Dear Folks, When I woke up today I knew it was a beautiful day in spite of overcast skies and chilly drizzling rain. Why was it beautiful? Well actually it started being beautiful last night. For quite some time it really bothered me that my bed linens were in desperate need of changing and washing. Last week I had asked my neighbor Dawn if she'd help me with it the next time she came over to take my recycle bin out to the curb. She had no problem with that. Last night I thought I'd get started. It wasn't all that difficult for me to remove the bedspread but I did have a problem in stuffing it into my washer. It's a queen sized Bate's heavy cotton one and stuffing it in took some effort. Sure I could have just stuffed it but I knew it had to be distributed just right in the washer or it would have made it hop around the floor during the spin cycle. By the time I had gotten it loaded just right, I was exhausted and it was too late to gather up enough courage to actually turn the machine on. Nonetheless, I had gotten that far. When I got up today I was anxious to see if I be able to strip the bed by myself. The biggest problem was that with my antique sleigh bed and with my antique cotton mattress on top of a regular mattress and box springs, it, it's a tight fit against the footboard. I wondered if I had the strength to loosen up the bed clothes from the end of it. I had already managed to remove the heavy bedspread and when I tried the wool blanket and the two sheets, I found that I didn't have the problem I thought I'd have. By that time I had already gotten up the nerve to turn on the washer with the bedspread in it. I had to hold my breath that the washer wouldn't just give up in the spin cycle. Note: I was so relieved that it didn't have a problem at all. Now that I had gotten that far, I thought I'd give Dawn a break and at least spread out a clean fitted bottom sheet on the bed so that all she had to do was tuck it in. A bit later I tried to do it myself and was pleased that I actually could. In the meantime the washer had finished the cycle with the bedspread and all I had to do was put it in the dryer. No problem except when I started to pull it out. Good grief, the wet cotton bedspread was so heavy it's a wonder that I could even lift it out. Not only that but I had to make certain that I didn't toss the whole ball into the dryer or it would never have dried. With my arthritis screaming at me, it finally made its way into the dryer. After that was accomplished, I sunk into my living room chair and picked up my newest murder mystery. After I had rested sufficiently I thought I'd give another try at making up the bed. The bottom sheet managed to get tucked in and made taut and then the top sheet, the wool blanket and then another bedspread that I managed to retrieve from my blanket trunk upstairs. By this evening I had actually made up the bed all by myself, the bedspread got dried and with great effort I managed to get the huge thing folded to put up in the blanket trunk and now my bed is already turned down for me to climb into. The reason for this long-winded message is to let you know how proud I am that I could actually accomplish something that I thought I wasn't physically capable of doing any more. Maybe there's hope for me after all. vee