Sunday, August 31, 2008

New sleeping arrangements

Last night, Roy and I finally got our new bed set up. Heather has inherited our old monster; which she loves because, it's a raised, four poster, queen sized bed, with a massive wood head board and foot board. I'm sure that she imagines herself more a little princess now, than she did before. Of course, she has no interest in using our grown up comforters and pillow shams. She's decked it out with her purple, pink, and blue satin sheets and her fuzzy chenille and satin pillow cases in matching colors.

Heather really isn't much of a frilly kind of girl, but she has a weakness for satin and luxurious fabrics. When she was a baby, and she would wake up for her night feedings, she would snuggle up to my favorite satin night shirt while I was feeding her. She was one of those kids who would contentedly nurse herself to sleep, but the minute I tried to lay her back in her crib, her eyes would pop open and she'd scream bloody murder. Finally, after a particularly long night of this routine, I ripped off my night shirt, wrapped her up in it and said, "here, keep it!" and stomed back to my bed, topless. Amazingly enough, she slept soundly after that. As she got older, she started dragging the raggedy old thing around with her every where! (even to church!) She called it her "woobie" I think that's either baby talk for Rubbie, or boobie. I was never really clear on that. Anyway, She was the only kid I ever met who got her replacement blankets from Victoria's Secret.

When she started kindergarten, she had to give them up - at least during the day. However, I was not ready to give up sleeping at night, so it just made sense to buy her satin sheets for her first 'big girl bed.' She is now almost 12 years old, and she won't sleep on anything other than satin sheets. Yes, I have created a monster.

So . . . Roy and I were up late last night moving beds and setting up our own. The bed that my husband managed to procure for us is a water bed. That brings back memories. When I first met Roy, I had one of those huge, old style, free flow water beds in a wooden box. They were a pain in the ass to move and set up, and it felt a lot like sleeping on a life raft during and ocean squall. If you came down with the flu, or any kind of ailment that left you feeling queasy, you might as well camp out on the couch because, the water bed was as faithful as syrup of ipecac for inducing nausea. I ended up with it because, it was a hand-me-down from my oldest brother, who bought it because he couldn't fit a regular mattress up the stairway, and into the bedroom of his first tiny house. We had that horrible thing for almost 6 years, and had to tear it down, move it, set it back up, and fill it, a least 20 times before we finally bought a 'real' bed.

However, with the way my husband flops around like a fish out of water while he sleeps, even a real bed's days are numbered. When a friend from work offered to give him a "wave-less" water bed that he had in storage, Roy decided that anything was better than tossing and turning all night. This bed is one of the newer ones that look like a regular bed. In fact, the base ( that turned out to be stored somewhere else) is just like a regular box spring. (except, without the springs) The mattress is a hollowed out foam frame that holds ten, giant, water filled tubes, covered by a with a thick foam mattress topper that zips on over it all. It looks great, and it sleeps very nicely, (although, it isn't entirely wave-less, it isn't nauseating) but it's still a pain in the ass to set up and tear down. Thankfully, I'm done moving.

Anyway, when we went to set it up last night, one of the box springs was missing a frame. You know, the metal part the raises it up off the floor? After waiting a week to get it, and making two trips to gather all the parts that were stored in various places, we had to make a last minute, late night trip to the local thrift store to get a second bed frame.

We rushed in five minutes before they closed the store and bought their last one. As Roy was locating the frame, I noticed that they had a head board and foot board set that would go with my bedroom furniture perfectly. The only thing that I don't like about the bed, is that it's sort of basic looking without a head board or foot board.) Before I dashed to the register to pay for the frame, I noticed that the price tag on it was $50.00) As I stood there waiting for my change, I happened to look down at the counter and noticed a flier for Monday's Labor day sales event : 75% off all furniture and household items. Hmmmm, that knocks my head board and foot board down to . . . $12.50 !!! Cha-ching! All I have to do is wait until Monday, and pray that no one buys it before then. I'm SO excited! Would it be weird to camp outside a second hand store in anticipation of a 75% off holiday sale ? Oh God, I've got to get a REAL life. The last time I considered doing something like that, it was for concert tickets, not a second hand bed frame.

*Mel: This, is what you call old and tragic.

Okay, I'm going to go snuggle up in my new, soon to be perfect, bed. Good night.

Love,
Susan

2 howled back:

Willow said...

You've got to hand it to your girl, she's got style!

Glad you got the bed set up finally, hope your first night was a restful one, you certainly deserve it. And a bargain is a bragain, you still get that rush whether it's a designer outfit or a second-hand headboard - tragic? no - a little bit funny? Oh yes!

Anonymous said...

I love a thrifty story! :)


That is a good story about why Heather loves her satin so much...I had a good chuckle. Funny how some of us really respond to certain materials. I slept in a satin sheet bed once and slid all over and hated it! I'm more of a flanette girl myself - the bed where you get in there and pretty much are stuck to the linen :)


Have a good day and I hope nobody steals your bed frame!