Kitchens, Allergies, and Lemonade

I really wish that the kitchen renovations were over. I'm so tired of the house being a complete mess! Because we don't have a kitchen sink or dishwasher right now, I've been doing our dishes in a bin in the bathtub. The house also smells like paint and is filled with dust from sanding and drywalling, and I don't want to eat out any more. The fridge, the toaster, the coffee maker and all of the dishes/cutlery are in the dining room. I think our dog is also unhappy, because he's stuck in the living room while various workers come in and out daily. We will all be glad when this process is over, and when we (hopefully!) have a beautiful kitchen!
I suffer from seasonal allergies, mainly pollen, and they've been pretty bad the last couple of weeks. Ever since Monday I've had a pounding headache that hurts even more when I bend over, accompanied by dizziness, sneezing, a sore throat, and a cough. I also had some cold shivers for a couple of days there. I usually just have itchy and watery eyes, along with a lot of sneezing, but after some Google research I concluded that I'm having a sinus headache. It's not fun! Advil and Reactine have become my best friends. I didn't even want to go to work on Monday, but I had a lot of things to do and so I went anyway. Things get so stressful around this time of year, and I think that that isn't very helpful. Leo's given me a few swats on the butt to try and keep me in line, but I will be relieved when I can just take a breather!
There's not much else to report, really. We went out with some friends last night, which was fun. Today we went to Leo's parents' for dinner, and we decided to try and make some homemade lemonade. I think it turned out really well! I'll include the recipe we used below.


Old Fashioned Lemonade Recipe

• 8 to 10 medium to large lemons. This should get about 1 1/2 cups of lemon juice.
• 5 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar

1. Use room temperature lemons to make them easier to juice. Roll the lemons on a countertop using your palm to soften them up and make them easier to juice.
2. Juice the lemons and take the seeds out, using a strainer or sieve if you also want it pulp free.
3. Bring 1 cup of the water to a boil in a saucepan and slowly add the sugar. Cook slowly over a low heat, stirring gently until all the sugar is dissolved.
4. Remove this mixture from the heat and add the lemon juice while it's still warm. This makes a lemon syrup. I usually have extra lemon juice on hand in case there is a need to adjust the flavor later. Put the syrup in the fridge to cool down completely.
5. Once the syrup is cooled you're ready to make lemonade. Add the syrup to the other 4 1/2 cups of ice cold water. This makes a decent sized pitcher of lemonade. Add sugar if it's too tart. Add more water or lemon juice if you find it too sweet.

We put some raspberries in the pitcher to float on top of the lemonade for a nice touch. Lemon/orange wedges, cherries, and whole strawberries are also nice additions, and perhaps a mint garnish (if you want to get fancy!). We only added a little bit of extra sugar, which we probably didn't need. We used the juice from 7 1/2 lemons and it turned out great! It was a big hit. Another good idea might be to fill an ice cube tray with water, and put a raspberry or two in each cube to freeze. Then, as the cubes melt in the lemonade later, the raspberries are freed. We used half of a lemon to wet the rims of the glasses, and then we dipped the rims in sugar. It was a nice treat for a fairly hot evening!

I hope everyone is doing well. I will try to post soon!