Happy Fourth of July!

I hope everyone has a safe and happy July 4th! If you need something yummy to make for the occasion, click over to Small Time Cooks. Yay Independence Day!

Weekend Roundup- Hot Hot Heat Edition

Our A/C decided to surrender just before the Texas heat hit town. Thankfully our house has good windows, insulation and a good amount of shading from our many trees, but let me tell you folks it is still plenty toasty in there. Friday was actually the worst heat-wise since Uncle Gary had to have the door to the garage open while repairing it for us. Luckily he was able to come by and do that though, as that has also helped keep the extra heat out. We're more or less living in the bedroom, utilizing the ceiling fan, a pedestal fan and keeping the well shaded windows open all but the hottest part of the day. We keep all the lights off unless absolutely necessary to keep any unneeded heat at bay. I bought lots and lots of fresh produce and we'll be having almost all no-cook meals this week. I need to boil a pot of pasta tonight, but aside from that everything is either no-cook or a quick turn round in the microwave. Obviously the heat has put quite a damper on our activities. Looking at a week of doing as little as possible, while we wait for our home warranty provider to acquire a new compressor for our little hot house. Aside from being hot I did some reading, hung out a little bit with Holly, and ate some leftover BBQ at the In-Laws. A very unproductive weekend indeed, but who wants to accomplish things when it requires so much sweating? Blech.

I think I've more than made up for it by accomplishing plenty this morning, in the cool air conditioning of my office. I changed our electricity plan to get a way better rate, canceled our premium channels before the free period expired, and arranged delivery of our new smaller trash cart and repair of our recycling cart lid. So there!

YES

Apartment Therapy LA has IKEA's Summer '09 sneak peek! Just when I thought I'd figured out everything I wanted, I've got a lot more to think about.

They're Back!

One of my favorite summer shows has returned! The History Detectives were back in action last night with some great mysteries to solve. The one about the WWII pilot's war diary was especially good- I cried! Check your local PBS listing to see if it airs on your public television station. And if it does, you've got some good TV to watch this summer. I think I might even submit a little mystery of my own.

Fishing for Father's Day

We've decided that we're going to go to Blue River in Oklahoma on Saturday. Josh's dad is going up early Saturday and staying the night. We'll be driving up early Saturday too, but driving back that evening. Josh has band practice Sunday and doesn't want to deal with having to drive back that morning too. Anyway, I'm very excited! We went to Blue River for my first camping trip in November to enjoy the meteor shower and I had a great time, despite it being in the 30's that night. This time it will be hot, and I can sit in the sun. I need to take a book to read. I still haven't finished my Al Franken book, stopping 3/4 of the way through, as is habit with almost every book I read. But I don't really want to read that on a lazy summer day. Not sure what to take instead though. And maybe I can take along the dominoes, cards, and dice for some leisurely afternoon games. I'm going to make sourdough grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch with some chips & salsa on the side, perhaps even some guacamole. The Dad-In-Law will of course catch some fish to fry up for dinner. To accompany dinner I'm going to do grilled potatoes, grilled corn on the cob, and if John has any squash from the garden we'll either grill or fry that up too. Josh has spoken and so the dessert will be strawberry shortcake, and I'll bake some cookies to snack on during the day too. And then lots of beer. Mmmm, beer.

Weekend Roundup

Okay, this weekend was so ridiculously crazy that I just can't do a roundup. You'll just have to take my word for it that I really, really needed the 13 or so hours of sleep that I've just woken from.

And it seems like we might have hit our first triple digit temps this weekend, although that giant sign and our car display could have been wrong, I guess. Either way, summer has announced it's intentions. It intends to roast me alive.

Fun In The Sun

We've decided that we'll finally go to Concert In The Garden this year at the Botanic Gardens. I've wanted to go for years, but we've never gotten around to it. We're planning on the first weekend, to hopefully avoid the hottest of the hot Texas summer. I love jazz, so I'm excited that we've chosen to go on the big band tribute night. If only we hadn't missed the tribute to Gershwin last year, sigh, but Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman will be great. And every concert ends with fireworks! My cousin Angie lives not far from the gardens and you can see the fireworks from her front porch all summer long- oh, I wish we had that kind of luck. Josh is in charge of handling tickets and parking, and I'm in charge of planning and preparing the picnic supplies, which of course includes food. I can't wait to put together a yummy menu for our fun evening under the sun, stars, and fireworks! This may be the perfect opportunity to make a little something out of my cute Winnie The Pooh cookbook.