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It's not that cold, eh?

A few days ago, I glanced out our front window to find Matt shoveling the driveway. The mother in me immediately noticed he wasn't wearing a hat. So, being the good wife that I am, I bundled myself up and took it to him.
"No thanks." he said flatly.
"But it's freezing!" I cried.
"I'm good."
Wtf?

A few minutes later, he came in, "You know, it's really not that bad out today."
"It's 18 degrees." I informed him.
"Really?!"

And with that, we realized something extraordinary. We are adapting to the winter.

This is quite the contrast to our first winter in Ottawa. Around mid-November, when the temperature here is comparable to a typical Austin, Tx. winter day, 2009 found us in hats, gloves, long johns - the full get-up. We got many funny looks. Our friends warnings - "This is nothing!" - were met with scoffs. Surely, it couldn't get that much colder. Right? For the record, it does and we were wrong.

While I still don't want to be out in the cold for an extended period of time, an outing in the months of January and February no longer makes me want to punch a baby. (lucky for Isabel haha!) In fact, I find myself wearing less clothing than other Ottawans. (Ottawinians? Ottawanites?) I hate driving in a coat. A hat messes up my hair. And if I don't have to take my big bulky jacket, scarf, gloves and hat with me into the grocery store, I don't. (Seriously, it takes up half the cart!) Isabel, however never leaves the house without becoming a "winter creampuff." lol

Here's a few things I've learned about winter in Canada:

1. During January and February, if you look out the window and the sun is shining, chances are high it is seriously f'n cold out. Like, bitterly, arctic, stay-in cold. It kills me. If you catch yourself saying, "Looks like a nice day!" then it's even colder.

2. Most of the time, the cold is bearable if the wind isn't blowing. Unfortunately, for Ottawa, that's like once a month. Fail.

3. There are birds too stupid to migrate.

4. There are a lot of folks who seem to think they get a free pass on cleaning up dog sh*t in the winter. This makes for a very fragrant, melty March.

And....

5. I'd rather live somewhere warmer.

LET'S HEAR IT FOR SPRING!!

It's just like laying on the beach!




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