My whole family is drying up! They are thirsty and have the driest skin. I chase them around with lip balms and ice waters and bought super expensive cracked-skin cream. Arggg. We need a humidifier but I picture it not working and the little ones dumping it or drinking it or worse. Winter can be a pain. I like it, alot, in theory, but it is just a PAIN. In summer, it is hot and you always feel sticky and gross and flithy, but at least there isn't all this huge MAINTENANCE the second you wake up, you know? In winter, t is just so much WORK to feel like you have it together. It is the opposite of relaxed-island living.
I wake up and immediately I am FREEZING and have to put on a huge outfit. Long sleeved shirt, sweater, jeans, socks, shoes, and then run to go pee! My lips are split and I am super thirsty and cold. I cant bear the idea of going out to the kitchen shivering and tense, and all the household chores seem much harder. The kids don't want to get up, and when they do, they seem to always be barefoot and i pester them to get some socks on, NOW. I HATE seeing their little red feet with crumbs on them--- YUCK. I want everyone to be totally dressed, even down to shoes. I get uptight when it is cold. It is my parenting/protecting thing coming out. I feel much less tolerant of relaxed/lazy stuff and want hot meals to be eaten properly, at the table, and then cleaned. No summery treats all over the place. If my kids liked this stuff, it would be oatmeal for breakfast, soup for lunch, chili or stew or lasagna for dinner, cocoa for bedtime. Baths for all children, slather them all from head to toe in the expensive medical cream, pass around the chapstick, 4 sippy cups of ice water, and in footie pajamas asleep by 7:30pm. Too bad I'm never even home anymore at night.
So what is it about winter that I supposedly like? It is pretty. when we have what we need in the house, which feels like never, we can be cozy and safe. We can sled, in theory, but we don't get deep snow like we used to, and it is an ORDEAL to put it mildly. Maybe this year Steve can come with us--but we never have boots of our own, only the kids do....last year Charlie couldn't walk so I concluded that he was too little to sled so he stayed home with Daddy.
We could ice skate but we don't know how and it seems difficult/impossible to teach 4 kids to skate at the same time if i cant skate. This would be a good situation for a helping adult friend. We have an ice arena very close by....
In theory we could have jaunty laughing friends over for jaunty laughing hot drinks and movie nights....this one does sound quite good....
I like to wear big cozy clothes that make me feel cute and not like my lard is spraying out. Summer time is a gross time of armpits flying out and hyper leg hair maintenance and dry-spot-on-your-foot-shame marketing pressure and i resent all that. That stuff ruins summer. In winter I can wear my jeans and long sleeved t shirts and look cute and feel nice and protected, not like I am in some swimsuit competition everytime I go to the grocery store.
I like to cook and bake and have it be a good thing that the oven heats up the whole kitchen, not a torture fest.
I guess all I am actually trying to say is winter and summer suck and I like fall. Taking care of four children in extreme temperatures is much much harder than when it is nice out.
:)
4 comments:
Laughing hot drinks and movie nights sound awfully cheery to me, count us in. We'll bring the 'jaunty'...
yep - I agree. I love wearing my sweatshirts and long sleeves. I wear my jeans all summer long, but in winter people don't look at me like I'm crazy :-)
I love autumn because I can send the kids out to play with just a sweatshirt and they'll stay out there happily for hours. Summer and winter require super-hydration and sun-screen or hats and mittens, etc. Winter leaves wet pools of outer-wear all over our kitchen - melty puddles that I inevitably step in with my cozy socks. It's a real pain.
However, you're right about the pretty part. Michigan can be incredible in winter.
I love wearing warm clothes, too - WHEN THEY FIT!!! That seems to be a bit of an issue this winter. :) We just did what you guys did, and covered our windows with plastic. HUGE difference. Good thing, too. We are supposed to get hit with a major ice storm in the next couple of days. I hope you guys are doing okay.
I think the hardest part of winter is that I can't toss the kids outside when they are driving me crazy. Oh well.
The American ranch house has nothing on the compartmentalized, door-to-each-room, separate heat in each room British house when it comes to winter. But then again, being able to go 'potty' in a separate room at night, and not in a pot in your same-temperature-as-the-outside bedroom is pretty kewl too!
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