Here we are at the end of July and I’m not quite sure how to feel about it ending. July has been a little all over the place. If there was ever a month that needed to get it’s shit straightened out, it’s definitely been July.

For one thing, we’ve been crazy busy this past month and that always brings about some madness. This is the first weekend in a while that we haven’t been out of town, had some fairly time consuming event going on (and even now, we just got home from a family dinner), I’m not working or all three haven’t converged to make for a scheduling nightmare. I’ve been running on fumes for a little bit, but I’m finally starting to chill out and relax. Well, as much as I ever do anyway.

So, what’s made the month so wild? I’ll give you July’s top hits. I’ll start with the negative because, for once, that list is shorter and ending with the the positive seems, well, more positive. And just to preface, I know my negatives are nothing compared to real negatives. Mine are minor inconveniences and not much more, but they’ve still made it an interesting month in the McGill household.

The bad:

Not Cool: The air part of our heating and air unit has ceased to be. It did this little freeze up thing that it’s done before and we called the guy and, sure enough, we all decided it was that cheap fix freeze up thing that it had done before and we took our St. Louis trip for Brody’s birthday feeling pretty good about it. We were wrong. Completely wrong. So, we’re currently kicking it old school with a window unit and a couple of portable air conditioners (total Godsends by the way) and it’s actually not been bad. It works as a great excuse for more pool time. And more summer beverage time too, because people judge your wine slushee a lot less when they kind of feel bad for you.

Check Your Engine: Briefly after the air quit, Justin called me to let me know that his damn check engine light was on. And it wasn’t the simple, steady, worry about that later kind of on, it was ON. The flashing, scary kind of on. I went into my super adorable state of panic about it and assumed the worst. Turns out this time, it was a minor, fairly cheap fix. The true negative here is that when I stayed cool, things were not so cool, and when I panicked, things worked out. This was not a tendency that needed to be rewarded.

The mixed bag:

Happy Birthday: Brody turned 11. 11! Yay for him having a happy birthday and growing into an interesting young man. Boo for us being old enough to have an 11-year-old.

The good:

Travel time: We’ve had some excellent trips over the past month or so. We went to Memphis and had some awesome food. Cheese plate, guys; always get the cheese plate. We took Brody’s annual birthday trip to St. Louis and, for once, we had wonderful baseball weather. I also got to go to an actual Tim Horton’s and play some skee-ball. Things are never bad when you get to play skee-ball. We also went to Lexington, and even though the concert we went for got postponed, we hung out with some friends and had some great beer at a brewery. It was fun and relaxing.

COFFEE BEER: Yes, coffee beer! At the previously mentioned brewery, coffee beer was an option and I’m in love. Serious love. So in love that I went in search of a coffee beer at my local boozery and somehow there was actually a vanilla espresso beer sitting on the shelf. And it’s great. The hard part is not wanting to drink it for breakfast.

Break out the Netflix: Another by product of our Lexington trip was being told that we must watch Stranger Things. And guess what? You have to watch Stranger Things! Especially if you’re a child of the ’80s. It’s kind of creepy and I’m terrified about absolutely everything, but it’s so good that I’ve been brave and even watched it after dark. I’m not saying anymore so I don’t ruin anything for you. But get to your Netflix accounts immediately!

Other good things: We finally went and chilled out at nearby Purple Toad Winery and it was all that I had hoped it would be. We took in a local wrestling (ok, wrasslin’) show across the street and it was also everything I had hoped for. (Listen to our podcast Married… with Wrestling for more. Oh yeah, we have a podcast. I’ll write more about it soon.) I got a new Laurie Notaro book in the mail and so far it’s wonderful. Check it out if you like to laugh and want to maybe feel better about your housekeeping skills.

Ok, sorry, I’ve rambled on for a while here. The goal is to get back to regular posting so I don’t write novellas here anymore. August, I’m looking at you to be calm. (Please. Pretty please!)