The heat is starting to get to me

I think that this unrelenting hot weather is starting to wear me out already. I have NEEDED to take a nap the last 4 or 5 days, which is fine since Ella is a reliable napper and I can just manage to drag myself through lunch knowing that I have a two hour window to collapse into bed. If only someone could go up to the 6th floor and alert the builders. I swear this is true- twice now, I have been in bed reading a book and just when I decided to close my eyes, the exact second, someone up there swung a hammer. Its hard to not get paranoid that I'm being watched... Or else I am just getting a super, double-strength helping of Murphy's Law. Thank god it doesn't bother Ella in the slightest.

Which reminds of one of the reasons that I am so tired today. I was woken up at 6:30 this morning - and not for the first time- by my downstairs' neighbor's alarm clock. Its this crazy alarm, which starts out with a really high-pitched squeal that goes gradually higher higher higher (actually it sort of reminds me of the squeak of a door closing) and then ends with this rat-a-tat-tat beeping. EEEEEeeeeeeeeeee-BEEP-BEEP-Bee-Bee-Bee-Beep-BEEP! Three times. Then it goes quiet for about 5 minutes and then it starts again. This goes on for about 30 minutes. I don't know what time this happens since I can't actually see my own clock, my vision being too clouded by rage. Lets just say, the ass-crack of dawn. I have tried banging a chair on the ground but without fail, some clothing or covers or a pillow get in the way and so there is just me, naked, blindly flailing around the bedroom in the dark waving a chair in my hands, while the alarm clock below beeps a merry soundtrack. B watches my extemporaneous modern dance performance from bed with a bemused look on his face and then asks what I am up to, since he has apparently never once heard their alarm clock go off. I don't know if it is more annoying that I get woken up, or that it wakes no one else, not even the person it is supposed to wake. I tell myself that one day, when I absolutely cannot take it anymore, I'll put on my robe and stomp down to the 3rd floor and then ring their goddamn doorbell until everyone in that bloody apartment is up. Every morning this happens, I wonder if today is the day I go completely ballistic, but it hasn't happened yet. Very unlike me to hold in something like this. I can only imagine that it is because 6:30 in the morning is such horri-fucking-riffic hour that I can't bear to get that far from my bed.

Sigh. I hate my neighbors. I hate their door-slamming, loud-talking, tiled-floor-loving hearts. Seriously, I am getting into hitman territory pretty soon. Anybody got someone that they can recommend?

On a lighter note, we had another great dinner last night thanks to Blue Elephant Green Curry Pack that I bought last week. I love this stuff! In under 10 minutes last night, I made one of the most delicious green curries that I have ever eaten anywhere, with the help of this packet I bought at the supermarché. The brand is Blue Elephant and I can't seem to find any information about whether or not it is linked to the restaurant of the same name over in the 11th, but I think it must be. If you haven't seen the packets yet, the Monoprix on rue St Antoine carries them and they are stocked over by the bags of salad, with the precut vegetables . The package contains green curry paste, those little pea-like aubergines, 4 larger round aubergines, 2 mini corn cobs, a small yellow piment, fish sauce, and a bag of small leaves (basil and kaffir lime? I can't remember.) You need to buy chicken and coconut cream separately, but the recipe is simple and fast and delicious. This is the second time I bought the kit and I wish I could just buy all their stock and hoard it. The vegetables in the packet don't necessarily look gorgeous but I don't think that this reflects on the quality. They have always tasted really fresh and flavorful. There are other kits as well, for a curry with cashews, maybe a red curry, and a soup. Between discovering this line of Thai food and a new Thai in our neighborhood (Mai Tai, rue St Gilles 75003) we might never eat hamburger casserole again. But imagine poor Ella growing up in a house where she is never forced to eat cream of mushroom soup and tatertots. Thats practically child abuse.

That was actually a pretty good grocery store shop that I had last week and generally I try to keep my life interesting enough that grocery runs don't score in my top 5 activities of the week. Maybe I haven't totally embraced this mommy gig quite yet. But not only did they have Blue Elephant, I also managed to find Florette brand baby carrots. I love baby carrots! B could practically live on baby carrots and ranch dressing when he is on vacation in the States, with the occasional Old Milwaukee thrown in for hydration. I really hope that they keep them stocked. Ella has mostly gotten over her carrot allergy and she finally has enough teeth that I don't have to freak out that every bite MAY BE THE LAST. That last bit of mommy paranoia is due to my mother, who spent all of last summer hovering around Ella asking me, oh about every 15 seconds, "Doesn't that worry you? Aren't you worried? Don't you think that bite was too big? Do you really think that she can chew that? Aren't you worried?" ad infinitum. Plus, I think that I could probably forget a bag of carrot sticks in my purse for a few days without creating a biohazard problem (which is what happens if you forget a pot of yogurt, FYI....) Anyone know how to get the stench of mold out of leather?

So as soon as Ella wakes up, I am off to the shop to get some junk food for our babysitter tonight. I feel so guilty when the babysitter knocks on the door and I realize that the best snack food in the house is a black banana, plain rice cakes, and a bag of stale peanuts. At the very least, I need some chips and a soda, right?