Oh sweet Jesus, it's hot. Well, it's Seattle hot. Anywhere else in the country would laugh at us, but with no ac, our bodies are not acclimated to this kind of weather. Our only defense mechanism is sweating and whining.
I wrote an article last night for American Profile Magazine on our go-to meals for when it is too hot to cook.
A recent walk to the beach netted us a lovely piece of drift wood and some old string. Troy, ever the crafty and creative guy, built Jack a bow and arrow.
My own little Katniss Everdeen
Our garden is coming along decently now. We had four days of heavy rain last week, and then it started getting hot on Friday, and will remain hot for the near future. I've recently added four more blueberry bushes to our microfarm. There is a nice older man who sells fruit bushes at our local farmer's market. He sells three year old bushes for $25 at the market, but during a recent trip to his house, he gave me four for $60, PLUS threw in a grape plant. Note to self: figure out how to grow grapes. That brings our blueberry plantings up to 12 total. Jack salivates just walking by them.
I felt so grateful for his kindness, that Troy and I decided to pay it forward. We have an old window ac unit that doesn't work in our new rental. Our plan was to sell it for about $50 on craigslist. We were waiting for a hot week to post it, thinking it would sell better. Instead? We gave it to our neighbor who is a single dad and has a house that gets crazy toasty in summer.
Jack and I loaded it up in his wagon, and rolled it down to the neighbor's. He didn't know we were coming, and father and son met us at the door in only a diaper (son) and basketball shorts (dad); both were sweaty and looked cranky.
Ya'll, you should have seen his face when I told him we were giving it to him. For free. I thought he was going to cry. He quickly got to work setting it up, and Jack and I returned home for dinner. He texted me that night saying the house was cool enough to sleep and he was so thankful for the ac.
I have never been so happy to "throw away" $50 so much before in my life. I wanted to tell our neighbor that he should really text Al, the blueberry farmer, but I just told him we were happy to help.
Meal plan time! Reminder, I only plan dinners, because breakfast is always smoothies
or eggs with something, and lunches are always leftovers. We rarely
eat dessert during the week, and our dinner drink of choice is water kefir soda.
Monday:: Grilled peanut satay, rice, and grilled veg.
Tuesday:: Salad and skillet garlic bread.
Wednesday:: Pasta salad and tears because it is supposed to be 90 degrees.
Thursday:: Fourth of July BBQ at my in-laws.
Friday:: Popcorn dinner. Yes, seriously we eat popcorn for
dinner. It's popcorn, leftovers, cheese slices, fruit, and cut up
veggies. Everyone gets as much as they want, and no one leaves hungry.
I adore Fridays because it is the easiest night of the week for making
everyone happy!
Saturday:: If it has cooled down, we'll make homemade pizza.
Sunday:: Family dinner at my parent's.
We haven't gone grocery shopping yet, but my list is very small. Fingers crossed it is a low bill.
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