1. I'm not going to say it, because I don't want to jinx us. But. You may have noticed that I posted about being sick. And then didn't post for two days. Perhaps it may have occurred to you that the sickness and the not-posting were related to each other. You would be right. This nasty illness, whatever it was, followed us home and hunted us down one by one.

But...today I'm posting again. Let's not get cocky and say anything more than that.

2. Hmmm, how to segue from sickness to recipe reviews? There really isn't a good way. So I'll just tell you: inbetween sick times this week, we tried a couple new recipes. One was a watermelon-raspberry slushie. One was a goat cheese empanada. One was delicious, and one was disappointing. Which was which? I'll let you know next week.

3. Okay, back to a sickness-related thought. After we got home from the Camping Trip of Doom, we had a couple of pillows that badly needed to be washed. I pulled the pillowcases off, but decided that the smell had really penetrated through and the whole pillow itself needed to be washed. I followed the washing instructions, which included "tumble dry low." But they came out of the dryer as though I'd washed them not with water, but with magic pillow-fluffing steroids. They used to be a normal amount of fluffiness. Now they are so huge and puffy they barely fit in their pillowcases, and you have to crane your neck up to sleep on them. So not comfortable! What can I do about this? Is there a way to deflate them back down to normal size, or are they ruined?

4. Garden update: maybe my garden isn't totally a lost cause this year. I did get a squash!


(Just ignore the other random stuff on top of my table. Or, think of it as a still life: Squash with Slipper and Steinbeck.)


5. I've mentioned it before, but I'll say it again: Restyle Resale in North Albany is a great store and well-worthy of a visit. I was looking for a new outfit in which to properly celebrate my upcoming birthday, and I tried on probably 20 dresses there yesterday. I really liked ALL of them, but finally decided on a classy black one that was an excellent price: $15. It's all black, so I also picked up a red beaded necklace to go with it. It's sparkly! So. Love the dress, love the necklace, already have some cute black shoes. Big question: what color of toenail polish should I wear with this outfit? Should I wear bright red, like the necklace? Or a different color? Would red and black and red and black be too matchy-matchy?

6. We've had perfect weather this week. In the 80s. Hot enough for summer fun, not so hot that we're dying of heat. Love it.




7. I have a sadly neglected flower bed in my back yard. I tried to plant some pansies back there this spring, but they died because it is in full sun and I rarely watered them. (Did I mention it's sadly neglected?) Any ideas on what I should plant there? Other than a cactus garden? What are your favorite low-maintenance, drought-resistant plants?

You can read more quick takes, probably with less sickness and boring garden questions, here.