What I Did This Summer. Seriously? I really did all of this?

Oh. My. Dog.

This summer has just about worn me slap out, y'all.  Imma try to recap my past few months:

Mid-May I was out of town for a weekend at an aunt's house.

Last weekend of May a cousin came in town from Fargo and I had her, her son, another cousin and her daughter and my aunt over to my house.

The next weekend I spent most of the weekend with them before my cousin flew back home to Fargo.

I cannot even remember what I did the next weekend because it seems like it was eleventy-billion years ago, but I know I had something going on because I've had stuff every single weekend.

The next weekend I went to the One Fabulous Mama retreat which I wrote about eleventy-billion years ago which was the last time I've managed to post anything on here.

The weekend after that I hosted a group of my friends from high school at my house for a potluck dinner on Sunday night.  One friend lives in Texas now so she was flying in on Saturday and staying the night with me.  I don't think I had seen her in almost 20 years since we were roommates for a summer in college.  Her flight was supposed to get in at a completely reasonable time.  Instead it didn't get in until 2:00 a.m. on Sunday morning and I almost ran over a skateboarder when I went to pick her up because he flew out in front of me in the pitch dark wearing all black clothes because apparently he's the smartest man on the planet.  We got to my house, slept a few hours, got up, did stuff to get ready for the dinner, tried to catch up on the past 20 years, then our other 5 friends arrived. One friend dropped a bottle of red wine in my driveway which shattered everywhere and another friend had accidentally left her lights on in her car and because we couldn't move cars around in my awfully skinny driveway for someone to jump her off, we had to call AAA to come rescue her and the driver took a bunch of group photos for us in my front yard.  We all had a great time catching up, I realized I am the only one of us who is not married with kids (and truthfully I am totally ok with that), and the last friend left at almost midnight.  Then my friend who was staying with me and I got up super early because we had to leave my house at 6:30 Monday morning so I could take her to the airport and get to work.  And then I almost fell asleep on my desk most of that day.

The next weekend my brother and I left to go visit my mom in Texas.  We stopped for breakfast at some point and we were discussing our childhood road trips and how our dad loved to make us listen to Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings for 14 hours straight to Illinois and 14 hours straight on the way back home.  And I made the stupid mistake of saying, "You know, now that I'm older I don't mind a little Willie" and my brother made fun of me for the entire week about that .  (Think about it if you didn't immediately get it.  And don't capitalize willie if you still don't get it.)  On the way to Texas we stopped in Mississippi for several hours to visit an uncle who was very ill. 

While we were in Texas, we had to go the mall for something and my feet were killing me from the stupid plantar fasciitis because we had been walking all day long, so I told my mom and brother I was going to sit on a bench and rest for a minute while they went into some department store.  Honest to goodness, y'all.  I looked at the time when I sat down.  I sat at the opposite end of a bench where a very normal looking lady was already sitting.  I made no eye contact and didn't say a word to her.  And I barely got my ass down on the seat before she started talking to me.

"Oh man.  I've only got 4 minutes left on my break," she said as she sighed heavily and licked her ice cream cone.  I just politely smiled at her and said nothing.

"I work here in the department store.  I'm really tired," she shared with me.  So I figured she must expect me to respond.

"What time do you get off?" I asked her.

She went on to tell me what time she got off, what time her shift had started, how the management expected way too much from them, all about her previous career with Target and how she had to quit that job because she was having back pain issues, then she shared with me all about her husband's health issues, then she told me about a friend who had a sick child and told me all about how the Swiners (she meant Shriners but said Swiners about a bazillion times) would help them but she can't convince her friend to ask for help.  And seriously?  How does this happen to me when I ask one very simple question?  And then right in the middle of a sentence that she never finished, she looked at her watch and said, "Oh, my break is over now," and she stood up and walked away.  And when my mom and brother walked back out, I looked at the time again and they had only left me alone for 6 minutes.  And 4 of them were filled with crazy.

The next weekend we drove back from Texas and stopped for several hours in Mississippi to visit my uncle again (he was in ICU by that point).


The next weekend I hosted a bunch of my neighbors at my house to play cards on Friday night (I had never met any of them and we had the BEST time).  One of them had so much fun she called me the next morning and asked if she could come back again on Saturday night and bring her sister and brother-in-law to play cards with me.  She said she liked my house and I had good snacks.  So I mowed my yard, cleaned house, did laundry and then hosted her again.  And on Sunday my mom came in town to stay with me for almost  a week.

The next weekend I was in town and I wasn't hosting anyone at my house, but I had to work on a gigantic commission painting the entire weekend (I'm still not done with it).

The next weekend several of the ladies I met at the OFM retreat back in June came and stayed for the weekend.  A couple of others live local and they met us on Saturday afternoon for lunch and a little shopping in Little 5 Points.  We had the best time!  Until I fell down the stairs when I was helping one of them carry stuff out to her car.  And honest to goodness I think I broke my wrist again.  Yes, the same arm I broke last year.  And the year before.  I don't need anyone to tell me I should go to the doctor because I'm a grown woman and if it gets worse I will go.  But mentally I really don't think I can handle being in a cast for the third year in a row.  So I'm wearing a splint they gave me last year and I'm treating it very gently.  I got bruised up pretty good (left thigh, left ass cheek, left boob) and it's now 2 weeks later and the bruises are getting better.  I still have a goose egg on my left thigh and my wrist is still pretty swollen and after mowing my grass this past weekend I'm pretty much convinced it's broken.  I will live. 

The next weekend I was supposed to host another event at my house on Saturday, but for a variety of reasons several people had to cancel so we decided to postpone it for a while until everyone can make it.  I did go to an antiques show with a dear friend of mine on Sunday though.  And sadly, my very dear and precious uncle passed away that weekend.

So last week I took an unexpected trip to Mississippi in the middle of the week for a couple of days for his funeral.  It was super sad.  His son (my cousin) is a minister and he did the service.  It was pretty dadgum emotional.  The day before his funeral was when Robin Williams died and really, last week just sucked.

Yesterday was my birthday.  So my gift to myself was that I planned absolutely nothing for the entire weekend.  I mowed my grass (which certainly did nothing good for my wrist), did some laundry, cooked meals for the week, finally got the sheets changed on the beds from when my OFM friends stayed two weekends before, did a little bit of cleaning, and also crashed on the sofa all afternoon Sunday and watched TV and took several short naps.  The most important part of the weekend is that I never put a bra on.

This coming weekend I'm hosting another card game.  The next weekend Mrs. Oh is going to be in town so I'm getting together for dinner with her one night.  And my mom is trying to convince me to then head out Saturday morning to meet her at my brother's farm in Kentucky since it's Labor Day weekend and I'll be off work that Monday.  I'm honestly not sure I have it in me.......

So in between that I have been working and I do not know what in sam hill is going on at my office, but this past few months is probably the busiest I've been in 7 years.

And that, my friends, is what I did this summer.