What an insane week of scorching heat and humidity. It finally kind of broke yesterday – but it was still humid – and today, it’s cool and rainy. What a welcome relief! I’m still feeling under the weather, unfortunately. Crossing my fingers that I’m back to normal soon.

Even though the humidity was still strong, the lower temperature allowed me to venture upstairs to the studio and work on the dollhouse. I opened the window and turned on the box fan and set to work. I did some more prep painting in the stairway areas, and I redid the wallpaper in the kitchen. It was just as difficult as the last time, but, in the end, it will be fine.

Normally, I wouldn’t place a stove in front of a kitchen window, but in this case, I think I will. It is the star of the kitchen. Placing it on the wall to the right would be okay, but you’d only see it in profile. Though I try to make this little world as realistic as possible, sometimes you have to allow some artistic license! Big Stella is the star of our kitchen and I firmly believe Mini Stella should be the star of this kitchen.

Don asked me if I had a name for the Beacon Hill. The answer was no. Nothing has come to mind so far and since I have a long way to go, I’ve got time. Hopefully, her personality will shine through and I’ll just know.

Still have to do baseboards but I have to hold off until I am clear on the placement of a refrigerator (if I get one, I may stick with the smaller cupboard turned refrigerator under the sink) and/or hutch.

Today, I’m going to play with wallpaper and the front entrance/hallway. Wish me luck.

We had a lovely anniversary on Saturday. Low-key of course. Indoors, of course, because it was so hot outside. We reminisced about the day we met, which led to conversations about how fast 32 years have gone by. So grateful for that day spent with my friends from the Old Globe at the beach. Don and I joke about the guacamole I made that day for the party. It was the first and only time I made guacamole. We agreed that if he thought, “And she makes guacamole, too!” he was in for a big disappointment in the future.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.

It is so disgustingly awful here! Yesterday, it felt like 110° and reached a high of 101. Today, more of the same. The weather has quite literally made me sick. The humidity is tough on my allergies and chronic bronchial issues. I feel miserable. I’ve been going outside twice a day to thoroughly water everything and that’s it. Inside the rest of the day.

This will last through tomorrow, then some relief will be in sight.

Anyway, both Don and I feel like our brains are mush. We’re just trying to get through the day – holding off on starting up the A/C as long as possible. I swear the “heat dome” they’re talking about is actually our second floor.

In an interesting plot twist, both wallpaper orders arrived yesterday. Go figure! But of course, I can’t do anything until the weather breaks.

Since I feel so miserable and tomorrow is a holiday I won’t be celebrating until someone is removed from office, but is also the 32nd anniversary of the day we met, I’m going to take the day off tomorrow. No post. Given this horrible weather, I don’t think we’ll do much celebrating, but Happy Anniversary to us!

Happy Birthday today to my beloved sister!

Please take care during these days of excessive heat.

See you on Monday.

Stay safe.

Happy Friday.

Day Lilies in the overcrowded garden. There is so much self-seeded David phlox everywhere that I really can’t get to anything! The positive in that is that there isn’t much room for weeds.

Also, to the right of the day lilies:

A self-seeded coneflower in a place it’s never been before.

We are, as are many of you, trying to do what we need to do before the ‘heat dome’ arrives on Wednesday. Wednesday’s high will be 97° , Thursday’s high will be 102°, and Friday’s will be 99°. It will be 95° on the 4th. And that doesn’t include the heat index which will feel like several degrees higher. Dreading this, of course. We’re going to stay indoors because it will be very dangerous out there, and I will water early in the morning and in the late afternoon. We have an “Extreme Heat Watch” which, I’m sure, will turn into a warning.

Crap!

In the meantime, I’ll do what I can on the dollhouse while awaiting that wallpaper. This will be the last time I order from this seller, but I had to use her again as she’s the only one who carries the wallpaper I’m using in the kitchen. Today, mini-Stella arrives. She’s out for delivery! I’ll share her with you on Wednesday. And I finally decided on the wallpaper for the hallways. That seller always ships quickly, so by the end of the week I should be able to start applying it. (After the heat wave, because: no air conditioning in the studio.)

Right now, it’s lovely outside. Should I mow? Because we haven’t had much rain, the grass is growing slowly. I’ll think about it.

Joe updates: He can talk, hum, and sing a little. He saw imaginary things for a few days there, very normal for what he’s ben through. He passed his swallow test and he can drink liquids now. (He missed his daily dose of coffee.) He is a bit confused at times, but doing so much better. And he was moved to another floor the other day which is a very good sign. But he’s very weak and they have him marked as a high fall risk because he’s still very weak. He is getting respiratory therapy and physical therapy. Very, very thankful.

Stay safe.

Happy Monday.