Long Johns. What I Most Need are Long Johns...

Glacier National Park (https://www.facebook.com/GlacierNPS)

J has been dropped at school, and I am in my cosy chair wearing fuzzy black sweat pants, a heavy 3/4 sleeve cotton shirt, the huge sweater my father-in-law made for me, two scarves made for me by my sister-in-law and my friend Vanessa, my dad's old fuzzy socks (I would've worn the smartwool socks my sister-in-law gave me at Thanksgiving, but I could only find one), and my sheepskin slippers. And I have a fuzzy blanket on my lap. I am not yet warm and toasty, but by god I will be!

I spent my entire life not knowing how to dress for the weather. It took having a child and sending her to the Waldorf School for me to learn about layering. Yeah, we layered when I was a child, but the layers were a big heavy sweater on top of a long-sleeved turtle neck shirt. There was no way you wouldn't end up too hot inside the house in the sweater (even in our house which was kept about 60 degrees during the day, 50 at night) and too cold if you took it off so I missed the whole point. and just suffered. Endlessly. Silently.  Now that I'm in my 50's, I think I finally know how to dress (except for the whole open-toed, open-sided shoes thing with the bulky socks, but I'll find my new boots before I go out again this morning). I like a lighter shirt with a sweater of cotton jacket over it, and a coat over that (with knitted scarves as necessary) and warm fuzzy gloves. Speaking of which, I need to find my gloves before I go out again too. For the drive to school I wrapped my hands in the sleeves of the sweater--not the best option. As it's going to be cold for the next several days and I need to prepare for winter in Montana (2016) I went on-line and ordered me up a pair of Merino tights from Amazon. They'll be here tomorrow. Thank you Uncle Ed and Aunt Susan, your Amazon Christmas gift card bought me a wonderful book on dyeing wool and a pair of merino wool tights.

So the weather, I'm sure a hot (no pun intended) topic across many parts of the country today. It was 10 degrees when I got up this morning. At the same time it was 25 in Austin, -4 in Chicago, and though two hours earlier, 27 degrees in Polson (where we spend our summers up by Glacier Park). In Missoula, 75 miles southeast, it was only 14, but that STILL beats Atlanta! And they have snow! If I've got to have cold, I want to have snow too. Of course I know all of those temps because I huddled under my fluffy down comforter looking up temperatures on my iPhone instead of getting out of bed--anything to put off being the first one up and so the one who turns up the heat and on the shower. Can't wait till Dave is home Saturday. I'm sleeping in!

Now off to pour hot water in the bunnies water container, check the pond pump, and put out warm water for the chickens (who are probably quite indignant about the weather).