Ten Minutes in the Cold



So it’s cold right now on the prairies. It might be cold elsewhere too but all I know is that it's 40 below cold here.

So this morning, I slipped on my ski pants and boots. Over my layers of shirts and sweaters I added the parka. I picked the warmest tuque, it's not mine, but it was sitting there so why not? The scarf was the one from Hogwarts that I bought in Florida where it’s probably not 40 below ever. And yes, I see the irony in that.

Now when I went to grab my mitts there was one glove and one mitt. Weird, but these things happen, I have no idea how. Somewhere out in the cold is someone I love wearing one mitt and one glove. Now we have hundreds of gloves and mitts, but all bundled up like I was, searching for them would be a feat and I was already running late, so I just grabbed the mitt and glove and headed out the door. 

About ten seconds in I noticed a cold spot on my leg. My boots must have pushed up my pants and my ski pants. I didn't have far to walk and figured I could probably tough it out. Over all, the walk should take a minute or two. Wrong. About ten more seconds in I couldn’t stand it and had to remove the glove to fix the problem. 

Bending over pulled my jacket up and it tangled in my layers of sweaters and my lower back was exposed. Did I mention it was 40 below? Seriously, when that cold hit my bare skin I must have opened my eyes to twice their size, which kinda burned and now they're really tired.

I put the mitt on and removed the glove. Because as you can imagine, that hand was cold by now. (I was feeling a bit like a whimp at this point.) And so I fixed my jacket, but I felt all tangled up underneath and I hate that. 

I glanced back at the house as I put the mitt on and wondered if going to work was really worth this effort. But! I was only a half a block away so I plunged forth. The road was covered in drifts so I thought myself brilliant and proceeded to climb one. It was soft and I soon discovered that I hadn't really fixed my boot problem, and I quickly found a place where my mitt wasn't tucked in enough. Nice to know after all these years I still can't dress myself properly.

Five minutes later, what did I see when I got to work? My door was buried, the shovel peeking out along the bottom and an impending avalanche loomed over the doorway from the roof. My thought process? Is it faster to dig in or go home? And trust me, speed was my goal here. I opted for digging, telling myself that I could get in in under 5 minutes. Besides it’s best to dig while the snow is soft and I’m kinda dressed for it.

Don’t you love winter? How are you staying warm?

National Family Literacy Day in Canada


Settings we love!
January 27th is National Family Literacy Day in Canada. To celebrate, the goal is to spent 15 minutes reading as a family!

We decided to honour the top three Canadian Authors we enjoyed reading as a family over the years.



 For more great ideas about Family Literacy Day, visit ABC Life Literacy’s website at http://abclifeliteracy.ca/family-literacy-day


Captivating!
History that hits home!

Any Canadian Authors on your bookshelves we should thank for helping to promote our Nation's family literacy?

Check out a few more great Canadian Authors, and share your links or favs in the comments! 
Canadian authors of young adult
Teen Books by Canadian Authors