don't change your plans

The good news: Lungs can't freeze from breathing in Chicago-cold air.
The bad news: It only takes about 10 minutes for a child's skin to freeze when the temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit and there's a breeze.

Thank you, Chicago Tribune, for making me never want to go outside again. Yesterday, it was raining, then snowing, then icing, the temperature dropping about 20 degrees over the course of the day (that still amazes me--California temps doesn't change that much between summer and winter) and I was proud of myself for not letting the weather change my day-off plans. I lugged a bottle of laundry detergent through the snow and I braved possible snow drifts (and mice) to bring my laundry down to the basement to wash. I can't change my plans according to the weather in Chicago, I thought, because if I did then I'd never do anything.

Now I'm trying to plan my weekend so I won't have to go outside: 6 degrees, "feels like -11" on Saturday, around the same if not a little warmer on Sunday. I do think I'm allowed a little wimping out, this being my first winter here and all, but I shouldn't let in get in the way of the little trips I want to make, to the gym, to the grocery store, to the coffee shop down the street. I'm 18 days into the 62 January and February days that make up the actual winter here, not counting the days it's still cold and snowing in the months after that... I doing fine with the cold so far, I don't really mind wearing my Antarctica-weight coat, my hat, my scarf, my mittens, my boots, and my wool socks every day. But we're heading into uncharted territory here, again. So maybe I'll just hibernate in my down comforter this weekend. Hide from the germs that are making nearly everyone sick: just stay home.