Thoughts of an Anxious Insomniac

Last night I went to bed at 10:30 and I was so exhausted that I actually felt nauseous – maybe this is from my latest adventures in hormone therapy, maybe I was just super-tired. In any case, I took a Tylenol PM to go with my pre-bed Prozac ’cause I hadn’t slept well the past two nights and I really wanted to SLEEEEEEP.

But of course I had trouble falling asleep, despite my exhaustion. I’ve been having a little trouble with anxiety the past couple of days. It hasn’t been crippling, but it has been uncomfortable, and it’s come with a tightness in my chest – a physical symptom that is really getting on mah NERVES.

So I was feeling that, and then I started to get hungry. You see, another thing with this hormone-dealio is lack of appetite. Now it’d be nice if this symptom helped me to lose a few pounds, but unfortunately my appetite for Mountain Dew is still fully intact. Except yesterday, I was REALLY off, because I didn’t even have any Dew! What I ingested yesterday was a glass of chocolate milk, two cups of chocolate pudding (one for lunch, one for dinner, mmmm) and a cafe mocha. (Are you sensing a chocolate theme?)

In any case, as the clock crawled toward 11:00 last night, my appetite returned. But I was too tired to get up and do anything about it. I just wanted to sleep. But I was so ravenous I about started to nibble on my own hand.

I managed, after a few minutes, to ignore the hunger but I still couldn’t sleep. My exhausted mind began to hatch a plan to reach sleep. Here’s what I would do: I’d get up, rummage through my closet to find my sadly-neglected tennis shoes, put them on, and go for a run. Now perhaps you may remember from reading this blog that I abhor exercise. And when Emily talks about running it about gives me hives. I can’t run a BLOCK, people, but after 11 last night this seemed like a good idea. I’d lace up my sneaks, and I’d run in my pajamas. I knew I wouldn’t make it far but maybe five or six blocks would be enough to tire me out. I pictured myself running as fast as I could over the bumpy, uneven city sidewalk, maybe down to the convenience store I call Apu’s and then back again, my chest bursting as I returned home – surely then I could gulp down some water, take off my sneakers, and fall into bed and sleep would immediately overtake me.

What a great plan!

Riiiiight. Like I was gonna do that. But so desperate for sleep was I, that it did seem semi-rational.

Imagining my run must’ve tired me out some, because it wasn’t too much longer after that mental exercise that I DID fall asleep. The Tylenol PM seemed to work it’s magic and I actually slept pretty well. Joshua actually stayed in his own bed all night for once and didn’t wake me up until ten til eight this morning.

After I shook the sleep off this morning I giggled remembering my nocturnal thoughts. I have got to be the most neurotic person on the planet!

Me? Go for a RUN? No matter what time of day or night, THAT is crazy-talk. Or crazy-thinking as the case may be. But seriously. Seemed like a good idea at the time.

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Cousin Competition

Brads grandchildren

Saturday my big ol’ crazy family got together celebrate my paternal grandmother’s (yes, that Grandmother’s) 90th birthday. It was super-fun. One of my favorite parts about these events is getting to visit with my cousins. Here we all are with my grandparents – all eight of their grandchildren: (L-R) my cousins Donovan and Shelby, my brothers Andy and Charles, my cousins Rachel, Amy, Mackenzie, and me.

I have been privileged to share both childhood and adulthood with my maternal cousins, Emily and her sister Anna. But my dad’s side is spread across the country, and my three youngest cousins all live out-of-state. I was recently reunited with two of them, Donovan and Shelby, last Thanksgiving and we really hit it off as adults. (I hadn’t seen Shelby since she was 14; she’s now 23!) Saturday I also got to see my cousin Mackenzie and meet her husband for the first time. I hadn’t seen her since I was pregnant with Sophie, and she was a single med school student, and she’s now married and expecting a baby girl herself. After the party, I invited these cousins back to our house so we could spend some time together.

Of course, on the way, I called Emily to make her jealous. “So, my Brads cousins are coming over tonight. Are you sweating?”

She couldn’t even play it cool for a minute. “I do not approve!” she said nervously.

Right after that, I saw my cousin Anna in her car at a stop sign. Coincidence? I think not! The other 2/3 of the Supercousins were pretty jealous that I was about to share some cousin love with the other side of the fam!

Despite the pressure from Emily & Anna to call my little party off, Shelby, Donovan, Mackenize, and her hubs Colin all came over around eight Saturday night. And we had an awesome time eating, laughing, talking, and finding we have more things in common than just really inbred good genes.

We’re also all smart, witty, and fabulous-looking!

But alas, the next morning they boarded planes and in Donovan’s case, a motorcycle, and headed back to their respective homes across the South.

Lucky for you, Em, they all live far away and none of them asked me to start a blog with them. So – I guess I’ll keep you and your crafty sister – for now. But you MIGHT need to step up your game a little bit!

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Hairspray Score at CVS!

As I wrote in a recent article on Blissful Style, Tresemme Tres Two hairspray is my fa-vo-RITE! So when I saw CVS had a good ECB deal on Tresemme this week I had to get me some o’ that. So here’s what I got!

36 cents at CVS. and I made 5 ECBs, boo-yah!

Three Tresemme hairsprays, $10
Glade Soy candle $4.99
Edge Shave Gel $2.89
Crest $2.88
Total = $20.76
Coupons: CVS $4/$20 email coupon (expired but my CVS takes them for 30 days)
Glade $1 off coupon
$3 off Glade Walgreens coupon (my CVS takes competitor q’s)
$1 off any Glade CVS CRT
$3 off any $10 hair care purchase CVS CRT
Three $1 off Tresemme printable q’s
75 cents off Crest manu q

Total = $5.01

I paid with 4.99 in ECB and paid 36 cents cash and got back 5 ECB for the Tresemme, 2 for the Crest, and 2.89 for the Edge. That’s makin’ money! Woo-hoo!

That’s all the exciting couponing I did this week. Hope you all did great! To see how everyone else did, head over to CVS Superstars at the Centsible Sawyer, Shopping Superstars at the Thrifty Mama and Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom!

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