Nothing says, "Stay away sleet!" like a gigantic cheery yellow umbrella.

I’m going to be honest. It’s freakin’ cold here. We have discovered a few ways to make adjusting to the mainland go a little smoother. Here they are:

1. Hot Beverages
We are drinking plenty of warm liquids like tea and hot chocolate. On average I have 4-5 cups of hot (as close to scalding as I can get) liquid a day. Mom put together a tea party for Autumn which included non-toddler-friendly china teacups, a real teapot, English tea, and petits fours. I might also have to go Russian and have some vodka at some point here.

2. Poofy Clothing
The general rule is that the closer you resemble the Michelin man the warmer you will be. Autumn has 3 new jackets, one of which has fur on the hood. I actually bought a pair of slippers. They go half way up my leg for optimal poofiness. In addition, I’m eating a lot of oatmeal cookies and peppermint bark to add to my natural poofiness.

3. Think of it as “Fun Cold”
It is forcasted to snow this evening and tomorrow, which would mean that the cold weather was a fun cold, and not just plain miserable cold. The plan is to go sledding if it really snows so we are keeping our fingers crossed.

4. Hot Tub
A heated pool and hot tub are also great ways to stay warm. We indulged in these at my parent’s condo clubhouse. Although not great for energy conservation, half of the pool is outdoors. In the winter you get some great steam coming off the pool and it makes for an otherworldly swim. For best results, you should stay in until sufficiently pruney. Other than having our hair freeze as we walked back to the condo, it was wonderful.