I Hate the Cold

And I hate saving money, or, not spending money. These two might not seem to go hand in hand, but they certainly do...in my world anyway.

This morning I started my day out by begging and begging and begging Kevin to give me a ride to work...in the snow...in the cold...he regretfully declined. We only have one car, and he had to drive to the suburbs, which is strange it always seems he has to drive to the suburbs on snowy days.

With no ride, I left my house at 8:15am, to wait for the bus. By 8:35, still no bus showed up. I started walking down to the cab stand, which is 4 blocks down. In the snow...in the cold. I get there to see a line 10 people deep. That is never a good thing. I also see my bus (finally) fly by with no opportunity to hop on, so I'm stuck in the cab line. I've been a crazy lady trying to save money lately, so I've been taking the "El" and bus system more these days, and trying to avoid the cabs. I really didn't want to take a cab this morning, but soon it was 8:50 and I had to be at work at 9am! So I waited and waited in the cab line. I saw an ambulance parked and thought maybe if I faked fainting they'd throw me in and drive me to Northwestern Hospital which is a mere 3 blocks from my work. At least I'd get a ride and get out of the cold.

After more waiting in the line, I think I felt a tear escape my eye. I start talking to my fellow cab line peers, about how long the wait was, where all the cabs were...you know, cab line speak. THEN....we see the unthinkable. The unimaginable. We still had 7 people left in the cab line, and I was number 2! So close. A cab pulls up but stops short of the line, and a girl from out of nowhere, jumps into the cab!! Everyone in the line starts screaming "cheater!!! cheater!" at her (myself included). You've got to love Chicago. I think a few people flicked her off too. I would have but I was so cold I was losing feeling in my extremities.

Finally, after a call to my boss at 9:05am, it was my turn for the cab. I got to work to find everyone else was running late as well. I kept my puffer winter coat and boots on until noon, because I couldn't warm up.

So I hate the cold. I hate trying to save money because if we weren't, I'd just have walked down the to the cab stand, waited for a few minutes and gotten a cab. But I will not stop in my quest to save a dollar, I will just find warmer ways to do it.