Nothing Says 'Bedtime' Like Lavender Oil On The Sheets, A Double-Shot Of Chamomile Tea And Some Industrial-Strength Ear Plugs From Ace Hardware.

I'm back!  I took full advantage of Spring Break, hoping to conjure up some heightened creativity and personal insight that I could put forth in the form of blog posts and such.  As it is, I find I'm pretty much at the same place I was before, save for a slightly peeling face (rookie sunblock application) and a sore knee from skiing (old).  I did have every intention of posting on Monday, however, I had myself a bit of a mini-breakdown.

After examining aspects of my life waaaay to deeply, panicking that I would never understand what a "widget" is or how to apply one to my blog, and whining to Geoff about my overall lack of sparkle (I seriously said that) I came to realize there is something very important to one's emotional well-being:

Sleep.

Turns out, without enough sleep pretty much anything can take on a bit of a negative hue.  And that's where I found myself the other day.  It seems we have a little snoring issue at the High House.  Not anything cartoonish, but just enough consistent noise that I can't ever really get to sleep.  It's been going on for a while, but I've been able to make adjustments along the way that usually work.  Temporarily.  Then somehow my brain or Geoff's nighttime noises become immune to my defenses and I'm back to gritting my teeth and poking him in the side all night - admittedly, at times, not so gently and maybe with a bad word (or two) muttered under my breath.

Our most recent discovery was an iPad app.  It's a white-noise maker and for a while I thought it was brilliant.  We combined 'River' with 'Thunder' to make a wonderful cocktail of meaningless snore softening sounds.  It worked for a few days, then the snoring started to break through our little self-created din.  So we decided we'd put an iPad on both sides of the bed for kind of a stereo effect.  But the two iPads together produced way more than white noise.  It sounded like we needed to move to higher ground or build an ark.  It was far from restful.

So, now our best solution is for me to move to the couch when the night noises start in.  Geoff has offered to take sofa duty, but I feel bad waking him up to move when I'm already wide awake myself and he is clearly well into one heck of a REM stage.  This, of course, will not be how things remain from here on out.  He's seeing a doctor soon to discuss some options one of which, we understand, is a very expensive mouthpiece that the very thought of makes me sad.  I can't imagine Geoff having to wear some kind of contraption to bed and there is a huge part of me that would rather spend all that money on cute shoes and dinners out with the family.  Geoff thinks he just needs to lose some winter weight.  I hope he's right and that dropping a few pounds will do the trick, but I've never heard of anyone carrying extra weight in their throat.  Fingers crossed I'm wrong.

As it turns out I wasn't becoming emotionally unhinged, I simply needed more sleep.  There is an Irish proverb I found that sums it up perfectly:

"A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book."

Amen to that.

I'm wearing this:

I needed a look that could go from driving lacrosse carpool to a neighborhood happy hour.  Jeans, a t-shirt and blazer work perfectly.  "When do they not?", I ask.

gratitude:  debt elimination, successful shopping for teens, family getaways, soccer and lacrosse games

thanks and love.