Mr. Howe!

This is a message for Mr. Howe, Math Teacher at Century High School.

Your students do not want any more tests this year.

They told me when I was working at Target. You know who they are. I am just delivering the message...don't shoot the messenger .

Sincerely,

Ebby Ray

Tats

Our family likes tatoos. I have two and Ronnie has one and we both want to get new ones, but they are SOOOOOOO expensive. Veronica would have one if we would take her. Actually Veronica would rather have a "Marilyn" peircing or lip piercing if we would take her. That is a big NO! I have told her that I would take her to get her nose done, but not her lips or other non nose/ear areas.

Then there is English. She has the most. I think she is on #9. I finally saw a peice of her newest one. I can't see the whole thing because thankfully she has clothes on. In the bottom picture she has a white tank top on, but you can see the outline of the tatoo on her side. I think that this wraps around to the front...not sure though since I haven't see it yet.

The top picture is of one that she has had (I think). It looks like the two peices have connected.

The other day on facebook, English was trying to give away some of her freckles. I remember back when she was in elementary school a boy that sat next to her was always trying to count them. I can't imagine what she would look like without them.

English and her guy are planning on coming to visit in August. Ronnie and I will be in California in June, but we will be in Southern Cali. and won't have the chance to see her. I am willing to give up one or two days in June so that we can spend a lot of time together in August.

I miss my girl, but I am so proud of her. She will be 21 next month...oh, I almost just passed out. That makes me feel so old! :)

Reminds me of the beach

I looked at the NOAA website this morning to see what the wether was going to be like during my lunch break. I don't have any windows of my area at OMC so I check NOAA if I want to possibly go outside. NOAA said that it was supposed to be 89 degrees and sunny. Perfect for a little lunch picnic out on the OMC patio.

As I am sitting there I was thinking about my children and my husband. I prayed for them all and thanked the Lord for my food. I had already taken the time to slice up my avacado so I was ready to dig in. I put a nice portion on my fork and was ready to shove it in my mouth. as the fork entered my mouth so did half the hair on my head. I didn't catch on NOAA that there were tornado like winds out there today. This reminded me so much of the beach. Sometimes I would go sit down at the beach during my lunch hour. I would be eating and either end up with hair in my mouth or the crunch of sand.

I struggled through my lunch constantly having to move my hair out of the way. After I ate I got out my book and tried to read. This was almost as hard as eating. My hair was in my face and whipping around and hitting me in the eyes. Finally I just closed my eyes and faced the sun. I might as well get a little tan while I am outside. Especially since I forgot to wear any makeup to work today.

After work I am going to go and get my hair cut. I am going to cut about 6 inches off. I will try to post a picture after I get through.

I hope you find these funny!

This morning on the way to take Hunter to school we were talking about the jazz band. After a couple of minutes of talking he told me this little story...

He said, "Mom, everyday the guitar player would ask me the same question. He would ask me if I had a guitar pick."

I asked what he told him.

Hunter said, "I would tell hIm the same thing everyday....Dude! I'm the drummer!"

You may not find this funny, but I did. The boy asked the same question during each practice. How funny kids can be.

Last night I was working at Target. I was getting a little punchy due to working 14 hours and getting tired. This happens often around 9:30 when I close. I start saying things like, "would you like your milk in a bottle?" (instead of bag) It can get really bad...like last night. Now I didn't say anything, but i really did want to. I tried to be professional and i hope i succeded. If you know me very well you know that I love to laugh. Sometimes when I get to laughing I can't stop. I had to hold it in, which was very hard.

Last night I was checking out a couple and really paying attention to them. At one point I looked up and the person behind them startled me. Thankfully that person wasn't looking at me or I would have been embarassed because I actually jumped. When i finished checking out the couple the next person moved to the place in front of me. I had to look. I didn't want to...but I had to. I need to make eye contact with guests so that they know that I am paying attention to them now.

*Disclaimer* I do not begrudge people for their way of life as I hope that they don't begrudge my way of life. I have met people from all walks of life and have found that though we have differences we most likely have similarities, too. With that said I will continue with my story.

The person in front of me was a homely man. That homely man was dressed up as a woman, and he made an even homlier woman. Now I have seen some men dressed up as women that were georgeous. That was not this man. His makeup was caked on so thick that it looked like stage makeup. He had on a dress with thick straps over the shoulders and a very bad bra AND he didn't shave...anything...ok maybe his legs, but I couldn't tell since he had on stockings. I was a little bit in shock. I have seen this gentelman around Rochester before, but not up close. He does not do a good job at dressing as a woman. Oh, poor guy.

My next story is about a man and his son. I have mentioned them before here on our blog. They make me smile. If I am having a bad day (as I was yesterday) it instantly lifts my spirits. I have no idea what their names are but it is a man and his down symdrome son. His son doesn't talk much, but you can tell that he so loves his father. Last night he kept hugging his father. It made me a little sad. I can hug my three younger kids all the time...and I do...but I can't hug English when ever I want. Anyway, I really like to see them come in the store. They are great together. The dad seems so patient. When ever his son would hug him he would say, "i love you, too." As they were leaving my lane they were holding hands.

Lets see. What else can I write about? Oh, the other day I had my review at Target. It went really well. I hate having reviews, but I did pretty well with this one until they got to the part about me knowing a lot of people. They actually talked to me in my review about the number of people that I know that come through Target. That I have to be careful to not ignore the other guests that are walking around or in my lane. They were really nice about it and encouraging, but to my defense my church is about 2,000 people and the ones that I know all seem to shop at Target. Plus there are all the people from OMC. I can't not say hello. Geesh.

Directly after my review I was back out on my lane when someone called out "Ebby". I looked up and they were waving at me. Behind them was my supervior that had just given me my review and talked to me about knowing so many people. My supervisor was laughing very hard...thank goodness.

Well that is all that I have for you today. Pretty boring, but it is what it is. Hope you have a great day. If you haven't checked out the post before this one DO! It is pictures of Veronica at prom.

Second Prom

This was a good weekend for the Ray kids. Cole was able to spend the afteroon with his friend, Caleb, on Sunday. Hunter lead worship for the youth group Sunday morning playing the guitar and singing, and had his gig on Friday night, which I heard was very good. Everyone said that he did a good job leading worship.

Saturday was spent getting ready for prom (the second one). Veronica had three friends that came over to "help" her get ready. I must say that I think she looked beautiful. Yes, her date, Sam, was wearing a yellow zoot suit, and no I do not know why. His favorite color is yellow...that is all I know. We were very fortunate to find a dress that perfectly matched his suit.

Here is Veronica and Hunter. The reason this picture was taken is because of the seriously weird short shorts Hunter is wearing. Yuck! One fact is that they are about the same height. So Hunter is somewhere about the 5'8" range. I don't know how to make the picture bigger, but this was when they were leaving the house around 5:30. Big bird and little bird.

This was at a hotel in downtown Rochester.

The back of the dress.

V-Ray...isn't she beautiful!!!!

Veronica likes to take pictures while jumping. The group they went with to the first prom all did this together. This time we just did Veronica and then Sam.
This was Sam's jump. Pretty cool isn't it.
This is the result of Sam's jump. I about cried I was laughing so hard after this. He went to prom like this. Thankfully his jacket covered it up.

Well I didn't put pictures up of Veronica and the first prom. She wore the same dress that she wore last year in North Myrtle Beach. Sam wore a black tux to that one since her dress was black and white.

Oh my girls are growing up. English got a car this weekend that she bought on her own. They are growing up and I am getting old....oy vey!!

So Much For Sleep

Veronica was busy taking pictures yesterday. One of her projects was So Much For Sleep, the band that Hunter is in. Let me introduce you to the five boys that are going to take care of their families when they sign their record deal with a label in a few years. :)

Steve, Isaak, Nate, Hunter and Logan.

Here is Isaak...Lead Vocals Nate on the bass

Logan on Electric Guitar and vocals
Hunter backing them all up on the drums
There should be a picture of Steve right here on Electric Guitar, but he wasn't there yesterday for practice.

So Much For Sleep has their first gig this coming Friday night. Should be a fun time for everyone that gets to go. Unfortunately....I have to work. :(

Odds and Ends

I have been having a hard time coming up with things to write about lately. It taxed my brain a little, but I finally thought of some things to write about.

First, we will talk about Hunter. The other day Veronica told me that he was voted best dressed at school for this year. For some reason I didn't believe her so I asked him. He said, "Yep."

Now I thought that this was funny. Not that I don't think my son is handsome and that he has his own style. I think that he looks nice everyday he goes to school. He cares about his appearance. Since we buy at thrift stores, yard sales, get hand-me-downs, and shop at Target it makes me laugh. I guess you don't have to have name brand clothing... from big expensive stores... with their logo splashed all across the front of the clothing...and everyone knows how much it cost because of the name...and you don't have to ever step foot in a mall...

To be named "Best Dressed"!

Now the second thing I want to talk about is Diane (or D.I. as we call her). It was pointed out to me the other day that I hadn't blogged about her. Shame on me!! Diane is living with us until she decides she doesn't want to anymore. She gets the basement all to herself. She works at our church as the Cafe Manager. She does a great job. So...now I have blogged about DI. We are blessed to have her as part of the family. She is quite the cool chick!

Now I will introduce you to Sam. Sam is Veronica's boyfriend. Sam has become quite the fixture around our house lately. He is such a great guy. Very polite when he is with us and always greets us with a hug. He makes us laugh and is very patient with all of our questions about his religion. Sam is....Jewish!!! We love it. Veronica was invited over to his house for Sadar (did I spell that right) Dinner during Easter, and then he spent Easter Sunday dinner with us. Sam is wonderful to Veronica. He actually spoils her...a little too much. :)

It is really odd having both of the girls with guys in their lives. I can't wait to meet English's guy, Timmy, in August. English is hoping that they will be able to come and visit for a few days after Timmy gets back to Afghanistan. Yes, he is in the Air Force, too.

Well that is all I have for today. A funny and two introductions. Have a great weekend everyone!

More Photos

You only get one guess as to who took these photos and then edited them. Veronica may possibly be doing an intership this summer where she will be taking pictures and editing them. I am so excited for her. She won't be paid, but it will be good experience.

This picture is of China Town.

This is also in China Town

The Golden Gate Bridge