When You're 16 Going on 17...

It would seem during the winter months in Wisconsin, the brighter the sun, the colder the air.

Leaving the house this morning, there were two things for me to remember: my shades and my gloves. I remembered one. The sunglasses looked cool but my hands were cooler (literally).

When I checked on the weather in the late afternoon, I was encouraged that the temperature had risen from below zero overnight to 16 degrees above. A look at the small print, though, and it only "feels" like 5. Uff da.

A look at the even smaller print and we see the Northeast already has 18-plus inches of snow today. Where would you rather be?

The answer is Mesa, Arizona.

What? I also have that "favorite location" saved on my weather search because me sister Rayna and brother-in-law Paul are out there. You know, the ones who moved Up North from southern Texas last May. Since they are trying to ease into Wisconsin winters, they are spending January, February and March in the Phoenix area. Plenty of time for friends and family to pop out there for a visit.

And we are.

As it happens, hubby has a work conference out in Vegas at the end of the month, so he'll drive up from there and spend a few days with Rayna and Paul. Come mid-March, when Carter is on his spring break from college, I am going to kidnap him and fly out to the desert for a few days.

I would suspect this will be our last mother-son trip together. Not just because he's going against his will (not really, I swear), but he is at the age where spring breaks are likely to mean babes in bikinis, not old ladies saying "Uff da." And I am OK with that. We are both looking forward to the trip and Rayna and Paul have a few things planned for us. Thanks to a short February, we fly out in just 33 days!

Am I excited? Well, for the record, when it was 16 degrees here today, it was not just 16 going on 17 in Mesa. It was 80!

Where would you rather be?