A whole new definition of "cold."

When we moved to Chicago, I bought my first real winter coat and a pair of gloves. Eric bought a snow blower. We learned about things like driveway salt and preventing pipes from freezing.

We actually got off pretty easy our first few winters here. We got very little snow and it was never that cold, relatively speaking of course.

But this winter, oh this winter!, everything is different. We got more snow in December than we usually get during the entire winter. And it's been cold. It's been unbelievably, unbearably, just-plain-miserably cold. It's been cold enough that schools have cancelled classes and sub-zero temperatures have lingered for days.

Every single time that the sun comes out Michal asks me hopefully if it's summer yet. Oh how I wish I could tell her, "yes." But there is no sign of summer any time soon. But hey, we are having a heat wave. Today the high is four degrees.