I could update ya'll on what's going on over here in sunny California. Well, the first heat wave of the summer hit yesterday, and today it is supposed to reach 103F before long. Our plan was to get AC in the whole house, but it was WAY too expensive, and we ended up getting a window unit for our entertainment room. I guess if there is one room in the house to put a unit in, it would be the entertainment room. And it is nice, being able to relax, watch tv, work on the computer, read, in a nice, cool room. I'm considering, however, getting another unit for the bedrooms. It was tough falling asleep last night with it being so hot! I usually don't have trouble sleeping in heat (I love having a ton of blankets on) but I can't sleep without something covering me! It was too hot for even the sheet last night, therefore, I had trouble drifting off. Oh, well. I'll survive. This heat wave is only supposed to last through Sunday, and then its back down to the mid- to upper-80s. Nice and comfortable.
Speaking of Sunday, Matt and I are going camping! Yep, that's right. Matt's mom reserved a campsite at El Capitan in Santa Barbara. I think that's a place they like to go. It definitely is not wilderness camping :) Matt's mom told me that you can get all the cold water you want, but you have to pay for a hot shower. A what? Shower? What kind of place is this? Oh, and the Albertson's is about a 2 minute drive, so we'll probably be picking up food every day. That makes it easier, anyways. I am excited to be sleeping in a tent again, though. And it will be cooler right down by the beach. My foot has healed enough that I think I'll be able to enjoy some nice hiking while we're there. And I'm looking forward to s'mores, as well. Yum! I could probably eat s'mores all day....
I've started doing P90X again. This is officially my third round of the program. I've survived the first week. The first two or three days were excruciatingly painful. My body is getting used to being sore again, and that's a really good thing. I'm looking forward to being in shape again :)
Update on the house: Well, we haven't done a whole lot more to it since the last time I updated. We rented a small dumpster and got rid of the old carpet, finally. It was taking up a lot of space in the garage. With the extra space, I was able to bring in the boxes of stuff that have useful items in them, and unpack most of them. There's still the odd box of nic nacs lying around, but I'll eventually get to those. Our sunroom is in almost usable condition, as well. I was able to take a bunch of the stuff that was cluttering it up and move it to the garage. We need to rent one more dumpster and our garage will be perfect, I think. Our entertainment room is coming along as well. We bought two big desks from Ikea, and after much rearranging, got them arranged the best way for the room. Matt and I each have our own workspace, which is a first for us :) There's also a tv viewing area, which works out nicely. And I have plenty of space for my workouts.
The other night, Tuesday, we had a little bit of excitement. The power went off around 5:30pm, just as I was in the middle of making dinner. Luckily, we have gas appliances, so the power outage didn't bother me. Matt, as a good employee of the Department of Water and Power, went out to investigate. He informed me that it was probably going to be a while before it came back on. *shrug* Oh, well. What to do on a warm summer evening without tv or internet? (Well, technically, we both still had internet on our phones. But that is beside the point...) We took a walk. Down to the river, up the riverbed, and then back. It was a 3 mile loop. When we got back, it was right at sunset, and we decided to drive up to our favorite lookout spot and see the valley. Such a clear night! We sat up there and watched the stars come out. Very cool. Then, we headed back down to the house. Still no power. Ice cream sounded good, so we went down to 31 Flavors. I got a single scoop, and was expecting it to cost around $2.70. When the lady rang me up, it was $1.50 even. Wow! We definitely picked the right night to go. It was evidently Dollar Scoop Tuesday. I am thinking of a new tradition in the making... :) The power came back on at 2 am, and I had to get up and make sure all the lights were off, and the electric griddle I was going to use for dinner was turned off. Fun stuff!
Well, that's about it. Today I'm going to try to hang all my pictures on the wall in the entertainment room. That should be fun! And wait for Matt to come home. I went grocery shopping at Costco, and stocked up on beans and diced tomatoes. Those are things I always had in Virginia, but I haven't been able (or willing) to stock my pantry up yet. Well, now I need to figure out what to make with them :)
I'll try to update more often, but, well, it feels like every day is the same, here. Not much changes; time goes on. I'm really loving it here, though. We have a beautiful place, and we're going to enjoy living here, I think.
Later,
~Pam
