Thursday, October 11, 2007

8 Days A Week

There are not enough hours in the day. I wish I was one of those people that could function on 4 or 5 hours of sleep. Oh, what I could do with those 3 or 4 extra hours each day. That would be like gaining an entire day each week. That would be awesome. Except I'm one of those people that has to sleep 8-9 hours just to function in society. Sigh...

This is getting worse as the days start getting shorter. Got outside chores? Forget them. By the time I get home from work, the sun is about ready to go down. Come daylight savings, it will be dark by the time I walk out of the building. Mow the lawn? Fix the fence? Keep the dogs from chewing through the satellite cables? Nope. That stuff will have to suck up my valuable weekend hours. I'm stuck with indoor chores during the week. Fortunately those are numerous as well. Finish painting. Finish assembling my desk. Finish unpacking. Drywall and prime the garage. Maybe even clean for a change. Or cook. Or something like that. And you're on a deadline girl - the housewarming party is November 9th.

Working out? Hardly. Cooking healthy, nutritious meals? Whatever. Snarfing drive through food on the way home from the store is more like it. The exercise equipment I have is either still in storage or buried in a tote in my closet with a bunch of other stuff I haven't dealt with yet.

Oh yeah, and there's also that issue of a writing challenge. America's Next Top Model will have to wait until I crank out another 5 bloody pages. Ugh. Oh, and submitting a bunch of proposals for the conference in San Francisco that's due the end of the month and I haven't started. And the Golden Heart deadline is looming, so if I want to enter that - back to said writing challenge. And I'm the chairperson of the local chapter retreat, so I'm pulling all that together. And yeah, its a great time to redo the Playground website too.

The holidays? I don't even want to think about it.

I was flipping through a book of questions trying to come up with an ice breaker for our retreat. One of them was - If you could take a pill that would permanently alter you such that you would only require 1 hour of sleep each night to feel completely refreshed, would you take it? Of course, the follow up was if you'd still do it if that hour was plagued by horrible nightmares each night or that the pill had a 50/50 chance of being fatal. Right now, I'm wishing there was a pill. Maybe then I could catch up. How about you? Is 24 hours in a day working out for you?

SP

14 comments:

Rhonda Nelson said...

I love to sleep, so I'd never take a pill that would prevent me from doing it even if I could be refreshed.

Basically, there's lots of little niggling things happening around here too that need done, but I just put the things that are most important at the top of the list and check off the other little things as time permits. If I didn't, I'd just get overwhelmed and then I have a tendency to say to heck with all of it an not do anything. :-)

Kira Sinclair - AKA Instigator said...

Oh yeah, I need 8 to 9 a night in order to function. There was a time in my life I could survive on 4 or 5 hours sleep. And then I had kids. There's just something about that 4 or 5 being constantly interrupted that drains you of energy.

There is a list of things I SHOULD be doing. However, I'm ignoring it at the moment in favor of wasting time. I know I will regret this later.

Instigator

Katherine Bone said...

Who doesn't love wasting time. LOL. I end up piddling around the house doing this and that until all my free time is gone and I'm left wondering what happened.

I need 8 hours of sleep a night but I usually get 6. Which makes me crabby, tired and somewhat brain dead during the day. The part I hate about this is losing the ability to concentrate, a talent greatly needed if I'm going to write. Tada. My dilemma.

Would I take a fix-all pill? I don't know. I like to sleep but I'm also one of those people who likes to get things done and bases my own worth off of my productive level. (Control freak-cough)

I look around at all the things I've neglected and get depressed. My garden is a shambles because I can't bend down on my knee and pansy season is here. I'm not sure if I'll have pansies this year and that grates on my nerves. What do I do? Is there a pill that will instantly fix my garden? Same with the house. Too much cleaning to do, must use knee....what's a girl to do?

Oh well, in the words of Scarlet O'Hara, "I'll think about that tomorrow."

Katherine Bone said...

OH, and another thing. If I don't plant pansies, the church won't have pansies and that just won't do.

Angel said...

Oh, yeah. I'd seriously consider taking it. I LOVE to sleep, but compared to everything that needs doing. Plus trying to spend a little time in life doing something fun for a change.

I'm trying to live by the motto: It isn't how much time you have, but what you do with the time you have. Of course, there are days like yesterday when I just chuck it all, sleep in the chair, then go shopping. :)

Angel

Angel said...

Kathy,
There are over a hundred members, at least, in that church. Are you telling me none of them can plant pansies?

Angel

Linda Winstead Jones said...

My life is in chaos at the moment, but it's my own choice. Large portions of my house are being taken apart and replaced with newer, better parts. :-) Old sliding glass doors are being taken out and replaced with more energy efficient and attractive french doors. Those of you who have been here -- tada -- the long wall of curtains that were necessary for covering the single paned glass but were also horribly ugly are now gone. It'll be a while until everything is in order, but like I said, it's my choice.

A pill? No. I'm another one who needs eight-nine hours. I would love to be efficient and well rested on five, but I'm not giving up my sleep, my dreams, the comfort of snuggling in a warm bed on a cool night and staying there a while in the name of getting more done. I have a feeling there would still be things that just didn't happen.

LJ

Playground Monitor said...

Drywall and prime the garage.

Huh? The builder didn't finish the garage?

Anyways, I need the sleep. And I get it by way of nice drugs that calm down my restless legs and let me snooze. They usually keep me under for about 7-8 hours.

So no wonder pills for me.

And I'm with Angel -- let somebody else plant those pansies. You have no business kneeling and stooping so soon after your knee surgery. If no one else will step up to the plate, well they'll just have to do without pansies.

Yay on the remodeling, Maven LJ! Can't wait to see the changes.

PM

Lynn Raye Harris said...

I can do well with about 6 to 7 hours, but that will only go so far. Eventually, I'll need to sleep about 9 hours to feel fully rested. So, I can go a week or so getting up early, and then the weekend hits and I have to sleep in.

I wouldn't take any pill that gave me nightmares, even for an hour. Because for me, it wouldn't be over when I woke up an hour later. I'd be affected by it for hours afterward and I'd never get anything done. Might as well sleep the extra time. :)

I always have stuff that needs doing. Nothing is EVER done around here. I still haven't finished decorating, and we moved in back in May.

Kathy, if the church must have pansies, and no one else knows how to plant them, don't they sell pansies at the nursery? Your health is not worth harming over such a little thing. But, I sure do understand about all the little things that need doing and how irritating it is when they aren't done. I need mums for my garden, need to put up the fall wreath, etc, and yet I am only one person. If I can get the hubby on board for helping, fine. If not, then it'll probably get done when it gets done :)

Maven Linda said...

Have I mentioned lately that I hate Blogger? It hasn't let me comment all week long -- and let me tell you, I've made some great comments :-).

I'm getting more sleep now than I have for years -- since I was a child, in fact. Maybe I put my body through too much wear and tear over the years, burning all my candles at both ends, and now it's playing catch-up. No, I wouldn't take a pill that would let me get by on one hour of sleep. What would I do with that time after I got caught up? Now, if the pill had a temporary effect -- say, maybe, a week -- then we'll talk.

I know how you feel, SP, with too much going on and not enough time in which to handle it. Give yourself some slack. Unpack only the essentials and let everything else wait until after Christmas. I still have unpacked boxes from when we moved here almost eleven years ago. I figure I don't need whatever is in those boxes. If I did, I've long since bought replacements.

Linda

Problem Child said...

I actually did work outside today--weeded the flower beds, trimmed the bushes, blew off the driveway...

~~I'll wait while y'all collect yourselves from the shock~~

I'd love to be able to get by on less sleep. I need about 8-9 hours. If I could get by on 7, I could live with that.

I do love my bed, though. Even if I didn't need the sleep, I'd still want to snuggle down...

Playground Monitor said...

Be still my heart!

Wanna come over and weed for me?

PM

Angel said...

Wait a minute, I think I've had a heart attack! PC actually went outside, voluntarily, and worked!!

Just teasing.

To reinforce my feelings of inadequacy, I went to my mil's house that she moved into 2 weeks ago. Fully decorated and beautiful. I've been in mine since May and all I've done is arrange furniture. Actually, we did paint Drama Queen's room this week and I'm hanging shelves and such this weekend. But my goodness, couldn't she have taken a little longer to make those of us who can't get around to it feel better about ourselves...

I'll just go the whole nine yards and invite a certain family member over who will be sure to tell me what a crappy paint job I did and ask why the heck I allowed my daughter to pick the color...

Angel

Shari C said...

There are many times I wish there were more than 24 hours in a day and a pill that would let me feel completely refreshed after 1 hour of sleep sounds wonderful. However, if there were side-effects of any kind I would definitely have to think about it as sometimes the side-effects are worse than the original problem.