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Another bad night on the block

Jun 2, 2008 | Personal

Anyone who knows me knows that sleep is a very precious commodity to me. I struggle to sleep properly, my sleep always seems to get interrupted and I just can’t ever get enough of it. Sadly, it’s very rare for me to get a full night’s rest and wake up feeling refreshed and ready for the day. And if I get woken up in the night, I turn into The Wicked Witch (my kids know to only wake me up if there’s an emergency!) I used to be a very heavy sleeper, but these days I wake up all the time at night for various reasons. I sometimes take sleeping pills to help, but they give me a dreadful “hangover” the next day.

Last night, I managed to fall asleep quite early for a change and was hoping for / looking forward to getting in 8 hours of lovely rest. It was not to be =(

At about 3 am I woke up to bright lights and the sounds of car engines and loud male voices, right outside my window. I wondered what the heck was going on so I peeked out and saw 2 figures and 2 vans. I couldn’t see much more, apart from a recognizable blue stripe down the side of one of the vans. Police. So I left it, I thought they’re obviously “doing something”, they’ll be finished up soon and then I can get back to sleep. Half an hour passed …. Nothing. By this time, I’m tossing and turning, cursing them in my head but trying to stay calm (!). Another few minutes and I just couldn’t take it.

I lean out the window and nervously say: “Hello?!”

They answer: “Hello lady.”

Ooops, now what? I’m a bit nervous – they’re the cops, you know? I don’t know what they’re doing – they could be in the middle of a case for all I know, but I’m just pissed because they woke me up!

So I politely ask: “Is anything happening here?” That should be fine – it’s a reasonable question, right?

They reply: “No ma’am, nothing happening.”

Whew! At least I now know there’s nothing serious, and they haven’t broken down my door and arrested me for interfering with an investigation, defeating the ends of justice, or whatever ….

I take some confidence in this: “Well then, can you PLEASE keep your voices down!!?”

To which they say: “Of, course ma’am. So sorry ma’am,” and they hop in their vans and drive away!

Success!!! I was relieved, but annoyed – didn’t they have anything better to do than park off outside and have a fat chat? I climbed back into bed hoping to get back to the Land of Nod before much more time passed. But noooo … after that, I couldn’t sleep again. I kept hearing the sound of the damn robot from 500m down the road announcing to pedestrians that it was safe to cross the intersection. Drove me crazy! I spent the rest of the night/morning completely miserable and stressed and when my alarm went off this morning, I was spitting mad!

So I’ve had like 4 hours’ sleep and I’m really tired and grumpy today. Apart from having piles of work to get through, I also have to go to gym a bit later and submit myself to my Personal Torturer for an hour PLUS I have get The Dreaded Weekly Grocery Shop done. What a nightmare! Actually, I wish it was, at least then I’d be SLEEPING!!

Bad night on the block

Mar 12, 2008 | Cats and Dogs, Gym, Personal

I don’t think I managed to sleep more than 2 hours last night. Urgh, this is the third consecutive night of far too little sleep and I am completely shattered!

My neck and back were so sore; I couldn’t get comfortable no matter what position I tried. My head was spinning – so much stuff screaming around in there. And my cats, oh dear …. I love them to death, they are beautiful creatures, but they irritate the crap out of me at night! They insist on sleeping either under the covers with me, or right on top of my legs. It wouldn’t be so bad if they kept still, didn’t scratch me and weighed a whole lot less! (Burmese are not called “bricks wrapped in silk” for nothing.) After being woken up by a sharp claw in my thigh just about every time I started to drop off, or what felt like 2 elephants settling onto my legs whenever I shoved them out from under the duvet, I was just about ready to drop kick them! I don’t want to ban them from my room though, I’m too afraid that they will go outside and it would kill me if anything happened to them. I’m going to try cat beds; hopefully I can get them to settle down and sleep in their own beds and let me get some rest. Then there’s the issue f my eldest son, who frequently gets up at night and trots off to the kitchen to make himself a sandwich. He’s so noisy! Banging doors, heavy footsteps, cupboards and fridge doors creaking, crockery clanging, cutlery rattling – it sounds a million times louder in the quiet darkness. I’ve spoken to him before about it, but to no avail so I guess earplugs may be the best plan.

So, I am running on empty today and it sucks! I have to go to gym at lunchtime for an hour – god knows how I’m going to survive that but I can’t not go – I’ve not been since Saturday and I can’t miss another day. I don’t want to have to handle all the inevitable negative self talk that’s going to dominate my thoughts if I don’t go. (I’m on a mission to drop the nearly 10kgs I put on over the last 2 years and my efforts are finally starting to pay off a bit, so I really don’t want to jeopardize that. I joined the Virgin Active gym and I’ve been going 3 or 4 times a week since February. Progress has been slow, mainly because I don’t eat as well as I should, but I have managed to lose 2kgs and quite a few centimeters in about 4 weeks.)

I’ll have to go to the pharmacy later and renew my script for sleeping pills. I hate taking the things – even a half a tab gives me the worst zombie hangover the next day – but if I don’t get some decent sleep soon I’m going to be even more of a cranky bitch!