The Strange Sock Saga

We all have quirks. One of mine has been my odd sleeping perils, situations and habits. A new one developed a year or so ago, and I forgot about it for a while because it has been sandal season.

But now that I am wearing socks again on most days, I've been reminded of something strange. Every night that I go to bed with socks on, I wake up the next morning with the left one off. Only the left sock. The right sock is always still sungly fit around my size 8. My left sock is on the floor or mixed up in the sheets, my left foot left out for the cold. It doesn't matter what kind of sock. Still the same deal whether it is the usual ankle sock, or sometimes a longer sock. Socks that say Jingle Bells and socks with pumpkins. Dress socks. All the same thing.

Strange, huh? I would wake up every morning and do a sock check. I'd shake Dave and say, "It happened again! My left sock is off!" He reply, "That is really wierd. Hmmmm."

We were perplexed. Not sure if I do something wierd with my feet in my sleep, but yep. I wake up with one sock off every morning.

I Wanna Write Superpokes for Facebook & Relaxing Saturday

I've had quite the relaxing weeked. I've needed one, too. It's been pretty non-stop between working and writing for school. Mental strain and drain is sometimes more of a reason than physical labor to just sleep....

I've started completely over with my memoir and I must say, it is worlds better than my first draft. And- even after the first 50 pages, I've gotten some great guidance from my mentor Bev (Riding in Cars With Boys), and I am pretty much going to revise these 50 before moving ahead-- which just with revisions alone, it will turn into about 80 pages I am sure.... It's amazing the memories that flow out when you get prompted from an unbiased source... Bev went through all 50 pages with me during a phone conference and she'd ask, "Why did you feel that way?" or "Well, what did he look like?" -- all these obvious questions that made me think I was rushing through the first chapters to get to what I thought was the focal point of thebook.... turns out, I've missed a lot of details. I have never been more excited to write, thanks to her encouragment and honesty. It's what I really needed....

One of the main reasons I went out on my own in May was to focus on the writing, so I have to. I am cheating myself if I don't. I gave myself the freedom, now it's what I make of it. I have to admit I've been enjoying freedom by going out a lot, too.

So- I kinda went off on a tangent there.... I was originally going to blog about how I've caught up on sleep. And it felt good. I slept in until noon on Saturday. Read a book. Fell back asleep, woke up at 2:00. Read a little more. (Crackpots, Sara Pritchard... lovely!) Got up, did a few things. Decided I may go to a camping birthday party. Was going to shower and get ready, but laid down again. Woke up at 6:00. I repeated the lounge, read, nap cycle until about 2am when I actually went to bed for the night. (haha) And then, I slept in until about 11:00 on Sunday. No one can understand how I can sleep so much except Dr. Dellarosa from the Wyoming Valley Sleep Disorders Center. But that's a whole other story. But today, I feel refreshed. I have some writing to do, must go get some food and stuff for the house and then will spend the day revising/rewriting.

But, I was on Facebook earlier today, and I just am in love with the SuperPoke application. It's fun. There's something for everyone. It made me realize that I could write some pretty good Superpokes. I wonder if they accept freelance submissions? I think that'd be pretty sweet if I was responsible for people poking each other-- but in another sense, by throwing a good party, I could do the same thing. Haha.

My Nightmare- Was it from eating too much?

I ate entirely too much at Jackie's SuperBowl party. I had six or seven beers, but I wouldn't say I was drunk. I think I had too much food to get drunk. Everything was so freakin' good, I just couldn't stop eating.

So, I think my digestive system was just freaked out and on overload that it sent all sorts of strange signals to my brain, which then turned into a massive nightmare.

When we got home from Jackie's, I crashed on the loveseat. Dave went upstairs to bed. Then around 1:30ish, he heard me screaming bloody murder:

"HELP ME! SOMEBODY HELP ME! SOMEBODY, PLEASE HELP ME!!!"

His heart was racing and he ran to see that I was just having a nightmare. What was so strange was that my cat, Spectra was lying content on my tummy like nothing happened. She must be used to my strange sleeping habits.

But yeah- I was being chased I think, and it was one of those nightmares where you are screaming but nothing is coming out. So you keep trying to yell. I guess in real life I was screaming because it woke Dave out of a sound sleep and he was upstairs.

I was literally sleeping and laying down, but when he got me up and back to reality, I was panting, out of breath and my heart was racing so fast- I made him feel my chest (come on, mind outta the gutter!)... it was one of the worst nightmares I had in a long time, at least in my body's reaction to it.

But yeah- my cat just laid there. That's the funny part. I can laugh now that I realized no bad guy was chasing me and I have my voice back.

www.thedreamdrawer.com if you are interested in what dreams mean.

I created a podcast about sleep and dreams

Call me a dork. I know.I made a podcast to go along with a new website, TheDreamDrawer.com- to make it more fun.

I just made a quick introductory episode, which also has a review of a cool sleep tea, but the 'grand opening' will be on Nov. 19. about lucid dreams.

Check it out and let me know what you think!! Please?

Also- if you like to learn about dreams, want herbal sleep aids, etc. check out the site!

I'd Consider Sleeping in a Coffin

When I woke up this morning, I could not feel my left arm. Let me rephrase that. When I woke up this afternoon, I could not feel my left arm.

It kind of just flopped, and I couldn't even lift it up, so Dave shook it back to life for me. For anyone who has ever shared a bed or even a bedroom with me, they know that I sleep very oddly. So, I told Dave the perhaps I should sleep in a coffin so that I have no room to move around to pin my body parts beneath me.

IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY

My mom is a deep sleeper a well. One time she thought I ran away from home and had people looking for me when I did not get off the school bus one day. She, with her eyes open and seemingly awake, told me that morning that I could go to my friend's house after school. She had absolutely no recollection of it.

To this day, she requires two alarm clocks and a wake-up call from a neighboor to get up in the morning. One time, all three of those failed. Her next-door neighboor came into the house- the door opened, the dog barked and all- and she still did not wake up (she was on the couch). So, the neighbor proceeded to build a tower on the coffee table with all her canned veggies. My mom was still snoring. She had no idea. So, this explains why I don't hear the alarm clock and how I can sleep through a concert.

We are the only family in America that didn't rise early on Christmas morning- my brother and sister, who are 13 and 14 years younger than me never rose early on Christmas either. We just are deep, long sleepers. It's in our blood. So many, many times I've been late to school because me and my mom slept throught the alarm. The alarm could have been going off for an hour, and our bodies just don't process it.

PEOPLE DON'T UNDERSTAND
I had a very difficult time with some past coworkers before things got under control. In the meantime, I read an article by a writer and professor who struggle with my same problem. I befriended him via e-mail and he said that the toughest part about this was that no one understood.

WHY I CAN GET UP TODAY
Several years ago before I lived with anyone, I had trouble getting up in the morning. So, I saw a sleep doctor and was actually diagnosed with narcolepsy. I had one of those cool sleep studies done. I spent the night and the whole next day in a sleep center. They determined that I had extremley abnormal sleep patterns during the day-- as in I was given 15 minutes to fall asleep for a nap at four points throughout the day. Then, they let me sleep for 20 minutes and woke me up. Each time this happened,I fell into dream sleep right away- they actually brought me in a tablet to record my dreams as well. So what this means is that I suffer from excessive daytime sleepiness- I can fall asleep and more specifically into a deep sleep with the blink of an eye. I was on Provigil for years- then when I went back to school I didn't have insurance, so I suffered without it. But in the meantime, I was living with Dave and he makes sure I am up. But if there is no alarm or no person, I simply won't wake up- especially if I am sick or under mental stress. Two weeks ago, I missed Sunday.

I have a better handle on my sleeping situation now, but I am considering going back on Provigil now that I have a far drive to and from work. That's one of the other signs of my narcolepsy. If I am a passaenger in any type of moving vehicle, I will fall asleep right away. I have to fight that feeling when I am the driver and it makes driving very, very hard for me.

Ah- that was really a tanget. Didn't expect to go off on my sleep disorder!! But yeah- I sleep funny, and sleep deep and wake up everyday with parts of my body still aslseep.

Sweet Dreams Tea & a GMC Yukon Recall

This blog is about two things I love: getting a good night's sleep and proving that I am right!

I LOVE TEA!
I always loved tea, and more specifically green tea, but I always forget about it and just drown myself into caffeinated oblivion with coffee or Red Bull or Monster Energy. So last week, I had the plague. I was so congested from my head to my nose to my chest. I tried everything: Benadryl, Mucinex, Sudafed, Coldeez and Therflu. Nothing seemed to work. So I pushed through work during the week and over the weekend, I decided to just drink hot green tea with honey and sleep. By Monday- I felt like a brand new person!! I guess the Eastern Way knew all along.

So, Monday night when I went grocery shopping I decided that I would buy a bunch of tea. Yes. I would become a tea drinker instead of a coffee drinker. Then I stumbled upon Bigelow Tea brand's Sweet Dreams tea with chamomille and peppermint. Since it's for bedtime, it's noncaffienated. So, I made myself a glass and went to bed. The tea tasted wonderful, and smelled so calming. I read for a little while then shut off the light. I could smell the relaxing scent of the chamomille and as I inhaled and exhaled, I could feel it calming me. Next thing I knew, it was 6am and time to get up. The tea knocked me out. I've had the best sleeping week of my life I think with Bigelow Tea - and the Sweet Dreams flavor. Even better than with my melatonin!

I KNEW IT!
So- if you read my blog post from a few days ago, you read about my running out of gas. Truth be told, I honestly thought I could make it. Last June, I had a similar even happen to me on my lunch break at work during a travel. And my coworkers busted me. I swore to Dave that I didn't run out of gas. So- Monday in the mail we get a RECALL letter from GMC.

THERE IS A MALFUNCTION WITH OUR GAS GAUGE: IT STICKS.

See. I knew it. I knew that by what the gauge said, that I had gas. I didn't let it get down to E from what I could see! In a twisted way, I am happy that this recall letter came. I can salvage my reputation.... ; )