All I Want For Christmas

Peace on earth, and all that jazz. But what I REALLY want for Christmas is a case of HotHands. You know, those little thingies that you put in your gloves to keep your hands warm? Those things that hunters and (the insanely crazy) people who attend football games in blizzards put in their gloves? Yeah. I want some of those. A bunch of those.

Some days I just absolutely freeze to death while I'm working. My room stays a fairly constant temperature, and if I am up and about doing normal things, it's just fine. However, just sitting with the only thing about me moving is my fingers, and occasionally the twitchy-bouncy-leg thing going on, I get cold. Some days will find me wearing flannel jammies underneath sweat pants and shirt, a scarf around my neck, and wrapped in a fleece cloak thing. Such a glamorous wardrobe! That keeps me pretty toasty, all except for my exposed face and hands. You'd think since my hands are moving that they wouldn't get cold. Wrong. My hands and fingers are sometimes like chunks of ice. Which is not conducive to high productivity. This is a problem shared by many in my profession, and even when the rest of me is all warm and snug, my hands and fingers still get cold. Happens in the summertime too. (My MT friend Joyce, who lives way up north in Pennsylvania, told me about a nifty heated keyboard. I'll hafta check that out one of these days.)

I've tried fingerless gloves, and though they are somewhat helpful, it's not worth the bulkiness. Sometimes I just have to stop and sit on my hands for a few minutes. But that takes time away from the keyboard, and no typing = no money. And it's only a temporary fix, lasting a few short minutes. So I've been searching for a better solution.

Hobby Lobby used to sell these form-fitting hand/wrist covers designed to lend support to crafters who suffer from hand and wrist problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome. They are cut so that the entire thumb is exposed and cover the back of the hand only to the knuckle level. They are lightweight and thin, so as not to encumber the crafter's hand movements. So I got this bright idea that if I got me some of those sweet little hand warmer thingies, and put them inside those Hobby Lobby hand/wrist support gloves, that it should help keep my hands and fingers warm. So, I picked up some HotHands the other day, then headed out to HL to purchase the gloves. Much to my dismay, my local store doesn't seem to carry them any more. So I continued to ponder my plight and the solution thereof.

While working this afternoon, my hands and fingers were terribly cold, so I decided it was time to get creative. I mean, here are these little packets of HotHands sitting on my desk just waiting to be activated, and here are my freezing little fingers just waiting to be warmed. I opened the package, shook, shook, shook the little teabag-looking things, and inserted them into the cuff of my sweatshirt sleeve. Ummm... they actually DO get warm!!! After a few minutes of hassling with positioning, the wheels in my brain started turning again. I set out in search of something with which to secure my warm little friends more closely to my wrist. Initially I was searching for some of Leyland's ponytail holders, but it was soon evident that those wouldn't work. Not big enough. I'm not interested in the tourniquet effect. I want my hands to be warm... not fall off. Ultimately I found a solution that worked, and I'm delighted to say things are warming up. Namely my fingers. Whitney made some tutus yesterday and left the elastic laying on the table, and as soon as I saw it.. Light Bulb!!

So here I sit at my desk, very excited to report that Global Warming is taking effect in the distal-most part of my upper extremities. I measured the elastic, cut it and tied the ends together, and now have a snug, but not-too-tight little band to hold the warming pads to my wrists. Sounds absolutely crazy, doesn't it!! Well, it looks pretty crazy too. But let me tell you, my friends...it feels... FABULOUS! Placing the pads over my radial and ulnar arteries was like running my blood vessels through a nice mug of hot chocolate, and within minutes I could FEEL the warm blood flowing into my fingers.

Granted, it looks pretty stupid, but they're covered with my sweatshirt sleeves at the moment. My newest light bulb idea is to get some of those wrist sweat band things that athletes use, and slide the warmers underneath there. That would look much better, and then I could pretend I actually work out. Looks like a trip to Academy Sports is in the my near future.

My daddy always taught us to make do with what you have, and if something is at all workable, figure out how to make it work. I think I've figured out how to make this work for me. :-) I have enough hand warmers to get me through today and tomorrow. After that I'll be needing some more. A small personal heater might be nice too, but short of aiming a flame thrower or at least a hair dryer on my hands, even the personal heater doesn't doo much to solve this dilemma.

So, Santa, if you're reading my blog, please bring me some HotHands and wrist sweat bands. Spring thaw is a long ways off yet. Thanking you in advance, I remain, Yours Truly, CathyB