Summertime, and the living is HUMID!

If today is any indication of the kind of heat and humidity I can expect this summer, I may be in for a long haul…

Actually, I quite like the summery weather. New Jersey summer weather patterns are strange—it’s always humid, but very often a humid little rainstorm will roll in, rage for a while, and then blow away. For example, when I looked out my window this morning before I got dressed for work, it was really cloudy and big raindrops were falling. So I put on slacks and a sweater and went to work. It was humid, but I chalked it up to the rainstorm. Imagine my surprise when I walked home for lunch and found that it was broiling outside! The clouds had blown away, but the humid air and heat remained. I changed into sandals and a skirt before coming back to the office! Last August, during hurricane season, we had at least one thunderstorm per day the entire first month of living here. I have a feeling this morning was just the beginning of storm season. I’m going to have to learn to gauge the temperature despite what the sky looks like in the morning!

It’s going to be interesting at lunchtime from now until August because I’m used to cooking my lunch—that is, I’m used to eating hot food. It’s getting too hot to stand over a stove or eat a hot lunch. Today I had a nice surprise waiting for me in the fridge—Jenna and her boyfriend made devilled eggs out of a few Easter eggs, and they were nice and chilled and ready to eat when I got there! I’m going to have to start planning ahead if I want to eat a cold lunch.

One thing I’ve realized about summer is how much I love cold drinks, especially iced coffee (a la Starbucks) and smoothies (a la Jamba Juice). And before I became a JV and started watching where every cent of my budget is being spent, it was so easy to just step into a little bistro or smoothie place and spend four dollars on a cold drink. If I did that now, my whole monthly stipend would be gone in three weeks.

Consider this: a 12-ounce drip coffee from Starbucks costs $1.50 (and that’s the smallest option you can buy). If you bought one every work day for year (taking two weeks off for vacation), that’s $375 per year on corporate coffee. If you’re into fancier things like lattes or mochas (ahem… guilty…), it can cost at least $940 per year!

As a result, I’ve been making those kinds of drinks at home! It’s nothing revolutionary or spectacular, but it is simple and inexpensive (as opposed to Starbucks and Jamba Juice—which are both deceptively simple, and expensive!)

It’s simple: make a pot of coffee in the evening and pour it into a pitcher. Chill it overnight. Whenever you want it (I like to drink mine right before I walk back to work after lunch. It gives me a little treat to look forward to), pour a glass, add milk, ice and a little sugar, and enjoy! There is a deep satisfaction in having a little coffee treat that doesn’t break the bank.

We just use a 39oz can of coffee (to my palette, poor quality coffee tastes the same as the good stuff when it’s chilled, but I’m sure there are those who can tell better than I can), which procures about 120 twelve-ounce servings (according to the label, anyway). A 39oz can costs about $10, so each serving evens out to about $.08. (Factoring in the cost of filters, milk, and sugar, it’s more like $.10 per serving). If you drank that every work day for a year (same formula as above), it costs $25 per year. You can save $350 per year!

The same thing can be done with smoothies. Investing in a couple of bags of frozen fruit (a big bag of store brand or, better yet, wholesale is the most bang for your buck), a bunch of bananas, and a carton of milk. We usually use strawberries, peaches, one whole banana, and a little splash of milk, but you can use any kind of fruit or berries, or yogurt instead of milk. Blend it up, pour it in a glass, and drink your daily servings of fruit! It’s a lot cheaper than the Starbucks smoothies or Jamba Juice. Some people even like to hit Super Supplements and throw a scoop of protein powder into the mix, so it’s an even healthier snack!

I never really had a problem spending money on blended drinks until a few years ago, but I certainly allowed it to become a habit. I don’t want to look back on my life at the end of my days and realize that I literally spent thousands of dollars on little treats for myself. Especially if I’m able to make them at home!

Anyway, I hope everyone else has the chance some time this summer to enjoy the sunshine and economically-savvy summer drinks!

Oh, the weather outside is frightful,
But the space heater is so delightful!
And since they don't plow the roads,
LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!

The JVC East Class of 2009-2010 has the privilege of living on the East Coast during the snowiest winter on record. About 28 inches fell last Friday, and before a substantial amount of it could melt, we got smacked with another storm this past Wednesday, and it raged on through Thursday afternoon. It was so bad that ALL of our (the Jesuit volunteers’) offices were closed for two days. The teachers in our house still have today off, and we’re going into a three day weekend.

We’re supposed to host a Valentine’s Day party this weekend, so we’re doing our best to get ready for company. (The biggest development in trying to prepare the house—CHRISTINE FIXED THE VACUUM CLEANER!!!! We have not had a functioning vacuum EVER since we moved in. That’s right; our house had never been vacuumed before this week. Simple living is one thing, but that was ridiculous.) I made some red velvet cupcakes for the party. The recipe called for two ounces of red food coloring, but if I ever make them again I don’t think I’ll use so much. The dye is expensive, and those are some RED cupcakes!

I’m a little bummed out about the party happening this weekend, though, because I think I’m getting sick. I started feeling a little poorly around this time last week, and so I decided to take is easy and rest up. But we had company on Friday night and went to a Super Bowl part last Sunday. I didn’t sleep well Sunday night, so I woke up at five and just stayed awake. The following morning I awoke feeling worse than ever (I could hardly peel myself off of my bed in time for work), but I went in to the office anyway, popping Tylenol and drinking as much detox tea as I could find.


We decided at work that day that the coming storm would make the drive to work too dangerous for my coworkers to go to work. I would have been able to make it because I walk here, but if I had been running this place all by myself, all hell would have broken loose. Then, since the storm was just picking up speed on Wednesday night, Irma sent me a text message that the offices were closed again yesterday.


On Tuesday night/Wednesday morning I slept for fourteen hours (told you I wasn’t feeling well!), and spent most of the day sitting still and reading. But yesterday (Thursday), cabin fever kicked in.


I woke up in a hurry, stripped my bed to wash the sheets, and started baking those cupcakes. As soon as they were finished, I finished the laundry, cleaned the kitchen, vacuumed my room and put the bed back together. But I was still itchy for activity, so I walked downtown to run errands.


But I STILL had insane cabin fever, so despite how crummy I was feeling I went to the building I work in, put on my running shoes, and started running up and down the 23 flights of stairs for exercise. Then I did those 8-minute exercise videos in my office, which I watch in YouTube. Normally I sleep like a baby after exercise, but my muscles ached so badly and my throat was so sore that I didn’t fall asleep until around 3am.


It might go without saying that I don’t feel so hot today. The idea of company and a loud party over the weekend isn’t that appealing, but maybe I’ll perk up after some rest.


Work is a little nutty today—all of the medical transportation companies cancelled their services these past two days, so we had to scramble to reschedule a bunch of appointments for our clients. Now that that’s over, it’s slowed down. February has been oddly slow for us (knock on wood).

It's fricking freezing in here, Mr. Bigglesworth

The heat in my office is broken.

I have been wearing a coat and scarf all morning. I can't feel my nose or my toes, and I'm wearing shoes. My fingers are so cold that I've had to retype each word in this post so far.

The hilarious part is that in every other office, the heat either works or someone was able to come up with a space heater. Ah, being the lowest on the totem pole (and also the youngest, meaning I can stick out hostile environments better than everyone else...)

Oooh, I can't wait to be warm again. Which is basically to say that I can't wait to go to bed tonight. That's the only time these days that I'm warm...

All right, that's it...

I am so darn tired of being cold! It's April...

But on the upside, Holy Week starts in four days!

110° In The Shade

Blimey, it's hot.

Although it isn't really 110° in the shade. That's the name of a musical that I learned a fun, "dramatic" song from.

I knew my blog was going to get boring once I started work- there's so little to write about! But I'll try. Thoughts in bullet points:

• Ichiro Susuki earned the MVP award at the All Star game yesterday. He was was the first player ever to hit an inside-the-park home run at an All Star game. Actually, it was his personal first, too. My mom made this very astute observation: Does anyone else think it's ironic that the Japanese sensation's MVP prize was a really crappy American-made truck?
• The last Harry Potter book is coming out soon! I'm rereading the sixth one, in order to refresh.
• My dad and his godson, John, are up at Mt. Baker this week, fishing. Tomorrow night my brother and sister and I are going to go up and join them. We used to go every summer, when I was little. Although back then I didn't actually fish when we were in the boat. Holding a living thing as it dangles by its mouth from a sharp object never appealed to me very much. I used to sit in the boat and read while 10 or so of my cousins and three of my uncles would fish around me. Methinks that tradition is going to continue. I always loved being out there with everybody, but I hate actually catching fish.
• Ditto for eating the fish we caught/will catch. Seafood doesn't sit well with me. I, sired by a Bostonian and fruit of a Seattlite's womb, cannot eat fish. Joe's always joked that I'm not really related to anyone in this family (his proof being my hair color); considering my reaction to seafood, I'm being to wonder about that...
• One of my daily joys this summer is following Tuan's blog- his time in India sounds amazing! Although it makes me question the content of my own blog (what did Tuan do today? He brought food to the needy in India and nurtured his spiritual life. What did I d0? I held a sign... I'm not changing the world much...)
• Speaking of folks from B'ham, I spent about half of last week up on Catholic Row with my lovely NCCM cohorts. Highlights included a barbecue, learning how to use a Nintendo system (picture Patrick asking in a slightly incredulous voice, "Molly, have you ever played a video game before?" "No." For a nanosecond, the room was perfectly silent...), Mass with Fr. Qui-Tac at the Newman center, and dinner afterwards at Boomer's. I was so happy to see everyone- it made my week, truly.

This incredibly random, nonlinear, and ill-structured blog is brought to you by hypoglycemia and stifling heat. Thank you very much. Goodnight.

I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end

It is way too nice outside to sit indoors and write a blog. So I'm not going to.

Instead, I'm going to go outside and get my caffeine fix and my Vitamin D. It shall be lovely.

That is all.