Silly Mittens

This morning is chilly. "Don't let the sunshine fool you," the weatherman said, "it's cold out there." This is my first cold morning driving and NOT SMOKING! I actually went back into the house after starting the Jeep and grabbed a pair of gloves. Driving down the road with the heater on full blast, I remembered that gloves are never as warm or cozy as mittens. I began to bemoan the fact that I couldn't wear mittens, they aren't practical for... wait for it... for SMOKING!  
Smokers or X-Smokers know exactly what I'm talking about. I suppose non-smokers can imagine how hard it might be to light and/or hold a cigarette while wearing mittens. (Take a moment, picture it, no rush here!) So for my entire life, adult life anyway, I have not been able to wear mittens. I've romanced the mitten. I have a pair that I thought I would use for special very cold situations like building a snowman, actually using my cross country skis, a vehicular emergency or trekking to work down the wind-tunnel Manhattan winter sidewalks.  Of course the need for an easily accessible puff trumped the mittens every time. Even last winter in the -20 or -30 degree mornings when cleaning ice and snow off the Jeep... I had to have a puff so I had to wear gloves. I guess poor circulation, due to smoking of course, probably didn't help. My fingers were ALWAYS freezing.  

It will be interesting to see if that improves this season my circulation, that is. It's bound to get better just because my fabulous fingers will have the benefit of their mutual warmth in the oh so cozy mitten interior. I tried the little flip-able mitten design, a glove with half fingers and a little flip mitten top with mini magnet. That worked, kinda, but the draft from the 75% "loose" flip top rendered it just as cool as regular gloves. They were hard to get off, too, tugging finger by finger.

Must love the unexpected and fabulous benefits of being a non-smoker! Who Hoo! Probably because my mind was on the ups and mostly downs of winter time smoking, I noticed at least 7 driving smokers this morning. KILL the nasty nic monster! Mittens for everyone!

---