It would appear that something has happened to me of late. My night time energy has departed, abandoned, left me a sleepy wreck.
Normally, at this time of the evening (9:20 pm) I would be chortling with glee (snickering even), knowing there are HOURS ahead of productive thinking, writing, cleaning. Soon the children (even those pesky older ones who don’t go to bed at 8 pm anymore) would all be upstairs and the house would be quiet. Ahhh.
These kids don’t look one bit sleepy!
Now I find myself looking at the clock and wondering how soon I can sneak off and climb under the covers. Occasionally I’m even upstairs in bed before the children. Gasp.
This is making a serious dent in my blogging time. Not to mention my waste-time-online-watching-movie-previews-for-over-an-hour. Okay, hard to weep over that particular loss.
I blame the combination of early rising and homeschooling. In order to get through our rigorous school schedule, we simply have to get up early in the morning. It’s either that or continue schooling after dinner. Getting up early is not something I do well, or gracefully.
It’s pretty ugly, actually. The only way I am able to drag myself out of bed at 6:30 am is if I get a good, solid (ie at least 8 hours) night’s sleep. I don’t understand this as I have spent months surviving (fairly cheerfully) on 4 to 6 hours of sleep. The key, I suppose is the morning hour. There is something so pleasant about waking up between 8 and 9 am. Even if I’ve gone to bed at 2 or even 3 am, it feels like sleeping in when you get up after 8.
Sarah agrees with me, she LOVES to sleep in late. No early morning girl here.
What does this have to do with Works for Me Wednesday? Sadly, everything. These days, by the time evening arrives, I have no further creative energy remaining in which to blog. I’m drained and mentally ‘empty.’ This week’s theme is Kitchen Organization. I have five children, a husband and a kitchen. Surely I have numerous helpful tips to share. I can sense them, hovering near the surface, eager to be posted.
Alas, I’m afraid I’ve already written about my best hints, and all the new ones are waiting for the Old Kathy to return. The Late Night, Doesn’t Ever Get Enough Sleep but Blogs Like Crazy, Kathy.
Thankfully my friends love me whether I’m a night owl or a morning slug.
Oh, here’s one thing. I love the new rice cooker my mother gave me for my birthday. It’s wonderful to add water and rice, turn on the power and let the rice cook itself happily. One less thing to fret about, or just plain manage during the dinner hour.
Since I am loath to leave you tipless, here are some links to other Great Duckabush Kitchen Posts:
Life Skills – chores for kids
Muffins
Favorite Foreman Grill
Homemade rolls
Breakfast Baking
Master Grocery Lists
Kathy
Oh, one quick question, do you morning people blog or write during the early morning hours? I know people who study their Bibles and even exercise (shudder) early in the day, just wondering if anyone writes then. I LOVE to journal and blog late at night, don’t quite have the mental acuity to do so in the morning.
I’ve always wondered if those rice cookers are a worthwhile gadget! I hear you about the sleep bit. It must be the weather! Up here in Minnesota I’m just starting to use my electric blanket, and as a comfort creature, the thought of it makes me want to go to bed while I’m Cooking dinner. :o) But 8 hours? In my Dreams (sorry, couldn’t help the pun). I’m lucky to get 6, but then again, if I’d just put the laptop down… Hmmm. Nothing like realizing you just gave yourself an intervention. I better go turn my blanket on. Blessings, Whitney
You need to learn to spike their drinks with Dimetapp……oh did I say that out loud?
Yep. Morning e-mail check and writing is a priority, after Bible study and very sporadic exercise sessions. The only blogging I do is reading yours!
I am sooo with you!! Mornings are not nice! How can anyone exercise let alone talk early in the morning!! I get my oldest son up at 7:00 a.m. and then make lunches and we don’t even talk for the first 15 minutes. It is a good thing morning wake up is staggered and I don’t have to wake up the other 3 kids until 8:00a.m.
I love you, dear Katherine. Please continue to value sleep!! I think it could be vital to your mental health and that of your family in these busy busy years.
We woke up on our own at 5:30am today. Watched alittle Morning Joe on tv and got up to start our day. JW shaves while I get the coffee, oatmeal and fruit ready. He went out to fetch the paper and then breakfast began.
BUT WE ARE CHILDLESS!! (well, unless you count sweet baby Marvin up in the guest room) Love you Edgrens. Aunt Kate
Oh, we are SO opposites. You just described me if I stay up too late. And, yes, I blog/write/study in the mornings. No mental power after 3 P.M. However, my children are up by 6:30 A.M. (I am usually up somewhere between 5-5:30…gotta feed the baby.) Thus, the reason my blog remains empty sometimes for weeks at a time….priorities, you know. By the way, it’s 5:30 A.M. as I write this comment.
Many Blessings,
Holly@aiminghigh
P.S. We almost went to the Civil War Reenactment. Gosh, we could have physically bumped into each other! How weird is that?
I wrote the first draft of my book every morning from 6-7am for about a year. Now I’m at work and reading/responding to blogs before 7am, so I no longer have “just me” writing time. But, to answer your question: Yes, I write in the morning, and I love it.
~Luke
I think you hit a big point about being able to survive on less sleep if you get up late. I never need caffeine on Saturday mornings when I allow myself to sleep in and extra hour (even though often, I go to bed later, cancelling out the affect of the sleeping in). But if I’m to make myself get up early (6 AM on my early day, 7 AM usually…which sounds rather pathetic when I think about it!), I need my 7-8 hours.
I used to think I was an early morning person when I arose at 6:00 or 6:30 to get started on my day. Boy do I wish I had THAT schedule back now. These days I have to get up at 4:15 to get my day going since we have to leave the house at 4:40 to get to vb practice in time. I don’t have many late nights these days with those kinds of early morning hours. I’m usually sound asleep by 10:00 these days.
I am most definitely a morning person. I am at my best creatively in the mornings. So my internal alarm clock goes off around 5:30a, and I try to get about 30 minutes of Bible study in before jumping on the computer to check e-mail and write.
But if the little one (now 16 months old) doesn’t want to sleep in (7a is her idea of sleeping in), then I don’t have as much time for writing. I might have a little bit of time during her nap. But not always.
My brain shuts off after 8p. I seriously cannot get a coherent thought together after that time.
Oh I hear you! I even did a post about getting up earlier on my blog a couple of days ago. I would like to stay up till 3 and get up at 11. Those are my summer hours, doesn’t work well during school time.