Whew! It’s hot here. Not Arizona hot, where I grew up, or even California hot. No, it’s just Seattle hot. I remember when I was young my family visited Seattle during the summer. There was a heat wave, which was really only in the 90’s, and we all found this funny, having come from the low 110’s. Granted, there is more humidity here and air conditioning does not come quite so standard as it does with the homes back in Phoenix.
Now after living in Seattle for 6 years, I’m quite used to my nice 60 degree temperate weather and am finding 75 degrees at night a very uncomfortable temperature to sleep in, much less bake in.
Oh yes, you thought this wouldn’t have anything to do with baking? Not here. It’s unescapable.
Imagine a house with no air conditioning, and more than half the windows don’t have screens so we can’t easily leave them open because of our indoor cats. We run all the fans we’ve got, but they’re fighting a losing battle against a 350 degree oven running for hours on end in a tiny little kitchen.
With the teasing scent of browning sugar, melting chocolate, and baking cake, it becomes both a wonderful and torturous place to be.
Right now, we’re doing all the final stuff for the Punk Rock Flea Market. I’ve got 7 products about done, mostly wrapped. I’m waiting on the rose baklava in the oven right now while some lavender blondes are cooling. I’ve got a big pile of Sugar Rats, painstakingly decorated by the whole household (by the way, as a tip, those cheap three-pack empty condiment bottles you can buy work well for icing cookies) as well as some Gold Hearts (Goldschlagger Snickerdoodles), Absinthe-Almond-Fig Biscotti, Cherry-Gingersnaps, and Spicy Hot Chocolate cookies. Tomorrow I’ll be making Strawberry-Balsamic Fudge and finish up the remaining packaging and labels. Sometime on Friday or ungodly-early on Saturday I will be making some Cranky-Lemon Muffins.
I’m pretty exhausted, but it’s nice to see things slowly getting finished in this final hour. I am always too ambitious and usually plan for more than I manage, especially as of late. Since mid to late last year (this is not really when things started, but when it all seemed to kick off and get exponentially worse), I’ve been dealing with a lot of health problems. I was just recently diagnosed with what seems to be Lupus. Lupus is not really officially diagnosed until there’s organ damage, which thankfully there isn’t at this point. But as my family and medical history point very strongly towards it, it’s a pretty damn safe bet. I’m still figuring myself out in it, finding out where my new limits are and trying not to be trapped by them. Sadly, my energy supply is definitely far less predictable than it used to be.
Overall, though, I’m pretty happy with the selection we’re accomplishing. Since this is my first time at this market, it’ll be a learning experience anyhow. I know that there is usually just over 1000 people in foot traffic throughout the day, so it’s quite possible that if my products appeal to people we’ll sell out early since we’ve only got less than 100 of each type. We’ll see!
If you happen to make it out there, drop by and let me know you heard about it from my blog. I may be able to sneak you a good deal 
Linda | 03-Jun-09 at 3:59 am | Permalink
You don’t have to have organ damage in order to be diagnosed with lupus. 1,500,000 Americans have lupus and someone is diagnosed every 30 minutes.
Lupus is a chronic, inflammatory autoimmune disease. Diagnosing lupus is challenging and has four parts to it.
1. Medical history
2. Symptoms
3. Wide variety of lab test
4. After ruling out other things that cause the same symptoms
The most common symptoms are joint pain and swelling and extreme fatigue, but symptoms vary from patient to patient.
There is no definitive test for lupus. Lupus patients who follow their treatment plan are very likely to live a normal life span. About 40% of patients with systemic lupus will have kidney involvement.
Please read more at http://www.lupusflorida.org. Click on the “New to Lupus” tab.
Wishing you the best.
Lori | 03-Jun-09 at 8:56 am | Permalink
Thanks for posting the info, Linda. I think I probably misunderstood my rheumatologist, on thinking about it. She said we’re doing what we can via my treatment plan to prevent it from becoming “full blown lupus” and damaging organs. At this point, I’ve got the god-awful fatigue, the joint pain, APS (blood clotting disorder), and have a couple incidents of lung issues. It may just be the meds but I’ve also become more photosensitive and being out in the sun drains my energy and makes me ache. My tests so far have been suggestive of Lupus. She called all this the “soft signs of Lupus.”