Friday, September 17, 2010

Lessons Learned

No photos and no layouts for these…yet. I feel a couple may be calling for layouts

~Sleep – sometimes more necessary than exercise

I try to keep a rein on my desire to crawl back into bed after the males leave for the day. Usually I accomplish this by talking myself into going to the gym with that old adage, you’ll feel better after exercising. And really, 95% of the time I do. But DH has been gone this week and my insomnia has been worse than usual. I think I slept 2 non-consecutive hours Wed night and while I did put on my work out clothes and walked the kids to the bus stop, I came home removed those clothes & put my pjs back on. I was worn out tired. The sort of tired that might just cause me an injury at the gym. Probably I would feel good after working out. But not rested and I really really needed to feel rested. I was back in bed at 7:30. I woke up at 9:30 and thought “get up now, things to do”  then I thought “what? what do I need to do this morning? nothing. there is silence. no one to disturb me. no one needs me.” and I rolled over and woke up at 11am. I feel good to

~ Books seem shorter on the Kindle

I know it’s a perception problem but it seemed like Wicker Appetite, Janet Evanovich’s latest, was really really short. I watched the progress bar at the bottom as I read and was constantly thinking “50%? so soon? 62% already? 98%, it can’t be?”. So when I was in Target Wednesday I took a moment to compare the thickness of the hardback copy with the thickness of the hardback copy of Sizzling Sixteen, which I own & read in hardback & seemed longer than Wicked Appetite.

They were the SAME SIZE. Then I had to go pick up “The Nasty Bits” by Tony Bordain and once again, the hardback book seemed so much more substantial than the Kindle book I read.

That is going to take some getting used to.

~Rice cooked in a steamer – not as easy as it appears

And I have 2 cups of undercooked rice floating in water after 90 minutes steaming to prove it

~ Never read new books after 8pm if you want to sleep at night.

Part of the insomnia problem is an over stimulated brain caused by reading new books before going to bed, and reading them longer because they seem shorter on the Kindle.  I had gotten into a habit of switching my reading material in the evening to old familiar books, like Agatha Christie. Things I could recite in my sleep, so they don’t get my mind all worked up, but I got 3 new books this week and with DH not being around to talk to and nothing much interesting on tv, I indulged myself and read them right up to bedtime and occasionally past bedtime. If I have had 12 hours sleep this week (including the 3 I had napping Thursday morning) I’d be surprised.

~ Soaking the dirty lasagna pan before washing is useful, over soaking it is just nasty

No comment necessary I think

 

I sort of wish I had taken a photo of the steamed rice soup, because it does lend itself to a layout and my mind has more or less designed a layout for the sleep being more important than exercise one as well. I don’t think anyone will be more surprised than me at how my book of this project finally turns out.

4 comments:

SciFi Dad said...

See, I can't read ANYTHING before bed because I'm not able to focus and anything I do read will have to be re-read again at an earlier time.

humel said...

I have an electric rice cooker, one of my best kitchen investments EVER!

Sorry to hear about the insomnia. I'm struggling to sleep at the moment but not on the same scale. Hope you get some proper rest soon xx

Andrea Chamberlain said...

That is really interesting regarding the Kindle - I'm still on the fence about the whole concept. I wish someone around me had one that I could hold and try out. I hate buying something sight unseen!

Comfy Mom said...

Target is now selling Kindles. You can play with them in the store. They just released the new version.