Joys

We are now in the overly warm, sticky days of summer. It means there is a very good chance each evening for a pop up thunderstorm, and this week I think it happened every night. For some of you immediately after a shower is a pleasant cool the day or the night is the result.  Here it is just a way for allowing steam to rise. If you happen to be in the car after one of these showers you literally see what looks like smoke coming off the pavement and rooftops. 

When the weather is like this I try to have only two plans: swim or stay inside. Consequently there is not a lot going on with my days right now.

Sunday: We were tired and did very little other than read and take a quick nap. I have to be crazy tired to nap during the day.

Monday: This was just a regular day, but I did get started cleaning out the kitchen cabinets and drawers. Does any house really need 15 Tervis tumblers and/or Tervis type travel cups. Hello Exchange Club. I left 4 of them in the cabinet and am giving the rest away.

I had a nice conversation with my friend M, and of course I talked with My Beloved Sister, but I talk to her nearly every day.

Tuesday: It was another regular day but I was fortunate to have a long conversation with My Beloved Sister while I cleaned up a huge mess I accidentally made.

TheHub and I were feeling old and creaky and decided to get in the hot tub.The night was gorgeous, with the Edison lights glowing on the upper patio.We were ready to really relax while the jets did their magic on our joints. Hot was the operative word, so we stayed in it briefly. 

I reset the water temp much lower and hopefully the next time we get in, it will be refreshing instead of feeling like we were inside a  boiling lobster pot. 

Once we got out we both went to the screened porch, supposedly to drip dry. But the crickets and katydids were singing, the overhead fan was blowing and we both fell asleep in our wet suits. It was nice while it lasted, but we couldn't just wake and head straight to bed. We still needed to rinse the chlorine off in the shower. We probably should have just stayed asleep on the porch.

Wednesday: Prime day to the rescue! Our refrigerator is very old but everything works except for the ice maker. The last time I priced having a new one installed it was going to be over 200 bucks. It might be worth it to some of you but there is no way I am going to put that kind of money into a fridge that is this old. We have just been using ice cube trays and honestly it works perfectly fine for us until we have  guests, then we run out of ice pretty quickly.

TheHub mentioned having an ice maker installed in the butler's pantry, but it would require tearing out the existing cabinets and shelves. Instead I suggested a much simpler and less expensive solution. I saw a portable ice maker on one of the lightning deals, ordered it and it was delivered today. I have to let it sit for a bit before I can plug it in to clean it before using it, but by sometime  over the weekend it should be making ice. Whoo hoo!

Did I mention I also talked with Sluggy, who always makes me laugh. It is nice to have met  fellow bloggers IRL and formed friendships 

It is on me to meet some of you who live little closer than Louisiana and Idaho, face to face at some time too.

Thursday: I was able to go to my happy place. Son2 and DIL2 are both working at Independence Place and are adding Life Skills to their program. I volunteered to help with the cooking lessons for them. Some of the participants do have some rudimentary cooking ability, but most of them do not. As both they age and their parents/guardians age, they need some skills for the future. 

I decided we would start slow and begin with something very simple where they could learn to use some of the tools I bought specifically for them, to use over time as we progress to more difficult recipes.

The first thing we made was pimento cheese. 

I bought a manual rotary shredder (Ourokhome  Rotary Grater ) and they could easily grate the cheese (No busted knuckles!).  I also bought a manual beater (OXO Good Grip Beater). It was ergonomically very easy for all of them to use. 

They not only enjoyed the process of making it, but they love eating it after it was finished. I asked them for suggestions about what they would like to make next time, and got many (too many in fact) . Now I have a list for at least the next two months.

I also had a conversation with Sluggy which is always wonderful.

Then later that evening TheHub and I met up with some of our friends for dinner at Mikey's. It is always a good place to eat and the company just could not be beat.

Friday: The day was hot, humid, hotter, more humid, just one of those days when you stay inside as much as humanly possible. My truest joy for the day was working air conditioning. And would someone please tell Kim and her Sissy that I am not responsible for the Hershey nuggets in Kim's house right now!

Saturday: We woke and did our usual Saturday morning running around ending with a stop at Sneaky Pete's for a takeout slaw dog. I am not a big hot dog fan, but their slaw dogs are something special.

Other than that the day was just a hot, hot, humid, hot, humid, hot day.

Look for your joys, however small. They are always out there!

May all your weeds be wildflowers.

Anne

p.s. If I am not responding to your blogs it is mainly because they are restricted to Google users. Though I am one, last weekend TheHub spent about 6 hours working on an internet issue, then mucked with my computer reconnecting it. I am not sure what he did but it messed all of my connections causing me to totally reset my computer. The update is now blocking me from what used to be a simple comment. I am still reading everyone and keep trying to tweak my settings, but am having no luck so far.