It seems to be a sad truth that sometimes this
Combined with this
Leads to this.
I know it’s all part of the circle of life, but I don’t like the circle of life playing out just outside my garage door!
PS—Tiger is *not* catching birds from the feeders—she’s catching birds that are on the ground and in the bushes. But it still makes me sad!
Go to Bed!!!
I envy people who can get by with just a few hours of sleep. Real true serious envy. Because in my life, everything is dictated by sleep. How much I’ve had, how much I’m going to need, and how well I am (or am not) functioning because of it.
I’ve known for a long time now that one of the great ironies of my life is that the quality of my day is greatly determined by what time I go to bed the night before. If I stay up late (and don’t all parents want to stay up late, savoring that “alone time”?!?!?) then I pay for it the next day when I’m dragging, unmotivated, listless, short-tempered, and desperate for a nap. If I get plenty of rest the night before then it seems the sky is the limit the next day. I enjoy my kids, want to spend time with them, read to them, play games, cook good food, etc.
Sleep makes all the difference in the world to me.
For the last couple of years I’ve thought again at the beginning of the year that I really should make a resolution to go to bed earlier. But I’ve always been reluctant to voice it, and even if I’ve tentatively resolved in my heart the resolution has been quickly broken and abandoned.
This year I have a different plan.
1) Since Russ has to drive Josh to seminary again this year, he is getting up at 4:55 AM. Yes you read that right—we live so far away from the church that he has to get up before 5AM every school day. And he may need less sleep than I do, but not that much less. So Russ definitely needs to go to bed earlier. And I really prefer going to bed at the same time that Russ does. I love to snuggle up with him and talk for a while before we go to our own sides of the bed to go to sleep. That snuggling is often the best reconnection we get during the day—we don’t see each other in the morning (hello, did you think I was capable of getting up at the crack of dawn?!?) and when he gets home the kids are all clamoring for his attention. Sometimes we watch a tv show together in the evening, but that’s still not the kind of quality time I really crave.
2) I’ve realized that it takes me approximately 49.8 times longer to get ready for bed than it does Russ. Which means it takes him 30 seconds (brush teeth, get pjs) and it takes me 20 minutes. (Clean off counters, put away 3 things left on stairs, Brush, floss, start a load of laundry, remove eye makeup, wash face, put away 7 random things that have landed on the bathroom counter, squirt salt water up nose, blow nose repeatedly, fold basket of laundry, put on pjs, straighten books, etc.) Now the reason that this is a problem is that during the 20 minutes that I am getting ready for bed, while Russ is already in bed, there is a complete and total possibility that he will have fallen soundly asleep. (By virtue of the fact that it only takes him 30 seconds to fall asleep, which means in essence that 1 minute after starting to get ready for bed the man is asleep. I kid you not.)
3) Both of these facts bring me to my plan to accomplish my resolution. And that is this: Be ready for bed at 9pm. If we watch a tv show from 8-9, I can get ready for bed during the commercials. If Russ is ready to go to sleep right at 9 then great, so am I. If I get ready for bed and he’s not quite ready to go to sleep then I can either hang out with him or find something else to do for a while. (Heaven knows I can always find something to do, even in my pjs.) My hope is that thinking about going to bed earlier will mean I get more sleep, Russ gets more sleep, we get more time together, and my days go better. How’s that for a lofty goal?
4) Now I know from past experience that my tendency would be to abandon a goal that doesn’t seem to be working just as I had intended. But fortunately for me (and poor tired Russ) this year I’ve read a couple of books that address this issue. One of them, titled “This Year I Will…” says that we must expect that as we work towards our goals there will be times we do not succeed—that is a normal part of the change process. And instead of throwing up our hands in defeat and giving up on that goal, we need to be prepared for these failures. So this month I’ve been paying attention to how & when I get ready for and go to bed. And on the few occasions that I’ve not managed to go to bed with Russ and have stayed up way too late, I’ve calmly analyzed my night and figured out where I went wrong, and what I need to remember the next day. No sense of failure, no need to give up!
PS—I totally recommend that book to anyone interested in information on how to be successful in making changes in your life. It’s called “This Year I Will” and it’s by MJ Ryan. It’s so good I’m actually going to buy it. Which is saying a lot because I rarely buy books. (I also recommend her book “The Happiness Makeover.” Which I also bought.)
Remember how I totally dissed the PAM the other day? How I vowed to stop using it?
Well, I was making muffins yesterday morning in a hurry. (I know you’re thinking that’s the only way to make muffins, or anything else, but this time I was in a BIG hurry.) So there was really no time to grease each of those 24 tiny little muffin holes, and against my better judgement I got out the PAM.
And do you know what? Something had happened since I used it last. It had leaked or exploded or leak-sploded. It was all over the inside of the lid, dripped all over the counter as soon as I opened it, and I had to pour standing oil off of the can before I could tilt it to spray.
I’m thinking it somehow knew my intentions, and had a cooking spray temper tantrum…
For heaven’s sake, eat more fruits and vegetables!
When I was on the hcg diet in the fall I was allowed 2 servings of fruit a day (out of a list of 4 fruits) and 2 servings of vegetables a day. (Out of a list of about 8.) I tell you what, fruit has NEVER tasted so good. Every day I ate that apple and it was one of the highlights of my day. Same thing with the orange. I LOVE fruit. But in my day to day life I sometimes just forget to eat it. When we’re having green smoothies I get plenty of fruit, but otherwise when I’m hungry I’ll just get lazy and grab something easy, something that doesn’t have to be cut or peeled, or whatever.
It also made me realize how lax I’ve become about serving vegetables to my family. If we had the big box of salad from costco then we had a vegetable with dinner. If not, nothing. Now on the one hand I can rationalize that if I’m serving dinner at all, that’s awesome. But I want to do better. I actually really like a lot of different vegetables, and I want my kids to both like them and to benefit from a better diet. So I’m trying to reform.
I haven’t quite figured out how, though…except that maybe after I do my shopping and buy the vegetables that are available I need to pencil them in on my menu…I’ll let you know how it works!!
Several years ago I resolved that I would never read “secular” books on Sunday. I’d hoped that this change would mean that I would read more church books and feel closer to the Lord.
For some reason it just hasn’t worked well, and I’m not sure why. So this year I’ve decided to change that goal. I’m relaxing my rules about Sunday reading, and will be interested to see what happens. But I also have a new rule:
When the new Ensign comes (church magazine for adults) it’s the only bathroom reading allowed until it’s finished. No more excuses for not having read it.
We’ll see how that goes!
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