Thursday, August 28, 2008

d'Auteur Toujours Défectuosité Avec Le Diagnostic !

... Well, sad to say, I have been diagnosed with this Hands Feet and Mouth virus disease or whatever you would like to call it. I had it in my mouth, for the name part of it. A few sores here and there on my gums, so I didn't have it seriously. But the recovery was still heavy. Extreme fatigue and weariness, headaches, cold, loss of appetite, earlier on a sore throat, and stuff like that. I didn't feel like talking much, or eating, and it wasn't because of the sores in my mouth because they didn't bother me that much. I just didn't feel like doing anything that involved the movement of the mouth. I usually said as little as possible, and if possible, said "Yes" or "No" using nods and shakes of the head. So, forcing myself to recover in time for my birthday, I decided to get dressed yesterday. And I did! (Imagine that.) Doing a ponytail with my hair took more energy than I thought. I felt like I could lay down on the couch again! And Chloe told me to "fix myself up" which usually means mascara. It wore me out just to put a little makeup on!! :) Then we walked to CVS to get nail polish remover. (What girls we are...) You can imagine that not feeling like talking or eating, or walking, or doing anything, leaves much time and even more for reading, which takes hardly any physical energy (for me, that is) at all. So, I finished Vanity Fair, started the Chronicles of Narnia on Monday, and should have the series done by tonight.

So you see, when I said I expected to be well on Tuesday, I was actually in bed, doing nothing but reading, and feeling very week and engergy-less indeed. Which just goes to show that no one can tell what in the world is gonna happen. :)

I hope and pray to be well by Saturday. :)

~Ruby Jean

Sunday, August 24, 2008

L'auteur Malade Bientôt à être Bien!

Hullo my jolly good readers!

This post is written specifically to inform you (though I do doubt that some of you would hardly care) that I am on the mend, and expect to be completely recovered by Tuesday. As though I could name the day or hour of when my good health will return, but I am only saying that I expect it to return then... And I know I am sounding very confusing right now! As though you would even care whether I am well or ill... But I like to write, and since I can find nothing to write about except the state of my health, I am afraid my honest and highly esteemed readers, if they so choose to read my blog, must read what they find, which is an absolutely dull and droll account of no-one-in-particular's sickness. So, please bear with me.

I have a soar throat, a rather "congested" cough, a stuffy/runny nose, and fits of sneezing and wheezing which aren't that pleasant to those around me. Thankfully I won't die. And that is it. Was that so very bad, my dear patient and constant readers? (Well, for those of you who are constant.)

The only reason I have entitled the last two post names in French is because any other title in English would seem absolutely droll and utterly idiotic. These will be the first... (and perhaps last) of my posts entitled in foreign and unknown (to us that is) languages.

And now forgive the absurdity of this post, but because I am sick, I beg forgiveness of all my fair readers. :-)

I thank you profusely and prodigiously for getting through these unseemly and tedious post.

Goodnight, and farewell!

~Ruby

Saturday, August 23, 2008

L'etat D'un Journaliste Malade

Unfortunately, I am laid up in bed. The only reason I'm down in the ghastly basement is to post and tell you why I'm not posting. I have about 100 and some pictures that I have intended to post for your amusement, but regrettably do not have the strength or patience to go through the long tedious process of posting them.

My brother Peter tells me I am sick because I am "teething" as he loves to call it whenever someone has their wisdom teeth coming in. I am of the mind that it is a combination of that, and of the fact that I was working with dust all day Thursday (I can be allergic to dust on occasion) and that I slept in the damp basement for two nights, which I am not accustomed to.

There is this big red thing across my screen at the moment that says "ERROR" and a little yellow triangle outlined in black, with a black exclamation point in the middle at the bottom of the screen, alongside wich there are little red letters that tell me in the kindest language imaginable: "Autosave failed." Lovely.

So, I shall now retire back to my lonely and very hot couch (seeing as the weather is rather humid) to read Vanity Fair, or rather the last 70 pages there are to read. Oh, Vanity of vanity... All is vanity, my dear blog readers, and please never forget that.

(Those are my last words to you in case I should die pretty soon.... I am sick with my own diagnosis, and it usually ends in death... Should that be the case, I love you you all dearly as brothers and sisters in Christ, and will pray for you as Paul did for his beloved brethren. Oh, and please attend my funeral. I am sending all the details to my pastor tomorrow, along with an apology for my absence in services.)

Most Jokingly and Sincerely,

~Ruby Jean Hopkins

Monday, August 18, 2008

A Few Days At Olivia's....

So at OGAL-BEE park, there was this pond... and these two trees, and Olivia really enjoyed having a photoshoot there. I was her victim—although, a most willing victim I must admit— and we took a lot of pictures, trying out different lights and angles, and pretty much practicing Olivia's photography skills. :P

Notice the reflection of the trees in the water. :)

Aww. :)

I think this picture is self-explanatory



On a Monday, the Monday before I left for home, we made a trip up to Cabelas. I was quite impressed by all the dead and stuffed animals, but it was so much fun, and again, their fudge is impeccable. :)

The statue in front of Cabelas.

Reorganizing is FUN!!!! :)

Well, it's okay, I guess....


Olivia doesn't know this yet, but I really like this picture. :)

I thought this one was a bit... odd, but funny, as Olivia looks very young, and I look very weird.


So, I'm over on another side of the room, when I hear this really loud laughing... it came from Olivia, of course, and she was laughing because she was taking the most absurd pictures of herself. Some were quite funny, but they will never make it to the blog. :) Actually, I thought this one was quite nice.

Girls will be girls...



Note: I don't actually use this cheap mascara... Fortunately, Olivia had already bought Maybeline Defin-a-lash by the time I arrived, so we didn't have to use the stuff you see advertised in this picture. :) Olivia and I agreed that the new stuff is much better than that ^ stuff. :) (No offense intended towards Olivia's previous mascara.)


I thought that this would be a good picture to end the post with.... :)

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

WARNING!!! BLOG ON HOLD!!!!!

Well... Kind of. I don't know when I will get a chance to post next, so I'm just warning you that I might not get around to it for awhile. However, if I do get to it soon, then hip hip hurrah! :) But if not, well, at least you won't be left wondering. Tomorrow is Luther's birthday, and the next day is Daddy's birthday. I will be getting up at 6:30 every morning to read Vanity Fair, as I need to have it done by my birthday. If I finish it by the end of the week, I'm aiming to have Queen Victoria done by my birthday. :-| We'll see how that goes.

So, in case I don't post for awhile, adios my fair amigos!

~Ruby

Saturday, August 9, 2008

I Was Trying To Find A New Style.....


....And this is what I came up with!


The "coughing fit"....



Look at the girl from the '80s!!!!



Somehow we found it quite funny...

So, does everyone like my style?? ;-)

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

I Can't Think of A Title... How Droll

Okay.... So the past few days have been pretty hectic... Well, maybe the past week. On Saturday the Howard's had a huge yard sale, from eight AM to one PM. So Olivia (see here and here) and I got up at five thirty AM and made berry coffee cake for breakfast, then helped set up. Around eleven fifteen, I told Emma that I was going to go lie down for fifteen minutes. The next thing I know Olivia comes in the room and says, "Hey Ruby you might want to wake up... You've been asleep for four hours."

:P

Then on Sunday I took a two hour nap in the library... and on Monday I didn't have a nap because we went to Cabelas! Yay! :) That was so exciting. I'll have pictures up later, but I seriously was impressed, and their fudge is soooooooo wonderful!

That night we also went to Oglebay (I was corrected and told it is pronounced O-GAL-BEE ;) lol) Park. We got tons and tons of pictures by the pond, and Emma and I had loads and loads of fun rolling down this HUGE hill! I tell ya, if you haven't done that yet, do it, even though you might be 58 years old!!!!!! But the second time down, Emma got stung by a bee on her neck. Olivia got stung four or five times on her hip, and I rolled over a few roots of a tree on my way down the hill, which resulted in a huge black and blue and red bruise. Yuck.

Tuesday we went school supply shopping. I can't believe that season is almost here! You see, I stopped math this past Spring in the middle of a math problem and lesson. :P Bad me... But I am excited, because I want to go shop for binders and notebooks, etc., etc.. Yay! *excited*

Today was nothing eventful... We went on our daily walk (we've been walking 1-4 miles every day--no hyperboly) and took care of the kids and did the dishes, and made dishcloths, and then the Howard's dropped me off here! (At the Clarkes). Tomorrow morning I'll travel to Solon with Mr. Clarke, and my family will pick me up there at Mr. Clarke's office probably around lunchtime! I am so excited! But I thoroughly enjoyed my time here, and I think it was very good for me. :)

I will definitely be getting some pictures up for those of you who care... :P

~Ruby Jean