Have I ever told you how much I love sleeping?  When sleep is good it can be totally restorative.  When it's not it can be a nightmare.  I rarely suffer from insomnia.  I used to be more likely to wake up with a headache or a crooked neck.  We got a great mattress a few years ago, some really soft cotton sheets and a lightweight down blanket.  They all seem to help in creating that good night's rest. 

Finding the right combination of things I think is key to a good nights rest and your pillow is like the cherry on the sundae if you have the right one.   

A little background: I was in a car accident over 6 years where I was hit from behind by a guy going 35-40 mph and suffered a 'mild' case of whiplash and a sprained neck and it's never been the same.  The accident coupled with the fact that I spend too much time sitting down at a computer makes my neck a bit finicky and if I sleep too long with my neck in an incorrect position I get headaches.

My pillow is VERY important to me and I got a lovely offer to try out two Tempur-Pedic pillows right after I had just spoken with my chiropractor who had recommended I try one out.  For the last several weeks I have been using Tempur-Pedic's The NeckPillow and the boy has been using The ComfortPillow.

The NeckPillow's shape helps to support the neck and keep it in the proper position (spine alignment is important here!) while sleeping.  I can't really say one bad thing about the pillow.  It's comfortable and the Tempur-Pedic foam, which has been tested and proven to be the highest quality foam out there, does not make me hot when I sleep. 

The boy is a bit less picky about his pillows, but he was really pleased with The ComfortPillow.  It is made out of the same material as The NeckPillow but is not as firm and is in the shape of a traditional pillow.

Both pillow are made out of the same pressure-relieving foam that their mattresses are.  I have slept in a Tempur-Pedic mattress once and that foam does what they say it does (supports, comforms to your body) and is very comfortable.  Both pillows came with a soft, removable and washable cotton (75%) and polyester (25%) cover.  When you first take them out of the box they do have a smell, but it is in no way an offensive one and slowly goes away. 

Go here to read all about the Tempur-Pedic stats.

Go here to buy.

Just a little programming note: This is the first time I have ever reviewed products that I been given gratuitously.  Up until now I have always turned them down for a number of reasons.  I felt fairly confident this time though that I would be able to truthfully give this product a thumbs up and a recommendation based on what I had heard from various sources and am glad my instincts were right.

If it's time for a new pillow at your house, I would definitely check these out first!

I like trying to find ways to be more organized and efficient.  But I can also be easily sucked into a new system and a new set of products.  I will keep the system going for awhile but then usually find that it just doesn't work for me and it falls to the way side and sometimes I've wasted money.  After many cycles of that I cut myself off from buying any organizing products (i.e. desk organizers, electronics, planners, fancy filing products, etc...). 

However, I keep seeing these advertisements for Peter Walsh's new [IN]PLACE System for Office Max and I finally checked out the website and I am totally intrigued.  I love the simple clear white plastic material that most of the products are made out of, the white hanging file folders (Goodbye, yukko army green!) and how all the products work together but seem flexible enough to work separately or in ways unique to your needs.  The file folders and tabs are reusable which is an eco-friendly plus in my book.

I might run to OM this weekend and check all the products out in person.

So, yea.  Uh.  I was doing a second spending hiatus.  Really.  I am.  Really.

Week one: Was just ok.  I did buy a Drika B bag after literally drooling all over myself about it for like a year.  I put the money I made on ebay towards it but still had to put out some cash.  I have not received it yet and doubt very much that I will feel at all guilty about it when it arrives.  These things are like that.

And I am awaiting the arrival of two books that I purchased just before the SH#2, Nourishing Traditions and Healing Our Children.  But I have been using our public library A LOT.  I was there twice last week and am planning on going tomorrow to pick up another book.  I have a healthy stack of books next to my bed.  Remember, you can see what I am reading on Goodreads.com.

Week two: Yesterday I was MIA from the world in general.  It was just one of those days.  I ended up driving and an hour north-east of West Chester to pick up two end tables that I decided to buy that morning off of craigslist.  We have been planning on making this purchase for awhile, I have just been waiting to find the right tables at the right price.

The thought of not using the tray tables as end tables anymore makes want to cry with joy.  Seriously.  But now it is really down to business.  We are in the middle of refinancing the house we live in, trying to rent the house we used to live in but still own and are getting ready to start a rehab project at a 5-unit building in the city that my husband owns and that we hope to rent out, plus planning for a baby hopefully sometime in the not-so-distant future.  To say we have some financial planning and plotting to do would be an understatement.  During my last spending hiatus my goals were being more thoughtful about purchases, bringing less into the house and purging some of the unused items we already had.  Those are still important things to me but this time around SAVING COLD HARD CASH (and keeping it in the bank) is my main priority.

So that's where I'm at. :)

Paula, Elizabeth and LobotoME are also doing their own spending hiatuses.

I feel blessed to live in a nice, dense, walkable town and then drive 5 minutes out into the country to see beautiful things like this.  Obviously the picture does no justice to the real thing.  We were on our way back from dinner Saturday night and turned around twice to take pictures of the moon and the mist that had fallen over the farm.  On the left, barely visible, is the sweetest barn in our county.