Tikkabik: Apres moi, le deluge

The cold downpour happening outside at this hour reminds me of Louis XIV's final words. It really is a deluge outside, alternating between just pissing down rain and pouring down buckets. The forecasts call for a possible switch over to snow later, but with this much wet down first, and the warm weather we've been having for the past few days, I doubt it'll amount to anything -- especially this late in the season.

Weather like this brings back a sense memory of being a kid and just wanting to stay under the covers forever on days like this. It's not that I hate rain -- you spend a year or two in Seattle and you learn about rain the same way the Inuit have dozens of words for snow -- but the chilly early spring air and the harsh, pelting precipitation combine to make you truly thankful for having something warm and dry to snuggle underneath. Speaking of which, we picked up new sheets at K-Mart the other day, and it made me realize something.

We swapped a cheap bed-in-a-bag my mother-in-law got us recently as a gift for Bonnie's birthday. We got a set that cost us $5 more than the set we swapped, but that we both liked a lot better. Judy got the sheets on the closeout deal, and we'd have kept hers, except that the comforter had a pink roses print that Bonnie and I both thought was nauseous. This one has a rich red flower pattern going on that suits us -- and the room -- a lot better.

It was the first sheet set we'd bought in the better part of a decade, about eight years all told, near as I can remember. The last time we'd bought sheets was about a year before we had Bob, if memory serves, which is about the same time we'd bought our bed, and that is DEFINITELY showing its age. At the time, Bonnie INSISTED that we buy sheets with a high thread count. They'll hold up well, she promised me, and it's better than buying a new set to replace them every few years.

I'd thought that it was very indulgent to do so. Good sheets cost a lot of money -- a lot more than cheap sheets do. And you can't buy them as beds-in-a-bag, either -- you have to piece them together, buying the comforter, pillowcases, shams, bed skirt. By the time you're done, you're out a couple hundred dollars, versus $50 on sale. At K-Mart.

Hindsight -- and being able to see the television picture through the threadbare and scratchy topsheet of our new bed set -- made me realize the truth of what Bonnie was trying to tell me at the time. She's an accomplished seamstress and understands fabrics, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

Well, we scored a serviceable bed set for $5, so I'm not entirely disappointed. But if I'd payed even the full sale price, I'd have been upset that we just hadn't spent the extra money on the good stuff.