You Get What You Ask For

A couple of days ago I wrote a gloomy post about some gloomy weather.  All I wanted was something in the weather to change, regardless of what it may be.  Well, careful what you ask for.  Today my part of Texas has seven weather warnings:  a tornado watch, strong wind advisory, flash flood warning, two flood warnings, and two severe storm warnings.  The rain is so hard you can barely see anything, the sky is as black as night, and the roar of the wind is chilling.  The storms are coming from the west and cities that experienced this weather a few hours before us are at a stand still with flooded motorways and blown down trees and power lines.  We had a power outage for a couple of hours in the middle of the night and I woke up with a start at the sound of the wind.  But now the real storms have hit, the kind that show up as deep purple on the weather radar.

Now we've had worse weather here before, but we went through this just 16 days ago, and once in January is unusual for us.  Twice is almost hard to believe.  But the weather has caused the change on my mood that I was hoping for.  No, I'm not happily skipping about that there could be houses and buildings damaged, people hurt.  But this weather snapped me out of my winter blues funk as soon as I woke up at 2.30 this morning.  This weather makes you alert; everybody's a little more cautious and almost compassionate.  I've had a call from my mum asking me to let her know when I got to work safely and Zak is keeping in touch more than usual.

I have a vivid imagination, and so when something dark happens my mind can't help flickering over the idea of the worst.  I've spent the morning worried about my mum if she tries to go out to any shops, and if our dogs Pandora and Sheila are okay at home alone (Pandora doesn't like storms very much.  She looks around nervously from window to window.  I'm trying to tell myself that she's curling up to big sister Sheila for support).  Hell, I'm even wondering if the squirrels that live in our backgarden and constantly torment the dogs are okay.

On the flip side, this type of weather does make me a little happy.  When not contemplating the potential dangers of this weather, I excitedly think about how when I get home I'm going to sit in front of the fireplace with a massive cup of tea and a good book, or have a long relaxing bath while the rain beats down on the window next to me, or watch one of my guilty pleasure films with a glass of good wine and a thick blanket.  Knowing my luck, by the time I'm home from work today the sun will be back out.  But until then, it's nice being out of the funk and having something else to think about.

Winter Blues

The weather's been miserable for the last few days.  Predominantly overcast, gusty winds, dark nights, and warm temperatures.  Yep, it's winter in Texas.  On the whole, Texan winters are wonderful.  They're a healthy mix of cold days (some bordering on the freezing temps) and warm sunny days.  Both are wonderful.  You can remember how much you loved wearing your coat and your flip flops in the same week.  It's a blessing, really.

But that doesn't stop Texas residents from feeling the "winter blues."  This week I've seen more sullen looking faces than I have in the last month, from the woman at subway who looked at me as if I'd asked her to rob a bank when all I wanted was more lettuce to the tellers at the bank.  People in general just seem a bit downcast.  Maybe that's because the holidays are officially over, New Year's resolutions are starting to fail, or just the last few glum days we've been having that are giving people the "winter blues."  And unfortunately, I am one of the sufferers. 

I'm ready for something to change and I don't really care what for.  Winter Blues can be brought on by any number of things.  For me, it's been our warm and cloudy weather.  I like the two extremes of a Texan winter.  This blended weather doesn't suit me.  My requests are quite simple.  I'd like to be in a) shorts and a tank top sunbathing or working in the garden or b) in 50,000 layers of jumpers, socks, and all things cosy.  And although it's trivial, the sluggish air is just enough to make everything else about my days feel slow.  The forecast tells me the sun will come back out in a few days, so I just have to pull through the next 72 hours.  Bring on the sunshine!

A Bit of Fun

As my last post stated, a lot has changed in a very short amount of time in my life.  I feel very fortunate that things have panned out this way, but I also know that I worked very hard for these accomplishments.  I have a pretty solid routine wearing many hats:  wife, mother (although it's just to the two dogs, one of them is only a year old and takes up a LOT of my time), homeowner, professional, etc...  This is a part of life, we are never just one person playing a single role.  Some of the time these roles we're given aren't through choice.  Fortunately, I have chosen each of my roles, but that doesn't mean that I don't get overwhelmed every now and again. 

The beginning of this week was one of those overwhelming moments, where everything seemed to get too much for me.  Work was busy as usual, there was garden work piling up after having a drain installed last week, my little angel of a one year old Dachshund/Beagle decided on Monday to rip open two throw cushions and Tuesday to feast on the front end of an arm chair, bills were due, and with my usual duties, I felt that I was trapped in the movie "Groundhog Day."

But now, I have clarity and light at the end of the tunnel.  Routine was broken yesterday.  I got home a little earlier than usual, my soft furnishing-hungry mutt hadn't destroyed a thing, the Texas winter sunshine was still high enough in the sky so that our garden wasn't totally in the shade, and I did some gardening and played fetch with the dogs while blasting some guilty pleasure Kylie Minogue.  I could feel my shoulders relax every time I threw the tennis ball, my chest loosen every time I sang to a song.  Also with a friend coming over for dinner last minute, where I got to try a very delicious (and healthy!) chicken recipe, it didn't feel like your average Wednesday.  Sometimes all it takes is doing something different to make the week feel more exciting or to escape your current stresses. 

However, my excitement continues as tonight I'm doing something I haven't done since I was in college - I'm going out on a Thursday night.  Now Zak and I have regular Thursday nights out where every other week we meet up with a bunch of friends at a pub or restaurant, but they're more of a happy hour social meeting.  Tonight is to see Avicii, and I get the opportunity to get dressed up as if it were a Saturday, and the night won't end until 2.00 in the morning.  I know it will hurt tomorrow as I drag into the office at 8 a.m., but it will be my badge of honour.  I know a lot of people go out regularly on a Thursday and stay out this late, but I'm not one of those people.  Come 9 a.m. tomorrow I'll be asking my coworkers if they want to go on a Starbucks run with me as I look for a severe jolt of caffeine.  But that's tomorrow.  For now, I can't wait to do the hair and make-up, slip into my party dress, and dance in the car all the way to the club.  :)

It was taken last October, shortly after we moved into the house, but here's a picture of me with my two babies (the small one is the baby that's enjoying all the furniture.  The other one just sleeps on it).