It's the END of the WORLD, people!

Lock your doors!

Run for your lives!

Don't forget to throw out your dead Christmas trees!

Wait, what?

Oh, right. Houston temps are going to dip into the 20's/30's tomorrow and Friday.

Clearly, that is a sign of the apocalypse. We are all going to die.

What's that you ask? (especially if you live not-in-Houston)
- No. No, it's not going to snow. Or ice. Or sleet. Well, there's like a 30% chance of precipitation overnight, but that's it. That is legitimately worrisome, because most of us truly don't know how to drive in those conditions and people are stupid, which makes for dangerous situations.

But no. This is just a cold snap. A 'hard freeze' they are calling it.

Don't get me wrong - just as with extreme heat waves in the north, people down here are not often prepared for extreme cold. While you see down jackets make appearances in the 50's and while I even dig out a pair of gloves and a scarf for the 40's and layer up and even wear closed-toed shoes . . . this is legitimately cold. And not everyone has central heat or is used to running their heater constantly (or necessarily maintaining their heater well). Fireplaces are generally more decorative than utilitarian, and there is a brisk business in space heaters around this time, which disappear from store shelves around the end of January.

So, some precautions need to be taken. Reminding people about proper use of space heaters and not poisoning their families with carbon monoxide or using chimenerias or outdoor firepits indoors, etc etc. is all a good idea. Explaining about how to dress in layers - and not overheat your children - is also a good idea. Mentioning that trying to thaw ice by throwing hot water on the windshield (so it cracks) is a bad approach, fine.

But that is not the news coverage we're getting. Not at all.

Instead, it's Chicken Little-ing left and right. People are flapping their hands and freaking out. For real - a whole minute segment was devoted to getting rid of your Christmas trees, lest they catch fire, on the local news last night. And I'm not talking about the common sense 'dried trees can be fire hazards, so don't leave them around forever'; no, I'm talking about getting rid of your trees specifically because this Cold Front to Rival the Tenth Level of Hell (which is a frozen lake, and Judas, Brutus and Cassius are all being constantly eaten in the mouths of Satan - thus, the fates of those ultimate traitors who betray country, friend, ruler and God) could mean a stray spark from a space heater or fireplace could catch them on fire. This morning, local news reporters were on scene at schools to see who had opened early to turn on the heat, even though the extreme cold doesn't hit until tomorrow morning. The tagline for one channels morning show was ominous and forboding - "What are schools doing to keep YOUR CHILDREN SAFE during the cold weather?"

Uh, turning up the heat, maybe? Just a wild theory.

It's funny and sad in a way. But getting to the point of absurdity. It's gonna be cold. For like, 2 days. And then still chilly and all, but not that big a deal. While we aren't all accustomed to these temperatures, I have a feeling we can deal, you know? At least, I assume if humanity made it this far, including through an Ice Age, and in far less technologically inclined times, we can persevere.

* * * * *

In other news, of the fishing/imaginary/maybe not/fingers crossed variety - and about all I plan to mention of our ttc efforts/2ww nonsense - I am experiencing a fair amount of nausea off and on. Waves of 'oh, gods, where is the nearest trashcan' type nausea. Especially bad yesterday, while I tried not to vomit on my boss, and then unpleasant this morning. While if I were to have read this on a message board a year ago, I'd have scoffed mercilessly at the biochemical impossibility of such a thing, being only early in the timeframe in which normal embryos implant (meaning the levels of hormones could not possibly be anywhere near the point of being high enough to cause physical reactions), now having been through this at least once before with this type of nausea (and hearing then that it happens to other intelligent women who charted and weren't psycho or even excessively, obsessively hopeful), it gives me pause.

I think we had a good run this cycle, but the thermometer issues mean I have only a window for ovulation covering about 4 days. There simply isn't a way to be sure, which frustrates me some. So, we wait. We hope. We remind each other when we discuss it that if it's not this cycle, that's ok. We can try again (though minus the green tea, which I think is extending my fertile cm, and I don't really necessarily need it, and which could inhibit folic acid absorption, which is a larger concern than previously), and will try again.

Besides, I'm exhausted and still adjusting my sleep to earlier waking times (I simply don't feel tired and ready to sleep early enough to get enough hours yet - it's getting there though) and also adjusting to leaving Barney out all night. He was fine in NB, but back home, he's more playful and insistent throughout the night - most likely as a result of our being out of the house for 10-12 hours a day. At least he's decreasing the obsessive face-licking, as we both push him off of us when he attempts it as we are sleeping. It's sweet, it's affectionate on his part, but it's unwanted at 3:00 am. Especially at 3:00 am when it interrupts a lovely dream. . . Anyhow, my point at the beginning was that the nausea may simply be a reaction to fatigue and/or the amount of caffeine I've attempted to ingest to keep me awake at work the past couple of days.

But I'm hopeful it's something else. And that is all I will say about that until there is something actually worth talking about on this subject.