hot, hot, hot!

I really hate to complain about the heat. We really usually don't get nearly enough of it here. And I spend many winter days daydreaming about the summer heat. But, this is getting hard to handle! It's hot. It's sticky. It's exhausting. I haven't spent nearly enough time having fun with summer recipes. I've spent a lot of time eating sandwiches and ice cream for dinner and too much money finding relief in air conditioned restaurants for dinner. I know these days will be over way too soon, and so I'm trying to enjoy them the best I can.

This summer seems to be flying by. It doesn't help that my summer ends a little sooner than everyone elses with the return to my academic year job and overtime for opening. I have about 4 weeks left of summer and they are jam packed. It sort of feels like every year the summer goes by just a little bit faster. I try to take it all and have equal amounts of busy summer fun and lazy summer fun but I swear the older I get the less hours there are in a day!

And, since I'm whining anyway, I sort of love my summer hours. I want to love my summer hours. Especially since I always complain about my academic year hours but my goodness it now feels like I have two full time jobs! I love having dinner (or ice cream -ha!) with the family every night but when I get home at 9:30pm like I do during the school year I can come in and unwind for a bit and go to bed, all my chores get done in the AM. Now, I'm at work early and home at 3:30 and I get home and it's like the day just started. There's cooking and cleaning and lacrosse games and practice and on and on . . . wah, wah, wah.

Once upon a time I was an optimist. I don't know how the heck I became such a complainer. I'd say it was the heat, but I'm pretty sure it's just me. You know, I should probably start up my gratitude Fridays again, it's been a while since I've done that and it does help me sort of put things in perspective.

I haven't taken any pictures lately. I've totally neglected my 365 blog since April, and you know, that helped too with slowing down, paying attention to the small things. I think it's time to get back into that habit too. It's too easy to get out of sorts and overwhelmed by everyday life sometimes.

In other news, I'm getting a pressure canner and I'm super psyched about it! I was going to splurge on one as an early birthday present for myself, but my mother in law offered to buy me one as an early birthday present. Yay! Really, it's fantastic cause I've got all sorts of beans growing and I think it will be a lot of fun to try canning chili's and things. Have any of you ever used a pressure canner? Have any go-to recipes?

Alright. This is my last whiny post for a while. Next week - more pictures, less whining, more gratitude!