Lately, I’ve been sharing the Ten on Tuesday
prompts with Tall Paul when they come out (a week in advance – thank
you, Yano!), and some of them are more inspiring for him than they are
for me. This week’s topic, “10 Things to Do When It’s Too Hot to Go Outside,” was one that I thought he’d weigh in on, because he’s an
expert. He avoids hot weather as much as possible – and since we live
in Southern California, somewhere between the coast and the desert,
that can be a challenge sometimes.
prompts with Tall Paul when they come out (a week in advance – thank
you, Yano!), and some of them are more inspiring for him than they are
for me. This week’s topic, “10 Things to Do When It’s Too Hot to Go Outside,” was one that I thought he’d weigh in on, because he’s an
expert. He avoids hot weather as much as possible – and since we live
in Southern California, somewhere between the coast and the desert,
that can be a challenge sometimes.
In any case, each of us came up with a list this week, and there was a lot of overlap. His list was based on literally not
going outside – that is, not leaving the house. I came up with separate
list of places you could go to stay cool. In any case, here are more than 10 things to do when it’s hot out. Some like it hot, but we’re not among them.
Tall Paul’s list of (mostly cheap) things you can do at home when it’s hot out (with comments by me):
Play with the kids. Maybe a board game (how embarrassing is it to have your 8-year-old consistently kick your butt at Connect Four?), something on the Wii, or (almost) anything else they would like to play. They grow up fast, so play with ’em now!
Read. Crank
up the AC, get a cool drink, kick off my shoes, put my feet up on the
furniture, and catch up on books I’ve been meaning to read. (For
the record, he has a much smaller TBR collection than I do, but this
was definitely on my list too. And yes, feet do end up on the
furniture. I have a reading chair with an ottoman; his will be on the
couch – or the coffee table.)
up the AC, get a cool drink, kick off my shoes, put my feet up on the
furniture, and catch up on books I’ve been meaning to read. (For
the record, he has a much smaller TBR collection than I do, but this
was definitely on my list too. And yes, feet do end up on the
furniture. I have a reading chair with an ottoman; his will be on the
couch – or the coffee table.)
Watch Movies. Crank
up the AC, get a cool drink, kick off my shoes, put my feet up on the
furniture, and catch up on movies I’ve been meaning to watch (or watch
again). Don’t forget the popcorn! (My preferred variation on this item is the TV-on-DVD marathon.)
up the AC, get a cool drink, kick off my shoes, put my feet up on the
furniture, and catch up on movies I’ve been meaning to watch (or watch
again). Don’t forget the popcorn! (My preferred variation on this item is the TV-on-DVD marathon.)
Organize/Back-up computer. I
try to back-up (my computer) regularly, and although I tend to be
organized and don’t just dump stuff on my computer (I’m not one of
those people with 200 icons on there desktop – how do they stand it?), it can usually find a way to make it even more organized.
try to back-up (my computer) regularly, and although I tend to be
organized and don’t just dump stuff on my computer (I’m not one of
those people with 200 icons on there desktop – how do they stand it?), it can usually find a way to make it even more organized.
Order-in food. Too hot to cook? This seems like a no-brainer.
Weed-out wardrobe. Unlike somebody else who I live with (I won’t say who, but she has her own blog), I don’t have a lot of clothes – I would, if I could afford more from here, here, or these people, but I still have stuff that I just don’t seem to wear anymore, so off to Goodwill it will go. (This was on my list too; I have to weed out stuff to make room for more!)
Email friends/family. Now is a good time to remind them of how much they should be missing me. (If he’d just start his own blog, they could read it and they wouldn’t have to miss him so much.)
Clean? There’s always laundry to be done and toilets to be cleaned (um, that’s two separate jobs)(He usually does laundry, and I clean the bathrooms. It works.)
Hmmm, if the kids aren’t around...
Bonus -5
not-so-cheap things that involve leaving the house and/or spending some
money (but the car is air-conditioned, and so is the place you’re
going):
not-so-cheap things that involve leaving the house and/or spending some
money (but the car is air-conditioned, and so is the place you’re
going):
- Go to the movies (the original air-conditioned escape)
- Go out for a meal (or two – don’t heat up the kitchen!), or at least get some ice cream
- Browse in a big bookstore or an indoor, enclosed shopping mall
- Go bowling
- Take a couple of books to the coffee shop and just hang out for awhile
What are your favorite ways to beat the heat?
If you liked this post, check these out:
Share this:
Subscribe to Blog via Email
Join 2,318 other subscribers
Those are fun! And we even get a bonus 5…
An aside – sorry about the font weirdness, folks! It’s not quite how I intended for this post to look, but hopefully it’s not interfering with your reading pleasure :-).
CJH – My husband usually comes up with fun ones, which is why I like to invite him to play along. (Also, if he can put a post together, that’s less work for me :-D!)
Ohhh you gave us a bonus! How cool is that!!!
Happy Tuesday.
What a good list. I like the commentary! 🙂
Shannon – Sometimes it’s hard to come up with ten, and sometimes it’s hard to stop at ten :-).
Dawn – I’m wordy, and so is my husband. What can I tell you :-)?
I enjoyed all of your suggestions, both of you. My favorite: Browse in a big, air-conditioned book store. 🙂
My computer needs major clean up! It’s out of control. I’d rather just buy a new one.
And yes, you need to order in food when it is hot. who wants to heat the house up?
What about just taking a nap? That’s perfect for a hot day. sleep until it cools off outside.
Joyce – To be honest, that’s probably mine too – especially if they have a coffee shop and some comfortable chairs, so there’s no rush to leave :-)!
Mike – Yeah, but if you buy a new computer, you have to set everything up again, or figure out what you want to move to it. Then again, if your computer is relatively OLD and cluttered, maybe you should start fresh :-).
Naps are great, as long as the A/C’s on or there’s a breeze. I can’t sleep well when it’s hot, and I don’t like waking up sticky and sweaty.
almost close to my list 🙂
FickleMinded – I saw there were some things in common :-). Thanks for stopping by!
Yup to the reading and watching DVDs, and I’d add blogging to the list. And I agree with Mike that an afternoon nap (with the AC on of course) is very nice. I really need to weed-out my closet by no can do. There’s no AC in the bedroom!
Tanabata – Since the list was mostly my husband’s, and he doesn’t have a blog (yet!), he wouldn’t have included blogging – but I certainly would have :-)! And it sounds like you’ll be waiting for fall to do that closet cleaning.