Dressing in Layers
February 21, 2008 by Deborah Ng
Filed under Around the House, General
I am so over winter. Mind you, it hasn’t been terrible. While we used to have one or two good snowstorms a season, we’ve had nary a flake in two years. We’ve had some cold days and nights though. Even inside.
My husband is one of those thermostat minders. He checks constantly to make sure it’s on 63 to 65 during the day, even less at night. Now in the spring, we go out without a jacket on when it’s 63 or 65, in the house it feels like 30. My husband’s family are all warm blooded. In the middle of winter they open windows to cool off the house while I huddle under blankets and shiver. For Christmas my sister in laws gave me warm flannel pajamas and thick slipper boots because they know I’m always cold at home. Except it isn’t enough.
Last night I had on flannel pajamas, two sweatshirts, socks, my slipper boots and a robe. With the exception of the slipper boots I wore the entire ensemble to bed. I always say I shouldn’t have to dress in layers in my own home, but with two warm blooded men walking around in shorts in the dead of winter, I’m kind of outnumbered.
We fight this battle in our house too, except I’m the warmblooded one. I think maybe you’re wearing the wrong sorts of layers. Maybe you ought to look for the sorts of thin, space aged fabrics that athletes wear in the summer. That way you wouldn’t feel like the Stay-Puffed Marshmallow Person, and they might hold in your body heat better. Something along these lines:
http://tinyurl.com/36f7k8
I had a fever the other night and could NOT get warm. I put a rice bag (real rice, not minute, in a folded dishtowel, to make sort of a pillow with rice inside – nuke it for a minute at a time until warm – great for headaches, sprains and strains, etc.) on my feet to warm them up. It was really comfy.
Amy @ http://prettybabies.blogspot.com
Awww, that’s terrible! I am one of those warm-blooded peope myself, but I feel for you. I think you ought to be entitled to have at least part of the house to your liking. A room of one’s own, with a temperature one can enjoy.
My husband is a temperature minder also. However, he wears many layers and expects us to also. The problem is if I have a hot flash, I have to take off all the layers and then put them back on. It is a little better to be a little cool, then hot. However, if we had a temperature that was a little higher my hands wouldn’t be hurting from the cold so much. My husband did buy me a foot warmer for the bed. Instead of a heated bed mattress, we have a smaller one that just heats up the foot area. On really cold nights I put it on low while I read and it keeps me warm enough and then I turn it off when my husband joins me.
My husband is like this. I use thermal underwear to combat the cold, plus thermal sock liners. There are some thermals put out by J.P. Morgan that are really soft without that scratchy feeling.
I can vouch for the rice bag-I’ve got some I’ve sewn (don’t use synthetic fabric-it melts in the microwave) and even a few made out of tube socks! nuke for 3 min and you’ve got a nice little bag of warmness to huddle around.
i agree with you about the layers. that is a good ideal and i do that all winter