Hot! Hot! Hot! We are in the middle of summer here and the high 90s/low 100s temperatures certainly reflect it. However, I am lucky to have my in-laws visiting from South Carolina and they are loving mornings and evenings that bring actual relief along with a very forgiving shade. So let me get through these five topics so I can join them under our back yard patio umbrella.

Wedding Memes – On this date eight years ago, I did something that might have been pushing it. I took the photos from our wedding and made memes out of them. I know, I know…why use the beautiful, expensive images from your happiest day just for a few cheap laughs? Well, perhaps I don’t always think straight. Below is one of the memes I created but if you want to see the rest, tap here.

Telling myself not to screw it up the entire night before obviously paid off.

Watermelon Art – Last Saturday, we attended my nephew’s 7th birthday party. It was held at the YMCA pool and followed an aquatic life theme (my sister loves a good theme). Speaking of my sister, she carved and prepared this watermelon to resemble a shark. Pretty cool, right?

This watermelon was served at my nephew’s birthday party.

National Sour Candy Day – I won’t even consider entertaining National Sour Candy Day (at least in the form of indulging). Even as a kid, I was not a fan of candy that made your face pucker. My children, on the other hand, are a completely different story. For whatever reason they enjoy the sensation of their eyes watering when they eat something like sour gummi bears, a Warhead, or Sour Patch Kids. But as I have conveyed through both my top five favorite hard candies list and my top five Jelly Belly list, I steer far away from anything that is sour.

Give me chocolate any day but I detest sour candy.

Big Brother 26 – It’s that time again. The latest Big Brother season premiered last night and our family is dialed in. Yes, even Sloan is now a fan. Big Brother 26 will mark the 13th season that Sid and I have watched together (10 regular seasons plus 3 celebrity seasons). Not bad for someone who was once passionately anti-reality TV. I can’t give my picks on who I want to win yet because last night’s episode only revealed eight of the 16 houseguests.

Big Brother 26 kicked off on July 17, 2024.

Better Late Than Never – By this point, you can probably tell I don’t have much new material this week given all the past blog posts I have referenced and the fact that this will be the second “national day” that I recognize. But I just feel like it wouldn’t be right if I completely snubbed the special day of one of my favorite foods—mac and cheese. Although I won’t give it the individual blog post treatment I bestowed on hot dogs yesterday, I do want to recognize National Macaroni and Cheese Day that took place on July 14. My two favorite mac and cheese blog posts jump right out at me: we have the time I achieved a life goal of actually judging a macaroni and cheese cookoff AND the post in which I shared the often overlooked toppings that complement the best dish in the world.

I love mac and cheese more than I love hot dogs.

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Five topics up, five topics down! As I mentioned, we have some special visitors so I am off to join them. Have an awesome weekend. Don’t Blink.