LadyGypsy.net – the blog of Kimberly Dowd of New Jersey

Happy Friday! Oh holy cow this Friday could NOT come at a better time. It’s been a week.

This week’s Friday Five topic is one near and dear to my heart: SLEEP. I love my sleep. I am a champion sleeper. I can sleep pretty much anywhere and through anything. It’s a gift!

Away we go!

1. How many hours’ sleep do you need in order to be at your best, and what’s the minimum you can get on a regular basis and still be functional?

To be my best, I’m an 8 hour girl. Used to be 10. But in order for me to get that 8 during the week, I have to be in bed by 10:30 and I’m usually wide awake at thet time, so I usually get about 6.5 hours.

The bare minimum I can have and be functional is 4 hours. I’ll be functional, but unhappy.

2. What’s your favorite sleeping position?

On my right side, with two artfully stacked pillows. I don’t like to be flat…ideally I’d be like this __/ but I don’t have bed pillows with enough gumption to get me to that angle. I sleep better on the sofa, if you can believe that.

3. What was the cause of your most recent difficulty sleeping?

Worry.

Sunday night I worried about getting back to work after furlough. Monday afternoon I received a call about some blood work I had done – my “thyroid” is “low” (that’s all I was told) and I have a followup appointment with my doctor this coming Monday. I don’t WANT to have a bum thyroid. I don’t WANT to have to start taking medicines to regulate it. I’m AFRAID to start mucking around with my body’s basic functions. I feel FINE. I AM fine. So I’ve been worried about that.

Also, I have two teachers in my life whom I care about greatly. One can’t find a teaching job and the other might be affected by the statewide cuts to school districts. I worry about both of them. I have a huge project I’m supposed to be working on at work that I can’t find the time to work on due to other things on my task list.

I am one writhing ball of worry right now, Mister Friday Five. It is a wonder and a marvel that I can actually converse with people right now.

4. When you can’t seem to drift off to sleep right away, what are some things you do to bring about sleep?

I love visualization. I imagine floating out of my window and down the nearby major road, looking down at all the little shops. I imagine being back here. I imagine the action-movie screenplay that’s in my head that I’ll never write because I have no idea how to write a screenplay. But it’s kick-butt.

5. When did you last doze off at an inappropriate time or in an inappropriate place?

Days before I quit being a manager here (still the right decision) I had to go to our corporate office for a meeting. It was 2006 and I was dealing with the separation/divorce & the impending job change. The meeting was held in a large auditorium and I dozed off in my seat. One of my manager buddies woke me up. It was VERY embarrassing!

***

Wt: 164.0. Down 16.4 pounds.

Dream: I woke up to find a coworker in bed with me. I had no idea he was there, as he snuck in after I went to sleep and nothing happened. WM was not pleased. Nor was I.

Today I am 37 and a half years old. Or would that be 37 and a half year old? Eh. Year 37′s 6-month evaluation came back positive with some room for improvement.

It’s time for the Friday Five and I’m not even stuck in a writer’s block. (On this blog, anyway. On the World of Warcraft blog I’m completely stuck. Maybe because I’m frustrated with it.) This week’s topic is Staples. Let’s get cracking!

1. Of all the hundreds of sizes and shapes bread seems to come in, what is your favorite?
Round loaves! One of my favorite San Francisco memories was the morning we took the bus tour to the redwood forest and wineries. While waiting for the bus to depart the station, Kristen and I ran across the street to a bakery and bought little round sourdough breads to nosh on.

I have to get back to San Francisco someday. (sigh)

Anyway, whenever this miserable diet ends, I’m going to learn to make my own sourdough bread.

2. What’s your favorite thing to eat with rice?
Chicken with Garlic sauce. And heaps of potstickers.

mmmmm…

3. What are your feelings about milk?
Unless it’s chocolate-flavored or is served with Oreos, I can do without.

4. What was wrapped in the tortilla you most recently ate?
My 1-point corn tortilla contained a smattering of ground beef, a few Bacos and a splash of light ranch dressing. We were going for a ranch gordita flavor.

(noshes on a rice cake to stop the drooling)

5. How many staplers are there in your house and where are they?
We have one large Swingline stapler in the console between our two desks. We MAY have a mini Swingline (always Swingline, they don’t bind up as much) in with the rest of our office supplies.

“Week 8?” you say to yourself. “Funny, I don’t remember seeing the week 7 update.”

That’s because I weirdly gained 1 lb last week, even though I followed plan perfectly. Feh.

This week I lost 2.4 lbs, bring me down to a lovely 166.4 and a grand total of FOURTEEN pounds lost!

Can I get a what-what?

(what-what!)

Thank you.

My work pants now feel like pajama pants and today I’m wearing a skirt that was too tight to wear a few months ago. So I’m pleased as punch.

Now…I need to seriously, SERIOUSLY find an exercise plan that works. I’m a sedentary girl by nature, never did sports, exhausted by gym classes and my knees aren’t great (which could be weight).

I want to try Couch-to-5K, but I’m afraid I’ll run too far away and be too exhausted to walk back. Then I’ll end up homeless in Camden. Or something.

Any suggestions?