The Downside of Travel

It is after two in the morning.  And I find myself wide awake.  Tired... but sleepless.  Why?  Oh, I'll tell you why friends...

Jet lag.

After flying to Tokyo,  I felt pretty great for having moved across multiple time zones.  And with the exception of waking at about 1:30am for the first couple of nights (but falling back to sleep rather quickly), and falling into a very deep sleep at a crazy early hour one of the first nights - I felt very few symptoms of jet lag.  Fell asleep very easily, woke up bright and early feeling well rested.  I thought this world travel thing was a piece of cake.

I was blissfully unaware that apparently travel west to east is much harder on the body, and generally produces worse jet lag.  Now I know in a painful, terrible, personal way just how real the struggle is.

I am tired. But can't sleep.  I am disoriented.  I feel slow and clumsy.  I slept better last night and today (yesterday?) was more alert and energetic in the morning.  So, I believed I was starting to improve.  As tired as I was by dinner, I felt sure I would have no trouble sleeping tonight.

I was wrong.

And apparently this can last a week or longer, depending on how many time zones you crossed?  Ugh...

Sadly, all the tips I am finding on dealing with jet lag seem to mostly be for pre-travel or during travel.  Other than that it's mostly just "drink lots of water, you can try melatonin or sleeping pills... and good luck with that"

If any of you have any tips for coping with jet lag from your personal experiences - I would love to hear them!

And Then It Was Friday ...

I can't quite remember the last time I was this happy to see a weekend beginning.  I mean, I always look forward to the weekend because it means I have the Man of the House at home for two whole days.  And this time of year, it means lazy Sunday afternoons in front of the television watching football.  But this past week was a real doozy  and I am especially glad to be leaving it in the rear view mirror.  Here are a few of the highlights and lowlights:

Lack of Sleep: 
Which I feel I covered rather thoroughly here. Leaving the only thing left to say to be how despite two good night's sleep I still find myself fighting the urge to nod off.  An afternoon nap this weekend will do me a world of good.

Downton Abbey:
Yes, I am several years behind trend on this one.  But when I pulled my all night work-fest I finally got around to watching most all of the first season.  And I find myself quite smitten with that family of snobby Brits and their servant type peoples.

A Mother's Worries:
Nothing quite sets a mother's heart racing like receiving a message from the local Sheriff's department that her child's school, as well as the middle school next door, is on lock down with one suspect in custody.  Can you say "freaking out"?  Fortunately I was able to text with the male offspring and get his assurance that all was well.  They weren't even sure what was going on except that they were on "hard lockdown" and it was not a drill.  Apparently an emergency call was made to the authorities because of a woman on campus with a gun.  The lockdown was initiated and school resource officers apprehended her in the parking lot.  The lockdown could not be lifted until they did a full safety sweep of the schools and both parking lots. By noon the male offspring sent me a text to let me know it had been lifted.

All's Well That Ends Well:
I have to give credit to the school staff, the resource officers, and the local Sheriff's office who responded quickly and kept our children safe.

Creamy Tomato Basil Parmesan Soup:
Since I discovered this recipe on the Pinterest last year and made it for my family it has been one of our favorites.  In fact, several family members have declared it to be the best soup they have ever eaten. ( one of those members might be me) It is creamy, flavorful and de-li-cious!  Best of all, it's made in the Crockpot with minimal fuss.  A perfect meal for a cool, rainy autumn evening!

And that about covers it.  Another week in the record books (or something like that).

Right now, I believe I will take advantage of this rainy afternoon by making a cup of tea and seeing what the Dowager Countess has to say about her family's latest shenanigans.

Have a great weekend y'all!

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The Reality of Exhaustion

I had a whole post planned for today all about how happy I am to see the first day of fall and the lovely qualities of the season.  And I might even get around to writing that post.  Perhaps tomorrow.

But, the reality of today is that I did not get any sleep last night.  Literally.  None.  Not a wink.  Not a cat nap.  Not a tiny snooze.

Which has left my brain functioning far below normal capacity today.  If you can even call what's happening in there "functioning" at all.

Today, even my coffee needs a coffee

There's no one to blame but myself.  It was simply a matter of poor planning on my part.

You see, I had a customer who needed her order in a bit of a hurry.  And I grossly underestimated how long it would take me to complete her order.  And it had to be in the mail today if there was any chance of it getting to its destination on time.  So, as a result I found myself staying up last night to complete said order.  Which happened about 5:00 am this morning.

This gal is in need of some sleep.  In a very serious way.  And maybe after that I can manage to write that fall themed post I had in mind for today.

Zzz...

edited to add: Today Only! Save 15% OFF  everything  in  my  Etsy shop with code  FALL15  

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With Actions and Truth

I'm cross-posting between my other blog and here because I am just too tired to think creatively enough to come up with two separate posts today.  I apologize for rmy laziness...

Today The Man of the House, The Little Man, and myself went with our small group from church to work on a service project. Our church sponsers days like this a few times a year, (known as "Love Loud" projects) for members to go out into the community and be of service to others.


We each did various chores including weeding and weed eating, hauled garbage, assembled a grill, spread some mulch, power washing, and assorted repair work.

It was a great experience. And exhausting.

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth ~ 1 John 3:18

So Tired I Can't Sleep

I am so, so, very tired. 

I didn't sleep well last night.  I couldn't manage to fall asleep until sometime around 1:00 am.

I woke up about 3:30 - wide awake.  I think I fell back to sleep around 4:00.

My alarm goes off at 5:00 am to wake me up for the day.

It was a very busy day at work today.  I felt like I went through the entire day in a fog.  Like I was in slow motion, but everyone and everything around me was moving at normal speed.

I'm afraid at this point, I may be too tired to sleep.  Have you ever been that tired?  Just so exhausted that even falling asleep feels like too much of an effort? 

I think there may be a glass of wine, followed by a cup of Sleepytime tea in my very near future.