95 - thursday

in my fantasy world, I live on the beach someplace not too hot, not too cold, with zero humidity, and no threat of natural disasters making beach living impractical. no this place does not exist.

this is what my fantasy world home gym looks like:

except that bare-bones elliptical is a treadmill

hey, a girl can dream, right? in real life, this is what my humble little "home gym" looks like:

we have a bench press and a dumbbell rack in the garage, but most days this setup is plenty to supplement my other workouts (mostly running). this morning after pilates I came home and did a quality lower body strength workout. ankle weights + therabands = sufficient resistance. I have a feeling that my body is going to yell at me tomorrow for the amount of lower body and core work I put it through today, but that's ok. I like having this space at home where I can get a quick workout in without having to schlep to the real gym. 

now all that's missing is that beach. do tasty summery cocktails with little drink umbrellas stuck in them substitute adequately? because that's my plan for in the meantime. 

94 - wednesday

before we start: for the record, today = 1000x better than yesterday.

I did next to nothing today. sure, I made a delicious brunch, and sure, I applied to another job, and sure, I ran seven sweaty miles. but I wore my pajamas until 3:50pm and mostly did a lot of relaxing. normally I'm fidgety, but every now and again, I can get behind a good, lazy day. today was that day.

so why is it after 10:30 at night, and my bed looks like this?

princess and the pea. what can I say? I like pillows.

I also like that my childhood blankie still comes to bed with 24 year old me. judge freely.

oh...oh that's right. my sheets are all in the dryer because I did practically nothing all day yet I managed to fail to get my laundry done before bedtime. what's that you say? hey michaela, aren't there more than one set of sheets? yes, there are. but then I'll have to fold the ones that are in the dryer, on top of having to make the bed. and if you haven't caught on already: I'm in serious slacker mode today. 

now if you'll excuse me, I need to quit bitching and moaning and make the bed. begrudgingly. 

93 - tuesday

I woke up on the wroooong side of the bed this morning.


I had horrible - I mean, wake up sitting straight up in bed, sweat soaking the sheets, gasping for breath kind of horrible - nightmares all night. needless to say, I did not sleep well. I got up to use the bathroom around 4am, and after that, I finally fell asleep. but my alarm went off at 5:30, and then it was pointless trying to go back to bed. I like to wake up early and talk to t on nights (mornings? living in different time zones is confusing) he's been flying, and 5:30 my time is usually when that all goes down; hence the alarm. but this morning I was tired, freaked out, and cranky, and he got back later than usual. 


have you ever had a really awful dream that stays with you no matter what you do to try and shake it? mine did. it stuck with me while I gardened for hours, while I ran errands, while I made dinner. I feel like I've been running from the apocalypse all day, and I'm exhausted. 


I went to walmart this afternoon to buy a watering can. actually, I only went to walmart because I was already out and had that same sinking feeling in my stomach that I'd been carrying around all day and I thought that maybe, if I just drove around town for a while, it would go away. I went into walmart to pass some time and then remembered that I really needed to buy a watering can.


the thermometer on my car when I parked said 100°, and I reminded myself that I really should invest in one of those aluminum foil windshield protectors to keep my car from getting so damn hot every time I leave it out in the sun. too white trash? maybe too white trash. maybe I'll just sweat it out. I was inside for maybe ten minutes.  when I came out, the sky was black, and bright gashes of lightning were dancing all over the parking lot. it was one part raining half-dollar sized warm rain, one part hailing golfballs. (I'd never before seen this so-called "golfball sized hail" of which weathermen are so fond of speaking. suffice it to say: it hurts like getting pelted with golfballs. run.) it was freezing cold outside, and the wind must have been whipping over 50mph. I bolted to my car and sat there for a few minutes trying to decide what to do. I consulted the weather app on my trusty iphone and learned that the storm was all on top of me and north of me, but that to the south (aka home base), things were clear...for now. 

centerville dot = the walmart parking lot.

my car was rocking back and forth and the girl in the car next to mine shot me an anxious look. I decided to make a run for it. 

the view out my windshield in the parking lot. the wipers were running, by the way. yeah.

this was no ordinary thunderstorm. don't get me wrong - I love a good, rowdy summer thunderstorm. but this one took the anxiety I'd been feeling all day and shot it to the moon. by the time I reached the house, the storm had followed and the tornado sirens were blaring. I got inside as fast as I could and spent some quality time lying on the floor in the closet, hoping and praying that the sirens would stop and the house wouldn't get vacuumed into the sky.

listen, I'm from rhode island. we don't really do tornadoes up there, with a few recent exceptions that I blame on global climate change. this was a big deal for me, and it really shook me up. 

so yeah, that was today. time for bed. hoping to shake all that's nagging at me and wake up feeling refreshed and carpe diem-y tomorrow. and hoping most of all for weather that doesn't leave me shaking in my wellies. 

92 - monday

yesterday, I baked t no fewer than 2.75 (yup) dozen cookies and when they cooled, carefully packed them in foil and zip-top bags. as of this morning they're on their way to the middle east, where they'll arrive in about a week, perhaps somewhat less fresh but no less loved. they reheat like a charm, I'm told.

I ate two IMMEDIATELY on removal from the oven, scorching my tongue on molten chocolate chips. it's what I get for being a greedy pig. but I saved this cookie for today. I like the idea of saving a cookie. it's good to do nice things for other people (baking boyfriend 2.75 doz cookies = nice) but it's also sometimes nice to treat yourself, too. so this afternoon I took this little cookie, warmed it up in the microwave, and sat on the kitchen floor, enjoying a moment of cookie heaven by myself. I am finally starting to feel really settled here - settled enough to start cooking for myself and to start thinking of this place as my home, as where I live. it's a comforting feeling.

91 - sunday

friday night I cooked my first real meal since I moved in. sure, I've cooked up black bean burgers on the stove and fried an egg or two, but this was a real recipe. last night was pretty basic (frozen kashi pizza ftw), but this evening I baked cookies for t and was feeling bitten by the cooking bug when I decided to concoct a delicious salad. I bought all the ingredients earlier this week, but they've been languishing in my fridge while I eat string cheese and almonds less inspired sustenance.

spinach + feta + raspberries + sauteed mushrooms + homemade dijon vinaigrette + sliced chicken breast

heaven on a plate

mmmm. I love a good dinner salad. I look forward to making at least one or two more of these this week.

90 - saturday

after my run this morning, I put in a solid 2 1/2 hours of yardwork. I weeded - oh, did I weed - I pruned, and I mowed the backyard without fear of fire ants. I also gave our crepe myrtle a haircut.

before...

aaand.... after!

I also picked a not-quite-ripe-yet peach off the little tree in our backyard (before the birds and beetles get to it), and a blossom off one of the two gardenia bushes t planted for me before he left. it was the only blossom on the shrub but from the beating it gets from the sprinklers, it looked like it was about to drop off. I plucked it and brought it inside. the smell is intoxicating.

happy weekend to you!

89 - friday

I feel like such a BAMF when I drive t's truck. he has a really, really big truck and I look comical behind the wheel. I took it to the grocery store tonight. it's ok that my left foot doesn't touch the floor so long as my right one successfully reaches the pedals, right?

 they see me rollin'...

they hatin'...

88 - thursday

some thoughts for thursday. 

happiness is..

1. finishing the applications I've been working on all week.
2. eating yummy thai food take out.
3. watching bobby flay grill steaks and kick ass.
4. nathan safely home from his sleepover at the gym.

1. I've said it before, I'll say it again: applying to jobs is a full time job. it's stressful. it takes a long time and a lot of effort. just searching for openings can take days, and can be very discouraging when there's not much out there. when you do find something promising, the real fun of assembling cover letters and tailoring resumes and wrangling recommendations (and paying $$$ to overnight your college and grad school transcripts) begins. you work and work to make sure everything is perfect, and then you send it off. and if you're lucky, you hear back, but sometimes it's radio silence.

I'm thankful for my education, for my family, for my friends and for t. I'm well supported in the process, and I know I'll find something. it's just exhausting. I finished two applications tonight and after a final morning proofread, they're off to oz and all I can do is cross all my fingers and toes and hope for the best.

whew. other thoughts:

2. the thai food was ok. I had better pad thai back in providence, at the little place near my department, but I'll adjust. I used to think the pad thai I got in providence was over-sauced and tonight I thought it was under-sauced. I used to hate thai food. wait, when did this become an epic goldilocks quest for perfectly sauced pad thai?

3. bobby flay destroyed his competition on iron chef tonight. do not mess with bobby flay when the challenge ingredient is steak. the man's a grill legend. save alton brown from an hour of forced kitchen stadium humor and just wave the white flag. you will lose.

4. nathan (my little waterbottle) got left behind on the treadmill last night after I finished my interval workout. I picked him up this morning when I went to pilates.  yes, I do humanize things to excess. no, I probably won't stop.

87 - wednesday

the ants are dead! the wasps are dead! I mowed the lawn!

are you tired of reading about this yet? I'm getting a little tired of chronicling my backyard struggles. today feels like a major victory. though now that I've pronounced the pests dead, they will probably be back with a vengeance come morning. that's how it happens back there, apparently.

today's discovery: there is a super mario bros. toadstool growing in the yard. it looks, more or less, like this.

I can see it from the kitchen window. at first, I just thought it was a softball or a wiffleball that had somehow landed in our yard (we have kids next door). but upon closer investigation...

red spots means if I eat it, I'll become Super Michaela. like Super Mario, but me. get it? get it?????

86 - tuesday

I made a seriously excellent discovery today.

my morning run plans got tabled when I discovered that the fire ants were alive and well, albeit thoroughly pissed off. a little while after lunch I washed the dishes and put away some of the little things that were lying out on the counter. when I run with my nathan's handheld, I always carry my license and a gu, just in case. but I didn't run, so I went to return my gu packet to the case (yes, case) in the pantry. while I was in there I decided to rustle up a graham cracker for lunch dessert (what? stop judging).

(pause. t, really? no graham crackers left? you love graham crackers perhaps more than any other grown man, but there are none in the pantry and that makes me very sad.)

anyway. no graham crackers. very sad. but I DID find these:

say wwhaaaaaat?!

t bought the house from a friend of his, who left all kinds of food items in the pantry and assorted kitchen appliances in the cupboards. apparently, in addition to sketchy cans of mixed vegetables, he left behind a gold mine of double espresso clif shots. the south beach bars are far expired and the hammer gel and powerbar gels both freak me out texture-wise, so those are gone. the clif shots expired a month ago. anyone know if they're still ok? 

so much liquid nutrition, so little time. 

fire ant update

I woke up at 6:00 this morning to get my run done before the heat. wandered out to the backyard, figuring I'd check on the ants before I headed out - the plan was to mow the lawn when I finished my run, which it badly needs but hasn't gotten in more than a week because of the ant problem.

instead of a sad, dead colony, this is what I was greeted with:

[source]

thousands of angry ants, on either side of the fence, scurrying around with their larvae trying to move their nest away from their attacker (me). and not only was the destroyed hill swarming, but there were over a dozen more new small hills nearby. so I bagged the run for now, and went inside. three of my biggest pots went onto the stove to boil. I poured boiling water on both sides of the fence and all the new little hills. I poked at the old hill with a stick, and more ants came out, so more water went down. 

I am heading to lowes this morning for all my supplies for building the beds, so while I'm there I'll talk to someone about a chemical bait to help kill the ants for good. I have a feeling that the problem is bigger than I can see, and I'd rather deal with it completely while it's somewhat manageable. 

85 - monday

last week I got all excited about my plan to build two raised beds in the sunniest, happiest spot in my backyard.

I planned out my supplies, my seedlings, and even set my construction/planting date. on saturday, I got ready to prep the area.

I went outside with toothpicks (because that's all I had) and twine. I staked the ground so I could begin breaking up the grass and readying the area for the beds.

but while I was out there, I noticed a giant fire ant hill straddling the fence line, in dangerous proximity to one of my planned beds. this led me to panic unnecessarily and spend the rest of the day itching at imaginary ants and researching extermination methods. I learned that fire ants live underground, which means their colony likely extends under my raised bed and that breaking up the grass will bring a world of itchy burning pain.

it took several days, but today I finally mustered the courage to take action.

so I present to you: how to slay a colony of fire ants

step 1: boil water. acknowledge that your boyfriend suggested this days ago when you made your initial discovery.

step 2: don your protective gear. while researching, you learned that fire ants climb vertically when threatened. your garden clogs will not do the trick, but your $20 target rain boots are definitely ant-proof. right.

your boyfriend is deployed, so it's ok that this is one of the least attractive extermination getups you've ever worn. 

step 3: while you wait for your water to boil, make yourself a snack. i had a piece of toast with peanut butter on it. mmm, peanut butter. 

it's also a good idea to unlock the back door now and leave it slightly ajar, so you have speedy access to the ant hill when it's time. 

step 4: when your water is boiling, move quickly. grab the pot, don't scald yourself, and do the ant-slaying shuffle out to the backyard. straddle the hill so that your vertical parts (read: feet and legs) are as far away from angry escapees as possible. slowly and deliberately pour the boiling water straight down the middle of the ant hill, ideally collapsing it onto itself.  that depression in the top of the picture = collapsed casa de fire ants. die, bitches. 

cackle with pleasure as you see the steam rising off the ground and hope that somewhere deep in the hole, the fire ant queen just met her maker. 

if you're not a neurotic freak, it's ok to stop now. if you are, proceed on to steps 5 and 6.

step 5: feeling unsatisfied with your results, decide you need to repeat the process. except make it more badass. put another pot of water on to boil. while you wait, gather your weapon of choice, remembering from your research that humble dish soap does impressive damage to stubborn, venomous ants.

dawn. not just for saving baby animals. 

step 6: when the water is boiling, quickly dump 2-3 swirls of soap into the pot. it's ok that the water stops boiling immediately - the soap breaks the bubbles but I promise it's still screaming hot. now go outside and repeat step 4, except instead of mere cackling, take extreme delight in watching the hot suds of doom collapse the hill even more and saturate the surrounding area.

SAYONARA, ants. 

raised bed construction starts tomorrow. 

84 - sunday

today has been pretty quiet around the house. I got an hour long run in this morning, and I'm learning very quickly that it's either run early in 100% humidity and less heat, or run later in less humidity and 100° heat. either way, I'm going to sweat like a beast and my "run" will be reduced to a jog so my head doesn't feel like it's spinning the whole time. complaints aside, each subsequent run I've done has been better than the one prior. I know I'm adjusting. I can feel myself adjusting. but damn, it is hot out there.

this is real life. 11:00 in the morning = 110° in the sun.

after the run it was time for church. I showered, got dressed, even blowdried my hair (!), then checked the church's website one last time to make sure I had the address right. theeeen I noticed an announcement about a *special service* for father's day. basically, instead of having 8:30a AND 11:00a services, they just had one 10:30a mega service followed by a father's day lunch cookout. I figured this out at 10:45, standing in my kitchen all dressed and ready to go. fail. mega sad face.

so, what to do?

I cut up this pretty grapefruit, took about a million pictures of it, and have spent the rest of the day doing work in the office. 

a quiet sunday, yes, but a relaxing and reflective and productive one. as all sundays should be, really. 

83 - saturday

so yes, I forgot to blog yesterday. because I already shared this with t AND my mom, and with a few honorable exceptions (hi, rickie!), that's just about all of my readership.

we have a phantom gardener.

yesterday (friday), I spent a few hours gardening. this is how I've been spending most of my mornings since I got here and I really love the routine: run while it's (relatively) cool, garden for a few hours, shower, hide inside during the heat of the day to work on job applications.

so yesterday I deadheaded the hydrangea because it's almost finished blooming and the blooms that were on it had faded. hydrangeas need to be cut back before august or else you end up cutting off next year's blooms. so I got to work.

imagine my surprise today to go outside and see that the lilies, which flank the front of the front beds, had also been deadheaded.

I don't know who did it - a creepy neighbor? a garden clipper-bearing vagrant? it's a total mystery. frankly I think I might need to step up my gardening game to send a clear message to would-be mystery gardeners that hello! I live here! I don't need you rummaging around in my plants!

82 - friday

as of approximately 8:00 this morning, the spider has been posthumously downgraded from garden-variety terrorist (my god, I kill myself with these puns) to mere freak of nature. seriously, I don't know why a non-lethal, mosquito-loving spider need be so big, or so freakishly patterned. it just seems unnecessary.

allow me to introduce you to our (new) public enemy #1.

that is a huge, huge, angry, bloodthirsty hornet, building a brand-new little nub of a nest, in the corner of the ceiling on the back porch. I won't stand for it.

I know I may be small, and though my garden gloves may be cuter than most,  I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty.

I forsee a purposefully pointed can of RAID in your future, hornet. you better not have friends.

81 - thursday

I went out tonight, but my plans fell through at the last minute. I wound up sitting in my car, listening to the thunder (we have been having some incredible storms in the past few days). on the drive back home I pulled over to take this picture of the sky. I don't know if views like this will ever get old.

80 - wednesday

I have a big backyard project up my sleeve. no, it doesn't involve sheep. it involves construction, light machinery, and thirty-two cubic feet of garden to plan, plot, and plant.

bought myself this pretty pair of lady garden gloves today! no more fumbling around in t's giant mitts. plus they're cute.

I went to lowes today to price things out, and though all I walked out with were candystriped gloves, I did turn a lot of heads walking around in the lumber yard like I knew what I was doing. a non-obese female in a pretty pink shirt, cruising around in her boyfriend's super duty truck and walking around lowes like she owns the place is apparently not the norm here in middle georgia. huh. I was asked at least a dozen times if I was finding everything ok and/or if I needed assistance. not to mention how unaccustomed I am to people just smiling at me and saying hi and asking me how my day is going for no reason other than that's what people do here. very strange. if that happened to me back in new england I would have probably thought the greeter was a creepy stalker. it happened again at cvs and again at the grocery store. I have to practice reacting more naturally. I'm pretty sure I respond like whoever is talking to me just told me I dropped $100 on the floor or that my pants had ripped wide open. that is, like a bumbling idiot.

but I digress.

the reason today was all about pricing and not purchasing is because the usps hooked me up with this sweet discount card when I changed my address:

planning ahead means I can make sure I buy as much as possible this weekend - and maximize my savings. win, win.

my goodness, do I sound like a thrifty middle-aged housewife or what?

seeing double

in the past year or so, I've spent a lot of time traveling. I've gone to vegas with my girlfriends, taken a week-long beach vacation in new jersey with my brother and our friends, and spent a glorious week in paris with my mom. I've visited t at least a dozen times, not to mention trips he and I have gone on together: savannah, gainesville, clearwater beach, weekend getaways to boston and atlanta. this fall, I was commuting between providence and atlanta for my research fellowship (in retrospect, this was utterly ridiculous), staying with t at the house but also spending a good amount of time at hotels.

I am a very talented tsa security line navigator, and I pack a mean carry-on. atlanta hartsfield jackson international airport is my playground. I once rode the escalator there with anthony bourdain! true story. dude is tall.

bffs

between the travel and my living situation evolving into roughly two-thirds of my time in rhode island, one-third in georgia, I have amassed an astounding toiletry collection. one of everything in RI, one of everything in GA, everything in 3-ounce miniature for the traveling in between.

...and this is honestly only the tip of the iceberg. looks like I won't be needing new toiletries for a long, long time!

79 - tuesday

remember when I used to run a lot and write about it, and then I went on a run-cation? and vowed to do lots of cross-training and yoga, but instead life got busy and I made excuses and had an incredibly stressful conference presentation and then I graduated and moved to georgia and no meaningful or significant cross-training or yoga (or anything) happened?

from averaging 25 miles per week to fewer than 25 in a month. woof.

about that.

I went for my first run in the georgia summer heat this morning.

my legs have been feeling creaky from all the driving and box-lifting and my soul has been craving a good hard workout. the air conditioning finally got fixed yesterday, which made sweating outside seem somehow bearable. so around 7:30 this morning, I set out to run 4 miles.

the run felt really good. I learned the hard way that I need to carry water with me even on short runs and that I need to get out by 6am in order to beat the heat. on second thought, the sprinklers are set to come on at 6:30. I should probably try to time it so that I get home in time to jump in them. yes, grown lady over here. never said I was sane.

I kept my pace super slow and never really felt like I was exerting myself, but by the end of the third mile my head was spinning. I walked about 3/4 of a mile and then jogged the rest of the way home, where I took this stunner. try not to be blown away by my good looks and steady camera-holding hand. I also weighed myself. I lost over a pound running 4.2 miles. that is some serious sweat.

no, I didn't just dump water over my head, but thanks for asking.

CONCLUSION: I'm glad I finally got my behind in gear and went running, but I have a lot to learn about running in this heat and a lot of acclimating to do before I can do it well. marathon training starts fourth of july weekend, which gives me two weeks to get back in the swing of things. I just can't wait for t to get home (six weeks! six weeks!!!) and run circles around my pathetic heat-exhausted self because he's been running in the scorching middle east all summer and 90 degrees feels like winter to him.

78 - monday

I fell asleep last night watching the bruins kick some serious canuck booty.

incidentally, this happens to be the only picture I took yesterday. good omen? I think so.

ice cold sam adams and the citgo sign coaster. believe in boston baby!

77 - sunday

I'm lying in bed, listening to the big, fat beetles buzz against the windowscreen. I thought about turning on some music, or the tv, but today has been a quiet day. my mom is gone. I am here alone.

which is absolutely fine. I crossed a ton off my to-do list, getting some really mundane but necessary tasks out of the way: cleaning the kitchen, sweeping the floors, paying the bills.

and unpacking. SO MUCH UNPACKING.

today I found out that I own 28 pairs of shoes. these are not all of them.  

aaaand my suitcases/boxes/bags vomited up every last possession of mine onto the bed and floor.

I spent almost a month living with t back in january and brought a lot with me then; I hung stuff up in the closet and put stuff away in the drawers. much of my unpacking today felt like january on steroids (and  50 degrees hotter). because I don't just have enough stuff for a month of winter - I have everything I own. finding space for it all was hard but I'm in. (remind us in august that we have GOT to get a more efficient closet system.) 

I think that largely because of my trip here in january, unpacking today didn't make it feel like this is my home... yet. I have plenty of settling-in tasks to get to tomorrow. every step I take will bring me closer to feeling like I live here for real. I know I'll get there eventually, and I'm looking forward to it. 

76 - saturday

buckle your seatbelt because this post is all over the place.

I put my mom on a plane home to new england this evening, after a whirlwind last 24 hours of our epic trip.  it was way too hot last night for cooking at home, but not at all too hot to go out to drink and eat someplace else. sitting outside in (dry) 90-degree heat is surprisingly tolerable, especially when you have a giant margarita in front of you. yum.

 

two cocktails the size of our heads for us, please! we earned it sweating & unpacking!



we slept well* last night, and woke up this morning ready to tackle the backyard. our original plan was to spend all day today in savannah, but my mom told me last night (after we killed that spider. I am still shuddering thinking about it.) that she would feel better about leaving me if she knew my yard was in good shape. the grass needed mowing, the beds needed weeding, and the backyard needed a heavy dose of invasive vine-battling.

and so we did. for two and a half sweaty hours.

discovered during this morning's yard work: t threw our halloween pumpkins in the compost heap, and now we have a pumpkin patch in our backyard. sigh. if you look closely, there also appear to be tomatoes growing in there. I half-joked to him earlier that I might as well just take down the chicken wire and convert the compost heap into a raised bed, since it's already planted and thriving.

the yard looks SO much better. with the exception of one happy healthy grassy section, our backyard is essentially a big dirt lot for right now, because every time t starts to gain steam with planning and planting the air force steals him away again. so inconvenient. the grass back there, by the way, is a huge deal. we have never had intentional, healthy grass in the backyard, but the seed t put down this spring seems to have taken. hooray! I am hopeful that once t comes home and we can actually work on it together, that it will turn out great. I can't wait for my mom to come visit again and for her to see a beautiful, finished backyard. 

when we finished working, we took quick showers and headed to savannah. managed to squeeze in an hour and a half of hurried sightseeing/late lunching before we had to literally RACE like madwomen to make it to the airport on time. five+ hours of driving for an hour and a half of touristing with mama? worth it. great way to conclude our trip. 

on the way home, I was struggling hard with the setting sun. have to wear glasses to drive + sun in the eyes = maximum squinting. I am going to be a wrinkly old lady if I keep that nonsense up. I tried swapping out my nonprescription, $11 at a cvs on the beach in florida sunglasses for my regular ones, but that just meant that I no longer had to squint but I couldn't see anything at all. the compromise?

 

that's right. I drove for over two hours with my cheap sunglasses over my regular glasses. like a gangster. it was not comfortable, but it got the job done.

*an aside that has nothing to do with today's post but everything to do with reassuring you that I will in fact be OK in this new home of mine: I'm happy to report that this morning I flipped the switch to change the direction of the ceiling fan in my bedroom, and things have gotten MUCH better. cool circulating air = able to sleep at night without sweating buckets. win.