"Havin' a heat wave!

A tropical heat wave!  With the temperature risin', it isn't surprisin', you certainly can, Can-can!"  Never understood what having a heat wave had to do with doing the Can-can, but I can tell you I'M not going to be doing the Can-can in this heat!

I hope everyone is staying as cool as possible.  If you have AC, count your blessings!  If you're like us and don't have AC, I hope you have lots of fans, ice cream/Popsicles and access to a pool or sprinkler of sorts.  Please make sure you are drinking plenty of water (yes, it counts if you use those drink powders like Crystal Light to flavor your water - it's still water)!

I've culled the internet and picked my friend's brains and I've gathered some keeping cool tips for you.

1) Keep your windows closed during the day and open them at night, if it's cooler outside than in the house.

2) Close the blinds during the day too, to keep the sun from heating up your house.

3) One site suggested turning off ceiling fans when you leave the room, as they cool off people, not rooms.  My thought is that ceiling fans also help to circulate air, so if you have the doors to those rooms open, hopefully any cooler air around them will also be pulled into the room.

4)  We do this in the evening, when it's cooler outside: open a window at either end of the room/area and put one fan in each window, one facing in and one facing out - one to pull in cooler air from outside, and one to pull it across the room.

5) Don't cook!  Eat salads, sandwiches, cereal, take out, whatever you can to keep the stove/toaster/microwave off.

6) Turn off the lights - those buggers can give off quite a bit of heat!

7) Take a shower with your clothes on/put on a wet t-shirt/drape a wet towel around your shoulders - you get the idea.

8) Stay still - read a book, watch t.v., talk with friends, play a board game, write, etc.

Here are some tips that require a bit more time, forethought and dinero:

1) Strategically plant trees so their shade blocks the sun from entering the house.

2) Insulate your roof.

3) Install awnings over the windows.

What do you do to stay cool?