Ring My Bell

I enjoy the simple pleasures of life.  The smell of fresh ground coffee.  Reading in the sunshine.  Getting a 500g cheese bar for only $3.97.  There are thousands of examples, all simple stuff, that can instantly boost my level on the happy-o-meter.

Today it was my bike bell.

I got a number of accessories for my bike last month, one of which was a cute little bell.   I love the sound it makes; there is just something about the "bring bring" that gets me smiling.  There is not much traffic up here, so I have only used it three times so far.  The first time, I alerted a neighbour that I was passing by so we could have a wave.  The other two times I've been able to use it were this morning.

Riding on the trail, I came up behind about twenty eight-year-old summer campers with their two teenage counsellors.  I rang the bell once (*glee*), and the back half of the campers moved aside so I could get past.  I had to ring the bell again for the front half of the campers (*super-glee*), and they too moved aside.  The bell not only sounds amazing ("bring bring") but it makes people move at my command!  Nice.

Now of course, if it was anyone else ringing the bell - like a small child who didn't respond to the phrase "stop it!" - I would probably have an opposite reaction to the ringing.  As it is, though, I get a little bit of joy from using my cute little bike bell.  :)

Master of My Domain

I bought a domain name!  From now on this little blog can be found at:

www.myadorablesmalltownlife.com

If you have an RSS feed, bookmark, or particular post's link saved, they will all re-direct to the new URL.  Don't ask me how, just be awed by the magic that is the internet!  Also, the transition between the Blogger URL and my new URL was supposed to take 2-3 business days, but somehow it only took 15 minutes.  The internet works in mysterious ways. :)

Also, thanks to everyone who has been reading this blog.  I hope the transition to the new URL is as smooth as I'm reporting it to be.  *So far it seems really easy!*   If you have any problems accessing the blog, please let me know.

Heat Wave By The Numbers

In our first day of (somewhat) reprieve from the heat, I thought I would reflect on this past week and it's consequences.  Starting Sunday July 4, here is my "Heat Wave" by the numbers.

Number of days with a temperature over 30°C:  5

Number of days with a "feels like" temperature over 30°C:  6

Number of days I wore a dress:  4

Number of times the power went out for less than 30 seconds:  3

Number of times the power went out for more than 30 seconds:  0*
          *although I have a bad feeling about today (the power has already blinked twice!)

Number of indoor activities/projects worked on to beat the heat:  3

                              -books finished:  1

                              -scrapbook pages done:  4

                              -Warehouse 13 episodes watched:  9

Number of iced coffees drank:  2

Number of meals made on the BBQ (including tonight's):  6

                              -hot dogs eaten:  4

                              -pork buttons eaten:  8

                              -hamburgers eaten:  2

Number of pressure/heat/barometer change type headaches experienced:  2

Number of blog posts about the heat:  4

Number of times this week that I've said: "it's hot!":  1000+ 

No-Bake Cookies to Avoid Further Baking in This Heat!

It is still super hot out so we are doing our best to avoid use of the oven at all costs.  Somehow my cravings aren't coinciding with this new and beneficial cooking style.  Mainly, I really wanted cookies.  I had ingredients on hand, but baking them - even for 12 minutes - would probably raise the temperature in the house by 5000°C.  Spending the afternoon living on the surface of the Sun, didn't seem worth the joy I would get from the cookies.

But then I remembered - No Bake Cookies!  My family calls them Haystacks, but they are also known as Crow's Feet.  I couldn't find my recipe, so I adapted a recipe I found online to accommodate the ingredients I had on hand.

Basically it is just butter, sugar, milk, and chocolate, boiled and mixed with oatmeal.

 Mmmmmm... Chocolate...

Drop by spoonfuls onto waxed paper and refrigerate.

Gooey chocolate goodness.

The cookies I made tasted amazing but never really hardened.  I think the fridge was refusing to work because it is too hot.  I put them in the freezer, and though they are now easier to handle, they are still really gooey.  A benefit of having them in the freezer is that they are very cold, which is great for this weather!

Heat That's Helpful

We're in the middle of a heat wave here and after oodles of complaining about it, I decided to take advantage of it by putting some clothes out on the line.

Our clothes line can be described simply as make shift.  During a winter ice storm a few years back, the actual line snapped when it was heavily coated with ice.  Since that time we've made a garden where the clothes line used to hang, so we needed not only a new line, but a new location. Reinstalling a proper line was more hassle than we wanted to deal with, so we picked up some utility cord at the dollar store and made an informal yet quite functional clothes line with the aid of an old swing set.  Make shift.

It's not perfect, but it works for my purposes.

Happy laundry.

The old swing set comes in quite handy, actually.

The laundry dried really quickly and when I brought it inside it was warm (like I had just taken it out of the dryer!).  I was only out in the heat/humidity for short spurts today, but even so I was sweaty and gross when I got back inside.  I will be happy when this heat wave breaks, that is for sure!