Day 6 of Thanksgiving

Call me silly, but today I am grateful for hot water bottles.

(isn't it cute? Looks like it's tucked into a sleeping bag)

Our apartment is in one of those delightful old-fashioned Bay Area 4-plexs, full of charm and grace and absolutely no insulation whatsoever. It might be 60 outside but it feels like 50 inside. a

Actually, I just checked: it's 54 degrees in here right now. During the day, we can go outside to warm up. So even though it may be frustratingly balmy outside, inside we are freezing. The heat is incredibly inefficient (and uneffective) so basically it's just freezing all the time.

I came home yesterday and found Terri like this: hat, scarf, fleece-lined flannel shirt, sweats, two pairs of wool socks. My little bundled-up babushka, poor thing. She has terrible circulation because of the CFS, plus she is stuck at home all day, so she really suffers.

So, in order to combat the chill, I've been busy preparing for winter, which is silly since we live here and my disdain for our barely-winter is well-documented. Still, it's dang cold inside our house and Terri needs to be warm, so I keep trying.

I spent last weekend sewing: I made some birdseed-filled microwavable neck warmers, and I also made cozies for the hot water bottles. There is nothing like getting into a freshly-made bed which has been warmed by very hot water bottles. Except for the part where they are so hot that they burn you. Hence, the thick fleece cozies. These are amazing. I am completely, head-over-heels in love with these now.

We have those microfleece sheets on the bed, plus warm jammies, plus fleece-wrapped hot water bottles. It's heaven, absolute heaven. They stay warm all night, too. If you have a cold bed, I recommend, without reservation, a hot water bottle (preferably wrapped in jaunty holiday plaid fleece). I only wish I'd had one of these when I was a kid, growing up in another delightful old house with no insulation, only in Oregon where it really WAS cold!