This summer has been a b*tch. It seems like it has been just one thing after another after another after another.
Before I share the latest issue to arise in my summer saga, here's what I typically wear when I work out in the yard or do stuff at home. And yeah, I'll actually tramp into town wearing this. It's not so bad, is it?
t-shirt (stolen borrowed from my daughter)
shorts -- Soffe (gifted)
Believe it or not, this is a pretty dressy "at-home" outfit for me -- my toenails usually aren't painted. Seriously though, I usually just wear boxers and a guinea tee or a sports bra. (And no, I don't tramp into town wearing only a sports bra -- I mean, I do have standards after all.) I don't have air conditioning, and honestly? I might as well be in hell for as hot as it's been this summer. It's just me, myself, and I at home, so I dress as cool and as comfortably as I can. I take that stereotype of a stay-at-home mom who wears sweatpants all the time and everywhere and raise it one.
I did get a little bit better in aiming the camera -- I give a lot of credit to people who take all their own pictures!
I have no idea what look I was striving for here, but at least I made sure that I didn't have a double chin.
My yard is supposed to have all these beautifully sculptured beds of English ivy. Unfortunately, a few years back, all the beds were mowed down instead of weeded. Once that happened, the weeds all screamed,
"All clear. Charge!"
and took over. My beautifully sculptured beds of ivy became a figment of my imagination. I was working 12-hour days, and weeding the beds and whipping them back into shape was the last thing I wanted to do when I got home (a girl's got to eat, right?). But this summer, I had the chance to declare war against the weeds! 
So, I've been out there almost every day -- not for very long -- maybe15 minutes or half an hour, but trying to stay with it. And it's making a difference. Even my bed of pachysandra is starting to come back! And remember I have no air conditioning, so it's not like I escape out of the heat once I come inside.
So what happened? I was out there this past week, when all of a sudden --
OW! OW! OW!
Oh my! I got stung. Not once, not twice, but multiple times. (or I got bit -- I don't know which it was, because I never saw what it was that got me). It got me right on my butt (the biggest target?)! and my back! and my stomach! Within the hour, my butt bite was swollen, and I could barely walk, let alone sit! And, oh my -- did it hurt. I ended up going to the doctor's -- it hurt so bad that I was afraid the stinger wasn't out. I took Benadryl; I put ice compresses on my butt; and I moaned and whined a lot.
I basically spent the past few days in bed on my stomach. OW! I still don't know what it was that got me. Just when I feel like I was making progress, I'm now scared to death of working in my yard!
What do you think it was that got me?
