entered a dark period of spiritual anguish. My thinking became skewed, my values unhinged: "Cherished!"
"You've never felt cherished!! You've never believed in yourself. Until now. This is self-esteem!! This is what it's all about! Feeling good now! You're smarter and more confident and nicer when you feel good. You'll make better deals! You'll write better! The good sheets will pay for themselves! In fact, anything less than 350 thread count Egyptian damask will be RUINOUS!"

he truth was that I'd have to write a best-seller just to buy those stupid sheets.

So I bought the 200 thread count ones. Solids. They were okay, but I had to return them anyway because they didn't match the bath towels I'd just bought (plush, high quality, discounted irregulars). The bath towels, of course, matched the hand towels, which were purchased to go with the bathroom rug, which, in my ignorance, was the first thing I got.