July already

Welcome to July!

 Yesterday was a quiet 4th for us. Gregg had to work until 4pm (although he said the store was dead slow) and I spent the day at home hiding inside from the heat. The last few days have been blazing hot with dangerous heat indexes, and it's just not a good time of year to be outdoors. I made chili cheese dogs for our supper (the chili was from scratch; I've grown to hate all canned hot dog chili) with potato chips on the side and ice cream for dessert. That seemed festive enough for us! The dogs looked a bit sloppy, and had to be eaten with a fork, but they were delicious if I do say so myself.

Also yesterday I finally picked the first few tomatoes from my garden along with a couple of cucumbers. We have loads of green tomatoes and I hope they'll start to ripen before the stink bugs get to them. I've been checking the plants every day and picking off the annoying little buggers. They're lucky I don't like to use pesticides because they make me furious! I picked these three tomatoes while they're still a bit green to save them. Finishing ripening on the counter won't hurt anything.

Just a little while ago it started to thunder and then to pour rain. We certainly need it! Keeping the garden alive in heat indexes of 107 degrees requires a lot of watering. Of course, nothing is setting fruit in that kind of heat, but as I said, there are lots of tomatoes (peppers, too) that only need a little more time to ripen. 

My vacation is rapidly winding down. Monday morning will be here in a flash! I'm excited, and a little nervous, too. For the first couple of weeks the office staff will be on a summer schedule, which means 9am-3pm, Monday through Thursday. That should be a gentle re-entry into work! The teachers won't return until two weeks after me, and the students, three weeks. There should be ample time to get settled in before the "real" school year starts. 

After the children return, I'll be on my regular schedule of 7am-2:30pm, Monday through Friday. I'll be waking up super early, but it's going to be nice to be off so early in the afternoon. On days when I'll have to stop by the bank on my way home with a deposit (which will be most days during the school year) I'll be allowed to leave at 2:00pm. You can't ask for any better than that! 

Yesterday I ordered some new clothes for work. Two dresses and a pair of slacks. I'm going to need some more things once the weather cools down, too. I've been on a diet (off and on) since the beginning of the year, and I've lost 25 pounds. I'm hoping to drop another 10 by the time September rolls around, and most of my pants are already loose as it is. I'll never complain about having to shop when weight loss is the cause! :) Of course, I'm losing very, very, slowly, but I'm pleased because for once in my life, I'm sticking with new habits. Slow progress is still progress, right?

Fourth of July food and funnies!

I had today off with pay for the Independence Day holiday. That's always nice.

While I would have loved to go see a fireworks display somewhere, every place to do that in this area involves crowds of drunk rednecks. Not my kind of scene at all. And honestly, it's so hot outside right now that anything that takes place outdoors is sure to be uncomfortable. So instead, I did what I always do on holidays and special occasions: I cooked. Since grilling out is traditional on the Fourth of July, that's what I did. Here's the little celebratory feast I made:

Summer BLT salad with avocado and feta.

Grilled hamburgers, baked beans with brown sugar and bacon, and corn (also cooked on the grill).

What our plates ended up looking like. Gregg's has the least amount of salad (he's not crazy about green vegetables).

Today's choice of cocktail: Tom Collins. Cool and refreshing on a hot summer's afternoon.

Not pictured: the delicious Blueberry-Peach Cobbler I made for dessert. It's hard to get a good picture of a cobbler, and the one I took doesn't do it justice. I love to combine blueberries and peaches. The flavors pair beautifully, and our local peaches seem especially good this year.

I hope all of my fellow American bloggers had a nice 4th of July! And for my British friends, here's a great video I stole from someone's Facebook page to share with you:

Britain and American--Awkward Exes

And for my friends in other parts of the world, here's a link to The Oatmeal that made me laugh:


                                                 America explained to non-Americans