Do You Guys Like Weird Pictures?!

...Cos I've got plenty!

Just A Combination Of Pictures...

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

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

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

Not The Most Flattering Picture In The World....

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.... :)

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

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?? ;-)

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

HILARIOUS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9b3lw6BB0s

You guys have gotta see this!

To See What Has Been Happening Around Here....

Visit: The Howard Family Blog

And: Olivia's Blog

A Chocolate Facial

Okay... So last night Olivia and I were up late baking and cooking lots and lots of.... stuff... for Emma's late tea/birthday party. We made chocolate covered strawberries, and we had quite a bit of the milk chocolate left over. So, we decided that it really needed to go on my face. Hence, the pictures below. Then... I saw the bag of flour... :D























































My nose is NOT that huge!!!!

Out of Town!!!

I am in West Virginia!! On Friday night, Mr. Clarke drove me down to St. Clairsville. I talked about graveyards and dead people for most of the ride, until we got into a discussion about... theological issues. After that, there was an awkward silence for about five straight minutes. Then I started eating bagels to take my mind off the silence. I stayed with the Clarkes Friday night. Rachel and I slept in a twin bed on the top bunk with no rails, as is our custom, and talked until two in the morning.

On Saturday morning, Mr. Clarke drove Rachel and I to Wheeling WV, where he dropped us off at Jordan's house. It was quite humorous when lunch time came around, and there was no food. So, we got some chips and cheese dip, bean dip, and salsa, sprite, homemade cookies. Mrs. Connor wasn't home, so Mr. Connor dumped the entire bag of chips on the table, and people ate them off of that.

Saturday afternoon we went to Target and bought mascara (which I recommended to Jordan, and now she loves it) fake nails for fun, lip gloss, etc.. We topped off the trip with Strawberries 'n Cream frappicinos from Starbucks.

Jordan had a part in this play called I Remember Mama and she did well. The play was thoroughly enjoyable.

We came home at about eleven PM and talked a lot... or at least until three, by which time I said:

"You guys, do you mind if I go to sleep? Because I stayed up Thursday night until 1:30 or 2:00 with Chloe, 2:00 with Rachel on Friday night, 3:00 tonight, and Olivia's going to want me to stay up late tonight with her! So I really need to get some sort of sleep!"

Of course they were laughing at me, and they were so hyper, but I went to sleep anyways. So we got up this morning and went to church, and I was so happy that Titus (age 1) let me hold him all the way through all the singing, and actually wanted me to! :D I love babies. During the sermon, though, a lot of my nails came off, except for the thumb ones, my index finger on my right hand, and my middle finger on the left hand, and I cannot get them off at all! It looks awfully funny.

We came home and tried on all my dresses... Jordan was particularly crazy about this Retro dress that I made, and Rachel was too, so then they just decided to try on every single one I had. Jordan ended up borrowing my red and white flower dress, which she declares every five minutes she "loves to death."

Mrs. Clarke just came to pick up Rachel with Jack. Last night Mr. Clarke and he were playing catch, and somehow Jack got hit in the mouth with a baseball bat, and this morning Mrs. Clarke called the dentist at home to see if he could look at Jack's loose teeth, which are fine, except for a broken one.

And now the Howard's will be here in about forty five minutes to pick me up, and I'll be with them until August sixth, where I'll spend the night with Rachel, and then Mr. Clarke will take me back to Cleveland (because he works up there sometimes) early in the morning on August 7th.

Okay, I'll try to post more updates, and possibly some pictures. We'll see.

~Ruby Jean

An Odd Picture

The Joy of the Lord

Have you guys ever felt so happy that you could just burst or sing really loud so the whole neighborhood could hear you? Well, that's how I'm feeling right now. SO happy, that I feel like I could read through the entire Bible, and sing all the way through the Trinity Hymnal, and memorize every word of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. But... "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Nehemiah 8:10 says, "The joy of the Lord is your strength." In the past hour and a half, this has been proven to me so much. I am no longer "lethargic" as mommy says I am (and it is completely true) and I so happy and joyful and like I have all the strength in the world!

Even though the following could set me down...

1. The van is broken... again. And we need a new one.
   
2. We may not be able to go see Batman tomorrow.
3. A good friend lost a baby.
4. We are all exhausted and stressed out from our trip.
   
5. Some of us are getting over being sick.
6. Peter might not be able to come in September.
   
7. We didn't get to see the Shepherd's in New Wilmington.
8. Daddy has a gig on my birthday.
9. Miscellaneous.

So you see, all these things could make me feel rather down. Very down, I might say. But I am so happy, I am bursting with joy and happiness, and I feel like I cannot express it!

There wasn't a point to this post, I was just so happy I had to say something.

Sunset Shoot with Rachel Part Two

This is Rachel.





















This is me. (I wasn't sure about posting this picture... But Rachel wanted me to... :-| )




















I like this one.





















Rachel likes this one.

























Aww, she's so pretty!

























She looks like a pirate!!!

























hmm...

The Good Old Days

Olivia Rose.

























Luther Whitfield. (Isn't he SO adorable?)

Someone Has Strange Siblings....

...And I think it's me....

The Fool's Prayer

by Edward Rowland Sill

The royal feast was done; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care
And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"

The jester doffed his cap and bells
And stood the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee
Upon the monarch's silken stool;
His pleading voice arose: "O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!

"No pity, Lord, could change the heart
From red with wrong to white as wool;
The rod must heal the sin: but, Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!

"'Tis not by guilt the onward sweep
Of truth and right, O Lord, we stay;
'Tis by our follies that so long
We hold the earth from heaven away.

"These clumsy feet, still in the mire,
Go crushing blossoms without end;
These hard, well-meaning hands we thrust
Among the heart-strings of a friend.

"The ill-timed truth we might have kept—
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung!
The word we had not sense to say—
Who knows how grandly it had rung!

"Our faults no tenderness should ask,
The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;
But for our blunders—oh, in shame
Before the eyes of heaven we fall.

"Earth bears no balsam for mistakes;
Men crown the knave, and scourge the tool
That did his will; but Thou, O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!"

The room was hushed; in silence rose
The King, and sought his gardens cool,
And walked apart, and murmured low,
"Be merciful to me, a fool!"

(Sometimes blogger makes me mad because it won't let me do tabs!!! ahh!)