Yes, I left it blank on purpose, because I haven't yet decided how many reasons there are going to be. Here is it (I know you've all been waiting with bated breath) my list of reasons why I am NOT enjoying the winter of 2010.
1. I hate the cold. I enjoy "COOL" but do NOT enjoy "COLD." Last summer I was in North Carolina with my friend Laquita and it was cool. On July 3rd, it was 50 something degrees on the mountain. Somehow, knowing it was 90 at home made the 50 something not so bad. I cannot remember a winter that has had so many cold days ever in my life.
2. I don't have the right clothes for this much cold weather. I have about three or four sweater and three or four sweatshirts – and that's it. I have also been scrounging for long pants that aren't jeans. We're not always allowed to wear jeans to school and I don't have many long pants. I have a LOT of Capri pants, but can't wear them. Capri pants and socks, it's not a good fashion statement when you have legs as short as mine. There's another reason, but you'll get it in number 5.
3. Due to number 2, I have to wear layers of clothes. Those of you who know me know that the words "slim" or "svelte" would NEVER be applied to me. Add layers of clothes to that fact and you get. . . the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. That's what I feel like. Oh wait, that's every other day. The opposite days, I'm channeling the Michelin Man.
4. Cold weather does nasty stuff to my skin. The skin on my arms and legs tends to be dry anyway, but with this weather, it's easy to mistake my skin for some sort of scaly reptile. I have tried many kinds of lotion – and still, I almost crackle when I move.
5. Shaving, dry skin. . . Enough said.
6. The Winter Olympics. I have always been influenced by what I'm seeing or watching. I've read books in June, and sat shivering, because the people in the book were freezing. When I went to see the movie "Titanic", I wore a sweatshirt, because I knew there was somebody was going to be in that freezing water and I knew I would be cold. (The A/C was broken in the theater; I nearly passed out because I was so hot!) Because I know myself, and I love to watch the Olympics, I always get cold, watching people in the snow and ice! That's cold stuff. Usually, it's warm enough that the cold that I imagine for myself is a nice break. When it really is cold and then I watch the cold, it's almost too much to bear.
7. I live in Florida for a reason. Sunday night when I was getting ready for church, the temperatures in Vancouver and in Tampa were the same! Florida is NOT supposed to be the same temperature as the place where they Winter Olympics are going on! That's just wrong on so many levels.
So, there they are! As my children say, I'm "hatin'" on winter! I admit, when it was 90 degrees in December I whined and complained – and I still think 86 degrees at 8:30 in December is wrong! But so is all this cold! You know what else is wrong? Having to wear every sweater and sweatshirt, I own more times this winter than all the winters I've owned them.