The Gold, The Sparkle, The Silver Lining

How often do we dwell on things that are not going right?  Aren't going the way we'd like them to be?  We end up wallowing in negativity!  Life happens, stuff happens.  Some stuff knocks us back.  Some stuff moves us forward.  But if we don't have anything else, we always - always - have a choice about how to view our circumstances. 

I can't even remember where I found this prayer this week, but I printed it out and taped it to my computer moniter at work and also taped one to my bathroom mirror.  Here it is:

Heavenly Father, walk through my home and take away all my worries and any illnesses and please watch over and heal my family in Jesus name.......Amen.

Whatever has been happening to you this week -- good or not so good -- choose to find the gold, the sparkle, the silver lining.  I promise - it'll be there!

Spring Photos

I love spring...new things are budding...temperatures are warming up. 

This spring I took some photos of my house and I thought I'd share them here...

I love the color of this hydrangea...and I love it in a pot (it's been here about 3 years), but I think it's getting big enough that soon I'll need to get it in the ground.  

ahhh...I don't do it often enough, but I love sitting on the porch and rocking and watching all the birds, the squirrels, the chipmunks, the ducks...

I love the curvy lines of this crepe myrtle.  Love it when the bark peels off to reveal the new, fresh, soft branch underneath...

Dave and I bought the planters on this fence, years ago, at a Smith and Hawkins store in Dallas!

In this photo you'll see that we've had to create a barrier so that the baby ducks don't go under the fence.

Valentine's Day

Lots going on today...Valentine's Day!!

We started the day with pancakes, bacon, fresh strawberries, juice and coffee for breakfast. We needed the energy because today Dave and I ran 8 miles in preparation for the Little Rock half marathon. We drove down to the Rivertrail to begin, parked in the parking lot in NLR by the Arkansas Queen Riverboat. When we started running it was 43 degrees. When we finished 1 hr and 40 minutes later it was 32 degrees and snowing the biggest flakes I've ever seen. They literally looked like cotton balls coming down out of the sky...so cool!! I've never run eight consecutive miles in my whole life. So needless to say I'm so pumped. I want to run the half, but I don't want to tell anybody (yet). I don't want to say I'm gonna do it then not be able to follow through....so I'm gonna just keep plugging along with my training runs and see how things go.

Dessert tonight could have been better. I decided to make Chocolate Lave Cakes to end our Valentine's Day meal. The recipe was awesome...very chocolately! And I did everything just like the recipe said. But the cakes were thoroughly cooked...no molten lava in the Jones kitchen. We ate it anyway! I'll make them again and try to remember to take a picture next time. The chocolate martini's were good too...very creamy and yummy.

Oh, and today is Bruce and Meadow's 4th birthday! Good day :)

Ok...today's the third day in a row to be off work because of snow. WIERD!! I just knew we'd go back today! I got out yesterday afternoon about 3:30 to run a few errands and the main roads weren't too bad. It's the neighborhood streets and parking lots that are still treaturous.

I've decided to run/walk the 1/2 marathon this year with Dave. Or maybe I should say he's doing it at my pace. This weather, though, has sure put a wrench in my exercise schedule. I guess that means I should find something on "exercise tv"...ugh!! Here I go :)

It's Still Raining

The air's been back on for a few days now and I'm lovin' it!!! What did folks (back in the olden days) used to do without A/C? I have no doubt I would have melted as quickly as an ice cream on a hot AND humid day at Disney World.

It's still raining...has been for about 5 or 6 days. It didn't rain today at all...just overcast...until we hooked the dogs up for their walk. Opened the door...it was raining........we went anyway!!! That's right!! So as I'm sitting here writing this...I'm soaking wet!!!! But I'm cool and I feel good!

We have had a few baby birds hatch just outside one of the doors on the porch. I believe they might have hatched on Thursday.....the day we had the A/C fixed. That afternoon I got out a flashlight and got a good look...they were tiny. They still are tiny, but you can at least now tell that they're birds. So cute!! I sure hope they make it out of the nest before they're discovered by a squirrel or neighborhood cat.

We gave mama her computer yesterday as an early Mother's Day gift. I think she really likes it. She's wanted one for a long time. Hopefully this will be a step into a whole new dimension for her!!

I'm headed to bed.........after I get on some dry bed clothes...

No Air

Well, we've been without air conditioning for 4 days. I've taken today off and Middleton Heat & Air is here replacing the evaporator coil in the upstairs unit so that's going to be about a $1400 hit....on top of the $300 we spent last week to have the units serviced for the season. I'm thankful we still have tax refund money left to pay for this, but when it's all over we'll be tapped out!! Oh well, at least we hadn't spent it yet on something else.

Ever Have One of Those Evenings??

Do you ever have one of those evenings that start out great, but end up getting horribly off-track before you make it to bed? Dave and I had one of those last night ... Oiy!!

I stopped by Home Depot on my way home from work to get a few flowers and some ferns. I took my time and really enjoyed just browsing the garden section. When I arrived home I unloaded the car, fed the dogs, changed my clothes, let Ted out of his hutch so he could hop around. I already had my chicken thawed and marinating so I was definately ahead in the dinner department. Believe it or not this is what I love...routine!! Probably sounds boring to most!! When Dave arrived home he had the absolute cutest "balloon doll" that a patients family member had made for him. It was a male nurse and he was holding a heart -- so cute!!

Anyway everything's going good and I'm sure you're wondering "so what happened to get things so off kilter"? Well, we received a call....

After going back and re-reading this post I've decided to delete a portion of it!! I need to keep things positive...I was going down a bad road....and that's NOT something I want to do here...