Sunday, July 06, 2008

Coping with the heat




I would first like to thank Nancy and Jennifer for making me feel like a poor blogger since I have not posted in quite a while. It did work, and got me off my world wide web rear! (say that fast 5 times in a row) While I do have my excuses for the last few weeks, quite frankly, I am (obviously) not exactly one of the more reliable bloggers and can be a bit lazy.

It is getting warmer and a common subject, both around town and Latin American bloggers is how to deal with the heat. There are all kinds of ways to do it; lots of fans, wear only cotton clothing, use umbrellas, etc. I thought I would enlighten everyone on the "Sans Method". To put it simply, I have embraced the siesta idea with total abandon and I nap. Usually, I tend to wake up about sunrise or a little afterwards. During the winter, I'll lay around most of the morning drinking tea, watching the news, and surfing the net and then do my "out of house chores" in the afternoon. Summer is different. I get up, and run what ever errands I have in the morning. It is cooler, and I have also found that most Mexicans wait until early afternoon to hit the grocery stores and such, so it is also more quiet. If I have no errands, I'll just don a bathing suit and lay around the pool listening to both the wisdom and dysfunctionality ( is that a word??) of Howard Stern via my wonderful Sirius boom box all morning. From either scenario, I hit lunch early afternoon. The key here for me is wine. I am not a natural napper, so I need a little something to push me over that edge. Enter stage right - Senor Vino Tinto. How much I drink depends on what I consume. If I eat something heavy, like, I don't know, a steak, I need only one glass. If I eat a salad, more is definitely required. By the time I eat lunch, it is usually 2-3 in the afternoon, at its warmest, most humid and officially nap time. I'll turn the AC on in the bedroom, take a cool shower and then nap for a couple of hours. By the time I wake up, the breeze has generally picked up, it is getting more pleasant and David is on his way home. It works perfectly for me! After that, add a couple week stint at the Betty Ford Center in late fall for "asthma" or "exhaustion" and I am well rested by the winter season! ( that's a joke, Mom!)