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The cold front came in today here in Houston Texas – on my way home the temperature was 33 degrees … by now, it may be below freezing – I haven’t checked – I turned the heat up because I am cold! So it being Thursday, I thought what a perfect topic for a Thursday Thirteen – Thirteen ways to warm up when you’re cold!

1 & 2: First thing that came to mind for me is sweatshirts and long sleeve shirts! I’m wearing a long sleeve turtle-neck at the moment and I’m still cold – tomorrow, if it is still cold, I’m wearing my hooded sweatshirt to work over a long sleeve shirt! I’d like to be on a nice warm beach somewhere instead of huddling in the house wishing the house would warm up!

3 & 4: Cold winter days is time to get out the hot chocolate and coffee and chili – I went to Wendy’s for lunch today and had chili … on the way home I stopped at Starbuck’s for hot chocolate … it’s too late at nite to be drinking coffee … though I am sorely tempted as chilled as I feel tonite! I like holiday mugs for hot chocolate or coffee this time of year – my daughter loves Christmas cups – I get in trouble if I do not buy any for her every year for Christmas.

5 & 6: When I left the house this morning, it was 70 or so degrees … I took my winter coat which wasn’t really warm enough by the time lunch came around – actually it was cold enough to wear the coat right after I got to work! When I lived in Iowa, I used to always have a parka every winter so I would be warm enough to go outside, build snowmen and generally have a great time in the snow – the cold is a different kind of cold in Iowa than it is down here in Texas – 20 below zero is not the same kind of cold as 30 degrees in Texas! I would bundle the kids up in their snowsuits, boots, scarves and hats and off outside to build snowmen, snow forts and wallow all over the ground making snow angels – no snow in Houston and even if there was – I would be inside wanting a cheerful fire in the fireplace with the heat turned way up – this cold chills ya to the bone quick! Maybe it is all the humidity from the Gulf – I do not know – I just know it is not a nice or friendly cold like the Iowa cold was!

7 & 8: My daughter called me while she was out shopping tonite – it reminded me of going over to her house last nite – our Bad Dog went ballistic and jumped all over me and was play-biting at me nearly knocking me down in his excitement – he makes me laugh cause he is so veeeery bad but so good at being bad. The other day he ate the muffins right off the counter – my daughter wasn’t looking for one minute and he ate them … paper and all! Another friend does pet portraits and she has a Boxer dog painting that looks just like our Bad Dog – it is wonderful … and it doesn’t jump on me but it makes me smile too because it reminds me of our Bad Dog and how he looks just like that at us!

9 & 10: I put the Christmas Tree up last Friday – the day after Thanksgiving – it is all decorated and I have been turning it on every nite too. I started buying all new ornaments a couple years ago – I was tired of having a mis-mash of this and that – stuff that I didn’t really like that had just kind of accumulated. Are you looking for some great new ornaments for your tree? I got mine at Garden Ridge. I had a lot of fun in the snow with my kids when they were little and it warms my heart to remember how happy they were to throw snowballs at me or to wander around an Iowa park during the frigid winter time exploring and taking photographs. My son used to go out & about with me exploring in the snow a lot when he got to be nearly a teen-ager – we had a great time – even in winter we collected rocks – we laughed – we made snow angels – we threw snow balls at each other and at the dog who was out running around having a glorious romp in the snow too – we had a marvelous time – very warm memories now that he is a grown man living in Iowa while I live in Texas.

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11 & 12 & 13: I gave in and made myself a cup of coffee and put on my sweatshirt tonite – I am still very chilled! I do not want to get sick so decided if I lose a little sleep – that is probably better than being chilled all nite long and getting sick. I have my dragnfly large mug at work for coffee and I am drinking coffee tonite from another dragonfly large mug and wearing a dragonfly sweatshirt – tonite is a dragonfly night even though I think it is probably much too cold for dragonflies right now to be flying around outside. They bring a warm smile to me though because they are so lovely to watch when they are flying around with their jewel colored wings in the sunshine. The sweatshirt is nice & snuggly warm – this is the one I wore when I went to San Francisco and it is definitely eye-catching! Everyone stopped me everywhere I went while wearing it to tell me how lovely it was and I handed out business cards to each of them These are warm colors and reminds me that the warm days will be back soon even though they are not here right now and it is very fashionable for running errands, grocery shopping or jogging in cold weather! It is a bold design that gets noticed – I found out by wearing it!

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Technorati Tags: Thursday Thirteen, Thursday 13, Cold, Warm, Dragonfly, Dragonflies