Separate beds

As many of you know, I am a chronic insomniac. On the other hand, my husband can fall asleep at the drop of a hat with the added benefit of being a consummate snorer. This is not a good combination. The last few nights neither of us have gotten much sleep. His snoring wakes me up, and then I poke him to make him change position. We are both having some other health issues that are exacerbating this situation.

Tonight, when Goblin came home, he took a bunch of blankets and sheets into his office where he has a futon couch. I asked him what he was doing. He told me that he had ordered an anti-snoring device but, until it comes, he is planning on sleeping on the futon.

Hopefully, we'll both sleep better. *SIGH*

Contemplating a new evening routine

As many of you know, I suffer from chronic pain and wicked insomnia. Over the years, I've tried numerous activities and chemicals to get and stay asleep each night. For the next couple of nights, I'm going to try something new.

1) At 6pm, take Tylenol (or Advil) PM in hopes that it will get me sleepy long before I would traditionally go to bed (9pm).
2) Walk away from the television and the computer by 8pm.
3) Read a novel until I get sleepy or until 9pm, which ever comes first.

The goal here is to get better at winding down, and to cut down on the number of evenings that I fallback on my mother's sleep remedy (nightcaps).

Apparently, my mother also suffered from chronic pain and insomnia. She didn't talk about it much but, looking back, I can compare some of her routines and behaviors with my own. It's kind of scary when you recognize a parent in your own behavior, no?

Wish me luck with my latest 'cunning plan' for a decent night's sleep.

Too tired to work

I feel (a tiny bit) guilty. I called in sick today. The thing is, the last couple of days I've been waking up wicked tired. I've even had to fight to stay awake behind the wheel of my car. This morning, around 3:30 a.m., I woke not feeling so good. My throat was full of ... yuck ... I ended up finding some cough medicine to see if I could rid myself of the dreaded curse. Sadly, I had a hard time getting back to sleep afterwards. Just before 5 a.m., when my alarm would have gone off, I got up and wandered around the house for a few minutes. Finally, I checked the weather. The day was slated for overcast and rain. Great sleeping weather.

So, I fired up the new Blackberry and sent the notice: I was out sick.

I only let myself sleep until about 9. When I say 'only', what I mean is that I could have slept for several more hours easily. However, I did not want to give my joints a reason to rebel or add fuel to the insomnia fire come evening.

I answered several important work-related emails this afternoon, so I felt like I wasn't completely disconnected from 'the job'. Maybe I should have been.

The hospital job I applied for is very slowly panning out. They contacted me on Monday, looking for convenient interview times. I haven't heard back, which is (of course) making me nuts.

What does it say about my career and state of mind when I am ANXIOUS to take a job with a 20% pay cut?