Hot and getting hotter

Well, it's getting warmer here. Bear and Liam really do NOT like how hot it's getting. This will be their first summer, as they were fall/winter puppies. But we know what's coming and I think all of us are dreading it.
I got all my jalapenos and three more heirloom tomatoes into pots yesterday. Planted one jalapeno underneath our fruitless mulberry, hoping it does ok there. The potted strawberry looks like it might be thriving. And the six tomatoes that ARE in the garden look like they are doing good. I want to work some more on softening the hard Texas clay we have in the garden area so I can get the top soil my mom got me mixed in, and plant the squash my MIL gave me. I also want to start the stevia and some other stuff - the stevia and heirloom corn seeds are a gift from a wonderful person that is in one of the homesteading/surival groups I'm in! Such a pleasant and wonderful surprise blessing! I'm wondering if I can get some more pots somewhere (maybe check the dollar tree or dollar general within walking distance of me) and see if I can't get some pots there cheap, and get some potting soil. Stevia can be grown in pots, as can lots of other herbs and such.
We have been leaving the house open for as long as possible with the A/C off. Managed to do that ALL DAY yesterday, until later in the evening, and then we turned the A/C on and closed the house up for just a bit to cool the house down a tad. Opened it up again (partially) overnight. Trying to stave off using the A/C 24/7 for as long as possible. But it's a level orange watch today for air quality and we are already feeling so horrid from allergies. So, I closed the house up earlier today and waited unil it was 79 in here before turning the A/C on for the day. Hoping it does not kick in for a long time yet, with the fans we have going right now. I pulled the drapes so it's kinda dark in here, but... we don't have the no - see - um UV protection window screens in our windows yet. If we did, I'd let the drapes stay open. Use natural lighting.
For our preps and simplifying, we went ahead and bought a camping dish set from Walmart that is the enamel ware style. Four plates, four BIG bowls, and four mugs. It also came with utensils but I think we like ours that we already have better than these. These have plastic handles, and the ones we have already are solid stainless steel and good quality. I want to slowly try to make things as simplistic as possible and as easy to take care of and quick to pack as possible in case of an emergency of any kind. DH and I also went through the HS stuff and are working on a list of stuff that we have, a list of stuff that we need, and a list of stuff that we will DEFINITELY use. Simplifying everything is our goal. Slowly, we''ll go through toys, clothes, material I've stashed, books, kitchen....
Already simpler as of a couple nights ago. our microwave bit the dust. Took it to the curb and yesterday I cleared off and re-arranged the counters. Need to redo the cabinets and counters and clean them out of all the stuff we will not ever, EVER use. I want to do a yard sale as soon as we can, health and weather permitting.