"Keyboard Hand" and Warm Ovens

Most of you who know James and I know that we prefer the cold. I've heard so many people complaining lately about how cold it is and I just have to roll my eyes with a slight smile on my face. Now, I'm not saying that I don't get cold. Quite the contrary, especially lately with the whole hypothyroidism thing. It is so easy for me to get cold. I'm not talking slightly chilly where I need to put on a sweater. No. I'm talking put on three layers of clothing, a robe, two jackets, thick socks, heavy duty slippers, hats, gloves, and STILL need to wrap up in two or three rather heavy blankets because I am so cold I get chilled to the very bone and I can't stop shaking. However, I still love it! Call me crazy if you must, but I truly love the cold weather. And so does James. We have lived in our current apartment going on three years now (this is our third winter here) and we have yet to turn on our heater. We hope that doesn't pose a problem for the next tenets who live here after we move (we don't anticipate moving anytime soon, mind you). At any rate, we have enough neighbors who must have been born, lived, or deeply adore middle eastern climates so needlesstosay our apartment is warm enough for us thanks to our neighbors.

However, there are times, mostly in the morning to early afternoon, that it gets downright frosty in our little abode. We have our computers in the second bedroom, which is really our study. It gets really cold in there and James and I can often be found with one hand in our pocket and the other on the keyboard or mouse of our computers. This makes one hand nice and toasty, and the other quite cold...numbing even. Then, after we have reached the point to where we just can't take it anymore we snuggle up next to the other and playfully place our hand on the others cheek to which the response is always "ACK! You have keyboard hand!!" My friends, I am in this state right now. I do, indeed, have keyboard hand, which coincidentally makes it kind of hard to type, but I appear to be managing. James is at work, so he is not able to warm up said "keyboard hand" right now. Alas, my only other option is to go and turn on the oven.

Now, don't worry. I am not about to bake my hand in the oven. It's something we do when it gets too cold in our house and we really don't want to turn on the heater. When I was young we moved around a lot. One of the places we lived was an old two story house up in the mountains of Southern California. At night, it got pretty cold there, but the house did not have air conditioning or heat that I remember, only windows and a fireplace in the huge front room. My mom would usually be the first one awake in the morning, so she would start a fire and then immediately go into the kitchen and turn the oven on. By the time us kids were awake, we would be dressed in multiple layers, with thick socks (sometimes two or three pairs) on our feet, and we would make our way downstairs. When we got to the kitchen we would have steaming cups of hot chocolate, warm freshly baked cookies (yes, there was a time as a kid that my mom would let us eat freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for breakfast!) and we would drag chairs over to the oven where the door was open. We would prop our feet up on a stool right in front of the oven door and begin to thaw out. Once we were warm enough, the chores started, but for a little while it was fun to just sit there and get warm with a bunch of my brothers and sisters in front of an oven. When things get really cold in my house now I turn on the oven to warm up the front room enough to where I can tolerate it. I think I need to go and do that now.

I hope everyone stays nice and warm on these cold days. If not, then you should definitely try some hot chocolate and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. There's nothing better. :)