It's cold

Which is a valid excuse for being non functional, right?

Well, not completely non functional.  My house is still standing, my kids successfully returned to school yesterday, everyone here is still alive...I've got the basics covered.  And we started prepping to paint parts of the house (read: filling the giant dents in all of the walls thanks to my herd of darlings), so I guess that's a step above basics.

Last winter allowed us to slip into sissy mode here.  It never really got cold.  Sure we spent plenty of time with below freezing temps, but it never got much colder than 20s-30s.  It was by far the warmest winter we've had since we moved here 7 years ago, and from what I remember the warmest for some time before that.
This year we've returned to cold.
Here was the balmy projected start to the year.

The next day the weather peeps realized that it was going to be a little colder.

Turns out that was optimistic.
Exceptionally optimistic!  On Wednesday we barely made it above zero, and yesterday we never did.  27??  What happened to 27?  That sounds like paradise right now!
Currently I'm looking at -8, with hopes of eeking above the teens for the weekend as the next snow storm rolls in.
We are back to the cold of a couple of years ago when I skipped the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving because it was 3.  Yes, three degrees.  In Novemeber.  My back door was frozen shut that day.  That was the year that our pipes inside the house froze.
After it being warm enough on December 1st to run in a skirt this is a rude return to reality.

We have this little game going on in our neighborhood where people share pictures from their car thermometers.
This is the lowest that hubby has been able to capture:

The winner so far this week:

Yep, that's -17.  What the?!?

When it was -15 the other night I made a comment to a friend that I'm glad I don't live where it gets really cold.  She told me that the current temperature in Barrow Alaska at that moment was -8.  Ouch.  But I am still grateful that I don't live where people are currently looking at -20 or colder, before windchill.  I'll take my little corner of the earth thank you!
Even if this is happening *inside* my house

I was able to start the year with an awesome run on Tuesday, even though temps were in the single digits.  I came home with ice on my eyelashes and cheeks (uh, time to get waxed perhaps?), but I was layered well enough that I was comfortable enough to be out there.
When it still below zero at noon yesterday I realized that I need to become better friends with my treadmill.

The good news is that it should warm up enough this weekend so I can do my long run outside.  I think I must have been dreaming of last winter when I decided that training for a March marathon as motivation to keep my running up over the winter was a great idea.  I can't decide if it is brilliance or cowardice that I haven't actually registered and paid for said marathon so I have an out if I can't hack it. It is the first step to big running plans this spring though, so I'm pushing forward and planning on it.

I hope you're warmer than I am!