Stay motivated?

Wow.....I'm really finding it hard to stay motivated on this walking/jogging thing ,lately. 
You would think that I've been doing it long enough - that it would just be second nature
and I wouldn't have to keep struggling to make myself find time to do my 3 - 4 mile walks
every other day.(at least)
   But no, it's still hard to keep myself doing it.  I haven't felt the energy in me.
Yesterday I did go 3 miles on the treadmill - cause it rained all day.  And today I did get
up and go 4 miles around the farms.  But I'm in a gloom.......I've gotta shake it off.
  
I just read something good that I would like to put as a thought here today:

Life can be legitimately seen as a painful tragedy or a purposeful triumph.  Each of us must
choose.  I choose to see God at work blessing His children in wise and loving ways.  The
very fact that God has created a world in which everything can be seen in gloomy or glorious
ways seems to be evidence that He honors our agency.
-H.Wallace Goddard

So Yes, it's all in my attitude..........I can shake off the gloom.............

My black remote automobile key thingy.......

Yes, today started out so wonderful, but as we all know- things can change in a heartbeat.

I was finally getting the chance to take my long walk around the Columbia river that I try to do
at least once every 2 weeks.  And I was feeling much better than usual today - I just felt so happy
to be out in nature and enjoying the beautiful scenery all around me.
I think part of it was because I had been  babysitting for the week before and now I was free!
Free to do what I want!
I had walked for at least 3miles - (listening to my tunes and jogging every now and then)-
When I touched my right pocket and realized that it wasn't bulging w/my black remote automobile key thingy.   Usually I put my key in a special compartment in my jogging pants - where it doesn't come out.  But today I put it in the right pocket of the windbreaker that I was wearing.  I even covered it with some kleenix - thinking that there was no way it could come out.  I know......I know......I should never change my procedures when it comes to my walks/runs.
Well, all of a sudden everything changed - I was in a panic.  I retraced my steps (3 miles worth) and I asked everyone that I encountered on the path "did you see a black auto key remote thingy anywhere??"
No one had..........so then my mind automatically thought the worst - what if that shady-looking guy that I saw earlier - found it and went to the parking lot and stole my car!!
I do believe that if you think of the worst that could happen - then what happens isn't usually as bad as you thought.   Well, that did work for me today.
 I got back to my car (which is new and I've only had for a month BTW)  and I realized that I have this thing called  ONSTAR  that came free w/the vehicle for a year!
Talk about amazing......that's one benefit about living in this day and age.   I was able to call onstar on my phone and they just asked me a couple questions and 'Whoooola'!  I heard a click. :)   My car was unlocked.
 Oh, and I forgot to say that my other ring of keys was in my purse that was locked in the car.

I still am waiting for the right moment to tell Jay , since he is fixing our broken oven at the moment.  Maybe sometime when we can both laugh about it.  I feel like it is just too fresh of an incident to laugh about right now and I am still feeling guilty about losing the key remote.
  Isn't it funny how an incident like that can change the mood of your whole day?! 
No, I guess it's not that funny.

Baby Gwen

Yes, little baby Gwen did come! What a long day it was for my poor daughter.  She was induced (early, early in the morning) and had contractions on and off all day, but nothing big was happening. 
Then I guess all of a sudden at 4:30pm the baby started coming and she came within a 1/2 an hour. I guess when the baby comes that fast - they tend to get really bruised.  Yes, she looks bruised and she has a cleft lip.  Not a cleft palate, but a cleft lip - which did scare Staci at first, but I think she now realizes that it's not that bad.  The baby seems to be healthy in every other way.  She (the baby) will have to have surgery to fix the lip within the next couple of months, but the Dr. seems to think it's not that big a deal.
It's true that it is such a miracle that all things come in to play - so well orchestrated - to put together this little person.  So as I tell my daughter that it is not something that she did and she can't blame herself (as most of us tend to do) - I do understand why she is so emotional about it. Hey, it's a big event.  It's soooooo emotional anyway.
What a wonderful thing it is - to see your daughter and son-in-law  - be such great parents. They really are amazing and they show much love to each other.  What more could a Mother and Grandmother ask for??
I am faring okay with tending the other three, but of course, I won't be doing any walking/running until I go home.  That's okay - I feel good that I could help out. 
My 6 year old grandson is quite a funny little boy. Yesterday when his 2 sisters were bugging him - he said,
" Hummmmmmmmmmmm.......this makes me wonder how I'm going to handle another one."
I tried hard not to laugh, but it was so funny the way he said it.  Out of the mouth of babes..........:)

baby tomorrow??

Our daughter, Staci is getting induced tomorrow morning. She will be having a baby girl.

I just realized that it will be May 18th tomorrow - the anniversary of Mt St. Helen's blowing
it's top! And the 30th Anniversary at that!
Well, I just told her about it and of course, it doesn't really mean that much to her. She wasn't
even alive when that happened. 
But I can vividly remember that day. I was 8 months pregnant with her brother, Greg.
It was a Sunday and we were in church.  I remember the whole congregation walking outside
to look at the big black cloud that was climbing into the sky. 
We lived only 40 miles to the west of Mt. St. Helen's at the time and most of our family lived
at least 180 miles or so to the East of it.  It was funny that it didn't affect us as much as our family
and friends that lived in the Columbia Basin and the Yakima Valley. I guess the wind was blowing
it over their way.   Most of the ash came down on
them. Their day turned into night.  So they thought that if they were getting so much of this ash coming
down on them - we must be wiped off the map!!  My parents and other family members tried calling us
- but the lines were down.  At the end of the day, my mother finally got through to me and she was crying.
We didn't even think that it would have affected them that badly.  What a crazy time!

We did get  some ash come our way - two weeks later. It was enough for us to realize how bad it must
have been for all of our family and friends on the other side of the mountain.  What a pain it was to wash
that stuff off of everything.  I will never forget that time  and the years following. Even 2 to 3 years later -
we would see carloads of people (tourists) come through our little town of Toledo, Washington  with surgical masks on their faces.  And here we were walking around in this contaminated area with nothing over our faces!  How funny.......

The Be's..........

Be Grateful.
Be Smart.
Be Involved.
Be Clean.
Be True.
Be Positive.
Be Humble.
Be Still.
Be Prayerful.
(Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley)

I've always liked the above mentioned 'Be's. President Hinckley gave a Conference talk on them years ago and it was something quite witty that we all liked and remembered.
 He said that these 'B's will bring purpose into your life and give you direction to your energies. 
I have a little plaque in my bedroom with these Be's on it (that my sis-in-law gave me). 
It always makes me smile.
Well, I've tried to live by them, but I know I faulter daily.  It's a constant struggle. I guess that's what life is, huh?! 
Anyways, today I'm thinking of getting ready to go to Idaho Falls this weekend to be with my daughter and her family.  She is due and they will induce her  (this weekend) - because she has had a lot of false labor and is already dilated.  I love being a Grandma and sure enjoy being around those grandkids. (just wish I had more energy).

Today I walked 4 miles as I did yesterday and the day before.  I'm trying to keep it going, but I'm sure feeling slow and tired.  I haven't been doing much running or jogging.  I guess I'm kind of in a slump.
But now with the change of such beautiful weather - I intend to get out as much as possible.
( I don't know if that will work while I'm in Idaho Falls, tho).

"A person's a person - no matter how small" (- from Horton Hears a Who)

I read an article about Kids and how hard should we push them on learning a talent, sport, activity, etc.???
Many people responded with their ideas and what parents should do.

It made me immediately go back to my memories of trying to get my kids to play the piano. One child in particular who made my life miserable for that one year that I made him take piano lessons! I realize now that I really shouldn't have even forced him to take that one year.  But many parents will disagree with me. I was surprised to read from these parents that they thought it was the right thing to do - to force the children to do these things and they(our kids) will thank us later.  It didn't sound right to me.

 Here are a couple quotes that I wrote down from the parents' ideas that I liked:

"Respect a child's humanity and individualism, do not force anything that isn't required for their safety or health."
"We can try to help and direct them onto the right path for them.  They need the opportunity to explore activities and find what suits their likes and dislikes."

I know my daughter wishes that I taught her to sew, but she is taking a sewing class now and enjoying it very much.  So it's never too late.
Speaking of my daughter, she is due with our 4th grandchild (a girl) in a week or so.  But she is already having some false labor, so I'm thinking I may be going to Idaho Falls soon.

Rocky and I did the run around the river yesterday - and he did about 4 miles more than me, but I'm not as sore as he is today! yay!