and I thought -1 was bad!

How would you like to enjoy 3 straight days where the temperature never breaks above 0 and the windchill dips as low as -52 degrees?

WELCOME to The Phantom Tollbooth tours the Midwest.

Who would have known we would be walking into the coldest winter the midwest has seen in well over 13 years? Let me tell you, It's something else! The snot in your nose turns to ice after less than minutes of being outdoors, your hands and toes freeze through 3 or more layers, and people die 100 yards from their home from sleep walking.

What makes it worse? having lis LOVELY condition... http://www.jaoa.org/cgi/reprint/101/5_suppl/1S.pdf Yes folks, there it is, read all about it, that is the condition I have been blessed with. Cold Induced Urticaria and it means being allergic to the cold. I wish it was a joke, as people frequently think it is, but the more time I spend in this weather the more I realize how much of a painful thing it really is.

This morning, we performed in Eau Claire, WI where schools were closed due to the cold, but some faithful fans braved the cold and still came to the show so we performed. It was -22 with a windchill of -48 when we left the Hotel this morning and the venue s heating system was less-than-adequate. it was FREEZING. During mic check my hands swelled to the point where I was having a hard time moving them, during the show my arms turned red and starting burning so painfully I cried. Everytime I step outside my face swells up like a tomato and burns, my eyes even start to swell. I cant take a breath of air without breaking into a coughing fit and my tongue and throat itching. It is HORRID. I take my medicine but it doesn't do any good. I am trying everything in my power to play it off with a smile but at the end of the day I have never hated anything more in my life than this condition.

ANYWAY. Enough complaining. Aside from the blistering cold the midwest is not so bad. The people are very nice and the snow is pretty. I have never seen snow that looked like this. The flakes are HUGE and puffy and it looks like glitter falling from the sky. Whoever invented snowglobes must have seen snow like this.

I haven't been keeping up as well as I would like because I was very sick. I started tour with a bad head cold which progressed, despite my best efforts, into a bad chest cold that caused me to lose my voice. I went to an ENT in Madison, WI who prescribed me a z-pack and prednisone. Well all the drugs did not sit well in my stomach the next morning and I vomited my way through a two show day. It was MARVELOUS. But I am feeling much better now.

I have seen three movies since we left two weeks ago. The First was Marley and Me which was cute enough. A touch long for my tastes, there is only so long you can tug at my heart strings before I become immune to it. The second was Synecdoche, NY which was BIZZARE. Maybe I am just not artsy enough but I loved it for the first hour and then as the plot ran further and further away from me I lost more and more interest until, by the end, I felt as though I had been sitting there for 4 hours when it was really only 2. The acting was great but the story was just crazy. The third was Doubt which I LOVED. I saw it at National Theatre when it came on tour two years ago maybe? and loved it then and I loved it just as much this time. I was concerned at first because I felt one of the reasons the show was so powerful was that there were only four actors in it but little was lost in the full-cast screen version, likely because it was written and directed by John Patrick Shanley! Meryl Streep does some of her best work. Just fantastic.

Anyway I am off to bed before doing a double show tomorrow and then going to The Mall Of America. Thanks for reading and goodnight!