The most redneck thing I've done lately

I don't do as many "country" things as I used to...I hate the heat, so I don't go outside much this time of year. Throw in two small kids and it makes the prospect of fishing, hiking, hunting, whatever all the more unappealing....cajoling, packing up all the snacks, mosquito bite, ticks...you get it. Maybe this winter. 

The last time I truly enjoyed a walk in the woods was when I was pregnant with Sutton in the fall of 2021 for reference. 

MoDot (the esteemed MO department of transportation) was doing that chip and oil tactic to our main road through town last week (doesn't that just scream redneck to begin with? Main road, through town?). It was honestly a 10-12 mile stretch. I'm on about 2-3 miles of it to get home from work. There was a pilot car and everything. One of those situations where you wait. I'm terrible at waiting and I'm really terrible at waiting for anything by 3:30pm with two grumpy kids and 100 degrees staring back at me from the dashboard. 

So I was like second in the line of cars waiting for the PiLoT cAr to come back and could barely see the flagger so I didn't even know if we were stopped-stopped or if the truck in front of me was just there for some other reason. There was a giant construction truck, it turns out, blocking the flagger with the stop sign so you couldn't actually see him. It was a functional operation, is what I'm saying here. 

Anyway, when I realized it was going to take me 40+ minutes to get home (thanks Google maps!), I thought about alternatives. I remembered there was a dirt road behind my school that loosely connected to the other side of town. I made a u-turn and backtracked. I got on the dirt road, I drove on this dirt road along the railroad tracks, I crossed some side streets until I got to the one I was looking for. I turned left. I drove for 3 miles on a paved, windy country road. I made a sharp right at the cemetery and went up the hill onto the dirt road called "Buttercup".  And I followed that dirt road for about two miles until I had made a complete circle and ended up on the other side of my house. I made it home in 15 minutes instead of 45. 

I only know about this network of criss-crossing dirt roads in this town because of our time on our UTV (also known as a side by side). Everyone here licenses their UTV and drives them on the dirt roads and also on the paved roads. Actually that is probably the most redneck thing we've done since moving to Missouri. 

Upon arriving home, I dragged all the mail into the house and took a picture in front of a dirty mirror mostly because Scott had told me I looked like a bumblebee before he left in the morning and I wanted to document that:

These kimonos from CJLA are my favorite. I untintentionally wore all three that I own last week. This color is on super sale right now if you also want to look like an insect. (I'm wearing a small for reference, at 5'6".)