Hibernating

Is it spring yet?

Bah on winter. We're in the worst stretch right now. It's cold. And dark. And flu-tastic. And trip-tastic (the one thing I hate most about the first quarter of the year is that the travel ban at The Husband's work gets lifted and suddenly there's four trips in three weeks).

Truthfully, I feel like I could sleep ten hours a night. I hate how it's dark by the time I get home, so we do homework and dinner at what feels past bedtime. Ack - makes me want to burrow until spring.

But other than being sick and Husband-less, we're still doing quite well. The Boy got his braces off, whoop!

(Must find picture. I have the energy to blog or find pictures. Not both.)

The Boy also turned 10, which is kinda crazy. We're out of the single digits at this house.

We turned the screens off Monday-Thursday, much to the dismay of the munchkins. I'm sure other families can find a balance, but not ours. There just isn't enough time to play Minecraft AND do homework AND practice piano AND have a nice family dinner. So it was computer or dinner.

(The kids are probably just as grouchy as if they skipped meals.)

But I love it. They're much friendlier kids when they don't have to be extracted from the depths of computer games. They fight less. They read way more.

And we're not completely heartless - we said that any video game that makes them move is okay. So there's some epic dance-offs.

Oh! And a New Year's Resolution update. There've been some major failures - I do not score 100% for having slept in my own bed every night in 2013. But I'm getting better! And it's making a difference. I'm less tired at work and I'm not so panicky when I wake up. So yay me!

Now all I need is some sunshine on my commute and we'll be good to go.

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Happy 2013!

Did you stay up to watch the ball drop last night? Did you get all dolled up and go to a par-tay?

I did - if by "dolled up" you mean "put on my nicest yoga pants" and by "par-tay" you mean "went to Target to return the Christmas lights that cacked out halfway through Christmas."

Oh yes, it was a fairly epic ending to the year.

And now, on to 2013! I've got my usual stack of non-resolutions ("non" because they're on the list year-round and because I never really make actual goals around them so *shockingly* I don't get very far).

Read my Bible more. Lose some of those Christmas pounds so I can fit into ALL of my jeans again. Exercise more. Read more.

But this year I have an *actual* resolution, too. It's pretty crazy:

Go to bed.

I'm a firm believer in getting everything ready the night before. Taking a few minutes to lay out some clothes, get the coffee maker ready, pack a lunch, and make sure I know where my bus card is.

I believe it, but I rarely do it. I turn into my kids at bedtime - balking, procrastinating, refusing to go take my shower, begging my brain to let me read one. more. chapter.

Then I drag my tired butt upstairs to put them to bed, only to snuggle in with them and fall asleep because by that point I'm exhausted.

(I've woken up crinked around a 9-year-old in a twin bed more often than I'd like to admit.)

It doesn't help that my job is flexible. There's a two hour window in which it's acceptable to arrive ("acceptable" in that I haven't been fired yet). With older kids who can latchkey, I don't have a time by which I have to be home, so if I get in later I just leave later.

And when I don't go to bed with all the necessaries ready, I spend the next morning frantically rushing around and end up getting to work later. Which gets me home later. Which makes me all resentful that my evening is cut short so I stay up late. Wash, rinse, repeat.

I read once that Madeleine L'Engle kicks visitors out of her house at 9 pm, no exceptions. It's time to get ready for bed, and she allows for no distractions, no "I'd rathers," no "oh, I'll just do that in the mornings."

It takes a big girl to go to bed on time. An adult - one who acknowledges that tomorrow will come, despite my best endeavours to make tonight 22 minutes longer so I can watch one more episode of 30 Rock. One who plans ahead and thinks about tomorrow's lunch while today's leftovers are still on the counter. One who verifies that there are clean clothes for the next day so the next morning doesn't involve a panicked "swimsuit or bathrobe to work" dilemma.

So as much as it pains me on the last day of holidays, I'm going to turn in early tonight. Especially because it's the last day of holidays and tomorrow is going to kick my cookie-and-chip-enhanced butt.

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