We are firmly tucked into the armpit of summer.
It's hot. So damn hot. It's humid. So damn humid. It's gross. You get the idea.
The grass is crispy, the sunflowers wearily line the roads as the sun beats down, and our electricity bills are soaring. Even Target is struggling to keep its temperature at the normal icy 60 degrees.
I'm tired of this heat. Why do I live in Texas, again? Oh yeah, no state income tax.
It's that crappy time of year when the rest of the country celebrates pumpkin spice and corduroy pants and light sweaters, while we continue to sweatily pull out our tiniest pair of shorts and threadbare tank tops that have been worn 5,000 times since May and have popsicles for lunch.
This weekend, I joined FG and his family at our friends' property (referred to as Sandyland because, well, it's sandy). His daughters were there with their significant others and applicable kiddos, and his ex-wife was there without her man, because he came down with a cold or something. To round things out, our buddy was there with his sweetie pie daughter. It was a good crowd.
We all "camped out" in campers lined up in a row. Flushable toilets and air conditioning for the win. We day drank and I grilled burgers and hot dogs (heck yeah grilling competence), and we swam in the pond and roasted marshmallows over the fire at night. It was actually a lot of fun. It was largely a family affair, and I felt like a part of it.
FG's ex-wife -- I have to come up with a nickname for her so I don't have to keep calling her his ex-wife -- made extra sure no one cross-contaminated any of the food with gluten, even stopping someone who was about to gluten the mayonnaise and squeezed me out an aliquot just to be safe. I wasn't anywhere around, she just had my back. That felt really nice. Preventing cross-contamination of food is one of my top love languages.
Also, at one point, FG's oldest daughter took a selfie of the two of us and posted it to snapchat with the hashtag, "Stepmom Vibes." I wasn't sure if it was sarcastic, but she's not that type of person so I took it as a very loaded compliment. FG was particularly amused and pleased when I told him.
When we all hang out, someone gets to be DJ and play their music over the bluetooth speaker. We usually get a good mix of all kinds of music. Lately, I've really been digging Sarah's reggae playlist. Totally into this band, Rebelution.
Really... try to get upset sitting in traffic while listening to this jam.
After driving home and scrubbing off the grunge of camping, I cranked down the A/C and am enjoying a nice charcuterie plate for dinner because screw cooking. Giving the cat some attention and relaxing because every single day of September has something scheduled. Six weeks ago, I blocked off the last weekend of the month that doesn't have anything scheduled just so I could have a breather.
I know this busy vibe will snowball right into the holidays, so I'm taking every calm second I can get.
Reggae music (with a glass of wine) helps.
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