Best Time To Buy a Mattress

I keep seeing these mattress commercials on television and was wondering why now, so I put the MoneyPenny Research Team to work on it.  I used to think that the best time to buy a mattress is in May because the new models would be coming out over the summer and retailers try to off-load last year's models to make room.  And this is the case, but, and I didn't know this, mattress retailers are now having sales to go along with all the White Sales in January.  Makes sense.  Buy sheets and a new mattress, while you are at it.

If you do find a good deal on a mattress you need to check a couple of things before you close the deal, as they are deal breakers if not offered, as far as I'm concerned.  The first thing is that the retailer is offering, at the very least, a 30 day return policy if you are not happy with the mattress.  Not being happy with your new bed is not a good thing.

The other is free delivery and setup and haul-off of your old mattress.  Getting rid of an old mattress is not fun.  You do remember that I told you that several years ago the previous renters next door threw theirs out in the back yard and set fire to it.  It wasn't pretty.

Now that we have that settled, let's move on.  This is my first winter in retirement and it has been a little trying as I am still trying to get my feet under me.  I keep yearning for spring and gardening.  The only thing that is keeping me sane is the movies.  I've been dragging Miss MaggieMay to all sorts of movies that she normally wouldn't see but she is a good sport.  Today we saw the new Ryan Gosling gangster movie.  I loved it but it isn't for everyone.  Very violent but satisfying in a crazy way.  And who doesn't want to look at Mr. Gosling??
                                     

Whew!!  Where was I??  Oh, yeah.  I was going to give you my easy peasy recipe for carrot dried cranberry salad.  I've been eating tons of green salad and was looking for something different and brighter.  This little 50s salad fills the bill.  I got out my little Presto Salad Shooter and went to town on some carrots. 

Mom gave my sister and me Salad Shooters one Christmas.  We always have to have the same thing that the other one has.  It's like - you got a crappy husband...well, I'm gonna get one, too.  Anyway, back to the shooters, we thought that it was a joke at first but we both came to love the silly little thing.  It really works.
 

I ended up with four cups of grated carrots.

I added a third cup of dried cranberries.  I use cranberries instead of the more traditional raisens because I can't stand them.

My dressing is 2 T mayo, 1T lemon juice, and 1T sugar.

This is how it turned out.  Very tasty and keeps well, covered, in the fridge for a couple of days.

Amaryllis Update:

As you can see from the top picture the amaryllis is putting out leaves but no bulbs.  I think my mistake was when I neglected to cut off the summer growth before I put it in the dark.  Just took too much out of it trying to support the growth instead of gearing up for bulb production.  I'll try it again next year and do it right.