What a Bluster

It was a blustery day in the Hundred Acre 'Hood today. Had super loud keep-you-awake rain in the night, then super crazy winds today. And I mean super crazy. Look...

Proud to say we top the list of Winds-Day wind gusts in the 'Hood today. Oh bother, as Pooh would say. Instead of a small craft warning like they have on lakes and oceans, they had a small pet warning. Like hold on to them. They may blow away. Not kidding. 

I was up for the challenge. Hubby warned me after his morning walk that facing west was going to be brutal. So I went that way first on my noontime walk. By the time the wind was blowing me back home, I couldn't see, I looked like Medusa, and I had gum in my hair. Or was it hair in my gum?

It brought to mind an old Winnie the Pooh blessing: May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind be always at your back! 

Pooh knows. Oh bother, indeed! 

Be careful out there!

Pro-Craft-Stinate

While I was cleaning out the basement recently, I came across all kinds of totes of surprises. Things I really hadn't seen since we moved into our house 19 years ago. And some things had been neglected longer than that.

Case in point: Winnie the Pooh.

This is evidence (not that you needed any) that I've been procrastinating – or pro-craft-stinating – since at least 1998.

Yup, exactly 22 years ago at this time of night, I was working my swollen, numb fingers frantically to finish this for the nursery. My plan was to add the baby's name (didn't if it was a boy or girl) and its birthdate.

To be fair, I thought I had another week to work on it when I went to bed that night – according to doctor's prediction. But Carter Joseph Austin had other ideas the next day.

Anyway, if anyone still does cross-stitch and wants to finish this for yourself, I'm pretty sure the current college house decor is the exact opposite of the Hundred Acre Wood. Some friends suggest I finish it for old time's sake, but that's a heckuva lot of Pooh body left to stitch. And do I remember how to read a pattern? And do I want to?

Until I get around to making up my mind, Mr. Pooh Bear has gone back into the tote with a few other UPs (unfinished projects). There's no rush for me to decide right now. Everyone claims we have nothing but time now.

But it sure is flying, isn't it? 22 years. Wow. My baby's a big boy now!

The Rain, Rain, Rain...

With 100% chance of precipitation, today reminded me of that Winnie the Pooh song:

And the rain rain rain came down down down
And the flood rose up up upper.
Pooh, too, was caught and so he thought,
"I must rescue my supper!"

Only if it was me, those would be containers of ice cream – not honey – that I would be rescuing!

It was seriously a non-stop heavy rain today. Normally, on a week day I wouldn't care. But today was supposed to be the first round of playoffs for high school softball. I could have gone to the game Assumption was hosting but now, with it rescheduled for tomorrow at 3:30, that seems unlikely. A little too early for me to play hooky.

Unless I get up really early and start my day really early. And you know what kind of morning person I am!

Not at all.

My other bigger concern is all the areas of the U.S. that are experienced serious, fatal flooding. How sad that lives are being lost along with a ton of property, too. It's inconceivable – even when you look at news photos. Uff da. Praying for all those impacted.

I will not complain at all about the little lake in our front yard. The only person really impacted was Carter, who had to move his car to higher ground so he won't have to slosh through water and mud in the morning before school.

It certainly is greening up the grass, too. Now I wish I would have finished my weekend warrior project in the front of the house. Those weeds and that shrub I was supposed to trim and hack are thriving in this rain. Dang.

Guess you can look forward to Weekend Warrior :: The Sequel coming soon to blog near you.

But first I gotta make sure my ice cream, er honey, is someplace safe!

And the rain rain rain came down down down...

Just Pooh-fect

I've had a Winnie the Pooh song in my head all day. If you ever saw Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day, you would have heard of it...  

The Rain Rain Rain Came Down Down Down...

And why is that song in my head? Well the rain, rain, rain finally did come down, down, down!

I woke up a bit disoriented this morning. It was kind of dark still and I thought my clock was wrong. But then I heard this strange sound I haven't heard in weeks, maybe months. Rain drops. What a sweet, sweet sound! I think our dead, brown grass was probably crying with joy!

On the way to work, it just kept pouring. Then all day, I watched out my window and saw the rain bouncing off the leaves of the big plants outside in the courtyard. I don't care who you are or what outdoor plans you had today, chances are, you didn't complain about getting wet or postponing your activity. This rain was sooooo needed.

Carter even had to do his cross country run in the rain. I think it was sporadically sprinkling at that point, so he was fine. Wet, but fine. I waited until this evening for my run. The rain had stopped and, unfortunately, it may be done again for several days.

That's OK. We'll take what we can get. The bonus is that this is followed by good "sleeping weather" temps tonight -- in the low 50s.

Just Pooh-fect!

It's WINDsday

For some reason Winnie the Pooh has crossed my mind twice this week.

The first time was Saturday. I was looking through my potpourri of paper plates to use for Carter's birthday cake. All of a sudden I open one of the bags and here are the leftover Pooh plates from his first birthday party! And napkins, too! So we just had to use them!

Just goes to show that I was right. I have to save everything because eventually I will use it someday.

Just kidding. I am honestly trying to fight that line of thinking! (As much as possible... even though it did create a nice moment of birthday nostalgia.)

Today I was thinking about Winnie the Pooh and "Winds-Day" in the Hundred Acre Wood. It really has been a windy spring, which is attributing to the dryness. Today I road-tripped to Madison to attend a trade show for work. On the way home, it was so windy we saw several Dust Bowls crossing the Interstate. Scary and weird at the same time. It wouldn't even be a good day to fly a kite or we'd get carried away like Piglet!

I got home in time to get to Carter's baseball scrimmage. As usual, the kids can handle the weather but us moms in the stands whine about the weather. Hey, it was windy and cold. I guess we should feel grateful. Saturday when we have several scrimmages the high is supposed to be something like 48, maybe rain, maybe snow.

Gotta love baseball weather. I just hope next time the wind carries some of our hits to the outfield!

Winds of change

As Winnie the Pooh would say, it's a blustery day in the Hundred Acre Wood -- or in our case, the One Acre Wood. With gusts up to 40 mph or so, I thought it might even by Winds-Day already.

When I stopped to get gas this morning, my gloveless hands were freezing as the wind whipped all my hairspray out of my head. While I stood there shivering in our first "windchill" of fall, I thought, wow, I wish this wind could blow away some of these extra pounds, too. How about some of my troubles while it's at it.

Then I had my first cup of coffee and reality returned. Unfortunately, experience has taught me that for some things, there are no quick fixes -- not even cold, purpose-driven windblown ones. Most things I gotta tackle one day at a time, maybe just an hour at a time. The key is taking that first step. If your feet ain't moving, you ain't going anywhere!

I had this dream last night about a friend of mine who lives far, far away. I see her maybe 3 times a year. In this dream, I was surprised when I saw her. She had lost like 60 pounds and she looked awesome. How did you do it? I asked. Weight Watchers, she replied. I was immediately a little jealous of her success and a lot disgusted with my own efforts (or lack of them). If only I had stuck with the program, I'd be there, too!

When I awoke, that dream stuck with me all day. It definitely mirrors my current reality -- my current struggle, my current lack of dedication. In October, I got so caught up with my month of mini-vacations and travels (complete with many mammoth meals, of course), that I lost sight of my "plan" of action to lose weight. In fact, I completely lost the action part altogether. It's no wonder my progress has been reversed. I basically took a month off!

I know I didn't tack on the extra pounds overnight. And I know, as much as I hope and wish on stars, that it won't come off overnight either -- or in a strong windstorm. I need to pick up where I left off and start moving forward, just one step at a time.

If I'm lucky, there'll be times the wind is at my back, helping to push me along... maybe even bouncing along like Tigger in our One Acre Wood.