I understand a little more how the cold can really affect our lifestyle. We don’t clean! When every breath is a puff of steam, and we sleep in two pairs of sweatpants and hats on, who wants to spend time in cold rooms?

We do have a little heater in the bedroom and computer room. Other than that, nothing, because space heaters are ineffective and we rent a 12 foot ceiling Victorian build in 1887. Any solution to warm the house would be a costly investment.

Saturday was sunny, and not really cold, and I looked around and found a crazy mess. Laundry, dishes (didn’t help that I couldn’t wash with my burned hand), just piles of crud. A little stunning, since we are pretty tidy. Not clean and scrubby, but tidy: piles on flat surfaces are unusual.

So I wasn’t upset about the cold, and I have loved the rain, but I’ve figured out a bad side effect from the chill. Besides having ice inside the window, and being scared of the next utility bill.