Sunday, November 04, 2007

Fall Back...

From exhaustion! I remember our "single" days, or time before kids when the day that all the clocks turned back for Daylight Savings was actually fun in a strange way. Bars stayed open later! You could get "another hour of sleep" they say! With children in the picture "fall back" day becomes the longest day ever. Especially when you have kids on a "schedule" - and I guess I did not realize how predictable some of our actions were time-wise until today. First, you don't get more sleep because they wake up at the same time, only now the clock reads 6am instead of 7am, so psychologically you are muddled from the get-go. Then they start to get cranky around 11:30 for what seems like no reason. REALLY cranky. Then one of them starts to cry out "Eat! Eat!" and you realize that, according to their body clocks, they should have eaten by now because it is 12:30 to their tummies and food usually happens by 12:00. By 12:45 new time, they get cranky AGAIN because their bodies are saying that naps should have begun by now. Same confusion at dinner time. By 6:30pm the parent is looking at her watch wondering if it is bedtime yet (because the internal clock says 7:30) only to realize that she still has 90 minutes left. Sure, we could just let it go, but the way our life runs does not really work with a 5pm dinner and a 7pm bedtime....the kids would never see Nick with his work hours that way. So it is better to tough it out right away and just deal with it. But gosh it was a long, cranky day. Who knew one little hour could make such a difference! I almost think it would be easier to jump 5 time zones than to make such a minute adjustment. Well....maybe not, with all due respect to my international friends with kids who travel time zones often! :)

Maybe I am just tired from a great busy weekend, instead. Nick has been painting the new bathroom/hallway walls all weekend. Also we got the yard and garden mostly winterized today. I pulled up all the annual coleus and some bushes that did not make it through the dry summer. I deadheaded the perennials pruned the cherry tree for winter, raked all the leaves in the yard and got the perennials ready to be burlapped to try to save them this year from the rabbits and squirrels on the coldest of days. Nick finished up putting dirt back around the new patio and prepping it for seeding and winter fertilizing. I am always so pleasantly rejuvinated after working in the yard! It is so therapeutic and I enjoy it so much. I am learning, so we will see what makes it through this winter.

Also, Nick and I actually went on a DATE last night! We went to a great Tapas place and had some amazing Spanish tapas and beverages. Then we went to a concert - a band called Stars, that is so excellent, and a Norweigan guy named "Magnet" opened for them with nothing but a guitar, a soundboard and his gorgeous voice and it was awesome. Then we headed to Brit's pub for a bit before heading home. It was so nice to get out just the two of us! The kids were super for the sitter! Now we look forward to a week of hopefully big progress on the bathroom. Should get the tile and the wainscoting in. I love my floor tile and cannot wait to see how it looks!

OK - this post is pretty darn boring, I must say. I have talked about clocks, paint, food, and dirt. Woo. I live a life of insane excitement!

Happy Fall Back Day!

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