Fabulous Friday - Ruth Ann

Look at me! I'm starting a trend! This is officially Fabulous Friday! Where you have to dedicate your blog to someone who you think is fabulous. Doesn't have to be lovey dovey. Be honest.

My blog today is about my sister Ruth Ann. She is one year older than me and wow! I admire her! She has 13 kids. Compared to my piddly three, I'm definitely the slacker! Someone should do a reality program on them! But really.. maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea. Reality shows tend to curse the family to a break up...

Ruth Ann got married when she was 18 to her hubby, who later became a minister. They've moved a few times, each time further from me... I think that says something in itself.

When we were teenagers, Ruth Ann was the bargain shopper for sure! I would pay $20 for a pair of name brand jeans and she would find a better fitting pair of no name jeans for $8 or less. Between another sister and Ruth Ann, I had the best wardrobe a highschooler would want! Then they up and got married a month apart from each other and took their clothes with them. Luckily I had a good part time job at the time and had to sew and shop my way back to a healthy wardrobe again.

Ruth Ann was always kind of crazy and a tomboy, if I ever saw one. She had two boyfriends at once one time and managed to keep one of them as a friend when they both found out about it! The other one went away... Loser type anyway, she met him at a job placement office... She loaned me her car once. once! and I plowed it headlong into a dirt ditch, by accident.

We went to tons of movies, because she had a car and at that time I probably didn't. In our family, you were best friends with the next oldest who had a car... When Ruth Ann moved out, my younger sister and I became best friends as I had a rattled Ford Pinto. Weird, huh?

Now that we're married and living far apart, whenever we talk on the phone my husband can always tell. If I act a bit squirrelier than usual, he asks, "So, how's Ruth Ann?" And he's always right. She has that type of personality that always makes you smile and crack up. When I was 13 or so, she and I would have wise-crack contests. I got a little mouthy around that time. We were both pretty flat as teens and a favorite slam was "You're so flat! Your babies are going to starve!" And have you ever had a dirty (sopping) dish rag fight? Make sure your mom isn't home when you do! We would lay out and get tans on our semi flat area of our roof while listening to the radio. She showed me that baby oil works well for getting tans... :) I know better now of course. We played mean phone jokes on my younger sisters when we were at our school with mom (small church school) and the younger ones at home. Sorry Mel!

When we had study hall in the sanctuary of our church, there was a record player there and Ruth Ann would sneak in albums for us to listen to really low if it was just the two of us. That's how I got all the lyrics down for some Stevie Nicks songs and for Pac Man Fever!

Ruth Ann home schooled her kids until they moved to a small town in Illinois and she was pregnant with, I think, number 9 or 10. It was too much to handle and they decided to put the kids into public school. Of course, most of them tested ahead of the other kids in their grade, but they seem to have settled in well. Three of her kids are out of high school now and attending college, but still live at home. That says something too... about her family. No one wants to leave!

Her kids are always very helpful with the younger ones of their family. No bitterness about helping out, or maybe they just hide it real well. And such fun loving attitudes! When you've got a witty mom, how could you not?

She's writing a book about her little baker's dozen. I'll post an avert for it here when she finally gets it done. I think most of it is written in her closet on napkins while she desperately grips a wine bottle.

Ruth Ann and my uncle holding one of her babies.