Purple Rain, Sleet, Snow, or All?

 

I hate when they make my favorite color purple look evil. But sure enough, we are in the heart of the worst of the ice storm warning starting at midnight tonight. I with this was April Fools, but it's not!

Let me translate what this particular purple means... up to an inch of sleet and up to half an inch of ice. In other words, travel is not advised early Thursday.

So since my home and my workplace are both the purple zone, most of us who have a commute are working from home tomorrow!

The one purple that did me joy today was a I sort of kicked bunny tail in our department egg hunt. I don't know if I found the most since not everything was tallied yet, but I snared 41 of them! Me, competitive much? Not a surprise at all.

Hope you'll be safe tomorrow no matter what color in the map you live in. Make smart choices!

Not as Trifle of a Trifle Tuesday as I Hoped

I should've known at the first glance of the sunrise on my morning commute that God was trying to instill in me a sense of calmness for the day ahead.

Instead I was worried about my precious cargo for a Trifle Tuesday birthday celebration at work. Granted that does take 30 minutes of concentration – especially when I had to slam the brakes for two idiotic deer crossing the road. I held my hand across my passenger seat like I was protecting a child! In the end it got to work intact.

Right now I feel stupid talking about what was in the trifle because some tragedies occurred today with some of my loved ones but I'm not at liberty to share yet. Just hug your loved ones and know cancer effing sucks!!!

So anyway, this is my usual Frosted Circus Animal Trifle. So appropriate when a majority of us working in corporate setting know it can be a circus!

Bottom layer had a very carefully placed parade of animals on the outside. Inside that parade is mini frosted vanilla cupcakes basically cut in half or crumbled a bit. Next layer up is white chocolate pudding I added some red food coloring to for a pink-ish layer to match those animals! Next layer is chopped up vanilla wafer cookies – the kind with frosting in them, not to be confused with 'Nilla Wafers.

Repeat layers. Add Cool Whip on the top – plus more circus animals!

It was very sugary and sweet and delicious. And I came home with perhaps one serving left if I really scrape the bowl good. I'm not above licking it clean when it comes to this particular trifle combination!

The other bright spot of the day – although much colder than "summer" yesterday – was Royals baseball kicking off their home season. I lasted a few inning but got pictures of each of the starters at bat. And we were ahead when I left and thankfully continued to kick butt and beat Owen-Withee 11-1. I think this will be a fun season to watch and capture.

When it's warmer! 

I do hope you all found something positive and not the least bit "trifle" to your emotions today. Take care!

Monday's Micro-Dose of Spring

This. This is 100% me. And also why I decided at 7 a.m. – after consulting with Mr. Deck Chair and the ugly upcoming forecast – I was taking the afternoon off. I mean It's almost April and I've used one day (of 6 weeks' worth) of vacation in 2026.

Best decision!

I logged off at noon and was at my friend Jenny's house in town by 12:15 and we commenced to enjoy a leisurely but calorie-burning 3-mile walk. With so much catching up!

Got home and started assembling a trifle for tomorrow (no spoilers allowed this time). Then sat on the deck to paint my toenails a sparkling pink SUMMER color (of course!). Then sat on the swing to let the nails dry while I listened to my current Book Club book that is changing my life – Theo of Golden. Trust me, as soon as I'm done I'll be blogging about it because I want everyone to read or listen to it!

Took another walk later because well, it was still gorgeous out. Plus I had to get in a few more steps. I think my health and fitness program at work is going to think someone stole my FitBit because... 10,000 steps TWO days in a row?! This is not the Robyn Austin we've come to know.

I fully acknowledge that shortcoming. Working on it, working on it!

The challenge comes with winter allegedly returning in 48 hours or less. Gah. I think Old Man Winter and Mother Nature should just pool their resources and pay for therapy for the lot of us!

On a serious note... graphic photo alert... today is the 2-year anniversary of my sister Rachel's horrific crash that tried to claim her life (a few times!) but the angels decided it wasn't her time yet! If you don't believe in God and miracles then look at this photo and ask yourself how else she and her friend survived!

Even now, she's not out of the woods yet. She's advancing more to walking without a cane or walker but is smart when she knows she should use one of them. And the legal battle for which insurance company will pay her medical bills is ongoing. She even had a deposition today of all days. Minnesota's "no fault" rule means she was 50% at fault for the accident because she was on that road – even though the other driver crossed the line and struck her. Obviously with impact! If any of you are the praying type, she still could use your prayers.

It continues to remind our family that there are so many miracles of spring. We love the birds and the little shoots of flowers blooming. But having our sister still with us tops them all. 💖

Hug your loved ones. Or if they are far away, tell them you love them!

Spring Brake, Palm Sunday, Etc.

So I was thinking that when my church choir and I sang two songs on Palm Sunday that for sure I'd have an "in" to win the cross BINGO. Nope. There were two games that I was one away from BINGO and couldn't claim a payout in time.

Close does NOT count in BINGO. Still, so fun! Too bad there's only 2 Sundays left this "season."

When I got home and it was 64 degrees I quickly changed shoes and went for a walk. Dang the snowplow drivers did some damage to neighborhood yards when they could tell road from anything with 2 feet of snow.

Was fun to catch my friend Marigene on the circle and the a few miles in, though. So nice!

Went to the store later for trifle ingredients and was struck by the knowledge that we really never know of a spring pothole is half an inch deep or half a bucket deep! Uff da. Wow. Actually so grateful for the bucket at this grocery store because my Black Betty would not have handled that well!

Of course, spring brakes wouldn't be complete without something BREAK-ing. For me. That's my bracket. Dang Duke. 

As Forrest Gump would say, "That's all I've got to say about that." 😩

Forget all the madness. Enjoy spring the next 24 hours!

Weekend Yarns

 

Long before I became acquainted with yarn I though a yarn was a story or a tale, especially one that is incredible and probably made up.

But then a couple of years ago my friend Julie introduced me to crocheting and what the magic of yarn can do.

For awhile after that I was obsessed with making scarves of all kinds. But since then... baby blankets.

So we have 2 sets of young adults in our life who are expecting babies next month. Contrary to popular pre-parenting practices, neither is finding out the sex of their child.

With my self-imposed deadline looming, I commenced to hooking today. With a 50-50 chance I said, let me start with girly colors. Well that didn't last long because my stupid skein was somehow messed up and in knots. So, not that it will effect the outcome, I switched to some typically boyish blues. 

Got a good start... but do you know baseball is on TV now (yay, Twins) in addition to March Madness hoops? Yup. This might take me a day or two. Good thing it was cold and windy with no forecast of me doing anything outside today!

Random Acts Rock

 

I know the "official" Random Acts of Kindness Day was last month, but after a special moment this afternoon I challenge us all to open our eyes wider and see the opportunity to perform these more often.

So I went to my usual hangout after work... OK, it's Kwik Trip and I needed gas and cash – surprisingly in that order. I saw an older couple from church walking into the store. I cannot call them "elderly" because of one of them has former (way former) Miss Wisconsin Rapids vibes.

When I went in and was doing my ATM thing I saw their bouquets of flowers right there. I thought, you know what? I'm going to buy one of these for Helen – which may or may not be her real name.

When my business was done I just waited by the exit for the two of them. She looked up in surprise when I said "Hey, these are for you!" Both of them had such shocked looks and her husband was like "You don't have to buy those" and I'm like "I already did."

I just told them I wanted them to feel a little bit of spring. They deserved that. And they couldn't stop thanking me and telling me how much that meant and how this doesn't happen to them.

That almost made me feel worse because we need to start paying some attention to lonely people!!

Anyway, when they assured me there's a special place in heaven for people like me, I thanked them and of course said, "Well, hopefully not too soon."

It just made me realize that all of us can perform random acts of kindness at any time to make someone's day. If you don't have the financial resources to buy a $15 flower bouquet, just tell someone you like their sweater or if they open a door for you, say you appreciate there are gentlemen still around. 

I forget how good it feels to get out of MYSELF and my issues and just appreciate others. I'm not bragging about my actions, I'm just reminding us all that even a small measure of kindness can go so far. 

Go for it!

And... Action!

So when you're a writer in a marketing department part of your job duties include writing video scripts. I mean for everything from safety advice type videos (it's an insurance company, after all) to more entertaining story lines for a fun video for a sales leaders' ceremony.

Spoiler alert: I like writing the funny and entertaining stuff the best!

So this week and last week we had several video shoots to piece together what we KNOW will be a highly entertaining and memorable video for such occasion. On Monday I was accidentally on camera as a hand model – not really, but I am glad my nails were done for the close-up of my "hand shaking" scene. 

Today we wrapped up our last segment and I cannot wait to see the final results.

I am so grateful to work with such a talented video team. I mean they can piece together magical results every single time. Yesterday they used a Go Pro camera in the pool and I was like, wait, I have Go Pro that I never use. Should I pick up a new hobby and do more video?

No, Robyn. The answer is no.

And yes, I know that would add a level to my photography skills, but dang, I should stick with what I know. Shouldn't I? 

Asking for a friend who happens to be middle-aged and has no excuse nor time to pick up another hobby. 😁

I promise to keep myself grounded. To accept my capabilities. And to dip a toe – just one toe – into the video capabilities pool. Keep me honest!