#NaBloPoMo: Favorite Hour Of The Day

I don't wake up well. My theory is that I don't enter a REM sleep until about 5:00 a.m.. Then my alarm goes off an hour later, and I've basically gotten an hour's worth of good, deep sleep. This also explains why I have such vivid remembrances of my dreams. This also explains why I'm not a tolerable person--or a person to be tolerated--until after 10:00 a.m..

I spend most of my waking hours feeling sluggish. I'll wake up fully around lunch time, and then want to take a nap around 2:00-ish. When one works outside of one's home and is responsible for the lives and education of others, a nap at this time is not acceptable.

In the evenings, we stay so busy with softball, golf, youth group, activities, lessons, groups, clubs, whatever that when 8:30 rolls around, I'm spent. I'll throw The Daughters in bed and finish up what needs to be done until about 10:00.

At 10:00, when the world is dark and the moon is bright, I finally come alive.

Source

I am most productive after 10:00. During the summer months when our days are carefree, I can stay up until two or three in the morning and accomplish amazing things.

But, since we've become accustomed to such things as electricity and running water, I'll have to keep working on The Man's schedule. Come summer time, though, if you want me, call after ten.

#NaBloPoMo: Five Things In My Fridge

Name five things inside your refrigerator right now and how you feel about them.

Oh, BlogHer. You vixen, you. Why you want me to talk about my refrigerator? Is it because you know I have an affliction that requires me to clean out my fridge every week before I go grocery shopping? Is it because you know my light is burned out and you thought that my publicly acknowledging this might encourage me to replace it? (It won't, by the way.) Whatever the reason you've chosen to call me out in this way, I'm stepping up.

1. I have a jar of Billy Sims low-carb Bar B Que  sauce. It's delicious. And it's low-carb ... well, as far as Bar B Que sauces go. But, I forget that I have it, and it's probably expired. But, I won't throw it out until I get some more because it's low-carb and delicious.

2. I have a quarter of a bottle of generic (read: cheap) seven up. Typically, we don't have soda/pop/coke-with-a-lower-case-C in our house. We just don't drink it. (Well, Brian and D2 drink it, but I don't like for them to drink it.) But, we were so sick a week or so ago. The soda is probably stale or flat or old. But, if one of us gets re-sick, we're ready.

3. I have a tube of tomato paste. I love this stuff. You never need more than a tablespoon or so of tomato paste and even the smallest can provides you with way more than you will need and then you're stuck wondering how to keep leftover tomato paste. I bought the tube, and I feel so cool knowing that's in my fridge.

4. I have a lot of eggs. We are big egg eaters. Well, D1 isn't such a big egg eater. She pretends she is. She likes to scramble up a big batch of eggs, but she'll only choke down one bite--two if I'm watching--and then declare that she's full and throw the rest out to the dogs. She's the dogs' favorite.

5. We keep our shaved ice flavoring cold. This summer, my sister got us a shaved ice machine. It was a lot of work for a small glass of shaved ice. Now, we just pour the flavoring over a cup full of unshaved ice. I know--we'll drink the sugar-water but we won't drink the soda. We are a family of oddities.

Today is my sweet Daughter 1's birthday! This kid is twelve years old. How in the world did that happen? It seems like yesterday I was wiping her poopy butt and begging her to eat. Happy, happy birthday, sweet girl!

#NaBloPoMo: If I Could Change One Thing About Myself ....

If I could change one thing about myself ...

I wish I were more patient. I have a tendency to want things now--as in RIGHT now. I've always been that way, and I've not noticed this lack-of-patience thing getting better as the years go by. But, it was this persistence, shall we say, that drove me to get my Masters. It was this persistence that helped me decide to elope with Brian instead of waiting around to put on a show have a wedding. It was this persistence that helped me and is helping me secure my dream of being a writer.

So, I think I'd like to exercise. Up until middle school, I played basketball and softball. I loved riding my bike and playing kickball and roller skating. Then, I just stopped. I sorta enjoy walking now, but don't always have the time. Nor do I have the desire. I should do more physical activity, that's that up for questioning. I should be exercising every day. But, I don't want to. And I don't want to want to. (Read that sentence again--it makes sense.) I need to, but I don't want to.

Maybe I'd like to change my best time of day. Right now, I come alive--I fell great and want to conquer the world) at about 8:00 p.m. If I could set my own time schedule, I'd sleep until 10 a.m. or so, I'd take a nap 3:00 p.m. for about an hour. Then, I'd stay awake until 2:00 or 3:00 a.m. But, I'd never get to see my family. I'd miss out on my day job and I've kinda grown accustomed to electricity and groceries, so maybe I'll just make due with the routine I've worked out for now.

I could talk about changing my underwear, my hair color, my bra (that one's harder than you know!). I could change my attitude or the channel or the same tired dinner menu.  I could write about changing my diet, my sheets or the litter in the litter box. I could write about changing my clothes in a public area--I have done that, ya know.

Poor guy. I can relate--to him and his momma.
Source.

But I didn't write about any of those things. Besides, that wasn't even the prompt.

If I could change one thing about myself maybe I'd be more decisive. Maybe I'd come up with an answer to a simple question quickly and stick to it.

Or maybe I wouldn't ... Maybe I wouldn't change one thing about myself. Maybe I wouldn't stick with one answer. Maybe today should have been the day I skipped #NaBloPoMo ...

#NaBloPoMo: My Writing Space

I'd love to show you my writing space, it's light-colored walls full of inspiring photos of my family. A bookshelf in a corner holds my favorite books, including every single book of Celia Rivenbark. I sit in a high-back, high-end leather chair, facing my large solid oak desk that is beautifully cluttered with this and that and a paperweight with a four-leaf-clover suspended inside, even though I have a small framed quote that reads Diligence is the mother of luck.

I cannot show you that space, though, because it doesn't exist. We do have an office and a fairly nice desk. But, I only use it if I'm writing something academic. And since I've run the gamut of academia, I never sit in there to write.

Instead, I write on the couch. Much like Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, I nestle myself into my spot on our blue love seat in the living room and I sit down to write.

I'd also love to tell you that the words spew forth from me like vomit from a sick kid on November 1. But, that's not always the case. Sometimes, I can sit and write and write and write.

Most times, however, I sit and get a good ideas then get distracted by, well, The Big Bang Theory.

Yay! It's time to write!

Ooooo ... Great idea!

Oh my goodness ... is The Big Bang Theory on The CW again?

Now, what was I going to do again?

When push comes to shove and I have major writing to do or certain deadlines looming, I'll move into the front room and position myself on the brown leather couch--my favorite couch ever! But, there are hazards being in there as well.