Thanks for all the great bed-related tips. Rudi and I have read all of them and will definitely use the wisdom you’ve shared.

But since we won’t be buying a bed tonight, instead I’ll share three beautiful things from the past week:

1. Sarah remembered I was very excited about the Library at Alexandria during her trip planning. Over the weekend, a postcard arrives from there. Thanks, Sarah!

2. A nearly full moon lights up an inky sky.

3. As we wander the West Village looking for a lunch spot, I glance across the street and spy a garden behind a wall. We cross the avenue and enter into the park at St. Luke in the Field.

And just because this was too amazing to leave off the list:

4. I fail my car inspection on Tuesday. After some repairs yesterday, I plan to head back today, but am running too late to go before work. And then I miscalculate the closing time of the DMV station (but catch the mistake in the nick of time when it occurs to me to double-check). When I pull up to the building twenty minutes before they lock the gates, I’m able to drive right up to the bay. My car goes through practically faster than I can walk the length of the building’s corridor, the attendant gives me the thumbs up and a smile, and I find myself back at the office within my lunch hour with a pass sticker on my car’s windshield.

What’s been beautiful in your life this week?

Rudi and I have declared 2010 to be The Year of the Bed.

When we graduated from college, Rudi and I each bought a futon for our two apartments. Rudi’s frame was poorly assembled by the delivery men and the slats cracked within a year or two. (Actually, it was probably just over a year, since that would have been the warranty period, I suspect.)

Mine, which I bought from a small, independent Middletown shop the night I signed the lease on my first apartment, was called the Cheapy Sleepy. It cost me all of $200 and was the most I’d ever spent on an item at that time. (Frankly, it still ranks up there.)

Fourteen years later, we’re still sleeping on my Cheapy Sleepy. Sure, we eventually had to shift Rudi’s thin mattress under my slightly more substantial one, but, overall, it’s probably well outlasted the manufacturer’s expected lifetime. The frame has held up remarkably well, and it wouldn’t surprise me if it walks off from the corner quite quickly after we put it out for the scavengers.

Rudi and I regularly wake up feeling achy these days since you can now feel the slats through both layers of cushion, so the futon’s days with us are finally numbered. Our goal this year is to buy a replacement, and we’re thinking an actual bed with a mattress and box spring is in our future. Plus, frankly, it would be nice to actually have an under-the-bed space in which to store things.

However, we don’t really know anything about buying a bed. Does Consumer Reports rank them? Or is it really a matter of walking into a showroom and lying down on each floor sample we can afford to see which one we both agree on? Is there something else we should keep in mind?

Leave us tips in the comments, please. Rudi and I would love to benefit from your advice. Our backs and hips thank you in advance.