Have I mentioned that Paul whistles in his sleep? It’s usually a random little tune pushed through his teeth. It’s not an incidental whistle, the result of his mouth-breathing ways, but it’s not a lip-pucker whistle either. If I could put it to a tune it would sound something like twee-te-twee-te-twee. Twee-te-twee-te-twee.
After my little visit at Soaring Heart , I continue on to Bedrooms & More. I walk in and tell the nice young man with his wire rimmed glasses and bottle of vitamin water what I’m looking for. He shows me three beds.
The first is the super-duper-organic bed from Organic Mattress Inc (I wonder how they came up with the name). It’s made of latex, organic wool and organic cotton. Even the thread is organic. He says they control the ozone in the manufacturing facility. I have no idea what this means. Then he says that when entering the plant, everyone must pass through a series of doors designed to control the interior atmosphere. None of the employees smoke or wear perfume (ever). They keep the wool and cotton material on a machine so it is constantly circulating (I’m picturing a giant taffy machine) because if you leave cotton or wool sitting on a shelf it can grow traces of mold.
Now, I have quite a collection of neuroses but germophobia does not happen to be one of them. I’m looking for something natural and non-toxic, but I don’t think I need my own ozone. That’s lucky for me because their least expensive twin is $1499.
Paul isn’t just a whistler. He’s a snorer. So go ahead and picture this. Paul, sleeping on his back; he’s pulled the sheets up all along the bottom of the bed so his feet can hang over. He alternates a loud snore on the inhale and a few little notes of a whistled tune on the exhale. A deliberately whistled tune. Snore: whistle. Snore, tweedly-twee-te-twee. Snore, tweedly-twee-te-twee.
Then my new friend at Bedrooms & More shows me a chemical-free, inner-spring, Therapedic-brand twin that sells for $499. Nice enough, but because it is inner-spring it will age and sag.
It’s a little difficult to believe all this snoring/whistling business. I know that. So I’ve replaced the batteries in my voice recorder and stashed it in my nightstand drawer. Now I just need to memorize the button pushing sequence so I can get it to record in the dark. I feel like I’m stalking a nocturnal wild animal. As soon as I have something I’ll post it for you. I promise. (I know, you can hardly wait!)
The winner of the mattress showdown is the last option: the Natura Sunshine 6” latex twin. That’s 6” of all-natural, non-off-gassing latex, guaranteed not to hold an impression for 20 years, encased in a chemical-free cotton and wool package that serves as a natural flame retardant.
For $670 Josie is going to have this bed for more than 20 years. She’s going to have it forever. We’re going to attach it to her ankle. Instead of a ball and chain, she’ll have a mattress and chain. We’ll consider it part of her dowry. Instead of a goat or a cow and a trunk full of clothes, we’ll send her off with an old golden retriever, and an ancient mattress that still doesn’t hold an impression.
Once the mattress decision was made, we purchased an inexpensive poly blend mattress pad without any plastic, petroleum or chemical additions. We topped it with this wool and cotton, waterproof and machine washable puddle pad. Then inexpensive cotton sheets and blankets because from what I understand none of the bedding is treated with flame retardants and even if pesticides are used on the cotton, very little of it transfers through to the cotton fluff.
Pillows? Don’t even get me started on pillows… After many hours (okay, minutes) of reading pillow labels I finally found a few that were not treated with iso-guard, sani-clean, rest-block or any other bullshit chemical created solely for the purposes of charging me more. Keep your damn chemicals to yourself. Oh, and another thing, no more dry clean only bedding. I’d rather have cooties than Perc any day. Eventually I bought three cheap machine-washable, poly-filled, chemical-free (as far as I could tell) pillows.
Well, finally, the mystery is solved, the puzzle complete, the big girl bed and accessories acquired.
Of course, I didn’t arrive at the decision to buy the Sunshine after just one visit. It took… a few. And a bit of pondering (obsessing?). Some of that pondering was done at night when I was supposed to be sleeping but instead was listening to my snoring/whistling husband and imagining the flame retardants working their way from my mattress into my blubber. I couldn’t turn my brain off and the day after I bought Josie’s mattress, I went back and bought one for Paul and me. New beds for everyone! Another round of new beds over here please bartender! Yes, that’s right, more beds for the crazy lady.
We bought an Englander 5003 all natural firm latex mattress. She’s a real beaut.
Tweedly-twee-te-twee.
Ask Paul or Mark or Steve:
“A dollar inside of a dollar inside of a dollar inside of a dollar!”
“Where?”
“Everywhere!!”
Ha! “It was cold, I was just a kid. It was cold outside…”
Post your favorite sleep talking quote here…
So, I got a text from CNN Breaking News yesterday that said: “– Medical journal Lancet fully retracts 1998 study linking MMR vaccine to autism, citing “incorrect” elements of research.” What do you think about this? Was the research done wrong and there could be a link? Or, is there actually no link? And, what about mercury? This study bred a whole generation of neurotic mom’s. I have a good friend who has her son on his very own vaccination schedule to ensure that she minimizes the risk of Autism. She works full time, has another child and found the time to consult multiple guides and draw up her own plan. Each time she gets a shot out of sequence, she has to pay $50 that insurance won’t cover. Personally, I did not give one of my girls the Swine Flu vaccination because the only doses had mercury – I know it is different, but are we all unnecessarily neurotic? How do we ensure that that we are getting the right information. Hmmm?
I’ve been waiting for this. Thanks for doing all the legwork for me. 🙂
My favorite, half-awake, sleep-talking quote: “I just dreamed you were a road. Did you ever love a road?”
I was just a kid! It was cold…
What is that?!! Was it you? Jody? I know it’s wonderful. Now remind me who said it!
From my then 2 year old, through sobs, “no no, don’t take my candy!”
HA! I just recorded J snoring for you…and he wonders why I am not getting more sleep…
(BTW I am the sleep talker and I am outing myself before J can “Aquatots! Full-Time!” )
Aquatots full time. That is so awesome.
Oh, I love this quote Barb. I hope you use it in a story someday (if you haven’t already).
On the first night of our honeymoon.
“Move over Sandy”
My name is Anne…
Okay, first off; great job on the mattresses, Katherine! Looks to me like you made a super choice for Josie. After reading this post though, I have to rock the boat a bit. Now you know I am an hysterical mommy; my husband coined the term for God’s sake! I replaced the plastic, the water bottles, I use dried beans to avoid the chemical lining in cans……That said, when is it alright to curl up in that cosy, warm corner of your room that is denial? I find myself asking this question after every mommy panic attack I have over decisions I need to make for my children, for myself… When is good enough, enough??? When is my constant researching actually doing my family harm? Should we be playing and laughing more? Should I really make my girls cry and tell them they cannot wear their favorite fleece “feet jammies” anymore because the flame retardants could be dangerous or is it okay to wait till they fall apart and I a have to throw them out? Should I support my daughter’s Brownie troop by buying her cookies even though I would never buy such cookies in the store? Should I force my 44lb 9 year old to ride in a 5 point harness even though her friends don’t even use a booster anymore (I settled for the booster by the way.) These are things I have had to convince myself to let go of. Just as I think I will let my kids keep sleeping on their chemical ridden mattresses until it is time to invest in new ones. This is not a slam on your decision at all beacause I am sure I would make the same choice you made if I were in the market for mattresses (believe me I wish I had made that decision when I bought my mattresses.) All I am asking is, is it okay to go to that cozy place sometimes???? Please say it is okay:)
Excuse me Jody… Are you calling me hysterical? Are you telling me I’m being an overly hysterical, hysterical mommy? Oh yes you are! And you are not wrong.
Seriously, you know I hear you. I try to look at the big picture, at overall exposure for me and my family and prioritize. There are things I think are really important, like a healthy diet and organic foods and a low-plastics diet, but there is so much other stuff out there. Overall, when I can I try to minimize exposure and risk. I don’t think we can eliminate all dangers and all toxins. It’s just not realistic. We just do what we can. It’s like the cancer post. I just try to tell myself that I’m doing my best and that has to be good enough.
Josie drank formula from bpa-laden bottles for the first six months of her life. The only bpa-free bottles around were the Born Free and the nipples were just too big for her mouth and she ended up with an upset stomach. She needed Dr. Brown’s bottles but they did not have a bpa-free product. In the end I felt like Dr. Brown’s was the way to go. Now, of course, they have bpa free and glass bottles. We do what the best we can.
PS –everyone should eat more girl scout cookies. How I miss samoas…
In case you already decided for an Englander mattress, you made the right choice. All of you who are considering buying a bed from this brand, you should definitely get a closer look to see what suits your preferences best. It’s not easy to pick a new sleeping surface, since we are very sensitive to the firmness level. And the good thing about an Englander mattress is that you can choose between several different levels of comfort.