Yesterday I began a quest. I'm kinda like Frodo. But not really, because my quest is for a hat, the perfect winter hat to be exact, and will involve much less walking and fewer magic talismans than Lord of the Rings, and I do hope to avoid Mt. Doom. But other than that, I'm just like Frodo (or any of those other fantasy heroes by those authors who think for a fantasy book to be fantasy it has to rip off Tolkien).
Having recently gotten ill after spending two whole, cold, windy days outside, I decided I need a hat. Les's parents were visiting recently and we spent all of Sunday at Mt. Hope cemetery. It was very cold and fairly windy but we were having a good time. At the end of the day I had that little tickle in the back of my throat that genereally means I'm going to get sick. But we came home and then I felt fine. 
The next day we went to Niagara Falls (my own photos coming soon). I bundled up quite well, but I could not find my scarf that is also a hood before leaving for Canada. I knew it was a bad idea to be out in the high winds and mist of the falls, but I just didn't know what to do about it, we were on a schedule. When we got to Niagara Falls I looked around the souvenir shops for a hat, but the cheapest one I could find that would cover my ears was $12 and it was hideous. I thougth about going elsewhere to find one but we had already parked, it's expensive, and I really didn't want to ruin the Bowens' trip because they were so insistent that it was the only time they would ever be there and so they wanted to do it right. So I just went about my day. The longer I was outside the more I could feel myself getting sick. I never actually felt bad, but the tickle in my throat was more pronounced and my ears were getting ... itchy, for lack of a better way to describe it. But I ignored it because I'm an idiot. 
By Tuesday I had the sniffles. By Wednesday I had a full on cold and was having to drug myself to work. Thursday I realized the full side-effects of the "daytime" cold and cough medicine and had to leave work early because I was so dizzy. Friday I was miserable, but Les was awesome and sabotaged my alarms, called into work for me and let me sleep all day, I wound up being asleep for about 19 hours on Friday. Saturday I went to work but, again, left early. I discovered if I took the daytime medicine that doesn't treat cough, just sinus symptoms, I didn't fall asleep standing up. In fact, even though I only take half a dose of anything, it made me so wired I couldn't sit still or close my eyes. Helpful at work actually and Les drove me.I pretty much recovered over my weekend, I still have a fairly bad case of bronchitis, but that has pretty much been standard every time I get sick since I was 17, and I can work around it by now. But this has taught me a lesson. Even though I hate hats, especailly winter hats, I need to have one and wear it.
Thus begins my quest.
Since I hate hats, if I get one I don't completely love, I know I will never wear it. So I will find the perfect hat. It will cover my ears, it will be the least itchy a winter hat can be, it will be cute and it will fit well over my hair, up or down. I am under no assumptions that this will be easy. I will not overpay for it, but I am really hoping for a bargain since I work in - and know how to shop in - a thrift store. I will be looking in every store I go into, from Goodwill to The Evil to the stores in the mall. I have only been at it for two days, and, as you can see, I have already ruled out several options. Since I took these photos in front of a bunch of coworkers, the hardest part was not laughing, everybody else was.
