If you’ve lived in Tallahassee for any bit of time, then you know that once summer comes, a few things happen. For one, it gets hot and mosquito-y. Of course, that’s a lot of places but Tally has a special kind of heat. Don’t ask me to explain it but suffice it to say that this past winter, we had a day when it was 11 and this past summer, we had a day when the heat index hit 111. Another thing that happens is that the traffic around town suddenly decreases by at least 30-40%. With the students gone, I notice a dramatic difference in the number of cars on the roads. Which is nice. It makes our small town feel like a small town again. My BIL and I went to TCBY last night around 10 and it was eerily quiet out there and we were almost the only car.

That was the end to my weekend: a parfait with vanilla yogurt, strawberries, peanut butter cup and topped with hot fudge. I figured I deserved it after the day I had. For one, Elliot woke up cranky. And I was T-I-R-E-D. I tried to put him back down about an hour after he woke and get myself some precious bits of sleep but that boy was having none of it. None. So it was a morning of carrying him and placating him with toys and pens and whatever paper on the closest surface he was madly reaching for. Oh, but then, Ash and his brother wanted to go to some Magic tournament thingy that he “claimed” would only last 3-4 hours. Oh yeah? Well, they got home almost eight hours later. EIGHT. To keep myself from completely losing my mind, I got the Boy all ready and we went to the mall, where he was, and always has been, ridiculously well-behaved. There’s so much to see that the idea of being a whiny bitch doesn’t even occur to him. (That’s right: I called my eight month old son a whiny bitch). Either way, this allowed me to do some clothes shopping, which I hardcore needed. In fact, he fell asleep just in time for me to step into the JC Penny’s dressing room, about 6 garments in hand. This is fortuitous since he gets kind of annoyed when the stroller stops moving… unless he’s bagging Z’s. I did manage to buy about 3 tops and I treated myself to a latte. So the afternoon wasn’t a total bust. In fact, once we got back, we spent some time outside in the yard and he was good for that too.

On Saturday night, once the Boy was in bed, Ash and I went to see Ironman. (My BIL had no interest). As comic book movies go, I daresay it’s the best one yet. In terms of overall plot and execution (and not totally F’ing up said original plot/story). (E, I’d be interested in hearing why you weren’t impressed.) I was fairly pleased with the casting as well. I never did read the comic (and maybe that’s why I liked it) but I find that it helped me to be more neutral in my judgment. Having been a die-hard Xmen comic reader, I was hard one those movies. But any idiot could tell you that, for the most part, those three movies were giant pieces of shit. They F’d up the chronology, the casting (most of it), and they screwed with story-lines in weird ways. BUT, the Xmen Origins: Wolverine movie is slated for 2009 and let’s see if they can redeem themselves. They’ve got Gambit it in and even though I don’t think much of the actor who’s playing him, maybe once he’s in the whole get-up and all, it’ll be worth it. I mean, Hugh Jackman’s OK but dress him as Wolverine and I have to swipe my son’s burp cloth to wipe my enormous dollop of drool. So you never know.

SO, it’s Monday – again – and I have some *actual* work to do. Tell me, how riveting was your weekend?

ETA: Batman Begins might rival Ironman. I forgot about that one.