It’s 9°F today, with a wind chill of -1° - it was colder yesterday. My winter coat picked this past Saturday to break completely, of course. It is a really ugly coat, I don’t even remember where I got it, I know it was secondhand. But it was warm and soft and served its purpose even though it was ugly. That is, until recently. A month or so ago, the zipper started opening from the bottom whenever I sat down. Not great, but I could deal with it. Then this past Friday, one of the pockets ripped halfway off. Annoying, but I could still deal with it. Until Saturday, when the tab of the zipper broke off, and I was left with only the slider and not the part you pull it up and down with.

So it was definitely time to get a new winter coat. I was going to go to the mall last night but I ended up purchasing one online instead. I remembered from reading catalogs as a kid that Lands’ End had good parkas, and I ended up buying their Stadium Squall Parka in black. I had it shipped via Express UPS for an additional $8, because I’m still wearing the old one and I want the new one now. I don’t have any other coats that are longer than waist-length, and with the current temperatures I need a long coat, so I am just putting up with it until my new one comes.