Wednesday February 19, 2025
More progress on the new bed swap!
Welcome, I’m Mary Louisa Locke, the author of the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco Mystery series and the Caelestis Science Fiction series. In this daily newsletter, I reflect on my life as an indie author trying to age gracefully. Occasionally, I will also publish some of my shorter fiction in this newsletter to read for free.
Daily Diary, Day 1631:
Yesterday morning was spent figuring out how to disassemble the old queen-sized platform bed in order to move it into the guest room. We bought the bed in 2006, so we didn’t have any instructions, and while we could see some hardware in joints, couldn’t figure out to access. Finally, my husband went online, found the name of a company that still sold this model, and got instructions from them. Easy-peasy, all my husband had to do is turn the frame over and bang it with a mallet, and it fell apart (we are hoping it will go together as easily.) Fortuitously, after much searching, I had just found the soft mallet we have hidden away behind some junk to use for the banging of said frame.
Unfortunately, in the process of literally lifting and twisting a very small piece of furniture, I pulled a muscle in my back. Consequently, while my husband took a break before trying to assemble the new platform bed by taking Leeza for her long walk of the day, I sat and iced my back. Despite having been careful the past few days, I know had been putting a good deal of strain on my muscles in general, running up and down stairs, cleaning various places that were being exposed as we moved furniture, etc. Thankfully a day of advil and icing, and sleeping in the brand-new king-sized bed last night, I woke up with the pulled muscle feeling almost normal. And yes, my husband (with a little gingerly help from me) got the new platform frame assembled and the new (oh my heavens how ridiculously large) king mattress levered on to it.
Softer and bouncier than the old mattress, but I really appreciated the extra room, and my husband thought it was better on his hips. Best of all, I didn’t wake up with any new spots of pain---which can happen when sleeping on a new bed. So as of right now, I think we can say all the work has been worth it.
This morning the next task was to assemble the new, narrower night stand for me that was needed because of the space the new bed is taking up. We just finished this, and it was quite simple, comparatively.
Otherwise, regular busy day, I just cleaned and ordered groceries and started laundry, next task after helping out with the assembly of the night stand is paying bills. And I also have a phone call scheduled for after lunch. I will leave you with the photo of the new bed, and the new nightstand.
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I can definitely relate to your experience today. My tough task was not with a large bed, but rather an artificial Christmas tree that was no longer being used. It was stored up in the attic. Fortunately it is in three pieces. However, I had to carry each piece down the ladder from the attic and then bring it down out to the curb for trash pick up tomorrow. Not only did I have to do that, but I had to break down the very large shipping box that it was stored in. It’s 2/3 done, but my back was crying out enough. Like you I overdid it. I’m about ready to put on an ice pack. Although I’m hoping not to, I think I may have to take a couple of Advil. At least we have some results to show for our pain. P.S. The bed looks nice.
King mattresses are the best. Real king, not California king. The whole point of buying a bed is to get it wider, not longer, if you share it with someone. Or even if you don't but have a habit of falling off the side, I guess.
Protip: if you and your sweetie disagree on mattress firmness, get a pair of single beds and frames and the specially-cut piece of foam that fills in the gaps.