Life: It Goes On - June 12

Welcome from the gates of hell. Seriously. It's been in the upper 90's for the past four days and the humidity it creeping up. To paraphrase Miss H, "it's a hot." We're having to water everything every day and yard work has got to be done early. Even so, I managed to give myself a case of heat exhaustion yesterday. I'm terrible about remembering to drink a lot more water on days like this.

It didn't stop me from going to the Summer Arts Festival, one of our fave things to do in Omaha during the summer. Always some impressive artwork and we thoroughly enjoyed the music of Rockin' Dopsie Jr. and the Zydeco Twisters. We didn't bring anything home (except some kettle corn!), but my pocket was filled with business cards and I'll definitely be ordering some gifts.

This Week I'm:

Listening To: I finished The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest Thursday (review this week). I'm  sticking to my assertion that every book in the trilogy could have been 100 pages shorter but I still enjoyed the actually stories. I didn't want to start a new book on Friday so I spent the drive time listening to podcasts including Stuff You Missed In History Class. Music wise, I'm listening to the Hamilton station on Pandora. I have noticed that some of the Pandora stations are really limited in what they have - of course, I want to listen to the music from Hamilton, and it stands to reason that I might also enjoy In The Heights, but the station is pretty much limited to those two musicals and Green Day's American Idiot.

Watching: Not much other than the NCAA baseball Super Regionals. Gotta start choosing my teams to cheer for when they get to Omaha and the College World Series! 

Reading: I finished Emma Cline's The Girls last night. Makes me want to reread Vincent Bugliosi's Helter Skelter. Next up, though, is A Home For Happy Mothers for review later this week and then A Marriage of Opposites, this month's book club selection.

The Sci-Fi Summer Readathon wrapped up Tuesday. I only managed to get one "sci-fi" book read the entire week. On the plus side, it was, at least, one of my own damn books.

Making: Lots of granola! Cherry/coconut, golden raisin/pumpkin seed, and peanut/chocolate chip all turned out well. I'm particularly a fan of the peanut/chocolate chip which is like eating all of the cookies at once. What didn't turn out so well was an apple cinnamon batch, which was, honestly, nasty. Still, I'm going to give it another try because, dammit, it should be great, right?

Today we're making the summer's first batch of caprese pasta and a lemonade "salad" my sister makes which is more of a dessert, super light and summery.

Planning: Work continues on turning Mini-him's room into a guest room. Chenille bedspreads, my great-grandmother's dresser and vanity, quilts, and old family photos are moving in to replace the Captain America shield, beer boot, and masculine feel. Eventually it will get painted this summer before we get a second bed in there and there will be a new window treatment; but, for now, I'm happy with the way it's shaping up.

Thinking About: Saying goodbye to Miss S who leaves next weekend to move to Milwaukee. She's gone off for months at a time for school assignments before but we always knew she'd be back. This time we don't know when we'll see her again so it's going to be hard to see her leave. Have I mentioned before how bad I am at goodbyes? There will be tears.

Enjoying: The flowers at the library I go to for the book sale.  They are beautifully kept up and bloom spring through fall. Unfortunately, the library sits on the corner of one of the busiest intersections in Omaha so you can't just sit there and enjoy them.

Feeling: Heartsick about the shooting in Orlando. What is it going to take for this country to do something about the weapons that allow for this kind of thing to happen? How many innocent people have to die?

Looking forward to: A quiet week. I think. Whenever I think that, things start popping up to keep life busy.

Question of the week: What's your best tip for staying cool this summer?