and baby makes 6!

This is me

A rare picture of me.  I had just returned from a run, and am looking pretty sweaty and shabby.  I have 8 more pounds to go to finish my weight loss, but I am feeling like my old self again.  Running every day, and am training for a 1/2 marathon this October.  This is me.  I can’t  just go out and get some exercise.  It has to be a suffer-fest.  I just have to be out there, going with the moment.  Everything I do is pushed to extreme.  Running when it is 97 degrees.  i am insane.  My runs are not exercise, they are about survival.  Survival of my body and mind.  To push myself to the edge.  I need that.  I can’t explain it, but I just do.

This isn’t just about finishing a race.  It is about the journey getting there.  The whole journey.  The one in which I found myself again…….and it feels so good.  

Squishy

My pillows are a disgrace. A complete disgrace.

I do not like a firm pillow. I tend to get a really stiff neck. This is not to say that firm pillows are bad. It just shows the degree in which I have ruined my vertebrate by sleeping on something that amounts to air.

Exhibit A:

This is my beloved pillow. It is squishy. Can you see its wonderful squishiness? At night, I squish it all together, and lay my head upon it and slumber wonderfully…….and then I wake up with a crick in my neck. Or sore shoulders from tucking my arms under the pillow to make it higher.

Billy has one of these as well, but he just holds his. See, he likes to hold something at night, and since my body pillow (also feather, God love it) has replace him, he clutches 100% goose down in compensation.

I have tried other pillows. I squished mine to the side once and tried a memory foam pillow. The sales clerk assured me that the smell of toxic chemicals would fade from it once it was in use, but that never happened. I even tried to wash the smell out, which killed the pillow. Have you ever tried to pick up memory foam that has absorbed every ounce of water from the washer? I didn’t think so, but let me tell you it was heavy as I heaved it in the trash.

Alas, I was back to my squishy pillow.

Way back in the spring, I was asked by Select Comfort if I would like to receive for free and objectively review their Customized “Create Your Perfect Pillow” by Sleep Numberon the blog. I normally don’t do reviews this time of year (Christmas time, sure. Giveaways are so fun), but I jumped the chance for a free pillow after checking out the site. Look, they have down fill! Squishy! So, one afternoon I sat down with one of their pillow experts and created my perfect pillow . She talked me through the three step process, and helped me make choices based on my preferences, allergies, and such.

Then I waited anxiously for my pillow.

When I opened the box, I was all “Look! 2 pillows!!”, but it was actually the outer and inner shell. Also in the package were two different pillow protectors, which I will talk about later.

My first impression was how amazing the fabric and the quality of the construction were. The outer shell fabric is cotton with a light teal piping. The edges are squarish, and there is a zipper that unzips one end and side. When you open it, the interior is all sealed into a pouch to hold the inner support core.

For my pillow I chose a down outer shell, with a down inner core. I wanted a pillow that I could shape and squish under my head, so my pillow expert recommended down all the way.

To assemble your pillow, all you have to do is insert the inner core into the outer comfort shell.

Carnivorous, cannibalistic pillow.

and zip it on up.

As I mentioned, creating your custom pillow is a three step process. Step 1, the outer shell, step 2 the inner core, and step 3 involved selcting your pillow protector. I could not make up my mind between the cotton and the In Balance protector. I was intrigued by the idea of Temperature Balancing material, but love the feel of cotton. The sent me both to try, and right now the In Balance is on my pillow.

Sleeping on it was tough the first few nights. I was sooo used to the other pillow, that having a bit of support took some getting used to. Even though both the shell and core are made with down, there is some support. You can still squish it up, but there is most certainly more form to the pillow than just a plain old down pillow. This is what I needed, but like I said, it took some getting used to.

So far, I am happy with my pillow. My 11 yo is as well, and he keeps stealing it off of my bed to sleep on it. Although it is a bit more firm than I like (read this to mean it actually has some form instead of the weight of your head parting the down and inevitably resting on the mattress like my old pillow) I am getting used to it and have noticed less neck and shoulder pain when I sleep with it. Why less shoulder pain? Well, I don’t ball my arm up under the pillow to add support, so my shoulders are not at odd angles all night. Also, my head is more in-line with my spine, so less neck kinking. I know I need this, especially with all the surfing we do and the strain it puts on my shoulders and neck from paddling.

As for the pillow protector, I have been using the In Balance, and it actually works. It seems to keep the pillow cool, which is awesome. It is also 300-thread count cotton for the high thread count snob in me. I like it so much, I haven’t even tried the other plain cotton one yet.

For myself, I asked for the down+down+In Balance, and that combo has worked. The other materials you can use to custom make your pillow are down alternative, feather, memory foam, contoured memory foam and even a silver down alternative that has antimicrobial properties.

Go make yourself a pillow! I priced pillows like this in the store, and the prices were comparable, so it makes sense to get a custom one instead if you are in the market for a nice pillow.  There is even a sale going on there now.  I have my eye on this.  Wonder if it comes in down squishiness?

She’s a Daddy’s girl now

She speaks a language all her own
Just a little like her mother

And she knows
I love her so
As I tuck her ‘neath the covers

Father, daughter
Born by the water

Surfs up
Suns down
Life in a beach town.

Father, Daughter
Down by the water

Shell seek,
Dreams float
Life’s good on our boat ~ Jimmy Buffett

Wordless Wednesday

Local

Yesterday we took off and went to the beach to go surfin’. The waves were fun, but smallish, and there were not many people at all. We surfed pretty much by ourselves most of the morning and early afternoon.

Mid-afternoon some groms showed up with their father? chaperone? These guys were real yahoos on their short little boards. They were carving and getting air on the inside, and Bill and Cory were surfing the outside bigger waves. Billy was catching waves left and right, and riding them in all the way to the inside. Let me back up and explain “inside” and “outside”….it is pretty much how it sounds. The outside is the further most places where the waves break. At a long pier, it is usually around the T-head or in front of it. The inside waves are basically the sandbars located closer to the beach. On a small day, the inside is where the short boarders ride, as the outside waves roll too slow and they need a fast wave with a steep front.

On a long board, you can ride it all pretty much. You can catch the waves on the outside, and if you are skilled, stay with the wave as it doubles back up and breaks a second time. SO, this is what Billy was doing.

As he would ride the wave into the inside, the Yahoos! would try and drop in on him and cut him off the wave. This was just not going to happen with my husband. You NEVER drop in in front of someone who is standing up, riding a wave, and you most certainly don’t do it to Billy. As I watched, a grom tried to drop in on Bill’s wave, and Bill grabbed the nose of his board, and shoved him out……while riding the wave on his board. I can’t imagine being able to do this. I have enough trouble concentrating on my ride, let alone having the balance to bend down, grab the nose of another surfboard with someone on it, and shove it out of the backside of the wave.

This happened several times, and the older guy, maybe 30-35yo, paddled over to Billy and said something like “hey, you don’t cut in on the boys on the inside.” And Bill was all “what are you talking about? I was riding those waves, they were mine” and the guy said “no, you are not listening. You don’t ride the inside when the short boarders are there”. and Bill replied, “I have ears just like you, and those were my waves. I was standing up and riding them when those boys dropped in on me.” The older guy said something like “You don’t understand” and paddled away.

After Bill came in and told me about it, we were standing with a friend as the older dude came in. As he walked passed, Bill said “Hi, how are you doing” and the guy pretended to shoot Bill with his hand. I said “Kook” to him.

We don’t get much of that BS around here. In fact, I have not experienced anything like that since 20 years ago surfing the Flagship in Galveston. These guys were not locals as far as we knew. They were probably from south of here, and were jerks. The older guy had left his 2 small children, a girl and a boy, probably ages 10 and 7, on the beach ALONE while he pretended to be the surf police for several hours. They sat at a picnic table behind me playing “I spy” while their dad surfed and neglected them. The pier is a place where the bums and druggies sleep it off, and I cannot IMAGINE leaving my kids unattended there. Insane.

So basically, I have something to say to these idiots and you can count on the fact that next time I see them, they will get an earfull. Young man (yeah, I am your elder jerk, so when you hoot and holler at me from the pier, remember I am old enough to be your mommy), my husband ‘understands”. When you were just a one celled organism in your mamas ovaries, Bill had already been surfing for more than 12 years. When you were toddling around in your overfilled diaper, he had been to California, Mexico and Hawaii more times than you could count on your fingers, you Kook.

So get this. We are locals my friend. You, are not. Next time you try and educate someone whose surf experience totals all three of your combined ages, watch out. The next time it might be the more fierce of the locals here. My husband gently rebuked you by shoving you out of his wave numerous times (yes, he schooled you). The next guy might not be so patient. One surfer out there told my husband and son that  “if those boys pulled that #$*& on me, I would jump off my board and educate them properly” on surf etiquette and Tribal Law. See the part saying “Do Not Drop In”. What part of that do you not understand? We have never heard the rule of “No longboards on the inside”. Oh, that must have been one you made up to suit your Kook self. Aloha.

I see you

Morning visitors to share my coffee with. Are they not so very graceful and beautiful?

God never ceases to bring tears to my eyes with His amazing creatures. Bravo, my Father.