January 21, 2013

It's still January?

Awesome.  I love January.  I love winter.  The cold weather makes me so happy.  It's where I find my true bliss.  Just like how I enjoy watching Twilight movies and curling up with a 50 Shades book.

Uh, no.  Not at all.

I know a lot of you get excited at the prospect of snow, and rightly so.  Nothing wrong with that.  When I see peaceful winter scenes in Christmas movies, I think it looks appealing too.  Then I remember that snow comes with cold.  In order for snow to be maintained enough to stay looking pretty, it needs to be cold.  No one really wants to be cold.  They may want to live in that Christmas card scene for the month of December, but no one really wants to be cold, packed into snow and ice, for 5 months out of the year.

Actually...let's not count my husband when we're making that statement.

That's my hat.
He packs up his snowmobile and his survival gear and heads out into the woods for a day or two almost every week.  Because I allow this (and because I certainly am not going along), he tells me to go shopping.  We have a strange (but fair) relationship.

Anyway, I'm not sure what the point of this post is.  I think I'm depressed.  Like, truly.  I'm not sure how to pull myself out of this "funk".  You'd think, "Now, Kristin, rock bottom had to have been LAST year.  You know, when you had to spend the entire winter in Alaska by yourself while your husband was off (potentially) getting shot at."
Sure, I'll give you that.  Last year sucked.  Thank God for blogging.  It pulled me through.
But, it gave me some great expectations for this year.  However, it's still winter.  Not much has changed.  My 4th gosh-darn winter in tundra-land, and the 3rd gosh-darn winter I refuse to go outside.  The first year, I tried.  No more of that nonsense.

Anyway, I went to Target while he was fishing.  I knew it wouldn't make me truly happy.  I knew it wouldn't solve any problems.  But I went.  Because it's probably a good idea to leave the house at least once during the day, right?  Sure.


1. A brown sweater.  I wear stuff like this every day.  I can't wear non-sweater material in the winter.  Too cold here.  (I actually keep "second coat" in my classroom.  You know, like how Pam has "second drink" on The Office? It's the lighter coat I put on when I take my heavy coat off each day.)  Plus, this sweater was $8.  I'd be foolish not to buy it.

2.  Weeds. We are currently on Season 3 from Netflix.  Netflix doesn't work fast enough for this household.  Seasons 5 and 6 were $13 and $15, respectively.  Again, it'd be foolish not to.  If it contributes to my greater happiness (and it really does), I'm gonna do it.

3.  I was going to make a dip.  Haven't gotten around to it yet.

4.  I actually did need this tea.  We go through a lot of green tea.

5.  And, really, after listening to children of every age (birth through 18) act like miscreants*, running and shrieking and swearing through the aisles of Target, I needed this shot of caffeine.

*I understand that children are supposed to act like children.  However, I suppose that high school girls should not be running through the store, shouting and swearing at each other, though.

Did I need any of that stuff?  Not really.  Did it force me to leave the house and make eye contact with other human beings?  Sure did.

I suppose that's a win.  

Also a win?  I walked right by the Valentine's Day candy without even picking anything up.

What do you do when wintertime depression sets in?  I know I harp on this a lot, but they say to "write what you know".  I look around, and this is what I write.

17 comments:

  1. I'm in the midst of winter depression too! I need more sunlight in my life. And less layers.
    I do second coat too! The guys make fun of me for it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Winter depression is the worst!!! I also go to Target just to get out of the house because I can and it's fun. haha.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ugghh I hope you're feeling better soon! For me it's almost as much the darkness as it is the cold... but I don't live in Alaska, so I can't talk.

    My boyfriend loves to ski, but rarely goes because I HATE the cold, but while I was in LA this weekend, I gave him the great idea to go. Now I don't have to!!! Woooo!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I hate winter. It's so boring! I live on the coast and winter makes it a tease because the only thing I want to do is go to the beach and sunbathe! Not to mention that one day it's 70 something degrees here and the next it's 40. So lets make up our mind and stop being such a winter tease!

    Hope you will get out the funk! Clothes and nail polish always make me feel better!

    ReplyDelete
  5. arrrrr I hate winter and it doesn't even snow here! But I'm still in awe of your snow hahaha Snaps for you for getting out of the house and absolutly yes you needed it all ;-) I know what you are going through...I'm a "fishing widow" most of my life! My husband is a die hard fisherman but here in Australia its on with the boardies and onto the boat in the 40 degree Celsius heat haha instead of getting shot at my only worry is his sunburn! Keep smiling!!! You will get through! Summer is near :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I thought you would appreciate this: it's currently 0 degrees here and feels like -16, according to weather.com. I'm so done with winter too. I hate cold, I hate walking to class in it, I hate driving when it's icy. It's just the worst. You're definitely allowed to feel depressed or in a funk about it. It's cold, you're in a place you don't like. The good thing is you are almost out of there and hopefully that will help some. While buying things probably isn't the best therapy, I definitely do it too and at least you bought things that will occupy your time and doing those things may cheer you up in the process, so I think it was definitely a good choice.

    ReplyDelete
  7. target is definitely a good place to go when you feel depressed. I know I've shared how often I went there this summer! I think leaving the house is a good idea too - although I didn't even want to leave my house yesterday and it was 5 degrees. Did you make a countdown yet until you leave?

    ReplyDelete
  8. I usually head to Target, Starbucks, Barnes and Noble, or Anthropologie when I'm down and need my "happy place". I find winter to be a great time to catch up on tv shows on Netflix, so I don't know that I'd do anything differently than you're already doing. It just dropped to 20 here today and I'm already dreading waking Casey, so honestly I have no idea how you put up with the cold for so long. I hope you get to thaw-out in your next location.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I totally get seasonal sads. I always up my Vitamin D in the winter!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I feel you...I totally feel you.

    Have you started a countdown calendar to leaving yet!? That might help. It would help me for sure! :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ugh, I hate the winter blues. You need something to look forward to. That always helps me during January. Now I have birthday parties to plan...it makes the month go faster.

    ReplyDelete
  12. I can't believe it's still January. The other day, I was thinking it was going by so quickly. Then I woke up today, and it was 9 degrees, and I realized it's not going by quickly at all!

    I'm proud of you for leaving the house and not buying Valentine's Day candy. Let's focus on the positives! (You'll be out of there soon.)

    ReplyDelete
  13. When are you getting out of there?? Soon, I hope. I'm only one season behind on Weeds, must catch up!

    ReplyDelete
  14. No winter depression here, but I can imagine how living there could affect you. Target always makes me happy, though. We went today! I got the baby a bunch of stuff for cheap, a couple shirts for myself, and other random things. I love it there.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I get SAD in the winter. When it is severe my doctor told me to go lay in a tanning bed for 5-6 minutes. The warmth really does help. Don't do it every day or anything, but once a week won't kill you.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I must really like this blog. Something happened to my computer, and my paragraph-long comment got deleted. Appreciate me. (okay sorry I'm done.)

    That's the thing about CA. By the time you're too cold, or too hot, it's different weather. All of summer, it was like 70, and then 90 in November, 35 in December, and now it's like 50. I amuse myself by figuring out how my closet is going to work for each kind of weather.

    I love Netflix. What is Weeds about? Is it worth my pretending to do homework, as opposed to actually doing it and going to bed on time?

    Target. It's something about having all those amazing things in one place that makes one go crazy. Not to the point of swearing, but seriously. Tar-jay is like the Toys R US of clothes and school/organizational supplies.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I'd have the winter blues if I were you too. Mine don't usually set in until February though.

    ReplyDelete

Comments make my day!