When the Temperature Dips Below -50, It's Time for a New Handbag

Here in Southwestern Manitoba this week, the weather has been a little...chilly. Yeah, yeah, I know. We've all been feeling it. Every time I log onto my facebook page, I read more status updates about -25 -this and ice-and-snow-that. Well get this. Yesterday morning, out here in the middle of nowhere, with the wind chill, we hit -52 degrees celsius. Do you know what that feels like?! Poor Rusty took one tentative step out the back door for her morning pee and immediately started limping. I'm taking this to mean it's okay to start dressing my dogs in coats and booties.
Now, don't get me wrong, I hate competition, so I'm not pooh-poohing the rest of you (wimps) who are also not enjoying the typical bitter Canadian January temperatures, but it's been extremely cold here. When this happens, the kids get a touch of cabin fever (Rosemary's Baby poured a jug of Kool-Aid down the back of the TV set. Perhaps it's time to involve a child psychologist...) and I'm a bit antsy myself. I need something to do at all times. This is prime comfort eating/dressing/shopping time for me.
So, between planning my groundbreaking novel (FYI, my novel has been in the "planning" stage for about 20 years, so don't hold your breath), complaining about how cold I am to anyone who will listen, and eating various canned goods from last year's garden, I've also been doing a little thinking. And a little online window shopping.
I've come to the conclusion that the best reprieve from the miserable, freezing bleakness of winter is a colourful handbag. Now, I know I said (in writing) a while back that I was going to behave myself and start enjoying the bags I already own. And I know that I also resolved to clear the clutter around here just a couple of weeks ago. But things are getting desperate, people! Despite forecasts of blissful, balmy highs of -1 this weekend, and--dare we dream--PLUS 6 on Monday (can you hear the angels singing?!), I'm pretty sure a sensibly-sized purse in a bright shade of blue or green leather (or pleather. I'm not that picky) is the only thing that will keep me going until we've seen the last of the snow. I've come across some gorgeous creations online (but I wouldn't pay $1500 even if I had it), as well as some very nice bags in the $30 range during a recent trip to Zellers. And like every other necessity that's popped into my mind during one of these cold spells, this is the absolute last thing I'm going to need in order to make my world complete! Really!
Alright, perhaps shopping isn't the answer. Eating certainly isn't the answer, since the extra roll around my middle from Christmas isn't keeping me any warmer. So how on earth do I go about staving off the doldrums that inevitably set in once the holidays are over and we still have 3 more months of winter to contend with? Sigh.
Better get working on that novel.

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