sweet dreams

we've recently found ourselves in a bedding crisis. i wake almost every morning with an aching back. often, i can't wait to get out of bed, no matter how early it is, because the bed is just so damned uncomfortable. we have a double bed. a futon.

throughout most of my adult life, i have slept on futons. there was a brief futon break in grad school, after i purchased the cheapest possible mattress and box spring upon arriving in houston. but it gave out quickly, as one might imagine. j and i shared an extremely soft mattress set for a while, it nearly broke my spine. the futon we have been sleeping on for the past four years isn't any better, and it seems to have gotten worse lately. or, maybe we are just getting old.

it doesn't help that a certain little person finds his way into the bed at some point in the wee hours of the morning. i wouldn't really mind that, if only the bed were a bit bigger.plus, carl's feet hang over the end of the bed, for crissake!

in a desperate last ditch effort, i switched our bed futon, with the one on the couch. it was lumpier than the other one, and seemed to sort of turn up on the edges--like a raft. horrible.

we both agreed that we'd like to get a king-sized bed, and a nice one. problem is, we don't have that kind of money. anything we could afford would probably not be an improvement on what we currently have. we found ourselves torn between the realities of our financial situation, and our belief that we should be kind to our bodies.

then a little angel posted on facebook that good friends of hers were selling a like-new, high-dollar, stearns & foster, king-sized mattress and box spring for a hundred bucks. though the post was over a day old, and someone had already responded, i called her immediately. within the hour, i had purchased the (immaculate) bed, and arranged to have it picked up by yet another angel (with a truck). the owners even threw in a non-crinkly mattress protector, a mattress pad, two sets of king-sized sheets, and a bed spread-- all in excellent condition. i told them that i felt like we'd won the lottery.

last night, we had the best night's sleep in years--maybe decades! it is so firm, spacious and wonderful in every way, i can hardly believe it's actually sitting there, in our very own bedroom. since he's only had a chance to bounce on beds-with-springs during vacations, cosmo, too was thrilled. our heartfelt thanks to all those who made this possible. we rest easy, because of you.

brought to you by...SKUUT

bear with me as i plug this product. no, it's not a christmas present. cosmo got this balance bike in june, because that was when he seemed ready for it. i know i have blogged about it before. i am overly impressed with this thing. it was the best $90 we ever spent. it teaches him balance, so he can avoid training wheels when he's ready for a regular bike. it has chunky, inflatable tires, which allow for bumpy sidewalks, gravel, grass, and any other uneven terrain. he rarely falls off of it, because he can easily steady himself with his feet. he has complete control over this vehicle, and can lift the front wheel to go over curbs, or turn around. it makes people do a double take and smile when they see him riding it.



this last point is both a blessing and a curse. at the playground, i feel like the mom of the rich kid, who always gets the latest and the best toy. i always want to tell the other parents who are staring at the bike, that it wasn't THAT expensive. that we don't spoil our child with fancy gifts. that we got it because we thought it would be good for his physical development, his balance, and his confidence. NOT because it's made of wood and sports a sort of euro-hip design. it was a practical gift, NOT a splurge!

on our trip to denver, we were trying to decide whether to bring a stroller or not. we never use a stroller anymore, but thought it might come in handy, moving through airports. cosmo does walk more slowly than we do, and i hate rushing him. i don't mind carrying him, but burdened with a carry-on bag, i can only do it for a short time. it occurred to me that we could bring the SKUUT, and treat it as we would a stroller; just check it at the gate before boarding the plane. we weren't sure if bike-riding would be permitted in the airport, but decided to give it a try.



he hopped on as soon as we got out of the parking shuttle bus, rode it into the airport, through the line to check our bags, all around the food court, through security (well, he had to get off of it and send it through the x-ray machine), down to our gate, and all around terminal b while we waited (and folks, when you miss your first flight, and are put on standby during the holiday season, you do A LOT of waiting). the airport officials were impressed and delighted to see cosmo rolling along, swinging his feet, smiling. we were never hassled about it. we got a gate check tag for it, and left it at the end of the boarding ramp, with the strollers.

i felt like a paid rep for SKUUT (in fact, i feel like that now, as i write this), and like i should have been handing out business cards. dozens of people stopped to ask me where i got it, how long he'd been riding it, and other detailed questions. kids his age stared in envy, and parents wondered how we got it through security. cosmo took notice of the attention, and eventually started showing off. he had the most fun in the denver airport, while we waited for our flight home. he was doing laps around an open area near the seating, and getting lots of exercise instead of being cooped up in a stroller. he had some near misses, but never crashed in to anyone, or anything.

i was happy we decided to bring it. from now on, we won't leave home without it. we brought it on our road trip to texas, and it came in handy at rest stops too. it is so compact and light, and easy to carry, there is no reason not to bring it along. i hate to just go on and on about this bike, but i want to suggest to anyone with a two year old kid in your life, to set aside $15 each month (if you can), for the next six months, and get that kid this bike when s/he turns two and a half (that is the age when most kids can comfortably reach the ground from the lowest seat setting). they can ride it 'til they're five or so. but they probably won't, since they'll be ready for a big kid bike before they turn four.

the wonder of consumerism

i have a confession to make. i have subscriptions to 3 mommy magazines. glossy paper magazines that come to my mailbox once a month. i got suckered into buying them by this charming guy who showed up at our door one day, in a suit and tie, on a hot day. he said he was trying to stay off the streets and make something of himself through this job training program that teaches him how to talk to people, and be presentable, and make in-person, cold calls, knocking on doors selling magazines. we had a long conversation, during which he asked me for advice on how i "made it" in this world. i didn't want to tell him that i had gone to graduate school for 5 years, to earn a master's degree in a creative and exciting field, only to end up NOT working in that field (yet). in any case, i agreed to help him out.

he said he'd get more "points" if i got 3 magazines instead of the one i would have preferred (which was priced much higher. i actually can't remember now what it was). to be honest, i didn't want any magazines at all. i would have rather just given some cash to the guy. but that's not how it works. so, i went ahead and ordered wondertime, family fun and cookie. i figured i could just donate them to the banneker center.

two months later, the first one arrives. it's wondertime. i feel a little strange flipping through it, in the comfort of my own home, since magazine reading, for me, is usually confined to the dentist's office. to my surprise, i find some okay articles, and some great ideas. like the women's magazines my mom used to get (women's day and family circle) they're packed with recipes and crafting ideas, and things to do with children. i fit nicely into the target audience--that scares me a little. so, family fun arrives a few days later. it is pretty much the same as wondertime, only slightly less hip (i just discovered they are put out by the same people). it was in one of these two magazines that i first heard about felting soap. in the most recent family fun, i saw a great idea for book marks that cosmo can easily do (with some supervision), and i've tried a recipe or two.

then cookie arrives. from the cover i can see that the target audience for this magazine has a much higher income than than i do, but once i started flipping through it, i was truly insulted. not only was the thing packed with ads for high end children's fashion and pharmaceuticals, but most of the "content" featured more stuff to buy. while wondertime and family fun encourage DIY projects to make your life better, cookie encourages spending money to make your life better. maybe that's appropriate for urban professional moms, who simply have more money than time (most working moms i know have very little of either). wondertime does have a regular feature called "stuff we love," but cookie recently had a fifty page section called "the cookie 100," which highlighted 100 items moms just couldn't live without. it seemed to me like the magazine was one big advertisement. in the current issue, there was a piece on putting together an all purpose holiday party outfit by getting a great blouse, a great skirt, and a great pair of shoes. they had several options pictured for each, including info on the designer, the price tag, and where you could find it. a cute skirt will cost you anywhere from $149 to $995. on the next page you can find a suggestion for a toddler's faux fur coat (to be paired with "thermals or tulle") for $328. remember that she'll get a good 4 months use out of it, if that. what economic recession?

i don't mind the other two (though i won't be renewing the subscription), but cookie? i find it so offensive, i didn't even want to take it to the banneker center. it's packed with the pretty colors and patterns often found in high fashion magazines, so i guess we can recycle them for collages and other craft projects.

in the future, i'll stick to harpers.