The very best thing I have bought myself recently is a heated mattress pad. You might think it was the entire 10 seasons of X-Files, but no, a mattress pad. I hate getting into a cold bed, especially when my feet are cold which is most of the winter. I had planned to hold off until January, but man, October chill set in and I couldn’t wait. Thank goodness, because that polar vortex we had last week was more than I wanted to deal with.

Naturally, I did some research, trying to find that perfect balance between price and reliability before I ordered the Sunbeam version. It’s only about $70, but it gives me great joy. When I get home from work at about 8:30, I turn it on to level 5 and let it heat while I take care of some stuff. By the time I crawl in between 9 and 9:30 to read, it’s toasty warm. I actually have to turn it down when I get into bed. 1 is plenty warm for sleeping. And I suspect that the cooling action lulls me into a deeper sleep. It also turns off after 10 hours so I don’t have to worry about forgetting to turn it off in the morning. It’s certainly increasing my reading time and that’s never a bad thing. It does claim to be a pad, which it is not in the sense of squishiness. The wires are obnoxious so if you don’t have an extra quilt hanging around to pad it with, is suggest getting one of those too. Also make sure the plug is at the bottom of the bed. It’s pronounced and that’s not the kind of hard thing I want in my bed.

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