If you haven’t heard: it’s HAWT. It’s so hot in Seattle right now that it is not just hot nor is it HOT, only HAWT will do justice to the HAWTness that is Seattle at the moment. It cooled all the way down to 85 last night…at midnight! And our house cooled down to maybe 185. Dang. Only 15% of homes in the Seattle area have AC. These are the fascinating tidbits that you can learn watching the local news these days.

I’ve been trying, ever so hard to not be a typical Seattlite and whine about the weather. Seattle-peeps are so whiny. “We” whine when it starts raining, we whine when it snows saying we prefer the rain, we whine when we have three consecutive days over 75. So, here we are, expected to heat up to 101-105 today. And I’ve decided that when we hit the 100 mark I, too, am allowed to join the whiny party. I’ve also decided that this heat calls for the Martin Home to turn into a Nudist Colony ‘cuz it’s so flippin’ hot in here. And even with as few clothes on as possible it still feels like a sauna. Maybe I’ll lose some weight. Isn’t that the point of sweating or doing ‘hot yoga’?! Mike’s missing out on the Nudey Party. He set out to work happily this morning. Yeah, he’s got AC at the office, I wouldn’t blame him if he worked until midnight.

The HAWTness makes us all a wee bit cranky. It doesn’t help that I’ve been a little preoccupied with my Summer ‘o Decluttering, Cleaning, Painting and Reorganizing. The entire contents of every hall closet – linen, coat, pantry – and all kitchen cupboards have been covering every possible surface – kitchen counter, dining room table, floors, etc. while I paint and reorganize. So, here, we are 101 degrees outside, 1001 degrees inside (yes, the number will get bigger every time), and the place is CHAOS. It looks like the Clutter Monster had Disarray Diarrhea all over our home. And I’m on clean-up. AND we leave tomorrow (Mike & I) for the EE Convention in Park City, UT. So, ideally the home will look a bit more habitable so we don’t have to return to this wreck. The boys are THRILLED about spending a weekend at the beach at Port Ludlow with my parents. So, not only do I have to finish cleaning this joint but packing for all of us as well. And it’s 2000 degrees inside!!

The serious HAWT and MESS-induced crankiness is in full swing, and the slightest thing seems capable of setting us off. Matthew was so distraught the other day because I didn’t give him his first choice of straw color that he wept and yelled, “YOU’RE BREAKING MY HEART!” He gulped for air, and then in a voice shaking with emotion, he sadly muttered, “I no longer have love in my heart for you, Mom.” Dude. If this is how you feel about me after a wee straw debacle, the teenage years are going to be seriously rough.

ARgh.

We have had some fun, recently, don’t get me wrong. The highlight was last weekend’s Renton River Days Parade. The preschool always participates and we joined in for the first time. The kiddos can ride bikes or trikes or scooters or get pulled in wagons or just walk. One of the preschool families has a classic convertible that went first for our group – all decked out with our preschool banner, all the kids and parents followed, and then Mike and another dad got to bring up the rear with a big banner. The theme was “Discover the Hart of Renton” – so the kids all had red heart balloons, red streamers, pompoms, etc. to deck us out.

Matthew was pretty hesitant about the parade thing at first. I was worried that the whole shebang would be a complete disaster. In the car on the way there, Matthew was crying that he didn’t want to be in the parade, he didn’t want to wear his helmet, he didn’t want to ride his bike, everyone would laugh at him, he had a hang-nail, on and on with the reasons why this was a bad idea. Mike even glanced at me over the din of two whiny children and asked, “Uh, why are we doing this again?” Through gritted teeth, I growled, “It. Will. Be. Fun. This. Is. Family. Together-ness. FUN. We WILL have fun.”

And we did! Matthew totally stepped up, did great – rode his bike the whole way – and had a fantastic time. Zachary would hop on his scooter occasionally, scoot for maybe ten feet, then give it to me to pull alongside us. I had a red pompom that I’d been given by one of the moms. He didn’t want it at first ‘cuz it was too “girlyish” (a word he learned from Matthew). I told Zach that it was a magic wand and if he waved it at the people lining the sidewalk they would wave back. Worked like a charm. Look out Ms. Washington and the SeaFair Pirates – our children are parade naturals!