If you can't take the heat...

...get out of the Southern states!

It has been so very hot these past few days. I believe the high temperatures have broken heat records for the highs for this time of the year. Global warming or cyclical trend?

So after I got up this morning, I decided to take Edward for a walk before it got too hot (it's supposed to be a high of 72 in Oceanside, but I'm convinced it will be 85). After we got back from our walk, it was already starting to warm up. So I decided to google "does covering windows keep house cooler" and this great article on cooling your home naturally came up. Of course, these things on their handy list take more time to throw together than I have, so I settled for throwing sheets on all out windows that don't have drapes (vertical blinds really don't block out the heat).

Also, because we rent our home, there is a limit to what we can do to the house (or what we even want to do). For example, the exterior of the house is painted a drab and ugly brown color. Darker colored homes absorb 70-90% of the radiant energy from the sun. The attic is also very poorly insulated, making the house cold during the winter and hot during the summer. However, both of these things require time, money and effort to complete. These are things I wish our landlords would have taken into consideration, but we are getting new double paned windows put in to replace the 1970's era single paned ones we currently possess. Beggars can't be choosers.

There are a few quick fixes I am interested in trying, one being this interesting heat absorbing layer you put in your attic between the interior of the roof and the insulation. It's some sort of aluminum foil with paper backing and it is supposed to absorb 25% of the heat that would otherwise be warming your house. Those sound relatively inexpensive and when we move, we could take them down with no problem. I also want to get better window coverings. Roughly 40% of unwanted heat comes in through windows. And believe me, our house gets HOT!

So now that I've done some quick research and thrown some window coverings on, I'm going to go take a cold shower and then it's off to school and work.

Real Simple Daily Thought:
Work hard to improve your mind and body. Nourish your spirit. Do the things you fear.

―Robin S. Sharma