100+

It’s hot. Really f***ing hot! We had a good thing going this summer. We had it pretty mild. We had some good rain. August rolls around and all that is put to an end. Heat advisories. Day after day of 100+ temperatures. 17 days in a row. A slight reprieve on Wednesday. 99. Woot woot!! COLD FRONT! Than back to 100+. No end in sight for the foreseeable future. Just blistering heat. How many times have I now mentioned in my blog that I hate summer? It’s worth saying again. I hate summer. I am longing for fall.

The weather had me on my toes all week. Tuesday I really thought we had a chance for rain. Left work and some ominous clouds had presented themselves along the horizon. Looked at the radar and it was promising. Never saw a drop. It dissipated before reaching us. All I got was a little distant thunder and the fleeting fragrance of rain. Live repeat the following evening. A little distant lightning. It’s been a sad stretch for this cloudy sky guy.

I suppose I might actually be thankful that I was stuck in the office all week. At least I was not out melting. Wait, is that not a noisy Llama spitting sunflower seed? Hmmmmmmm? Hard choice right there? Hard to really say. Sweat it out in the heat or listen to a man with overactive glands spit seeds for three hours every afternoon? Maybe I would rather be out in the heat. I suppose it comes down to what I view as most important to me. My mental wellbeing or my physical wellbeing. I can take a little heat. Can always cool down in the AC. But the strain that this flatulent airbag has on me… I’m teetering towards the edge here. I guess it could be worse. I could be looking at him pick his nose all day. Someone help!!!!!!

August is always rough. Work is more hectic. It’s hot as hades outside. And something about the finality of summer. Nostalgic bliss. A feeling that remains from my youthful days. The closure of summer brings a sting to my heart. Oh the days when summer meant freedom. Long days riding bikes & swimming. Playing video games late night. Trips to the movie theatres. Family vacations. All this coming to an end. Last night of summer I use to lay in bed mentally reliving every adventure I’d had since school let out. Summer use to mean something to me. Now that I’m old it only means HOT!

Bekah decided it was time for a new car. I don’t blame her one bit. The money we were having to put into her old one just to keep it going was going to overcome the value of the car. Plus, I hated that thing. I’d have to fold myself up like a card table and hunch over to see out the windshield. It’s not a comfortable vehicle for someone as tall as I am. Plus I feel much better about her traveling for work in the new SUV.

Also regarding her, it seem I’ve been trying to kill my wife with the amount of jalapeño that I’ve been incorporating into the food last week. With most dinners I leave hers jalapeño free. I made Italian all week. She tells me that Italians do not cook with jalapeño. I’m not Italian and I do cook with jalapeño. I want my Italian to have a bit of a kick. Well, I was asked to please stop. I don’t know what the big deal was? Nothing I was eating was hot. Were we not having the same meals? What a baby!

I experimented with making salsa again. Basically discharged a pepper bomb in our kitchen that sent Bekah running outdoors into the heat coughing, eyes watering. I boiled and blended green and red peppers making a colorful spicy sauce. Really trying to match that Julio green sauce. Bekah had some ideas, being an Ozona girl. Which in retrospect is funny considering she asked me to stop cooking with jalapeño. 🙄 . Well it didn’t quite turn out like Julio’s, but it was good. Better than the last time. Made enough to freeze in 4 batches. Hopefully that will sustain me for 4 week. Who am I kidding, it won’t last me 2 weeks. I’ll try again then.

I had another date with the vampires. Vicious are the vampires. She had precision, I give her that. Just a slight prick and out comes my blood. I’m always a little fascinated watching the tubes fill. I know many people look away. Needles are something to be feared in most people’s eyes. But I’ve gotten use to them in the last 9 years. I stab myself at least once a day every day of the year. So I can tolerate the vampires when they do me quick & painless. I wish they all could be a good as this one was.

Another doctor’s visit. This one was filled with big laughs. Apparently I was a comedian to both the nurse and my doctor. I was on a roll. Not sure why. I guess when I’m nervous I say funny things. I asked my doctor if there was a reason why every outlet in the room was installed upside down or if it was just to torment people that suffer from mild cases of OCD like myself. He had never noticed but it was now going to bother him as well. At least in that room they were all installed upside down so it was uniform. Why does it really matter? You can still plug in. The little things that get caught up in my mind. I’m here blogging about upside down outlets when I could disclose my lab results….

The weekend was rather lackluster. No complaints I suppose. Went to see the Lilly pads. If you’ve not noticed, I do that rather frequently. It’s a place I find relaxation and peace of mind. I also got a reminder to hit up the Farmers Market. I always forget to go. I only ever think about it too late. They had a lot of cool stuff. I picked up some jalapeño jam because, of course. Bought some really beautiful bougainvillea. They only made it about 5 min. Owen seemed to think they were for him and he ate them both. $40 well spent. I was pretty upset over that. Bekah made rice krispies treats to hand out to doctors & nurses on Sunday. Along with the pizza we ordered from Joe’s Italian, I had way too many carbs. I crashed at an uncharacteristically time. I actually made this weekend my last hurrah for carbs. I ate a LOT. I had pizza, enchilada, hamburger, nachos, and pasta. I feel like all I did was eat. Really lazy weekend.

Red Jalapeño!!!!!!!

This week I decided to make Italian the theme. Bekah mentioned that I stopped making Italian foods and how when we first started dating that was my specialty. I use to make it all the time before I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. I mean, pasta! Not really ideal for my condition. So this was fun trying to cook around the pasta. I had to throw one pasta dish in though. Bekah says it was the meal that sealed the deal. Lol

Spaghetti squash and spicy meat balls. I thought this was a damn fine meal but it was a little warm for my wife. So we ended up with leftovers that I ate for lunch the following two days. It was even better the second and third time.

Spinach manicotti. This is the meal Bekah fell in love with that I have not made in at least 10 years. Not only due to my conditions, it’s just kind of a pain in the butt to make. Boil noodles. Cook the spinach & let cool. Mix the stuffing. Stuff the noodles hoping they don’t tear. Make the marinara sauce. Combine and back the dish. So many steps. It turned out to be really good. Although I heard the complaint that is was a little “TOO” spicy. I’m getting use to this complaint.

Spicy chicken alfredo over steamed broccoli “no pasta”. My LORD was this a good meal. I had to make two separate sauces because I wanted my spicy and Bekah did not. Extra work for myself but well worth it.

Baked Italian chicken. With jalapeño. I was told that I’m the only person that would put peppers on this meal. Well guess what? They were excellent and added a nice flavor.

Chicken Marsala. What a treat this meal was. So much easier than I thought it would be too make. I’m not sure why the idea of cooking chicken marsala always seemed intimidating to me. It was such an easy meal with little prep time and so much flavor. I almost wanted to make this again over the weekend.