Friday, May 29, 2015

Make Your Bed!

Sometimes I misquote my mother. While her voice is often in my head, her advice can get a little muddled. (Sorry Mom!) Anyway, I am sharing a little of her wisdom here today.

I can't quite remember if my mom used to tell me "A house isn't tidy unless all the beds are made" or  "A house always feels cleaner when the beds are made."  Either way, the statements are both true.

make your bed, bed, quote
My mom would agree with this quote from a commencement speech at the University of Texas!
Almost instantly, when you make a bed the room feels better.  More organized, neater.  Just that simple accomplishment often spurs me on to pick up the rest of the room.  If having a tidy home isn't reason enough, a neatly made bed is much more welcoming at the end of a day than a rumpled one.

I think I was an adult before I really learned to make my bed, or cared at all about how or if I even made it. 

Through middle school, I rode a school bus for 30 minutes to get to school.  My mom expected that I would neatly make my bed before I left the house.  I can remember more than one occasion when my exasperated parent marched me back upstairs to complete the task, despite my pleas that the bus was coming and I would miss it.  I knew every short cut, or so I thought. Just pulling the bedspread up over the pillow, without regard to sheets and blankets underneath was my specialty. Somehow though, my mom never fell for it!

We moved to a different house when I was a pre-teen.  My twin sister and I shared a huge room, in which there was a double bed and a twin.  I picked the twin - I had no interest in the added challenge of making a bigger bed.

My mom used to tell me, "Susan, you will never be a nurse unless you learn to make a bed."  

Imagine my surprise, when as a nursing student we actually were tested on bed making! A nurse must make life and death decisions, and is required to have a solid knowledge of human anatomy, biology, physiology, pharmacology and pathophysiology.  In comparison, bed making seems mundane, but it is an important part of patient care. Hospitalized patients sometimes spend many hours in bed. A mere wrinkle can lead to discomfort, or worse yet, a bedsore. My mom was right - I needed to know how to make a bed!  

I am sure my mother had her doubts that it would ever happen.  

I have, however, learned not only how to make a bed tightly enough that a quarter could bounce off it's surface, but I am even proficient at changing all the linens on a bed while an occupant is lying in it.

Not only that - - it is a very unusual day when I do not make my bed!

bed, guest room, bed linens
A buffalo rests on the bed in our guest room when guests are not in it!
A while ago, I wrote a post about writer's block.  In it I mentioned some of the ways I come up with ideas for the articles I write. Can you guess when I got this idea?  Yes, indeed - I was making my bed!

This post may be linked to one of the great link-up parties I follow and list on my blog. Check them out!



16 comments :

  1. I remember being a candy striper when I was a teenager and that was one of the first things we learned was how to make a hospital bed while someone was still in it. I think the only time I have had to use that technique was if one of the kids were really sick! It may come in handy in the future though. I am a freak about making my bed. It's the very first thing I do when I get up. I can't stand wrinkled sheets and change them every two days and if they come out of the dryer wrinkled I have been known to iron them. I know I'm weird haha!

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    1. Wow Rena - I love clean sheets and a neatly made bed, but I don't change mine as often as you -or iron them! :)

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  2. If there was a clean sheets fairy I would have clean sheets every day. That slide into a fresh sheets and bed is bliss. And somehow never, ever matched by subsequent bed making. And today is clean sheet day. Yay.

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    1. If you ever find that fairy - let me know ... and if she has a sister that likes to vaccum, I'd love to meet her too!

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  3. This is so funny to me because I was raised by my mum the same way! We weren't allowed to come downstairs for breakfast until our beds were made!

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    1. I just talked with my mom, and she said, "It sounds like I was mean." She wasn't at all - just trying to teach me a valuable life skill! Breakfast would be a good bribe to get the beds made!

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  4. my mum wasn't a neat freak - but I am! I love a nicely made bed. My daughter missed the boat - she likes getting into "a nest" as she refers to her unmade bed - she's an adult and not at home so I can ignore her messiness - one of the benefits of empty nesting :)

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    1. My husband has taught me that battling with kids over their rooms is not worth it. I still struggle sometimes - but I've learned it is just best to shut my son's door ;)

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  5. I'm with you. The bed must be made. The only time mine isn't is when I am waiting for the fresh sheets to put back on. I love to hang them outside. Makes me want to change the bed every day, but I'm not that ambitious!!! I always told my kids the same thing..."Your room is always a mess if the bed is not made".

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    1. There is something really special about sheets that have hung outside Lynn - I do agree!

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  6. My earliest chore lists included bed-making and bedroom-tidying, but it wasn't too long before I began telling my children that their bedrooms were theirs. The shared household tasks had to be done with pride, or said child was marched back to the spot to redo...

    I hardly ever made my bed, always one to literally hit the ground running in the morning. But about ten years ago I began hating getting into an unmade bed and having to wrestle with the sheets. I definitely couldn't bounce anything off my sheets, but I do so love the look and feel of walking into the bedroom at the end of the day...it does feel a bit like pampering...and when they've just come out of the wash? That's a luxury I snuggle right into... And, oh how I miss my clothesline...

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    1. Yes, it took me a while, but I finally figured out it was better not to battle with my kids about their rooms. As long as there is not health hazards, I try to just shut the door :) But, like you, I do want my own bed to be neat and smooth when I crawl into it!

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  7. OK so we have a rule in our house, "Do not let me come upstairs to discover an unmade bed." So they will leave a note on the kitchen counter or text me that they didn't have time to make the bed. The husband will call be, if I leave before him (Mondays & Fridays) and let me know he didn't make it!!!!

    Then I am ok with it and will make it, but if I find it.... Oh I get pissed!!!!

    xoxoxo

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    1. Oh - I love the notes and calls! You have your family well-trained! You have instilled a concept of order, even if they can't always carry it out. Well done!

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  8. My husband and I disagree about this all the time. I love a freshly made bed, and he prefers to jump into rumpled sheets at night. Luckily I always win! Love your spare bedroom with the buffalo!

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    1. Prefers rumpled sheets - or just detests making the bed?! And uses that as an excuse so he doesn't have to? See - from my childhood, I know every every excuse in the book! And I quite like the buffalo too, Lana!

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