I am seriously missing summer!!! I am missing the days when my utilitie bills were low, I could go out to the garden everyday and bring back a collander full of fresh veggies. I miss sitting on my garden swing drinking an icy cold beer and reading a book. I miss hanging my laundry out on the line. I miss walking my dog in daylight on dry sidewalks. The snow has been flying here every 3 days for a month and half now. The days are so short now I wake up in total darkness at 6:30 and the skys are dark again at 4:00. I seriously miss waking up to the sun peeking in my bedroom window. Are any of you dealing with cabin fever and how do you relieve symptoms?

I can see why you are missing summer with all that snow. Well, I am a spring and fall person mostly. Summer is too hot.  The grey dark days of constant rain hasn't really kicked in yet here which is our weather. Too wet for anything outdoors and the sun can't come though all the dark clouds. Had a couple of those days but snow started instead.  January will be the start of it probably. Since we don't have dogs to walk, I can huddle indoors and bake/cook the drearies away, watch movies, do crafts without the guilt of the work outside beckoning. The kids get antsy though.  It doesn't get dark until 5 here.  Our electric bill is the same year round and gas normally on a set average per the year so no big surprises there.

I guess when the days of the kids letting me sit and drink beer and read a book while they play come, I might change my tune!

Try throwing a big beach towel or  a summer tablecloth on the floor and eating sub sandwiches or bbq in front of the fire place dont forget to add some lemonade and popsicles.  Decorate like summer and eat like it even if it is in front of the fireplace.  My family is mostly grown now, but we have done this since they were small and we still enjoy it.  Make sure you watch some movies about summer or the outdoors.   If nothing else keep warm thoughts.  Have fun.

ahhh summertime, when the livin' is easy : )  I make sure to get outside and walk every day....and focus on all of the  things there are to love about winter - snow really is beautiful. It helps if there's some activity that you enjoy that you can only do in cold weather - I like to snow shoe...my kids are too big to make snow men, but I'm not...what would hot cocoa and cookies be in July? or homemade soup....

I feel your pain! I seriously suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder, so these short days are so dreary. I combat the blues in a few different ways: 1) Go outside any time the sun is out, even if just for a half hour or so; 2) Install "broad spectrum" light bulbs, which give a natural light feel to even the darkest of rooms and perk up your mood; 3) If you have a fireplace, enjoy it now! 4) I keep track of the sunrises and sunsets in my daily newspaper. Each day the sun rises a minute or so earlier, and sets a minute or so later. Somehow, psychologically, this keeps me going, knowing that every day after December 21st is just a tad bit longer. Can you plant something indoors? Force some spring bulbs? The sight of anything growing gives hope for the future.

I agree- get something, anything, growing.

 I also put the garden seed packets in a little earthenware bowl on the  kitchen work table. Having them in sight reassures  me that I will be back out digging in the dirt before long.

Dear SKROMNYPANI, (What does that handle mean?)

I use a "blue light"called "Go Lite" for an hour each morning, to impart a more healthy mood regulation -- but I have to use it year-round, just more in the winter & least in the summer.  Does this sound like something that may help you?  Yours in Him, Deb

Thanks for all the great ideas. I have done a few things to perk me up, crafting a little, I started a new book, my honey and I are going to take a tiling class at Home Depot and try and tile the kitchen ourselves, we have been invited to go to a reletives home in Montana which is a 5 or 6 hour drive, while there we are going to visit the hot springs and soak our bones.

I am also going to "try" and go mall walking ( I must remember to leave my money at home to resist temptations) I put on 5 pounds durring this yucky weather and I need to get rid of it so my jeans are a little more comfortable to wear. It warmed up to 40 degrees yesterday which felt like a heat wave compared to the weather we have been having but then the snow started melting and as I was walking into a grocery store to take advantage of a great produce sale they were having I had to walk through 2 inches of slurpie type slush which seeped into my shoes grrr... imagine walking through a slurpie and you get the picture.

For Deborahmichelle: "Skromnypani" means, in Polish, "modest girl." But there's a story -- my dd gave me that handle when she was setting up my account. She wanted to use a name that wouldn't get spammed. I used to study Polish, so she thought she'd translate "frugal girl" into Polish. Two problems: "skromny" means modest and not frugal; and if you know anything about gender agreement in other languages, this is not the feminine version. It should actually be "skromnapana" -- so I am stuck with a grammatically incorrect moniker, and now I am "modest" instead of "frugal." EGADS! Aren't you sorry you asked?! Thanks for the info on the "Go Light" -- can I get it in any store, or is it a specialty item? Sounds like just what I need, and also to send to my dd in Oregon, which is very beautiful but often gloomy (just like my dd!) I'll start looking for it!

I thought I was the only one that pathetically eager for summer that I kept track of when the sun rises and sets.  I look for it on weather.com because some (most) days are so grey it's hard to tell.

I went to the health food store the other day and got some seeds to sprout.  It's fresh food I can grow right now on my kitchen counter without soil or a grow light.  The clerk at the store said that there were more people coming in for the seeds lately.  He felt that it was a natural need for "live" food we feel at this time of year.

A couple times when my kids were small we went on a one day vacation to a motel with an indoor swimming pool.  Rates can be really cheap in the winter and it was fun to get away.