I haven't showered in a couple days because I've been in too much pain to deal with it, and I didn't have to go anywhere. Tomorrow, I do need to go places, and my hair is kind of gross, so I tried to take a shower, and there's no hot water. I texted my landlord, but no response yet.

there's no hot water

Well, at least it's ridiculously hot instead of mid-January.

Landlord got back to me, and we tested some things out. Turns out that, when my upstairs neighbors moved out, the utility company came and cut off the utilities to that apartment, but they turned off the wrong hot water heater. So, landlord will be calling them to have someone come and fix it tomorrow.

Well, at least it's ridiculously hot instead of mid-January.

Yeah, but my hair is gross, and I have things I need to do tomorrow, and cold water is terrible for my joints.

Though, I think I have to cancel the things I was supposed to do tomorrow anyway, if I'll need to be here for the guy to come and fix the water heater. Ugh.

Blah. I had to go up and down the stairs a bunch of times to look at the water heater and then check if there was hot water in the upstairs apartment, and my joints do not appreciate it. And I think I ran out of Advil. And I have no real painkillers. There might be a few Tylenol somewhere. This is going to be a bad night.

Love to everyone who's having a hard time. Be gentle with your marvelous selves.

Again, I will agree with smonster, for she is wise and wonderful.

I need to figure out what to cook for the two teenagers tomorrow. One is Vegetarian and one doesn't like many vegetables. The first week I did two types of pasta, one with meat and one with beans. Last week we ordered pizza, but that was too speedy. They have very healthy appetites.

Lasagna? Or some other casserole-type thing?

My apartment now has hot water! I can shower!

Yay hot water!

I think lasagna may be more work than I feel like doing for lunch. Maybe a homemade mac and cheese?

I'm a sucker for Chop't (a fast, casual restaurant) salads and have been making them at home. Excellent summer fodder when the temp 'feels like 107, etc.

The best part is, if you make the right dressing, they can be the stone-soup of cold meals and end up being tasty-tastic.

I use a huge bowl to mix everything up...and have to figure out how to keep myself from eating the whole thing. I'm at 100% fail on that point so far.

What I learned from Chop't: crunch makes every salad special. When you cut bits up small, you can sneak in stuff you might not love and it all goes down well. Umami is the bomb-y. For this, I often use canned chickpeas. For sweet, pickled beets...which I tell myself are healthier than I bet they are. Crushed tortilla chips are aMAZing in a salad.

I feel like I am winning at summer, low cost food...and entertaining. Since guest seldom make this sort of thing for themselves. Not sure why.

Is chopping discouraging because it seems labor intensive?