What's worse than 114 degree temperatures?

Having a fickle air conditioner that works one day, but not the next. Apparently, our AC unit can't make up it's mind as to whether it wants to work for us or not. Today was the fourth day where we woke up to 85 degree temperatures in the house - quite a surprise for 6:00 in the morning. By 10am, the temperature in the house was reaching 90 degrees, so the girls and I hopped into the car to take Doug to his dentist appointment. After driving around in the air-conditioned car for over 4 hours, we headed back to the home front. The AC repair guy finally came over a little after 5:00 pm, but by then the darn thing had decided to kick into gear and get the house down to a cool 79 degrees. Go figure. The only thing we can do at this point is hope that the AC unit decides not to work in the morning, that way, the repairman can troubleshoot the situation and try to fix the problem. Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Record Breaking Heat

Today's temperature was 110 degrees. Generally, Arizona doesn't see more than 10 days a year that exceed this benchmark - the current record is 28 days of high temperatures. Today's high temperature marked the the 27th day in 2007 on which the temperature in Phoenix was 110 degrees or higher. The seven-day forecast for this week predicts three more days of this extreme heat (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday). So, basically, what I have learned is that we moved to Arizona during one of the hottest, record-breaking summers possible. Go figure.

The Key to Happiness

According to a survey conducted by the Associated Press and MTV, spending time with families was one of the top causes of happiness in people ages 13-24. I thought it was pretty interesting, primarily because family has always been extremely important to me. Nearly three-quarters of the 1,280 people surveyed said that their relationship with their parents makes them happy. Way to go moms and dads! Surprisingly, money was not listed as a top cause of happiness. Another thing I found interesting was that sexual activity within this age group was actually found to cause less happiness (who would have thought?!). Close to half of those surveyed said that religion and spirituality cause happiness. An overwhelming majority thought that marriage and starting a family of their own would also cause happiness. Pretty cool stuff, all-in-all.

The article that appeared on Yahoo New was pretty long, so instead of copying and pasting the whole thing here, I'll just provide the link and allow you to read it if you're interested.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070819/ap_on_re_us/youth_poll_happiness

While I know you can't believe everything you read, this is something I think is very true. Happy reading everybody!

By the way, these pictures of two people who make me VERY happy...oh how I love my beautiful little girls. Reilly is in the first picture, Aiden is in the third. In the middle picture, Aiden is on the couch and Reilly is standing.

Today was a good day

Today was a good day. I got to spend the morning with my girls; Aiden and Reilly helped me bake some cookies for my Sunday School Lesson. After singing in Sacrament meeting with the Relief Society, the lesson today gave me new insight as well as some gentle reminders of things forgotten. Dinner was quick and easy - a little pot of spaghetti can last a long time for us. After bathtime, playtime, and getting the girls down for bed, I was able to hang out and spend a little time with my hubby. Pretty simple and easy-going, but it was a good day nonetheless. :0)

Scorpions...I hate scorpions

I don't actually think hate is a strong enough word to describe my feelings towards scorpions. We found two more last night - large ones, about 2-3 inches each. I was taking out the trash when I noticed a large spider just outside the side door to the garage. I went inside, got the Raid can, and returned to take care of the spider. As I was spraying the spider, I noticed a little shadow moving underneath the door jam. A few seconds later, I realized that little shadow was a scorpion - an evil, nasty, disgusting, creepy scorpion, trying to sneak away. Needless to say, the second it dawned on me that I was looking at a scorpion I took my sandal off and started smashing the sucker. A few seconds later, scorpion #2 started sneaking away in the opposite direction. Doug was quick to smoosh that one with his shoe...the buggers never had a chance. I don't think my heart has ever beat as fast as it did last night with those scorpions. It took a while before I got over the heeby-jeebies those nasty things cause. What can I say? I really hate scorpions.