Insomnia

I've been trying not to rely on bendryl or Alka-Seltzer Plus Nighttime to help me fall, and stay, asleep.  The downside to those meds is that they make it hard for me to wake when my bladder is full.  Also, I wake up a little groggy in the morning.  So, I've been skipping them and it has led to me waking up multiple times at night.  Last night was no exception.  Weird dreams, waking myself up (!) with snores and hearing noises, getting up to pee twice, hearing someone (who?) running into a table.  Apparently Hubby heard that noise, too, and was up looking around.  It freaked me out a little and I could not fall back asleep.  That was around 4 a.m. and I was WIDE awake.  By 5, I just gave up on getting any more sleep and got up.  I made a cup of coffee, threw some things into the dryer, and settled in at my computer to read emails and such. 

By 7, I got up from my desk and unloaded the dishwasher while I perked a pot of coffee.  By 7:30, Hubby was up so I packed him a lunch and washed his work pants for next week since it was jeans day.  I also got my lunch and tote bag ready for the day.  By 7:45 I made the bed and straightened the bedroom.  By 8 I had the guys' Saturday dinners prepped and ready.  So I packed my weekend bag. 

At 8:45 I had Friday dinner done, cooling on the counter for me to cover it and put in the fridge.  Reloaded the dishwasher. 

By 9 the kitchen was clean and mopped. 

And by 9:20, I sat down with a leftover piece of pie for breakfast and typed this up.

I feel like a long day is ahead...and I probably need to figure out what I can do to get better sleep.

Looking forward to homebody time

As much as I love hanging out with Mark on the weekends, traveling to new wineries and such, getting a snack at Sonic (or just eating out in general), laying in the sun at Highlands with a cold drink, grilling on our hill...I sure miss those days of hanging out at my house.  I used to spend my days off getting a multitude of things done AND still having time to be creative.  I look around the house and while it is clean and such, there are projects - creative projects - I want to work on.

Doing a little decorating/spiffing, sewing, painting, reading, gardening - I don't seem to have a lot of time for nowadays.  The issue is: he's off the same days I am now, so I don't fill my free time with those things anymore.  And I miss all that.  Everyone needs a little unstructured time to putsey and do what they need or want to do around the house.  At least I do.  So, I am a little grateful for on-call weekends since I get to be a homebody, chained to my pager or home phone until 7 p.m.  Plus I earn a little extra, especially if I get called in.

Not that I don't love to have weekends free to go and do.  I just relish the homebody time, too.  And theres one coming up so I'm getting my mental list all ready...

Nature almost struck

*playing the Sneaky Snake song in my head as I type this.*

Coming back to Highlands after dinner one Saturday I saw a snake just disappear into the barn, right across from the door to the trailer.  Dammit.  "Snake" I yell.  "I think its just a rat snake though".  Mark:  "Oh yeah?  Where is it?  You mean this one in here?  RATTLING it's tail and coiling up like it's about to strike?!"  Yeah, I guess that's the one...

Ten tense minutes, much yelling at Mark not to get bit (from a safe distance over by the truck), and a sharp hoe blade later...

And Mr Snake met his untimely end.

In the morning, the body was gone, but the head remained. 

 *shiver*

I'm just not in the mood for all this nature.  It's their land, not mine.  Their ecosystem.  They know all the hiding places and have the best defense weapons. We are the ones who allowed the mice to find a cozy home in the barn with the damn birdseed.  Mark and I are sorely outnumbered.  Possibly outsmarted.  And holy hell, I'm not in the mood to retire to Snake Hill.