For the love of ham sandwiches, just make it stop already

...And it's only the first day of the month.

I hate August. Sorry, but I just do. And, several special people in my life have their birthdays in this month--this has nothing to do with them (and, if it's any consolation, my second most-hated month is January...the month that my own child was born). I hate this part of Summer--the regularly triple-degree heat. I hate the weatherman's attitude about it all...that sort of, "Sorry folks. Tough break. Sucks to live here and be us" attitude. I hate that there are no long-weekend-type holidays in August...no reason for Kevin to be off of work. I hate how the sun beats down on us, even at 9:30am at the park and makes everyone grumpy and miserable. I hate how, everywhere you look, people are still talking about where they're going on Summer vacation. Summer vacation? You should've been long done with that. August is a month for staying home and waiting it out.

The only redeeming quality that August has is that there are school supplies in the stores. School supplies mean that school is near. Now, when I was a kid, that only made the month of August that much more unbearable: The prospect of Summer being over. Now that I'm a crotchety old lady, I can't wait for those little rugrats to go back to school because it means that Summer IS FINALLY over. I'm much more happy when the mall isn't crowded on a Wednesday at 11am because of the kids being out of school. I don't like all of those smelly kids invading "our" library for storytime. I totally tolerate driving 20mph in school zones, because it means that the kids are confined inside of their school, while I'm out and about, enjoying less-crowded public places.

The best thing is when school supplies are bought up, labeled at home and thoughtfully organized in backpacks and the best part of the year happens: Halloween makes it's appearance on store shelves. True, by the time Halloween comes out in full-force, we're still suffering through triple-digit heat but at least there's HOPE. I'm also very well-aware that there's never a chance that Anna will get to wear a long-sleeved, fleecy, Halloween costume with a hood, but that certainly doesn't stop me from touching it on the rack at Target and wishing.