Ramblings of Ebby's brain

Here we go again...the ramblings of thoughts going through my brain this morning.

• Why does "pssssst" represent the word fart? Why can't it just be fart?
• I really wish I didn't have to go to work today. I would love to be snuggled up on the couch with my book.
• I have lines around my eyes. I am just going to tell myself that they are good. Means I laugh and smile a lot.
• I want to open a store. I would like to have a re-cycle/juke store.
• My co-worker, Ashley, makes weird noises. Hahahahahahahahaha
• I want to go to Winona on Monday (I have the day off). Me and my camera need to go take a trip to the river to take some pics. I also want to go to the Salvation Army re-store to see if they have any paint or other goodies.
• Hunter made me chuckle this morning. He said, "This is as cold as it gets at the beach (meaning North Myrtle Beach)." He had on a short sleeve t-shirt and was shivering in the morning coolness. Sorry to say son, but it is going to get a lot colder than this here in Rochester.
• Ronnie goes to California this weekend. What trouble can I get into while he is gone?
• Ashley is still making noises. Hahahahahahahaha
• I miss my mom. I haven't seen her in over a year. That stinks!
• I think that I want to go to college. I seriously have no idea what I would want to do. Hmmm
• I am really enjoying my bible study. It is Me, Myself and Lies, but I keep calling it Me, Myself and Irene.
• I want to do something, but I just don't know what. It is driving me crazy.

That is pretty much what was going through my head this morning. Scary isn't it.

Happy Birthday, Ronnie!

I am late again, but I have a good reason. I haven't had computer access this weekend. I was staying at a friend house watching her children Saturday and Sunday. When I got home Sunday evening our electricity was out.

Anyway, yesterday was Ronnie's birthday. We didn't do much, but he is getting to go to California next weekend so I guess that is his birthday present.

Happy Happy Birthday to you, Hunky! I love you so very much and I am so thankful that the Lord brought you into my life. Without you our kids wouldn't be weird and we wouldn't be the dork family. Without you there wouldn't be music in our lives. Without you there wouldn't be much laughter. You make our family fun.

You are an amazing father...a wonderful husband...and the bestest best friend! Thank you and Happy Birthday!

Douglas Trail

We had a great weekend at our house. Ronnie and I had three dates in one weekend. Oh my goodness!

The Twins game on Friday night was good. They beat Detroit 3-0. It was fun being at one of the last few games at this stadium. Next year the Twins will be in their new stadium and we probably won't be able to afford the crazy prices there.

Saturday night we were invited by our friends, Michael and Heidi, to their house for Wii "American Idol" night. I didn't sing, but I did my best heckle. Ronnie had a great time as always. There were 6 couples there and it was very competitive. It think the score was pretty close in the end.

Sunday was a lazy day for me. I went to church on Saturday night so I stayed home Sunday morning. When Ronnie got home we took a little nap and then went over to a friends to help them with some yard work. After that we headed up to The Douglas Trail for a walk. Walking down the Douglas Trail is so peaceful. I love it out there. I snapped this little photo with my phone. Ronnie wouldn't let me stop to take a picture so it is a little off centered. Look at all the leaves. Fall is in the air. Now only if the temps would drop a little bit it would really feel like fall. Come on 40's and 50's.

Smalls and a Ball

Here is our little Smalls. Yes, that is a tennis ball in his mouth. It is his favorite play toy. He loves to play fetch and is pretty good at it. Veronica took him outside the other day and snapped this photo of our little pup. He is in need of a haircut as you can see. I often wonder lately how he can see to get anywhere.

Pray for little Smalls. He is having a little operation in October. He is going to lose his manhood. Awwwww....poor pup.

Veronica took this picture just the other day. You can see all of the leaves that are already on the ground. FALL IS HERE! I am so excited. After fall comes winter! That makes me even more excited.

One more thing and I will end my rambling. Ronnie and I are going to a Twins Game tonight. It should be a good game. They are playing Detroit and from what I understand they are both in the race for the playoffs. Should be a great date for me and my hubby.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Jennifer's Before and After

A few weeks ago I had the following converstaion with my friend Jennifer.

Ebby: "Hello?"
Jennifer: "Ebby, are you coming over to Heidi's house today?"
Ebby: "I am on my way."
Jennifer: "Great! Go down this street and check out the table on the side of the road. It is free. If you think it is ok pick it up and bring it with you."
Ebby: "Curb side? I am on it!"

I went by this house and grabbed this table. It is a sewing machine table. Kind of a not so nice blonde wood with scratches and marks all over it. It also had this bronze handle that would open the front. The top also opened up.

Here is the table "before".
After much sanding, gluing the top down, cutting the legs down, some staining, standing back and looking, more staining, some painting, standing back and looking again, and a little more paint this is what Jennifer did to the table.

The old ugly handle is gone and replaced with a wooden applique. You can sort of see in the picture the distressing that Jennifer did. This table is so awsome now. It is sitting in Heidi's living room with a nice lamp on top.

I am having so much fun with all of this furniture re-doing...even when I am not the one doing it.

I hope to have some pictures of some of the things Ronnie and I have been working on this week. Stay tuned!

Amazing weekend!

I had such a good time visiting English this past week/weekend. It was so good to just sit there and stare at her...listen to her laugh...hear her stories...and just plain hang out with her.

I arrived in Sacramento late Wednesday night. Thursday I talked English into driving 3 1/2 hours over to the coast so that I (the lame mom) could go to Glass Beach in Ft. Bragg, California. I had heard about this beach and really wanted some beach glass since I never really could find very much in North Myrtle Beach or when we went to So. Cal. in June. I convinced her that she should drive me over there. We drove, and drove, and drove. It was a long drive. We had some laughs on the way. Saw some fires and lots of fire trucks on the way there and back (different places). We ate at a lame resturant that was supposed to be nice...or so said the "local" that we asked. We both almost threw up because of the smell at Glass Beach. We picked up a lot of glass.

Here is a picture of what the beach sort of looked like.

It was crazy the amount of glass on that beach.

I am sure that you are wondering where the other pictures from my trip are. Well there aren't any. On the way to the airport I realized that I didn't have the camera with me. We were already more than half way there and couldn't turn back. (Lame mom again)

After our drive to the coast on Thursday we mostly hung out at English's VERY cute apartment. I really liked it. Mostly I just enjoyed my daughter's company. It was just what I needed.

I returned home on Sunday to a clean house. I don't know about anyone else, but coming home to a clean house is wonderful. It makes me feel like I can just sit down and relax after being on the plane all day.

Monday was spent at our friend's house. Brandon and Heidi have just recently moved into their brand new home. Brandon grilled some scrumptous ribs, Wayne made asparagus, Jennifer made backed Mac-n-Cheese and dessert, and Heidi made corn on the cob. Before lunch Ronnie and Heidi made a big huge batch of salsa. They put some in jars and are going to see how they turn out. If it is good they will can a bunch of it next summer.

What a great week I had. I got to hug English, which is just what my arms needed. I miss her so much already, and I want to call her right now-this minute and tell her that I love her. I got to have a wonderful Labor Day with family and friends I love.

Here is a picture of my girls, Jennifer and Heidi, and I from a few weeks ago. We were celebrating Heidi's little boys 1st birthday.

Here is Ronnie and I at the Angels game we went to in June while out in Cali. I was so tired, but it was such a great time.

Check back this week. I will have some pictures of before and after furniture. I may also share some things that we are doing in our house.

Aching Arms

My arms are aching. They ache to wrap themselves around my oldest daughter, English. I have not seen her in a year. Although I get to hug my other three children daily my arms still ache.

My arms will be very happy tonight. They will be very fulfilled. I will see my daughter around 11:00 pm this evening. I fly into Sacramento tonight and get to spend 3 whole days with her. How absolutely glorious is that? Very very glorious!!

I have gone to visit English at two of the other bases where she has been stationed...San Antonio and Monterey, Ca. Those two times I stayed at a hotel since she was living in the baracks. This time I will be staying at English's apartment. That is going to be so strange. I am going to her house. Surely she can't be old enough to have her own place. Oh that's right...sheis 21 now. Boy does time fly.

It seems like just the other day she and Veronica were walking about the house singing all the songs from "Beauty and the Beast" and "Little Mermaid", telling us that she wanted limma-lims (m&m's) , and walking around on her tip toes like a balarina. She was so girly! There was always a book under her nose, and I don't think that has really changed.

I am so excited to finally be able to see her. I have really missed my little girl.

Awwwww, I don't want to go

I don't know about your children, but mine can express themselves sometimes. This past weekend it was me that said, "Awww, I don't want to go." Poor Ronnie had to put up with me not wanting to go to the "Kansas" concert. I don't really like concerts all that much. Anyway, I had to apologize for my attitude the next morning. I did end up going to the concert by the way.

Yesterday when I got home from work I told the kids to get shoes on that we were going out. I had learned a valuable lesson from Sunday. Don't give them an opportunity to say awwwww. I just told them to get in the car. My lesson saved me from a lot of headache.

We drove to the backside of Quarry Hill Park. Yesterday was beautiful so around 6:00 it was perfect. Not a lot of bugs since it is a little cool out. The kids were dragging their feet at first. Then we got to this creek and a train tressel. Pretty cool for two boys who wanted to throw rocks in the water and a girl who likes to take pictures. I also had my camera with me and took a few shots.
Veronica was giving me some pointers with my camera. We decided to try them out. This is when the kids stopped dragging their feet and started having fun.

Smalls wanted to get in on the action. Isn't he just a cutie.

C is for Cole

H is for Hunter

V is for Veronica

I took this next picture right after Cole stepped in a big pile of poop off in the grass.

Supporting Our Troops

Now that English is getting ready to deploy I have been thinking more and more about sending packages to her while she is in Kuwait. What can I send, what shouldn't I send, and what CAN"T I send?

Did you know that there are many military personnel that don't receive many letters or packages? Some don't receive any at all.

Have you thought about supporting our troops with a letter to one of them? How about having the kids draw a picture? You don't have to send a package full of things. A letter will be perfect. You don't even have to know anyone in the military. Add in a self addressed stamped envelope, pen and paper and I am sure that you will get a letter back.

Have you thought about supporting our troops with a package? I am sure that they woud like to get a goodies box from "home". I did find out today that you can't send anything home-made. It must all be pre-packaged. Even something as simple as batteries is extremely appreciated. A new pair of long socks is a real gift. They even like to get slinkies, squirt guns, small nurf footballs/basketballs, nurf guns...anything that would be fun and take their minds off of life.

I did see on line today that the troops like to get beanie babies to hand out to the local children. They don't like to get the hard plastic toys to hand out. They don't fit so well in their packs. Beanie babies fit nicely in their packs and they can carry around several at a time. When Ronnie was in Desert Storm he handed out candy and the kids would go crazy. I can imagine that they would like a soft bear to carry around.

Think about taking your family to do some shopping and putting together a small box. Or your family sitting down together to write a letter and draw some pictures of what you did that day. You can go online and look up how to send packages to troops.

The troops are supporting us....we need to support them...with something as simple as a note from "home".

Feeling Grumpy

I am feeling so grumpy today...therefore I am going to try and concentrate on something that is positive.

First let's talk about my upcoming trip. I get to go see English the frist weekend of September. She was supposed to come home for 2 weeks in August, but wasn't able to. Then we found out that she is most likely going to be deployed December 5, 2009. Those two things + my having not seen her in a year= my wonderful husband finding and making a way for me to be able to go visit her. I am so excited!

So there are two positive things that will make my mood better...English and my wonderful husband.

While speaking of English I thought that I would add a photo of her on here. It was in the Airman Magazine a while back. I can't remember if I posted it on here before, and I really don't feel like going back and looking for it. I think that you can click on the picture to enlarge it. She is the far left Airman. When I first saw this picture I automatically thought of Top Gun and started humming the song. They all look pretty kick butt.

Another thing that gets me out of a bad mood is playing the "If I Won the Lottery Game." Ronnie and I play this sometimes. We aren't delusional enough to think that we are ever going to win the lottery...you have to buy tickets to win and we don't buy tickets. We still like to talk about what we would do. There would most definately be LOTS of ministry stuff done. Ask us sometime what we would like to do with two 18 wheel trucks. We love talking about it.

Even though we talk mostly about what ministry stuff we would like to do there are a couple of things that kick around in the back ground. Yes, they are selfish, but I would like to do a couple of things. One would be this awsome trailer below. I could see Ronnie and I tooling around the country side and camping in this. When I look at this picture I just feel....aaahhhhhh....how cute and cozy. This would be a splurge.
We would also like to buy the house that we live in and do some minor remodeling and landscaping. I also think that we would buy two Vespa mopeds. We always get excited and animated when we play this game. It is just a game. Can't win without the ticket. :)

Well now I feel much better. Talking about two of my favorite people and a picture of something fun. My mood is much better!

Well I hope that you all have a great day.