July!

So here we are in July. Not my favorite month anymore, if it ever was, despite my birthday, because of the heat. I actually dread the summer heat now, because we don't have a good way of dealing with it. Our single fan in the desk room window, running through the night, has to cool off the whole house, and then our big trees in the backyard do their best to keep the heat from getting unbearable during the day. It works OK if it gets cool enough at night, and if there isn't any smoke, and it isn't humid. But if it doesn't cool down, or it's too humid, or the air is too smoky to run the fan, then we're in trouble. So far this summer we've been lucky, but here comes July.

And of course, later this month we have to go to St. Louis for Rocket Boy's surgery on the 25th. He has air conditioning now, but going outside will be awful. I can't see us taking a lot of walks. Oh well, don't borrow that trouble now, too many unknowns.

As I sit here typing this, Rocket Boy is driving the last stretch of his journey toward home. It's 6:35 pm now and I'm estimating he'll get here around 7. I have a banana bread coffee cake in the oven, and I should probably go work on dinner too. We're just having hummus and pita bread, plus a cucumber-tomato salad, with some apricots on the side. I hope he doesn't think that's too weird or skimpy. I thought it sounded delightfully summery.

***

He made it home! He called from the road and asked if we'd like to meet him at Great Scott's for dinner, but I said no, I'm making dinner, so he just came home. The dinner was good, even if a bit weird, and I think everyone got enough to eat. Though later we went to Sprouts to pick up some food for tomorrow and while we were in that shopping center we also stopped by Dairy Queen! I didn't get anything, since we have five kinds of ice cream in the freezer. That's kind of my thing these days, a way to save some $$ -- let everyone else get something when we eat out, and then I have whatever at home. I don't get Starbucks anymore when we go on Sundays, just get the kids stuff.

I don't feel deprived when I do this, because it's totally my own choice, and I like saving money. Beats working, right?

So I have a new plan for Rocket Boy's visit, and I'm very curious to see how it works out. Usually when he comes home I hand over some of the household chores to him, especially the dishes. I feel as though I do everything when he's gone, so he should do some of it when he's here. He's quite willing, but he doesn't do it the way I want him to. Dishes build up, there are always a lot of them piled up on the counter and the stove and in the sink. I get cross with him. Then he goes back to St. Louis and I have to do everything again.

This time I want to do things differently. I've been doing so well with the FlyLady that I want to keep that up, not change anything. So I'm going to try to keep doing all my chores, not push them off onto Rocket Boy. There are lots of other things I could have him do, things that I don't like doing and tend to avoid, such as taking the bags of used clothes to the donation center and the boxes of used books to the Bookworm. We could do some yardwork together. There's a long list of things like that, and then I can continue with my FlyLady routines and not let them fall apart.

We'll see. It's 9:15, I should go feed the cats and then start cleaning up the kitchen, sticking to my evening routine.

It's not only a new month, it's a new quarter. I haven't been writing down my plans, so maybe I'll do it now.

Quarter 3: July through September

• My next President is #22 (and #24), Grover Cleveland, and I think I am going to read Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character by Alyn Brodsky. I will have to request it from Prospector, so I won't do that until we're home from St. Louis, sometime in August.
  
• Home improvement project(s): I'm thinking I may try to get Rocket Boy to look at flooring with me while he's here, so that we can make progress toward getting the kitchen floor fixed. I've also arranged with the guy who worked on the yard at our rental property a few years ago to come work on our yard, but it probably won't be until August.
  

Month of July:

• A theme, hmm. I suppose red-white-and-blue patriotism, with the understanding that I don't like one single thing that's going on in the country right now, at least with the Supreme Court. But I'm still a patriot. I'm the kind of patriot who wants the country to do better, to live up to its ideals.
  
• I've been doing lots of socializing, should try to keep that up. And of course there's the trip to St. Louis looming.
  
• The next book group book is The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. We meet in two weeks, so I got it from the library on Friday. Not really looking forward to reading it.
• This will be the month I read The Makioka Sisters for the Classics Challenge. I plan to bring it with me to St. Louis.
• We'll probably do some fun things with the twins on weekends now that Rocket Boy's here.

Week of July 4-10:

• Monday (Independence Day): We'll have a barbecue in the evening, and in the day we'll probably unpack Rocket Boy's car and get him acclimated. The FlyLady says we should do the Home Blessing on Tuesday this week, but since Tuesday is my Special Day, I'm going to do it on Monday. Not a big deal. Maybe Rocket Boy will want to help!
  
• Tuesday: My 62nd birthday. I'm going to make myself a cake (angel food with lemon curd and whipped cream), but I don't have any other special plans. It's Taco Tuesday, so in the evening we're going to introduce Rocket Boy to the joys of Crispy Butternut Squash and Poblano Tacos.
  
• Wednesday--Friday: No plans as yet (except taking my car in on Wednesday), though I do have meal plans. The FlyLady has plans for me, and Rocket Boy will need to work.
  
• Saturday: Eat out, maybe do something fun. Teen A wants to go to the cabin at some point, so it could be this weekend.
• Sunday: This could be the cabin day, depending on the weather. It's supposed to be stinking hot.
  

It's now past 10 pm, cats are fed, one teen is bathed and the other is about to do that too. Rocket Boy is watching something on TV that sounds boring. All's right with the world.

And I need to do the dishes!