Hot, Hot, Hot

Today, the temperature nearly reached 100 degrees. I know that's just summertime for some parts of the country, but for us, it's a new record high. This is Washington, the Evergreen state. We depend on overcast days and frequent drizzle to maintain our greenery. And even though July is our driest month, normally our temperatures are milder--like 75 or 80 degrees, tops.

We have air conditioning--which is rare in these parts--but tonight, when I walked into our house after running late errands, it was warm inside--warmer than the night-air outside. Our poor heat pump was just tuckered out from trying to combat the hot air, I guess. I turned everything off, cleaned the filters and opened the windows. Overnight temperatures are supposed to be in the 60s, so hopefully we don't spontaneously combust in our sleep.

My husband returned home safely yesterday. He says he never plans to move to Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The kids took his return in stride and then resumed bickering. We expected to get together with our vacationing friends last night, but they stood us up. We figured that's what was happening, so we waited until 6 p.m. and grilled burgers at home and stayed put all night. This morning, our friend, David, called to apologize. They remembered about our plans last night at 1:30 a.m. on their drive back to their hotel. No problem, I said. Don't worry about it. I did clean my house for four solid hours, but no problem. I needed the motivation to pick up Legos and vacuum and deal with the kitchen-counter paper piles and scrub the sink and wash the bathroom mirrors and put away folded laundry and on and on.

Any motivation to clean house is good motivation, I say.

Today, I informed my newly returned husband that I would be leaving the house when Babygirl went down for a nap. He's such an easy-going man. I couldn't decide where to go or what to do. I ended up at two different thrift stores for a little "retail therapy." I bought books, some Legos made just for babies, a doll for Babygirl, and a few items of clothing. Oh, and "new" sandals. I love a bargain, though I have to say that my fellow-thrift shoppers sometimes scare me. A man totally invaded my space at the checkstand and tried to engage me in conversation. I completely ignored him with the same steely determination I use with street people or obviously insane people. And then I made sure I was in my car with the doors locked when he came into the parking lot. I blame this weirdness on my mother.

Babygirl has been talking a lot these days. Her first real sentence was "I got it!" She says that frequently. When I gave her the "new" doll today, she looked at it and said, "OH!" Pause. "OHH!" For the past few days, she's developed a new attachment to a stuffed dog and a pink blanket. Puppy and blankie. My twins (now 11) still sleep with their baby blankets. (Shhhhh, don't tell.) YoungestBoy was never very attached at any particular objects, but he did bite his nails from the time he had teeth.

I sense that I'm beginning to ramble, so I think I'll head to bed and read another chapter of Anne Lamott's fabulous book, Blue Shoe. Why am I so tired when I have so little to show for my time?!