No profoundness...

Today I will mention the fact that I'm waiting for the coffeemaker to get done brewing my two cups of coffee which I am sorely in need of. It is at the end of the afternoon and I am having just a little bit of a dip so I need the caffeine to climb out of it again. There's no question of taking a nap now. It is too late in the day for that. 

My bed doesn't look all that appealing anyway because those sheets have been on there for at least five days and I really want clean ones. I'm waiting for my favorite duvet cover to get dry and then I'll change the bed. The apartment is clean and I want my bed to be also. But first I've got to have those cups of coffee. 

I will not be very profound today and tell you all sorts of wise things about myself and my life. I'll take a day off and resume that again tomorrow. I don't feel like being very profound right now. I just want to be an ordinary, every day sort of person who doesn't impress anyone with her wisdom.

It has been a most excellent day and I've spent it pleasantly in the company of the Exfactor and the domestic help like I do every Friday. I think Friday is one of my most favorite days and that is also because it is the day before the weekend. 

Friday gives me the opportunity to straighten out my life without having to go far afield to look for the answers. I've usually got them close at hand and then I've got the weekend to put them to the test. I can try out any theory I have and see if it fits before I have to apply it during the week. 

I can tell the caffeine is working because I'm suddenly better capable of reasoning. I'm climbing out of my dip and becoming a human being again. I'll be sitting on top of the world in a moment. 

I guess some days you're more thoughtful about your life than other days. More pensive, I suppose. Not so outwardly shouting and loud about it. I am considering my attitude, although my outlook hasn't changed. I'm as comfortable with myself as I was yesterday and very sure of myself too. 

A cloak of restrictions and general anxiety has fallen off my shoulders and I have been set free. I am closer to how I used to be which is good. I hoped to be this way again. I'm not afraid of this person. She's a good human being and I trust her.

Ciao,
Irene

Stormy weather...

I made myself a weak pot of coffee because I was too lazy to open a new package of ground filter coffee. I made do with what was left over in the glass jars and it really wasn't enough. I could tell by the way the coffee smelled when it was done that it was weak, but I prepared for the worst and drank it anyway. Much to my relief, it wasn't as bad as I had feared and it is drinkable. It just doesn't carry the usual punch. An American would find this quite acceptable coffee.

Having completely run out of clean forks and plates and bowls, I finally got around to doing the dishes which I had been putting of. I knew I would get around to them today and had given myself that deadline. I let them soak in very hot soapy water first so I could mentally prepare myself to get ready to do them. I usually do need to warm up to the idea a bit. I can't suddenly do them out of the blue. I have to mentally picture myself doing them and talk myself into it. Then the job gets done easily because I'm less intimidated.

I also changed the bed and found a felt tipped pen under the fleece blanket that the dog had chewed to pieces. Needless to say, the ink had leaked all over the place and I hope it washes out in the laundry. The dog does secretly steal things during the night and isn't over the worst of his puppy behavior yet. When it comes to chewing on foreign objects, he's up there with the rest of them, even if he does have a rawhide bone. He'll simply ignore that if he can find something more interesting and forbidden. He knows that felt tipped pens are off limits. He does look guilty when I find him out. 

I enjoy changing the bed because it's so nice to sleep between clean sheets and it makes me look forward to going to bed at night. I do have my favorite duvet cover and it's being washed now. I think I need to go and buy some new ones and will have to go into town one of these days. Because I don't want to go alone, I will have to talk someone into going with me.  It's more fun to go shopping in someone else's company and to also go sit on a terrace and have a cup of coffee. There's nothing as awful as walking around downtown by yourself with your soul under your arm.

I've done two loads of laundry and feel very virtuous. The bathroom smells very good because of the washing powder and it's a pleasure to walk in there with the laundry drying on the clothing rack. I can't hang it outside because of the showers we are having today. It would smell even better if I had been able to do that. There's a stiff wind blowing and the laundry would have been dry quickly, but every once in a while it rains. It's not cold out and in the living room it is warm. I'm sitting here in a summer top and am not in the least chilled. 

I hope you're all having a good day.

Ciao,
Irene

In charge again...

Whatever was bothering me, has stopped doing so. It has stopped making me feel stressed and anxious and left me feeling relaxed and happier. It stopped this afternoon and I've been much pleased ever since. I've celebrated that with several cups of coffee and they in turn made me feel much better too, so it was a double joyful happening. I don't feel that anything can go wrong now. 

I'm enjoying this time as much as I can and am relishing the easiness of it. Hardly anything seems complicated anymore. Things I worried about before seem so benign in nature now. I laugh at the fact that I was intimidated by them earlier. I've certainly found my courage again. I guess you have to hit the bottom a bit before you bounce back up. Luckily, I didn't hit it too hard. 

It goes to show you that you mustn't get too caught up in your temporary moods. They may only be of short nature but you can spend a lot of that time worrying about things when all you need to do is wait for the mood to change. Unfortunately, a person is never smart enough to realize that or maybe some people are very even natured and they don't go through these ups and downs so much. When attacked by stress, I do. 

It usually takes a good dose of realism to get me on the path of the straight and narrow again and that is where I am now. There aren't many bends in the road anymore. Before there were many twists and turns and the whole situation was unforeseeable. I felt I might miss a curve and get a fatal accident. Now I'm cruising along merrily and in charge again and I'm going along at the right speed. 

All this speaking in metaphores does not become me and I'll stop right now and get to reality on all fronts. 

I've just peeled an apple for the dog and he is very happily chowing down on it. Actually, he does eat it very delicately for a dog. He takes rather small bites as if he wants to make it last. He's always very disappointed when he's eaten it all and looks all over the place for bits and pieces. He eats to efficiently for there to be any.

The apartment is  clean and the dishes have been done. I'm ready for the weekend. All I have to do is change the bed and walk the dog. 

Have a good one.

Ciao,
Irene

A rainy Sunday.

It's only 7 degrees Celsius outside and it's been raining on and off all day. I haven't seen the blue sky yet, let alone any sunshine. I know there was a super moon during the night but it was not visible here because of the overcast sky. I missed that spectacle completely. I have to say that I don't feel especially energized or rebirthed or anything because of the close proximity of the moon to the earth. I guess that effect didn't work on me.

I'm doing jobs around the apartment. Now that I've struggled with and overcome my depression, it's time to take care of the things that were left undone for a while. Not all of them will get done today but that's not my intention. Whatever I don't get to today will get done later this week. I will have a clean bed to get into tonight anyway. I made darn sure of that. 

The dog thinks it's great fun to strip the bed and put the clean sheets on. He's always right in the middle of things, not realizing that he's actually very much in the way. I have to calculate his presence in with every move I make and that is after I've removed the cat from the bed much to her displeasure. The job does get done and the dog helps me put the dirty sheets in the washing machine too. He thinks that's very interesting. Heck, he thinks he has to be present at and on top of everything I do. 

I've put the red fleece blanket on top of the duvet because the dog was a little cold at night. Now I can tell that he's a bit more comfortable and the cat seems to like it too. I can throw it in the washing machine easily and it is dry in no time at all. I should have a couple of them in different colors and replace one with the other to change the scenery. I hope to go to Ikea again soon and see what's available. Maybe I can get my sister in the mood for a trip over there. 

I had a big load of dishes to do that I hadn't gotten around to doing for a couple of days. I wasn't in the proper mood before and that hasn't happened in a long time. First I set most of them to soak in very hot soapy water. As many of them as I could get to fit into the basin. When I could stand the temperature of the water, I scrubbed them clean and was done before I knew it. It turned out not to be such a bad job after all. These things always look worse than they are. 

The apartment is pretty much organized now and ready for the domestic help tomorrow. I'm going to have a busy day because my personal helper is going to be here in the morning and I also have an appointment with my therapist in between. After the fact, it's not really necessary but we didn't know that when we planned it. I'm doing ever so much better than I was two days ago. There's a world of difference and you wouldn't even think I was the same person. 

Tomorrow it's going to be 16 degrees Celsius, so that's quite a difference. Have a great day!

Ciao,

Irene

Full of longing...

The headache that I thought was gone is back with a vengeance and I also have that pain in my neck again. They're both on the right side and all I can think is that it feels like a migraine but it's lasting an awful long time. I've made an appointment with the GP for tomorrow afternoon just to make sure I don't need an antibiotic or an antihistamine, although officially I'm not supposed to be allergic to anything. It is a bother and I don't like having to take paracetamol all the time. 

Other than that I'm in great shape. At least I am mentally and that counts for a lot in my book. To me that's the most important thing. I don't mind there being something physically wrong with me as long as I'm mentally okay. 

I saw my therapist today and I had a good session with her. There's always some work to be done and she doesn't make it easy on me. And I don't want her to. I don't want her to mollycoddle me. Let her make it as hard on me as she can. I need to be able to take a licking. 

Cutting down on the anti-psychotics has worked out well and isn't bothering me at all like you maybe would expect it to. Sometimes cutting down on a medicine is a problem and it doesn't go well. I no longer feel depressed and can enjoy the good weather. I would even more if I didn't have a headache. 

I don't feel the need for a nap this afternoon because I've also cut down on the tranquilizers and have more energy now. I don't feel like lying down all over the place. I've also had some coffee and that perked me up quite nicely.

The weather is great, although I've heard that it's going to be less so in a while. I haven't watched the weather forecast in a few days but it is said that the temperatures are going to drop a lot. That we're even going to need our winter coats. I'm not too pleased about that because it means that I'll have to close the windows and turn on the heater again. I was more than ready for it to be nice weather from this point on. 

The birds are singing in the trees as happily as they always do. They have their hearts set on springtime. It's a joy to listen to them. There's a large variety of them that all take their turn being noisy at different times of the day. I hope they are smart and stay out of the cat's way. I would hate for her to come home with one like she did last year. I didn't realize that she was such a hunter. 

The dog is lying on the floor in the light of the sun that's shining in through the windows. He is basking himself. It must feel glorious after the long winter of hardly any sunshine in the living room. I still have to make an appointment to get his fur trimmed. He looks like a wooly mammoth now. All he needs are a couple of baby tusks. He already has the large ears. 

I've got to go do a load of laundry and change the bed. It is time for clean sheets. I have a longing for them. I hope my head can stand me bending over to change them. It will be worth the sacrifice and to go to bed tonight in a clean bed. 

I hope you're all having a good day.

Ciao,

Irene

Not smoking...

I've had two days of not smoking now and I must say that it's not always easy. I think about cigarettes and wanting to smoke one a lot. There are times when it is almost constantly on my mind.

Luckily, I am unable to smoke because I have removed all the tobacco from the apartment. There is none here that I can make cigarettes with in a moment of temptation. I find that much easier to deal with because now if I get those cravings for them, I don't have to worry about giving into them. I can go ahead and acknowledge the craving and know that there's nothing I can do about it.

I find it easier to drink a cup of coffee without a cigarette than to drink a glass of milk without one. I don't know why that is. I haven't yet started to compensate for the lack of cigarettes by starting to eat more. Maybe that is because I have the nicotine patch.

I have been told that regardless, I will gain a couple of kilos because everybody does once they stop smoking. It's a small price to pay, I think. It has to do with the slowing down of your metabolism or something along those lines. It was explained to me by the person who I had an appoinment with at the doctor's office, but I don't quite remember it all now.

Enough about that. There are other things in life than quitting smoking, although it doesn't seem that way right now.  I am sort of preoccupied with it at the moment.

This morning I'm going to Ikea with my sister to pick up the things I will need to finish transforming the living room. I've got my shopping list all ready to go and I know that the items I want are available. I'm looking forward very much to going and buying the things I need, but I'm looking forward even more to coming home with them and putting them in place.

Yesterday afternoon, when I was feeling unsettled, I took the dog for a long walk, much to the pleasure of the dog. We took a route that we seldom take and the dog was well behaved. He didn't dawdle everywhere. We walked at a pretty steady pace and when we got home I really felt that we had gotten some exercise.

When I still proved to be uneasy because of the non smoking policy, I went to bed and took a nap. I had changed the sheets and very gladly got in between them. The nap got me over the worst part of the cravings. It's funny that the daytime should be the worst for missing the cigarettes. I had not expected that. I thought it would be worse during the nighttime, like right now.

This is, after all, when I have the most fun and when I indulge in all my pleasures. I let it all hang out during the night, or so I thought. Apparently I'm not as out of control as I thought I was. I am, for the most part, just as sensible during the night as I am during the day. There goes my reputation as a fun girl. It's completely shot.

I must go back to bed now. I have nothing interesting left to write about and I want to go to sleep so it will be morning soon. I'm like a kid anticipating a school outing.

Ciao,
Nora

Comfort zones...

At this moment, but pretty much all throughout the day, I want to take comfort in the ordinary little things. The things that don't require a lot of effort to surround myself with or to perform as rituals. They are all meant to soothe my mind and give me a sense of security which is sometimes hard to come by. 

I should be thankful that there are always those times in the day and night that are sacred and that allow me an awful lot of peacefulness and serenity. They are long times out from more fraught periods during the day when I am more unsettled and on edge. 

I blame this on the fact that my sleep schedule is all screwed up and that I often haven't had enough sleep at night. It does tend to make me feel uneasy. The best thing to do when I feel that way is to take a nap. Usually I wake up in a much better frame of mind. 

Since I cut down on my sleep medication, I don't nearly need the amount of coffee that I used to drink and caffeine plays a much smaller role in my life now. When I wake up, I have one cup of coffee and I very often don't even finish drinking it. That's almost one less addiction in my life.

I have lots of tea in the kitchen cupboard and maybe it is time to start drinking it again. It is easy enough to make a small pot of it in the morning to see if it will suffice in getting the day started. I can try green tea with lemon or rooibos. I even have rosehip tea but I don't like the taste of it that much. I think I'll pass on that one. 

I've put clean sheets on the bed tonight and I think I'll go try them out now. I know they smell very good. I've also got clean pajamas on so I'm all set. 

Have a good night.

Ciao,

Nora

Peacefulness...

I'm having a quiet and peacful time despite the fact that I'm not in bed sleeping and having tranquil dreams. Instead, I'm sitting here with a glass of ice cold milk and a cigarette, in my warm bathrobe, enjoying the wee hours of the night. It will be time to go to bed shortly because I'm starting to yawn, but I will try to write a sensible post before I go. 

I didn't change the sheets on the bed like I had planned to tonight lacking the energy to do it and promising myself that I would do it first thing in the morning. The plan is to get up early enough to do it and to not stay in bed until noon after which I would get side tracked by other things. I do want to have the dirty sheets in the washing machine at a decent time and feel like I'm seizing the day. 

Sunday is not a day to be wasted on frivolous activities. It may be a day of rest, but I try to fill it with useful things to keep me busy and out of trouble. I admit, there isn't a heck of a lot of trouble for a middle aged woman to get into on a Sunday in a town in the Netherlands, but I always pretend there could be to give my life that dangerous edge. I do have an extensive fantasy life. 

The cat and the dog chased a mouse around the apartment for two days and nights and finally this evening the cat got a hold of it. That hold didn't last long and the mouse escaped in the living room where the dog grabbed it. That soon was the end of its little life. It gave one final squeek and then it was over. The dog carried it around with him for a while until he finally dropped it and I could dispose of it. It was a field mouse that the cat had brought in from outside. No wildlife is safe around here. The cat has turned out to be quite a hunter. 

That was the excitement for the evening and now at least that mouse is not hiding under my bed anymore. I did have some trouble sleeping one night with the animals trying to get to it. Only when they gave up on it could I go to sleep knowing that the mouse was behind the headboard. I'm getting used to a lot. 

I've got to go to sleep now. I must get a certain amount of sleep if I want to get up early in the morning and get the show on the road on time. 

Sleep tight and have a good weekend.

Ciao,

Nora

. 

Almost cured at last...

My cup of coffee tastes especially nice now in the middle of the night and it's the second one I'm drinking. And no, my stomach is not in an uproar because of it. It is behaving quite normally, almost as if it is completely back to normal, although there are still some odd noises emanating from it. I just pretend it's practicing behaving like a regular stomach again. 

So, I'm very cheered that I get to have my cup of coffee and right now I think that all is well with the world. I can claim happiness and contentment for at least a little while. I'll actually try to make it last for as long as the night and day are long. That shouldn't be too hard to do. I don't expect anything to stand in my way. I do feel that I must choose the side of optimism. The glass is half full. 

It's an amazing thing that you have to be miserable to really appreciate what you've got, but that's how I feel right now. I'm so relieved that I have been able to drink and eat a few things again, that my whole disposition has been affected by it. I'm grateful that my stomach is healing and that it's not permanently going to cause me problems. 

I was very concerned about that and it's an enormous relief to find it getting better now. I suppose there's nothing like good health and even the threat of bad health is enough to put a scare into you. Imagine if something had been seriously wrong and how that would have affected me. I mustn't think about it. It would have been a huge burden to live with and my heart goes out to the people who have to.

Yesterday was a seriously nice day. The weather was wonderful and the sun was out all day in a bright blue sky. Luckily, I really got to appreciate it because my sister and I sat outside the front of her house in the sunshine in the afternoon and even got some color. We stayed there until it was time for me to go home. Her house sits on a sheltered street and we weren't bothered by the wind. It didn't interfere until I got on my bike and rode it home.

I did chores on and off while watching sports on TV and I've been watching the rugby championship that's being played in New Zealand. I'm becoming more knowledgeable about rugby and what a good and tough sport it is. I still don't understand all of the rules, but I'm learning. 

The Netherlands won the world championship baseball competition. We beat Cuba to do it. We do feel a certain amount of pride at that. It was a big deal over here and it is hoped that even more kids will start playing baseball now. A lot of our players come from the Dutch Antilles where baseball is a big sport. We have an American coach who speaks Dutch very well. 

Of course, there was the football competition and I do give a running commentary on that with the dog as my single audience member. He does look at me funny as he tries to decipher what I'm talking about. I do very clearly state my opinions. It's a good thing that there's no one else here to get into an argument with. Yesterday, during one game, I would have handed out many more red cards than the referee did. 

Still, I managed to change the bed and do the laundry. At least one load of it. The second one is for today. It was pleasant to get into a clean bed last night. I think the dog appreciated it too because he very cozily cuddled up to me. For a change the cat wasn't around to hog all the attention and he was happy about that. He didn't have to bother chasing her off the bed anyway. 

I must get ready to go back to bed now because today is Monday and duty will be calling this morning. 

I hope you'll all have a good day.

Ciao,

Nora 

Getting back to normal...

It was with some relief that I got up a while ago and realized it was Sunday and not a weekday like I initially thought. I'm more than ready to have another day off. I'm not nearly ready for the week to start and I still need to change the sheets on the bed. 

I feel that I wasted Friday and Saturday being sick to my stomach and I really want to enjoy today being not so. I had a rice dish to eat last night and it agreed with me amazingly well. This gives me hope for future foods. I may be able to start eating more normal soon. 

Next Tuesday, when the Exfactor goes grocery shopping, I will put some innocuous food items on the list and hope for the best. With a little bit of luck, they will be things that agree with me well. I'm thinking of rice and pastas and puddings.

I'm drinking a cup of coffee and it's not putting my stomach in an uproar. I've got no heartburn anyway. And the caffeine is making me feel good, so what more could I ask for? But I can only have one cup of coffee. A second one would be pushing my luck. 

Getting off the caffeine is not such a bad thing. I was too dependent on it to get myself started and now I have to do more of it on my own. I found out that I really only need the one cup and not several like I thought I did. It's great to get a caffeine kick, but it's not necessary. 

I've switched to cold milk now and even that I've got to drink carefully and slowly. I can only take small sips and not drink too much of it. I'm undecided if milk even agrees with me. I have serious doubts about it, but I like it a lot and I hope it does. I may end up having to drink plain tap water and nothing else. 

This afternoon I'm seeing my sister and we will be able to sit outside in the garden. The weather has been very nice this weekend and sunny all around. The temperatures aren't all that high, but the sun makes up for a lot if you are in a sheltered place.

I've got to go back to bed now so that I'll be able to get up at a decent time in the morning. There will be a few chores to do and a stomach to tend to. I will have to treat it kindly and give it something good to eat. 

I hope you're all having a good weekend and that your weather is treating you right. 

Ciao,

Nora

Testing the nighttime waters...

I got up about an hour ago and have been reading blogs and drinking coffee since then. I'm afraid I'm super honest in any comments I leave and think that sometimes I'm a little too harsh. That's how I am in the middle of the night. I tend to see things for what they are and I find it difficult to be super polite. I hope I'm forgiven for that. Hopefully people know me well enough to take what I say with a grain of salt. Maybe I worry too much about it and it isn't as bad as I think it is. We will see. 

I'm drinking my last cup of coffee now before I'm switching to cold milk and then I can have that wonderful burping experience and noisy stomach. My daughter told me that, since I'm a blood type O-positive person, I should not drink any milk at all. I can well believe it, since it never seems to agree with me, but I love it so much. I'm addicted to it, but aren't you often to the things that are bad for you? 

I may have to rethink my diet completely because it seems I'm eating all the wrong things. This may explain some of the intestinal problems I'm having. I must eat more fruit and vegetables and even some meat. And also take some food supplements such as vitamin B12 and iron. That may explain the dizziness I so often get. Fish alone may not be the solution. 

Anyway, it's really very early in the morning and I'm feeling very hopeful about the day. It is Sunday, after all, and a day I usually enjoy a lot because it's the day on which I do chores and visit my sister. At this moment, I'm very much wide awake, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stay that way. I may get sleepy later on and have to go back to bed. We'll see. 

I've started reading 'The Joy Luck Club' and it's as good as I remember it without being boring because I've read it before. I've forgotten enough about it for it to be interesting. I do enjoy Amy Tan's style of writing which is very relaxed and intimate. You feel like she's written down the stories just for you. 

I went back to bed after I had sat in my armchair and read. I slept for a few hours and got up just in time for a package to be delivered. I was just going to change into my clothes when the intercom rang. I had ordered some new underwear on line and there were two cotton underwire bras from a brand I hadn't tried before, so I was eager to try them on. 

I know I am fortunate to be able to order bras on line and that women usually have a heck of a time buying them. These fit perfectly with a small adjustment of the shoulder straps. The fact that they are cotton makes them very comfortable to wear. They look nice and also look good under my tight fitting tops. I do love wearing a good looking bra. It makes me feel special and I deserve that. Heck, any woman deserves a good bra. 

I think I'll go change the sheets on my bed in case I decide to go back to it some time this morning. It will be great to get in between clean ones. It's time for the duvet cover with the little red roses. First I'll take my medicines to get off to a good start. Then nothing can stand in the way of a good day. 

Enjoy your Sunday, no matter what the weather is like. 

Ciao,

Nora

No blues for the happy few...

Well, it's not as if I ever have the blues when I get up in the middle of the night, but I'm also not planning on having them for the rest of the day. They are the remotest thing from my mind. I'm sitting here quite contentedly with a cup of coffee and a cigarette and my mood is somewhere in the middle range where it belongs. I'm not having a terrific high from which I will tumble down to a terrific low. 

Having established that, I can now get on with writing the rest of this post, which may not be as easy as it seems. It does require some thinking capacity and I don't know how capable I am of that right now. I'm enormously distracted by the cat and the dog who are racing through the apartment hell bent on making as much racket as they can. I do hope that they settle down soon. 

Yesterday was a lovely day as Sundays go. Because it's a day I don't have any expectations of, it usually turns out well. I leave some chores to do to prevent boredom on that day and that works out well. I changed the bed and did laundry and washed the dishes and generally picked up the place so it looked tidy. It always has to look clean enough for the queen to be able to drop by unexpectedly.

This was after I had slept late in the morning and had taken my time getting my act together with a few cups of coffee. And after I had walked the dog in the sunshiny day. It's getting awfully boring to have nothing but sunshiny days. Oh, just wait and see, I'll come to regret those words.

Later in the afternoon I hopped on my bike and saw my sister and her friend and had a cold beer and Italian cookies that were made with Amaretto. Delicious! I had a cappuccino later to sober up again. 

My sister had gotten her first pair of reading glasses with a correction in one lens for her astigmatism. We made a date to go to Specsavers to get my glasses fitted and she will help me pick out a nice frame. I can trust her to do that. I will have to get varifocal glasses with also a correction for my astigmatism. My sister and I both have that in the same eye.

The dog was happy to see me return home and I took him for a walk and then had my dinner. I had mackerel in green pepper sauce and cheese. It was nice and warm inside and I didn't have to change my clothes, although I was skimpily dressed and stayed so for the rest of the evening. Enough sunshine still gets in through the living room windows in the afternoon to warm up the place.

It was great to get into a clean bed, but the duvet cover I have on there now is just a little thick and I was too warm at first. I had to cool down sufficiently first before I could pull the duvet over me. Then it was nice to get warm and I was asleep in no time. 

I woke up because the dog was gently barking at me for no reason that I could figure out. It must have been boredom that made him do it. It's never the cat that wakes me up, it's always the dog. He's like a spoiled toddler. 

Because today is Monday, I can't sleep late. As a matter of fact, I'll have to set the alarm clock. But it's that way for anybody, I'm no exception. I'm already yawning now, so that's a good sign. I'll be asleep again in no time.

I hope you'll all have a great day.

Ciao,

Nora

Keeping down the noise level...

It's in the middle of the night and I'm sitting here with my inevitable cup of coffee and cigarette keeping as silent as I can so as not to disturb the neighbors. It's not that I feel like being that noisy, but I'm acutely aware of the peace and quiet that reign around me. 

I assume that everybody else in the apartment building is asleep, like any sensible person should be, but there's more than enough time to sleep this weekend and I'm sure I'll not suffer from a shortage of it. I always do manage to get caught up on my sleep when I have my days off. 

I take advantage of every opportunity to sleep and plan my weekends around it and walks with the dog. The longer the walk, the better the nap. I also, of course, have my TV watching routine and there are programs that I absolutely have to watch, but I'll not skip a nap if I think it's really necessary. 

I'm going to change the sheets on the bed today and do the laundry immediately. I will be able to dry it on the clothesline outside because the weather is going to be beautiful and it will be dry in no time at all. I get the bonus of sleeping between clean smelling sheets.

This coming week we are going to have a bit of an Indian Summer with lots of sunshine and pleasant temperatures. I don't know if that will slow down the dropping of the leaves from the trees. It will be cheerful weather anyway. I won't know what clothes to wear. I was already prepared to wear my cold weather clothes and my winter coat. 

My short haircut is great. I slept on it and it mostly stayed in place. It's going to be easy to take care of. In order not to forget to go to the hairdresser on time, I've written down in my agenda when to make an appointment next. I must take better care of my hair and not wait so long to have it cut. 

It's time to go back to bed. I want to set the alarm clock and get up at a decent time in the morning. I do want to start the day out properly and not linger in bed forever. I do get the weirdest dreams if I sleep too long. 

Have a good Saturday all of you.

Ciao,

Nora

A tale before bedtime...

I'm sitting here freezing my buns off because I'm drinking ice cold milk and hadn't been smart enough to put my bathrobe on first. It does make a difference if you do and I'm now waiting to start warming up again. 

It isn't really that cold in here, despite the fact that the bedroom windows are open still and that it's an autumn night outside. It was just my body suddenly cooling down after I had sat here quite comfortably in my pajamas for a while drinking coffee. 

I've slept a few hours and woke up with a perspiring head and wet hair. That's a side effect of the medication increase, I know now. I used to think that it was because I was in the menopause, but I think I've got that well behind me.  At my age I should be. I'm not having hot flashes during the day. 

This is the second night that I only took one tranquilizer and if anything, I feel even more normal now. I most definitely don't feel under the influence of anything, although doubtlessly I still am. But what I take now is so little compared to what I used to take that it's bound to make a major difference.

After I had been up in the middle of the night the night before last, I only slept for a while longer and got up fairly early in the morning. I didn't take my usual nap all day and also didn't feel the need to drink a lot of coffee. I was pretty alert all on my own and in a good mood. 

I started fading after dinner yesterday and went to bed early. I had clean sheets on the bed and that was a sheer pleasure. I put my head down on the pillows and pulled the duvet up to my shoulders and was asleep pretty quickly after that.

Now I'm yawning and tired, which I wasn't the night before last. I think I will go to bed shortly and have myself some proper sleep.

I wore my cowboy boots yesterday with my skinny jeans and felt like a regular tough broad. I liked walking the dog and stomping around in them. It made me feel as if I was making a statement. Especially since I was wearing my leather jacket also. Accessories make the woman. 

Have a good day when you wake up. 

Ciao,

Nora