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 :)