Star Wars Quote of the Week

“Judge me by my size, do you?”

900 year old Yoda says this to Luke in The Empire Strikes Back.

Yoda also drives this point home when Luke whines that the X-wing that he's supposed to raise out of the swamp is too big. Yoda tells him that size does not matter.


Whether we're a Jedi-in-training or a Christian walking the face of the earth, how much kinder might we be if we didn't judge others on their size.


Have a great weekend!

Princess Flash Cards

Tim and I are behind the times on Disney princesses. I've started catching on because they are so important to our granddaughter, Brooke. But poor Tim has struggled.

Next month we are going on a short trip to Disney World with Brooke and Allie. Brooke must have really been worried about Tim not knowing the princesses, because she made him flash cards.



Brooke is only four, but she's always thinking. She needed some help with spelling the names, but she made the cards herself.


Now the pressure is on Tim as he studies up. He did okay on his first quiz, but I'm sure there will be a few more before we hit Disney World.

The Happiest Place in the World

We are soon going to be taking off to Disney World with most of our family. Because of varying work schedules we'll arrive and leave at different times but for three solid days we'll be there together.




We took the boys when they were growing up, but I've never gotten to go with my granddaughters. Plus my parents are going. And my brother and his wife. And Jessica, Eric, and Sadie. There will be a lot of firsts on this trip, and we're super excited.


Let me know if there's a 'must-see' I need to put on my list. Thanks!

Yesterday's Tomorrow - Catherine West - Book Trailer

I read Yesterday's Tomorrow by Catherine West a couple of years ago. It's one of those stories that stuck with me, and I've never forgotten it.

It's being released again in paperback and on Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/Yesterdays-Tomorrow-Catherine-West/dp/1500564346/ref=la_B004RWZUHK_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408825449&sr=1-3

If you are looking for a memorable book to read,consider Yesterday's Tomorrow.

Star Wars Quote of the Week

This conversation came from Star Wars: The Clone Wars 2009



Obi-Wan Kenobi: Must you always rush into things?

Anakin Skywalker: Oh no. You don't actually want to talk to it, do you?

Obi-Wan Kenobi: As a matter of fact, I do.



This conversation makes me smile. How often would my life have been easier if I'd taken time to talk through a situation instead of leaping into it?


Have a great weekend!

Garden Delight

A friend recently asked me if I had a garden. The first few years we lived at our house we worked super hard on our garden. Each year it has grown, and we've enjoyed adding new flowers.

Winter 2014 was hard on many of our plants and destroyed some of our bushes, but we continued to work on our yard.

Psalms 103:15 "As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth."

Luke 12:27-28 "Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. "But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith! - See more at: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Flowers#sthash.mfoQzdRB.dpuf




Matthew 6:28-30 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith?"



Have a beautiful day!

This week's quote from Star Wars

"Great kid. Don't get cocky."

Han says this to, of course, Luke Skywalker.

To me Luke is pure and idealistic. He believes in the cause.

Han is the cool, swaggering, popular hero.

They are working together to defeat evil. I can hear this comment coming from a big brother to his little brother. A guy can only give his younger brother a certain amount of credit.



Here's Tim with our sons, Bill and Scott. In case you're wondering, I've heard lots of "brotherly" comments over the years.

I'm not in Wilmore Anymore

Earlier this summer I participated in my first 5K race. Even though I heard more than one runner tell me that it was their hardest race of the year, it was my hometown. Even though it's hilly, there's comfort in the familiar.


Saturday night was my second 5K race. It was set in Lexington, KY, and I looked forward to it because it was on flat ground. At least I thought it was going to be flat.

Tim agreed to run with me. Then we talked our good friends, Julie and Mark Meikle, into participating. They agreed, and we all signed up.

Next I approached Bill and Amanda. They are training for a half-marathon at Disney, so they agreed. That left Scott. He surprised me saying yes. Amanda's sister, Sara Clifton, also ran, but I'm pretty sure she would have run anyway.

This may be the only time we are able to compete in any event together, and I was psyched. The last person to join our group was Katie Ward, a friend of Scott's.






Our favorite cheerleaders ate dinner with us and then hung out with Emmy and Kyle during the race. Brooke loves to run, and I figure it's only a matter of time before she starts racing.


We all agreed that participating with almost 4000 people spurred us on to do our best. Like my first race, I noticed a bonding among the racers. I will never consider myself to be an athlete, but I've had a fun summer trying to increase my speed.

I won't share all of the stats, but I did beat my goal of 45 minutes. It was hot and humid, and I was tired afterwards. But I wouldn't trade that night for anything. We all had a great time and are talking about racing again next year.

Star Wars Quote

“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”


Are you trying to remember which episode this was in? Do you think it was in the original Star Wars movie? But no, it was in Episode 2. Right?

Turns out, this line is in every Star Wars movie.

Here's my list. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace - Obi-Wan
Episode 2 - Attack of the Clones - Obi-Wan and Anakin
Episode 3 - Revenge of the Sith - Obi-Wan and Battle Droid R77
Episode 4 - A New Hope - Luke when he sees the Death Star and Han
Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back - Leia and I think Lando
Episode 6 - Return of the Jedi - Han and C3PO

The Dixie Cafe

Tim got a coupon for The Dixie Cafe when he played in a golf scramble a few weeks ago. It's located in Keene which is part of Jessamine County and not too far from Wilmore. So we decided to give it a whirl.

Keene is even smaller than Wilmore and off the beaten path, but it wasn't hard to find the cafe. First impressions were good. Clean and attractive on the outside, but what about the inside?

We walked inside and were greeted right away by the three people running the cafe. The place also has a small grocery store and gift shop, but we were there to eat. The day's special was pancakes, and they looked amazing.





I ordered scrambled eggs, sausage, and fried potatoes. The food was delicious and filling, the staff was friendly, and the cafe was one of the cleanest restaurants I've been to.

We opted to eat inside due to the humid Kentucky weather. We met two men and struck up a conversation with them. The older of the two men used what I thought was a cane at first. As the drew closer to us, I noticed it was a golf club he turned into a cane. His nine iron with a cane tip on the end. Very creative, and it served him well.

If you take a drive through the Bluegrass and have a chance stop bye The Dixie Cafe. It's a beautiful drive through horse country and will be worth the effort to get there.

Can running 5 minutes a day add years to your life?

A new study funded by Coco-Cola and the National Institutes of Health revealed that running as little as five minutes a day will help you live longer.

Five. Minutes. A. Day.

The research monitored 55,000 people in the Dallas area from six to twenty-two years.

The lowest group only ran 50 minutes a week. The highest group ran more than 175 minutes a week. Turns out both groups ended up with the same benefits.

As Tim and I have prepared for the Midsummer Night's Run 5K, I've discovered he walks much faster than me. And that's okay. I now combine running and walking to increase my speed.

If you'd asked me when I was twenty years old if I was competitive, I would have said no. I don't know if raising boys made me competitive or if it was buried deep down, but I want to do well. So my goal is to do better in this race than my first 5K.

I've trained more for this race which includes running five minutes a day. But if I wasn't trying to increase my speed, it would be good to know that I don't have to spend an hour a day to live longer and healthier.

The Lancet study in 2011 found walking briskly for 15 minutes a day can extend your life expectancy.

So grab your shoes and join me in running or walking to a healthier and longer life.

Getting creative

The last paleo dessert I made took one and a half hours. So I studied the cookbooks and decided to get creative.

I melted some Paleo approved chocolate in the microwave. Enough to cover the bottom of a glass container. I stirred it up and added walnuts, coconut, dried pineapple and papaya. I stirred this together, poured onto parchment paper and stuck in the refrigerator.

This only took a few minutes, and I did it while our fish baked. It's not glamorous, but if you need a sweet treat, I think it'll hit the spot for you.




Enjoy!