Whatever happened to my REM

When Sweet Husband and I started dating, we were working nights at a local restaurant. On a typical weekend I would get off of work at 5am. Occasionally I would get lucky, and get released at 2 am. As a survival mechanism, I learned a few skills to get me through my blurry eyed, sleep-deprived weekends. Especially the wee hours of the morning. After all the bars had last call, and the inebriated had satisfied their cravings for hamburgers and pancakes.
I studied lyrics to lesser known Disney songs, for our impromptu Disney trivia games. I mastered how to pantomime walking into a wall. Of course I worked on looking-busy-when-you’ve-completed-your-tasks-there-are-no-customers-AND-two-more-hours-until-you-can-go-home. I think the most important skill I learned, was how to sleep whenever I could.

One weekend my dad was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the paper and nursing a cup of coffee as I dragged myself through the door. I was exhausted.
“Hi stranger.” My dad greeted me “I was starting to wonder if you still lived around here.”
I smiled weakly, and dropped into a chair with the grace of a drunk elephant.
“I smell like rancid bacon.” I replied “I’ve been seriously considering moving into the storage closet at work. You can start forwarding my mail.”
My dad chuckled softly. “I need to go run a few errands. Why don’t you come with me? We’ll have some Daddy-daughter time.”
I hesitated briefly torn between a deep desire to crawl into bed, and wanting to see my dad for longer than thirty seconds.
“Can I sleep in the cart?” I asked.

When we arrived at the first stop, I lost no time in pulling a throw pillow in the bottom of the shopping cart my dad was pushing. I somehow managed to climb in the basket of the cart without breaking my neck. I curled up into an oblong shape, trying to contort by body around the sharp edges of the cart. Shopping cart baskets, were not made with sleeping teenagers in mind. I managed to find a comfortable position and blissfully fell asleep, with my dad pushing me around the store. Thank goodness he wasn’t buying bricks.



Imagine my surprise, a mere five years later, when I realized how difficult it is for me to sleep when Sweet Husband is away. It doesn’t matter if it’s one night, or a year’s worth of nights, sleep eludes me during the reasonable hours. No matter how tired I am, the moment I go to bed, I find myself wide awake. I’ll lay in bed for hours waiting to fall sleep. Go to sleep I tell myself sternly You’re going to regret staying awake so late. The sun comes up way to early. I know I’m right. I just can’t reason with myself. I’ll begin to pray. I’ll for Sweet Husband and the people with him. I pray for the boys, and for wisdom for me, so I don’t screw up raising them. I’ll pray for our families, and start praying for friends going through life changes. Sometimes I even pray for the people who make me want to scream. And when I come to the end of my list, and find myself still awake, I begin to wonder in which box I packed my ability to sleep.

Deployment, please end soon. The bags under my eyes are turning into a full size set of luggage.

FPAD- A Button

Two guesses as to what we did today...

Orange Corduroy Overalls

Someday, hopefully in the distant future, I will make a fantastic senile person.

I firmly believe that there are three types of people. Those who sort their laundry, those who don't, and those who can't commit. I fall perfectly into the last category.

One day while doing laundry, I put a pair of orange corduroy overalls that I had picked up at a children's resale shop into the washing machine. I have become emotionally attached to these overalls because a) they are corduroy overalls and b) I like my children to look like part of the original sesame street cast.
Fast forward three hours later, when I remembered that I had clean laundry in the washing machine. As soon as I opened the lid to the washing machine, my eye caught a swatch of orange corduroy Those would make fantastic overalls! I thought to myself

I should have been elated when I pulled them out and discovered that they were already overalls, but instead I felt a small pang of melancholy wistfulness for the overalls that I would not get to make.

FPAD- Dinner

No. we did not eat our cat! For starters that basket is not oven safe. And also I'm fairly certain that cat does not fall into the "Mostly vegetarian, occasionally pescetarian" diet I follow. He was our view tonight, and much more photogenic than what we did have for dinner.

FPAD Over The Weekend

Day 4- A Stranger

I will never make it as a private investigator.
Never.

I took my camera with me as thee boys and I went all over the city completing our usual weekend errands. Every time I pressed the power button on my camera, a niggling feeling of discomfort settled over me like the thin paper sheet hospitals enjoy making people wear.
I won't lie. I kept chickening out.

Finally, at 10 pm, I saw my chances of completing the challenge honestly, start sliding away from me... Not unlike the puck in a game of air hockey. It was 46 degrees outside, and most people were tucked snugly into their own houses. It was then that a halo of porch light illuminated my neighbors- who, I have never met. They were sitting outside on their porch watching television. Personally, I don't understand the concept, but I was trying to sneak photos of them from my dining room window. Who am I to judge?

What's that? You can't see them? Oh maybe this shot will help.

I couldn't bring myself to take anymore. I just couldn't shake of "I'm-a-creepy-stalker".

FPAD- Hands

Today's photo was ->this<- close to being a "less-than-complimentary" gesture. It has been one of those days.

But, the dishes were washed. Alex went to bed at a not-unreasonable hour, and Spain sat on the couch detoxing all the "bad day" out of us.

Life is good.... Not perfect, but still good.

FPAD- Words

I've been finding myself so focused on trying to get things done, that I feel like I've been neglecting Alex's need for a extra nurturing. We pulled out Clue Secrets and Spies for a little after dinner family time.

That Elusive Something

It's one of those things that you hear happen to other people, but you never expect it to happen to you. It's almost an abstract idea... Or perhaps likening it to a fairy tale would be more appropriate.
It's something often taken for granted by the childless, and coveted by the those with children.... and in some cases pets.

Truth be told, it had always seemed just out of reach for me. A hairsbreadth away. Something continually thwarted by a tea towel or a lone sock.
I cannot adequately express in words my amazement, or the euphoria that washed over me when I realized the implication. I was compelled to take a picture as photographic evidence.

Yes, I found the bottom of my laundry hamper.

Your View Today

I thought it would be fun to participate in the February Photo A Day. Even if it's only to encourage me to post more often.

Today's theme was "Your view today". Lucky for me, most of my view was spent building a new resting place for our record collection.

The classy orange yarn was used to contain them until I could figure out how best to store them... And to make a statement, of course.

It's the little things.

"Mama is 'Okay' with a 'k-o' or a 'c-o'?"
"O-k"
"No, how do you spell 'okay'?"
"O-k"
"MAMA! How do you spell 'okay'?!"
"It's an 'o' and a 'k'."
"Oh! Ok!"


I love moments like these! :)