Brrrrr!

The husband said tonight "Today was officially cold!" This is big news; as someone who served a mission in Canada, he has a very skewed perception of what constitutes "cold." In his opinion, it's not really cold until parts of your face are falling off or something dramatic along those line. In my opinion, it's officially cold when it's below 40 degrees, which I'll admit is also skewed, but by any measure, it's insanely cold here lately!

Oh my goodness!!! Today, the temperature barely made it into double digits and with the bitter windchill, it was 13 below. School was cancelled because of "extreme temperatures." Can they even do that? When I explained to J that he couldn't go to school because it was too cold, he said "why don't we just skip recess??" Why indeed? I agree with him! Granted, I feel like sending kids off to school with snow pants and snow mittens and snow everything is a bit much and a huge headache, but really? The kids should go to school!

Right now, I'm wearing my newest potential addition, a pair of Sorel snow boots (don't worry, I didn't spend that much on them; I'm a bargain shopper extraordinaire). They are HUGE and waterproof and incredibly warm (I'm sweating right now and I'm not even wearing socks) and fur and felt lined and expensive (still the most I've ever paid for a pair of shoes...or a coat...or almost any one things, actually) so I am making absolutely sure they're for me by wearing them all around the house this morning. I think I'm going to keep them and, if so, they will join my new snow coat (it's green! It's got 2 layers, 4 combinations, and is very warm) and my new snow/ski pants (also incredibly warm, though they're gray--more practical for sitting down in the snow, I suppose). I'm practically Midwestern! Umm, yeah, not so much.

I'm actually somewhat okay with the cold and snow this week, since I was planning on spending most of my time cleaning my room (February is almost upon us!) anyway, but the kids are a little stir crazy. We have been going to inside places to play, but just getting us in and out of the car is extremely challenging, and my hands are always icicles by the time we're done. Oh, my hands! Don't even get me started on them: cracked, red, rough, dry beyond reason. Anyone got any solutions for winter hands that actually work?? See, this is how I know I'm NOT Midwestern; I should know all this already! I'm just hoping to make it through the snow and cold this week so we can celebrate the weekend, when it promises to get back up into the high 30s....Hooray???