Oh my...it's hot and stormy!

I know that I choose to live in the desert but lately it's been crazy, ridiculously, absurdly, extremely (enough descriptive words for ya?!?) HOT down here. Seriously.

I know each and every year that we will get weather like this, but yet I still pray for a mild summer. Sadly one has yet to come in my 8 years in Arizona...but there's always next year, right?

Last week I don't think that we had a day below 110 degrees (other than at night...then it gets all the way down to like 87 or 88 degrees out). And yes, I have proof of this absurd heat.

Yep, that's right folks. 119 degrees. It was this hot two days in a row last week. I thought that I was going to end up in a puddle on the sidewalk anytime that I went outside. But alas, I didn't. I was alright. Just really, really sweaty. And cranky.

Then on Tuesday night of this week a storm came. A big, humongous storm...that brought with it dust (lots of it!), wind and lightning.

This is a wall of dust...not clouds! Dust!

My husband was driving home from work and sent me a text that said it looked like a dust storm was coming. When he waked in the front door, he rounded me and the kiddo up and we headed outside to prepare the backyard. We scrambled to take down our umbrellas, pick up the pool toys, etc. and we got inside just as this wall of dust hit our house. The sky went from light to dark in about 5 seconds. It was a little scary since the dust also brought with it 70 mph winds. We stood at the windows and watched as the dust made our pool a mud puddle and things from our neighbors yards flew by.

These types of storms happen every summer down here in the desert. The months of July and August are our season of monsoons. This type of monsoon storm is called a haboob and to give you a better feel for what it was like check out this video from a local news station helicopter. My husband, who grew up here in the Phoenix area, said that he had never experienced anything like it. Yes, he has been through big monsoon storms before. but nothing of this magnitude.

Have a great Thursday and think of me as I am wiping away the thin layer of dust on EVERYTHING in my home and as I try to get my backyard picked up a little, so that it looks good until the next storm!

(BTW the two photos on here today are from my iPhone and have I told you how much I love my iPhone lately? Seriously I love it. I cuddle with it at night. I pat her, stroke her and tell her what a good girl she is every day. I think I need to write a love letter to her on here soon...)

Summers are "Indoor Fun" times in Arizona

It is getting so hot here in the Valley of the Sun…by the time I pulled into the parking lot at work this morning it was already 94 degrees out. Yep, that’s right…94 degrees at 8:00 am. Yuck!

By the end of the week it’s supposed to get over 115 degrees outside for the highs, and the 90s for our lows. Yowza! Definitely a drawback of living in the desert!

This is the time of year that you notice that no one is outside that doesn’t have to be. No children playing outside (unless you hear splashing from a backyard pool), no one out for walks with their dogs, and the local parks are like ghost towns. We all know better…we just sit inside in front of vents that are blowing air-conditioned comfort or underneath a ceiling fan going so fast, you would think it was going to just take off into flight by itself.

So hats off to everyone that braves the Arizona summers…we definitely have to pay for our wonderful weather for the other 9 months of the year, but getting through the heat of the summer is worth it!