It’s almost scary the amount of honey roasted peanuts I’ve eaten in the past week. I once heard that peanut addiction was a sign of peanut allergy. (I think some people just don’t know what they’re talking about.) Either way, I’m going to be allergic to myself soon if the insanity doesn’t stop. Oh, look, the vat of honey roasted peanuts is almost empty. Ta-da! Problem solved.
It’s been so stinking hot lately. I mean, I guess that’s what I get for living in Arizona in June. But this year I’ve been outside more than usual. I mean, usually, I try to stay put in my air conditioned cocoon from May 15 to October 31, the days of the year most likely to top 100 degrees. But this year I’ve been out there running five mornings a week, plus we have this 4 acre parcel of land I’m trying to train my kids to work by pulling/shoveling/whacking weeds on most mornings, and now swim lessons have started. And they staggered the start-times, so now I’m there for an hour instead of a half hour, but I can never leave and go hibernate in my car because there’s always one or more kids who need supervision. In the heat. And it’s wild how little shade there is.
By yesterday afternoon I felt like a piece of bark. So dry.
Then I got a flash of brilliance: I should park my kids at the air conditioned movie theater (where they were showing a free movie) and then I’d sit in the lobby and work on my rewrite. It was so frosty chilled in there, I could’ve stayed for another showing (if only there’d been one.) And, lucky me!, the movie ended up being an hour and 45 minutes long–just about right for redoing two scenes. Yeah. Oh, yeah. I even got an occasional brain break (without wasting time on Twitter!) because a friend happened by and chatted about her baby’s surgery for a bit. Loved it. She had an amusing anecdote with the punchline “Happy Butt Day,” and how awesome is that?
I’m not sure when I’ll get another chance to write with such focus again before the ANWA Writers Retreat at the end of the month. (That’s going to be so grrrrreat, by the way. Just what the doctor ordered.) But maybe if I wrangle the schedule, I can stay out of the heat and slap out a few thousand words now and then.
