Tennessee winters are cold, so those one dollar hand warmers come in handy when you can see your breath outside.
My birthday is in January, and last year my puppy, Holly, who is a Yellow Lab and Chow mix, was my present. She was all mine (still is) so that means that I was the one who fed her, walked her, played with her, and at the time, potty trained her.
Anyone who has ever potty trained a puppy knows that it takes a lot of work and that you pretty much have to take them outside every hour. In the summertime, this would not have been so bad, but in January, in Tennessee, it was a little chilly to say the least.
Every time before we went outside, I would have to hurry up and pull on my coat, an extra hoodie, pair of pants, shirt, wow another shirt, socks (Really?? – I LOVE flip flops) and some boots. Well, back to those one dollar hand warmers, I would always shove a pair of those down in the toe of my boots!
They did the job, and kept my toes from falling off (hee hee). Then one night (out of the many) my Holly had to go out in the wee hours of the morning (really really really REALLY cold)! So…. I had to feel around in the dark for a jacket, extra shirt, another shirt, hoodie, blanket, shorts, bra – I WAS half asleep : ) and my INFAMOUS boots!
Holly was whining and snorting AND doing the pee pee dance, so I didn’t have time for SOCKS!! So when I pulled on my boots, I discovered that both of those one dollar hand warmers had exploded!! (Well, maybe not exploded but, at least fallen apart……that just doesn’t sound as dramatic).
However, I still had to run outside with Holly anyway, so my toes were squishing around in the debris of the deceased hand warmers. BTW – This was worse than worms in tennis shoes. Not that I would know, actually….. just thought it sounded good! AnyHOO…My toes and I were NOT very warm that night!!
When I got back in and took off my boots, my feet were covered in this black soot-looking-squishy substance, and of course freezing!! Further, this was a very sad, sad moment, : ( as I had to commit a devastating act of shoe abuse! They HAD to be thrown AWAY – no survival of any sort!!
So the moral of this story is that hand warmers are useful, but use with EXTREME caution. And if you put them in your shoes, PLEASE sandwich them between a pairs of socks instead of sticking them right in your shoe.
Oh, and if you get a puppy, or dog, or pet, or anything that must go out at ALL – when the weather is cold enough to numb your fingers, keep a set of warm clothes right by the door, so you don’t have to scramble when you’re putting on your extra layers. This comes in handy for those I-gotta-go-outside-right-now moments!!
Have a wonderful magical shoephrodisiac evening!
Best : )
Katie & Wendy