Tired in Advance -

Sometimes I get tired in advance. I look at the tasks and activities ahead of me for the next week and when I am unable to see any downtime, my body and brain rebel. I get tired in advance of everything coming my way. 

The worst for me was when I worked at a school (not in my pjs at my house) and I had something to attend each night of the week. I would panic (very quietly and in a non-panicky way) when I didn't see an evening to veg, or catch up on laundry, or go to bed early. 

Apparently acting like a vegetable and vegging out is a non-negotiable to my life. I did get better at lovingly say no to weeknight activities. If a week was especially rigorous I would have to carve out some moments on the weekend, and I would have to know I had that time available to look forward to. But sometimes activities and time frames don't align and I have to keep going.

If any non Tired Girls are reading this you have no idea what I mean and you think I stink. 
I read your non-tired facebook updates detailing the activities that have unfolded on a typical weekend and I am both horrified and jealous at the list of accomplishments. 

"Back from the mall, now we're heading to Lindsey's soccer game, then to celebrate Meemaws birthday at Seaworld and then I finally get to try out my recipe for organic red velvet cake to bring to brunch with the girls tomorrow." 

My status in comparison would read: "Back from the mall."

The bottom line is I need downtime and if I foresee a week where it may not happen, my knees go all jiggly and I have to tell myself to get my shit together.

Here is a quote from Tired Girl Michelle on this topic:
I find that with a lot of things, I hate the THOUGHT of what I have to do more than the actual doing it.  I hate having things to do in a week besides work. I was, for example, dreading this week b/c tonight I had *** with some *** tomorrow I have a *** *** at 7:30am, and then THursday is a *** mtg.  It all will work out, just like every week when I have something to do, but I just hate thinking about do anything other than my normal routine. 

I put stars up to protect her activities. Well put Tired Girl Michelle.  And I agree.  

some Tired Girl hyperbole for you

IF you are bored with other activities and want to keep reading - here is my last thought -
One weekend in college my roommate Lacey and I went to Vanderbilt for the weekend to see smart friends that attended Vandy (me) and to check out the med school (all her). While there I got to visit with one of the more ambitious and productive people I have ever known. He was amazing in high school and once in college at Vandy was practically running the place. He looked slightly disheveled and I asked if he had been sleeping. He literally said to me  " It's okay I'll sleep in a couple of weeks, over the break."  I explained that is not how sleep works and he was unimpressed with the idea of daily breaks for the body and mind. I survive with the knowledge that I will get to take a break any minute - not the other way around.

Profile of a Tired Girl - Michelle!

Profile of a Tired Girl – Michelle!!  This wonderful woman taught me that it's okay to put on your pj's the moment you walk in the door from wherever you happen to have been - regardless of the time of day.  She also sent me this ecard once:

First name: Michelle

Tired Girl product(s) recommendation: 

Original Noxema in the big blue tub (not store brand) for a clean face

Litter Genie for cat poo-poo (It really does work and you can put a week's worth of poo in it and it DOES NOT smell at all!)

Try 4:30, right Michelle?

Roomba.

Favorite non-tired activity: 

Bowling (I have my own purple bowling ball, cute purple/white bowling shoes, and pink bowling bag)....if you're going to bowl badly at least look good doing it!!  

Walt Disney World, especially Magic Kingdom.

Least favorite chore and how you work around it:  

Vacuuming. I don't mind vacuuming but I really hate fussing with the stupid cord. I refuse to wind it up correctly around the cord holder. I bought a Roomba and it does work well! I have it set to vacuum every morning when we are gone to work so when I come home, the floor is clean (unless the Roomba gets caught in some stupid spot or sucks up a cat toy).  

I also am an ironer. My mother was an ironer. My grandmother was an ironer. Bert helps me now when I iron so I don't feel so alone doing it. I iron and hand the items to him. He hangs them up on a hanger on the rack and also controls the remote so I have entertainment.

Unloading the dishwasher. I don't know why it is a mental albatross b/c it only takes like three minutes to unload it. I try to get Bert to do it or I just suck it up and do it. I will try to unload it in a commercial or something so I go faster.

Your go-to most tired dinner (take-out doesn’t count because as we know that is our MOST most most favorite): 

Stauffer's Grandma's Chicken and Rice. Buy at Publix when it is on sale although it is worth the $8 it costs. Cook 15 minutes in microwave and then about 30 minutes in oven. To make it extra homemade, open a can of layered biscuits. Put one layer in a cupcake pan in each spot. Spoon in the chicken and rice. Put another layer on top of the chicken and rice. Bake a bit longer until the biscuit looks cooked. Then you have a little mini pot pie!! Looks homemade!!

I keep frozen meatballs on hand at all times. They can be thawed in the microwave and used in a variety of easy meals without having to keep fresh hamburger on hand. Spaghetti and meatballs. Sloppy Joe sauce over meatballs in a hot dog bun for a meatball sub. Add some brown gravy in a packet to the meatballs and mix in with a package of fat egg noodles.

real iffy

Your most tired work outfit (whether your work is away from home or at home: 

I have Lee pants in black and in tan. I have Gloria Vanderbilt pants in blue. I wear these alternating all week to school with random tops. Doesn't seem fancy but I'm almost 50 years old so I am not trying to win Fashion Week! When I need more pants, I order online!!

Biggest Tired Girl splurge: 

Roomba. 

Week at Sandals Montego Bay with a butler. Butler suites come with 24 hour room service no matter where you are on the resort. We once called at 10pm to inquire about getting some cake delivered!! Need ice in the middle of the night? Call the butler! And your room gets cleaned twice a day. Even if you are lying on your bed at night, the maid offers to come in and turn down your sheets. The butler does anything you would need---unpacking, making sure you have a reserved beach hut area with towels in animal shapes, stocking your frig with whatever you want to drink, having a specific snack in your room every day at the same time that you want it. Want a bath in the jet tub in your room? Don't fill it yourself, call the butler to do it. If you are eating at one restaurant and want dessert from another restaurant, no problem!

What is your most Tired Girl comfy uniform:

My purple and white checked nightgown.

Current toenail color:

Currently purple. Last week was blue/gold alternating for Michigan Wolverines. I go to a spa to get my toenails done. I used to go to Star Salon by Walgreens and I do love it there but it is often so busy. Now I am going to Dee at Today's Nails and Spa in the Publix Stoneybrook center. ** I don't consider a pedicure a splurge.**

Tired Girl philosophy: 

I order everything I can from Amazon. I use Subscribe and Save for items to be automatically delivered once a month or every other month, etc. Good prices, saves a trip to the store, and you get 15% off all items in your order. If I want something, I try to find it on Amazon b/c I have the program to get free two day shipping. It would take me longer than two days to get to a store to buy the item!! I would much rather shop online in my pjs than go to a store with random people trying to find what I want.

I also go to www.retailmenot.com for coupon codes for online shopping. I always save money.

Just thinking about projects -

My brain doesn't know I am tired.  
True train of thought some of you may relate to - As I headed to checkout at Target (a few months back) I saw all the cute little girl spring clothes on display - and this is what happened to my brain:

- A wwwww spring girl clothes!

- Who can I buy for?

- My neices!!

- Is this stuff really that cute?

- That shirt is cute but they don't have it in either size.

- Maybe I should make my own cutesy shirts for them.

- I bet they make great clothing paint these days.

- I  will paint watercoloresque hearts on shirts for Valentine's, but do it in cool colors so the shirt can be more versatile for them.

- I wonder if they have watercolor paint for shirts.

- Maybe I could add some sequins for bling, in case the fabric paint is dull.

Something fun to paint (some day) and just a good quote
especially in relation to what possibilities there are in life. (source)

AND THEN I remember that I have a full time job, a new puppy, clothes waiting in the drier for me at home and I have no idea how to paint on fabric these days (puff paint from the 90's doesn't count) and even if I felt like experimenting it wouldn't necessarily be gift-worthy and realistically I wouldn't get it done in time to get to Australia (where they live) for Valentine's Day (maybe for NEXT year - ha!).  And so I give up and go home, but for those two minutes in the store that I created sequined watercolored one of a kind shirts for my neices it was almost like I actually did the project. And therefore like I enjoyed it even without making it. 

One of the more recent "I Did It" images
 - a laundry room redo - I love pretty laundry rooms.

Sometimes just day dreaming about projects is enough for me.  In a few weeks when I look at my (long and mostly dream worthy) project list I will add - fabric paint shirts - to the bottom.

I have sewing projects un-sewn, room redos un-redone, books partially written, hair-dos untried, and especially blog posts that just live in my brain and not on my blog.  HALF of the enjoyment of this blog is simply thinking about it.  I think half of my life in general is spent thinking about stuff.  If I never acted on any of it it would be a travesty but I do so it's not, but in the meantime thinking (in the car, in a boring meeting, on one of my 27 walks with Teddy around the block or one of my acupuncture treatments) is a joy in my life. 

One of my favorite features in the Better Homes and Garden magazine that I take is the "I Did It" section on the very last page. Years ago there was a woman that was detailing her project and basically she said this: 2 hours to shop for fabric, $32 spent on fabric, 3 total yards of fabric purchased, 5 hours to sew it and 120 hours to plan it all.  The hours thinking were the most fun part.

For a Tired Girl the joy can be in the thinking, since it takes a while to get to the moving.  

Two of the things you love -

Have two of  the things that are important to you (not husbands).  When I taught at a traditional school and would go to work everyday I brought my second cup of coffee in a travel cup.  Eventually I bought a second one of these and it was strangely luxurious.  This little thing of this travel cup made my day infinitely better and so to have two (in case I left it at school or didn’t feel like washing it out or whatever!) was fantastic. I was drunk with the power of two!

So I then added a second  glass bowl w/ lid for my lunches, a second pair of my very favorite pants, a second favorite sports bra and threw out the one I hated.

My husband and I used to skulk around looking for the phone charger and acting like it was a mouth piece on a shared scuba tank.  "You charge yours for a bit and then I'll put mine on and then you can put yours back on."  And then it hit me. We are adults with jobs and should own like a lot of phone chargers. So I went crazy on Amazon and ordered FOUR!!!  And I bought a new car charger - one for each car!!!! Who knew how good life could be. 

And my last thought on this is to recommend that you own a lot of underwear - like a lot, a lot.  Like enough to go for a long time - if needed - without doing laundry. Like if you were told you had to go on a two week trip that second you could grab handfuls of undies and head out - no laundry needed. When I am feeling exceptionally tired and I find an empty underwear drawer looking back at me I gag a little - but that doesn't happen to me because I effing stock up!  And Joe has a lot too, because what is the point if I have a ton, but I still have to find him clean ones every few days.  I say load up on them like turkeys on Supermarket Sweep - don't stop till the cart is full and then go get another cart. 

I think of this iconic scene sometimes when I think about how much underwear I own. I know it has different meanings and I don't cry over the beauty - stupid Daisy - yuck, but still.  Also, be aware this music really ads a special something.


Everyone may already have two of things, I'm so cheap it’s a big deal for me to buy two of the exact same thing.  In this world where this is so much excess and so much need the idea that I am telling you to own MORE feels wrong. Little things that I value can take my day from good to great and having those things always accessible makes me less tired though, and when I am less tired I can do more to help the world - that's the truth. Ewww this turned preachy - my bad. 

Why I am not sick more often (anymore) - Neti Pot

There was a time I could have named this blog “Sick A Lot and Deeply Tired Girl.”  I taught elementary school and I don’t l know if any of you know any children, but those sweet little hands and faces and germs like to be NEAR you as much as possible.  I had one sinus infection after the other and would go round after round of antibiotics.  Awful.

One thing that has drastically helped me is using a neti pot.  I know the words “ewwwww” and “what in the hey is a neti pot” are in some of your minds right now. 

Sinucleanse

In short: a neti pot is a little teapot looking thing that you fill with warm distilled water and a saline/baking powder solution and you pour the mixture into one side of your nose while tilting your head and letting the water come out the other side.

I know the words “ewwwww” and “what in the hey is she talking about” are in some of your minds right now again.

I spent way too much time looking at some how-to videos on youtube to share and none were any I would want to post.  So – I made my own to share with you!!!   Some fun blogs show you how to do a sideways French twist and I demonstrate a neti pot.  I’ve really made something of myself.

Here is my video:  don’t judge.  **** UPDATE - when my purse was stolen from my innocence, my camera was inside and inside my camera was the charming video of me pouring water through my nose.  

So instead I settled on this video - I like their attempt at making the neti pot humorous. It's not as wonderful as my video, but life isn't fair. 

Here is my recipe for salt solution: equal parts baking soda and non-iodized salt. Shake it up and store in an airtight container.  

 I totally edited a gin bottle out of the background of this photo. I feel okay about saying it and not about having it in the photo. I give myself a "B' for my editing skills. 

I use my neti pot once or twice a day depending on the season and my allergies, etc. I have it all set up in my laundry room, so I can leave it all out.

Just hanging out, waiting to get used. 

It is VERY important to use filtered or distilled water for this.  This part is non-negotiable. You can also boil your water and let it cool to a warm temp - I use a "hot pot" for this when traveling.  I can use hotel tap water, boil and let it cool.  

My steps:

 - I pour 2 cups of  filtered water in to my big glass (that's big glass, not big ass - I am a lady afterall) measuring cup.  
- I heat in the microwave for 1 minute, which is the perfect amount of time for me to create warm and not hot water.  
- I scoop a 1/2 teaspoon of salt solution in to my pot.
-  Then pour water on top and stir.
-  Then stick end of pot into my right nostril, open my mouth (to breathe like a dog) and           tilt my head to pour liquid in to my right nostril.  
- I pour through my nose until the neti pot is empty. 
- I blow out gently (I just do) and then I repeat the whole process on the other side.  

I think it feels wonderful - super soothing and I can instantly breathe and think better.  

Here is the link to the neti pot I like the best:  SinuCleanse.

Cheers to an easy and sickness-free allergy season (I am raising my neti pot up to toast you)! Clink.


Two more things if you care - 
1) Joe got me my first neti pot - for my birthday! One woman's horrible birthday gift is another woman's most appreciated item from a thoughtful spouse.  Thanks Joe! Heart.

2) There are SOOOOO many fun "neti pot jokes" on google images.  You could spend some serious time looking busy at working getting through them all.  

source