Stupid Men and Their Damn Guns

So last week while we were in Florida, I get an e-mail from my neighbors on the East Side of Preston that hunters have been pulling up and shooting at the retention pond behind our house, and that he's been waking up to gun shots every morning.

He contacted the guy who owns Signature Homes, who admitted that he gave permission to hunters to be out there after 8 a.m., but that 5:30 a.m. is definitely abusing the privilege. My neighbor explained that his informal poll of other Prairie Meadows residents concluded that they don't want any shooting going on anywhere near their homes.

He apologized and said he'd contact the Sheriff's office, because apparently the hunters -- are sheriffs. So now we're home. The hunters are parking at the dead end of Bradford and Preston which wakes my dog up in a rage every morning at 5:30 a.m. I'm not really someone who approaches men who drive big black trucks that have four or five hunting caps in the window and are heavily armed to have conversations... so I e-mailed the builder.

He apologized and said he'd call the Sheriff's office.

I woke up to gun shots this a.m. at 6:30 a.m. again.

So I called the Sheriff's office. But since I don't own the land... I can't do shit about it. So I e-mailed the builder again. And then I went out there and on pink paper with silver lettering left notes for them to contact the owner and gave them the contact info.

For the life of me, I will never understand hunting. It's dark and cold and you go out there and sit, then you shoot something and have to get in a boat to go out and retrieve it... or send a dog. Which makes you wet and cold and in the dark... And then you have to go home and pluck it and skin it and wash your dirty dog. It all just sounds gross and messy. And I've had duck. It's not all that tasty. It's really pretty oily and there's not much to it. And as far as I know Canadian Geese (for reasons I'm sure escape everyone) are still a federally protected species. But surely, someone who is a Sheriff can understand people not wanting their peace disturbed in a residential area before 8 a.m.

And I totally get the feeling the Signature Homes guy is just going to let this ride until the end of hunting season. Grrrrrrrrrr.

Staying warm and awake

My iron deficiency has been causing me to lose my steam around 12:15 every day. This whole week, I've had lists to get done around the house, and nothing has been happening because I end up falling into bed and sleeping. I set my alarm to wake me up after 30 minutes, thinking (like the books say) that I'd feel refreshed enough to get on with my day. Fat chance. I smacked that alarm off and slept for another hour and 30 minutes yesterday.

The problem with this? I couldn't fall asleep until 2 a.m. last night. I should have gone grocery shopping at Meijer at midnight. Sigh.

Anyway, so right now is my pooped out time. I came upstairs and got into warmer clothes (my deficiency also makes me feel cold) and curled up under the blankets on my bed. Luke was already passed out on my bed. Maya and Nyssa just jumped up. Now Nyssa is warming me up by lying in my lap and Maya is curled into a little furrball next to me. 

The sun is finally shining through the clouds and in the bedroom window (southern exposure). Plus, I just finished lunch. How does a person not nap in these conditions?

My relief is that MacTroll is back home. He's the pumpkin carver in our house, so he's downstairs with X-man making a set of happy family pumpkins, per the kid's request. So, I think I'll just roll over and shut my eyes. 

Last night in the five hours I slept, I dreamt that I was silly enough to sign up and run in the Illinois Marathon. It was nice, they set up a rope for you to run through for every runner, even the one that came in last. :-) The I got up this a.m. and went to the 1-minute body sculpt class at the Rec Center. It was just me, the instructor and one other student. 

Okay, my eyelids are falling. See you after a snooze. 

Working It Out

It's 11 p.m. and I'm pooped. One would think that being a student/stay-at-home Mom I'd get a lot of rest. But no. I sleep like crap a lot. I've been writing down when I have trouble sleeping... and 90 percent of the nights are nights when MacTroll is gone.

Lately, by the time 8 p.m. rolls around I'm exhausted. Mostly, I think, due to my exercise schedule. When I need to think about something now, I end up doing it while I run or swim rather than sitting at a desk. Multitasking the big thoughts through the rhythmic gliding through the water or pace of my plodding feet.

And when I have big things on my mind, suddenly the calories burned per day goes through the roof. Since Monday I've burned over 2,300 calories. My usual average is somewhere between 400 and 540 a day, six days a week. So, it's almost double the lower number. About one week a month, I do this double workout thinking about my big picture.

And there's one question I can't seem to answer: Who am I?

Sleeping Beauty

I seem to be running hot and cold this week. On days were the weather is nice, I feel energetic. On Wednesday, I even went out and ran almost 7 miles. But on days where the rain comes back, I feel lethargic, moody, slow. I had issues finishing my 3k run around the hood today.

But the trick is that I'm having trouble sleeping. You'd think all the running, good eating, decent bedtimes, etc., would keep me running like a well-oiled machine. But this whole weather thing and getting darker earlier thing is bringing me down.

Seriously, I'm dragging.

So it's 7:43 on a Friday. I'm about to go take a Tylenol PM and see if I can get some sleep. And hopefully, when I wake tomorrow, I'll feel rejuvenated.

Early Morning

I woke up with the sun this a.m., which is not like me. So now that it's 7 p.m., I feel really tired. So tired, I'd like to crawl into bed and go to sleep for the rest of the night.

MacTroll is outside in the gusting 35 mph winds with X-man, who for some reason wants to just sit in his sandbox. 

As soon as they come in, I know I'll have a big, snot-covered, sandy face screaming for me to wake up. 

But still my eyelids are so heavy.

Big mouth

So, my whole life I've had this terrible, terrible talent for opening my big mouth and putting my foot right in. And I don't have dainty feet. 

I notice that my ability to do this gets worse when I'm tired. And since I've been at the front lines with a non-sleeping toddler this week, I've been worse than normal. 

It's like torture, the sleep deprivity. And I don't know how to describe it to people who aren't also going through it (or haven't recently). Most people with kids between infancy and 4 years seem to get it. Others might remember it, but they don't want to hear about it. They just want to tell you their way to fix it. 

And when that happens, I get way defensive. 

There's no actual point to this blog than to say, I'm a moron, and I'm sorry, if I made anyone angry this week. I'll try to get my shit together for next week and be back to plucky Looseyfur.