If by "Indian summer" you mean Rajasthan in May

Hello, as of yesterday we were still in the triple digits here. I know I said I was going to stop complaining about the weather, but that was when I assumed the weather was going to stop being stupid. I cannot ever remember it being this hot at the end of September, and indeed, the heat record we broke yesterday had been set sometime in the 1920s -- just a LITTLE bit before my time.

It is so hot that the other night we had thunderstorms with no rain. Oh yeah. Apparently that's an actual thing. Tuesday evening the sky filled with low, dark clouds and there was lightning and thunder and the middle school football game was canceled and we were all chortling with glee because we thought we were in for a good, old-fashioned gully-washer, but no. We got maybe 30 fat drops of rain over a 10-minute period, and then it all went away.

But a cold front came through last night apparently, and now it's only supposed to be in the 90s for the foreseeable future, so excuse me for a moment while I go BUY A PARKA. Sheesh.

Anyhoodle, here is some stuff I've been doing lately:

Reading Gail Carriger's Soulless, a comedy of manners set in a Victorian England in which supernatural beings (vampires, werewolves, etc.) have been integrated into society. I know, we're all SO OVER vampires and werewolves by now, but this book is a little different from most of what's out there. There's a bit of romance, a bit of mystery, and a lot of dirigibles and steampunk gadgets (also tea)(and biting). It's a little like Jane Austen meets Charlaine Harris meets Connie Willis. So fun. Prior to that I read and absolutely loved Ernest Cline's Ready Player One, an adventure novel chock-full of 1980s sci-fi and fantasy gamer geek references. If you've ever played Dungeons & Dragons or Tempest or found yourself quoting Monty Python and the Holy Grail in casual conversation, you will love this book. And if you haven't done those things, you also will love this book, probably. It's that good.

Listening to the new Blitzen Trapper album, American Goldwing, which is making me super happy. People seem to either love or hate Blitzen Trapper and I guess I sort of love them. They remind me of the folk rock music my Dad used to listen to when I was a kid. Must be all the harmonicas and tambourines.

Watching so much TV, I can't even tell you. All my shows are back! Except Dexter, which won't be back for a couple of days. And The Walking Dead, which won't be back for a couple of weeks. But still, ALMOST all of my shows are back! H and I are spending several evenings a week curled up in my room watching shows while she does homework. That's our version of Girls' Night In.

Walking El Guapo every morning. We take a different route each time, because I like to mess with his head. This morning we made our way through the greenbelt and met a short, angry dog with a round, cheerful owner; a playful, hairy dog whose elderly owner did not have her leashed (argh); and a small family of white-tailed deer. Superfreak was not at all interested in the deer until the buck showed up. He was VERY interested in the prickly pear cactus that lines the trail in the greenbelt, though (argh, again)(he is totally fine, no pokes this time).

Yelling myself hoarse at high school football games. C plays sousaphone in his high school marching band, so really the games are all about halftime for me, but my brother played football for 10 years and old habits die hard. I just have to yell and scream at football games. I HAVE TO. And then I have to peel out of the stadium parking lot early in the 4th quarter to beat the rush. And maybe buy a Frosty from Wendy's on the way home. Don't you judge me.

Celebrating my birthday/anniversary fortnight. I like to combine them, because it's more festive! Last Tuesday I had a birthday, as you all know (thank you for the birthday wishes!), and it was swell. My big present from P and the kids was a huge honkin' 15-inch pre-seasoned cast iron skillet, which I asked for and LOVE SO MUCH. One of the extra things my mom and dad tossed into my bag o' loot from them was a pack of Burt's Bee's pre-moistened facial cloths, because my Mom loves them and thought I would too, and now I have become hopelessly addicted to them. And I have been spending gift cards all week long with reckless abandon. So! Birthday: awesome. And now we move into the anniversary phase of the celebration, as P and I will have been married for 18 years on Sunday. Whee!

Cooking not much of anything at all. During football/marching season there's maybe one night a week when we're all here at the same time for dinner. Ugh. Hate that.

Eating a ton of crappy non-meals. See above.

Wearing the gorgeous earrings I bought myself (for my birthday, don'tcha know). I have long been a fan of Julie's blog, and now she has an Etsy shop full of jewelry that feels like it was made just for me! Seriously, I have the hardest time describing the kind of jewelry I like to P. He knows I don't like "fine jewelry" from jewelry stores, all precious and polished, and he knows that I don't like anything too big/chunky. Now instead of trying to explain what "delicate and kind of earthy artisan pieces, but not too expensive" means, I can just point him here. Done and done. (And I love love LOVE my earrings!)

Feeling cautiously optimistic about C's new therapy cocktail for his misophonia. I am always cautiously optimistic, except when I'm positive we're all going to die things aren't working, but this time I really do have hope that we're on the right track. Fingers crossed.

In other news, I dyed my hair for the first time in like 4 years and while I could swear the label said Nice 'n' Easy, I must have picked up a box of Nice 'n' Brassy by mistake. "Dark Blonde"? Yeah, not so much.

Also, that crazy lady running through the high school lobby this morning with no makeup, greasy orange hair and sweaty workout clothes, smelling like a goat and looking like she went straight from walking her dog 1.8 miles on a dust-choked greenbelt to frantically delivering her son's forgotten Pre-AP English II homework on the last day of the grading period so he would be eligible for a UIL contest this weekend? Yeah, that was me. Teenagers! Can't live with 'em, can't sell 'em into slavery without Child Protective Services getting involved! Am I right? Yeesh.

And that pretty much brings you up to speed.