Five on Friday: April 11, 2014

Dessert the other night at Hospice was banana pudding, a dessert I've never chosen to eat but one that many people rave about. I cooked, they liked.

1. Great advice from Elise Blaha Cripe  "...there is not enough money in the world to sacrifice sleep to stress."

2. My beef with broccoli for the hospice guests tasted quite good I must say. One guest did say..."I hope it tastes better than it looks." They don't like their veggies crunchy but they want them green. What's a cook to do... advice welcome!

3. The Casual Vacancy,  J.K. Rowling's new book that is not a Harry Potter book. I have slowly plodded my way through it but don't recommend it. I know British dialect but enough already. I also have decided that I really don't like almost any of the characters. In real life we all have our issues but this book seemed to be more about the issues and a whole flock of people with their warts ooozing out was not a great deal of fun. ymmv.

4. Wednesday I spent a good amount of time with a friend and asked her to listen to my complaints/issues about/with our recent Italian trip. It was a good way for me to think of the things that bugged me and see very clearly which ones were out of my control, e.g. shit happens, and which ones I could address. As women nearing 70, we both are very clear that when our sleep is disturbed we are not physically or emotionally well. You don't want to be around during those times!

5. All the air conditioners are in and it has been done before it got hot with a capital H.  A good feeling and good work done by a good husband. I'm enjoying this warm but not hot weather a lot. aCHOO! aCHOO! No real allergy issues here but pollen is shooting out from most every living thing.

Armed with tissues, I hope you have a great weekend! I have no plans which I hope stays that way. Easy catch up with a lot of little-to-do ease. 

Five? Not Even One On Friday

Totally worn out so I think it's going to be a quiet couple of days which will include a good bit of sleeping.

Thursday...Thinking About

Thinking about a comment I left on a blog post this week. What is one of my favorite times of day? Ah…

My husband is an early riser, way early imho. Somewhere around 04:30 or 05:00. Lots of times it's even earlier. This was hard for me when we first married a decade ago as I was still working and being awakened THAT early made it hard to go back to sleep and then wake up at the right time. I had been accustomed to waking around 6am but not getting up til about 6:30 or so. No problem with work, as I always worked about a mile from my house. My work started at 9am so there were a lot of times I walked to work. That was then.

My sleep for a lot of those early years of marriage was also broken by snoring. Having a bed buddy who snored was a whole new experience for me. Ok, more like a horrible shock. But I learned to cope - most often by moving to another room when awakened in the night. No fun, but I managed to get most of my sleep requirements met.

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Fast forward to today. I am now retired and my husband's snoring has nearly vanished due to weight loss as well as nasal drops that really work for him.  He still gets up way before I do but now it's different. That time after he flips the duvet over and leaves the room is special quiet time for me. I stretch out over the whole bed and relish that feeling of time and space. Sometimes drifting back into dreamland, sometimes staying in that special state in between sleeping and being fully awake. Thoughts drift in and out, randomly rather than consciously. I don't try to think of anything, knowing that my mind and soul are sorting out priorities. I'll remember what I need to remember for the day and can let go of old thoughts that may have burdened my yesterday. It's a wonderful free floating feeling.

Sometimes I do fall back asleep, not so much any more, but when I do, I trust that I needed that sleep. Some more things needed to be resolved on a deeper level.  06:30 to get up? yes, I'm back to that in the days of more sunlight. In the darker days of winter, I will on occasion stay in bed til 7am but I can really feel it's past my 'get-up' time.  But whatever time it is, I really do like that quiet time in my own bed in the morning.  Definitely one of my favorite times of the day.

Delicious Sleep with a John Lennon Soundtrack

Once we arrived home from LA  Saturday after flying in from Honolulu before that on Friday, we went right to bed. Zonk! Of course the Ambien did help as it's supposed to. I really slept well until 7 am and then decided that it was going to be the day I finally got to sleep in ...REALLY sleep in! I got up out of bed at either noon or 1pm. I'm not quite sure since the Daylight Savings kicked in also. But I had five luxurious hours of dozing on and off. Pure bliss.

Last night however, we both had trouble falling asleep and I went into the studio to read for a while.  After hiding the blue lights on the two computer EHDs, I fell asleep and woke up at my normal 7am from a wonderful dream where John Lennon was playing this song on the piano for me. What a great start to the day!

Wordless Wednesday

He said what?

Yesterday, my dear dh came in to say he had planned a trip for my birthday (less than 90 days hence)- flying into Zurich and driving to Lithuania. The very thought made me feel so exhausted I then went for a 4 hour nap, even without the total blackness of our ship cabin. Sometimes I could use a hideyhole like the cat's.

All talk of future vacations and trips have been put on an indefinite hold!

ZZZZZZZZZ

This blog has gone to sleep for a month. You can find me over at
Get in the Car to read about our latest adventure on the high seas.

My friend Wilda's lovely guest room.