Beating the Heat

It felt really good to enjoy some days at home after all the traveling I've done.  That didn't mean that I spent those days idle, however.  Quite the contrary- it's been busy!

My cousin delivered the kitchen table my aunt is gave me a couple of weeks ago, and I gave it a little TLC.  I sanded it three times- each time with finer sandpaper- to take away some of the old paint, the marks, and the grooves, and am giving it a few coats of bright red paint with enamel to make for easy clean-ups later.

I'm excited for this table and chair set to replace the metal art table and folding chairs that have served as our dining room set since we moved in to our apartment.  One more step to having a (somewhat) grown-up apartment!
I've been cooking a lot more, for myself and for Scott and I.  I'm even trying things I never would have thought before!

This was my experiment with sweet potatoes- I tried making both fries and chips, using recipes found on Pinterest (links are on each!).  The sweet potato chips didn't make it past trying to fry them in the pan- they were mushy, and I probably added waaaay too much olive oil when trying to fry them.  Oops.  The sweet potato fries, however, were simple to make- the hardest part was cutting up the potato!  One large potato rendered tons of fries, and instead of using salt and pepper, I sprinkled them with Old Bay Seasoning.  SO good. :)  Scott and I finished off the entire batch I made in one night.  Om nom nom...

I've been climbing at least every other day lately, and I'm finally starting to feel like I'm getting back to my old strength level, pre-surgery!  Yesterday I went climbing at Sandstone Quarry with my friend Bailey.  An initial onslaught of mosquitoes at nine in the morning wasn't a great start, but we were saved by a Christian group rappelling down the wall near us who shared their bugspray.  After spraying (a lot), we got to work on the Muskrat/Sax Wall, which stayed in the shade the longest.  When the sun hit us (and the 90 degree heat), we finally called it quits around 2.

I came home to kittens not dealing well with the heat- both of them zonked on the bed in various states of unhappiness.  They're shedding their winter coats like crazy now that the heat has finally made an appearance, and until they get rid of their black winter hair (which is quickly coating the apartment), they're taking an exponential amount of naps lately...

My knitting has been exceedingly productive in the evenings, thanks to hot weather and season one of Modern Family!  I finally cast on for the left front section of Scott's Dude Sweater, and I'm about halfway finished now.  I'm really happy with the speed that it's flying off the needles!  We just started season two, and hopefully that will see me through this sweater front and starting the right side.

This morning, I'm starting another Christmas knitting project that I know will take me awhile.  The recipient needs a pair of mittens, and I figured a pretty fair-isle pattern would be perfect.  Hopefully this pair will be good for travel knitting (once I photocopy the pattern so I don't have to carry the book with me everywhere...).
Here's hoping that I stay feeling productive, because I have a lot of projects going that need progress.  The hot hot hot muggy weather better not make me as useless as the kittens...