Beating the Heat!

I keep checking the weather forecast in the hopes I might see temps below 95 degrees, but it's not happening! The rest of this week and ALL next week, temps will be around 100-102 EVERY day!!!  This is the part of Summer I really don't like, but there's little we can do about it. 

To stay cool we can either stay in doors or eat ice! Actually we can do both ;-)  I found this yummy recipe over at Ree's blog, The Pioneer Woman- perfect timing, considering we have all this to use . . .

As you can see our watermelons are not seedless, so I had to strain the juice, then you just add sugar and lime juice and put it in a glass dish and in to the freezer for about 3 hours.

Take it out and scrape the ice and return to the freezer for another 2 hours. Scrape again, and hey presto....

WATERMELON GRANITA!

Thank you PW!

Speaking of 'melons' we've also been successful with these guys this year . . . 

Yummy Cantalopes. We've had quite a few of these already, in fact I think we've picked them all now - given some to the neighbors and munched on a few ourselves. They turned out perfectly. 

Is it hot where you are? What are you doing to beat the heat?

Weekend Update

Good morning everyone, it's another HOT one here in Texas! I wanted to get here yesterday to post about our fun weekend, but that never happened. I had to run over to my ENT to pick up my allergy drops, then went to the grocery store with Kristen, back home to clean up (inspired by the lovely Debbie, her kitchen was featured in the Country Woman magazine) ;-) do laundry, then it was time to make dinner, and then we popped over to Cheryl's so Kristen and Emily could play in the pool and I had a glass of wine with Cheryl.

Last Friday I got a flat tire! First time EVER since I have been driving I think (and that's many many years!). Thankfully Cheryl's hubby Steve came to the rescue. He doesn't go out to work until 3.30pm so he was the first one I tried to call. He not only came out to get us but immediately called AAA and the arrived not too long after to put the spare tire on for me. We were only about 10 minutes from home. I got two new front tires put on the car the next day, and all is well. I can't thank Steve enough, he was my knight in shining armor.

So, Saturday night we went out for 'Cuban'! Cheryl had gotten a Groupon for this Cuban restaurant in Austin, called Habanas, known to have the best Mojitos in town ;-)  They really were GOOD!

Kiki and me ready to head out.

Yummy Mojitos!

After we got home we went over to Cheryl's for a dip in the pool, I deliberately waited til it got dark so I could have a 'moonlit swim' :-)

I'm still having issues using Windows Live Writer to post to my blog, it won't let me! I had some computer issues last week and ever since Jason fixed them I can't post using WLW. I don't like posting with blogger now, it doesn't seem to leave a space between my paragraphs! I'll have to get Jason to take another look at things.

Book Club Friday & Wanna Swap?!!

You all know how much I love books, so I thought I’d join in again with Heather’s Book Club Friday this week, even though I’m still reading the same book I mentioned last week - ‘Loving Frank’ by Nancy Huron.  Book club meeting is next Thursday so I should be finished with by then. In hindsight, I’m rather enjoying the book, and just out of curiosity I Googled Frank Lloyd Wright’s house which is talked about in the book – called Taliesin. Have you heard of it? Seen it? Wow, what an amazing looking structure! Google it if you’re curious ;-)

So this week I thought I’d review a book I read a few months ago for Book Club.

Here’s the synopsis:  It's the beginning of a lazy summer in 1950 at the sleepy English village of Bishop's Lacey. Up at the great house of Buckshaw, aspiring chemist Flavia de Luce passes the time tinkering in the laboratory she's inherited from her deceased mother and an eccentric great uncle. When Flavia discovers a murdered stranger in the cucumber patch outside her bedroom window early one morning, she decides to leave aside her flasks and Bunsen burners to solve the crime herself, much to the chagrin of the local authorities. But who can blame her? What else does an eleven-year-old science prodigy have to do when left to her own devices? 

This is the first book in a series of 4 (so far, actually the 4th book is due for release this November!).  Not one of my favorite books! To me, reading about a ‘kid sleuth’ as Flavia is labeled, seems rather disconcerting.  I mean seriously, who lets an 11 year old kid go off to solve a murder on her own?!  And the fact that she is only 11 made me feel like this should be more like a novel for younger readers, yet it obviously wasn’t.

Still, in saying all that I did find myself not wanting to put the book down (like all mysteries, I can’t wait to get to the end to see ‘whodunnit’!) and the meeting we had about it was fun (as always). That’s what I love about being in a bookclub. You get to hear other opinions about the characters and plot, which sometimes lets me see the book in a whole different light.

SO, who’s up for a SWAP? I would like to send this book on to someone else that would like to read it, in exchange for another book that I would like to read ;-)

Top of my list is:

 

OR

 OR

OR

 Or, if you have a book you think I might like to read, and you would like the Flavia de Luce Mystery, then just send me an email: denise at deniseschulz dot com

Also for anyone that is on GoodReads.com you can find me under that email address and I would love to be added to your ‘friends’.

I was going to add ‘Wine’ to the title of this post (Cheryl and I will be trying two new wines tonight ;-) one is a ‘chocolate dipped strawberry wine!!!) but I’ll leave that for the next post.

Strange, I couldn't post this using Live Writer, so went to Blogger to post, but Blogger won't let me leave spaces between the paragraphs? I hope it's not too hard to read!

Have a great weekend!

Hot Summer!

Would you think I’m crazy if I said I’m already done with Summer? The temps have been over 100 degrees here for what seems like weeks now! We don’t go out unless it’s to the grocery store. The kids don’t play out in the cul-de-sac either, for obvious reasons. I’m starting to wish it was Fall, actually I just wish the temps would drop, I’d still like to enjoy a nice long lazy Summer!

This is helping . . .

Our neighbs next door put in an above ground pool last weekend. Actually we ALL put in an above ground pool. We could hardly sit and watch them when we had every intention of joining them in it ;-) So, just a few days before the 4th July, we set to work . . .

It wasn’t an easy task! The heat was unbearable at times. Then we couldn’t believe it when we saw grey rain clouds forming. especially when rain wasn’t even forecast for that day. While still trying to hold the sides up, we heard thunder too! Thankfully we got no lightening, but we got a down pour and we couldn’t run inside because we were all still holding the pool up. Cheryl’s son had to run over and ask our other neighbors for a hand, things were getting desperate, the wind was blowing really hard too. Thankfully, the rain didn’t last long, the sun came out again and we finally had the lining in the pool and the sides supported!

Then it was time to ‘fill er up’!

Ok, so that took a day and a half, but it was all worth it in the end. The kids got to play in it on 4 th July afternoon :-)

We pop over there every other night or so and join Cheryl and the boys for a swim/play time.  It sure does beat the heat.

Kristen was letting the ball go between her legs in this picture (below), I was trying to catch the ball in mid air!!!

Things in the garden are winding down. We won’t be planting anymore til later in the Fall, the water restrictions are just too bad right now to be able to keep anything going out there. We did get another ripe watermelon (picture courtesy of Kristen) :-) And we’ve had a ton of peaches and cantaloupe. I’ll share more of that next time.

Book Club Friday!

I didn’t get a chance to join in with Heather last week for her Book Club Friday, but I have the time today to post so here we go . . .

This week I’m reading Loving Frank by Nancy Horan.

 

This is our book club read for July. To be honest I didn’t think I’d enjoy reading this book, the storyline just didn’t interest me at all, but half way through the book the characters are developing and I’m being drawn in to the ‘drama’ so to speak and liking it better than I thought I would.

Here’s the synopsis:

Horan's ambitious first novel is a fictionalization of the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney, best known as the woman who wrecked Frank Lloyd Wright's first marriage. Despite the title, this is not a romance, but a portrayal of an independent, educated woman at odds with the restrictions of the early 20th century. Frank and Mamah, both married and with children, met when Mamah's husband, Edwin, commissioned Frank to design a house. Their affair became the stuff of headlines when they left their families to live and travel together, going first to Germany, where Mamah found rewarding work doing scholarly translations of Swedish feminist Ellen Key's books. Frank and Mamah eventually settled in Wisconsin, where they were hounded by a scandal-hungry press, with tragic repercussions.

Our meeting is not until July 21st, so I may still be reading this next week – after that we’ll be reading Heaven is for Real, which I’m really looking forward to, and might actually buy it for the Kindle on my Ipad, it will be the first time I’ve read a book on there! I still like the idea of reading a ‘real’ book, but want to give the Kindle a try.

Kristen on the other hand has no problem reading on my Ipad, she’s already read the first book in the Warrior series. As soon as she finished it she asked if I could download the sample of the second book, to which I replied, “I might as well just buy it"!” – and just like that, within seconds she had it in her lap to start reading! Gotta love technology!!!  ;-)

 

It’s another super hot day here in TX, I think I’ll be over in Cheryl’s pool later tonight, and joining her for a margarita . . . or two ;-)  Have a great weekend!

The Oasis

Hey all, thought I’d jump on here again before too many days pass us by! While Sue and Doug were here last weekend we took them to The Oasis – the famous  and very popular (actually I’m not sure it’s famous, but it is VERY popular) tourist attraction on Lake Travis in Austin.  It’s only about a 30 minute drive for us but we haven’t been there since my sister was here 2 years ago!

It’s always so crowded and parking used to be terrible, but they’ve put in a multi storey parking garage since we were last there so that helped a lot.  Here’s some photos we took while we were there (and again, I know Sue has some much nicer ones but she must still be busy unpacking and catching up on her laundry as she hasn’t added them to her blog yet!).

  

I tried to get a picture of the ‘boys’ but didn’t have it on the right setting! I don’t even have a pic of Sue and Doug on my camera! I must have been taking them for Sue using hers!

The Oasis is known as the Sunset Capitol of Texas – hence the many photos that follow ;-)

   

 

 

As the sun was setting we noticed a young guy and girl below us on the steps, he was on one knee and was proposing to her at sunset :-) When he stood up I actually started clapping and everyone joined in. I told Sue we should ask if they wanted us to take a picture for them, it didn’t look like they had any camera with them. I walked down to them and asked and the young guy was so appreciative and said he had his Iphone with him. I snapped a couple of pics for them but not sure how they came out, it looked like their silhouette against the sunset, which hopefully was ok. At least they had a picture of their special moment.

I’m still here!

Goodness, has it really been nearly a week since I posted? I wrote that last post last Wednesday, but it wouldn’t let me upload it so I got it posted on Thursday and I haven’t had a chance to get here again since then because we’ve had our wonderful friends Sue and Doug visiting us :-)

My sweet friend Sue is actually an online friend who I met many years ago (oh, about 8 or 9 years ago now I think – wow, has it really been that long?!) and many of you will know her too from her blog ‘Life is the Lemonade You Make’. We’ve had the opportunity to meet about 4 times now, twice while we lived in Maryland and they were on their way to visit family in NC, and twice now in TX when Doug has come to San Marcos to work.

As I mentioned in my previous post, last week I made the trip to the Outlets at San Marcos to meet Sue for a fun day of shopping. According to my pedometer that day we walked over 11,000 steps, over 5 miles and burned over 300 calories!

I didn’t spend like crazy, but got a couple of cute tops – here’s me trying one on in the store (my first purchase of the day). I also bought some earrings, sunglasses and another top (which I have no picture of yet!). 

Kim wanted me to blog about what I’d bought, so these pics are for you Kim ;-)

We spent our 4th with our neighbors but sadly didn’t see (or hear) any fireworks last night because of the drought we are in.

Here’s a few photos of the day. . . .

  We spent most of the morning in the kitchen! I made the trifle from Gina’s site, also some cupcakes, chocolate dipped strawberries, and potato salad.

Jason finally put our flag pole up so I could hang the flag he bought me at Christmas!!

 

(if you’re wondering what’s on my head, it’s a head band with fluffy red white and blue feathers!)

Sue will have a ton more great photos I’m sure, which she’ll post to her blog once she’s home.

We all went to the Oasis on Sunday night for dinner! I’ll share those pictures later this week.