Sleep deprivation looks like this

I’ve been trying to tame my ways this school year.

I’m getting up early.

I don’t love the sound of my alarm and I don’t love the noise five roosters make (I don’t think they actually understand the definition of the word dawn.) and I don’t love getting out of my cozy bed.

But I do love claiming the quiet of the morning. I do love our porch when the sun is rising and there’s fog on the mountain.

The problem is …. I also love the night.

I love sitting in the dark living room and watching “Raising Hope” with Kevin and Riley. I love finishing up projects that I can never get to during the daylight hours. I love redeeming the evening and catching up on writing and reading.

And lately, I’ve been trying to have it all. To keep both. To stay up late. To wake up early.

It’s not really working.

I’m sleepy. (Especially about two o’clock each afternoon.)

All signs point to me needing to choose one – night or day – but not both.

Here’s some samples of how sleepy I’ve become lately.

I carried the laundry out to the clothesline. I reached down to the red pail I was holding to grab several clothespins. Instead of a bucket full of clothespins, I grabbed a bucket full of laundry detergent.

When our young friend Kate entered our home one morning this week, I greeted her. In her hands she held a cute cloth doll. A doll. And I looked at the doll. And I looked at Kate. And then I said, “Oh Kate – what a cute horse.”

After our corn shucking party this week I was washing the corn and I couldn’t locate the stainless steel bowl I use for nearly everything at our house. I interrogated all the kids as to the bowl’s whereabouts. I sent four of them on a walkabout outside to determine if it was misplaced in the corn shucking frenzy. I commented to Kevin how bummed I’d be if I misplaced my go-to silver bowl. And then I continued washing corn. At least ten more minutes passed before I realized – the corn I was washing was coming from the silver stainless steel bowl in question!

Oh – and the last one.

Riley commented that our Internet was down. She called AT&T. They said it was a problem with the bill.

The problem? We had forgotten to pay our bill. (Which is why I typed this post on my phone.)

I think the solution is pretty obvious.

I should go to bed.