Let me tell ya.... in these parts of the world 'cold' is a four letter word! (if ya catch my drift. *wink*) I can't rightly recall a time when we have had such a deep freeze in Toronto in December, since this sort of cold is usually reserved for the dark days of January. With temperatures holding at -35C (-31F) there are warnings all over the news that exposed skin can freeze in as little as TEN minutes. Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!

As you can see from the picture on the right, my bathroom window was covered in a layer of thick frost (on the INSIDE) this morning as I climbed in for a shower. And no, steam didn't help any. My mother called as I was getting ready for work to inform me that it is in fact SO cold that her car threatened to not start, and she suggested I give my car plenty of time to warm up before I drove it (yes mom, I had already thought of that!). She also said something to the effect that I should put on a warm sweater because "skinny little things like me" really tend to feel the cold. Yes mom, I was planning to dress warmly. I am 30 years old, afterall. I can now make grown-up decisions on my very own! But hey, once a mom, always a mom. :-)

And so I donned the appropriate clothing: a sweater with a t-shirt underneath, not one but TWO scarves (one under the coat, one around my mouth to help keep my lungs warm), a full length wool coat with hood, and of course gloves.

I had decided that I would get gas on my way to work, and not only would I get gas, I would pump my own rather than wimping out and going to a full-serve station where they pump it for you. I felt very proud of myself as I stood at the pump filling up my car with barely so much as a shiver. The only part that got cold was my hand that was doing the pumping; apparently my glove was not thick enough. So I alternated hands until the tank was full. Huzzah!, I thought. I am woman, hear me roar! As I stood and waited for my receipt to print out I was amused to watch a man pumping gas who clearly had NOT heeded his mama's warnings to dress warmly and was therefore doing a little dance to try and keep warm. It was at this point that I realized that the receipt was not printing... the machine told me I had to go inside to get my receipt. Suddenly my fine mood was taking a nosedive. *grumblegrumble* Pull the keys out of the car... lock it... walk into gas station. What's the big deal you ask? Well, if you wear glasses you know that when you walk inside they fog up. And due to a cruel twist of irony it is a blindingly sunny day here today and therefore everyone is wearing sunglasses. As I walked into the gas station and stood in line to wait for my receipt (*grumblegrumble*) my glasses fogged up, and then when I left the gas station to head back to my car the fog on my glasses instantaneously froze, creating a delightful layer of frost on my glasses. Good fun. So after defrosting my glasses and car I was on my merry way to work...
(as always, you can go to my photoblog for a full picture-story of my cold morning :-)

Do I hate this cold? Yes and no. I mean I am a Canadian, born and raised, so I am more or less used to it. I would prefer snow (which never happens when it's this cold, btw. the weather man this morning says it's supposed to warm up and snow tomorrow. yay!) but you can't exactly pick and choose the weather. Besides, the cold sort of brings us all together. Gives us something to bitch about. :-D
Which reminds me... as I was driving to work this morning I noticed a bumper sticker on a truck that said "Don't mess with Texas". I laughed, thinking of the cold, and thought... Oh yeah? Well don't fuck with a Canuck!