Sneak Peek at the kitchen re-do

I have been hesitant (or lazy, you choose) to post photos of our kitchen renovation because we aren't quite finished.  Doing all the work ourselves has been awesome, humbling, frustrating and ultimately very rewarding.  Of course, if the budget had allowed, we  might have considered hiring someone, but I doubt it. 

This remodel technically did start with outside help last winter when we had the kitchen roof replaced, demolished the ceiling (that's the part we did-you can see the damage here) and our contractor basically rebuilt our ceiling so that it's vaulted.  I sort of hesitate to use the word vaulted because it's a really small kitchen, but there it is. 

Fast forward to this September and the project picked up some momentum again.  I spent several weeks painting cabinets, staining countertops and generally losing my mind.  This last week, with the finish line clearly in sight, we tackled a small project and the results are amazing. 

Here is the space we started with (before renovation)  And, yes, that is one pink countertop tucked underneath the other-don't ask:

Yep, pretty bad, all things considered.  After new counters, painted cabinets and a lot of work, it looked like this:

Much better, even with the glare.  There's something about not having pink countertops anymore that just makes me happy. 

I could never figure out why there was a big open space next to that cabinet, but maybe it was because of the configuration of the old countertops?  It would be hard to reach there over that L shaped pink structure that was there before. 

We purchased a sheet of MDF, which I had never worked with before.  It's actually pretty amazing and if you are painting it-a perfect material for a few small shelves.  We were lucky enough to already have shelf brackets on hand that we had picked up at our local builder's surplus store so it was just a matter of elbow grease to get this done. 

First, we measured; next my husband cut the MDF to the right size for the shelves we wanted. 

A few coats of the same paint that I used on the upper cabinets on the sink wall (Minced Onion by Benjamin Moore) and the shelves were ready to go in.  Leveling things in an old house, and especially this section of our house can be tough.  This section of our kitchen used to be a porch and has a decided slant to it, so it's definitely a bit of a challenge. 

My husband installed the brackets:

And, then the shelves finished off the whole thing:

It's kind of hard to believe it's the same space, but it is!  Here's a side by side of the very before and after:

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Public Service Announcement for all Lego enthusiasts and Target shoppers

It's been well documented on this blog that my youngest child, my son, loves Legos.  He eats, breathes and sleeeps legos and will regularly inform anyone who is listening that he wants to be a Lego designer when he grows up.  In fact, readers of my blog also love Legos because this post has gotten more hits than anything else I have ever written.  The cute photos of those chocolate minifigs went so far around that I got them sent TO ME.  Pretty cool, internet-thanks for that!

Anyway, with that information in mind, you can imagine my excitement when I found this at Target yesterday:

Thrilling, really-it's a Target gift card with a Lego set right there.  The very best part is that the Legos really are free.  The only charge is what you put on the gift card, so the Lego set is a bonus!  I grabbed it, stuck it in the cart with all good intentions of putting it in my son's stocking and honestly, patting myself on the back a bit.  Score!!  cool Lego stocking stuffer, right?? 

Not so much.  Here begins the PSA.  If you purchase this really cool gift card (the little plastic box is actually the gift card-cool!)  Do NOT,  I repeat, DO NOT  leave the gift card on the counter, completely visible, right next to the sink.  Because, if you do, when your Lego kid comes home and you tell him to wash his hands right away, the Lego gift card will be RIGHT THERE!!! 

He was totally excited and did have fun putting together "Bullseye" the little white Target dog, but yeah, not so much for the stocking stuffer.  Oh, well...  Maybe someone can learn from my mistake.  Here is what it will look like when it's finished (hopefully, for you on Christmas morning)

Christmas Card Photos thanks to Shutterfly

I have been using Shutterfly for pretty much all of my digital photo printing and organizing since shortly after I (finally) went digital.  Honestly, I had used another company when I was still using my beloved film camera, but once I was all digital, I made the switch to Shutterfly initially based on the fact that they didn't send me emails threatening to delete my old photos if I didn't place an order soon.  On their website, they state their policy pretty simply:  "Shutterfly has never deleted a photo."  I like that!  I also love that I can get my printed photos at my local Target. 

So, I was pretty excited when I found out that they are giving away 50 free photo cards to bloggers everywhere just for writing a 150 word post about their cards!  Count me in!  I love their cards, so it's not hard at all to write about them, and to spread the word that if you have a blog, you can get 50 cards (FREE) as well.  Here's the link for the promotion:  http://bit.ly/sfly2010 

Now, the worry about getting the perfect shot with 3 kids has begun.  I just finished up an awesome project about local parks and we found this spot in one of them:

I love white birch trees, especially a whole bank of them.  When we found this particular spot, both of my daughters said we should come back and take our Christmas card picture here (I was so proud). 

In years past, I have taken a group shot of all three of my kids together.  Honestly, it's been getting tougher and tougher every year.  The odds of getting everyone looking at the same time, and smiling and not doing bunny ears is statistically very low.  This year, for the first time ever, I am seriously considering changing over to one of the collage cards and taking individual shots of each kid and then putting those photos on the card. 

I think I will still take a few group pictures and see if I can use at least one on the card with the individual photos also.  I like to prove that for one day at least, they were sitting together nicely and not making bunny ears. 

After browsing through the selection of Christmas photo cards, these are my favorites so far:

With love Chartreuse (bonus that it's called chartreuse)

This one is really nice, too:

It's cute and called Peppermint Bliss

Now, all I have to do is get something for them to wear that doesn't clash, schedule some time for the photo, devise an appropriate bribe  treat for cooperation and hope that it doesn't rain.  Not too bad. 

If you've got a blog, be sure to sign up for your own 50 free cards, just follow this link and you will receive instructions on how to participate:  http://bit.ly/sfly2010 

A Deadline and a Paycheck

I love listening to NPR-really, I do.  When I am home most days, whether I am working or not, it keeps me company.  Even though I am not always paying attention, I like to think that some sort of information or knowledge is seeping into my brain through radio osmosis.  I also really like the names of everyone who reports for NPR.  I think if I ever have another baby (which is very, very unlikely) or get a dog (again, not going to happen) I just my name it Owen Bennet Jones, just so I can say the name several times a day. 

Another, sometimes frustrating, consequence of all this radio listening is that bits and pieces, snippets of reports and interviews do often find their way into my long term memory, but they are only that:  bits and pieces.  I can't remember which show I was listening to (was it All Things Considered or Here and Now?  I wonder)

I am sharing all this, possibly boring, information because a few weeks ago I heard something that really stuck with me.  A musician was being interviewed and the reporter asked something along the line of "how did this album come together?"  The musician, half joking, answered:  "I got a deadline and a paycheck." 

Yes, so simple!!  I am deadline oriented and who doesn't want to get paid for their work?  When I have a writing job, even the most mind numbing, mundane topic (like vacuum cleaners or cell phones) I can get them done because I have both a deadline and a paycheck.  Brilliant!!!  (if you are imagining Owen Bennet Jones saying that in his British accent, you are not alone).

But, more often than not, the things I have to do are amorphous-no deadline and certainly no paycheck.  I spend a lot of my time on volunteer projects and those certainly have a deadline but always lack a paycheck.  Arbitrary, self-imposed deadlines don't really work for me-my own experience has proven that time and time again.  But, would it be possible to self-incentivize?  I am not sure.  Right now, my "to-do" list includes many things with deadlines that have to be done and will get done, but it also includes things like:

• learn to use sewing machine (which I've had for at least 5 years)
• hang frames in upstairs hallway (they somehow fell off over the summer)
• organize photos on laptop (that could take literally a week)
• write a novel (yeah, that is really on the list)

When it comes to following through, it's hard to find time (and, honestly sometimes the effort) for everything you want to accomplish and things just pile up.  In a day that also includes laundry, helping at school, cleaning out the fridge, shopping for socks because seriously everyone in the house only has one of each sock and some work thrown in, tthe things you want to accomplish get further and further aways. 

So, a deadline and a paycheck-I can dream, right?  I am giving myself a deadline to learn to use my sewing machine-otherwise it goes!  Those frames need to get back on the wall and I am plugging along on my novel this month at Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month).  None of these have a paycheck, yet-but I hope the deadline helps. 

Kitchen progress

Well, it's been nearly 3 weeks since I took the first cabinet door off its hinges and put it into a pile to be painted.  Since that time, we have primed and painted the face of the cabinets, primed and painted doors white, primed and painted doors green, removed the last remaining pink countertops and installed a sink.  Not too shabby for 2 amateurs.  I am especially proud of my husband's work with the sink-he refigured the pipes for the new sink and installed a new garbage disposal!  Impressive.  Here is some evidence:

First, let's take a look at where the kitchen started, way back in 2007:

Now, this is how it looked earlier this year:

This is how it looked a few weeks ago when we started taking the doors off and priming:

I wish I were better at posting during this process, but the work has been overwhelming to say the least.  Trying to get all this done while still feeding my family, managing all the activities of 3 active kids, my husband and me, plus a big freelance project has left me no time to keep this blog current.  I hope these photos will do for now.  Here is what it looked like at the priming stage:

Once the pink laminate countertops were removed, things improved significantly. 

Today, I am finishing up the painting of the cabinets-more photos to follow. There are too many for one post at this point.   

some summer highlights

I am feeling a little nostalgia already for summer 2010 and it's only been fall for about 2 days.  Of course, it doesn't help that we have been sweating it out around here this week, with hot and humid days and not much cooler nights.  I feel somewhat responsible for the return of the heat since I did take all the window unit air conditioners out last week in a fit of wild abandon where I was sure the summer was over. 

This summer, we didn't stray too far from home, thanks to our never ending kitchen remodel.  We joked that our "vacation" should be sitting on my son's bed and looking out at our new kitchen roof because that's where our vacation budget went.  But, we did make the most of the time we had.  Let's run the highlights:

one kid turned 13:

Another kid turned 6:

We took some great day trips and we went to all 3 outside movies at our local park.  We have decided that we don't really care which movie we see, as long as it's outside:

We finally got the firepit I've always wanted.  Of course, because we live "in town" we aren't technically allowed to have any kind of open burning.  Also, we only have what I lovingly call a "postage stamp" for a backyard, so there's no chance of adding a landscape feature type firepit.  Instead, I picked up this lovely tabletop grill at Target, on clearance for $4

And, it worked great.  We had an awesome night of roasting marshmallows and making smores.  3 of my family members actually used nestle crunch for their smores, which I think is sacrilege but if they can live with themselves, I guess it's fine.

getting busy in the kitchen!

I seriously feel like September has knocked me out!  Between school starting, and then a four day weekend, then a 3 day weekend and oh, just for fun, one more 3 day weekend-I am on the verge of exhaustion.  But, the days are still warm, the nights are cool and there's a lot going on in my kitchen-both of the cooking variety and the renovation.

First, the renovating:

The countertop was relatively easy to sand, stain and seal-thanks to much internet searching and reading the blogs of others who have successfully put in butcherblock. 

We decided on a stain (minwax provincial) which looked like this when we tested it:

I did one area with the wood conditioner and one without-just to see the difference.  Honestly, there wasn't much difference in the color, but when I removed the tape, I noticed that the stain had bled underneath on the part without the conditioner.  The section I conditioned seemed to take the stain better.  That was just my mini-science experiment to see what the conditioner does to the wood.

Then, I impatiently (because really what other way is there?) got to the business of staining and sealing the piece of countertop.  It didn't take long at all except for the incredibly long drying times between coats.  It was some of the longest 8 hour spans of my life and I have been in labor twice-just saying. 

This is the final result.  I am in serious love with the finish on the counter and I *think* we have come up with the colors for the cabinets, though I know I will have paint remorse for a while after they are done. 

Yesterday, we made the trek to IKEA (okay it's only like 40 minutes, but still) and got THE SINK.  Yes, the double bowl, domsjo sink from IKEA!!!  Of course, it is still in the box in my living room, but at least it's here.  We also got the rest of the countertops and they are keeping the sink company in the living room. 

Soooo.... while we make our plan of attack for painting the cabinets and installing the counters and the sink, I thought "why not give my new counters a try?"  I mean, for the last week, I have babied the countertop, but if I am committing to having butcherblock in my entire kitchen, they better be ready to take a beating. 

Enter-pumpkin scones-the famed starbucks recipe from food.com.  After tracking down some elusive canned pumpkin and convincing myself that it's okay to mess up my new counter, I got down to baking. 

It actually caused me a little harm to make my new counter this messy, but I forged ahead, thinking that if it can't stand up to a little flour and sticky scone dough, I better not have this in the rest of my kitchen.  Thankfully, just a little dish soap on a towel and it was good as new. 

Now, I am on to filling the freezer with as much bulk cooking as I can stand.  Today, 6lb of ground beef's worth of chili:

Now, the weather can get cooler-because I am ready! 

Some thrift store treasures

I have a little crush on thrift stores; I will readily admit it.  There is one store close to home that I will just swing into and out of-just to see what's new or old as the case may be.  That store has been the source for several pieces of furniture that currently live in my home, including the sideboard that I rehabbed in the spring:

Our china cabinet which was one of the very first pieces of furniture we bought after we moved in.  Here it is all decked out for Christmas last year.  

There's also the dresser in my bedroom, but it's too icky to take a picture of.  It's in desperate need of a facelift. 

These days I am in the market for a certain piece of furniture that I want to serve a particular purpose in my home.  My inspiration is this brand new Ikea piece that we saw on our recent trip there to get the countertop. 

Yes, I know that is very modern and looks nothing like something I would pick for any room in my house, but bear with me-it's the seed of an idea for a little boy who has a love of these little plastic items:

Okay, sorry, I had to put one more shot of the lego minifigs on the blog-though I am wishing the pic was on my new countertop!  So, my search for a new play/storage piece for legos led me to yet another thrift store last week.  I scoured the large space quickly for the right raw materials, but with no luck.  As I was leaving, I spied this beauty near the register and snatched it up for just $3

Pretty sweet and the resulting screams of joy from all three of my kids were well worth the two dollars and all the change I could scrounge.  I asked the owner if there were any legos and he said there weren't right then, but he would let me know if some came in.  (Lucky for me a friend owns the shop nearby).  Imagine my surprise when she called me later that day to tell me there were three boxes just waiting for us.  I headed back down and grabbed these for only $12:

Not too shabby!  After much scrubbing and soaping, and then a little bleach for good measure I nearly doubled my son's lego collection and haven't found that piece of furniture just yet!  Oh, well-looks like more thrift stores in my future. 

one small step for my kitchen

Our kitchen gives new meaning to the old saying "if you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen."  It must have been added on at some point in the life of this old home and gets hot, hot, hot-even hotter than the rest of my unairconditioned, aging, brick home.  We don't spend too much time in here in the summer-a quick run in to get a drink, meals thrown together and ingredients grabbed from fridge and transferred outside to the grill.  The days of baking and cooking have to wait for cooler temps when you've got a kitchen like mine. 

Of course, that also means that all our kitchen renovations have been on hold for the summer.  (well, that's due to a combination of heat and budget-but even the cheap stuff has to wait when it's 100 degrees!).  We recently added a new dishwasher to the kitchen, which has made my life much more enjoyable-just ask my kids.  They haven't hear me say things like "don't you dare use another glass!!!"  or "can't you eat that spaghetti on a paper towel instead of a plate?"  We got a white dishwasher-I have a thing for the good old white appliances and this one puts us solidly on the side of white, with only the stove (and hood) being "bisque." 

We have been living without a countertop in one section of our kitchen since...well, since I decided to rip out one section of the hideous pink laminate "just to see" how that would go.  It came out really, really easily, but replacing it has been much, much harder.  After going around and around about what kind of countertops we wanted, I kept coming back to this photo:

From the blog, This and That   I love (love, love, love) the warm look of the butcher block and the soft shine of the wood and the white cabinets and the faucet--okay I love everything about this kitchen.  I love it even though I know my life is not ready for white cabinets.  I need something a little more forgiving in the slacker-cleaning department, but the wood was really growing on me. 

I was desperate to have a countertop at the very least to replace the one I tore out with such gusto back when there was still snow on the ground, so we headed to our local IKEA in search of the same countertop.  So, what once looked like this:

Now, looks a little something like this:

  Now, we just have to paint the cabinets, paint the walls, get and intall the rest of the countertops and change out the sink.  We still have a long way to go, but progress is progress!

I think I broke my blog

You know, I'd like to think I am pretty good at computer-type-stuff.  Having a techie husband can often make me feel computer illiterate, but overall I can usually figure out whatever I need to when it comes to blogging.  This time, however I am stumped!  I was trying to give my blog a little fall makeover, but I am not too thrilled with the result.  I was also thinking of moving over to wordpress, because so many of my friends have wp blogs-just seemed like it would be easier but I am not sure I want to do that either. 

So, thanks for your patience with this-I am going to call in the big guns (my husband) over the weekend so that he can help me figure out-should be lots of fun.

Yoga

My yoga instructor and friend, Barbara, recently asked me to put my thoughts about yoga into a post for her blog.  I was beyond thrilled at the chance to actually put into words what the practice of yoga has come to mean in my life.  So, if you have a chance, take a look at her blog, Yoga wisdom for everyday to see what I think.

Books, books and more books

Remember this photo:

That seemed like quite the ambitious pile at the beginning of the summer, after all, I had never read actual books at the pool before.  Prior to this year, I had been more the magazine type-having to look up every few minutes to locate my kids and make sure they were still technically above the water.  As this hot, super hot, insanely hot summer winds down, I am thrilled to report that I have read most of these books plus a few more.  I recently read The Help, loaned to me by a fellow book lover and pool goer.  I loved the story and the characters and felt sad to say goodbye to them on the last page.  I try to avoid lists on my blog-seems a little like cheating to this English major (though I love reading other people's lists-go figure), but I am going to make  a list of all the books I've read this summer. 

Gods In Alabama

The Weight of Silence

The Reliable Wife

The Life of Pi (UGH!)

Firefly Lane

The Help

Little Bee

The Mermaid Chair

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society

Right now, I am speeding through Dead Until Dark, which is a Sookie Stackhouse novel-of True Blood (on HBO) fame.  I normally don't even like to read books that come in that tiny paperback form but it's a fun and quick read and it's really interesting to see where the inspiration for the show came from.  I am also starting The Book Thief, which my mom recommended and is apparently young adult fiction.  So far, it seems a little dark, so I may put it away till November or so. 

philadelphia on a budget

The theme of our facation/staycation this year was saving money.  After our kitchen/roof renovation earlier this year, money is tight and we were looking to save a few bucks, but still have some fun.  We already have a membership to the DaVinci Science Center in Allentown, PA so we decided to check into their reciprocal program.  I was thrilled to find out that our membership (which only costs $90 for the year) also got us admission to the Franklin Institute and the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. 

Thanks to my oldest child turning 13, we are now a family of 3 "adults" and 2 "kids" when it comes to paying admission, so the total price for the 5 of us at the Franklin Institute would have been $69.50, while the Academy would have set us back another $56.  With our membership card, it was, well priceless (and free). 

We also took advantage of a family pass from our local regional rail line, SEPTA.  We were able to get into and out of the city for only $28 for the 5 of us.  We will definitely use that again-next time we will do the historic district-when it's a little cooler in the fall. 

Wegmans and Knoebels

Last week, we were on what I begrudgingly called "facation" because my husband had a week off and we weren't going "anywhere" (hence the witty combination of fake and vacation.  I was pleasantly surprised, however, when the week was more fun than I had anticipated and we were able to pack a few day trips into it! 

Our first trip combined two of my favorite places:  Wegmans and Knoebels.  If you don't have a Wegmans near you, I truly feel sorry for you.  I have always loved grocery stores, and this one is so much more than a grocery store.  What I hadn't realized is that they sell discount tickets to all kinds of cool and amazing attractions-though a good many of them are in upstate New York where the company is headquartered.  Through their "That's the ticket" program, we were able to get Knoebels' all day wristband tickets for our kids for a discount of $4 each. 

Now, on to Knoebels.  If you have never been there, it's almost hard to describe.  The park grew slowly out of a campground and has an old fashioned feel.  There is no admission fee to go into the park, which is great for me because I am the biggest ride wimp in the universe.  On this trip, I rode the train, the whip and... okay, that's it.  Just those two. 

During the week, there is the option to get an all you can ride wristband, which for our kids was $20.50 for my older two and $16.50 for my youngest (who is still under 48").  We bought ride tickets for my husband and me (mostly him as I mentioned earlier) which brought the entire cost for the day of rides to about $100-for our family of 5!!! 

The food there is also just incredible-affordable and really good.  We ate lunch at the international food court for about $25 and then dinner was pizza for (again!) $25.  Other years, we have "camped" there (meaning in a cabin) and that is fun, too. 

All in all, our first day trip of facation was a huge success, even if we did get home at almost 1am and not get up till late, late the next day! 

Lego minifigs--edible edition

If you've got one of these:

and that one is having a birthday, you need to get yourself to one of these:

Or, the website will do.  Whichever you choose, you should definitely purchase this:

As always, please excuse the pink countertops-I promise we are working on replacing them.  Anyway, after purchasing this, which is actually an ice cube tray, you should also buy some of these:

Next, melt the chocolate and fill the trays-the yellow faces and hands really make the minifigs convincing. 

Then, you should pop them in the freezer, especially if you don't have air conditioning and it's summer.  In just a few minutes, you will have edible minifigs!!!

Again, ignore the countertop, I know it's hard.  Next, you should definitely have your chocolate minifigs line up for professional portraits:

You should also introduce them to the real minifigs, but it might confuse them:

Then, you should put them on cupcakes and serve them to a boy (or girl) who is celebrating a birthday!

Because, trust me they will love it! 

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mid summer morning- a few things

I have no energy left-between the hot days  (thankfully spent mostly in the pool) and the window-unit a/c frozen nights, I am tired.  This has been one long, hot summer so far and we still have about 1/2 of it left.  So, here are my 10 summer things (because paragraphs seem like too much of a challenge today)

1.  My legs are tan for the first time in years!  Thanks to my children for getting older and being good swimmers, I am working on sitting by the pool and reading and I think I have perfected it! 

2.  We have not done one improvement/painting/updating project in weeks-honestly we barely have the energy for lawn maintanence in this heat!

3.  I finally finished the Life of Pi and have rarely been so happy to see the last page of a book.  Sorry to anyone who liked it-I detested it from beginning to end.

4.  I have read, since finishing that book, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society, Firefly Lane and The Reliable Wife, all of which I liked infinitely more than that other book that two me almost 2 weeks to read. 

5.  I am now the mother of a teenager!

The next few weeks are jam-packed.  First up, is our Facacation (note my clever combination of "fake" and "vacation") and then Vacation Bible School, and then we have family visiting from California.  After all that is over, there will only be 2 weeks left of summer break-not sure how that happened. 

The kitchen is finished!

It was tough work, but my kitchen is finally finished-here it is:

Wait, what?  That's not my kitchen.  What?  Oh, right, it's summer vacation and I have three kids-I nearly forgot.  Now, I remember-that is a photo from a magazine...ohh.... it's all coming back to me now. 

In real, wide awake life, we are all about summer break with the wet towels, wet bathing suits and coolers full of all kinds of sticky messes that trips to the pool inevitably bring.  We survived the crazy hot weather of last week, my oldest child turned 13 over the weekend (!!!!!!) and we are getting ready for camp this week. 

We have done several things on our summer list and I have read a few books already-some I loved, others I barely dragged myself through just so they wouldn't beat me (I am talking to you, Life of Pi).   I guess the kitchen, my actual kitchen, can wait till fall-but I do love the one in that photo. 

good gravy, it's hot

We had a record breaking winter, full of snow that measured in feet rather than inches.  I even had one unfortunate day when I decided to go for A WALK (I know, crazy) in the snow.  I had this theory that if I didn't get out of the house and away from the company of my working at home husband and my 3 bored children, that I might, just might turn my home into a remake of The Shining.  Anyway, with all good intentions, I took my ipod and myself out to walk to Wawa (in case you don't live in the mid-atlantic, it's a convenience store but nice).  I managed to make my way through the snow-I even took a photo to document my walk, after all there were a few brave robins looking for food and the sun was shining. 

Yup, that's all snow.  Anyway after stopping for provisions and enjoying the fresh, though cold, air.  I was making my way home.  Looking at my ipod, I didn't see the car that was coming around the corner nor did I see the GIANT PUDDLE OF FREEZING COLD WATER AND SLUSH that the car was about to careen through on its way past me.  Needless to say (or maybe I still haven't come to terms with it) I was drenched from head to toe in the coldest water I have ever felt in my life.  And, I still had to walk 3 blocks home.  I looked at the car as it sped away and may or may not have thrown a few choice expletives in their general direction.  I dragged my cold, wet, humiliated self home and got into my pajamas (at 3 pm in fact). 

All that is to say that I will not complain about this heat-though I am getting close.  Hope wherever you are, you are staying cool.