The Making of a Monday Morning Zombie and Insomniac

Act 1............................................
A few late nights, a few missed hours of sleep, a drink or two on a Thursday night while already tired from the week.  Still to finish Friday at work? Unfortunately, I have not been getting to bed at a reasonable time lately and there is always something I have not finished.  I feel like running away and joining the circus sometimes, instead of going back to work on Monday after a weekend of catching up on sleep. 

Though I don't want to sleep away my weekend, it's no telling I will after all the work I accomplish during the week.  Not to mention some people call me later in the evening to talk on the phone, and despite avoiding calls when I am sleeping or busy, I feel it rude not to pick up.

My sleeping pattern is the worst I admit.  Later weekend nights spent trying to catch up on organizing, other chores, let alone some reading time and catching up on my favorite movies.  More recently I had been applying for job positions, preparing for interviews and trying to maintain an exercise routine.

Anyways, my inconsistent rest routine is definitely not a habit I want to form and it probably is not positive
to my health. In fact, I do recall watching a documentary on brain health, and lack of sleep was one of the bad habits that affects the brain health in a bad way.

Sunday nights I often have trouble falling asleep.......worrying about things will keep me up on a night that I have to be asleep and up early in the morning.  My internal clock was now telling me that I should not be sleeping.  I lay there and my brain would not shut down.  I did everything I could to try to sleep and it was not working at all.  I finally had to make a snack, consisting of 2 slices of raisin bread toast and a glass of milk.  For some reason, that was just what I needed to I fall asleep, and almost instantly.

The best thing for anyone is to maintain a regular sleep pattern and good bedtime habits.  If we do that, your body will communicate how much sleep you need.  It's not always 8 hours a night (at least they say) that everyone will need.  I find if I am in the country and there is plenty of fresh air, then I require less sleep and will be up earlier in the morning.  Also napping too late in the day can disturb your sleeping patterns, as you will be wired at the time you should be unwinding.

If that project you are working on is not done by bedtime you simply will have to get up early to start on it again tomorrow, if you want to maintain your sleep schedule.  If you fast from 8 pm until morning, you should be ready for breakfast or at least a smoothie packed with some protein and get up early to do a good morning workout.  You may notice that once you make this a routine, it will become second nature.

Some great methods to get to sleep and rely on, is making a nice cup of chamomile tea with no sugar or just honey.  Then you won't get hyper on sweetener and chamomile is a sleepy time tea on it's own.
Draw your self a luxurious bath and add lavender or your favorite bath oil or have a nice luke warm shower at around 8 p.m.  This will give you enough time for your body to start feeling relaxed and your mind to turn off. By 9pm you should be ready to turn everything off and go to bed.

The key is to make sure your muscles and body are relaxed before bed, so maybe your spouse or significant other can rub your back and turn the lights down low.  It will do wonders for your mood so that you can feel relaxed and call it a night.

If you like to shower in the mornings to wake up, perhaps fill a hot water bottle (with hot water) when going to bed and wrap it up in a thick towel and nestle that at the cradle of your back.  As you feel the warm cozy feeling, you can warm up and fall asleep just like a baby.

Last but not least, there's the biochemistry of sex.  It can tire you out~!
It can make a women tired at times but more often men, (after orgasm), men's brains release many chemicals but the most notable one being prolactin.  Prolactin levels are the highest naturally during sleep and in animals that have been tranquilized.  They immediately are tired.

Again, try not to stay up late, no matter the activity, especially if you don't want to pay the price on Monday morning.  Have a great week, and please subscribe to my blog~ if you would like to stay tuned!

Long Weekend Mondays

I don't know about you guys, but I sure wish it was camping season and there was a long weekend
Monday in it for me!  I so long for the sunshine time, hiking, swimming and of course the BBQ foods.
I know it's not even summertime, so what am I thinking of camping for?!!?
Well, I am starting to organize my camping gear and supplies now, and that being said, is a great time
to start purchasing things, looking out for sales.  If one waits until the last minute we end up spending top dollar on items we need to take on our camping experience.

Starting with such items like canned beans which can range from $0.89 cents- $1.79 each.  Campfire toasters can be around $4.00-$5.00 average and flashlights or batteries for your preexisting flashlights can be costly when not purchased regular prices.  Prices increase yearly though so if you can score items that have a long lasting expiration if on sale.  Also you should change up expiring items in the first aid kit and supplies,emergency water and I also have a good amount of toilet paper and some other paper products such as napkins, paper towel.  I find the dollar store has great prices for the napkins and $1 for the disposable plates.

 If you have a coupon or two for packs of batteries, most of the time they are mail in rebate ones, I determine if they will save me any money down the road ,but I may need batteries right away, so sometimes I have not used the coupons on time.  If I have time to send away for the rebate then after paying for postage to mail the coupon I would be no savings there with the price of postage.  But you can can buy a bulk package of batteries every year when they go on sale.  If you have a lot of toys for your children, you will find there are a lot of toys that require batteries.  Perhaps, plan ahead and buy a bulk package of batteries in advance.  ")

Making lists of items you would like to take this time on camping trips may be useful in remembering them when you see a sale for items.  I also suggest signing up for some of the flyers online to store sites that you use or to the stores you already shop at for camping supplies specifically.  This way you can price compare before purchasing all items in one place.  You can also stop en route to another store if there are significant savings to be had.  A great way for saving money is splitting the trips, tracking prices and checking off the deal and item on your list as you go.

Last year we all needed sleeping bags, I got mine on sale for $5, although if is not cold rated.  Regularly the sleeping bag is about $20-$30, for such a thin sleeping bag,  It is good for summer night sleeping.  There were also cold weather and brand name sleeping bags for $20.  Regularly around $60 that was over 50% savings. It is much warmer than the $5 sleeping bag.  So, on some deals if the store is selling quality then it can be worth the trip and perhaps replace everyone's sleeping bags if it is time to do so.

By the way, if you reprint printable coupons from the Internet for any camping supplies, it's my personal experience to not "clip" them out, but leave them completely printed on the full page of paper along with the website details.  I was told by the store manager at Wal-Mart that they need to see that it's not a photo-copy of a coupon.  Just a little tip folks.

If you have tents that need repairs or a motorhome such as I have, then certain repairs it may be good time to start now in case they are timely repairs.  Perhaps you can save time later so you don't miss out on camping.... I don't know about you, but when its camping season, I just want to go and not be worrying about repairs and fixing as much.  I also need to start sewing some new motorhome window curtains, of which I am replacing the mis-measured curtains that came with the unit.  I had taken the measurements in the fall, before the motorhome was winterized and parked, and now it's time to sew.  I will update you later on these.

Also, you might want to start digging up camping clothes and making sure they are suitable this year and fit you.  Nothing worse than a useless camping wardrobe.  It was pretty cold last year and I had way too many pairs of shorts.  Levi's jeans are super comfortable and you can find deals at Value Village, just right for camping if you don't mind that someone else wore them in first.

If you are wondering, I will try to go camping for free this year...... and if anyone knows a way I can coupon free gas for my mini motorhome, please let me know. That is why we work and save, so we can have the funds to get away from it all!

Rib Mondays

It's getting to be time, we can fire up the good old BBQ when we get home for dinner.

First, cooking ribs or a long cooking time meal, can be intimidating on Mondays.  You are likely tired and disillusioned from your day and want to have a 30 minute meal and then relax.   If you have it already half prepared then delicious is quite do-able.

Well, last night, (Sunday) I steamed ribs under tinfoil with water in the bottom of the pan,
 in the oven at 350*F.  First removing the membrane (tough skin on the back of the ribs), and the method is easy when you get the hang of it.  Give it about an hour and 30 minutes..... then preparing a spice rub to put on the ribs.  I make my own according to what I have such as brown sugar and spices.  Google yourself your NEW favorite rib rub recipe or spice rub.  For more information, there are even videos on e-how that show how to take the membrane on the back of the ribs off.

So, it's pretty much that easy, then after it's cooled off and steam cooked essentially, you can refrigerate the ribs in your tinfoil.  When you get home on Monday or any day that you know will be hectic in advance, it's a matter of firing up the BBQ and cooking those ribs with BBQ sauce for about 20 minutes each side on a medium high heat.  *BBQ heat can vary, so it's good to use your own discretion, and I like it cooking longer for lower to make the meat more tender.  You could also use your handy crock pot and set the ribs to cook in it in the morning. I made some Italian herb potatoes and corn to go with and it was really tasty.

Monday dinner was easy.  It may even be better if you cooked rib dinner on Sunday, and eat
leftovers on Mondays.  Anything to make the day easier I suppose.
It sure was a fairly complete meal and I think Garfield would approve! ")
Until next week, down with Monday.

Personality Goes A Long Way!

I strongly recommend taking these personality tests out there, like Myers Briggs personality test.....or the Jung Typology Test. You WILL find out a lot about your self and this might help you in all avenues of life.
 I took one today, which was a combination of both, "Jung- Myers Briggs"-  and funny how sometimes you are told you would be good at such a career, or industry even if you don't see your self really doing that.  Perhaps, you consider it but it just isn't for you.

Well, there was a division director at school that mentioned I would make a good counsellor.  She could see me working as a volunteer coordinator and that was really correct according to this personality test I did.   Of course this person gets paid to make such recommendations and obviously is excellent at her job and has learned how to make that judgement.  Very interesting and I will be touching base with her most definitely, as she was the one who brought up the Myers Briggs personality test.

Furthermore, I determined from the test that I am an INFJ type. Interesting enough, learning more everyday about this.  I suppose when one is keen to something, they tend to find the knowledge in all kinds of places. Some examples of famous INFJ people are Shakespeare, Beethoven, Martin Luther King Jr. (civil rights leader, martyr), Mother Teresa of Calcutta (saint), Jerry Seinfeld, Jamie Foxx,  and Piers Anthony to name a few.  Actually, one of my favorite books "Isle of Woman" was written by Piers Anthony.

As a predetermined INFJ, I should be going into Art/Science categories like literature/writer, humanities, philosphy, web design, archeology or into Social Services genres like Religious Education, Pschylogy, or counselling.  So, that is my personality type, what about you?
You could be a ENPF- ISFOP combination.
That's all for this week, sorry for the late post. I will be keeping it real on Mondays.
See you later.

Another One Bites The Dust

1. Monday
2. Tired and quite frankly I drank too much Sauvignon Blanc the night before
3. Coupon searching from yesterday's paper
4. Looking through spring look books and liked some shoes
5. Worked through lunch for the good of getting Friday's assignment done
6. Not done but it's organized
7. Called someone I should not have
8. Feeling alright for dropping a grudge
9. Should finish painting
10. Killing it this week 

UPDATE! May 18, 2013.
I thought I would travel back in time and view my first post and a few others that need reviewing and updating!  So, it is amazing that I started this journey here, three years ago with this first post, rather a list of sorts.  I think it's best to clarify where I am today, in present time with another list!

Maybe just 5 things though people. Have a good day!
 
1. Why did Garfield hate Mondays? We are back to a strict schedule if you don't love what you are doing.

2.  Doing something I love, more than anything else in the world - just being, not worrying, not defining.

3. Eating for health and simple tastes.  Concentrating on preparing more vegetables and fruits, eating more minerals and nutrients.

4. Creatively thinking. Relaxing, no strictness. Reading and learning. Love.

5. Being mindful, in the moment.