Another sleepless night thanks to the boogeyman

1:45am

I actually was asleep earlier, until my son came in to tell me he had heard some sort of crash sound and whistling noise outside. So, up I went to check out the house. Everything appeared normal...but now the damage was done! I couldn't get back to sleep. The forces are against me:

have to go to the bathroom over and over again (must stop drinking water every time I get out of bed to fend of said boogeyman)

feeling like my head is itchy, thanks to the gleaned info today that our cootie friends, although finding no sign of lice on them while they were here, promptly got home to find 3 live ones on one of their kids. Enter DollyMama suddenly feeling like she is being crawled all over by small creatures.....

I'm hungry! Should I eat? hmmmm

After awhile of tossing and turning I decided to get up and polish off my book, Drums of Autumn, which is the 4th book in the Outlander series. I LOVED IT! Better than #2 and #3, and well worth it to have kept going. I already picked up the bext book in the series, but think I'd best not open it tonight.

My husband is applying (is that word spelled wrong? At 2 am it *looks* wrong.....) for some part time EMT work in addition to his regularly scheduled program of firefighting. We would like to get on top of our debts, so some additional cashola would be a mighty fine assistance toward that goal. It could work out well for him to do the EMT job, although I daresay that if he gets 24 hour shifts there, I am going to have to figure out a way to be able to sleep better while he is gone!

Speaking of my husband, I was telling him the other night about a recent post I sent in to one of my egroups to encourage a young mother who was very overwhelmed. It seemed to me that everyone else that had responded to this woman gave her advice about how she could Do More, rather than saying, "Hey, babe--you've got your hands full right now. Don't mess with the extras." So, it needed to be said, and I did. I told my husband I was on a quest to enlighten overwhelmed mothers everywhere and to help them get rid of their toxic, self-abusive, comparing themselves to imaginary people notions. He said I needed to start a new blog entitled The Enema: Flushing out all of your hidden toxicity with common sense and encouragement. or something like that. What do you think? Would a blog call The Enema catch on?? (now don't any of you go and steal my title!! It's copyrighted, y'hear??)

I think we can safely say that operation No More Milky has been completed successfully. I have not nursed my Squiggy Magoo since whenever it was last week that I started this project. He still asks, but is doing fine. After 13 years of faithful service, my boobs are going into retirement. Feel free to send gifts....

In the Other Odds and Ends dept..... I found a way to entice myself to spend time in the laundry room! I put a CD player in there and have enjoyed listening to one of my son's new CDs (Chris Tomlin). Now I have no trouble getting down there for some quality time singing my heart out while I fold clothes ever-so-beautifully. :)

Handy tip for those that like to both save money and save time: Instead of buying boneless, skinless chicken breasts like I did once upon a time, I now buy 2 turkey breasts every 2 weeks. I let them thaw, then crock pot them over night. The next day I let them continue crocking on low until I have time to deal with them. Then I take off the lid, let it cool for a bit, and pick the meat off the bones. (not a big deal) I package up the turkey into amounts to be used for several meals. I use the turkey for my turkey-noodle soup, for turkey patties (which is one of my faves), turkey quesadillas, Italian turkey, casseroles, etc. Basically anything that you would use chicken in. It's way cheaper, very easy, and once you've got it cooked it makes dinner prep much faster than the 1 hour at 35o that chicken breasts call for. Sooz says her grocery doesn't sell turkey at all at this time of year, but hopefully some others of you will have better fortune.

So, I have killed a half hour. I wonder if it is safe to go to sleep now? My mother suggested that I employ ear plugs as she has done ever since my teen years at least. She claims that I could block out the little noises, but would hear the kids if they cried or whatever, but I am concerned that I wouldn't. When it's only me on duty I feel fairly well obliged to hear all that I can Just In Case. So, I guess I'm doomed to suffer, eh?