5 Ways to Beat the Heat

To Coloradoans' not-so-intense joy, we now have had more than 13 days with 95-plus degree temperatures. The 'dog days' of summer cover approximately the last two weeks in July, and the first two weeks in August. Well, every dog around this house has spent most of the last two weeks trying to find the coolest place on the kitchen tile, usually under the ceiling fan.

I don't blame them.

Unfortunately, Dave's office is now going through routes with the newest drivers hired for this coming school year. Which means they have to travel the whole thing in non-air-conditioned busses. He comes home covered in sweat and exhausted.

Except for a few days in the Denver area (which was even hotter than here), I've been largely panting my way through the time here. There are five things that have certainly helped make this awful heat wave more bearable, though:

*Lots and LOTS of iced tea. Strong iced tea.

*Smoothies...these are great. Neither they or the iced tea have many calories. Here's what I dump in the blender:
-- 1/2-1 cup of fruit (two frozen peaches, nuked for 45 seconds to loosen the skin and make them easier to cut, are the current favorite, but blueberries have starred lately, too.)
--6-8 ice cubes
-- approx. 4 tablespoons sugar OR 2 tablespoons honey
-- 1-2 cups milk (fill your blender half-full, then add more milk if mixture is too thick.)

nice, but not critical -- a small container of flavored yogurt

That's it. Blend everything together and drink! Makes about 4 glasses.

*Wearing a damp dress. I wash clothes, then wear one until it's dry. This is incredibly cooling.

*Hanging the rest of the damp clothes around the house, instead of on the clothesline. They add a perceivable amount of moisture. In fact, I've taken to washing a load of sheets or towels just before we go to bed. Then I drape them over the door to the bedroom. You can literally feel the temperature drop.

*Keeping room windows open in a direct line. Cool breezes come in the guest bedroom, travel down the hall, then exhaust themselves before heading out into the dining room...and vice versa. This way, the whole house cools down, instead of just one area.

I hope your neck of the woods isn't as broiling as ours has been...but perhaps these suggestions will help.

Now I am getting off this sticky leather couch, and taking a shower...

Taco Bell Rockies Special Strikes Again!

Yes, fellow Coloradoans...

Taco Bell is still offering 4 tacos for a buck the day after the Rockies score seven runs in a game!

(They don't even have to win.)

It's only good 4-6 p.m. the day after the Rockies seven-score...

Ask for the 'Rockies Special.'

Why am I bringing it up? Because last night, the Rocks mashed the Dodgers, 10-1!
And Jimenez, in his first full game of pitching, was absolutely amazing...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080723/ap_on_sp_ba_ga_su/bbn_dodgers_rockies_6

So today, Wednesday, make the Rockies special yours.

Financial Epiphanies...finally

Some time ago, GatherLittle by Little began a chain on financial epiphanies, that moment when you realize you've Got to Do Something:

http://www.gatherlittlebylittle.com/2008/02/26/my-epiphany-time-for-a-change/

This got me to thinking about my Critical Moment...actually, there were several:

*Realizing early on that if I wanted to go to college, I had to work for it. That meant clerking all through high school at a hardware store. It wasn't bad...my boss was extremely kind, and I liked the work. (Well, except for the farmer's (and my) red face when he asked for a female connector.) Through college, I also:
-- broke dozens of eggs for Sunday morning breakfast at the cafeteria, stocked the ice cream machine, washed dishes in the 'pit'
-- clerked for an income tax preparer, as well as other secretarial jobs
-- manned a pick-your-own-apple stand
-- installed lightning rods at a college in Michigan's U.P. during spring break one year
-- cleaned house and walked the dog for a family, in return for room, board and two meals a day (in grad school), cleaned house for others, too
-- made eggrolls for a Chinese fast food place (where I also met Dave one spring afternoon!)
-- typed papers for other students, was a classroom assistant and tutored
-- taught a college class (really! ENG 291 Children's Lit) and managed a children's book fair

You name it, if it was legal and not immoral...I probably did it, or thought about it. I got some financial aid, and my wonderful parents helped out a lot, as well.
It also taught me that I could do a wide variety of things. My mom said I should be able to do at least three things well -- because then I could always find a job doing one of those three things. If I could accomplish more than that, the possibilities were even stronger.

*No one was going to take care of me. I had to take care of myself. I knew women who married or had long-term boyfriends so they wouldn't have to plan, to care for themselves. (They let him do all the thinking, instead.) I had more faith in myself than that...even after I was fortunate enough to meet and marry Dave.

*If I gave my word, I was going to keep it. This meant that even if things went badly, I wasn't leaving. No matter what. And the bills would be paid. No matter what.
At one point in our life together, Dave got really sick. He was forced to quit his engineering job, and for three months, he didn't work at all. Nothing.
Then he took a job bus driving -- at a quarter of his earlier salary.
I was working at the quilt magazine...so I started working more. My business began to grow. I took any short-term job I could, from catering to checking out at Wal-Mart. I stopped spending, except on the girlies or absolute essentials. For years, I bought no clothes, except for underwear, except on deep clearance, or at the thrift shop. (Nearly all of our Christmas presents came from the same place, as well.)
Things slowly got better. To our mutual astonishment, after a few years we realized that our bills had been paid throughout this time. We had no debt, and had paid our credit cards -- in full --every single month. God's grace and sheer stubbornness...that was it.

And finally:

*We could teach our children about finances, but the responsibility was -- and is -- theirs. As our girls went out into life, they chose to do things we didn't agree with. They let people take advantage of them. And invariably, they would come to us for help when stuff went wrong.
At first, our hard-won money would bail them out. But after several episodes, we began to see the value of saying No. No. And no, again.
This broke my heart at first. (It still aches.) But our girls are finally -- mostly for better -- realizing that, well...
No one could take care of them. Except themselves.

Now, what opened your eyes, finance-wise? Do tell!

Websites are back up!

Fortunately, the websites' private info protections are so strong that they couldn't be accessed at all. (They're actually in a separate area altogether. So if you're thinking of ordering from Brickworks or Classy Girl...or you already have...no worries. Your info is more than safe.)

Unfortunately, the public pages -- the home pages, freebie pages, stuff like that --are not as strongly protected. The hacker -- bless his creepy little hide -- just slapped his info on top of the websites. (Think whitewashing.) My webmaster just spray washed the sites off, so to speak, and there the original info was, ready to go.

Thank God.

What a Lovely Monday Morning...

Dave and I went camping last week, accompanied by Daughter #1 -- including a Thursday night concert in Snowmass of Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks! He has the wackiest mix of jazz and bluegrass and New Orleans soul...loved it.

We saw the Maroon Bells, trudged up to Marble's quarry, and soaked in the hot springs at Glenwood. Lovely. Got home Sunday evening, scrubbed off the mineral water, went to bed...

This morning, over the first cup of coffee, I get a call -- both the Brickworks and Classy Girl websites have been hacked.

Sigh.

And of course my webmaster is out of town, working at a Boy Scout campout all week.

Double sigh.

Hopefully he can fix it fast...it seems to have been hacked on the top info layer only. So I wait -- and sweat.

Back to washing sleeping bags, doing the dishes and making the bed. At least I can do SOMETHING about those things!

More shortly...

Are You Feeling Lucky?

Huh...are you? (you know what the next word is)

Some fascinating ways to increase your 'luck'...

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/07/08/ten-tactics-for-improving-your-luck/

And now I really have to finish up that contract --

Your Financial Epiphany?

Gather Little by Little, one of my favorite bloggers, has started a new round of sharing with the catch phrase: "What was your financial epiphany?"

Take a look at the various responses:
http://www.gatherlittlebylittle.com/2008/02/26/my-epiphany-time-for-a-change/

I'll be posting mine shortly here -- but right now, I have to finish packing, send out some contracts, wash some clothes and generally finish getting ready for the Crazy Quilt Retreat. ( http://www.crazyquilt.com ) I'll be gone from today through next Tuesday, but getting online now and then during that time. (Omaha has great WIFI reception.)

Enjoy!

Take A Hike

...on this virtual climb up El Camino del Rey...

WOW.

http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1438490562

I guarantee you'll feel a little out of breath by the end!

Revisiting Food Stamps

Cashmoneylife has another look at the recent tv report on food stamps:

http://cashmoneylife.com/2008/07/03/the-other-america-commentary-on-food-stamps-and-the-economy/#comments

Be sure to read the comments -- they're the real teller here. Most people are struggling between compassion and frustration: compassion for people in hard times, and frustration that those people, at least most of them, are not using the help offered wisely.

What do you think?

Also, you'll want to see Simple Dollar's take on living on the knife edge -- it's fascinating.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/11/30/nourishment-on-a-desperate-income/

My mom, while pregnant with me, lived in a Navy seaside town with a husband who drank and fooled away his pay. (No, this man was and is not my beloved farmer dad.) Mom had nothing to exist on but what she could scrounge. Collecting pop cans was her mainstay, but she had many a meal of 'hot tomato soup' with hot water, ketchup packets and the saltines she could get at a nearby restaurant.

If you have to do something -- you do it.

Happiness is an Emptying Refrigerator

Spanish VBS is over. The team has gone back to Mexico...and I am beat. It's no joke to keep a group of 16 housed, fed and schlepped to various commitments, especially plans are shifting part of the time. Meeting and getting to know them was a pleasure. So was beginning (again) to learn more Spanish.

It was a bit of a relief, though, to know that I can eat lunch again without having to make 25 other lunches first!

This week will be a quiet one -- until Thursday. Then it's off to the Crazy Quilt conference at Omaha, NE...yours truly will be teaching classes on "Flora and Fauna," Hanky Panky II and a general class on the history of Crazy quilting. The classes are nearly full, but I hear there are a few spaces left. You can find out more at http://www.crazyquilt.com/

It Could Happen Next Door --

and did!

We woke up Saturday morning to yellow crime tape ringing the tree in our frontyard. Our neighbor got burglarized! His car and motorcyle were stolen. The thieves rolled them quietly down the hill, and were trying to start them at the bottom when another neighbor called 911. (We've had several burglaries in our neighborhood in the past 6 months, and a lot of people are extra-aware of Weird Stuff Going On.)

The guys got away, but not without a gunbattle with the local constabulary, being trapped on one of the back roads -- you can find out more here:
http://cbs4denver.com/local/Search.Armed.Burglary.2.759365.html

The strange thing: even though they were supposedly out of the neighborhood, we still saw a helicopter circling around the neighborhood -- a grass fire just 'happened' on the hillside around 2:30 a.m. -- we had SWAT teams and police cars wandering around the neighborhood --

And early Sunday afternoon, we couldn't get back to our house: the street, both top and bottom, was blocked by flashing-light police cruisers. Eventually they -- and a SWAT team and 2 more cruisers -- left, and we were allowed back in. But we weren't told why. (And the neighbors who were still at their houses were totally unaware of what was going on. Our big woofy dogs were equally clueless -- they were sprawled out snoozing in the sun.)

I hate this.

It seems like one of the guys-at-large was still hanging around. But why not warn us?? Why not at least give us some kind of description, so we'd know who to look for?

Sigh.

It's now late Tuesday night, and for all we know, Mr. Lawbreaker and Mr. Lawbreaker #2 are camping out in the grove below our yard. Maybe I should invite them in for s'mores.