Too tired to think

Dervish Sufi Order (Photo credit: pmorgan)

Holy moly, I am one exhausted chick tonight.  Worked almost 12 hours again after getting way too little sleep last night.  I’m seriously going to bed early tonight…like really soon.  I don’t care what it says on the clock.  Don’t tell me it’s too early to go to bed.  I need sleep.

So, in that oh so tired vein, I haven’t written anything for NaNo today…not one single word. And I can’t even make myself feel bad about it.  This is exactly why I wrote like a whirling dervish over the weekend, knew there would be days like this.  See, every once in a while I come up with a good plan…

And, as a special little treat…my district manager is going to be visiting my store tomorrow.  Yes!!

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 162

What a wacky day at work today.    Did I get anything at all done that I needed to do?  Well, maybe a couple of things, but then it got crazy busy and now I can’t even remember what I did this morning.  I know I spent most of the afternoon running register…you have to know that’s my absolute favorite thing to do…cough, cough…it’s just about on par with seeing my ob/gyn for an exam!  “Nough said…

I finally forced myself to leave the store (it was quite the battle, let me tell you) and was talking to myself while I was driving through the parking lot.  “I really want to stop and get something to eat.”  “No you don’t.  That’s just the exhaustion and stress talking.  You know you have perfectly good homemade soup at home waiting for you.”  “Yeah, but a burger sounds better and easier.”  “It won’t really be easier.  You’ll have to drive to a restaurant, sit in the drive thru waiting for your order, pay for it.  All of that takes time.  Just go home and eat what you’d planned.”  “Okay, okay…sheesh…all I wanted was a quick burger.  But I’ll go home and eat vegetable soup.  Are you happy now?”  Honestly?  I didn’t actually have that entire dialog with myself, but I could have.  I wanted to stop and get a burger, but I didn’t because I had soup at home.  See, that’s not anywhere near as interesting as talking to yourself.

Speaking of talking to yourself…do you do that?  I do at times and feel somewhat silly about it.  But after opening the back door for the UPS guy this morning and hearing him talking to himself, I don’t feel quite as silly for doing it myself.  I thought he was talking to me, but he just straight up admitted that he was talking to himself and does it all the time.  Hey, if it’s good enough for the UPS guy…the really good-looking, really nice UPS guy.  Oh yeah, and the really married and with the two real children UPS guy…wouldn’t you know?

Despite my burger conversation, I had a good day with my eating today.  Had six servings of fruits and veggies and stayed within my calorie range.  No exercise other than running around like a mad woman all day…now to get enough sleep. Oh wait, it’s already too late for that since I need to get up at 3 tomorrow morning.  “Are you going to go to bed soon?”  “Come on, leave me alone.  I’m old enough that I don’t need a bedtime.”  “Well, you’re definitely old enough…”

The long and winding road to fitness, day 124

I hate to be a downer, but I’m afraid that’s what I’m going to be tonight.  I had the weekend off work and didn’t really accomplish a lot.  I had lots of things planned, but only managed to get a few of them done.  I’ve got to snap out of this funk I’ve been in lately.  Okay, I know what I need to do is simply do the things I know I need to do…no matter whether or not I want to do them, whether or not I feel like doing them, whether or not I’m in the mood to do them.  It’s like exercise, you may not be in the mood to do it, but if you just start you’ll usually find yourself feeling better and better as you go along (not always, believe me, I know that). 

I didn’t bake the kale chips I intended to bake today.  I did kind of clean the kitchen though.  And I have my lunch and snacks prepared for tomorrow.  Unfortunately tomorrow starts super early…5 am again, blah!  So I really need to try to get to bad early tonight…try being the operative word…it’s not easy to go to sleep on demand, well, unless you’re a teenager, then you can usually sleep for 16 out of 24 hours every day.  Ahh…those were the days and we were too young to realize it!

And Halloween is coming…do you buy the candy early?  Aren’t you afraid you’ll eat it and then just have to go out and buy more?  Or do you buy candy that you don’t really like?  Hmm…now there’s a thought…oh…now if only I could come across a candy I didn’t like…

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 94

I think this is day 94, I’m so sleepy and tired that I’m not absolutely certain what my name is…Abigail, right?  Uhh…wait…that’s not right…Anyhow, the first day of my vacation started really early…like 2 am, how’s that for early?  We found out yesterday that we were going to have corporate visitors today.  We were the first stop on a whirlwind, two-day tour of the district.  I don’t want to say too much about it…you never know who might be reading these things…you know, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that people aren’t spying on you…suffice it to say, we got a “C” on the visit.  I’m unaccustomed to receiving a C in anything…an awful lot of work went into that C…I’ll just leave it at that and you can fill in the blanks.  But it’s over and now I really am on vacation…I am so looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.  And then just spending the day doing whatever I want to do.

I didn’t do any official exercise today…but I did do a ton of running around, ladder climbing, stair climbing, lifting, etc.  Oh yeah, and stressing out, as we did our last-minute preparations for the big visit. 

I finished the day with about 1400 calories, unless I decide to eat a bowl of ice cream later…I may just be too tired to do that though.  And that wouldn’t be a bad thing.  Just go to bed and forget about the ice cream.

I did still manage to get in my 750 words today.  I’m working on my book now and making some progress.  Kind of exciting to be able to say “I’m writing a book.”  One of my friends told me about a friend of hers who has written several books, told me she was sure she’d be glad to help me out if I have any questions.  See, you just never know when a networking opportunity might show up.  Just be open to the opportunities….go for it!

So, what is everyone else doing?  I feel like I’ve kind of lost touch a little what with going to bed so early every night and working so many hours every day….what’s going on?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 91

Image by Jon Person via Flickr

I really, truly had fleeting thoughts about not posting tonight.  I am so exhausted, worked 12 hours and we were busy, busy, busy…so busy, in fact, that we’re going in at 4 am tomorrow…ugh!  I bet anyone who never worked in retail is surprised to find out how many hours we work and how early we go in.  There’s just always so much to do.  But I’m here writing a little before I go upstairs to soak in a hot tub and then go to bed, hopefully to sleep.

I finished the day with almost 1600 calories and the only exercise of the day was what I got in at work.  I don’t really know what else I can do on days like today, days when I’m already tired and hurting when I wake up in the morning and I know that it won’t get any easier over the course of the day.  So I guess I’ll just have to let it be, do what I can do on the days I can do it and not stress about it the rest of the time.  I need to make it through the next three months and then I can get a little rest, maybe take a little time off, and spend that time improving my fitness level so that I don’t feel like this at this time next year.

So, did you do anything fun today?  Did you have good weather?  Do any shopping?

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 76

Image by Johnson Cameraface via Flickr

Oh my, what an exhausting, hot day this was.  Temps back up into the mid 90s, humidity levels sky-high again.  I think I got spoiled by those few days of really nice weather we had.  One good thing about the heat at this time of year, you know it won’t last much longer.

We had to unload a truck this morning, so glad it came on time.  It was hot enough when he got there.  I can only imagine how much hotter it would have been later in the day…ugh!  We were all a little (umm…make that a lot) sweaty by the time we finished.

Today I had good food packed for work.  I ended up not even eating all of it and eating a  vending machine bag of Cheetos for my afternoon snack.  Why, when I had popcorn packed from home?  I’ve got to figure this out and get it back under control before I end up regaining the weight I’ve lost.

Lots and lots of walking and lifting on the job today.  That was all the exercise I did today though.  I had terrible back pain all day.  Any time I would bend over, I thought I wouldn’t be able to stand up straight again.  I took a couple of Aleve.  Not sure if that did anything or not.  Tonight I’m hitting the sack (where did that saying come from? does anyone know?) early and hoping for a restful, uninterrupted eight hours of sleep.  Wouldn’t that be bliss?

How many hours of sleep do you need to feel your best the next day?  Do you usually get it?

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Sleeping with the windows open

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Don’t you just love it!!  The nights have been cool enough to sleep with the windows open…I live in a townhouse,so the bedrooms are upstairs…not so  sure I’d leave the windows open at night if my bedrooms were at ground level…kind of sad, isn’t it?  I remember, when I was a kid, back in the day, we never even locked the doors.  Now I keep the doors locked all the time.

There was a gentle breeze last night.  It felt so nice to be there in bed, with a breeze blowing over me…I did wake up with the comforter pulled up to my chin though, so I must have gotten cold overnight.  But I sure prefer that to waking up in a sweat…

Wherever you are, I hope you’re able to sleep with the windows open tonight!!

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The long and winding road to fitness, day 40

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Forty days…you read that right!  Today wasn’t my best day, for sure…too much junk food, not enough healthy food…too much stress at work, working outside until noon, sweating my head off, ending up with a terrible headache.  But tomorrow will be better.  I’ve already prepared my lunch and snacks, so no excuses tomorrow about no time in the morning.  Plus, after tomorrow I have the weekend off..yea!!

I’m not going to write much tonight, but I do want to mention that today is my 50th day in a row of writing something….pretty cool!  My goal for tonight is to get to bed early and get at least 7 hours of sleep.  In order to do that, I have to step away from the computer and get ready for bed…so that’s what I’m going to do.

What kind of goals have you set for yourself?  Do you follow through or forget them after a few days?

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The storm I didn’t hear

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Well, we had another storm last night.  At least all the evidence this morning indicated that we did.  I must have slept through it and that’s fine with me.  I don’t care what the weather is like as long as it doesn’t blow the house down and I can get some much-needed sleep.  After getting ready for work today, I decided to go out back and look at my tomatoes and peppers.  Wow..what a shock.  My biggest, prettiest tomato plant was bent over…the cage had come out of the ground.  At first I was afraid that my plant was destroyed.  But after looking it over, I realized the stem hadn’t broken or splintered, so I was able to get the cage set back up and prop the plant up again.  One of my pepper plants had also suffered a little damage, but nothing too bad.  A lot of my flowers were really windblown, looking pretty scraggly.  But I think they’ll come back out of it in a few days (of course, now I’m hearing thunder again, might have more storms blowing in…yippee).  As I was walking out the front door, I noticed a lot of tree branches down.  Then I saw the big flag pole in front of the office.  It was bent at probably a 45 degree angle, the weak spot in the pole being about two feet off the ground.  I had no idea that we’d had that much wind come through overnight.  Mother nature can sure pack a punch…I’m pretty much ready for her to calm down for a while.

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Do cats dream?

I’ve often wondered if cats dream.  Is the movement of their legs while they’re sleeping indicative of a dream state or is it simply muscle twitching?  And what about the sounds they sometimes make while asleep?  I noticed Spooky was kind of mewing while asleep today.  When I touched her, she didn’t open her eyes, just kind of calmed down while continuing to sleep. She was in a deeper sleep, not just a cat nap.  That’s what started me thinking about cat dreams today.

Spooky, wide awake

And if cats do dream, what do they dream about?  Spooky’s been with me her entire life.  Would she still have nightmares about being chased by dogs, even though she’s never had an encounter with one?  Would she have dreams about being abandoned, even though she’s never been left alone (well, except while I’m at work or something…does that count as abandonment to a cat?  Or does she just sleep most of the time that I’m gone?)  Would she have a dream about a particularly delicious meal?  I find that hard to believe as she won’t even eat chicken or turkey when I have it…maybe a nice tasty mouse or goldfish would be more to her liking.  I can’t imagine that she’s ever going to discover that for herself as I’m not into mice or goldfish.  Would her dreams include me or am I no more to her than a piece of furniture?  Of course, the couch can’t open her cans of cat food or get her fresh drinking water.  So maybe I rank a little above the furniture in her view.

Hmm…maybe, just maybe, Spooky dreams about going outside and chasing birds and butterflies.  Sorry, Spook, not going to happen.  You’re an indoor kitty all the way.

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