The important things in life: Binkies

SUMMARY: Sometimes Zorro's bedding needs to be washed. It just does.

Posting link on FB now

So much has been happening in my life. Over the last year. Ear surgery, knee surgery, knock myself unconscious (Which came with a bonus first ever ambulance ride and a first ever helicopter ride), Covid almost inevitably in January 2024, long RV trip through the west, trip to Disneyland, stuff like that. So I choose to talk about: washing Zorro's bedding.

Trying to launder Zorro's Binkies is challenging. As soon as I pick them up from their usual environs and start walking away with them, his eyes open wide and he starts saying, no, these are mine, I had them where I wanted them, don't move them! And he grabs one or more and tugs until I determinedly make him let go. And then as soon as I set them down to get the washing machine prepped, they all start disappearing.

I had picked up three of them this time; and this is where they were when I was ready to put them into the washing machine…  one close (Darker blue with light blue circles) to the washing machine but not where I left it. (where He is standing trying to decide whether to steal back that one also), one (brown with aqua circles) halfway through the doorway into the hallway, and one (Aqua with brown circles) way down the hallway in the living room. 

Update 20 minutes later: I re-collected the three, washed them, and they are now in the dryer. Fortunately they dry quickly.

... they did! Dried quickly! So when I took them out, he selected one to go nurse on for a while in the living room. Happiness restored.

Next I think I will do the red one. And attempt to remove the covers from two of his three cushion beds.

Maybe from all three cushion beds… Except that he typically is lying in one or another of them, so I guess I need to leave one clad for a bit.

Then the big challenge will be figuring out how to stitch back together his favorite Binky bed without a sewing machine. And he will definitely obsess over that one when I pick it up to sew it, and again when I need to wash it afterwards.

BUT after just now trying to vacuum out just one comfy bed and its cushion, I realize that perhaps doing all of this in one day after 10 days of recovering from Covid is not the best choice. So: that's it for today.

British vs American Bedrooms: A Rebuttal or More Likely Just A Response

SUMMARY: After watching this video: 5 Ways British and American Bedrooms Are Very Different

Top sheets

Sheba and Amber demonstrating prehistoric
pre-duvet-cover, pro-top-sheet-and-blankets days
Blankets wore out quickly with all the washings.

I've lived in the U.S. my entire multiple decades of life. We were raised putting a top sheet between you and the blanket(s), which made sense because blankets can be a bit scratchy.  Sometimes we might have a comforter instead of a blanket, but we treated those the same way--top sheet first, comforter on top of that, to protect having to wash the comforters too often.  

However, because my dogs also sleep on my bed, my blankets would get dirty from the top side so I always had to wash them anyway. Which was hard on the blankets.

Zorro demonstrating a dog
on a duvet cover

Thirty-five or so years ago, I came upon the concept of a "duvet cover".  When I got myself a lovely down comforter, I didn't want to have to wash it (or dry clean it! Expensive!) frequently due to dog mud and hair. So I was delighted to discover, and start using, duvet covers.  Which are, essentially, two top sheets sewn together.

I realized quickly that a top sheet between me and it made no sense at all and thus stopped using top sheets (except in certain weeks during the summer when it gets very hot and I don't have a/c but still want something over me). 

Therefore, I have a stack of top sheets that are virtually never used because companies too often sell sheets as sets and I can't always get just a bottom sheet of the pattern I want.

Also, this set-up makes it sublime to "make the bed" in the morning. Quick shake: Done.

Found this in a drawer in my
bathroom last month.
Tossed it.
No idea when I last used it.

Hot water bottles

Used them as a kid, for warmth sometimes but usually for aches & pains.  My parents also eventually got a heating pad for aches & pains, but there was something pleasing (and more responsive, more close-fitting) about a towel-wrapped flat rubber bottle filled with steaming water. As long as they didn't start leaking.

Out on my own, of course I had a hot water bottle for many years. Finally splurged (gulp) on a heating pad-- and then I discovered that I could use themit to warm my bed (in small sections) before I got into it. And even keep me warm on particularly cold nights.

 And THEN maybe 25 years ago I discovered heated mattress pads and now I use mine all the time. Haven't had a water bottle in ages. But I still use the heating pad for aches & pains.

Our hot water bottles always looked like the one
on the right. I never saw a heart-shaped one!

Peng, CC BY-SA 3.0 <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/>,
via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W%C3%A4rmflasche1.jpg

Zorro kindly demonstrating another duvet cover.
He is a skilled demonstrator of such bedding.

And another. I gottamillionof'em.