Swallowed in Summer

This is what my kitchen looked like at 1:09 p.m. today. In case you're wondering, the rest of my house pretty much looked like this as well. We are officially swallowed in summer... not the idyllic summer days of sprinklers and popsicles and lightening bugs, that part seems to be way behind us. The stagnant Dog Days have arrived enveloping us with a listlessness that only the heat, humidity, and lack of routine can create. The cicadas sing endlessly, the suffocating heat hangs, the bugs bite... High summer is relentless in the Deep South.
I found the boys wallowing {literally} on my bedroom floor... making animal noises, no less, and I could take it no more. Tired of Legos strewn from one end of the house to the other, tired of seeing fingerprints and nose prints and, yes, footprints on the windows, tired of catching the baby eating cornflakes off the kitchen floor... I issued some marching orders {because Mama can't keep a tidy ship on her own if there are forces working against her!}. Dust rags and window cleaner were dispensed, elbow grease applied, and when they asked me if I thought they were my servants I replied, with a wicked grin, "No, you are my slaves."
It's amazing, really, how quickly things improved... but, most importantly, the listlessness started to lift. I'm confident that we'll be able to find more happy summer days despite the heat. If anyone resorts to wallowing again I'll be on hand with plenty of ideas for keeping them busy.