It just keeps going on and on and on. The wind is even worse. Number one (again) I detest cold wind. Number two(again) I have always had ear infection problems and number three, did I mention it was too cold?
Us southern peeps are chickens when it comes to any type of inclement weather. Tornado warnings terrify us, warnings of possible snow or sleet send us all to rape the shelves at the grocery stores. God forbid they forecast any accumulation.
I'm right there with the southern sissies, but don't run out to the store, actually I try NOT to run out at all. During these cold spells I leave the house when I have to go to work. I stop by the store on my way home from work and don't leave my 68 degree house again until my next shift.
Yes, I keep our thermostat set on 68. When it dropped to six degrees I did bump it up to 69 but has never been higher in the seventeen years we've lived here. For Pete's sake, put a sweater on, that's why we have them. Put on some thermals and layer your clothes.
When Jimmy Carter was in the White House, during a former energy crisis I remember him saying he kept the thermostat on 68 degrees and they simply just wore sweaters. That makes sense to me. It's not like my family is living under a bridge at Turner Field in a cardboard box. When it is twenty degrees outside, sixty eight should feel pretty stinking good. I do get cold easy and hate to feel that way but think that is why they invented turtle necks and wool socks.
My big gripe time is when I have to leave work late at night. Number one (once again) I tend to skitter in the wind across the parking lot on my way to my ( sister's borrowed) car. It's only about fifty feet but feels like a mile. Then I get in and have to crank ole Bertha Benz up. She's a stubborn little sedan. When it's cold out , as Hillary said "It takes a village" to start her. Last night I was cranking ole Bertha up when the bartender was leaving. He got in his truck and his engine roared to life.
I was in Bertha turning her key and pumping the gas furiously. I knew she was gonna start but is kinda painful to hear. He started to pull out then stopped and rolled his window down to ask if I needed help?
Nope! I'm good I told him.
Crap, I'm borrowing a car from my sister I asked to use for two weeks and that was back in the spring. I'm embarrassed to still be using it, cranking it seems like the price I SHOULD have to pay. He sat there anyway and after ole Bertha roared to life, he gave me a thumbs up and drove off. Once the ole girl gets cranked and warms up, she's just like me...she gets the job done.
My sister came over yesterday to look at my kitchen, it's in dire need. I have a leak in my shower on the third floor that drips onto the refrigerator in the kitchen and another leak from the kid's shower that sometimes leaks onto the stove. She came in with all her tools and even had a box of groceries for us. Bleach, cereal, candy, zip lock baggies, dish-washing liquid and lots of other staples.
As I always say, "Here's the thing...I am loved."
We picked out a color for the kitchen, she's gonna paint over my wall paper for me and help fix the leaks. She's already loaned me a car for half a year and still comes over with a care package!
My brother has done so much for us it borders on the ridiculous. Lucky for us I was born a "Leach" and kinship means a lot to us.
If cold weather is all I have to put up with, I can do it for a few more months. I go to bed dressed in three layers with freezing feet. After two hours my feet thaw out then my hot flashes kick in. I wake up in a wife beater, undies and a pile of clothes on the floor by the bed.
Then I get up, put it all back on and do it all again.
There are so many millions and millions worse off than us. It makes me wonder how they deal with their own difficulties when they don't have a fall back family like me to help them out?
Actually I feel a bit better now about this cold weather or maybe my hot flashes just kicked in.
Heading to bed in pants, a bra, a cami, work shirt,sweater, scarf and wool socks. Around three I'll start shucking clothes off. Around nine I'll start putting them back on to go to work again.
Yep, I'm one of the lucky ones!
Til next time...COLD COTTON
No comments:
Post a Comment