To Sleep, Perchance to Dream

At the end of a busy day, how much do I think about exactly what I'm doing when I prepare for bed, climb under those covers, and rest my head on my pillow?  Well, I've been thinking a lot about that lately.  :)

After my back pain flared up due to a fall, I thought about bed constantly.  I couldn't wait to simply lie down and try to ease the pain.  The pain would ease throughout the day, but after days and days of waking up in the morning, stiff and sore and facing a 15-minute ordeal simply to get out of bed and get my body in a vertical position, I knew something was up with the bed.  Finally, I refused to sleep there, choosing a sleeping bag on the floor instead.

sleeping on the floor--messy but helpful

Though I was stiff from the hard surface, my back began to heal, and today I deal with a little soreness and stiffness if I sit (or stand) for any length of time.

My dearest Fernando and I went shopping for a mattress, and after a long search, with lots of research, we found a solution to the bed issue.  That solution arrived last week.

On Saturday, the guys combined their efforts not only to replace our bed, but to give our master bedroom a whole new look, quite by accident, I might add.  :)

Of course it's messy--we're getting ready to move things around (that's my excuse, anyway)

The first step, of course, was to remove the old mattress.  This thing was a monster of epic proportions.  The photos speak for themselves.

(disclaimer--the mattress stain you may have noticed was from a mug of Fernando's coffee...)

Then my sweet Thomas cleaned the headboard, footboard, and railings of our existing bed frame.  And oh, my, did the carpet need a really good vacuuming!

Here's the "quite by accident" part.  Fernando asked me to show him exactly where the frame for our "new" bed should be placed.  Comments and suggestions flew, and the next thing we knew, we--I mean the guys--were moving every piece of furniture in the room, some just a foot or two, and some clear to the other side of the room.  As you saw in the image of our bedroom at the top of this post, our bedroom is long, but very narrow, which presents a host of problems with a king-sized bed and just four pieces of furniture--dresser, TV cabinet, skinny bookcase, and my project desk.

My project desk experienced most radical relocation.

Fernando's "side" of the bed was the most interesting area to clean out.  He is an organizationally challenged stuff collector (I love my husband, and I'm trying to be kind here--he's okay with me sharing this).  As he started to go through the bookcase that was "his," he stopped, placed his hand lovingly on one of the shelves, and murmured, "Wait.  Before we start, I need a minute alone (*sniff*)."  Giggles all around.  Dad's Shrine to Stuff was emptied, and all of his, well, stuff, was put in what was affectionately called Dad's Doo-Doo Box (sorry if that's an offensive term).

Here are a couple of things among the more interesting finds in that corner of the room:

Four opened boxes of Kleenex

A ten-year-old strip of negatives

Then it was time to fit the mattress supports, then the mattresses, into our existing bed frame.

Danny helping with the mattress cover

Ahhh, my first night on the new bed was strange (the smell of new sheets, sleeping on the opposite side of the bed, etc.).  But I woke up refreshed, without additional back pain.  I am a happy girl.

Here is what is left to do:

This is now cleaned off, but there are a few similar piles around the room.

I'll post more photos of the "finished" room once we organize our little piles.  :)

At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep was pleasant.

Jeremiah 31:26 nasb (taken slightly out of context by me)

Back to life,
Christine

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captured by Christine Anne