Last Night and This Morning

I spent last night moving slowly.

This week has taken a toll that I find hard to understand for myself, never mind explain here, and I was quite spent by the time I arrived home from work last night.

I traded a few emails with a friend, and listened to some music she suggested, and smiled at some shared "double-take" moments.

I showered, and painted my toenails and fingernails.

I ate dinner.

When we got in the car yesterday morning, my roommate and I realized that we'd failed to take meat out of the freezer for our dinner. Knowing how exhausted I was, she generously offered to make soup that evening if I would take the meat out of the freezer to start thawing when I got home from work (since I almost always get home first). She makes this soup with ground beef and orzo, with lots of vegetables and a tomato base that I actually really like. We laughed as we ate it with toasted fresh Italian bread from a local grocery store, that I like this one so much. Because generally, I don't like anything with ground beef (too many years of eating a wide variety of "we can't afford real meat" casseroles growing up), tomato is definitely not one of my favorite flavors (though it's better cooked than raw!), and as a rule I'm not a big fan of soup!

And, I took the time to watch "America's Next Top Model". Yes, I know, not exactly intelligent fare. And, to be honest, I feel a bit guilty for finding amusement in the cattiness and failure of others. But it's also just a little bit fun to mock the ridiculous nature of it all. And, since I'm interested in photography, I do genuinely enjoy seeing the results of the various photo shoots.

All that, and I managed to make it through my nightly Lenten readings (a challenge these days due to a lot of internal factors) and still be in bed before 11 pm. Plus, thanks to the "miracle drugs" (and by drugs I mean a natural supplement that is working surprisingly well for me) I've been taking for a while now, I actually got some sleep.

Sleep is a very good thing in my world. Especially when it's sleep that is mostly dreamless. At the very least, sleeping a bit more means that I don't wake up with the nausea that sometimes dogs my days. Which means it is a far easier thing for me to focus at work, and to at least reach for a relatively positive outlook on the day. To find the moments of joy in the midst of the hard times, instead of being overwhelmed completely by the hard times.