It's really hot here, Random Stuff, and I'm hot

This is one of those summer weeks in Porto Alegre that I try to forget.  It is SO HOT!!  And we don't have central air.  We have some window units which help a little but they run up your electricity bill so much that it just won't do to leave them on all day.  When the heat index is 108 like it was today, they don't do that much good anyway.

But, enough of the complaining.  Here are some random things that have been going on with us.....

It was so hot in the house that we ventured out to the nearby mall which has awesome air conditioning.  They had a little cheesy High School Musical play area set up for kids.  Carys and Anderson dressed up like HSM characters and got their picture made.  Anderson wouldn't wear a curly, black afro wig because it was "weird", but he had no problem in donning a blue feather boa.

Every Thursday night my girlfriends and I have been having little get-togethers.  The first few Thursdays we did arts and crafts.  It was fun, so fun that I forgot to take pictures.  But this last Thursday, we started playing BUNKO.  We had so much fun and are going to do it once a month from now on.

 Bronwyn and I even made little prizes for the winners.

 Just having fun with good friends is so important, and I have been missing it!  This Thursday night thing is going to add a lot of fun to my life!

Last Tuesday, I noticed that I had some bumps on the back of my neck on the left side.  After a few days it didn't go away and got worse.  A friend of mine who is a doctor told me to get it checked out because it might be a spider bite (gross!!).  I went to a clinic and found out that I have Herpes.  Yes, Herpes Zoster.  We Americans know it as Shingles.  Apparently it is caused from the chicken pox virus that lies dormant in your nerve cells and comes out when you are stressed out or your immune system is low.  Not sure why it decided to appear in me at this time, but I found out that it is most common among "senior adults".  You can imagine how glad I was to read that.  Well, anyway, my dr. friend, Clarice, has me taking mega-doses of medicine which is really helping.  I had a few days of being uncomfortable, but  it is getting better, now.  Because of this, we had to take 3 kids to get chicken pox vaccines so they wouldn't get the chicken pox from me.  They loved that.

Also, I am kind of addicted to this:

Kevin got seasons 1 and 2 as a Christmas gift.  Almost everyday, especially since it is so HOT, after lunch we sneak back to our bedroom to chill out for a bit and watch an episode while Giovanni takes a nap.  I am hooked.  And it has nothing to do with the two cute guys in the picture above.  Nothing at all.

And finally....this morning Anderson asked me this question:
"Mom, which is better:  God or his messages?"

Any help?

Oh, yeah, and I am really hot.