Making My Bed (and now being able to lie in it!)

My bed has been a no-go zone since around May, when the kittens (born April 6) first ventured out from underneath it, to on top of it, to begin peeing on it---on the comforter, on the top part of the sheets, on the bottom of the pillows. I thought the pee would never end. As it turned out: Mini Solomon, initially the main pee-problem, has long since grown out of it. But in the meantime, the pee-stained bedding sat there; I have been sleeping on the couch ALL of the time to avoid dealing with it.

This weekend, though, I slept all day Saturday, then got up around 4pm determined to do EVERY bit of my wash: comforter, bed-pad, sheets, pillow cases, throw-blanket. Luckily, the apartment laundry was completely empty, all 4 washers to myself in the heat of the afternoon. After about 3 hours, I got everything (all bedding plus 3-weeks'-worth of clothes) done. I don't know that the comforter got that clean: I stuffed it into a small washer when I should have either taken it to a laundromat with an industrial-sized washer or to a dry cleaner's. Still: I did SOMETHING with it. And now my bed is (pretty much) fresh/cat-pee-free and ready for Fall (with the brown sheets instead of the red or burgundy; changing sheet hue according to season has always been my poor-girl's idea of...not "class" but rather simply "having enough money to own 3 or 4 sets of sheets instead of just 1 and being able to change them out accordingly"---like finally owning several pairs of white pants and shoes, in the past considered "extra," and looking forward to wearing them during the "official" 3-months summer season).

In the fall and winter, I'm looking forward to sleeping with all of the cats in the much-more-spacious bed. Right now, couch-wise, Solomon gets on my chest when I'm reading, then, when I turn out the light and turn on my side, settles on my hip --- he/she stays there for 3 or 4 hours at a time. Which is very sweet, but NOT when I'm trying to toss and turn and get settled. Hopefully the bigger bed will give everyone, including me, space to stretch out.