Thursday, June 21, 2012

Where Princess Fur Slept





Okay, okay...*technically*, that's not the photo theme for today, but I couldn't resist posting a cute Princess Fur photo (she's doing okay, by the way. I'm taking her in for bloodwork tomorrow. The surgery is in six days.).

This is Fur's new favourite hiding place - underneath my new bed. It took some coaxing to get her to explore the space but once I did, she was hooked. She loves disappearing beneath the 'blue curtain' and cohabits peacefully with storage boxes, my meditation cushion, two guitars and a shruti box.

I have an odd history with beds. I grew up sleeping on absolutely horrible beds - everything from sofas to sofa-sleepers to slabs of foam to a sleeping bag on the floor. When I was five, my 'bed' was actually a storage compartment on the boat we lived on. When I grew out of that, it was a narrow foam platform in the main cabin. Later, I had my own 'stateroom' but my mattress was still four inches of cheap foam.

By the time I got to university, the beds in residence actually seemed luxurious. I cultivated an absurd pride in my ability to 'sleep anywhere'. On a ferry boat from Brindisi, Italy to Greece, I slept soundly on the main deck, oblivious to rain, rough seas and other passengers.

Hotel stays were revelatory. I was floored by the comfort of the beds!

I live in a tiny apartment, so storage potential is one reason I bought a new bed. The other was my back. A couple months ago, I had an episode of back spasms that left me incapacitated and terrified. Someone gently suggested that perhaps sleeping on a 13 year old futon mattress that was compressed as flat as a pancake might not contribute to my recovery. I hadn't really thought of that - bad beds have been part of my life for a long time.

But I agreed and headed down to the futon store to explore my options. I opted for an moderately priced and very solid Mennonite-made platform bed. I have to confess, the oodles of storage space underneath was a factor, but the platform also supports a premium futon mattress, which I topped with 2 inches of memory foam.

And OMG...it's fantastic! It's like having my very own hotel bed! I found some 400 thread count Egyptian Cotton sheets on sale and bought new pillows. My entire sleeping experience is completely unrecognizable!

(This post is part of the June photo project)

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

5 comments:

sereneflavor said...

Linen Kai. Get linen sheets on your next spending splurge. Life is short and we spend a lot of it in bed.

Brianna Nash said...

The fact that you could sleep anywhere is commendable. Not many people can do that. I used to be able to but that was when I was in basic training and sleep was something put on the back burner.

I actually, sort of, envy your growing up living on a boat. I've wanted to live on one for quite some time. Heck, I even looked for a boat to buy once but that was before I headed away from the coast and inshore quite a ways. Neat'O.

PS. Keeping you and Princess Fur in my thoughts and prayers. I know how hard it can be to lose a beloved pet/child.

Brianna
http://travels-of-life.blogspot.com

Laura said...

Beds make very interesting history! We sleep on a tempurpedic mattress atop a futon frame that I bought when I was all of 20 years old, in Boston, where I have just returned to live. For my entire married life (16 years yesterday, 20+ cohabiting) I have wanted a 'new' bed, but alas, it never happened. And now I see that the longer we have this bed frame the more meaning it takes on, so I decided with this move that new bed linens were going to be the way to freshen it all up... Bedtime Stories, another book? And thanks Serene, linen sheets it might have to be!

Kaivalya said...

@Loo You could buy a mattress topper - that's how I added the memory foam to my bed. It's awesome!

Laura said...

Tempurpedic is ALL memory foam! no futon for us, just that one fab mattress... it's a futon wooden frame that was a major purchase at 20. I remember feeling oh so grown up.