Winter Transformation (revisited)

Life is a series of transformations. Take for example me and winter. Well, it started getting cooler here when I arrived. So I wore a very nice knee length wool coat that my mother bought me when I got the job at CMU. The first couple days I wore it opn and slowly started to use the buttons. Then one day I realized that I was still cold even with the damn thing buttoned up to my neck.


So I got a scarf. A nice thick one and work it just loosely around my neck, until one day I realized that wrapping around my neck and keeping it on the inside of my coat kept me much warmer. Bulkier but warmer.


Then it got cold. Well, I thought that was cold but we will get to *cold* later!
My skin started to crack on my hands. I have chapstick in every jacket and purse and bag I could possibly use! I will not have chapped, cracked lips dammit! So i started wearing real socks. not that i did not wear socks but i had those little footie type socks that come to your ankle. Well that does me no good when air flies up the pants leg and freezes the calf portion while you wait for the bus! So i got long thick socks. and I wear them!


I wear them over my first layer of clothes. they are not really long underwear but that is what i think of them as. but i have heard people call them all kinds of things. I think their official term from their brander is "cozies" but fuck there ain't not much cozy about the damn things. They do keep you warmer. But who really wants to wear two pairs of pants. I would have said not me...but now I do not leave the house without two pairs of pants. At this point even if i lost 20 lbs no one would know but me when i take off all the clothes to take a fast shower!


The coldest weekend in many years according to the news but I am smart and I know what I am doing. I have on sweat pants and ankle socks and mule tennis shoes along with a tshirt and sweatshirt jacket. I am just going to Wal-Mart. It is not like i am going to be standing outside waiting for a bus...just going to the store. I have to admit i was sadly mistaken on just how cold it really was out there. I mean the short walk from the parking lot to the front door of the store just about froze me to my core. Ah, well atleast I made it inside and got warmed up. Little did I know that when I would be going back outside later it would be even colder and windier. This lead to the purchase of wool socks and hats.


Yes, I broke down and bought a couple hats. So let me set the scene for you. I got up this morning and watched the news to learn how not to get hypothermia while taking a shower or after you take a shower. Which is not a real problem for me since I started taking showers at night during the cold times so my hair would not freeze! Then I got ready for work. I started with the normal layer of underwear and bra. From there we go into uncharted lands for those of you in warmth and sun. (I am envious!) I put on my cozy pants, my wool socks, a turtle neck, a shirt, a pair of thick (for winter) pants and acute jacket. Then i fix my hair to only then put a hat on it! Yyes it is really that cold! I wore a damn hat today! Then i wrapped a scrarf around me, put on my eskimo coat, buttoned it all up, including the one that wants to strangle me, put on my gloves and head out the door. Funny thing is that I was warm. My face was a little cold but other than that I was cozy.


While sitting on the bus feeling stupid in a hat I realized that no one was looking at me or making fun of me in my new hat. In fact most of them had hats, or hoods and they all seemed quite content with being warm. I get to work concerned about hat hair only to realize that no one else gives a rats ass about hat hair when it is negative whatever out! So i got a clip and pulled my bangs out of my face and am just content with the fact that I was warm coming into work and I am warm in my many layers of clothes! And some day soon this place will heat up and then I will have something else to bitch about...hot weather and humidity!


Oh, but, I did wear my mule tennis shoes today. I am a rebel who just can not seem to let go of some things from Sunny So. Cal! As of today I declare I am an official Pennsylvanian! I packed my lunch and breakfast today because the last thing I want to do is to have to run outside to get food! it is bad enough that I have a meeting at 3:15 this afternoon but I think I will go home from there.


So...how hard are you laughing at me right now? This was slightly edited from the original version (an email to Heidi) from last February 2007. Last year was the first winter for me in a very long time. IT was hard. It was nasty and cold but I got through it. This year it has been mild until yesterday and today. It was the coldest it had been in a year yesterday, and I woke up to snow covered streets and hundreds of school closings today. I did check the weather by looking out the window and knew that it was going to be slow going. I got all layered up and headed into work. It is snowing harder now and is supposed to get worse as the day progresses. For now I sit getting my feet warmed up and drinking my latte and basking in the knowledge that soon I will be in LA for a vacation! I do plan to wear flip flops the entire time I am there. Just sayin!