So Tired....

As I lay in bed last night, trying to relax to the point of falling asleep, I realized something.  It is this…between menopause and the cats, it’s a wonder I get any sleep at all!

Imagine this if you will (because I’m certainly not sharing pictures).  On the left side of the bed is a short, fat, dumpy, middle-aged woman laying on her left side in the fetal position, covers tucked up to her neck, with a cat tucked in close behind her knees, another at the foot of the bed, and the third curled up close between the pillow and her arm.

Got that?  Now imagine, this same woman, rearing up in bed tossing back the covers, scattering cats hither and yon, as a hot flash overwhelms her.  She jumps out of bed, flapping her night gown madly in an attempt to cool down.  She paces back and forth, as if to outrun the bloody thing, and when it starts to subside she sinks back down on the bed fanning herself until the last vestige is gone.

Back in bed, she flips the pillow over to the cool side, while the cats silently slink back to their preferred spots.  The woman lays on her back now, with one cat between her knees, one cuddled up on her right side, and the third just below the pillow next to her.  She makes sure to leave the covers flipped off partway, so the next  hot flash doesn’t catch her unprepared.

She starts to zone out; emptying her mind of the day’s events, imagining each limb and muscle relaxing, and the feeling of falling asleep begins.  Ahhhhh....AND then it hits her!  Apparently, those two eight ounce glasses of water before bed were not the best idea!  This time she eases herself out of bed, pulling one leg up and around the cat at her knees, being careful not to jostle the second, and shuffles her way to the bathroom.

As she gets back to the bed, she realizes cat one and two have shifted positions, and now there is no room for her to climb in on the preferred side of the bed.  She moves around to the other side, shifts cat three to a spot a little further over and climbs back into bed.  She flips the pillow over to the cool side, pulls the covers up, and turns on her right side. 

She begins her relaxation techniques once again, imagining each muscle and limb relaxing from her toes to her head.  BUT, now her flipping mind won’t shut off.  Mentally, she makes a grocery list, a to-do list for work, a list of household chores, and….then cat number one and cat number two take offense over their positions on the bed and the fight is on!

The woman chases the two cats off the bed, realizes another bathroom break is in order, but she’s also thirsty.   Back to the bathroom, down to the kitchen for a drink of milk (the only time she drinks milk is in the middle of the night), and then back to the bedroom.  With the two cats chasing one another down the hall, she finds her preferred spot is once again available.

Back in bed, she flips the pillow over to the cool side, checks the alarm clock and realizes there are only six and half hours remaining until the alarm rings to wake her.  She groans, throws the second pillow over her head, (hot flashes be damned), and within minutes is fast asleep.  It seems depriving herself of oxygen is the appropriate means to achieving the REM state of sleep.  Who knew? 

Bunnies in the snow (and dust)

So, I started a blog post, decided it was too negative, mentally crumpled it up and started again.  You don't need to listen to my gripes, because frankly, they are pretty minor in the scope of things.

On a much more positive note, on Sunday morning I spotted Sami looking out the window of my bedroom.  I went over to check to see what she was watching, and there was Mr. Bunny!  I didn't get a picture then, but when the cats were out in the sun room, I spotted him again sitting in the back yard.

He appears to be pretty big rabbit, healthy, and obviously enjoying the sunshine.  His ears seem to be turning brown....do you suppose that means spring is on its way?  I sure hope so!

I spent much of the weekend watching curling - this week was the Canadian Women's Scotties Tournament of Hearts featuring teams from every province, one from the territories, and last year's winner - Team Canada for this event.  The final game featured some incredible shot making. a couple of big misses, and one burnt rock.  (For non-curlers, a burnt rock is one that is touched while in progress).  

This year's winner is a young team from Ontario - the skip, Rachel Homan is only 23!   She showed such poise and determination in the win, even when things weren't going well.  The entire team was rattled when one of their players burnt the rock, but they held it together and prevailed over a much experienced team.  As a result they'll be heading to World's in Riga, Latvia next month.   It's an exciting time for them, and I know they'll represent Canada well!

Between games, I managed to get most of the housecleaning that I wanted to do this weekend.  I'm going to tattle on myself here...don't judge me too harshly.  This is the first weekend since I got home from Saint Lucia that I pulled out the vacuum. That's almost six weeks....since no one vacuumed while I away!

YIKES, can you say dust bunnies?  I've swept the floors and dry mopped in the meantime but those suckers are sneaky and hide in the most unusual places...or maybe I haven't paid attention before.  After emptying the vacuum twice with enough cat hair and dust bunnies to create a small herd I made a mental note, never to leave it this long again.  

Mr. Bunny can stay because he's kind of cute, at least until he starts eating my plants this summer. The dust bunnies are not welcome!

Have a great week everyone!

Friday Funny

An old man and woman were married for many years. Whenever there was a confrontation, yelling could be heard deep into the night. The old man would shout, "WHEN I DIE, I WILL DIG MY WAY UP AND OUT OF THE GRAVE AND COME BACK AND HAUNT YOU FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE!" 

Neighbors feared him. The old man liked the fact that he was feared. 

To everyone's relief, he died of a heart attack when he was 98. His wife had a closed casket at the funeral. 

After the burial, her neighbors, concerned for her safety, asked "Aren't you afraid that he may indeed be able to dig his way out of the grave and haunt you for the rest of your life?" 

THE WIFE SAID, "LET HIM DIG. I had him buried upside down, and I know he won't ask for directions"



Hope you enjoy this one...have a great weekend everyone!

Home sick

Spent much of the day, sleeping or resting on my couch.  I woke up with a sore throat and head felt plugged up at 6:00 a.m. and decided a day of rest was a great idea.  The cold and flu has been making its way through our office the past few weeks, so it isn't a surprise I've got a touch of it.

It was good day to take off, as we've got the cold weather here again.  Even now at 6:30 p.m. it's -21C with windchill near -35C.  I'm happy to be indoors.

Of course, it meant I got to watch curling this afternoon too!  Sasha and I curled up on the couch, I worked on my crocheting while he napped.

I've finished a total of 18 squares since starting this project on Saturday.

In reality the squares are the same size, approximately 6 inch square.  I'll make a total of 49 squares, with four different combinations of six different yard colors.  I've chosen dark and light grey, purple and blue for this project.

This is how it looks finished in the pattern book.  I'm a little irritated, as it would appear the squares are much larger, but they obviously didn't use a chair to hold the afghan, but some smaller width holder.

Sneaky of them.....sort of like airbrushing models in magazines!

Back to tomorrow, at which point I will be homesick.

Is it Monday or Menopause?

Tired and cranky, all I want to do is curl up under the covers and sleep for a few more hours.  But it’s Monday, and I have to be at work by 7:30 a.m. 

I’m especially feeling sorry for myself, because although it’s a provincial stat holiday today, my employment contract doesn’t allow me the day off.   As I drive to work on streets slick with ice from the freezing rain/snow mix from yesterday, I mutter to myself, “how nice for the City employees who aren’t working to sand the streets”.

As I near the office, I realize I’ve left my lunch at home, and the cafeteria at City Hall where I would normally grab a bite, is closed. 

Over and over, I say to myself…it’s not what happens to me, but how I react to it.  Whatever!

Today I can’t get my mind to focus.   I’ve got four things on the go, I’m researching an issue for one of my staff,  I’ve got the digital newspaper open, I’m trying to plan for a meeting this afternoon, and I’m mentally drafting a mid-term performance review for another member of my team.  I’m accomplishing nothing and feeling more frustrated by the moment.

Three cups of coffee later, I’m finally in a place where I can make sense of things.  I’ve done as much research as is possible, without being certain of the facts of the situation, the news isn’t new anymore, the meeting has ended with no firm resolution but with an offer for assistance with a particularly thorny issue received (and gratefully accepted), and I’ve decided the mid-year performance review can wait until next week.

Monday is NOT my favorite day of the work week.  It’s either overwhelmingly busy with meetings and e-mail (some folks have nothing better to do on weekends, sigh), or so deathly quiet, I feel as though I’m being water tortured as the seconds tick by.  Today was the latter, with several of my team off on vacation, another home sick; there was only one member in…not much to supervise. 

But I've learned I can’t blame my entire attention deficit on the fact it is Monday.  Out of curiosity I did some quick research on the symptoms of menopause….number 10 on the list is “difficulty concentrating”.  The article I read lists thirty-four different symptoms.  

WOW!  I hadn't realized there were more than these 7.

P.S.  The bonus of a quiet day at work....I was able to write the blog post, e-mail it to myself at home for editing before posting.  

Shortlived

Sigh....my dreams of and early spring have been dashed once again.

I know I should know better ....we've got at least two more months of winter weather to get through.  You'll notice I took this one from indoors....no way am  going out until I have to.  It's currently around the freezing mark but is expected to fall to -20C (about 0F) so I'll need to go out and plug the car in at some point. YUCK!

Good thing there is lots of curling on television.  I've got a great excuse to be a lump on the couch.

The Saskatchewan skip doesn't look very happy, but she should...Saskatchewan picked up 6 points in a single end against Quebec this morning.  They're currently playing NB and leading 9-5 after 8 ends.  Assuming they win (and they just did) SK will have won their first three games in a row.  Great work ladies!

Tomorrow is Family Day in the province, a statutory holiday for most.  I am not of those fortunate ones since I work for the federal government.  Since the roads will be horrible, with today's rain/snow mix, I'll be grateful for the lighter traffic.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Still dreaming of spring

This morning, after I spent far too long watching television and drinking coffee, I decided to go outside to get some fresh air and shovel the driveway of the centimeter of snow we got last night.  Hardly worth the effort but we're expecting another 5 cm. tomorrow - that I'll leave for my son to shovel!

Though it's cold, winter can be pretty.  With the sun shining, the sky a crisp blue and hoarfrost clinging the branches of the trees, it reminds me winter can be pleasant.

Of course when I turn the other direction and look at the snow piled along the driveway, I"m not nearly as enthralled.

Yes, the pile is nearly as tall as the shovel height.  Backing out of the driveway with piles this high can sometimes be tricky.  We've become accustomed to not seeing out neighbours for much of the winter!

Only two more months of this until spring arrives, fingers crossed!