It. Is. Hot.
Not as hot as the people in the Washington D.C. area who are without power, the folks in Colorado without their homes after the wildfires roared through, or anywhere near as awful as it must be in Afghanistan where the troops are...
But hot enough for me to whine about it. In a totally mature way, of course.
Part of the whining is because not only am I living through a heat wave in the South...I am having my own issues with "internal temperature control." A friend of mine used to refer to this as the "personal summer." Let me just say that adding this layer of "flashing" on top of what has begun to feel like meandering through what most assuredly must be the foyer of Hades has more or less made this the "Summer of My Discontent."
I have given up on having my hair look decent because the second I switch off the blow dryer, I will be overcome with a sense of radiant heat that seems to come out of nowhere. The hair I just dried looks like it did right after I got out of the shower. Of course, this morning I had the added bonus of chasing Rebel over two of my neighbor's yards before he finally encountered the dogs that live three yards over who were restrained only by the "Invisible Fence" and decided he might want to come home with Mama after all. This wouldn't be a big deal...except that "two yards over" when you are on five acre lots basically meant that I met my cardio goal for the day. I will not even attempt to describe my hair after said exercise.
Yeah, that's pretty close.
I spent most of the drive to work trying to dry my hair with the air conditioner seeing as I was already...er...delayed. Which meant that some of my makeup (hey, it is a 25 minute drive and I spend at least 6 minutes at red lights) didn't get on. So, I was basically (as Madea would say it)..."Loverly."
Not to mention that today was Monday.
I normally don't detest Mondays too much because I'm honestly grateful to have somewhere to go and something that I enjoy doing that I get paid to do. However, sometimes the day just insists on being ridiculous.
In spite of the fact that I had an egg at 6:30, I was hungry and ended up eating my lunch at 9:30...which meant that I had to have a "snack" at about 1:00 today. The "snack" meant that I wasn't hungry tonight for dinner...so I didn't cook. After working all day in primarily heated conditions...let's just say that Big Dave was a little less than thrilled. He got over it when I made him the yummy BLTs that I invented on Saturday because I had more tomatoes than good sense. (In case you missed this, you take a piece of white bread, use a biscuit cutter to get the edges off, put a little bit of Hellman's mayonnaise on the little round, sprinkle bacon bits, some tomato slices, salt and pepper and some chopped basil on top. You must use Hellman's because all other mayonnaise just simply will not do. Don't even get me started on Miracle Whip...the imposter!)
Of course, tomorrow is looking a little dismal as well already. I have to take my CPAP machine in again because they forgot to attach the modem to it. Plus, one of the settings is obviously wrong because when I first put on the mask I have the feeling I'm hyperventilating and breathing into a paper sack.
That can't be normal.
At least I'm not snoring, and I only roll over once or twice a night now along with the required 2 a.m. trip to the bathroom. You'd think I'd quit drinking 32 ounces of water before I go to bed, but I always do it and then think..."Oh, yeah..."
I've also been lamenting the fact that I have everything 85% organized in this house. If it was only 70%...I might have been able to push through for a better outcome. But last time I checked...85 is a "B" and it is difficult for me to muster up a whole lot of enthusiasm for getting rid of the 32 books that I have sitting on this table that I can't part with yet have no idea what I'm going to do with them...so there they sit. Or the unmade beds in the room formerly known as "Jill's" that requires washing sheets...and I'm not into doing laundry yet. Or the empty living room that may as well have tumbleweeds rolling through it since most of the furniture is no longer with us. (I guess that the dust bunnies will have to do.) I don't want to clean the bathrooms yet since Big Dave and I are empty-nesting this week and I'll feel the need to do it all over again before company comes anyway.
Yes, it does seem that I've taken my "B" and moved on. At least for a day or two.
My garden is doing okay...our biggest crops have been in marigolds, basil, cherry tomatoes, Roma tomatoes and sunflowers. In that order. We are holding out hope for the eggplant, cucumbers and the beans, and we have a lame little watermelon lying out there looking all sad and not watered enough. Our squash, zucchini, spaghetti squash and cilantro just checked out...and the okra, lettuce and parsley can best be described as "eh." They aren't any bigger fans of the heat than I am.
I won't go into the political realm or whether or not one should attend "Magic Mike" this week. I honestly don't need the blood pressure spike on the former, and I think that the latter is a personal decision. (Although, seriously, someday you'll need to see Channing Tatum's dance moves in this movie on YouTube or something. Believe it or not...he was mostly PG.)
Most of the time, life rocks along with these little annoyances...weather, people who pull out in front of us in traffic, a house that needs some TLC, or a dog who thinks that taking a field trip on a day when you're cutting it close sounds like an excellent plan. When politicians (and Supreme Court justices) make you want to pull your hair out and fear for the future of the nation. Where you begin to wonder if there is anything to be excited about anymore.
I had a little reminder this past week that put everything in perspective.
I launched a prayer about something specific that was very important to me but that I honestly thought God might be too busy dealing with the "natural disaster de jour" or because He might consider it a little bit trivial in the grand scheme of things. But, you see, He didn't. He answered my prayer in a way that told me that even if the outcome wasn't what I prayed for...because only time would have addressed that...that He is listening to me and that I was important enough to Him to answer me.
Sometimes we forget that, you know. We get used to the "not yets" and the "no's" to such a degree that we are honestly shocked when we get a resounding "yes" on something that could have only come from my prayer to Him and his answering by prompting someone to do something. Miraculously...they did it. And while I'm not sure of what will happen...possibly nothing...it was like a cool drink of water in a world that seems to be hot and annoyed most of the time these days.
Or maybe that's just me.
So, as you go out tomorrow and deal with your version of "whatever"...I hope that you will stop for a minute if you are prompted to pray for somebody and send one up in faith. That you will intentionally ask for guidance before you buy something you are looking for like my friend, Judy, does, or that you will feel rested and refreshed in the midst of chaos or whatever is facing you.
Rested and refreshed sounds like paradise to me right now. From a physical standpoint...I've been anything BUT that lately. After fighting a CPAP for a week to sleep and being "hot" (and not in a good way)...I appreciated that drop of refreshment into a spirit that was more parched than my raised garden beds were this afternoon.
I hope that you find that as well. That you'll be showered with blessings and that a cool breeze of contentment will fill your spirit. And that your air conditioner continues to operate as intended. Even if Alabama Power is doing the happy dance right now.
(My recipe for the rest of this week? Rest. Stay Cool. Pray. And eat some more of those little sandwiches.)
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