Dressing and Undressing, Dressing and Undressing

 

That's the theme for me when the weather is as frigid as it is right now.  I need way more layers to stay warm outside than I do inside, so it goes something like this:

In the morning, put on a base layer of leggings, long sleeved shirt of either the long sleeve t-shirt type or waffle-knit Henley type, and crew socks.  This will be my 'in the house' wardrobe for the day.

Downstairs, before heading into the mudroom I will add a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt.

In the mudroom goes on my Carhartt insulated bibs, a scarf around my face and neck, my Carhartt insulated coat, a knit hat pulled down to my eyebrows in front and my neck in back, a thick pair of insulated work gloves, and my insulated waterproof boots.

Now I'm ready to go out and feed horses.  Which takes all of about fifteen minutes.

Back in the house, I now need to remove:

My insulated boots, my hat, my gloves, my coat, my scarf, my bibs all in the mudroom.

Moving into the dining room, I remove my sweatshirt and jeans before I start overheating.  My body thermostat is wonky, and I have less than five minutes from the time I walk in the door to get all those extra layers off, or I will get nauseous with heat even though the temperature in my house is typically between 66-68 degrees.

Now I'm back in my single layer of leggings, socks and long sleeved shirt.  Comfy, for the most part, although I may get a little chilly here and there (especially if it's a windy day) so I like to have a zip up type of sweatshirt handy for easy on and off as needed throughout the day.  And if I do a yoga or strength training workout (which I like to do to keep muscle tone and flexibility during the deep winter when there's hardly any riding going on), I need to change my long sleeved shirt for a short sleeved athletic type one, and yank off my socks.  Of course, once the workout is done, the socks and long sleeve shirt need to come back on so I'm not cold. *sigh*

Two hours after horses get breakfast is when I usually turn them out for the day and clean stalls, restock hay in the feed room, etc.  Which means adding back on the jeans, sweatshirt, bibs, scarf, coat, hat, gloves, boots.

And when I'm done with barn chores and return to the house for lunch, undress again: boots, hat, gloves, scarf, coat, bibs,

sweatshirt, and jeans.

Later in the day, when it's time to bring horses in and feed them dinner, the process repeats.  Dress.  Go work outside.  Come in.  Undress.

Phew!