Tidbits

The author of one of the blogs on my favorites list commented back to me on a comment I'd made and in his comment, he remarked that he's noticed I seem to be "all over the place" with respect to the time of day I post or comment. He said he's seen where I've visited in the wee hours of the morning, various times during the day and early evening too and thus, he wanted to know "When do you sleep?"

Well, I've always had a tendency to be a big night owl. It's a family joke within my Mom's side of the family that they were all night owls. My four youngest cousins were the exceptions within the family as my aunt and uncle had very strict bedtimes for those kids - between 8 and 9 p.m. - so anytime they were here, it was pretty much a given that those cousins would have given up the ghost early on in the evening whereas I would still be like the energizer bunny, staying up till at the very least, midnight and often later than that.

In my twenties, I worked long -sometimes VERY long hours - twelve to fourteen hour days, usually six days a week were a big part of my life and when I did get done for the day, it was also part of my mode of operation to frequent a little local bar too and rarely did I get home till 1 or 2 a.m. Then, after my divorce, I worked midnight shift for almost four years, plus during the day, I pretty much catnapped - a couple hours here, run and delivery Avon, home to fix supper, catch a few other customers and then, grab a really quick nap for maybe an hour before getting ready for work. After that job, I generally worked afternoon/evening shift from 4 p.m. to midnight but getting off at midnight often left me still wired and I would rarely go to bed then before 4 a.m. Now, well now, I have no true routine at all. Plus since I am usually up way late at night and the little guy - my 16-month-old grandson has been having sleep issues for the past several weeks now and often wasn't falling asleep till between 2 and 4 a.m., well it's up to me to be here with him till he does finally crash. This week, he's done much better and has generally been falling asleep by 1:30 in the morning but that still doesn't mean I go to sleep as soon as he is down for the count. Here it is now 5 in the morning and I'm still awake.

The past two days though my sleep really got more messed up that usual. Thursday and Friday both, I was awake till 5 a.m. one day and till 7 a.m. yesterday. Thursday, I only got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep till I had to get up and get ready to go visit the granddaughter's school. Being out, standing a lot while we were at the school too got my left ankle in a dither and it started swelling - a normal pattern if I am on my feet for a longer than usual time span -and that started the back to aching and by mid-afternoon, I was out like a light for about 2 hours. After supper, I couldn't stay awake and fell asleep in my chair at the computer for about an hour - just long enough though to keep me wide awake then all night! And Friday morning, hitting my pillow at 7 a.m. I figured ok, I'll be able to catch about 3 hours of decent sleep then but that went down the tubes when the phone woke me up an hour later! So I was dragging then Friday morning. By Friday afternoon, once the little guy settled in for his normal nap, I figured I'd lay down and catch 40 winks too but that was a really futile thing as it seemed within five to ten minutes after I would doze off, the damned phone would ring and wake me up. That happened to me at least six times during the afternoon as I tried to nap. So, last night by 9 p.m., I was bushed and went to my room to lay down. However, no matter what time I do actually go to bed, it is rare that I sleep more than four hours at a clip because I will have to get up and wander to the bathroom. That much activity then is just enough to wake my system up and I can't go back to sleep then for several hours. And that explains then why I'm sitting here at 5 a.m. typing this post then doesn't it?

Last week - on Monday, Mandy took Miss Maya to the doctor for her regular check-up. These doctor visits are usually not the most pleasant things as Maya frequently goes into a meltdown as soon as the nurse comes out to the waiting room and calls her name. And, the first thing the nurse does when they get her back headed towards the examining room, is attempt to take her temperature, followed by the weigh-in and measurement thing at which she goes into more of a meltdown. Lots and lots of screaming, kicking and general carrying on you know.

Well last week, the only time she threw a fit was over the thermometer! The scales, the measuring, Mandy was able to distract her by telling her to look at the numbers and she could see what number she was. Since she is fascinated by numbers that was all it took then to get her weighed and measure her to see what her height is now too. Even the doctor was quite surprise as she checked Maya over that she had calmed down very much and left her do her work in such a peaceful manner. When she left the doctor's examining room, she even blew the doctor a kiss! But the really big change we noticed came about a day or two later as she started carting a little squirt gun around and coming up to us, putting the squirt gun in our ear, then looking at it and mumbling something about our temperature being "ok." So, maybe the next time at the doctor's office, she won't even throw the fit over having her temperature taken!

Last Sunday was my older grandson's tenth birthday - which meant he was here for a short visit and those are always nice. But two days before his birthday was something that came and went and I paid no attention to it - forgot completely about the fact that August 17th is my younger daughter's wedding anniversary. She knows I tend to not pay any attention to the calendar and forget about birthdays frequently and anniversaries, well they generally totally escape me so she usually makes a few mentions about these things in advance. But even Mandy said nothing around the house that tripped my trigger that it was their wedding anniversary, so Mom didn't even have a card for the kids.

But the thing that got the most attention, overall, about that event was on Sunday when Mandy told her sister what Bill had given her for an anniversary present. Normally, Bill usually finds a nice card and will try to get some nice little gift of some type for Mandy - all of which also hinges on what their finances are like at the time too, of course. This year, with him being laid off, he must have been really broke because his anniversary gift to her was a packet of those "Mr Clean" type cleaning sponges!

The older daughter was aghast! And that is putting it mildly. Then, on Wednesday when my son was here for supper - on his birthday - Mandy mentioned this anniversary gift to him and he was even more shocked - if that is possible - than his older sister had been on Sunday when she was told about the present!

And for me, well it brought back memories of a time a long, long time ago - the fifth anniversary for my ex-husband and me and the gift he brought me that year. A six-pack of Coors beer! However, it was pretty special though because at that time, Coors wasn't selling beer yet east of the Mississippi and how he managed to get a six pack of the stuff then is still beyond me!

Ah, memories! Aren't they just great though?

Now, I think I'll go wash up the dishes so that's done and I don't have to look at the sink, full of dirty cups and plates and bottles and such when I do wake up a bit later this morning.

Have a good day now and sleep well.