I was lying in bed last night, tossing and turning and mentally going over my plans for the coming day. Topping the list was a drive from Portland (Oregon) to Oregon City to meet fellow glass artist Marilyn.

Marilyn had contacted me about a fair quantity of stained glass that she is looking to sell. She estimates that she has about 70 square feet of streaky, 60 square feet of transparent, and potentially a bunch of opaque for sale. She is downsizing and as any of us that have gone through that knows, we have to make tough choices about what to let go and what to keep. In Marilyn’s case, the glass is not going to make the cut (yes, pun intended).

The asking price is more than reasonable, and with my local stained glass retailer gone out of business, this would be a super opportunity for me to stock up on some beautiful additions to my glass supply. And we’re not talking little scraps. We’re talking large pieces, even some quarter sheets.

Ah, but speaking of sheets… as I said, I was lying in bed, tossing and turning. You see, my futon mattress is no longer sleep-inducing. With a deep gulley down the middle, it’s kind of like sleeping in a roadside ditch. Minus the road. And ditch detritus. And I really don’t know how it feels to sleep in a ditch, having never done so. That I recall.

Okay, let’s forget the ditch analogy. Suffice it to say, my bed is not comfy, and I wake up with neck pain and shoulder pain. I know my many-years-too-old mattress is in great part to blame, and it’s in dire need of replacement.

I hate spending money on something as boring as a futon mattress. Especially when there are much more fun, beautiful, exciting things to spend it on. Say… glass, for instance.

Hence, my tough choice. Do I want to sleep at night, or do I want to have a totally kickass glass selection at my disposal? I got up in the morning and made the only decision a right-thinking person would make. I drove down to see Marilyn and her glass.

As hard as I tried to justify buying the glass, I just couldn’t silence the little voice in my head that kept saying, “You can’t sleep on glass, you know.” And so, sadly, I had to leave. Glassless.

I stopped off at a futon store on my way back home, and, try as I might, I just couldn’t get enthused as salesman Mack explained the virtues of varying layers of wool and cotton and other stuff. I may have missed something in the materials discussion, but I’m pretty sure he mentioned plastic bottles, too.

The good news in all of this is that if any of you live near – or are willing to travel to – Portland, OR, you can avail yourselves of this killer deal on glass. Marilyn wants to sell it as one lot, not piecemeal, but she might be flexible in that. And she’s not interested in shipping it, so you’d have to arrange to physically pick it up.

If you’re interested, let me know through email or my contact page, and I’ll put you in touch with Marilyn.

Tonight, as I lay tossing and turning in my futon gulley that may or may not feel like sleeping in a ditch, I’ll be planning tomorrow’s visit to see Mack the futon guy. *Sigh* Not nearly as exciting as going to see glass. In fact, just thinking about futon shopping is making me drowsy.

Maybe I’ll sleep tonight after all.