Happy Birthday, Ronnie!!

Today is Ronnie's birthday! I hope that it is very special. We love you very much!

Calling all Doctors!

I know that my doctor friends can’t give me a diagnosis over the Internet, but I am hoping you can tell me whether or not I should see my doctor about this. I can’t afford to just run to the doctor every time I “think” something is wrong.

The other day I was lying in bed watching TV. As I was lying there it was as if someone pulled a dark grey window shade over my left eye. You know that kind that you pull down at the bottom and when you want them to go back up you gust pull down and then let go and they roll back up. It was like that. I closed my left eye and could see out of my right eye perfectly. I closed my right eye and couldn’t see a thing. It was completely dark. I was blind in the left eye. This lasted for about 10 minutes and then the shade was lifted and I could see again.

So can anyone answer my question? Should I go to the doctor or was another part of my body just being freaky like other parts of my body (and brain)? If you think you know what caused this feel free to let me know. Did I have a mini-stroke? Did I strain my eye some how? Am I just falling apart? Or is it all of the above?

Thanks in advance to those who feel like weighing in.

Tagged - I'm It

I was tagged…TWICE! What is up with that? I am not that interesting, people. Here goes anyway.

Attached or Single? Attached to Ron. It will be 17 years in November.

Best Friend? My husband!!

Cake or Pie? Pie..cake…pie…cake…I can’t decide.

Day of Choice? Saturdays.

Essential Item? A book. I love to read.

Flavor of Ice Cream? Vanilla, chocolate chip or Moose Tracks.

Gummy Bears or Worms? Gummy Bears!!

Hometown? I have moved so much that I don’t really have one main place, but I consider North Myrtle Beach, SC to be my hometown.

Indulgences? A new book.

January or July? January

Kids? We have 4 kids…English (20), Veronica (16), Hunter (13) and Cole (9).

Last Movie I saw in a Theater? I went to a movie with English while she was here, but I don’t remember the name of it.

Middle Name? Edwards…Mom! Why would you give your daughter a middle name like this? Not that yours is any better.

Number of Siblings? My mom saw me when I was born and said, “Please no more!!” I am an only child.

Oranges or Apples? Apples

Phobia or Fear? Which one do you want to know about? I don’t like spiders or snakes and I just found out that I get creeped out by drains in the floor or shower.

Quote? Call unto me and I will tell you great and mighty things that you do not know. Jeremiah 33:3

Reason to Smile? Listening to my children laugh makes me smile.

Season? Late fall and winter.

Tag five more: I am sorry ladies… I tag Jenny M., Kristi E., Missy E., Sarah C., and Jen E.

Unknown Fact About Me? I am an open book so I don’t know if there is a little known fact about me. I didn’t go to college.

Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animals? Give me a steak!

Worst Habit? Being lazy.

Xrays or Ultrasounds? Ultrasounds. You can see stuff moving around on an ultrasound.

Your favorite Food? Steak and sushi/sashimi

Zodiac? Leo

Stride for Fitness

Tomorrow I have to get up at 3:30 a.m. to go help set up and register people for the Stride for Fitness run (5 and 10K) and walk. Olmsted Medical Center has had this event for 26 years, and I am excited that I get to help out with it. I won’t be walking or running, but I will be there.

Today we had a final planning meeting for volunteers and I got two movie theater tickets, a long sleeve t-shirt, and a couple of other things. It was nice to get a few goodies for volunteering. Ronnie and I will have to have a date now and go to the movies. Too bad they didn’t give us a gift certificate to a resturant, too. :)

If you would like to participate come to the OMC Physical Therapy, which is on the corner of Broadway and Elton Hills. It is right down from Dunn Bros. Coffee. Registration begins around 7:00 (I think). Call OMC 288-3443 for more or better information.

Hope to see some of you there.

Laughing vs. Not Laughing

Laughing vs. not laughing. Some things aren’t making me laugh right now, but I really do love to laugh.

For instance…last night I was dropping Hunter off at church for worship practice. (He gets to play drums with Ronnie and the Singles Ministry worship team Sunday night. Very cool!) I had Smalls with me and decided to walk him around the outside of the church so that he could take care of business. As we were walking along a huge toad jumped and startled Smalls. Smalls jumped back and then promptly pounced on the toad. All I said was, “No! You lick my face! You can’t eat the toad!” I grabbed him up and he was really wiggling to get out of my arms and back to that toad. Something so simple as that really made me laugh.

What doesn’t make me laugh is our upcoming schedule for each night of the week.

Monday – Ronnie and I are home.
Tuesday – Ronnie singles worship team practice, every other Tuesday for Ebby is Teen MOPS
Wednesday – Ebby and Cole have AWANA’s and Hunter and Veronica youth group
Thursday – Ronnie and I are home.
Friday – Ronnie worship for Celebrate Recovery
Saturday – Ronnie worship practice and then church
Sunday – Ronnie church in the morning and then singles ministry in the evening.

We are only home together two nights out of the week. Throw in Veronica’s work schedule and it is going to be crazy.

Something that made me smile today is the gift card I got for Home Depot from my friend Missy. (Thanks again!!) I am in the process of a couple of projects around the house and this will really come in handy. The first project is making our dining room table. I have it all planned out and now I just need the supplies.

Something that didn’t make me smile today was realizing that I might be doing some damage with Veronica. I am told all the time (with or without her around) how beautiful she is. People come and seek me out to let me know that they saw her and how beautiful she is and that we look alike (I am not in any way trying to say that people think I am beautiful!!). My response is usually along the lines of “Oh, thank you. She looks just like my mother-in-law who is so beautiful. If she were standing here you would actually think she looks just like her.”

The damage I think that I have done is projecting to Veronica that I don’t think that we look alike or that I don’t want us to look alike. I myself think Veronica is beautiful (actually I think all my children are beautiful) and that she gets her good looks from her grandmother. The dark hair and eyes along with the darker complexion comes from Ronnie’s side of the family. My side is lighter eyes and a complexion that tans easily, but is lighter. I have to quit saying this and just stick with “Thank you”.

Something else that made me laugh this week was Ronnie planning a date for us tonight. Going so far as getting tickets to a play that a friend is in and seeing if we could swing dinner. Two nights ago he was on the phone with another friend, Jennifer, when he realized that he is part of the worship team tonight for the Women’s’ Ministry fall kick off. There is a national speaker coming in from Proverbs 31 Ministry. I am thinking that we can’t be in two places at once. Seeing as how worship is part of his job I said that I would help out tonight at church and we will just forgo the play. It just made me smile that he forgot about his work needs in all the excitement of dating me tonight. :)

Something else that doesn’t make me smile or laugh…when pregnant women come up to my desk and let out one of those “silent but deadly” farts. They won’t look at me and then slink away leaving the smell behind. Please don’t come up to my desk and fart. Go to another desk and leave it with them. That would make me laugh out loud.

One more thing that doesn’t make me laugh or smile. I have to get a part-time job. That doesn’t make me smile at all, but it is necessary for a while. Thankfully Ronnie has a willing wife and not one that doesn’t want to pitch in. I would much rather be the unwilling wife who insists on staying home and being a housewife. That would make me smile.

A visit with English

We have had a great time having English home. We haven't really done much of anything, but it has been good just having her around. She will leave tonight (Saturday) to head back out to California. This time she will be at Travis AFB about an hour to the east of San Francisco. She is excited to get out there and catch up with some friends she has made over the past two years.

Whenever all the kids are together I try to take a picture of the four of them. They are all growing so fast that I want to capture it as best I can. I have taken these photos since they were little. I try to take at least one a year where they stop what they are doing and gather together for a photo. All of them have turned out great...until this year. They kids weren't really feeling it. I couldn't get them all to smile at the same time, have their eyes open, or looking at the camera at the same time. It was funny. Eventually English gave up and started being goofey and Veronica went inside. Here are the results:

Then here is a cute picture of English with Smalls.

On Friday the kids got another box in the mail from Waltwee. He went back to the hat store and sent us some new hats. We had the best time with these hats last night. I could not stop laughing long enough to talk on the phone when someone called. It was fun just being silly.

I am not sure when this picture was taken. I found it on my camera. I love it though.

Here are two videos. The first one is of Enlgish multi tasking. Sheis exercising, playing with the dog and talking on the cell phone all at the same time.


This is a video of the kids and the hats last night. You will notice Hunter sitting at the computer watching "My name is Earl." He was partaking in the fun, but then the desire to watch his tv show took over. At the beginnign of the video Veronica was posing...she thought that I was going to take a picture not film a video. It started the laughter all over again.


It has been so great having English here. I wish that she could stay longer, but I understand that it is a little boring here. We have started back to school and Ronnie and I both work full time. There really isn't much for her to do. All of her high school friends are off to college and you can only go see a movie so many times. I can't wait until Christmas when she will get to come home again. Then we will be able to go tubing and have fun in the snow.

Hurricane Season

What a crazy hurricane season this is turning out to be. My mom and Walt are getting ready for Hanna, which is still a tropical storm. Ike is right behind it and looking more like it is going to hit the east coast anywhere from south Florida on up. Ike could also go to the south of Florida and up into the gulf…who ever knows what these hurricanes are going to do. Hannah went a little crazy there for a while, but straightened out and is heading inland now.

I talked with my mom this morning and people are trying to get ready for Hannah and thinking about what they are going to do for Ike. The waiting game is the hardest part. No one can truly predict where these storms are going to land. You just have to get ready and be prepared “just in case” it lands near you.

Back when Hugo hit South Carolina in 1989 my family stayed at home. We didn’t leave the beach. Hugo did a lot of damage along the coast of SC, but it also did quite a bit of damage inland. There were many tornados from the storm and some fires caused by lightening and the tornadoes. It was very interesting to ride out a big hurricane like Hugo.

My mom and Walt are still at the beach and will ride out Hannah. It is just a tropical storm right now and will just do a little wind damage. It might cause some erosion, but the mess shouldn’t be too bad. I did make sure that they would leave the beach if Ike comes towards them. It makes me quite nervous. Those two probably would try to stick it out, but hopefully they will think twice about the danger and leave. Maybe they could even come up here and visit for a few days until the storm is gone. That is my vote!!

My friend Wendi is currently living in the panhandle of Florida, but right now she is visiting family in south Florida. I am sure that all of these hurricanes make that whole area nervous. This is just a tough time of year for the coastal states.

I hope that these storms don’t come anywhere close to land, but if they do I hope that my MOM will leave the beach and head WAY inland….like to Minnesota.