IT'S HARD TO TYPE WITH FROZEN FINGERS

24 January 2003

I've been procrastinating more than usual this week. I sit down here at the computer of an evening to do some transcription and after half an hour decide that I really want to go cuddle under some blankets and watch TV and I'll get up at 4. When I get up at 4, I spend a lot of time running somewhere else.

The reason is because it's damn cold in here. I checked the temps on the thermostat and it's 62 in the house, which in itself is cold, but it feels positively warm when I leave this office.

The circulation in this house is OK, but we had this room added when we had the house built, so it's not part of the original plan, and though there is a vent in here, somehow the heat (and in the summer the a/c) doesn't quite make it this far. (It could also have something to do with the dog door being in here, though that is supposed to have a seal on it, but I suspect it doesn't keep out all the elements of the outside weather.)

I try to type and my fingers are so icy that I just can't do it. I'm sitting here now huddled in a sweater, a jacket, and with a crocheted lap blanket tucked around me. Even if my hands get warm, the keyboard is like ice, so that doesn't help either.

Now it could be argued that (duhh) the solution to this is to turn up the heat in the house and, yes, that would work. But I'm rather proud of the fact that our heating bills haven't been all that high this winter, despite the chill outside.

Call me stupid. Either turn up the heat or stop bitching about it, Beverly.

(Had to take a break here to stick my hands in my arm pits to warm them up)

I'm thinking of this as rehearsal for Rochester.

Speaking of which, I thought I was so clever. I found a fat lady catalog and saw that they were having a sale on sweaters and if you bought two sweaters, you'd get a free pair of leggings. Now, I'm not a leggings wearer, but I figured that would be perfect to wear under regular pants in Rochester, so I ordered two sweaters.

I got a confirmation of my order yesterday. The sweaters will be shipped soon, but the leggings are backordered.

I figure they'll arrive the week after I get home again.

Steve sent a link to his photos of the trip he took to Niagra falls  this week. You can see that it's not exactly balmy. I'm not sure how far Niagra is from Rochester, but not that far away.

However, I've been keeping track of the weather conditions on Monroe Street in Rochester  and see that there isn't that much snow around. (Of course there's no snow here and look how cold I am).

Maybe feeling all this cold is because I'm dropping weight (I'll wait while the giggling subsides). Fat people don't get as cold as skinny people. Have you ever seen a cold whale? All that blubber gives you built-in insulation. People marvel that I rarely wear a coat or even a sweater in San Francisco. But I'm rarely cold there. And it has nothing to do with anything except that I have a thick layer of fat keeping the cold from reaching the nerve endings which say "It's cold, idiot--put on a sweater!"

So maybe losing 8 lbs is making me feel the cold more (Yes, I'm joking).

However, I'm feeling more hopeful about Rochester. People have taken pity on my plight. My friend Char is loaning me a coat she used to wear in Alaska, and my friend Ellen is going to loan me some stuff for the extremities (gloves, hat). I have a warm scarf that someone gave me once that I've never used, so I'll be taking that. And that leaves only something to wear under pants to help keep my legs warm. If I have to wrap a blanket around myself sitting in my own office with the temps around the low 60s, I'm going to need something for temps in the 30s or below. I'm afraid a trip to the store is in my future (it would be easier if I had panty hose or something I could wear, but I don't wear anything like that--just sox.)