Patch me up!

This is my leg on drugs.  Yes, on drugs.  This is a steroid patch that is treating some tendinitis.  Isn't it strange what can be done nowadays?  Hopefully, this will help relieve the discomfort and I will be up and running my marathon this Saturday! 

I am pretty excited about my trip to Tennessee.  We are going to have a lot of fun and get another marathon done!  Woohoo!

So that's it for today.  No deep thoughts.  Maybe tomorrow.

Glimpses

This morning, I was able to sit in church and hear my youngest play the piano for the prelude in our service.  I was so proud of her and impressed that she would and could get up there, in front of everyone and play a beautiful piece for the entire congregation.

Because she was playing the prelude, most of it was hard to hear because people were entering the sanctuary, getting settled and visiting.  When she finished, she stood up and began to walk down to her seat.  The music minister stopped her and asked her to return to the piano and play the last several measures so that everyone could hear.  He knew she had worked hard on the piece and wanted her to be able to share that with the congregation.  She smiled, turned around, sat down and played again.  Wow.  I was impressed - mainly because I don't know if I could have done that as gracefully as she did.  I was impressed because she seemed composed and gracious.  She's 12, so that is an encouraging thing for a mother to see.

Sometimes it is difficult to see how a child is growing because we are so close to them all of the time.  We see the good, the not so good and the downright ugly.  Fortunately, now and then, we are given a brief glimpse of what is happening as we work day in and day out with our kids.  In this case, the hours, miles and juggling that takes place as I shuttle her to and from piano lessons and encourage her to practice, practice, practice all came together as I saw what this discipline is giving her. 

As parents, we must remember that it is the tiny, consistent chipping away that reveals who our children are.  We are here to support, encourage and invest in them.  It takes time and they are worth the investment. 

Today I am thankful for the glimpse of the wonderful young woman my daughter is becoming.

 Do you recognize this?

It Tollhouse Cookie dough!  Yum!  I don't know when the last time was that I made cookies from scratch.  I have this recipe that uses a cake mix and that is as close as I've gotten to scratch in a long time.  Today I decided to make a batch for my Girl Scouts who came over tonight.  They were as good as I remember.

My Girls Scouts came over tonight to work on a project.  I am so proud of them.  My Junior scouts are working on their Bronze award.  They have combined their energy and resources, and with the help of the Cadettes in our troop, they are putting together quite a shipment for some of our troops who have been deployed.   We have taken donations to send them cookies and they have made each of the soldiers in that unit a medal of honor.  On the right is the medal making in progress.  We used jar lids and have decorated with with all kinds of things - glitter, stars, drawings, stickers, etc.  I hope they like them.  I'm not sure how they couldn't.

Here are my girls working hard.  We finished up the medals tonight and will finish collecting cookie donations in the next few days.  Then it will be time to have a packing party and get all of this ready to ship! 

I was very hesitant when I took on the co-leadership of this troop, but I have to say that I'm so glad I did.  Each of these girls is a blessing to me!  They are sweet, fun, rambunctious, excited, assertive, smart young women.  I think I learn more from them than they do from me!

Thank you, friends! You found it for me! :-)

 I don't know if you can see the comments under my post, but I'm posting this anyway.  I took the week off, or at least most of it, last week as it was Spring Break and I decided to relax a little bit.  The bad part about taking a break is that sometimes it is difficult to get back to it.  I took some pics, but I just didn't blog about them.  When it was time to blog, I just didn't seem to be able to do it. 

I posted on my FB wall that "I have lost my blogging mojo and can't find it anywhere."  I received the most wonderful comments!  And, wham!  There it was - it was back!

Two of the comments read, "I don't know this word 'can't'" and "Remember when we had to say, "I am a marathoner..., well, sista, you are a blogger...Say it."

Wow.  There's nothing like having your own words slung back in your face!  Thanks, guys, I needed that! 

It did remind me, once again, that the most powerful voice in my head is my own.  Hmmm....Don't I control what that voice is saying??  Yep, I do.  I was reminded that I took "can't" out of my vocabulary a long time ago when I accomplished something I wasn't sure I could do - I finished a marathon. 

I was also reminded that many times we are who we tell ourselves we are.  When someone comes to me to train for a marathon, I tell them that they are a marathoner because from that point forward, they will behave as a marathoner.  They will train as a marathoner. They will eat as a marathoner.  Over time, they will develop the mindset of a marathoner. 

Thank you for the reminders!  Apparently, I needed them.  I am a blogger!  I blog every day with a picture from that day!

Today, you are getting two pictures.  Why?  Because when I got out of my car today, I looked over at Frank, standing in the flower bed. 

Frank looks like he's had kind of a hard day.  We had some strong winds come through and blow many of the little oak tree things off of our roof and onto his head.  He's just standing there looking like he has a mop on his head.  Or maybe he's enjoying having a little hair for once.  He kind of looks like one of the Beatles...

It made me smile, so I wanted to share it.

Spring Break - a day of vacation...

 It's the first day of Spring Break and I have one of my college girls at home for the week!  She has several projects on her list and she tackled the 2nd one today.  I am so glad that she did, because I was able to enjoy the fruits of her labor.  For some reason, and I'm not sure exactly what it is, Anna wanted to make some bread today.  She also wanted to make some raspberry butter to go with the bread.  Fine with me!  Here she is mixing the dough.

 And here she is, with my mother, kneading the dough.  My sister was in town for the day, so we took Anna's project over to my mom's house.  That way, we would be able to visit while Anna worked. 

While she was letting the dough rise, she made some raspberry butter.
Here it is!

Once the dough had risen she prepared the loaves by braiding the bread.

 Here are the finished loaves fresh out of the oven!  I wish you could smell it!  Yum!

She's so proud!  And proud she should be!

 Fresh and hot right out of the oven.  The recipe said to let it set for a while, but, of course, we didn't! 

 It was so beautiful outside today, my sister and I decide to just have a seat and enjoy!  We so rarely get to do this - it was, oh, so nice!

Anna even brought a table out for us.

Then Anna brought the bread out to us and we had us a little tea party!

 Thank you, sweet Anna, for such a lovely day!

It may not have been a fancy tea party, but I wouldn't have had it any other way!






And as we were sitting here, at home, relaxing after our busy day - the plant moved!  Can YOU spot the lizard?  Trust me, it's there...

Don't worry, he's not dead...

 He's just stretching.  In the middle of the hallway.  Outside of our meeting.  Why?  I do not know.

And here he is again.  Just showing off, I guess.  ;-)  Isn't he something?  Yes, he is.  :-)

I think he just wanted to make the pic of the day.  So, there he is and now I'll move on to the rest of the day.

Pam and I had a long run today - a really long run.  Here she is at mile 14.14.  We had to take a little break...

She took a rest on the bench while she gelled...I opted to go into child's pose on the trail and then enjoy my snack.

And here I am shortly after finishing.  Whew!

So here are some things I wanted to share....you know you're on a long run when...
You start to count wildlife.
Today's count:  3 turtles, 5 lizards, 1 dead snake, 1 loose dog we named Millie and a cat that hugged a tree to avoid Millie.

You are looking forward, with great anticipation, to the next time you can gel.

You are telling your running buddy something, WHILE RUNNING, and mid-sentence, she says, "What?  Wait a minute - I think I fell asleep for a second."

You run by a lady in her yard, she stops you and asks, "Have y'all seen a black and white chihuahua?".  Then a few hours later, you pass the same lady, she asks, "Have y'all seen a black and white chihuahua?" and doesn't notice that you are the same two people she asked earlier because it's been such a long time since the first time she asked you.

You think anything and everything is funny.  Especially, if your running buddy gives you the stink eye or calls you a name.

You, without thinking, cross an intersection without looking.  Not funny.  Well, sort of, as long as you don't get hurt.

I'm sure I'll add more to this list in the future, but that's all for today.



We survived yet another long run and had a blast....most of the time...sort of....once we were done...and made it home...

Anxiously waiting...

That's what these two are doing - anxiously waiting for their afternoon snack.  I couldn't resist snapping this pick of these two pitiful dogs, side by side, wondering if they were actually going to get it.  Well, of course they are, they haven't missed a meal yet!

Every day I make them sit and then I go get their snack.  Rarely, do they wait patiently, but they are really trying, don't you think?

I have a new running buddy. I think...

 Here she is - my new running buddy!  She is also my 12 year old daughter.  For her 13th birthday , she wants to run a 1/2 marathon.  Wow!  She did a 12k with me last fall and really enjoyed it.

Now it's time to get serious.  She hasn't been very consistent the past several months and wimps out quite easily, but that's to be expected with a pre-teen.  I've told her she can continue, as long as she gets her runs in during the week.  For the past couple of afternoons, we have gone out for a short run.  She is doing great and I hope she will continue.  It won't be long before she is outrunning me!

This pic is of her enjoying her post run supper - pasta, of course!

One man's trash is another man's treasure...or so "they" say.

 What do you think?  Trash or treasure?

My daughter, Anna, and I wandered into one of the "junk" shops (for lack of a better word) in our little town, looking for a table today.  We had a lot of fun looking around at everything.  There was so much stuff!  From books, albums, dishes to furniture - there were all kinds of items packed into this store.  I could have spent hours in there just looking!

This dish set had to be one of the most unique collections in the place.  It probably would not have caught my eye, but it's blue and I love blue.  I don't, however, love it this much.  Wow.  Those dishes are a commitment.  I just had to stand there for a minute and look at them.  Then I had the great idea to make this my picture of the day.

I can honestly say, this is the most interesting sight of the day.
Again - wow.

The cookies are here! The cookies are here!

 It is getting late, and I had worked on this blog post for a while, went to post it and it disappeared.  Really?  Yes.  I had painstakingly described the process of delivering Girl Scout cookies.  Now, I will be brief.

First, a big truck arrives with cases and cases of cookies.  They are unloaded sorted and counted for the entire service unit. 
Second, they are sorted and counted for each troop.

 Third, each troop loads their order into their car or cars and heads to their designated place - the cookie chair's house.

Fourth, they are unloaded - again.  They are sorted and stacked - again.

Fifth, they are sorted, counted and stacked according to each scout's order.
Hopefully, when they have all been sorted, all of the numbers agree.  Otherwise, you have to backtrack and find the mistake.  Today was a good day.  Everything worked out evenly.

Sixth, the individual orders are picked up by each scout and taken to their home.

Seventh, you guessed it - they are unloaded.  Again.  Stacked and sorted.  Again.

Eighth, your SCOUT sorts all of the individual orders for HER customers.  She can do this because she is 12 years old.  OK, so she gets some help from her troop leader who is nearly passed out on the sofa, but can still somehow call out the names, flavors, numbers and amounts owed.  She needs help because it is such a BIG job!  Really?  Yes.  Really.  :-)

Yesterday's blog continued...

I realized that I didn't finish my story yesterday.  I really should blog earlier in the day when my mind is a bit more clear...

As we were talking to Curtis yesterday and he was clearly surprised at how friendly people are here, he told us how he had discovered this.  It seems that the night before, he had walked up to a house, knocked on the door and asked the owner if he knew of a place that he could set up camp for the night.  In talking with Curtis, the man discovered that his bike was in need of repair.  Curtis said,  "Before I knew it, he had my bike loaded up and we were at Home Depot getting what was needed to fix it."  The man then proceeded to take him to a local hotel and pay for him to stay for the night.  Wow.  That is Mississippi hospitality at its best. 

As he continued his journey, he met up with some ladies on the trail who also happen to be Ham radio operators. They walked with him for a few miles on the trail and were the ones to suggest that he follow the Trace to Natchez.

I think Curtis had a good day in Mississippi.