The Downsides

I feel that because I have blogged more than once about how lovely our new Florida life is I am justified in the following post. Here are the most significant downsides to Florida living...to date. Yes, I was extra bothered by them all today so that has only heightened my distaste but even on a good day I think I would still consider all three a downfall.

1. It is hot. I mean HOT. Need I remind you of the date? I will. It is September 29th, there is only one more day to this glorious month and then October is upon us. October . . .full of hayrides, costumes, apples (not that I eat them...no need to go into details about my weird lip thing), and my favorite of all attires...the jeans and t-shirt look, with the occasional hooded sweatshirt on those chilly nights. Now I do realize that this is Florida we are talking about. I do understand basic geography and meteorology. However…it is September 29th and today’s temperature was 93 degrees! C’mon! True story: during those annoying Today Show breakaways to your local channel our lovely weather lady made the following statement: “Today’s high will reach into the low 90s but later this afternoon into the evening hours a cold front will pass through and tomorrow’s high will be 89 degrees.” She actually said that…like it is normal!!! Yes, I know come December and January I will be blogging about how I am loving the weather and how Luke and I had a picnic lunch while most of you are cursing at the ice on your windshields but for now…you win! I miss you fall, I miss you dearly and if someone wants to send me a postcard of the changing leaves (with a non-hateful and non-boasting tone) that would be appreciated.

2. Lovebugs. Be glad these things are not in your life and if they are…I am sorry, I feel your pain. I don’t know their scientific name and to be honest I am not going to give these creatures any of my extra time but finding out. They are known as lovebugs because they fly around in the mating formation and that is the only reason. (Apparently they do not subscribe to the thinking of PDA being TMI). They are in no way lovely. I hate them…yes, hate is a strong word mom, but I hate them. Truly. They don’t bite, they don’t sting, and they don’t make any noise so you would think they would be the perfect bug…WRONG! They are awful, they are everywhere, and they seem to be in some sort of magnetic force around me. It is as if my entourage (i.e. Luke, Riggs, and the stroller) are magnets and the lovebugs seemingly come out of nowhere and stick to us. Honestly, on today’s walk in a 10 foot distance I found 8 pairs on the stroller and about 4 pairs on Luke and I was too disgusted to count how many were on me. Gross. I am certain I looked like a raging lunatic, not to mention an unfit mother and master, swatting these things away. My arms flailing around and my head shaking like I am saying No No NO to another god forsaken season of the Bachelor. It was a scene for sure! A friend of mine said that they are attracted to light colors. She admitted that she just heard that in passing and wasn’t sure how true it was. I will now be wearing black. The dog is white…ugh…Riggs…why aren’t your spots white and the rest of you brown?! If these lovebugs get any worse I will be posting pictures of my new black dog.

3. The train. My mom has always said how she loves being able to hear the train. Let’s clarify. My parents live on a mountain, HIGH above the actual train. When you can hear the train it is a low and almost calming sound. It is the James Earl Jones of trains. Our train is the AC/DC of trains (for the older crowd…AC/DC is a heavy metal band). We literally live about 300 yards away from the tracks. It is loud, very loud but the most annoying thing about it is the timing. I love a schedule…understatement… and I just cannot figure these trains out. They come at all hours and nothing seems routine about it…except that 9 times out of 10 as I am trying to put Luke down for a nap a train comes by. He is fine with sleeping through the train whistle when he is already out but trying to fall asleep during these things is nearly impossible (except for L because he has more than once slept through our fire alarm). I am about ready to march my anti-train self to the train crossing and have a little chat with the trainman or trainwoman (engineer?). Why can’t the actual train sound like Luke and my “choo choo” noises? Do you think the engineer would pay attention if I put a sign that says “Please do not blow your whistle, my child is sleeping.” ?!?! Yea, I doubt it too. Sigh.