Cold Feet...and Hands

Boy, do I feel in a mood. I really shouldn't be: I have a nice little place to live, a semi-well-behaved dog, a good paying job, dear friends, and a great guy.

The thing is- I always get depressed more easily in the cold months. Shocker, I know everyone kinda does. But I have always categorized myself as a summer baby and in the winter I tend to emotionally and physically go into hibernation.

I also tend to get more annoyed, and this year is no exception. Every little thing tends to piss me off or frustrate me: I don't know what to do with my life, I never have enough money, I hope people like me, etc. Of these things I like to think I have little control so instead I focus on the single most-annoying/frustrating thing about this time of year- keeping my hands and feet warm.

There is nothing as aggravating as trying to keep your appendages warm, and for me, it's a constant battle. In fact, when I used to watch television shows or movies and people go running around outside with no shoes on or gloves, I used to think, "I don't care how happy and playful they are, that could never happen. My hands hurt just LOOKING at this." Sometimes my mother would look at my hands and say, "Your fingernails are blue!" My corpse hands, I'd call them.

And this is my main argument against people who LIKE the cold: when you have a chill that reaches down to your bones, there isn't a shower or mug of cocoa that can relieve you. At work, there is no exception.

My office is pretty much cold all year long, which sucks for me, because I can get cold with a hair dryer blowing down my neck in. So, over the past few months I've found methods to deal with it...

1.) Legs or feet under: I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this before, but I've had to tuck my hands under my legs so many times, I swear I'm about to get a backwards Levi's logo embedded into them. When I can barely type it's a pretty quick problem solver, except that the effect wears of quickly and I'm left with cold legs and stiff fingers.

2.) Sneaking for the sink: I will spend the extra minute or two washing out a coffee mug or being extra sanitary scrubbing my hands if it means longer time to scald my hands in the hot water. The problem here is that a.) the sinks in the bathroom rarely have the necessary heat to blast through my frigid hands and b.) usually someone is waiting for the sink in the kitchen so I have to cut my thaw short.

3.) Hot coffee: I am starting to think the main reason I began drinking coffee consistently was due to the wonderful feeling of heat between my hands. Also nice: the feeling of feeling returning to my digits. The problem: it's usually too hot to handle right away anyway so you have to wait before you can comfortably grip the thing and when it does cool down enough it's a race against time before it turns to sludge. Bad also: you can only warm one side at a time. Drag.

If anyone out there has any other tips to beat the cold at work, send em as comments here or on facebook. Gonna hit the bed for now, see yall tomorrow.