Cabin fever

I have never found Minnesota winters easy to deal with. In the summers it is always easy to find things to do: biking, softball, long walks, whatever. However, winters are a different story. Because the weather is constantly at or below freezing for months (basically late October until March) it is tough to get through. Sure, there are the normal things to do around the house: cleaning, video games, shoveling snow.

But I am not the type to adopt the "outside" winter sports like cross-country skiing or ice fishing. So this leads to some, well, boredom. I can only read so many books and TiVo can't make things up to watch. So it is very easy to get restless.

"Restless" to me is an inclination to go shopping. Doesn't matter if I need it or not, I will almost invent things to go look at. Looking isn't bad and sometimes can be enjoyable, but it is too easy to turn the corner and become a 'shopper.' It is continually made more difficult since my wife never has this inclination. She just says she doesn't think about things to buy. I am jealous of this genome; I hope our kids get it from her. Reading books like "The Millionare Next Door" help some by keeping our overall financial health in perspective by reminding me of little things adding up. Nothing like a good healthy dose of fear.

And with that in mind, I am going to go try to make myself busy.