Punxsutawney Princess

When Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow, it's 6 more weeks of winter. When Punxsutawney Princess has a window open, it's early spring. For one day, that is.

It's possible we reached even higher than our noontime temperature of 45 degrees in Wisconsin Rapids. But I don't know. I was in the office all day. But Jim did text me the picture of Sylvester in our open bedroom window with the caption: Summertime!

Hey. We're in the Midwest, it's at least a fake spring time. Or, as shown below, Fool's Spring.

Considering we've only had one full week of February, we might not even be that far down the seasonal totem pole. Especially since snow is predicted tomorrow. Again.

It was a nice dry drive – and daylight drive – to and from work, though. Loving that it's not dark-to-dark hours like late December. The only reason I got home in the dark tonight is that I worked late, then joined my monthly Girls Night Out crew for dinner at Ida's. Got home at 8 p.m. for the first time today. Glad our princess closed up all the windows since it's back down to 32 degrees. 

And glad hubby helped her do that before going off to play indoor golf. No wonder he has summertime on the mind! Not that it's a bad place to be. 😎  Lord knows I'm still clinging to my Caribbean tan lines. 

Find the real spring soon, Punxsutawney Princess!

Which End is Up?

On spring days like today, I can walk in just about any room and there'll be a ball of fluff in the window sill. All depends on time of day and which window is facing the sun.

My first thought upon seeing kitty was, which end is which? With her head and paws and body pressed against the screen to feel every millimeter of sunlight, it was hard to tell. Spoiler alert: Her head is on the left.

I felt upside down and topsy-turvy today, too. They say that parents can only have as good a day as their children are having. You can't be completely happy if your child is stressed or sick or sad or worse. That's reality.

After yesterday's early news about the alarmingly unacceptable lodging situation for our young adult, things went from bad to worse. But in the end, the disappointments were blessings in disguise. I'll tell you about it sometime. I'm just waiting for God to sort the rest of the situation out first. I don't want to be responsible for jinxing anything.

I'll just bury my head in the screen and let Him do the heavy lifting. Though I'm sure Carter – and probably his parents – would appreciate prayers for patience and understanding. 

Mainly patience.

I Don't Do Windows ... or Carpets

I wouldn't necessarily say I'd pay to get out of anything related to housework. But it's possible.

I just know that after slaving away to clean the living room carpet on my own last year as a surprise for hubby, it was a waste of blood, sweat, tears, and time. So when we say the carpet cleaner dude next door last weekend, hubby called and they got us in on Wednesday.

So we moved furniture out of the living room and hallway on Monday and Tuesday nights. And you now who freaked out, right?

Sylvester knew something was amiss. I kept showing her where we put her chair, but I don't think she was paying attention. As usual.

But when I was leaving for work Wednesday, I just had to take a picture of the funniest thing. Here's kitty laying in her "recliner" because that's her spot! Too cute.

She had to be locked in a room while the cleaners were at our house, but they were quick since it wasn't a ton of carpet. It was just enough stress on the fur ball, though. She puked on the "new" carpet before it was dry. Thanks, sweetheart.

Guess we know for sure we won't get new (for real) carpet while she's still around. Based on today's 14-year checkup, that should be for quite awhile yet!

Meanwhile at work, some other people were getting paid to do a fun job... washing windows. But not just any windows...

Yeah. You couldn't pay me to wash those windows. It's like a cross between rappelling, Mary Poppins, and Spider-Man. Yikes. Gotta admire their bravery, though.

There's something to be said for a desk job. A nice, warm, both feet on the floor, desk job.

Some things are just best left to the professionals.

Tax-ing Day

Although April 15 is typically called Tax Day, it is not a federal holiday or free day off of work. Unless you make it one.

I made a spur of the moment decision at the end of the work day yesterday that I would take today off. When I saw the forecast called for sunny skies and temps in the low 70s, it just sounded like a great day to have the windows open and get some spring cleaning done.

Gasp! I know... the undomestic goddess has a strange domestic side that sometimes crawls out from under the dust bunny.

So I slept in by Robyn standards and went to 9 a.m. kickboxing class. So nice compared to 5:40 a.m.! Came home and decided to wash windows first. Well, after a cup of coffee. I don't "do windows" very often so it was actually a mammoth project.

My tools of the trade were these three items from Norwex. No, I don't sell it. No, I am not having a party. I am just sharing the environmentally friendly and EASY way to clean windows. No smelly chemicals to ingest, just water. Simply wash with the green microfiber cloth and wipe dry with the special purple window cloth. Then, get the dusting glove wet and wipe across the screens. Easy, peasy and they're clean!

We have 6 windows in our bedroom alone. See the windows on the right, which are cleaned with my tools. The left are still dirty and dusty and not a completely clear picture.

Wa-laa! After water and my magic cloths, kitty has a clear view out her favorite window!

Since our windows can be "flipped" open to wash both sides from inside the house, I only had to wash a few windows from the outside. Inside I battled Asian beetles and outside it was the wasps making their spring appearance. (If anyone has tips on how to eradicate those beetles, please share!)

At least they gave Sylvester something to watch while I slaved away.

After 3 hours, 18 windows and screens were all cleaned, inside and out. It was about 2:30 p.m. before I finally took a shower. Jim had already left by then to go coach the baseball game up in Wausau. I knew I wasn't going to go because I had more to do and I can make their home game tomorrow.

When I sat down finally, after the shower, though, I was beat. I realized I'd been on my feet for hours! I had a hard time getting back up but I knew I better get more done if I took a day off to do it. So I got my dusting and sweeping and vacuuming done and some laundry. I actually hung up the clothes on the drying rack and carried it outside. Almost like a clothesline. And they dried quickly.

I know. This is sounding way too domestic to be me.

Took a walk later when my neighbor got home from work and pretty much called it quits after that. I do have a pair of Carter's pants to fix. Yes, it will require sewing. If I'm not careful, this undomestic goddess is going to the dark side!

I'll stop myself before that happens. It's been too TAXing of a day to make a habit of it.

Happy Tax Day!