Mitten Season

I will perish from this earth shouting, "Stuff them! Stuff them in the sleeves of your coat! Don't lose your mittens!" Ugh....it's winter. Double ugh...it's mitten season. Three weeks of true mitten weather has found me at most major retail stores looking for cheap yet warm mittens. I've scoured the Salvation Army and other second hand stores looking for suitable inevitable replacements. Organized, well-mannered people teach their kids who apparently listen on the keys to success in keeping the same pair of mittens all season long. Maybe it's a clip attached to the coat, but this disappears in grade school. Usually it's the stuff-it method as I was taught, and who knows what else is out there? My daughter suggests magnets, but this idea doesn't seem fully developed. As the temperature plumets while my blood pressure rises in the attempt to keep those hands warm, I wonder-- why do I get so keyed up over this? Is it the money lost? Is it the time and angst caused in getting out the door? Because the hold-up is always, always, ALWAYS the mittens or gloves. Where is the other one? This pair is wet! These finger parts are scrunched up! These don't keep my hands warm! Please, dear reader, don't write and tell me that Land's End has great mittens because I KNOW. But one great mitten, no matter from where it hails, is not all that great.

Lonely mitten, let me introduce you to lonely sock. Perhaps...you have finally met your match.