mattress pads, protectors, and toppers?

My current mattress pad (protector? I'm still unsure of the distinction) is old and decrepit.  But it's under my sheets, so I see it only when I'm changing them.  Then I get busy and forget all about buying a new one.  Until the next time.

I realized I had a sheet addiction when I bought my seventh set.  Seven!  The old ones were starting to discolor, but they felt so soft.  And my favorite purple ones started to lose elasticity (don't we all), but I can't find any of that exact color to replace them.  I bought some new ones, but they turned out to be aubergine instead.  Completely different.

My brother recently got two new dogs, giant mastiffs of course, and was talking about how he tries to keep his furniture clean but he was running out of cover sheets.  I made the executive decision to donate my old, so soft, discolored, and stretched out sheets to his puppies.  It's a good cause, right?

Therefore, now I'm down to (only?) four sets of sheets.

But back to my mattress pad...

A friend highly recommended the Purple brand (sadly they aren't purple colored).  I started researching, reading reviews, and fell down a rabbit hole.

Ad that's how I ended up buying a topper.  WTF?  It arrived and looks like it needs more protection than my mattress.  Stay tuned.  I'll post pics later.

Yeah, I know I usually write about soul-searing anguish.  Isn't it nice that today's biggest problem (it's not) is only bedding?