G’morning, all…the weather report here is thunder showers all freaking day long (pretty much the same as most of the weekend!) and my commute into work this morning took nearly two hours, what with wet roads, an unusually large number of big TRUCKS lumbering along, and people just generally driving either much too fast for the road conditions or ridiculously slow.
No happy medium.
SATURDAY morning when I went grocery shopping at @ 10:00 or so in the AM ( I drive about 20 miles up the highway to a grocery market where the produce is especially good and prices are fairly reasonable) I had been driving for maybe 10 minutes when we were hit with
torrential rains…and I mean TORRENTIAL…like a monsoon or something! Had the windshield wipers on “high” and they just couldn’t keep up with the water coming down. I could barely see, and at first it felt kind of adventurous, but that wore off really quickly when my windows started fogging up, and people were pulling over onto the shoulders to wait it out. The roads had a good six inches – maybe more – of water rushing along them, and the skies were so dark it was like driving at NIGHT. It seemed to me that the best thing to do was to keep just crawling along slowly…my engine actually sputtered a few times, and I was afraid that if I pulled over and stopped, my car might not start up again, or something. Plus, the rain was so heavy that I couldn’t read the road signs, so if I had to call for assistance, I wouldn’t actually know what part of the highway to tell my potential rescuers that I was on. I don’t know. I just knew I wanted to get off that highway, and the surest way to do it seemed to be to just keep driving cautiously – I was using the defrosters at that point, and could see marginally well. Altogether, I think I was driving in that mess for about 40 minutes. It sure was a LONG 40 minutes, let me tell you! Scary!
Well, I obviously made it, and about two minutes after I got off the highway, the rain stopped, the sun came out through the clouds, and it was like being in another country! CRAZY!
Our guests came for dinner, and I made a nice shrimp and chicken stir fry with onions, green peppers, red peppers, summer squash, zuchinni squash, asparagus, and black olives and cilantro with a light lemony-ginger stir fry sauce. Served that with brown rice and warm flat bread. It was yummy! They brought dessert – angel food cake with fresh strawberries and dark chocolate squares (I ate the strawberries and ONE dark chocolate square!).
Yesterday I got in a long bike ride (an hour and a half) in the AM when it was sunny and before the thunder storms started. Then, DH & I went out and bought two more tower fans – despite all the rain we’ve been having, it has NOT been cool. It’s been staying in the mid-to-high 80’s, and with 100% humidity, it’s been pretty ugly hereabouts.
As most of you know, we live in an old restored Victorian house. We put in a new, energy-efficient gas furnace last year, but to put in central air really would’ve cost too much, and while it would’ve added to the value of the house, it really wouldn’t have added enough to offset the cost. We’re pretty much like you,
Meowee-Linda – only needing AC rarely, so it’s never been a high priority for us. With the winters we have, efficient heating systems are much more important than AC. BUT there are those times when you WISH you had it, and this past week has been one hot & muggy stretch. The tower fans really do a good job – one cools one big room easily. We have window AC units in the bedrooms, but just ceiling fans in the kitchen and dining rooms. We have had tower fans blowing in the studio and in the living room, which blows out into the dining room some. So yesterday, we simultaneously recognized the need for strong additional fans in the kitchen and den, so off we went, and back we came with two more fans. Didn’t feel like making a big dinner, so I made flat bread pizzas again since DH & I both really like them.
Oh, and I very foolishly got on the scale yesterday, only to discover that I had
GAINED a tenth of a pound, which I now understand is actually a little OVER an ounce, because MY scale obviously weighs in pounds and tenths of pounds, too – not pounds and ounces. (Truly a “duh” moment for me when I read that!) But as for gaining 1.(
whatever ounces), I am just so
SICK of that FREAKING SCALE!! This week, I’m going to keep close track of everything that passes my lips, and if I haven’t lost
TWO pounds by next Saturday, I’m going to throw that danged scale out and get a new one! Or not. Maybe I should just throw it out and forget about weighing altogether. Just judge my weight loss by how my clothes fit. What do you think,
Jo-annie and
Phyllis? Should we boycott the scales?
Trish, I took piano lessons briefly as a child. I have always loved music. Unfortunately, it would appear that I must be tone-deaf or something, because I sing like a cow with a stomach ache and any instrument (piano, violin, guitar) that I’ve attempted to play has shrieked loudly in protest! Now I
HAVE attended a few drum circles, and can usually sustain the beat for a good three or four minutes at a time.
EZ, as
LindaD knows, my darling son lives in Los Angeles. I have never been to the west coast, which I know must seem strange, considering my advanced years and all, but I’ve just never had any real reason to go out there. Now I do, so I guess I will – in the fall. Have you ever been to the Backstage café in Beverly Hills? My son – who was on his way to becoming an archaeologist – is a manager there. I haven’t figured that one out yet!
Lyn, your boat trip sounds like such fun! A little sunburn is a good thing from MY perspective. Of course, I always get red and then it turns to tan by the next day. My father was the same way – after he retired, he was out most every day working in his gardens, tromping about outside and up and down the trails through his woods, and he would turn this deep mahogany color that was really startling with his bright blue-green eyes.
Jo-annie! I am SO jealous of your having a new baby in the family! I REALLY wish my youngest daughter would have another one, but it’s not looking too promising.
Hiya
Cuppa – and welcome to the
Golden Girls! Wow! Adopting a baby! Yikes! Yep. You’d better hang with us here and get yourself in tip-top shape, because you’ll need to be once that young ‘un starts walking – and worse – running around. Maybe we’d better make you our special project and take some real responsibility for getting you ready for the new addition.
Hey,
Lynn! No, it didn’t say to put it on my shoe. That was MY bright idea! Since I’m pedaling my bike instead of walking, I thought it might record more accurately if I put it on my foot. Now that I’m seeing this in print, I’m afraid it sounds kind of stupid. One of those bright ideas that seem really smart at the time, but aren’t. That article, BTW, was, I think right on target. When the people around us aren’t nutrition or weight-conscious, I think it’s much harder for us to be. Much easier to just “go along with the crowd” so to speak. Aren’t we lucky to have our own crowd here at 3FC to “hang out” with and stay motivated with to lose our weight?
Oh, brother,
Karen. I don’t GET why people just can’t
say things the way they
are! I mean, if that guy from NM really wasn’t that interested, why not just TELL YOU that he didn’t think the house would suit them, and let it go at that? That would’ve saved you a whole lot of stress around waiting for him to get back to you. I’m definitely not looking forward to the experience of selling our place when we’re ready to move on!
Hi – and welcome,
Wunder – I think you’ll like it here.
Theresa? You out there somewhere? What’s going on? I hope you’re feeling okay! Let us know?
Hey,
Moxie! Hi
Lily! Okay, time for me to do some work…
Have a great day, y’all!!!
Z