Electric Blankets

As much as I’ve been fighting it, I realize cold weather is here. I have been a little shivery during the night, but have been too lazy to get out the heavy blankets. Last week I started dreaming I was cold, so I knew it was time. As a child, we all had electric blankets on our beds. The idea of sleeping under wires seems kind of unsafe. None of us ever spontaneously burst into flames, so I guess it was all good. My mom used to put us to bed way too early, so my sister and I had to come up with activities to occupy our time until we got sleepy. The electric blanket control provided a little bit of orange light, which worked out well for playing Nocturnal Barbies. Another game we invented was Dirty Sock Fight. We would roll up socks from our dirty clothes pile and hurl them at each other in the dark. Even with the pale light from the electric blanket controls, I don’t remember actually hitting my target more than a few times. I’ve always been very active in my sleep. As a child I sleep walked. I remember waking up in front of my floor-to-ceiling drapes, where I had dreamed I was at the blackboard in school. I believe I was writing on the drapes with my finger. After high school, I worked at Holiday Reservations Center. There were nights when I would be taking reservation calls in my sleep. I would ask the caller a question, and when I got no answer I would disconnect the call. Then, a half hour later I would wake up freezing because the Disconnect Button was really the On switch to my electric blanket. I received a dual control electric blanket as a wedding gift. When I put it on our bed, I unknowingly got the controls switched. Rick was too hot and kept turning his side down and I was freezing and kept stoking my side up. We eventually got rid of the electric blanket and went old school. Now I can’t imagine laying under wires, even though I spent my first 20 years of sleep that way. I say pile on the blankets... much cozier, low tech, and they even work during a power blackout.