Goodbye July

July was always my favorite month.  I always hated  to see July end because it felt like the end of summer.  But not this year.  This year, I say July 2013, good riddance to you.   Other than an absolutely perfect two weeks of vacation in June, summer has been pretty much a bust this year for us, and July just went from bad to nightmarishly awful. Of course, with the string of misfortune we are on, July could be only the beginning.  Maybe by the end of August, I'll be looking back on July as the good old days.  Heaven help us all. 

So I decided that if I was going to be depressed, I might as well be the kind of depressed where you stop eating, and then maybe I would at least drop a few pounds and maybe that would cheer me up a bit.  Sad to say,  I lasted less than a day at the not eating kind of depression.   I am much, much better at being depressed when I am stuffing my face. Yesterday alone, I put away about a half gallon of rocky road ice cream, several rows of double stuffed oreos, a couple of ice cream sandwiches,  and three chocolate chip cookies.  Today, at work a drug rep brought in a box of donuts and me and a co-worker had a fantastic afternoon, polishing those babies off one nibble at a time.  And now, here I sit with my insomnia at midnight, and cursing myself because there is not one thing worth eating in this house.  Because I already ate it all. I am sorely tempted to go hit an all night drivethru somewhere, but on top of everything else, I am broke.

Is that a sad enough story?

I could make it worse, but I'll withhold the really terrible parts for my visiting teachers. Maybe they'll send chocolate.

THESE however,

are zinnias.  And they have made me happy all month long, and didn't cost me a single calorie.  In fact, I burned calories keeping the weeds out.   I wish the pictures did them justice.  I planted them from seeds last spring, and they have been the one really summery-feeling thing we have had around here.  The only reason I am sad to see July go is because it means the flowers will be fading soon too, as well as our lovely nights and mornings of porch sittings.

August is shaping up to be as thrilling as July. Dan is scheduled for disc surgery on August 1.  He is going to have some of the discs in his neck fused together.  Doesn't that sound fun?  I can hardly wait.  He can hardly wait to have his arm back to somewhat near normal, (hopefully) although he might need more surgery on his elbow.  Time will only tell.

Maybe by the time the zinnias die out, I'll have something else to be a bright spot.  Well, of course I will, because Alisa will be coming home in August.  And I still need to write about Mitch's homecoming from Fort Knox, and all the success he had there. There's good stuff happening.  I just need to remember to look for it.