Spent a quiet morning, chatting with my daughter and a cousin who called. Later in the afternoon, I cleaned my bathroom and did some paperwork. I also picked some fresh lemons from my garden to fill the fruit bowl on the dining table.
I had invited the cousin who accompanied me to the chemo session, yesterday, and her mother to dinner. So, later in the evening, I cooked rice, a fish curry using a package of frozen pollock, spicy garbanzo beans, and made a cucumber salad. There was also my homemade tomato chutney and my microwave cornbread. I enjoyed having company on a Saturday evening.
Today's weather was a high of 91F with 30% humidity. Much better than yesterday's 98F! But, inside my house, it was 82F, which is quite comfortable for me. I don't have central air conditioning, so I take a few simple steps to keep the house comfortable. The back of my house faces east, so the morning sun comes in from the family room window and glass sliding door. To block the heat of the morning sun, I keep the blinds drawn closed until about 11:00 a.m., when the sun no longer shines right in.
I only have three windows on the south side of the house and I keep the drapes drawn on two of the three windows. The dracaena plant is in front of the third window and it needs the sunlight, so I keep the drapes open for that window. I also have the cherry guava tree blocking the 2nd window, so that provides some cooling shade and two of the pineapple guava trees are also on the south side of the house, providing more cooling shade.
The front of my house faces west. Which means the hot afternoon sun pours in from the big picture window in the living room and the windows of two of the three bedrooms. A blessing in the winter when I try to use solar heat to warm up the house, but not so welcome in the summer, when I am trying to keep the house cool. So, the drapes and window blinds are closed in the afternoon, to keep the sun out, until later in the evening. There is, also, one eucalyptus tree in the front garden, which shades the house a bit from the hot late afternoon/evening sun.
Fortunately, our evenings and nights tend to be cool, so, what I try to do is open as many windows as I can to cool the house before I close up for the night. Unfortunately, the screens on several of my windows are torn and I am afraid Dancer cat will escape, so I don't open those windows. Getting new window screens is something I am planning to do this summer.
Later on in the summer and into early fall (September tends to be one of the hottest months, here), the temperatures will soar and you'll hear me complain about it being in the 90s inside the house! That's when I am glad to spend the better part of the day in my air conditioned work place and I install the room air conditioner and stay in my bedroom!
Today's decluttering:
 |
| June 4 Decluttering |
2 empty boxes
3 documents/reports
3 children's clothing patterns
2 food take out containers
Spending log: I didn't spend any money, today.
Today, I am grateful for:
- Getting some sleep, after all.
- Being able to keep the house cool when it is hot.
- Long phone chat with one cousin.
- Having aunt and cousin over to dinner.
- Video chatting with daughter.
It's almost 1:00 a.m., now; I shall try to go to bed by 2:00 a.m. and hopefully, I'll fall asleep!
How was your Saturday?
Proud you got some sleep.. that is so exhausting [I have to take predisone , when I have asthma attacks.. I can not go to sleep. so terrible]. I know it is rough for you, doing this each week.. I am praying for you.
ReplyDeleteProud you had your cousins come and eat with you.. KNow you had and enjoyable visit.
It is getting hot here too..We are 90 degrees today. eeeh..
How is daughter enjoying her new job? Know you will be happy when she comes home to visit.
Thanks, Judy. I was able to sleep, last night, so it's getting better.
DeleteDaughter is enjoying her work. Not too much of an adjustment for her because she's as the same place where she worked part-time when she was in grad. school. Just getting used to being there full time, 8 hrs. a day. She's not used to being seated at a desk for so long!
Hope you manage to stay cool when it gets hot! Is it humid, too? Do you have a/c?
Have a blessed day.
We do have ac..I am so thankful.. I am menopausal and the hot flashes are killing me, ha.. can't imagine not having AC.. Yes, We have very humid weather.. So hard to breathe, most of the time.
Deleteso happy daughter is doing well with her new job.Hope she will be able to return home and find a job close to you...if they have her type of job available??
I'm glad you have a/c to help with the heat and humidity.
DeleteYes, we are hoping she will be able to find a job closer to home. That had been our original plan until she was offered her current job! It was too good an offer to turn down! There are jobs available in her field in this area, but they all seem to require an year or two of paid full time work experience. She'll be better qualified to apply to them after she completes her year at her current job.
So glad you managed to sleep last night. I have had issues with sleep with no good reason such as yours, and if I am awake in the middle of the night I come downstairs and often will eat an orange. It's a habit I have had for ages. I suddenly thought that it might be a good idea to eat the orange before going to bed, and so far I have had several good nights. I usually eat half and give the other half to my husband, who doesn't seem to have sleep issues but enjoys the orange anyway. Perhaps I have hit on my own solution for my insomnia. I do use half a melatonin tablet as well before bedtime, but it seems the orange is the greater influence as the melatonin didn't always work.
ReplyDeleteLike you, I tend to regulate the temperature in the house by using drapes against direct sun in the summer, and opening windows at night if it is cool enough. In winter if the temperature is really extreme, I rush round in the late afternoono closing drapes, and often leave them closed the following day until the temperature goes above -20C at least! Rather like being in a cave, of course.
Bushlady
Oh, I should try eating an orange and see if that helps! The doctor did ask me if I wanted something to help me sleep, but I declined. Seems like I am taking so many pills and medications, already. I'd rather not take any more!
DeleteYour winter is so cold! Brr!
You are doing really well with the decluttering. I couldn't cope with your heat, I would melt!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the encouragement to keep up with the decluttering.
DeleteAs for the heat, you'd probably do what most sane people here do - install central air! I went as far as getting a quote for how much it would cost to do so and decided I could tough it out! I prefer the heat to cold.
Perhaps a whole house attic fan may be an option for you Bless. It pulls cool morning or evening cool air thru open windows thru the rooms in your home. I had on. An alpartment many years sgo and it was very refreshing in the texasclumate M
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carolyn. I must look into it. There used to be what was called a swamp cooler when I first bought the house, but it required someone to climb up to the roof to fill it with water and then, empty it out, etc. and there was no one to do that (I've crawled under the house, but didn't want to be climbing the roof!) so I had it taken down. My neighbors still have their swamp cooler and it keeps their house cool, they say.
DeleteI do the same thing with our drapes but with 29 windows in the house, in Florida... closing the drapes actually doesn't help all that much, the AC still runs all day. I wish opening the windows in the evening would help cool us off but now we have the humidity coming in to play too so we won't be leaving any windows open for several months now :(
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, I'm glad you got to sleep and I think you are doing great with your decluttering!
I got busy with other things today so I barely did any chores and no decluttering at all. Tomorrow is another day, though!
Humidity is worse than the heat, I think. Like I said, most sane people will have some a/c on!
DeleteI'm glad you had a lovely, relaxed weekend. Weekends should be spent having fun with family, not doing chores.
Hope you are having a good day, today.