Chicago in Winter
Winter in Chicago would be a lot better if it weren’t so cold and so long. I love snow and eggnog and Christmas carols as much as anyone. But the extreme cold–and the months-long duration of the extreme cold–stinks.
It’s November, and I’m already cold. It’s pretty easy to deal with during the day by just wearing more clothes and turning on the space heater in my office. But at night, especially when I’m in bed for the first 10-15 minutes before Patrick gets in with me, I am freezing to the point that my digits start to turn blue. When I get that cold, it takes a really long time–like, hours–to warm up again.
That said, I’m not a big fan of the furnace either. If I set the thermostat above 68°F or so, our bedroom quickly resembles a dry sauna and my sinuses are shot. My dream home-improvement project would be to have someone come into my house and remove the furnace, and replace it with a boiler and radiators.
Today, I settle for the next best thing: About 10 minutes before I go to bed, I throw a couple of fleece-covered hot water bottles in-between the sheets.
One of my Fashy hot water bottles.
They make the sheets nice and warm. Hot, actually, since I fill them with boiling water. They are German imports made by Fashy, and they seem sturdy enough to last for years.
A couple of nights ago, it was super-cold and I put one down by my feet and a another right in the middle of the bed to warm the top half of me as well. When Patrick came to bed, I warned him not to burn himself by flopping down on a German, fleece-covered, scalding, hot-water bottle. He hates that. :-)
He asked if he could just put me in a Sleep Sack and zip me up, so he wouldn’t have to endure bottles of 212°F water in bed with him.
I wouldn't look good in a Sleep Sack.
That’s just crazy-talk. First, I have confinement issues. Second, it would be a problem if I had to get up in the middle of the night for any reason. Third, Sleep Sacks are for babies.
I’m keeping the hot water bottles. And here’s one for the person who has everything:
For the person who has everything: a fur-covered hot water bottle.
