Due to some unexpected drama with the smoke detectors in my current rental house, I’m temporarily sleeping on an air mattress in my office until I move to the new house. Good for being on the far side of the house from the temperamental, overly-sensitive shrieking terror device, difficult for being properly comfortable on cold nights.
I woke up SO.FREAKING.COLD around 5am this morning, and once again annoyed because the cotton top sheet that is too narrow to overhang properly had slid to one side of the bed, the electric blanket slid the other way, the topmost blanket was too narrow for everything, and I couldn’t get weight on my feet and shoulders properly. So today’s number 2 goal (number 1 being “avoid the ridiculous heat that short-circuits my entire system”) was to reset the air bed (again) to deal with those annoyances.
And my first thought was “go find a new, wider top sheet to order, and a new next-size-up sheet or bedspread.” I poked around on Amazon and Pottery Barn and Macys for a while, and found some potentials, but nothing I really liked and nothing not-expensive enough to justify for a short-term use item. I finally told myself to just suck it up and get the Ikea bedspread out of the linen closet to at least solve the bedspread issue, and when I did I spotted my very old, beloved Lands’ End flannel sheet and a thin fleece blanket I refuse to get rid of but rarely have a use for. So I grabbed those along with the bedspread to experiment with bed covers.
That reminded me to check Lands’ End for potential sheets, and they had a very pretty plum purple queen flat sheet in clearance, plus a beautiful set of pale gray flannel twin sheets which would combine for a lovely cozy warm bedding arrangement. I added both to my cart and promised myself I’d sleep in whatever I could rig up on the airbed tonight before ordering anything, because while I will probably sleep on the air mattress for another 2 months by the time moving is done, after that it will likely be used only a few nights per year which really isn’t worth $125 in new linens plus the storage space for them in my small future linen closet.
And then I realized. . . . .”I have Lands’ End flannel twin sheets at home!” So back to the linen closet for the fitted sheet which matches the top sheet I grabbed earlier. Took the cotton sheets off the air mattress entirely, tightened up the mattress pads, and put the flannel sheets on. The flannel top sheet is larger than the cotton sheet I’d been using so it has a nice decent overhang on both sides. Layered in the electric blanket and my small weighted half-blanket to keep me warm. Put the thin fleece blanket over the top of it all, folded the dark gray blanket (previously folded in half over the top of everything) across the foot section to weight my feet down, then put the Ikea bedspread in the donation pile because while I like the idea of a large purple bedspread, I strongly dislike the reality of the rough scratchy texture so I never use it.
One more trip to the linen closet for a clean pillowcase for my small lumbar pillow, now I have a warm, cozy, properly layered arrangement for sleeping and I deleted the items from the Lands’ End cart because it turns out I already have everything I needed and I don’t need to spend money on something new.
So freaking cozy, I am ready to climb in RIGHT NOW. Even though it is August, nights are cool enough here and the air mattress sleeps cold enough that the heavy flannel sheets should be just right.
A fun note about those Lands’ End flannel twin sheets I put on the air mattress: I originally purchased them on clearance sometime around 2009, for a guest bed where I lived at the time. They eventually made their way to my dad’s house for use on his guest bed, primarily by me when I visited him. Last year when he remodeled the guest room and replaced the bed, I reclaimed the sheets because they were still in good condition and I could use them on the daybed in the den at my townhouse. They saw fairly frequent use there until I moved, and made the trip to the linen closet in my rental house because they are such a nice set of sheets. Fifteen years and three houses later, I’d say I definitely got my money’s worth, and goes to show just how well quality items can last. Not to mention how much joy they bring by being such a good quality, useful item. As contrasted to the less expensive, lower quality bedspread which went into the donation pile today. . . . Spark Joy, indeed!
Finn slept through the whole process, but he loves having my bed right below his favorite tower. In fact, he loves it so much that he’s gone over a week without an IBD flare-up, which had been happening on a pretty regular basis pretty much since we moved in here.
Update – Finn finally woke up from his nap, noticed the refreshed bedding, and declared that he likes it!
