Baby, it's cold outside

The fact is that people in Southern California are total weaklings when it comes to cold weather.

When I lived in England, I would walk from the train station to my school (about a mile) every morning in frosty weather, skidding around on mulchy leaves and potentially getting drenched by a soccer mom's Land Rover after a badly timed puddle splash. All of this in a thin button down shirt and my blazer. More than once I ended up on my ass having slid on black ice somewhere on the paving - one time in particular coming to memory because my walkman fell out of my pocket and busted into about 4 different pieces which flew all over the street.

Now, that obviously still isn't anywhere near as bad as being in Cleveland or somewhere similarly freezing. I had a 2 hour layover in Cleveland during January several years ago and recall everything being covered in at least a foot of snow.

In Los Angeles, people are liable to freak out about the weather when it ducks below 60 degrees but even at 40 degrees outside, it's quite likely you will spot one sorry person wearing flip flops. I will admit that I have somewhat become a person that doesn't know how to handle the cold weather on account of having left all of my big fuzzy sweaters in England after I moved. My limited amounts of cold weather clothing have been leaving me somewhat stumped over the last few days as we've hit temperatures of freezing.

Yesterday, I was standing outside with some co-workers complaining about having a cold neck. It then occurred to me that I am an idiot. I KNIT! Why on earth would I not have anything around to wrap myself in?! It seems that I am extremely good at knitting for others and assuming that living in Los Angeles means that I will never really have a need for big warm wooly accessories to heat up my freezing bones. So, last night I whipped up a rather simplistic cowl to throw around my neck. It's now my mission to make 3 or 4 more in different colors over the next 2 weeks so that I can wear them before the weather warms up again!

A sickie's lament

I'm convinced that every year there is a 2 month period where life carries you away to a place where free time is a distant memory and every moment is filled with something that has to be done, as quickly and efficiently as possible. I've already gone through a round of birthdays (beginning with my own) and heading rapidly into the realm of weddings and baby showers. Somewhere in the midst of it all, I'm attempting to knit up a sample sock for a publication while finalizing the oattern designs of my own and have 2 potential photo shoots to schedule. Of course, what's the worst thing, but also the most likely thing, to happen at a time like this? I got sick.

The good news is that it's not swine flu. Instead, I have a rather irritating cold that is probably a result of being "run down" with things that I've been doing over the last week. I don't even have anybody to blame seeing as the only person I know that's sick is my sister-in-law who several hundred miles away in Vegas and I haven't seen her since our visit almost 3 weeks ago. That would just be a really long gestation period.

So, while I sit here typing, only being able to hear out of my left ear, from behind the confines of my mostly closed office door (for the purposes of letting people know that I am here, but not going to cough on them), I am wondering if I have the strength to make it through a full day at work. I am contemplating how long I can make these 4 cough drops last and whether it's possible to patent some kind of portable steam shower for the purposes of days like today. I'm thinking that the couch at home is sounding good, swaddled in a large blanket with a vat of chicken noodle soup, alternating between knitting and snoozing.

I'm looking forward to a few days from now when my head is no longer in a fog, breathing doesn't involve the accompanying raspy rattle from my chest, and I don't need 4 pillows to keep me at an appropriate angle in bed (so I don't wake up everybody in a 2 mile radius with my rather uncharacteristic snoring).