Hotter Than Blue Blazes List

The temperature in Las Vegas topped out around 109° F today, meaning that the "heat" has officially arrived. I have an annual tradition of making a list of things for us to do when the weather is too hot to go outside and I figured today was a good day to share it.

Here are some things we could do this summer:

• install a ceiling fan in the living room
• visit the mermaids at the Silverton
• play Ring Around the Rosie
• make our own popsicles
• finger painting
• go to story time and get a free carousel ride
• go camping at Mt. Charleston
• play hide-and-seek
• make milkshakes in the blender (or almond milk with crushed ice)
• work on numbers larger than 13 with my 4 year old
• have friends over each week to play
• create a reading list for my teenager
• work on lowercase letters with my 4 year old
• potty train the 3 year old
• sleep naked
• teach the baby colors and shapes
• watch a family movie with everyone
• sew something for myself
• take the teenager to the Adventuredome
• help my 3 year old with numbers and counting objects
• make fruit salad
• go to the Silverton to see feeding time at the aquarium
• go to the atrium at the Bellagio
• make ice cream in our new ice cream ball
• celebrate the summer solstice
• make kabobs on the grill
• paint t-shirts with fabric paint
• do a photo shoot with the four kids
• play Chutes and Ladders
• make Dirt Cake

Seven (Weird) Things That I Love

Thanks to Thimbleanna for tagging me and putting an interesting spin on the "seven weird things about me blog meme."

In no specific order, I love these things:

1. McDonald's sweet and sour sauce
2. the smell of wintergreen Skoal (smokeless tobacco)
3. fabric scraps
4. wearing wool socks
5. cumin
6. my husband, in all his geeky glory
7. grammar

I've Forgotten So Much

Over Thanksgiving weekend, we moved into the fifth home of our marriage. It wasn't by choice; the home we were renting was foreclosed upon. I call this house "Cozy Peak" and it suits us quite well. We miss some of the storage space we had before, but overall, we've settled in nicely.

We had a beautiful solstice tree and rang the new year in quietly. The teenager got a new computer in December and is thrilled. Mr. Q got new cymbals for his drum kit. The littles got a great set of wooden blocks. My youngest girl turned three and the baby cut six teeth. The big kid (she's four) learned her entire alphabet and can write many of them. The youngest girl surprised me by writing the letter H on the living room wall.

I'm trying to get into a weekly routine. We have music lessons in our home on Mondays; in the afternoons, I hope to go to the library. Tuesday is an at-home day. Wednesday is pottery for the teenager and errands for me and the littles. Thursday is reserved for social activities and Friday will be another at-home day if we aren't busy with appointments. I'm hoping to hike or spend a significant amount of time in the wilderness twice a month.

My nights are filled with work and house hunting. Every week, I get more and more anxious about moving home. My heart is starting to ache for the green of New England, the snow that I am missing this year and the change of seasons.

So many wonderful things have happened over the last two months; most of them were the little expressions of love that melt my heart. Unfortunately, I didn't write many of them down, so I can't share the stories. They are forever tucked away inside my heart and hopefully they'll carry me through.