Tuesday, March 8, 2011

PFAM: Those Guilty Pleasures

My birthday was last week, and my husband surprised me with a thoughtful gift that was absolutely perfect: gorgeous, high-thread-count lavender sheets. 

He'd considered buying me quilting supplies, but due to fatigue and joint pain, it's been a long time since I've been able to quilt. "So I thought about what do you do, and the answer I came up with was sleep, so I bought you something you could enjoy when you're resting up," he told me. (It also helped that our favorite set of sheets had gotten a tear in the fitted sheet, so I'd turned it into strips for rag-curling Ellie's hair.)

And it's true, good sheets and good pillows are definitely one of my guilty pleasures. A related one: about a year ago, I got a ton of jammie pants when they went on clearance. And I spend a lot of time in jammies (so much, I think I've mentioned before, that Ellie likes to call me The Mommy Pajammy), something that still feels decadent to me four years into this chronic illness even if it's as much a necessity as indulgence.

I was delighted to find out I'm not the only one who finds the occasional guilty pleasure in spite of my chronic illness. Thank you to everyone who participated in this edition of the Patients For A Moment blog carnival, and especially to our wrangler, Leslie of Getting Closer To Myself.

Wendy of Picnic With Ants, wrote of her self-indulgences in Guilty Pleasures While Having a Chronic Illness, many of which I share (especially time on my computer -- what would I be capable of if stopped spending time on Facebook?). While you're there, be sure to take a look at some of her other posts and the great art she creates for her blogs!

Kathy of FibroDAZE used photos to illustrate her example of A Guilty (Yet Necessary) Pleasure that made me smile. How come my cat isn't that cute? 

Oooh -- Maureen Kaech of Mo Is Blogging...I Think is giving me ideas ... fleece sheets? Who knew?! Check out her other indulgences, which include some wonderful ideas for saving your energy for more important things than the mundane. Oh, and Pop-Tarts are a great guilty pleasure too! Mmmm! (I think Strawberry ones are the only ones Ellie has had. They're good, but if I'm going to splurge, I want the S'more flavored ones!)


Headstrong of Headstrong With Lupus was diagnosed with lupus (SLE), common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) and anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS) in a matter of months, but has learned to appreciate the smaller moments as well as life on a (slightly) slower pace than she previously lived. She writes about it in PFAM and Other Guilty Pleasures. I think that her firsthand experience with chronic illness will make her an awesome doctor when she finishes her studies, and based on what I read in her blog, I have no doubt at all she'll succeed at her goals!


Amber in Tennessee describes herself as a silver-lining kind of girl, and it shows in her post Blessings in Disguise at Fibro of Oz, where she writes about even finding things to appreciate about what she calls her lazy days in bed.


Maureen, this time from sunshine and chaos, has a long, fabulous list of her choices in Guilty Pleasures of a Chronically Ill Girl. I think we should all adopt the sentiment she wrote for ourselves: "I  believe guilty pleasures are just as necessary to our health and mental well-being as any of the exercise, medicine and lifestyle changes we have made."


Thank you so much to my fabulous contributors! I appreciate that so many of you chose to participate this week, and your creativity is an inspiration to me!


Brittney, who blogs at The Road I'm On, will be hosting the next PFAM edition on March 23. Her topic is one I'm sure we can all write lots of posts about: Easy For Them To Say, Hard For You To Do. Get the details here of how to contribute. And if you're a blogger, please consider hosting your own edition; you can find the schedule here and let Leslie know when you'd like to sign up!

9 comments:

Pink Doberman said...

OOooooH Sheets!! LOVE Soft Sheets!! Lucky Birthday Girl! Thanks for hosting!!
Tonja

Anonymous said...

Yay! New Sheets! We have a set that is made from t-shirt material, I love those sheets!
Thanks for the lovely description of my blog.

wendy

Penelope said...

This post really made me smile, as last summer, my husband surprised me with a delivery of high thread-count sheets in...wait for it....lavender!

They have these huge, deep pockets on the fitted sheet that easily go over our mattress without us having to twist ourselves into pretzels to make the bed.

If you have to spend a lot of time in bed, you might as well make it as enjoyable as possible. *smile*

Headstrong said...

Ms. Aviva, Thanks so much for taking the time to display these great posts - am excited to have found a number of new blogs to add to the reader! Best to you and to all the contributors!
Cheers,
Headstrong

Aviva said...

Yay for nice sheets! And I *am* a lucky birthday girl! :-)

So, a funny (to me at least :-) story: I got scolded a bit on Facebook for mentioning in my status after I got the sheets that I was appalled Scott had shopped at Bed Bath & Beyond without one of the 20 percent off coupons (which I have stacked up!), which of course meant I was going to have to go to the store get an adjustment. I mean, seriously -- who pays full retail at BB&B? :-) Scott totally expected that and although he teased me slightly that evening about how anal I am at using coupons at places that constantly offer them. (I also won't eat at Sweet Tomatoes, one of my favorite restaurants, if I don't have a coupon with me. :-)

Apparently, I didn't sound appreciative enough. But I am! Honest!! :-)

@Wendy: Ellie LOVES the set of sheets she has that's the t-shirt jersey material. They're her favorite set, even though they're blue instead of pink. :-)

@Penelope: Our husbands have good taste! :-) Are yours from BB&B too? Might be the same ones. ;-)

@Headstrong: Me too! That's my favorite thing about PFAM! :-)

@Tonja: Thanks to you for reading! :-)

WinnyNinny PooPoo said...

Thanks for sharing the marvelous posts. Those high thread count sheets get sooooooo soft. Hope you have some pajamas that match!

Barbara Olson said...

Thanks for sharing these interesting stories. I referenced PFAM on my Medssape blog, On Your Meds this week (http://blogs.medscape.com/onyourmeds). Hope this sends some readers your way.

Thanks again!
Barb

Aviva said...

Barb: Thank you!

Winny: LOL, I'll have to put some matching jammies on my wish list! ;-)

hibernationnow said...

Please tell me they smell like lavender too, please.......even if it is only in my imagination!!!