hmmmm

guess what happens when you fall asleep on the couch at 7?  you wake up at midnight, and then wonder if you can go back to sleep! i always do this the night before work.  dork.

i made quite possibly the most amazing lima bean dish tonight, which i know for some of you might sound like cooking the impossible, but honestly; lima beans have to be my favorite bean to cook.  if done right they are creamy little pockets of yum. i kind of made up the recipe as i went along, so i need to write it all down because it was so good.  i cooked a whole pound of dried beans, and we had a little less than a serving left after dinner.  the kids especially loved it, and that totally made me feel like a rockstar.  they are such good eaters!  completely open to trying anything once, and they tend to love stuff you'd have a hard time selling other kids.  they can probably name more veggies than your average grocery store checkout clerk, and know the difference between a parsnip and a rutabaga.  in short, they are pretty much the perfect people to cook for.

i'm going to try to go back to sleep.  wish me luck!  

i think it's time for a pot of tea

last night was the weirdest in terms of sleep and dreams.  for one thing, i fell asleep on the couch watching cartoons, then woke up at 1 a.m.  normally this is not a big deal: i move myself to bed where i fall back asleep and everything is hunky dory.  last night i found that going back to sleep wasn't an option (for whatever reason) and i ended up staying up until 5 a.m., and then fell asleep just in time for the boychik to wake me up getting ready for school.  after he left i drifted off again, for the hour before the girlchild gets up to get ready for school.  fun times.  then i had a crazy dream about getting my lip re-pierced, in which i not only got my lip pierced, but also got two piercing in each cheek.  for some reason we didn't have the hardware for my cheek piercings (!) so we were holding them open with fishing line.  then i asked a guy who was evidently my brother to borrow his lip ring so i could get the fishing line out of my face, and he gave me this gorgeous inlaid wood and silver ring.  however, his hands were disgusting (so dirty) and i spent a long time trying to find alcohol to sterilize everything before i put it in my face.  did i mention this brother of mine was a hulking beast of a man, all gingery and bearded and nordic looking?  very unlike anything my parents actually produced?

i admit, i always enjoy having dreams about brothers, because that was my one secret wish from childhood: an older brother.

now everyone is out of the house (work and school took them away) and i think it's time for a nice pot of tea, some knitting and slowing working up toward going to the gym.  i was kind of naughty this weekend and ate both pizza and donuts, neither of which is going to help me fit into a smaller pair of pants, but i have been working out pretty steadily so i don't feel too bad.  i probably should, but there's no use crying over eaten donuts, is there?  nope.  i'm not catholic anymore, i don't need that kind of guilt.

smile!

oh my goodness, i had no idea how much a bite guard would change my life.  i know it sounds like hyperbole, but DAMN.  after the dentist pointed out where i was messing up my teeth with the grinding, he offered to make me a custom bite guard.  it was like a million dollars.  i politely declined, and said i'd try an over the counter one first.  after looking at reviews on amazon, i picked out this one.  it was easy to mold, not too uncomfortable to wear, and when i woke up this morning i realized how much the bruxism has been messing up  my sleep.  i felt ridiculously well-rested.  it was insane.  yeah, wearing the guard isn't cool looking, and i sound silly while talking in it, but it's worth it.  the sleep i had last night was superb.  if you're looking for a mouth guard, i'd recommend the one by dental hygiene preferred. 

i am extra tired

whenever i come back from vacation, my boss signs me up for six days of work in a row. this time was no different, so today was my first day all to myself in what felt like years. i made some magic bars, a pot roast (which totally needed 1. a hotter temp and 2. fifteen more minutes of cooking time, but otherwise was pretty okay), and bought a new pair of circular needles. i needed to go to the bank, but totally forget and by the time i remembered i was busy cooking and so now i'm just hoping nothing bounces between right now and tomorrow.

all i really wanted was today all to myself, and i got a lot of that. it was nice. i got some knitting done, and wrestled with the circulars for a while. a quick knitting question: is there a way to make the starting on circulars easier? i feel like i'm mucking it up, or missing something that might make it easier. also, will the nylon part of it soften up? it feels all stiff and weird in my hands. how should i store them? and when i get to the end of a hat, will i need to switch to dpns? if you are not a knitter and this part bored you, too bad! best part of a blog #325 is asking questions about stuff you don't know.

i've been a huge fan of sleeping on the couch lately, which is unfortunate seeing as i've spent $120 total fixing my back and that seems to undo it with a flourish. i just love how sleeping there feels like cheating; when i go through phases when i want don't want to sleep, no matter how tired i am, the couch becomes my friend. if i didn't have roommates i would be living on the couch right now. there's no good reason for my insomnia lately, i just get fussy before bed like a three year old. no, i am not tired. no, i don't want to go to bed. no, leave me alone. no...zzzz...

"shiftless" should be my middle name

i didn't sleep until some time after 3 a.m. last night. then i slept in until noon, which sort of shot today in the foot. go me! i did get all of three things done; i bought a new small photo album for photos of baby, i put my paycheck in the mail, and i spent entirely too much money at old navy. i went in looking for more receiving blankets, instead found some cute pants for work, the cutest striped sweater i've never knit, a shiny girly shirt, and two shirts that do this things to my boobs where they look fabulous. a girl does not argue with that kind of shirt. i might have to go back and buy a few more, they're like magic boob shirts.

then i watched may on ifc, where i decided i love jeremy sisto. his face is strange and lovely all at once, and that's what i look for in just about anyone. everyone i know who's seen that movie has recommended it to me, but it's lower on my netflix list right now, since all my free time is taken up with battlestar galactica, buffy the vampire slayer, and arrested development. i missed the first fifteen minutes, but it's true, i loved it. it was weird and creepy and i liked may's outfits.

now i'm arguing with myself about going to bed at a reasonable time, because i'm not tired right now. i have to open tomorrow, which means 8:30 a.m., a time i'm not a huge fan of, but i can do it! i wish sleep carried over from day to day, because if that was the case, i got more than enough sleep yesterday to carry me through tomorrow. too bad sleep doesn't work that way. i'd sock some away in my sleep bank to use this weekend, too.

oh wait! i almost forgot to tell you that i painted that pumpkin for some work thing, and i started buying parts of my halloween costume tonight. i'm not going to tell you what i'm going to be, but i'm pretty excited. boy roommate knows of a party and i'm really looking forward to donning a costume and maybe kissing on some boy also wearing a costume. halloween is good for random make-outs, and i should know because before i put the moratorium on birthday fun, i used to hit every halloween party i knew of and milk both the holiday and my recent birthday.