The past several weeks have been cold in the Seattle area. Actually, more like FREEZING. It’s the kind of cold that seeps deep into my bones and won’t let up, no matter how many layers of clothing I wear. My house is not that well insulated, and I have single-pane aluminum-frame windows that do little to keep the chill out. Since I work at home, I bundle up with layers of vintage cashmere sweaters and my trusty knee-high UGG sheepskin boots. Sometimes I throw my fuzzy leopard print Snuggie or bathrobe over the whole lot, leaving me looking like some sort of a vintage-clad Yeti.

One thing that I’ve rediscovered is the trusty old-fashioned hot water bottle. By the way, in some parts of the world it is called a ‘hottie’. I’ve never heard it called this before, but I think it’s rather charming. This way I can truthfully say I go to bed with a hottie every night ha ha ha… but, I digress.

I found my newest hot water bottle at a thrift store a couple years ago. It was in new condition, and was clad in its own perfectly fitted cable knit turtleneck sweater, so I HAD to get it. It sat around for a long while until the recent cold snap. Then I realized it could maybe help warm me up.

I’ve used hot water bottles in the past and they really didn’t seem to help at all. What I realize now is that I was using it all wrong. Before, I just used hot water straight from the tap to fill it. The heat never lasted all that long. What I do now is boil a kettle of water on the stove and then fill it. Boiled water temperature is 212 degrees, versus the 120 degrees my hot water tank is set at. It makes a huge difference. The other thing is the addition of the sweater covering. This creates a bit of a buffer for your skin, and also helps retain heat longer.

What I’ve been doing these cold winter nights is preparing the hot water bottle in the evening. I then place it at my back while I’m reading or watching TV – it’s so soothing! When I’m getting ready for bed, I’ll put in under the sheets at the foot of my bed to warm it up a bit. My feet are usually cold, so this really helps warm them up. I then move it around depending on what parts of the body are cold. It heats everything up really quite amazingly. A lot of the times I have to put it on the far side of the bed because it’s so warm. By morning it has still kept a lot of its warmth – it certainly does its job very well.

My wintertime advice is to snuggle up with a hottie. You won’t regret it!

~Marilyn