When I don't post for a few days it often turns into more and more days. A habit is easily broken but I've also been somewhat busy. Ben's been off trying to hunt down Bambi and just got back, sans deer. Sam's been crazed with excitement over his upcoming birthday, his first kiddie birthday party, and Christmas. Each day begins with a blast of candy from the advent calendar followed by begging to make Christmas ornaments. We may have a tree of Sam-made items this year, no need for plastic, glass, and metal baubles here!

I've been busy with birthday party and Christmas prep work which take much longer than they should. I managed to wrap presents and get them stashed once again. I've got a couple more things I'll need to wrap if they ever show up.

But the biggest time sucking waste has been the demise of the zipper on my coat. I've had this coat for at least five years, maybe longer, because I remember wearing it while I was pregnant with Sam...well, until I was too large and had to borrow one of Ben's coats. What to do what to do? I could replace the zipper but the coat is lined, it's a long zipper, and frankly, I don't want to mess with deconstructing a coat. I could bring it somewhere to have it replaced but I suspect it'll cost more than the $30 (that is not a typo) I paid for the coat.

Why is this coat special? Lightweight, fairly slim fitting, elastic at the waist to prevent cold air from coming up, sleeves that are long enough and that can be fastened to be tight around the wrist, hooded, windproof, water resistant, well placed pockets, and last but certainly not least, it's long enough to cover my butt and cover longer shirts and jackets. These are all important since I often walk to work in the winter and I need something to keep me warm but that is light enough to keep me from breaking out in sweat by the time I get to work.

I shopped. I probably went to a dozen stores but it appears that this is the year of the short, puffy, shiny, hood less coat as such this Rossignol coat. And if the coat isn't pastel (blech) then it seems to be black which is oh so wonderful for walking in the dark.

I tried on a few coats but none of them have the elastic around the waist and that is now an essential function for me. Some of the expensive ski and snowboarding coats have a fancy snow shield of some type but it has to be fastened separately which annoyed me.

I even checked out some of the stores selling used clothing in the theory that what I like is woefully out of date and perhaps it might be available there but most of the coats I found there were bright 80's multicolored coats with huge shoulders to fit those massive shoulder pads of the past. Also not what I wanted.

And eBay? Disappointed again.

Trench coats? No, I don't want a belts since they seem to spend more time dragging on the ground than up where they need to be. Wool coat? Too formal and wet wool smells.


Then there is a category of high tech coats that boggle my mind. Buy a shell and then all sorts of different things to wear under it depending on the activity and the weather? Much too complicated at 7am. Too many parts to keep track of and these seem to be extremely expensive.

Mail order? I want to know for certain that it covers my butt and I need to verify that by trying it on. I have no patience for mailing things back.

And what are coat designers thinking when they make the sleeves out of things like fleece? That we enjoy having to hang onto the sleeves of our shirts to put on our coat?

I was contemplating my problem further and I remembered wearing that coat while flying to MI to visit a friend of mine, Lisa, many years ago. She picked me up at the airport wearing the exact same coat! Not similar, the exact same coat in the exact same color. We were like twins with little in common except our coats.

When I visited her this fall, she wasn't wearing the coat. I was wearing mine of course. I emailed her saying that if she still had it and wasn't wearing it I'd be happy to take it off her hands.

She said yes!

It's the Christmas miracle!

But I should probably still find someone to replace the zipper.