Sleeping -- Kinda Sorta ...

I've been sleeping. Kinda sorta like the fella who slept for so many years and woke up with a long, long gray beard. Still the same me, sans the gray beard.

But, I've been sleeping. I don't do well in the cold winter months. The Texas panhandle has been brrrr cold, and I've been brrrr cold to the nth degree. It's been like a hibernation for me - just trying to stay warm. Knowing that Florida looms in my future is the warmth that keeps me going.

Have you ever tried to type with gloves on your hands?

Have you tried to eat an ice cream cone with gloves on your hands and tried not to brrrr at the same time as the freezing cold ice cream went down your warm throat making your insides temporarily as cold as your outsides were? It's hard to do!

Have you ever thought about how cold the toilet seats are on cold brrry mornings when the toilet backs up to the outside and the outside cold temperatures are in the teens? Now think about sitting down on that cold toilet seat and try not to slide off from the brrrr.

Have you ever thought about all those people who paid all that big bucks to get rid of the allergens living in the filthy carpets only to wind up with brrrr tile floors that don't hold heat?

When I get to wonderful-warm-Florida, I will want tile floors, and I will use area rugs so I don't have to walk on brrrr tile, but, here in brrrry Texas I refuse to give up my allergen filled carpet that keeps my little toes warm.

This past December and the first half of January I have consumed more coffee and hot tea than the previous months combined. Anything to keep warm.

On the positive side, I have discovered a myriad of coffee and tea flavors!

The Cold of Snow & The BRRR

We lived in Rome, NY when the big blizzard hit in 1966. There was so much snow the drifts were as high as our second story windows. My brother and I were young enough to think that amount of snow was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Once the snow finally stopped falling the two of us went outside to see what kind of damage we could accomplish in the drifts. Tunneling was the order of the day ... BUT, it was all I needed to convince me I'd had enough of the cold temperatures.

Living in Virginia, there was less snow in the winter, but when it snowed it would stay on the ground for weeks at an time and could accumulate to a couple of feet. I hated it -- and when I got an opportunity to move, I did.

Texas is cold in the winter and last winter over the Christmas holiday we had a huge snow and ice storm. For me, my intolerance has more to do with the radiation and chemotherapy then anything else at this point. Once I get cold, it gets into my bones and I just don't get warm.

So, even though the springs and summers in Texas are temperate -- the winters are intolerable and I just cannot do them anymore.

Did you see the picture of my puppy standing in the snow? That was just a couple of years ago - and it really doesn't get any better. Being cold -- is there any thing worse?

Of course there really is, and I know there are much worse situations, but, for me, being cold and not being able to get warm is very bad.

So, throw me a quilt and put another log on the fire cause this gal ain't going outside until spring!