Middle of the Night Musings

Places I have fallen asleep:

• the couch
• the passenger's seat of the car...while I was talking/singing along to the radio
• a movie theater
• the dinner table
• my desk at work
• naptime at the daycare (sorry Pam!!)
• my bed (obviously)
• my children's beds...while reading them bedtime stories

Apparently I have no trouble falling asleep. If I'm tired, you cannot stop me from just switching off and snoozing. Unless of course I'm awakened unexpectedly. Then I just can't go back to sleep. That's my real problem: not going to sleep but going back to sleep.

If the kids wake me up in the middle of the night, I know I'll likely be up the rest of the night. Even Ken has figured out that if I fall asleep on the couch, it's best to just leave me alone because if he wakes me up to tell me to go bed, I'll never go back to sleep.

When I can't sleep, my brain starts working overtime. I start composing blog posts (that often make no sense later) or coming up with craft projects that are physically impossible to accomplish. My brain language in the middle of the night is weird too. I can't just have thoughts like, "That couch I saw online was pretty." My brain has to make it all complicated and third-person: "The couch she had observed while perusing her favorite decor site had really caught her eye. The lines, the pop of colour in the pillows. There was just something about that couch!" My middle of the night brain is pretentious...and British apparently.

I know I shouldn't, but sometimes I'll try playing a game on my phone until I can go back to sleep. I don't want to disturb Ken with the screen, so I play under the covers until the phone fogs up from my breath and I have to come up for air. Now that I think about it, I'm probably disturbing Ken more with all the moving and adjustments required to keep the phone under the covers in a place I can see it without hurting my neck.

I used to get out of bed and go sit on the couch, but this house has a programmable thermostat that turns the heat way back in the middle of the night and I hate being cold. Also, the couch is not very comfortable. And full of laundry.

If the stars are aligned properly (I'll just assume, I'm not getting out of bed to check) I might go back to sleep. Usually about 10 minutes before the alarm goes off. Ugh!

This has been a Finish the Sentence Friday post. This week’s sentence is “When I can't sleep,…” Finish the Sentence Friday is a link-up where writers and bloggers come together to share their themselves with a particular sentence. If you’d like to stay ahead of future sentences and participate, join the Facebook group.