Winter is Coming and I’m None Too Pleased.
October 19th, 2009 by The Barefoot Blogger: Laura Kleinbaum
I spend the vast majority of the winter months tucked up into the folds of many layers of blanket on my couch, watching DVR’ed television and sipping cocoa. Fine, that’s not true, but often I wish it were. Instead I spend my winters shivering, traversing the sidewalk hunched over with my head down, and complaining about the inexorable cold the second I arrive at my destination with chapped hands and a runny nose. New York winters are brutal, but as I understand, I’m actually spoiled having to put up only with this. Here the temperature rarely plummets below 0˚ F, whereas in other cities, they’re dealing with temperatures below zero on a daily basis—I’m talking to you, Minneapolis.
Here they are:
The Top 5 Things I Hate About Winter:
5. When you’re in someone’s home and they just don’t have the heat high enough. You hint. You chatter your teeth. They don’t offer you so much as a cup of tea and they inevitably have one of those cold leather couches.
4. Falling on the ice. (This happens to me a lot because among my favorite winter pastimes is “ice skating,” though it’s most always met with the response, “Stop sliding around on that black ice, Laura- you’re going to fall!” And then I do and I hate it.)
3. Runny noses and teary eyes. (Every time I come inside I have to wipe the tears from my eyes and blow my nose. Even then, it never really stops running. And do I ever carry tissues? Of course not.)
2. (a.) The great heaps of gray snow that are a permanent fixture on every sidewalk until mid-March. Upside: when the pile gets really tall, you can climb on it—it offers a sizable deal of fun in the cold while you’re waiting for the bus and you’ve grown tired of ice skating on the sidewalk.
2. (b.) Falling off of the gray snow pile into the street—people stare.
1. Cold feet. If you don’t wear the right boots, your feet are cold for months straight. And once they get cold, they never get warm, especially if you’re hanging out at this person’s house: See 5.
There’s just one solution and I’ve got it: Appropriate winter boots. Now, appropriate very seldom implies cute and fashionable, but I would never suggest something that wasn’t. I’ve got your backs, girls.
The Cosmosis ‘Alaska’
The Sorel ‘Caribou’
The Australia Love ‘Corset’
Obviously, I want to hear what everyone else hates about winter—you know I love your stories. And remember commenter of the week wins $50.
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October 20th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
The solution is a move to warm and sunny California where I can wear lovely suede boots, open toe shoes
and I never have to bundle up. After 40 years in New York, I’ve spent the last 30 in the sunshine which feels good to these old bones. I can look out my window and see the snow on the mountains but I can spend the day at the beach or in the desert. Sorry to brag but I put in my time in the northeast and never to have to walk or drive in snow or shovel it is a blessing.
October 20th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
OK, OK I hate winter too. Sort of. I mean hate is a very strong word. I do hate how I look in a hat (so I really don’t care about the 99.999% of the heat supposedly leaving your body through your head, which I believe somewhere in the someone-could-lose-an-eye category)and more importantly how my hair looks after I wear a hat.
I do hate the look and inconvenience of dirty snow; more than that I hate winter rain.
I hate when Rome isn’t 60 in December and I miss strolling in general.
But I can’t hate winter because I love Christmas & I love any meal next to a fireplace with real wood and I love tights, cashmere scarves,leather gloves snd jeans tucked into boots. And I love coming in from the cold. And so basically I think winter should be shortened to January 2 and then it should be Spring. The rest of January and all of February are unnecessary. And March is more aggravating than either because it’s just a spring-wanna-be and I just don’t like a fake.
Any suggestions to how a 5″2″ petite 40+ woman can wear jeans tucked into flat boots? What are the options?
Thanks!
October 21st, 2009 at 7:05 am
Well, I used to hate & despise winter time, having to bundle up and put on extra layers. But, now, thanks to UGG and all the nice Snow Boots, it’s not as bad. I Can Keep Fashionably Warm during the Winter.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:42 am
I love winter. I have little one’s, and I must say that every year it snows they act as if they’ve never seen snowy a day in their lives. They go crazy when that first snowfall happens. They want to go out, and play every chance they get.
Ok, so then February gets here, and all of that joy seems to turn to black slush, just like the snow, and getting them to go out and play is next to impossible.
Oh well it’s the price you pay for living in northeast Ohio!
October 21st, 2009 at 11:42 pm
I love layering clothes and wearing sweaters and boots! I LOVE boots! But I do hate the way the cold makes my muscles tense up into tight knots and creates pain down to the tip of my toes. I hate the way my hair cracks from freezing winds. I hate shoveling snow to the point where I can’t stand upright anymore and my breathing hurts. I hate the muddy slush puddles with dirt, salt, and grit; and how it dries to a white disgusting mess on clothes and shoes and anything it touches. I hate falling down on ice right in front of the most gorgeous man in the whole parking lot and then bouncing and sliding on my butt, only to get up and look like I had an accident in my pants. I hate getting into cold cars and freezing to the seat, and sitting there shivering while waiting for the heater to warm up enough. I hate scraping the ice from the windshield only to find I scraped it right onto my silk blouse that stains so easily from just water. I hate the puddled mess on the kitchen floor from boys and men coming inside and kicking off the dirty snow and shoes on the floor, instead of outside, and then stepping in it barefoot just after you mopped the floor for the fifth time that day anyway. I could go on with a mile long list for you on the hazards of drivers in the winter, and cold limbs and frozen lips and all sorts of ailments the winter causes. But even with all of the hates, I do still have a lot of love for winter too! After all Christmas and New Years and Valentines Day all come in winter!
October 24th, 2009 at 12:08 am
I enjoy the first snow fall, but after that, it’s terrible in the city with the slush. And UGGS are the worst to wear in snow. Not only are they not waterproof, there is no grip so extreme baby steps need to be taken to avoid slipping.
October 31st, 2009 at 11:38 am
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November 19th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
I’d yardstick the creation of to ascertain that too!
June 24th, 2010 at 7:39 am
That is quite insightful. It presented me a few ideas and I’ll be writing them on my blog shortly. I’m bookmarking your website and I’ll be back. Thanks again!