First off, let me say thank goodness for central AC!  Wowza it’s been hot the past several days.  We finally turned on our AC on Friday the 6th….we have it set for 73 which is almost too cool, but any warmer than that seems too warm.

Anyway- weekend rambles….

Friday after work I had a massage… my elbow was feeling really good that day and even during the massage it felt fine.  I told him before the massage that I had a mild case of tendonitis and it didn’t seem like he did any different massaging between the two arms, so not sure if he forgot or was just being a little more gentle or if my elbow just didn’t hurt or ????  Bedtime that night was around 10pm.

Saturday morning we got up around 8 and opened all the doors and windows and kicked on the furnace fan to get some fresh cool air circulating through the house.  Omelets for breakfast- packed with ground turkey (taco spiced), sauteed mushrooms, green peppers, pepperjack cheese, a sprinkling of salsa and some avocado slices.  YUM!  Then we tackled our To-Do List.

– Picked up tables and chairs from my parents’ house
– Scrubbing said tables and chairs
– Scrubbing the BBQ and Beverage Cart
– Scrubbing the gutters on the back of the house (they are white- which means yearly maintenance)
– Hosing off the paver patio (main area at least)
– Assembling a bistro table
– Weeding
– Cleaning the debris and spider webs from the gazebo
– Turning the compost
– Edging the yard for barkdust
– Pulling the rocks from the fountain to clean the dirt build-up and replacing rocks
– Pulling the rocks from the patio edge to clean the dirt build-up and replacing rocks
– Repairing broken playground toy
– Re-organizing the storage shed
– Sprayed Weeds
– Bleached the gravel (dog pee)

And I’m sure there was more.  We worked allllll day.   I drank at least 100 ounces of water- yippee for staying hydrated!  We soaked in the hot hot sun and sure worked up a nasty sweat.  We were disgustingly grimy by the time we were done- sunscreen and sweat and dirt.  Yuck.  We were done by 4pm, showered, and then Jim and I headed to Costco to pick up party supplies.  We brought home a pizza for the kids, I ate a salad topped with grilled chicken.  Early bedtime by 8pm.  We were exhausted and Jim had to work at 5am on Sunday.  He’s currently working a rotation which has him going in at 5am one Sunday a month.

So that brings us to Sunday.  I got up around 7:30.  Boy my elbow hurt.  I wore my elbow support for part of the day Saturday, but not the whole day.  I should have worn it all day.  I iced my elbow in the morning and made sure to wear the strap all day (except for a brief stint at the pool).  I made breakfast for the kids- blueberry pancakes.  Had a MF pancake myself and I did add a few blueberries to it.  I’m trying to get back into a fat-burning state.

I looked out the window at one point to see Nikita eating one of the swimsuits.   We had hung all the kids’ suits and towels on a drying rack in the backyard and were keeping an eye on them, but looked away for too long and she got one. She ate through the strap of Brooke’s newest suits and Brooke was devastated and started bawling.  Our normal policy is if the dog eats something she’s not supposed to, we can’t blame the dog, we have to blame the person who left that item unattended.  In this case it was my bad, and Brooke has been needing an additional suit, so I decided we’d go do some shopping.  We needed to get the kids’ soccer uniforms, too, and that’s never convenient- the “store” is at the other end of Canyon Rd, someplace we are never near, at least not when the “store” is open.

After new swimsuits and new soccer uniforms we came home, did some light clean-up, then headed to the pool.  It was HAWT.  I had to dip in twice just to keep cool enough to lay out and soak up the Vitamin D!  Yikes!  We were there from 2-3:30 or so.  That was all I could handle.

Back home the kids cooled down with a book and then we started our Sunday Chores and had dinner- hot wings, salad and caprese.  For myself, I grilled a couple chicken tenderloins and braised them with some Franks Red Hot sauce for that yummy Buffalo flavor.

Having central AC sure is nice!  It allows us to live “normally” indoors- we’re comfortable, and we can use our stove and oven without overheating the house. Although we do try to limit our usage of those things.

Oh, on another note…Trevor seems taller.  I usually measure him every month or so.  Poor kid only grew one inch in 2010 and a half inch in 2011.  Starting in January of this year he’s been picking up pace.  He’s grown 1.25″ so far this year, .75″ just in the past month!  Riley even has commented that Trevor seems taller.  Maybe he’ll be one of those kids who grows 4″ over the summer and surprises everyone when school starts again!  He’s almost 13 and is just a quarter-inch shy of being 5-foot tall.  That’s 59.75″ tall.  That’s 20th percentile compared to his peers.  Weight wise he’s in the 5th percentile.  That means 80% of the kids his age are taller, and 95% are heavier!  To reach “average” (50%) he needs to be 62″ tall and 100 pounds by his birthday.  I’ll keep ya posted!

Here’s the kids in their new uniforms: