Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Kapok?



I was looking for pillows for my living room chairs. I found some neat pillows on Etsy, but still needed to find inserts. Decided to look in to a "green" option for pillows. (You thought I had completely given up on that topic, eh? No, still mulling it all over! Not forgotten!)

I came across this fiber called kapok. It is used as stuffing for mattresses, pillows, and, since it is bouyant/water resistant - life jackets! It comes from an amazing tree called the Ceiba, or Kapok tree, which grows in warm places like Central America and Asia. It is a majestic tree, can grow to be so enormous (see picture!) which makes seed pods from which this kapok fiber springs out - sproing! - like milkweed seed! Anyhow, it's a natural happy substance to stuff your pillow with. And I suppose noone will chop down an enormous Kapok tree if it's fuzzy pods are profitable. One spot said it was a good substitute for down stuffing, but then I read that it is much lighter than cotton. Seems to me the nice thing about a feather pillow is it's weight. Anyways, I still haven't even purchased the pillows because I haven't had time yet to shop around. But wanted to share the kapok info with you. In case you are in need of a pillow insert today.

Did I mention that the pillows from Etsy are going to be small monogramed pillows - a "K" and an "M." I will pretend they are Valentine's Day gifts for us. If you guessed that Matt probably will not be all excited about monogramed pillows, you're right! But if you think I am being selfish (by giving a present that I myself want), then you have never tried to give Matt a present. After years of trying to get him something that he will like, and him being consistantly bored and underwhelmed, I've recently started just giving him things that I think he MIGHT like, but that I know I will like. This way, at least someone enjoys the gift!

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