Heat Wave is Coming!

 Nothing scares us now though.  Not since we've weathered those triple digit temps up to 113 degrees.  100 degrees is not even something to think about long.  

I'll see how I feel the next 3 days.  It's 81 now at 8:00 and comfortable with the windows open.

I'm not sure when I wrote this, but I got distracted and forgot to publish it.  Busy times!

Noreen and I took our 4 kiddos to the park this morning at 9:30, and it was not too crowded.  We're all wearing masks, mainly because of the upcoming trip and keeping the girls healthy and also because it's just the thing to do with school starting soon and these kids being so precious to us.  I'm sorry for the uncaring ones who have lapped up the misinformation and are putting us all at risk.  Those are the very ones who are so vocal and mean-spirited about those of us who feel differently.  Even an 8-year-old and a 5-year-old do not complain about wearing masks when it is explained to them that children do get sick when they pick up the germs.  It was hard for them to be the only kids in their gymnastics class with masks on two weeks ago, but last week, several more families were masked, and yesterday there were many more.  

So we met at the park and found a shady bench, although Noreen and I hardly ever sat down.  Her 5-year-old kept her running, and we both helped hold them all on the thing - whatever it's called - where they hold onto the top with their hands and swing around until they have to drop.  This thing:

Orbitron.  I never knew the name of it.

Graysen and Anthony were in the same video classroom this year but really don't know each other, but they found plenty to talk about, and it was so cute.  He and his family had been to Hawaii last year, and he filled Graysen in on what to expect.  "You know it takes 6 hours to get there, so don't expect it to be quick."  The girls are excited about the snorkeling and whales and dolphins, and Anthony was telling them about a water slide at his hotel - which probably won't be at the girls' - but it was sweet to hear the give and take.  Anthony had heard about Mount Rushmore and was amazed that the girls' grandparents lived in the same state as that - even though they've never seen it!  I wish I had taken at least one picture.  

We had another missing cat today, but I don't think Bowie was exactly missing.  He hides a lot when the girls are over here, and I didn't check to see if he was present when I went to bed last night.  This morning when I fed them, he didn't show up in the laundry room.  That worried me, because he does like to eat.  I looked all around outside, but the landscape guys had on the loud mowers and blowers, so I knew he was nowhere around.  

I kind of half-heartedly worried about him all day, and when we came home in the afternoon, we told the upstairs neighbors and looked pretty hard for him.  I left the garage door raised a little bit in case he was nearby.  Just as I was going inside from the front porch, the sweet little Mormon girls passed by and stopped.  They did their usual little conversation about asking if I had anything they could help with or anything I needed and quoted some scripture.  I told them about Bowie, and one of them prayed a long and fervent prayer for his return and for our night to be a happy one.  I thanked them and went inside and started on my newest Purple Carrot meal.  About 10 minutes into that, here came Bowie strolling down the hall.  That's the quickest answered prayer I've ever had.  I'm not sure where he had been all that time, but he was glad to eat and glad Graysen and Katherine were gone.  

I got the girls to work on a little schoolwork today.  We have a box of sight words from age 4 to grade 3.  I think I had started on some of them with Graysen years ago and forgot about them.  I showed them to Katherine, and she did the first two levels perfectly.  I then let Graysen do the rest of the box, and she didn't miss one. Looks like we need to move on to a different set of words.  

Katherine is working on Graysen's old 1st grade workbook that she didn't finish, and she's pretty good on her addition and subtraction.  I'm not sure where she's supposed to be.  Her main problem is making her 3's and 5's backwards!  Graysen did two math pages from the review her teacher sent home with the class for 3rd grade. 

 They read a couple of books to each other and then played on their own a while.  They're pretty self-sufficient but do like to mention watching TV or having a snack pretty often - just to see if maybe I have my guard down.  

My dinner tonight was totally different from anything I've ever had.  I've never cooked with - or probably eaten - kimchi or bok choy.

These are the 3 choices for this week.

I did the kimchi mushroom fried rice.  

There was quite a bit of chopping - carrots, scallions, ginger, baby bok choy, garlic, cremini mushrooms, and kimchi.  All that was stir-fried and served on fried rice topped with scallions and a siracha aioli.  

It didn't look that appetizing to me, but I was tired and really hungry.  Nothing from breakfast until 5:00.  But it was surprisingly good.  The kimchi's spiciness perked it up, and I tasted the ginger but wasn't offended by it.  The other veggies had just the right amount of crunchiness.  The picture above is half the meal, and I could eat only a little over half of this.  So filling.  Looks like I'll get 3 meals from this dish.  As long as I'm having fun with it, I'll keep on ordering, and then I'll look at changing to another plan.  I haven't missed meat at all.

Yesterday we went across the street to play in the "water" park with Carly from upstairs.  These girls play wonderfully together, and I had such a good afternoon.  Sitting there enjoying perfect weather and hearing all the laughter and conversation from the girls, it was hard to believe so much bad is going on in the world right now.  

No plans for tomorrow.  If were going to be outside, we need to do it before lunch and stay in for the hot part of the day.

On Friday, Mary asked if I wanted to meet at the pool for a visit, but I figured it was going to be too hot for anyone not swimming, so she and Noreen are coming here, and we'll find what coolness we can.  Then I'll have a nice cool weekend.  I promised the girls a sleepover before they leave on their trip.

Adding some pictures from today when we again went over to the park.  These girls make up complicated stories and schemes and have the most fun.  They adopted a roly-poly today and came over asking me if I would do a Google search for roly-poly vets.

These may be thimbleberries, according to the matchup on my phone.  Supposedly, they are okay to eat today, although no one tried them.

We're making it just fine in the heat.  I still want all the windows closed on this ground-floor apartment, but my one little fan is doing its job, and I'm even a little chilly.  

It's Almost Fireplace Time

 Maybe I'll just try closing the windows first, but it won't be long.  I don't even remember what I did yesterday except get a haircut.  When I woke up, I heard the rain, and it was tempting to not get that haircut, but I knew that would mean five more days of wishing I had done it.

I pulled up the app and got signed up and headed down the street.  It was raining enough for my hood, and it wasn't cold, so it was a good refreshing walk.  I ended up walking an extra block on the main street and then cut back to a parking lot and walked around it until it was time to go in.  I always enjoy it when Jay cuts my hair.  We talked about kale and asparagus and schools and where I was from and politics.  It was so good to get a good haircut and get it over with.  

I sat on the porch with my coffee when I got home and saw this sweet little soaked bunny.  He sat in my flowerbed and stared at me while I talked to him.  Bowie was so busy staring at some squirrels that he didn't even see the bunny.

I did see Susan's Value Village turquoise trees pass by on the way to the junk pile.  In a few days, she'll be on the way to her new home in Florida.

I didn't do much the rest of the day except more of the same - trying to figure out exactly how I'm going to arrange everything to make it easier to exist.  I looked over some first grade and third grade review books and decided what I was going to have the girls do for their last few weeks of summer to get ready for school.  

One of those weeks will be spent in Hawaii!  They're all pretty excited, especially about the adventure cruise where they'll see dolphins and whales.  

I did my lunch entrée around 2:00.  None of us thought it would taste anything like lobster, but I do believe this was my favorite one of the three.  Noreen and Emily both tried it and agreed that adding New England seasoning, salt and olive oil to heart of palm and roasting it for 20 minutes made something that tasted like lobster, especially mixes with vegenaise, dill, onion, and celery. 

 Out of this world!  Even on a hot dog bug.  I will definitely make this again and will cut the little heart of palm cylinders a little more unevenly so they don't look like little logs and roll out of your sandwich.

The Yukon potatoes were not the kind I like.  I did eat them but probably won't eat the second helping's potatoes.  I've now cooked 3 meals with 3 leftover meals and have had fun doing all that cooking.  I've ordered my next 3 choices already, but I don't think any of them really looked good.  Hoping they are though.  I do like  not buying groceries and just bringing in salad stuff and making some eggs or oatmeal/banana waffles or muffins for breakfast.  I had some pretty fresh strawberries yesterday and used those instead of frozen blueberries, and the waffles were so good.  I'm going to make 6 batches of muffins today though so I'll have breakfast in the refrigerator this week.  

I'm not going to give up dairy and eggs and possibly will eat some fish, but I do like the way I feel without eating meat.  I'm getting plenty of protein, so I don't think I need it.  Still experimenting though.  If it's good for my heart and tastes good, I'm all for it.

Well, finished this and forget to publish.

The Weekend Comes Finally

 I've loved everything we did this week, but I have to say I'm ready for doing things at my own pace for a couple of days.

Today I just had Katherine for about 3 hours while Graysen and Ryan took Liz to the airport.  When they dropped Katherine off, she gave Liz the sweetest long hug.  I'm so sorry they can't see their cousins more often.  Maybe it will work out for Liz to come to UW!

Katherine usually loves time alone without her sister, but today she was a little sad at not having her around.  They've become so dependent on each other.  I love it, but I think Kate might have a hard time adjusting when school starts.  After all, they spent the whole of last school year in the same room.  She will have the other kindergartener, Ellis, from that same school room, so it will be like having another sister.  She gave me an elaborate shrug when I asked if she was missing Gray, and she said, "Yes.  In first grade, I'll have new friends, but it's not the same."  Poor babies.  It's been a pretty unusual time for them, but they may be better off with a few struggles in life to overcome.

We read a few books and then played Bananagram, making up our own rules.  I don't think she quite got it, but she loved looking for letters and making up words.   She was sad to not find Carly upstairs, so she had to spend the time with Mimi, but we weren't complaining.

Before she came, I tried my second Purple Carrot meal.  This is the one I thought I would like best, but I didn't like it as much as the first one.

This was called Smoky Portobello Tacos and was a little easier to make than the one yesterday.

My version.  If I ever try it again, I'll skip the taco shells.  They were flimsy and broke apart immediately after one bite.

That little bag of Spanish rice was the star of the show.  It smelled delicious out of the bag and was even better cooked.  I would have been happy with the mushrooms cooked with tamari and liquid smoke and the Spanish rice.  Perfect.

It would never have occurred to me to use cabbage and radishes on a taco, but I did it just like directed, and it was overall good, although I didn't taste the radishes.  What I DID taste was the lime jalapeño cashew sauce.   Mine wasn't white and creamy.  It was green and HOT.  No one told me not to use the whole jalapeño. Knowing what I know now, I could have made it better, but I'll enjoy the second serving of it Sunday.  I just threw out the taco shells and will eat it like I want to.  

Tomorrow I make the lobster rolls.  

When I went to get the mail, I surprised the cats in the dining room window.  They couldn't believe it, obviously.

This first-floor apartment is an open book for passers-by, but I doubt many of them take the time to look in, and I close the blinds late in the afternoon.  There also is no foot traffic through there that I've seen.  Just the people who live in the building. Noreen brought her guys over to play with the Legos we inherited, and I looked up to see two little faces just looking in my living room window.  Cutest thing ever!

The weather looked promising, but it never rained much and certainly didn't thunder.  I see my old balcony right above the red truck.  I miss Jaime, but I don't really miss living there.  I love parking at the garage and walking right in.  My car is on the left right behind the bushes.

The rest of the family went hiking Sunday at Franklin Falls, and it looked beautiful.  Lots of pictures at the website, but here are some they took.