SLEEP, LACK OF

Not much sleep in the past three days. When I was younger, my insomnia didn’t seem to be such a pain in the butt. I could party late with the best of them, and the next morning was still in good shape to get my children up and off to school, then complete my own work day, being very little the worse for wear. About once or twice a week, I would snooze a good 8 to 12 hours in a row, and all was fine. The cycle, although irregular, would begin all over again. I was used to it, as was my family. It actually was quite handy at times.

Then age started throwing a wrench into the works; my body would keep going but the brain shifted into neutral. I’m not a fan of medication, so I tried to find different solutions to the problem. I’m not sure how many books I have on ‘sleeping habits’; there was yoga, then exercise, then meditation. Each of them worked for a short while. It may be a hereditary thing. My mom only started to sleep when she hit 70, probably because the amount of pills she took by that time would have put down a small horse, permanently! That’s not a road I want to walk.

Needless to say, the type of work I do requires that my brain be alert. Accounting, for some reason, has a reputation for being boring. It’s not. It is challenging, and even more so when one realizes that a slight mistake can show a very different picture. Clients depend on you to be accurate, a greedy government badgers you constantly, and your employees are confident that you will catch any error THEY may make before it goes too far. If one also adds hours of driving to the equation, it’s easy to see that a sleepy brain is not an option. So now what?

I haven’t got the faintest idea.

In the meantime, seeing that I’ve slept only 12 hours in the past 3 days, and that is now 6 AM and nearly time to leave for the office, and that there is no way I’ll be able to drive in my present zombielike state, I shall sign off and go looking for Mr. Morpheus. Hopefully he will agree to spend another couple of hours with me.

Fortunately, the lack of sleep has not made me grouchy, only dozy, so I can still send you my SMILE. The eyes may be slightly vacant, but the feeling is sincere, and that counts.

Luv from the Bush in Quebec.

A NEW VENTURE

It’s 3:15 AM, and here I am blogging. Not a personal choice – I’d rather be sleeping, which is what I did from 10 PM to just after midnight then – boing! Eyes wide open, brain in gear, and Morpheus out of sight. I’ve decided to stop fighting my insomnia. The effort only leads to frustration. When I find I’m getting too tired to function, I resort to Pure Rest, a natural product, but not one that I want to take every night. It’s for emergency only. I have come to realize that I NEVER was able to sleep what is considered ‘normal’ hours, even as a child, so there has to be a reason for it. It doesn’t appear that it will change anytime soon either, so I’ll go with the flow. Fortunately, most of the time I can get away with it. There is no punch clock at the office. A lot of the work I do can be done at any hour of the day. Yep, I’m one of the lucky ones, and I appreciate it!

One of my colleagues, also a very good friend, spent the last two nights as a guest at my home. We, together with a retired nurse, have been visiting huge houses in my mountain area. It’s with a new venture in mind; that of creating a few (4 minimum), small, exclusive, rest homes for the elderly. We want ‘home away from home’ services; nothing that resembles the institutional atmosphere of affordable places. Not everyone has the means to stay in the now popular ‘Club-Med’ complexes. Our initial research tells us that there is a lack of residences available for those between near destitute and affluent; catering to the middle-class would be a good description. Probably because of our ages (all 50+), we have empathy for those who need to leave their home because they are no longer physically able to keep it up, but are not able to live alone or with family for one reason or another, yet still want to have some control in their lives. If they desire a cup of tea in the middle of the night, they want to be able to get up and make one without a hassle. It’s a project in the works, and has got my adrenaline going. It is also a tentative bid for security when my own time for help arrives, LOL!

Well now, my Bud is lying at my feet and his snores have convinced Morpheus to show himself again. I’ll grab the occasion and go back to bed. Sending you all a big SMILE and a wish for sweet dreams!

Luv from the Bush in Quebec

MORPHÉE'S ABSENCE

I did not sleep one wink last night. Damn! It’s bad enough when I get only a couple of hours in, but nothing for the whole night? I’m going to be a waste case at the office today, and it’s really not the time for it. GRRRR!

I have good news on two fronts. The first is that the PET scan showed only scar tissue on Bird’s lymph nodes, not tumours as they had suspected. An enormous relief!! The second is that today is my oldest son’s special day, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOW!! But don’t even think about asking your mom out to supper to celebrate with you. She’ll be running home and into bed straight after work!!!

Bird and I got back from the hospital around 2:30 yesterday. After I dropped him home, I stopped in to see Jo’s family. The 3 boys were awake, and Jo is on vacation, and May is on parental leave, so I got to spend time with the whole crew for few moments. At the risk of repeating myself, nothing is as sweet as cuddling a grandchild. I got plenty from each of them, and together with Bird’s good news, it made my day.

The doggies were happy to have me home early. We walked around to check on the apple trees (yep – we’ve got some!) and did the tour of the land. Lucas joined us, of course. I carry a long stick around with me just in case she decides to fight with Bud again, but she has been listening very well lately. She’s maturing, is more obedient – and a beautiful animal!

There is forever housecleaning to do, then I went through some papers that have been lying around my home office for ages. I gave up before finishing the piles, but did make some headway, so that was encouraging. I had a story to finish for Blog-it, chatted for 30 minutes or so to the nurse who works for our agency (but is presently on CSST), then ate a huge spinach salad before relaxing in the Jacuzzi. My plan was an early bedtime, to be in good shape this morning. That didn’t happen. I tried reading, writing, cleaning some more, then just relaxing, then reading again…... Nope! Every little sound outside disturbed me. I watched the sun rise, and THEN I began to feel a little sleepy. Bah! Humbug!

It’s 6 AM now, so I’ll just get dressed and go ahead into the city. I expect I’ll be making use of that futon in my office before day’s end. Oh, well. Everything happens for a reason, so I’ll just SMILE and get on with it. Have a great day, people!!

Luv from the Bush in Quebec