Zebra Pajamas

While continuing my New Year’s quest to ‘Feng Shui’ our house by getting rid of clutter, I finally worked my way upstairs to the master bedroom closet. Since I’ve always followed ‘Mother’s Closet Rule’ which decrees that when you buy a new item of clothing you must give away something to good-will; the closet wasn’t as cluttered as say, the old boxes of Christmas ornaments in the basement. Still, it was rather messy, and a few dozen new items had managed to find their way in, without my taking time to discard any old ones.

I started with the pajama section of the closet, and it wasn’t pretty. The first item to go was a pair of pink silk pajama bottoms with a large hole in them. I hadn’t worn them for months and had tried in vain to repair the hole. Though it was terribly difficult to let go of them, I held my breath and tossed. ‘Holey’ pink pajama bottoms were followed by two fuzzy-ball cotton sweaters with no elbows, and a pair of red silk capris whose fabric had grown embarrassingly thin in critical places. The reason I hesitated before tossing my beloved pajamas was simple. It had become truly challenging to replace them. Maybe you’ve noticed this too?

I like to sleep in long-sleeve cotton t-shirts and silk pajama bottoms because silk is slick and doesn’t get wrapped in the sheets, and the cotton shirts are warm and soft. For a long time, I purchased new pajama bottoms from Gap Body®, or from a now-defunct gift shop on the Oregon Coast. Since my sources have dried up, I’ve spent hours searching the internet, reading the small-print on worn pajama labels, in hopes of locating a new pajama-bottom supplier. Now, having bravely tossed my old pajamas – like it or not – it was time to buy new ones.

Since my time was limited that day, I decided to replace my old pajamas by shopping local in the somewhat limited selection of stores in our small city. I remembered a sign I’d passed dozens of times for a ‘pajama outlet’ a few miles from our house. I decided to give it a shot. After following the arrows into the industrial area of town, I finally located a shop with a small, hand-lettered red sign in the window that said Lazy One®. I stepped inside the surprisingly crowded shop, and began to peruse the racks.

The store sold pajamas for men, women and children. The pajama bottoms and tops were nicely made, of cotton knit, and when I held them up, they were well-cut and long enough for my longer-than-average legs. There was just one problem: they weren’t silk. Actually, there was another problem too: they were emblazoned with large colorful animals which was not my usual taste in nightwear.

Because I was somewhat desperate, I selected a pair of hot pink pajama bottoms with black-and-white zzz-ebras on them. Cute – if I were four years old, but I’m not. Still, they were soft, nicely cut, and when I tried them on, they fit perfectly. I continued scanning the racks and discovered a yellow pair with pink, purple and coral starfish printed on them. I put them in my shopping basket, and then for good measure I selected one last pair of soft, baby-blue pajama bottoms, emblazoned with somewhat tasteful white butterflies.

That night, as I dressed for bed, I slipped into the hot-pink zebra bottoms and a new white cotton t-shirt. Though the jammies weren’t silk, and they glowed in the dark, I was amazed at how comfortable they were. Sometimes, it’s surprising what we can discover in an unnoticed shop in our own neighborhood. In fact, the pajamas felt so wonderful, I decided to make chocolate treats and have a pajama party in them. See the recipe below, for decadent party treats:

Chocolate Peanut Bars
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
Dash of Salt
1 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup (half a pack) of chocolate chips

1) Combine syrup, sugar, and salt in sauce pan; bring to a full boil.
2) Stir in peanut butter. Remove from heat.
3) Stir in vanilla, cereal, and chocolate chips.
4) Press into a 9x9x2 inch pan. (I usually double the recipe and use a 9 x 13” pan).
Chill and cut into 1” squares. Yummy!

As I sat in my favorite television-watching chair and popped in a favorite ‘chick flick’ I realized that cleaning out closets can have unexpected benefits. In addition to improving the ‘Feng-Shui’ in my bedroom, I was enjoying new pajamas and decadent chocolate too!

Mom-Mom