COOOOLD

We live in a mild weather city, for the most part. We don't have extreme weather, for the most part. So there isn't really a need for heat or AC, for the most part. Except...when we do have extreme weather...like this past week. It got down to 0 degrees. That's Celsius. For all you Fahrenheit junkies, that means COLD COLD COLD, freezing actually! It snowed on Saturday which is pretty rare for our city.

Like I said, there isn't really a need for heat for the most part. But when it's needed, it's painfully absent! So, we pulled out the space heaters. They helped a little in warming our concrete apartment. But we aren't allotted a ton a power, so three space heaters is the max we can run at one time. I skipped my Thursday laundry day-I'd rather have some heat than clean clothes. I am pretty sure it was in the 40's at some points in our home!! So we decided we should study the local way of handling the cold and apply their techniques. You really need to regulate your core body temperature and since you can't do so by sitting in a toasty apartment, you have to employ other methods. First off, there is Chinese torture quilt for sleeping. (I bought my parents this really great quilt a few years ago-they loved it...until they used it. It was so heavy that it didn't breathe and caused them to sweat profusely and feel like they were in a sauna. Danny started calling it the Chinese torture quilt.) Maybe not so great for sleeping in your warm 70 degree bedroom, but perfect for sleeping in my 40 degree one. Andy and I have a torture quilt ourselves and there is NO NEED for a space heater in our room when we use that thing. It works remarkably well. You won't find these in America, but if you ever need one, most stores here carry them! Along the same lines as the torture quilt, you need to find ways to prevent your body heat from escaping. You could possibly take the quilt with you wherever you go, but it's really too heavy for that. So, you dress in layers. Lots of layers. I had 3 to 4 layers on myself and the kids while playing in our home. Even Jack had on tights under his clothes! He looked like a marshmallow man with all his poofy layers. And finally, HOT WATER. It does wonders. You can put it in a water bag (like old people use for aches and pains) and carry it with you wherever you go. Or you can drink it! This is what we like to do. It's great for raising the core body temperature. We have a water dispenser that puts out really hot water for drinking and it's wonderful. We sip on hot water throughout the day and it really helps to stay warm. Even EG enjoys hot water!

Thankfully it's warmed up quite a bit! Today I think we were up in the 50's! These pictures were taken on the first toboggan wearing day of the season (not on the super cold days) But I thought you might enjoy the toboggan pics!

Well, it's getting chilly in our apartment so I'm off to get a glass of hot water!