Sunday, March 2, 2014

Time to add another Olympic sport -- changing the bed

I hate changing my sheets. There, I said it.

It's not that I don't like nice clean sheets. I do, really. It's the sheer physical effort involved, especially when I decide to flip my mattress.

I've kept my bed in a corner ever since my sister and I went from a shared double to twins. To begin with it was practical -- separate sides of the room -- and kept down the arguments, but I've gotten used to it and would feel strange with my bed in another position. Unless I upgraded to a double, I think I'd fall off the bed. :o)

After I move the nightstand over and pull my storage trunk away from the foot of my bed, I have to pull out the bedframe so I can pull off the old sheets, then climb on the bed to get the fresh bottom sheet around the head of the bed. It's a pain, but I'm used to it.
The real problem comes when turning the mattress.  A twin has handles on the sides but not the ends, so I have to grab one handle and the piping on the end of the bed to pull the mattress out.  If I'm turning it over, I have to grab both handles and pull it out to the side about halfway, then struggle to raise the outer edge enough to lean it against the wall; then comes the fun of pulling at the bottom edge and hoping it doesn't unbalance and fall over on me in the process.  (Believe me, I'm glad I have a twin.  My parents' double bed mattress takes three people to turn over.) If I'm just turning it end-for-end, I have to somehow pull it half (or more) off the end of the bed so I can start rotating it while praying that I don't knock my lamp off the nightstand.  I generally end up having to pause for a breather with one end of the mattress on the bed and the other on a chair.  And when I'm done I collapse.

I wish there was a bed-changing/turning genie.