when 96 degrees feels like 115 ...

Heat Index.  It's a new term for me.  One that I'm not sure I'm very thrilled about.  I keep trying to picture the gray skies and ice in the depths of winter, in hopes that it might make me more happy to be enduring 'excessive heat'.  Yes, that is a term used to describe the weather warning here right now.  It is about 96 degrees on the thermometer, but it feels like (according to the heat index) 115.  HOT!  is all I can say.  The kind of hot that melts any motivation.  The kind of hot that makes a milk cartoon sweat excessively even in an air conditioned home.  The kind of heat that makes my hair curl - literally, and I don't have naturally curly hair :)  The kind of heat that actually makes me want to sit in front of a fan and just drink water all day - no food, just water.  I really can't imagine living in Indiana without air conditioning!  Yes - I know my friends in the south endure much worse than this for much longer periods of time, but I don't live in Texas!  Walking out of the house is like walking into a wall of wet, sticky, hot like a sauna, only it is very damp, air.  Even going to the pool wasn't as refreshing as I had hoped.  Just kinda drains all the energy out of you.  It does fit the theme well for our Relief Society meeting tonight - 'Sizzlin Summer Service'.  Thank heavens we will be indoors, enjoying the company of other sisters as we sew blankets and burp cloths for a local hospital's mother/newborn unit.  Just wishing I could escape to the mountains for some cool air today!