the redcoats are coming! the redcoats are coming! (i mean, winter. winter is coming.)

Well, it's getting to be that time of year when I need to pull out the extra blankets for the beds, and switch out the kids' summer clothes for winter clothes.  I always get bummed when the weather starts turning, since I know we're in for six months of misery before spring comes, but this year it's been a little different.  I've been tracking the difference in temperatures between here and Cedar Falls, and I'm liking what I'm seeing.  Do you want to know what the typical difference is?  Ten to fifteen degrees on any given day.  Ten to fifteen degrees.  Today's projected high is fourteen degrees warmer here than in Cedar Falls.  This is a life I could get very, very used to.

So, here it is, November 22, two days before Thanksgiving, and Atticus is wearing shorts.  Is it a good choice in mid-fifties weather?  No.  But it's a do-able choice.  It's at least possible.  He won't die of exposure.  Eat that, Iowa.

That being said, though, while it might not get as cold here, or stay cold for quite as long, I can no longer deny the fact that winter is actually coming.  I really do need to finally pull out their winter stuff.  I really, really hate this part of seasonal changes - with so many kids, it takes forever and makes a huge mess.  I do one kid at a time: I go through all the clothes they currently have in their dresser, and separate the things I want to leave in there (currently, there are a few hoodies and pairs of jeans in each kid's drawer that will stay) and I put the rest of the clothes into the laundry.  

I know it seems like overkill to wash clothing that was just in the dresser, but I'm not always able to make sure every item of clothing in there is clean.  Some things, like jeans, get worn more than once (on principle), and put back in the drawers in between wearings.  But then also the kids' shirts and socks and even undies somehow make it back in there after being worn, even though they're not supposed to.  Gross, I know, but what can I say?  This is my life right now.

So I wash their entire summer wardrobes before putting them away, because far be it from me to put unwashed clothing into a semi-airtight plastic bin to stew for the next couple of years until some subsequent kid has need of them.   Gah, can you even imagine the gore that would assault my eyes the next time I opened that bin??  So I wash and re-fold everything first.  (As though I'm not already perpetually behind on laundry as it is.)  Then I go through their appropriate bin to pull out what needs to make it into the drawer, which seems simple enough, but sometimes they're in between sizes so multiple bins are out, and I'm having them try on fourteen bajillion pairs of jeans to see which ones fit this year.  I'll also make a list of items that we still need to buy.

Now, multiply that whole process by five, and you'll see why this project will finally be done in late February, at which point I'll finally have time to pull out the warm blankets.

Whew.  We have definitely made a move in the right direction in terms of weather, but I think we just need to live someplace where it's 75 and sunny year-round.  Then I wouldn't have to deal with any of this ever.  Plus, I won't turn into a cave troll around late January like I usually do, which would also be a win.  I think the next church plant should be in Hawaii.  Who's in?