Week 7 Review: Turning a Corner?

Sleep, those little slices of death; Oh how I loathe them.

-Edgar Allen Poe (maybe)

I have gone to bed at 10:30 four (4!!) nights in a row! Two mornings in a row, I got up before the kids and sat outside with my coffee or tea and watched the sun rise over the Wasatch. I find it interesting that it looked a little bit different each day. The first morning, there were those kind of mackerel clouds all colored pink preceding the sun’s appearance over the mountains. The next morning, no clouds and no pink, just a very slow lightening of the sky. I guess I’ve never paid very close attention to the sunrise before.

The secret behind going to bed at 10:30 has turned out to be tricking myself into thinking it’s just for one night. “Just for tonight,” I say, “I’ll go to bed at 10:30. Then we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”

So far, I like it. I just put the Poe quote up there because I really like it and I don’t know any other sleep quotes. The biggest trouble is that I’m reading books a little slower than I used to when I went to bed 2-3 hours later. I have a long to-read list, and I like to chug through books pretty quickly, or at least to only take longer reading them because I’m savoring them, not because I only have 45 minutes a day to devote to reading.

There’s been a reappearance of summer this week here in Utah. It’s been almost hot, which is good for the tomatoes, but slightly disappointing for me. I love autumn and was really looking forward to the cool temperatures. But I also realize that, once they’re here, the cool fall temps will last about 7 minutes before it starts snowing and then it’s another 27 years until spring. Spring here is slightly longer than fall. We usually get a good 12 minutes between winter and summer.

Looking on the positive side, the reason I’m noticing the variations in temperature is because I’m taking walks and hiking and sitting outside with beverages and being mindful. Maybe I’ll even bundle up and sit out in the snow if I’m still going to bed early come winter. I’ve absolutely never seen the sun rise over the snow.

Veggies, sugar, and alcohol are all still going well. I introduced some friends to Ariel de-alcoholized wines on Saturday. The blanc. I was pleased that they enjoyed it. My husband gives me a little guff about the wines, though. He thinks it’s a waste of money to buy wine with no alcohol in it. It’s like buying pizza with no meat on it. I’m apparently not getting my money’s worth.