When I lived in North Carolina and the car I had bought out of college was tiring of being driven (it had over 320,000 miles on it) I bought a friend out of her leased vehicle. It seemed like the perfect solution at the time for both of us. I wasn't in the headache of car shopping and she was ready to return to her Michigan roots and buy a Mustang in celebration of completing her master's degree at Duke. (Somehow I've missed out on celebrating the completion of my two masters degrees by buying a car to commemorate the milestones in my education - but that's getting away from the story.) The Honda has served me well and its been a smart buy - until I moved back to NJ a few years later to earn my 2nd masters at Princeton Seminary. By mid-November, I discovered on the 30+ minute commute the drawback to having leather seats - they are cold!! and a long ride in the morning can bring a chill that lasts throughout the day. The problem was solved that year at Christmas when Santa delivered sheepskin seat covers. They are wonderful regardless of the season. But this winter, either the sheepskin is getting a little worn or age is settling in for me, because I'm beginning to dream about my next car and the heated seats it will have. But being a perpetual student working on her third graduate degree, I am not in the market for a vehicle with said heated seats anytime soon. A little ingenuity was necessary if I am going to make it through the winter.....
And a solution was found - in the form of the rice/rye filled sacks often used for tired and aching sore muscles. In my case, I heat up the pad in the microwave as I dash outside to start the car to let the vehicle warm up for a few minutes on days when the thermometer's mercury plunges to icy levels.
Then, when the car is warmed up and when I am ready to head out, I remove the pad from the microwave and arrange it just so on the seat. This tartan rice/rye blanket is long enough that when I sit down, I have an extra little flap that can be tucked up between the seat and the lumbar region of my spine. Nice and toasty for luxury driving on my morning commute - and best part is that I can heat it up in the microwave for the ride home in the evening. Not every girl has custom manually removable heated seats - and I bet you won't find this option on just any car on the sales floor of your local dealership!
There is one upside to single digit temperatures....
Within 15 minutes, the temperature has doubled!
When I lived in North Carolina and the car I had bought out of college was tiring of being driven (it had over 320,000 miles on it) I bought a friend out of her leased vehicle. It seemed like the perfect solution at the time for both of us. I wasn't in the headache of car shopping and she was ready to return to her Michigan roots and buy a Mustang in celebration of completing her master's degree at Duke. (Somehow I've missed out on celebrating the completion of my two masters degrees by buying a car to commemorate the milestones in my education - but that's getting away from the story.) The Honda has served me well and its been a smart buy - until I moved back to NJ a few years later to earn my 2nd masters at Princeton Seminary. By mid-November, I discovered on the 30+ minute commute the drawback to having leather seats - they are cold!! and a long ride in the morning can bring a chill that lasts throughout the day. The problem was solved that year at Christmas when Santa delivered sheepskin seat covers. They are wonderful regardless of the season. But this winter, either the sheepskin is getting a little worn or age is settling in for me, because I'm beginning to dream about my next car and the heated seats it will have. But being a perpetual student working on her third graduate degree, I am not in the market for a vehicle with said heated seats anytime soon. A little ingenuity was necessary if I am going to make it through the winter.....
And a solution was found - in the form of the rice/rye filled sacks often used for tired and aching sore muscles. In my case, I heat up the pad in the microwave as I dash outside to start the car to let the vehicle warm up for a few minutes on days when the thermometer's mercury plunges to icy levels.
Then, when the car is warmed up and when I am ready to head out, I remove the pad from the microwave and arrange it just so on the seat. This tartan rice/rye blanket is long enough that when I sit down, I have an extra little flap that can be tucked up between the seat and the lumbar region of my spine. Nice and toasty for luxury driving on my morning commute - and best part is that I can heat it up in the microwave for the ride home in the evening. Not every girl has custom manually removable heated seats - and I bet you won't find this option on just any car on the sales floor of your local dealership!
There is one upside to single digit temperatures....
Within 15 minutes, the temperature has doubled!
1 comment:
that's a smart idea. my sister is having to learn some tricks for dealing with cars in the cold... i'll pass on this one, just in cases.
also, i love the doubling temps. ;)
Post a Comment