013.  Aimie decided I really needed something to occupy my time since she and Michael were both going to be gone.  Phoebe was found by my sister-in-law, who is a groomer.  The owners wanted to get rid of her because they didn't have the time to take care of her.  She was so cute, but Gary and I always said, NO DOGS IN THE HOUSE!  Guess who lost?!!

She is really a funny, silly puppy.  There are days we ask ourselves why?, but then she does something funny and we all get a big laugh out of her!  NO MORE DOGS IN THE HOUSE, though! Hahaha!!

There you have it.  My Simmers Crew, the best things that have ever happened to me!

"All because two people fell in love!"

Hope you enjoyed!  Have a great Weekend!

Sharon

The family photo and the recent pic of Gary and I were done by Shanna Bird of Bird's Corner Photography

I linked you to her Facebook page!  She is Awesome!!!

Look what I wore this week!

Ok, so I have decided Thursdays will be a "look what I wore this week" kind of post.  If I don't happen to post on a Thursday, then you know I didn't wear something that either Gary, Aimie, or I, myself thought was cute! LOL!  Here is what I wore on Monday.

First, please don't pay attention to my hair!  I asked Gary to snap this pic to send to Aimie, so she can see that her momma does know how to put a cute outfit together!   I got the boots online from Nordstrom at the recommendation of Erika.   I don't think they have them anymore. I honestly don't know where I got the sweater from! Hehe!  Not sure where the leggings came from either (probably Target), but the tank was a Dress Barn clearance find, and the necklace was a Charming Charlie's clearance, the belt came with another sweater. 

I really don't like to spend a whole lot of money on clothes for me.  I know I need to lose my weight again, but heck, it's Girl Scout Cookie season!!! 

Hope you enjoyed!  This blogging thing is kinda fun!  

Sharon

Wonderful Wednesdays!!!!

Am really thinking about this blogging thing!  So far, I think I am really going to like it.  Just have to get into a rhythm of sorts.  I think my Wednesday posts will be about books I have read/am reading.  I don't get to read as often as I would like, but with this Empty Nest, it's becoming easier and easier to find the time to pick up the old Kindle (don't get me wrong, I still love to pick up a good book too) and read!  During the snow days, we had a WHOLE WEEK OUT, I decided I would start the Divergent series.  OMW (Oh My Word) I loved them.  A very not so violent, similar to the Hunger Games, kind of series (I loved those too!)  Notice I said I wanted to start the series, well, I finished the first two books!!  Am about halfway through the third book (back to school, you know).  Glad I started them!!

If at first you don't succeed....blah, blah, blah

Well, I tried this once, wasn't what I had hoped for, so here I go again!  I've been reading other blogs for quite some time now.  Just figured out how to follow them (I think), but if not, here's a mention for both! 

The Slaughters:  Featuring Erika and Tab and their precious kids! 


I had the privilege of being a substitute teacher for Erika, and then her cheer coach when she was in  school.   This gorgeous, young woman has become a wonderful wife and mother in, what seems to me, a short time period!  I enjoy reading her blog, as well as going to her links, etc.  One of the coolest things?  She and Tab were married the same month and day as Gary and I!!!  Love, love, love her!!

My next blog to follow belongs to This Patchwork Life:  Tobi and Ryan Layton

 


Tobi is currently the 5th grade teacher at Zalma R-5.  She just announced recently that she is taking a position at Woodland.  Zalma will sure miss her!!  I came to know Tobi when we both were at Zalma, I as the 6th grade teacher, and of course she as the 5th grade.  We became partners in crime due to our lovely eMINTS training sessions!  She is an awesomely talented woman, who is also a fantastic mommy to her three boys!  I was fortunate to work with her for several years, and to remain her friend - even though we do not see each other except on FB!  Love this lady!!!!

So, no, I am not a really good blogger, heck, I'm not even remotely fair!  I do love to "stalk" the different blogs and learn from them.  I will try to do better...we shall see!  If you get a chance, go blog stalking!  You might learn a thing or two!!!

Sharon