Six Unfortunate Side Effects of Fall

when they're unsuspecting like this is the best time to wriggle my feet underneath for some kitty body warmth 

For someone (fortunately) unaffected by seasonal allergies, the changing seasons always messes w/ me pretty hard nonetheless. My body is slow on the uptake, like, oh wait, I need to stop wearing flip flips in November and start pulling on a coat in the morning. This week has been particularly chilly and it was hard to get out of bed this morning. We don’t have the flannel sheets on yet, but it’s on my list for this afternoon, so flannel coziness awaits, which will only make it extra hard to get out of bed now. 

The worst part of this time of year is how it affects my body. I'm not wimpy, but I am a champion whiner, so here’s where I gripe about all the fall things I’m not so crazy about:

-The water comes out of the faucet ice cold. This is fine most of the time, like when I’m refilling my water glass, or if I’m doing dishes and can wait the few seconds for it to come up to temperature. It’s not fine in the middle of the night when I stumble to the bathroom, or first thing in the morning when I’m washing my face, and on both these instances I’m half asleep and forget that the water is going to come out freezing and ruin my whole day.

-Dry skin is no joke. When I worked in an office, I was vigilant about putting lotion on my hands every time I got back from the bathroom. Now that I’m working in a kitchen, this is ridiculously impractical. I’m washing my hands every five minutes, and the only thing more annoying than having dry skin from not applying lotion is that feeling you have when you wash your hands immediately after applying lotion and it’s that slimy and greasy feeling on your hands. I shudder just thinking about it. It takes a few weeks for my skin to adjust and I’m usually fine throughout the winter w/ the frequent washing and skipping the lotion, but we’re still in that in-between season and my poor hands are taking the brunt of it. 

-Chronic runny nose. It’s not that I’m sniffling all day, but there’s something going on up there, which I can’t stand so I have to blow my nose constantly. Fortunately I don’t take the train anymore and have to deal w/ the other side of this, which is much much worse: people who sniffle and don’t blow their nose on public transit. My sniffling makes me cranky; other peoples’ sniffling makes me homicidal.

-Everything feels damp. This one seems new this year and it’s really bugging me. I feel like when I’m toweling off after a shower, or drying my face after washing it, my towels are still damp from prior use. It grosses me out, not to mention interferes w/ that nice clean feeling, the entire point of showering to begin with. 

-Running takes a backseat b/c of the cold. I’ve always thought I prefer running in the cold versus the heat, but this season has me rethinking; have I just been lying to myself? I was out there earlier today, bundled up w/ my tights and gloves and ended up rolling up my jacket and taking off my gloves about halfway through. I always run hot and end up fine once I’m out there. It’s just SO HARD to convince myself to get out there when it’s 40 degrees out. Like I need another obstacle between myself and running.

-My hands and feet can’t seem to get warm. I would wear gloves around the house if it wasn’t so impractical. I’m constantly positioning the cats on my feet to keep them warm but it must be uncomfortable for them or something (who would have guessed) so they never sit there very long. The worst part of this is that as soon as I get all nice and tucked in I have to pee or Brent needs me to wrangle the cats off the curtains or something equally as obnoxious and I lose all prior coziness.