Sweaters in July and Other Weird Discoveries

Hello, July? Yeah, it's me. Just calling to see where you are and if you're ever coming back. What? Get out the fall decorations? Really? Sweaters? Now you're messing with me, July!

That was my conversation with this weird month of July that truly feels like October. I'm not complaining, as I am a big fan of fall, but I have a couple of swimmers who would like the ice chipped over the pool so they can swim again. It's supposed to be summer, and I have worn jeans! Jeans, people! In July!!

Well, another weird thing happened besides the unseasonably cold weather. On Saturday morning, we were preparing to go up north to work work work at the cottage. Mom and Dad went up to paint the cottage, and we couldn't come up until Saturday, and would have to come home that night because of stuff we had to do at church on Sunday. So, we're about to load the van and dad called. "Hey, don't bother coming up. There's a northwestern wind and it's freezing cold here. It's raining, and there's no way we can paint today." Oh, the disappointment in me was underwhelming! What? No work today? Whoopppeeeee zipper!! Now, to be honest, I did feel bad about not being able to get the cottage painted, and I felt worse that mom and dad were stuck up there not doing what they needed to do. But with that said, it opened up our day in a whole new way. For one, we were all up and ready to go at 8 am. That is a miracle in itself. If you have 2 pre-teens, you know what I'm talking about.

So, what to do....what to do....farmer's market? Yeah, that sounds great! Maybe hit some garage sales? Hey, Dow Gardens? Yeah! Let's go! We got to Midland and it was crazy with people...Riverdays--dun dun dun. Ugh....crowds.....no place to park....errrrrrrrrrr (tires screeching...that's us, turning around and hightailing it away from the farmer's market!) So, we went out in search of some garage sales, and garage sales we did find...some really good ones too! We came home with all kinds of cool stuff. The girls had a ball spending their allowance and I had a ball watching them spend their money instead of mine for a change. They are quite the shoppers!

We went to a little Mexican place for lunch, and although it rained off and on and was rather chilly for a July day, we really relaxed and had a good family day after all! After lunch, we drove back around Sanford and found more sales, and saw 2 people actually wearing sweaters! Sweaters in July! I had to pinch myself right then and there. It's Michigan, I know, but this is ridiculous. It started to downpour, and the girls found an umbrella in the van. I didn't have one as I rushed up to this kind old lady's garage sale. Sitting on one of the tables was a hot pink umbrella for a dollar! I left the sale with my new umbrella, which by the way, matched my shoes and purse! I was feeling pretty nifty, my friends. Poor Steve didn't find too much at the sales but a few books, and he ended up carrying my purse a couple of times. Real men carry their wife's purse, just so you get that straight. We went to some pretty posh neighborhoods and mansions, so I told him to spy on their landscaping and get ideas while I shopped. Turns out, I like my own ideas better!! :)

Our deck staining day was also a weird discovery, as we found we were out of stain. We took the number off the old can, and got a 5 gallon pail. Got it home and began to put it on the deck...hmm...looks different, don't ya think, honey? Yeah, well, maybe it dries darker? Hmmm....we checked out the computerized sticker on the cans again. Yup, exactly the same. Same paint number, same name. Totally different color! So, instead of a "valise" color, which is bomber jacket brown, we now have "cappuccino", which actually looks like cinnamon. This is only the third time this type of thing has happened to us with deck stain. So, we decided we're going to like cappuccino cinnamon, and pray that if we need to get more next year, that we don't get "valise". Life is so confusing in the world of paint, don't you think?

No more confusing than sweaters in July.....right?