Baby It's Cold Outside

We've had some very bizarre weather here in the Ohio Valley this week.  We went from a high of 72 degrees two days ago to a high of 34 degrees today.  When I left for work this morning, it was a frigid 27 degrees.  As I suspected, the down coats and stocking cap were out in full force this morning, as they should have been.  It's just difficult to comprehend that we live in an area where two days ago we were wearing shorts and short-sleeved shirts outside, and today we had on sweatshirts under our heavy coats.  It's just weird.

My family and I have always followed the weather and the forecasts closely - partly because we've always had a garden, and we needed to plan for planting and harvesting accordingly; but mainly because we like to know what it's going to do outside.  We need to know what type of jacket/coat to wear for the day. I'm the first to admit that we three have too many coats.  We've got rain coats for dress-up, for everyday, and for bigtime heavy rains.  We've got lightweight jackets, we've got heavy coats with Thinsulate that keep us warm in sub-zero temperatures, and we've got many other coats in between. We're truly blessed when it comes to coats.  Yet somehow, when we go shopping, we're drawn to the coat section of the store like moths to a flame.  We can't resist looking at the new coats, and trying them on.  Mom and Dad are stronger than me - when they buy a new coat, they will take another one out of the closet that they don't wear and give it to the DAV.  Not me.  I save them all, thinking they might come back in style some day.  We've each got our favorite coats:  Mom's favorite is affectionately called "Old Blue" - it's a blue down-filled coat that she got for Christmas last year; Dad's favorite is a camouflage, and my current favorite is a Tennessee Titans Starter jacket.  I love it.  It's probably one of my favorite eBay purchases. 

I'm picky about my coats, though.  I've already decided that when I go to the VFW tonight, I'm parking close to the door and leaving my coat in the car.  There's no way I'm taking my coat inside and have it wreak of smoke for weeks.  I'll take my chances and run from the car to the building in just my shirt sleeves to protect my coat. So much for the big smoking ban.