It’s been incredibly hot around here. We’re talking temps near 100 and the dripping humidity to go along with. It’s gotten so bad, y’all, that (apparently) I’ve started saying y’all!
(This would be a show of sympathy for my friends down south—a desperate attempt, as it were, to get them to leave a comment and tell me how they cope.)
We do not go out unless we have to—and really, in the summer, who has to?— which means getting creative with all our home-bound options.
Home-bound + an air-conditioner set to full blast + a pitcher (or two) of iced coffee with cream = I can do this 100-degree thing.
(Except on those days when we have to leave because, for example, we are out of food. Hate it when that happens! Anyway, that’s when you’ll find me drenched in sweat and complaining.)
(Did I just admit that I sweat? And complain?)
(Love me anyway.)
So yesterday I was hiding out in the bathroom with an IEW catalog and a head full of planning. It’s one of my children, you see, who recently freaked out her mother when she misspelled “fun.”
Can you spell remedial? Remedial. R-e-m-e-d-i-a-l. Remedial.
Suddenly I heard a note being slid under the door.
“Hmm,” I thought. “Either this note’s for me or that neighbor kid is confused again.”
I set down the catalog and opened the note. “Dear Mom,” the note read…
Immediately I thought, “That’s totally sweet!” And then, “But I’m too busy.”
There were dishes to wash and laundry to fold and hey, let’s not forget the remedial spelling for that poor unsuspecting child. Yet when I opened the bathroom door and saw Cate’s shining eyes…
And felt my wrist being taken and my resistant body being tugged…
And saw this when I got to the door of my bedroom…
Well, I just knew I had to play along.
Note the ice water (complete with lemon) and lotion (Japanese cherry blossom from Bath & Body Works). Cate even remembered a CD player with soothing music to drive away all those cluttered thoughts.
She had me, literally, in the palm of her hand.
(Two hands, actually.)
Could it be? This mom relaxed! And forgot about drippy, sticky 100-degree weather and dishes and laundry and children who misspell monosyllabic words. It was lovely.
Now here comes the take-away message for y’all. Little girls love to serve…if only their capable moms will let them. Let your daughters set up a spa for you! Let them smooth the tension out of your tired shoulders and make you a refreshing drink of their own design. Trust me: they will love it and so will you.
Summer fun by way of spoiling Mom?
I am entirely and completely there.
How awesome!!! Your comment about daughters literally brought tears to my eyes. At 22 months, I can already see this in my baby girl. She loves to follow me around and help in whatever task is at hand. So thankful God has blessed me with a daughter (and my 3 sons!).
Right now we are living on cold drinks and ice cream! Also… freezee pops. Otherwise known as Fla-Vor-Ice! So, how to cope? Close all curtains and blinds and bribe your children with freezee pops to fan you and feed you frozen peeled grapes.
Whew! It's hot, hot, hot, isn't it? We're just focused on keeping the animals in water, and we had to turn on the a/c finally. (Been avoiding that all summer!)
Have fun with those babies!
Well, I'm from way way way down south, and I say y'all sometimes (but tend to think of it as a Texan thing …?) and it gets that hot only on the worst of our summer days (and nights). My solution on those days: just breathe.
You are so right about little girls wanting to serve. How beautiful, what Cate did for you. Such a treasure, and a memory for you both to hold in your hearts forever.
We are on day 27 of triple digit temperatures so far this summer, which is way above average here in Kansas. We are having a little bit of cabin fever. You can't very well send the kids out to play when it is 106 outside! We go out in the early morning and then again in the evening when the sun is low in the sky, otherwise we are inside. I need to make more popsicles!
Your Cate sounds like a wonderful daughter! I need to get my girls to do that.
Try to keep cool! It will soon pass and we will be complaining about the cold. 🙂
So very sweet. As a treat my kids love to bring me breakfast in bed which is usually toast, yogurt, and juice (with ice and a straw to make it fancy). They tend to use a paper plate and decorate it with love notes to Mom. Cherish the moments, let them love us like we love them.
awwwww that's so sweet. 🙂
(She wasn't trying to butter you up, was she? ;-))
How absolutely,totally precious that Cate would think to do that for you, and obviously loved doing it. Sometimes our gift to others is really to allow them to do something for us. We must set aside pride (and laundry) and allow others to be servants. By the way, she would have had me at the Japanese cherry blossom lotion (love, love, love that stuff!!!) Re: Triple digit temps – Here in central Florida it is hot, steamy hot — but not as hot as in Minnesota. I thought of you the other morning as I watched the morning weather and noticed that it was hotter in Minnesota than it was Tampa – Yikes. My only tip, outside only in the mornings and evenings, mid day stuff takes place in A/C. If not, hydrate hydrate,hydrate 🙂
what great young lady you have for a daughter!!!! I would LOVE to send you all of western Canada's wet, cool, yucky, unsummer like weather….(for the 2nd year in a row)
Cate is so sweet. Isn't it neat how some kids really know what mamma needs, even if mamma doesn't at first see it?!
The heat and humidity? I don't know how those down south do it. I'll take the frigid winter anyday. It's simply so hot it's hard to breathe!
My A/C was broken yesterday: inside temp was 87. Today, it was only limping along: inside temp 85. The repair guy is a buddy of the owner, and he and another buddy down the street think my living conditions are horrendous, so I'm hoping for a brand-new, efficient A/C by August after they apply pressure to their friend to take care of the super-sweet, friendly, nicest-Yankees-you-ever-met who are melting. We have been spending our afternoons watching movies with the shades drawn.
That is just the cutest, sweetest thing ever! No amount of money could buy a massage as good as that. Blessed, you are.
Joolz
That is just the cutest, sweetest thing ever! No amount of money could buy a massage as good as that. Blessed, you are.
Joolz
In Houston, our friends jokingly call this "hibernation season", cause its just too darn hot to do anything. Either be done by 8 AM at the latest outside, or wait all day and go back out after 8 PM. The rest of the day stay inside somewhere and chill, unless you can get to a splashpark or pool, and even then, its darn hot. You know its pretty ridiculous when your thermostat can be set on 82 and you think its cold inside…
Lots of ice cream. Lots of popsicles. Lots of sitting down doing nothing. And a cool glass of iced tea or a frozen margarita doesn't hurt either!
As for dealing with the heat, this former Southerner tried moving North. That hasn't worked out so well. Sweating, complaining and staying indoors is pretty much the way to go.
And popsicles.
well that is just the sweetest!!
I love it when this stuff happens. It makes the are-my-kids-learning-anything!?! stress go away (or at least lessen a little bit). Service is a great thing to have learned! Empathy is a great thing to have learned! Noticing what others need is a great thing to have learned!
Well, we don't necessarily cope but we've been enduring for the past two months. Check back with us when we start complaining that it got down into the 30s in the winter. 🙂
See? That's one reason I wanted a daughter! They think of stuff like that. I know, because I'm one my self. God saw fit to give me 5 healthy boys, I'm not complaining, but oh….I wanted a daughter so bad! I just loved this story.