My Single Mom Life

I live in Florida, I think most of you know that, but a lot of people assume Florida is hot year round, that we don't have winter.
This would be a false assumption.

It does get cold here in winter, not as early as other states, but later like January and February and March, it actually gets cold enough for winter jackets and gloves, hats etc.
We have now lived down here 10 years this past June.
As each year passes, your body becomes more and more used to the climate here, summers are still hot, but you start noticing and feeling the cold of winter.
More so for me since the surgery.
If it's cold outside, those rods get cold and I stay cold.

The boys have lived here since they were 4 and 6, and their bodies are completely acclimated to the weather here.
So in those cold months when it drops down to 40, 30, and sometimes even high 20's, yes, they need to wear winter coats and gloves.
They layer their clothes, t-shirts and then wear hoodies over those (cuz winter hats are so not cool) with a fleece jacket over the top.
They also wear gloves because at 6:20am when they are walking the 8 or 10 blocks to school, it's about 30 degrees and cold.
Their hands get frozen.

I'm still content just wearing a t-shirt and sweatshirt, maybe my flannel jacket if Mark hasn't taken it, and hopefully he won't this year now that he has the jean jacket, but I do have to buy them new fleece jackets every winter.
Last February, they had a ton of fleece on sale at the Bealls outlet store, and I bought Sebastian a new one, two sizes bigger than what he currently was wearing, so that it would fit him this winter.
But when he told me last night he wants a North Face jacket, he wasn't kidding.
His best friend Stephen has one, Stephen's little brother has one, and they have both already started wearing them to school.
No it's not cold enough in my opinion yet, but we are currently in a cold spell, it's about 70 degrees that early in the morning when they leave for school.
The low morning temps this week are going to be 69, 68, 67, and 66.
It is getting colder out there.
North Face jackets are just fleece jackets, just like I already bought him, but the one I bought him doesn't have that label on it.
He won't be getting a North Face jacket because he has a brand new fleece jacket that still fits him.
I made him wear it this morning.
It's black and gray, just like the one North Face jacket he wants, but minus the fancy name.
It's the same thickness, same color pattern, same style, so he won't be getting a new one till he outgrows this one, and even then, I'll be buying him another fleece from Bealls outlet because sorry, $100 for a fleece jacket is a bit out of my budget.