Winter Fantasies

I started my day early this morning (5 a.m.) and situated myself, as usual, at the dining room table which is directly in line-of-sight to our outside temperature gauge. We are experiencing a deep freeze here in New England. After weeks of this winter weather, I thought I couldn’t get more depressed. I was wrong. Right before my eyes I watched the temp move downwards from -8 degrees to -9 degrees outside. The old adage of it being coldest before the dawn seems to actually be true.

Now I realize it is not -9 in the house but I still am wrapping myself in another blanket. I cannot seem to get warm.  MS does not like extremes in temperature and I can vouch for that because my body is telling me that it is so. It is stiff and creaky. So what to do? I guess I could try to think positively. There has got to be a good side to winter.  I unthawed my brain and came up with a few things to consider:

1) When the tree branches outside my window are laden with snow, it makes for beautiful post-card scenery.

2) The deep snow on the lawn hopefully will reduce the tick population come spring. I pray this is so because I detest those things especially when they hop on my cat and come inside.

3) Misery loves company and we all have lots of posts on Facebook complaining about our mutual loathing of the weather.

4) We collectively hate the folks who are posting from beaches down South who are fakely commiserating with friends up North!

5) When summer does arrive and we’re no longer wearing layered, bulky clothes, we’ll feel like we’ve slimmed down 10 or 15 pounds with absolutely no effort on our part.

6) We like staying indoors sipping a mug of hot chocolate with extra marshmallows.

7) Folks cuddling to keep warm now will produce beautiful babies in September or October.

OK, that last one isn’t a sure thing, but when we hear that someone we know is expecting a bundle of joy this autumn, we’ll know that the #7 Winter-Coping Skill was used. Unless they got away from this weather and vacationed in a warmer climate…then I don’t know what coping skill they were using.

The only thing I can do now is to move that darn temperature gauge out of my sight, get more blankets, a hot drink, and dream warm dreams of summer.

Fat Tuesday

I’ve not had much to blog about lately. Here in the northeast section of the good old U. S. of A., we’ve been hunkering down and using all our energies to deal with Mother Nature. She’s been reminding us how little we can control her movements. It seems we’re in a cycle of weekly snow events. Poor Boston has had over seven feet of snow accumulating in its city. They’ve had to start dumping the snow into their harbor. This practice had been previously off limits because the snow collected by the plows contains salt and diesel fuel which is bad for the water. So you know things aren’t good when they allow it.

All this snow-talk means that for the last several weeks I have been homebound. When you only have walls and cats to talk to during the day, it does not make for interesting blog chat with the wider world.

But today all that ends. It’s Mardis Gras (Fat Tuesday) season and that means Easter is around the corner and spring along with it. We can all start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Our New England seasons are like that. Just when you get tired of one, another is bang upon your doorstep. The winter-to-spring one is especially welcomed because how much hibernation and Jack Daniels can a body take?

Today, so tradition goes, we can wildly celebrate with food and revelry (think New Orleans). A food market in our town makes specialty Polish donuts. For the last two weeks these delicacies have been for sale but the store will stop making them after today. The oversized goodies are about half-again as big as regular donuts and are overstuffed with cherry, cream, apple, lemon or prune fillings.

So in honor of the season, yours truly has thrown caution to the winds and been inhaling the things while they are still available. I’m waiting for the backlash for this to hit. I’d been so good lately trying to change my diet to a more healthy one. Sadly, in this season of personal reflection, I’m reflecting that I have no willpower when it comes between me and a treat.

In conclusion, I must double-down and watch out that Fat Tuesday does not morph into Fat Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday.  I know I will probably have success, though, staying away from the prune “paczkis” today. It’s not worth the quick backlash I’d be sure to get from one of those!

Starting tomorrow, my religion tells me to set my sights on higher things in preparation for Easter. This is good because all I can see right now above me is another snow-filled cloud.

 

Resisting the Pitch

I’m just about finished with my latest round of physical therapy. All in all, it was successful in that this time she provided me with reasonable exercises to do that may actually have a chance of being incorporated into a daily routine.

I’m glad because this time of year the fitness industry goes all out to make the general television-viewing public feel like poop. And when your mobility is restricted, it’s even worse. They make it seem so simple: All you need to do is walk, walk, walk to a better shape. Buy this or that machine and before you know it, you will have a sleek, toned body complete with nice hair and a killer smile. They lock into our perennial hope that come spring we will have the bodies of our dreams.

My newfound simple exercises will never get me to look like those actors onscreen. I won’t be able to walk, walk, walk my way to looking like that. But that’s okay. I realize now that I can feel good about me in a different way. I’ve become proactive with those marketing ads.  I switch channels when any ad comes on telling me that my body is not good enough and I must make it better.

I’m confident I will stick with these doable exercises. My priorities have shifted from the narcissistic to the practical. The motivation now is to keep my muscle tone as good as I can get it;  it’s not about looking good or fitting into a killer bathing suit. I know this will be a forever thing and not just seasonal. The “use it or lose it” axiom applies here.

So. Armed with my push-back attitude against the television fitness industry, I now just need the will power to also switch off those ads for yummy chocolate-dipped goodies because you-know-what holiday is coming on the14th of this month.  I don’t think my therapist would appreciate me using my arm exercises to better reach into that Valentine candy box.