It's finally not as hot. I am still very hot. It turns out Birchie may be a fortune teller:
When I saw her comment that it was hot and then it became gorgeous I thought "sure, gorgeous days, that's something that exists but this heatwave will probably break into rain for endless weeks because.. Wales.
However... she was right!
As boring as it is, I am looking forward to it being cool enough to clean my house. We haven't hoovered in weeks, and we've been doing paddling pool, there have been muddy feet everywhere, and everyone has been up until 9:30pm with the heat, and basically our house is a tip. It is kind of stressing me out how dirty my house is... but not enough to clean it now. It's still 24 degrees and that's still hot.
Also, I'm just going to be open and transparent here, but there is an actual fly in my house and it drives me insane, but the UK doesn't believe in window screens, so it is part of life and it is gross.
On the hottest days, I embraced the recommendations from the
Heatwave toolkit and covered all our windows on the outside, to help deflect heat. We looked like a completely crazy house, but it was only 31 degrees inside while the outside was 34 so that's kind of a win.
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| Exterior Thermal Shading of Loft Velux - old blackout blind |
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| Shading of twins room window |
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| Interior view |
Many local schools were closed due to heat - our primary was the only one I know of that was open. They did make school optional for Wed & Thurs, which I think was nice for my kids as classrooms were quiet. I was in work both days, but had to finish at 3pm because my office is in the loft and it was touching 35 degrees and I could not think.
After finishing work at 3 I got the paddling pool out, which may have been a mistake because it has a hole (I think they are one year use) and the kids still enjoyed using it before it deflated but they were so loud and I already felt so tired. I would say there was a definite inverse relationship between the kids paddling pool joy and my own paddling pool experience.
I am sliding into the weekend very worn down and tired and hot and demotivated. On the plus side, because no one has been sleeping well I have been cracking through this weird book:
It's pretty odd so far, I'm near the end.
Also, I finished What You Are Looking For is At The Library which was just as cute and lovely as everyone on the internet said it would be
Not going to give too much away here, but one story is about a career building mother's return to work and it felt pretty... close.
This weekend my brother is coming to visit (YAY!) and I'm carving out some Rachel time on Saturday morning (it only takes one parent to do 4 kid breakfast, right??) so hopefully that will give me a bit of energy to do the everything else.
What is your heatwave strategy? Have you ever hung things outside your windows to deflect heat? Would you be more embarrassed to live in the crazy house with blankets on the outsides of all windows or the house that is dirty and has a fly in it? (Lucky for me, I don't have to pick just one)
Yes it is everything when you can go outside without feeling like you're going to die! Even more so when the inside is hot as well. Good job Wales for a good weather streak!
ReplyDeleteI've come to the conclusion that when I do go to Europe that it won't be in the summer because I am a princess and princesses need AC at all times.
Enjoy Rachel time and your brother's visit!
I love going to Europoe in October and March because its quiet and never hot.
DeleteI don't let people visit me in Wales in January or February because it is so cold and so dark and so wet. But there are A LOT of months that are not hot. Usually that includes June.
My heatwave strategy is to lean into it. Be sweaty and hot and love it. And give myself an excuse to eat ice cream. I mean, this is a lie. My strategy is to complain endlessly. Because I am, obviously, a real treat to be around.
ReplyDeleteHaha thank you for validating my approach.
DeleteI HATE the heat so much, especially without air conditioning, so my heart goes out to you and everyone else still stuck in hot weather. I'm glad things are starting to get better and I hope the lovely weather (sun, but not oppressive heat) lasts a long time!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't use to have an air conditioner and I would take ice packs to bed or fill hot water bottles with cold water. The flexible ice pack thing works REALLY well for my kids. I find it helps, too. And I want to investigate these "cooling" towels that seem to be all the rage. I don't know how it works, but supposedly when they get wet they get (and stay) cold.
When we use ice packs, we wrap them in a tea towel, so they don't sweat. The twins might be too young for this, but I bet Lily and Ezra could use this hack!
Ooh that is a good idea! I think Ezra would just mess with the ice pack because he will want to know what's inside but I may do this for Lily next time!
DeleteUgh, all of Europe is struggling through this heat wave.. they're not prepared for these kinds of temps but I am glad you found ways to stay cool. Do you have fans? Rubbing yourself down with a wet cloth and then sitting in front of a fan helps a lot to cool down.
ReplyDeleteI finally bought two tower fans this year! We have some pedestal fans as well. I am all about the cold showers too. It's not good that it's so hot here, we are so unprepated.
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