Keep Your Textbooks!

I have not been a student of any formal kind for about 9 years, but when I was working on a degree in Literature, I had to buy several volumes of the Norton Anthology of Literature (English I & II, American, etc).

For no real reason, I kept these, never having opened one of them since the 90's, but they helped me get a good night's sleep last night! Let me tell you how.

The night before last I was sitting in bed, leaning against the headboard reading a novel. I heard an odd cracking sound. I got out of bed and looked to discover a crack in the wood that makes the side rail of our bed (this is the wooden bed, headboard, siderails and footboard I bought for our 5th anniversary 2 years ago). There is a metal piece that extends from the post of the footboard into a slot in the siderail and this had started to crack through the top of the siderail.

I could not tell the extent of the damage, but I got back on the bed and a few minutes later another crack and I shifted downward about 4 inches. The siderail was split in two. I slept on the other side of the bed that night, and when Amy got home from work yesterday morning I advised her to stay on her side.

I called Ashley Furniture, where we bought the bed and was referred to an 800 number. I called there to find there is a one year warranty, but I can but the replacement sideboard for about $25. Okay, not too bad. The weird part is this lady has to create an S.O. which I presume is a sales order. Then someone will call me and I will have to go to the local store to pay for the piece and it will then be shipped, but she said the S.O. may take a few days. Why?

We are looking at probably a week before I can try to fix the bed, which does not work well wor a married couple trying to sleep. The primary need for the bed is to support the frame, which includes wood that stretches across the bottom of the bed between the siderails, so to prevent further damage I need something under me to hold up the side rail.

This is where Norton comes in. I think it took 3 volumes, each about 3 inches think, stacked on top of each other and wedged under the siderail and all was well! My education continues to pay for itself!