Proof That I Need More Sleep

I get into a really bad habit where I have a ton that needs to be done so I stay up late working on it. Then the alarm goes off in the morning, and I'm still tired. I manage to get through the day, but I'm slightly less productive, so that's more work to do after the wee ones go to bed. Generally, this works out alright, even though I'm one of those people who really does best with more than eight hours of sleep.

Every once in awhile, this habit catches up with me and my body - or maybe my brain - screams at me that I need to get some more sleep. This week? Yeah... I need some more sleep.

When I woke up Wednesday, I wanted to go back to bed, but I didn't. Instead I got up and got the wee ones ready for school. I fixed their breakfast, got out their vitamins, packed their lunches, and we headed out the door.

After dropping the wee ones at their respective schools, I headed to the gym as I do most days. Even when I'm tired and can't do my full workout, I can at least do something, I decided awhile ago. I popped into the locker room and started grabbing my clothes to change. I had just done wash and was happy that - tired as I was - I remembered to grab my workout gear before I left the house. So of the two items that were in my clean laundry, which do you suppose made it into my gym bag?

If you guessed the black cami that I also happened to have washed that day, you'd be right. The only good thing is that I always have an extra of each item in my bag at all times just in case - why yes, I do know myself well. They aren't my favorites, but they'll do. After my workout, I reached into my bag to get my towel so I could shower. Ummm, no towel. Why? Because my oh so responsible self had folded it up and put it away instead of placing it into my gym bag where I needed it. Oops.

And when I picked up Mister Man from school? Well, I got a little bit of an earful from him - well-deserved, too. I had sent him Little Miss's lunch instead of his own. And that's a problem. She has to have a dairy free lunch, and he won't do sauces or hummus or the like because of textural issues. Instead of sending them nearly identical lunches that day, I'd sent her dairy free pizza, heavy on the sauce, and celery sticks with red pepper hummus. Interestingly, I'd checked the containers before I slipped it into their lunchboxes to be sure I gave them the right ones, but I didn't open the containers to check to see that I'd put the right food into the right containers. Oops.

I didn't listen, in case you're wondering. My gym issues? I forgot the towel. Again. And worse? When I did remember the towel, I closed my locker and locked it. It wasn't until after my shower when I was standing there in my towel trying to unlock it that I realized I hadn't changed the combination before locking it, so I had no way to get in. My gym nightmare finally came true.

Tonight? I'm going to bed as soon as the wee ones do!

But I Want *THAT* One

Reminder: Tonight is your last chance to enter my giveaway here!

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I'm one of those people who knows what she wants. And once I know what I want -- even if I haven't seen it -- that is what I want. This is part of the reason it took us a year and a half to find our home. I have criteria and think about what something should be like, and then I create that magic image. And I'm just not satisfied until I get that.

I sound really spoiled, don't I? Fortunately, this doesn't happen too often.

But this year Mister Man goes to kindergarten. And because we're going to the private school, it's a full day kindergarten, and he needs a lunchbox. Strike that -- I was talking to another mom today who informed me that we actually need two lunchboxes because they bring a snack in kindergarten, and snack has to be in a separate lunchbox.

*sigh*

The snack lunchbox? I really don't care about that one. I'm going to put something together -- a granola bar, a piece of fruit, something -- and all I need to do is have something to contain it.

For the lunch lunchbox though... that's where my problem comes in. I want something that is large enough to hold a sandwich, a side of veggies or crackers or granola or something, some fruit, and his drink. And I want it to be relatively green. I hate the idea of going through 300 plus baggies that are thrown away to encase his food over the coming school year. I want to do something better, better for him (no BPA) and better for the environment.

It finally dawned on me. What I want is a bento style lunchbox. But I don't want a traditional one completely, because I want it to have lids for each compartment so that the applesauce won't spill, for example. And I want the compartments to be removable, so that if I want to only send three things instead of four, I can do that easily.

Hmmm.

That lunchbox doesn't exist in the land of Target, Wal-Mart or Lands End. I found something sort of like what I want online at Amazon called Laptop Lunchboxes. But being me (remember that part about enjoying research?), I looked up customer reviews. And I realized that the lid issue is one that a lot of people face. Because only one or two of the five containers have lids. And several people reported issues with the hinge on the lunchbox breaking.

Great. Now I know just about exactly what I want, but with a few tweaks. And unlike my house, a) I don't have a year and a half to find it and b) the exact features don't appear to exist anywhere.

So what's a girl to do?

Well, I'm headed down to Mitsuwa Market to see if I can find something there. And I'm going to go look at Whole Foods to see if I can find something there. I may track down a Tupperware consultant, as it looks like they have something that would work -- including a lifetime guarantee on wear and tear. Of course, the Tupperware lunchbox isn't sold in their online store. That would be too easy.

And come Thursday, the first day we really need to send lunches because it's a full day of school? Well, let's just hope I have something for the poor kid!

On the plus side, I did finally find the Crayola Broad Tip Classic Colors markers. In the eleventh store I looked in. I bought literally the last package of those markers in the tri-county area. And had there been two or three packages, I would have bought them all.

I'm so over this school thing. This isn't a good sign, considering I have fourteen more years to go, is it?

Quirks Are Good, Right?

Yesterday, I went to lunch with a good friend of mine.

We used to work together until he took a job in Dallas three years ago. He's since quit that job and is currently consulting at a company up in my neck of the woods. This was his last week, and he's been here for three months. It figures that yesterday was the first time our schedules meshed to catch up. Granted, he did blow me off a week ago Thursday when he had a meeting come up, but still... it's sort of sad!

We went to one of my favorite little restaurants, Bapi, which serves great Italian food. I'm a sucker for gnocchi, so that was a no brainer for me (especially in vodka sauce, yum!). My friend got a chicken breast that was stuffed with spinach and peppers and cheese and a bunch of other stuff. He was quite impressed and offered me a bite.

Me: No thanks!
Him: Are you sure? It's really good.
Me: Uhh, yeah. I can't mix my meats and cheeses.
Him: Why does this not surprise me? So you can't eat any meet and cheese together?
Me: Well, as long as it isn't melted cheese, I'm ok.
Him: But if it's melted, you can't do it.
Me: Actually, I can do cheeseburgers. And bacon and cheese omelettes. But nothing else.
Him: Is it a texture thing?
Me: Pretty much. I also have a really hard time with things like rice pudding.
Him: Wait, don't you eat cottage cheese though? (see -- good friends remember these weird things)
Me: Yeah, why?
Him: They have the same texture.
Me: Oh, not at all! Cream cheese is a solid with a tiny bit of juice. Rice pudding is pudding with these things in them. Totally gross.
Him: Anything else I should know?
Me: I think I've scared you enough for today. But I'm at least trying to not pass them along to the wee ones.
Him: And the world can breathe once more.

As I was driving home after lunch, I started to think about that conversation. And I realized that I really do have some weird eating habits. Many of them I can blame on my mom, but why on earth can I not eat cheese and meat together (I can't even do meat on pizzas)?

I also have issues with:
Mushrooms
Nuts (except the pine nuts I put in my granola. And peanuts in Snickers.)
Peanut butter
Green olives
Tofu (ok, this isn't that unusual -- most people are with me on this one)
Overcooked pasta
Green peppers
Salad dressing (I have to have minimal salad dressing or it's too cloying for me; usually I make my own)
American cheese
Mayonaise (I use less than a half teaspoon when making tuna salad but that's about the only place I can eat it)
Chocolate ice cream
Cheesecake
Potato chips that aren't plain
Anything ranch flavored
Fritos, Doritos and all of those yucky snack chip things
Cooked broccoli and carrots (but I love them raw)
Lunchmeat
Corn tortillas
White bread
Coke -- actually, all brown pops, including root beer
Milk
Turkey

Can you imagine being my mom and having to pack my lunch? No PB&J or ham sandwiches for me. I'm trying to remember what I actually did eat for lunch, and the one thing that springs to mind is cheddar cheese slices with mustard on bread (that was part of third grade). I can only pray that my wee ones will have some more "normal" habits. Fortunately, Mister Man currently loves PB&J. And I'm sure Little Miss will, too, once I let her have nuts.