(no subject)

[the_rck]

This afternoon, I did some minor beta reading on a paper that Cordelia's best friend was writing. It was mostly punctuation and verb tenses. The real challenge was explaining why. Cordelia thinks the idea of consulting a style guide is ridiculous (also the idea of asking a teacher which style guide they want used). Is that just a college thing? It just seemed to me that it would be helpful to know which set of rules the teacher is expecting.

I ended up taking a very long walk today, more than two hours, in spite of the fact that it was raining. I think that, as far as the rain goes, I'd have turned back sooner if it had started raining hard sooner. As it happens, I got to the end of the route I had decided on, and then it started pouring. I was pretty thoroughly soaked by the time I got home. I had to change my clothes entirely. I hacked six new-to-me Ingress portals and made several tiny fields while i was out.

I'm not commenting much right now because I'm doing a lot of my DW reading on my cell phone. I can type on that, but I always end up thinking that I'll remember to come back to the post when I'm on my laptop and then... Well, I don't. I am reading pretty reliably.

It's probably also likely that being low on sleep contributes to me not commenting. I felt so much better today after ten hours of sleep that I almost couldn't believe the difference. I wish it wasn't something that requires a huge family production about making happen.

Scott's brother and his family are thinking to come to Michigan for Christmas. We haven't seen them in a couple of years, so it would be really nice if they did come. Scott even managed to get some vacation time in between Christmas and New Year. I'm not sure about whether or not them staying a night or two with us will work now that their youngest is six. I think she was three the last time they stayed here, and at that point, she just slept in a port-a-crib in the basement with her parents while her older sister shared Cordelia's room. Now? I really don't know. I'm not sure that both girls can fit in Cordelia's room, and I'm quite sure that a port-a-crib won't be an option. Scott's sister and Scott's parents both have more flexibility that way, but it would be sad not to have them spend at least one night here. Scott and his brother don't get much time together.

My parents haven't told us that they'll be coming to Michigan in December. They did last year, but I don't know if that means doing it this year as well. At this point, I'm figuring that Scott's chance to see his brother outweighs time with them. I love them, but I'm pretty much never happier after I've seen them. I'm sometimes no less happy than I was but not always.

I had lunch with evalerie yesterday. We went to Juicy Kitchen which is out near Cordelia's school. We got there just before the lunch rush started. The place is tiny. I'm not sure that, even including the outdoor seating, it can accommodate more than twenty people.

I got myself to bed by about 8 p.m. last night. I hadn't really fallen asleep by the time I got a phone call at 9:30 (another mother calling about a school thing that actually did need to be dealt with last night). At that point, I took a second Halcion and then slept pretty soundly. I was able to sleep in a bit because the school had a late start. The 11th graders were taking the PSAT, and other grades didn't have class until 11:15. The district only ran the school buses for the 7:30 start time, so anybody who didn't go in then needed other transportation (that's what the other mother was calling about).

It's almost 9 p.m. now, and I really would like to sleep soon. I'm just not sure that I can get away with it without serious drama.

Comments

[rmc28]

FWIW, getting enough sleep is something I consider "worth" making drama over. Primarily me getting enough sleep, but I'm working pretty hard right now on making sure my children do too. Everything is so much easier for me when I get enough sleep - and I spent literally years sleep-deprived when the children were small so I know the difference. Certainly the children find it easier to get up & get out to school on time when they get enough sleep, which in practice means when they go to bed on time, and I think they do better in school/other activities too, though that's harder to track.

My failure mode is that if I stay up past my preferred bedtime, I tend to stay up *really* late ... a kind of "if I'm going to fail anyway let's *really* fail" attitude. It's not great but sometimes I can kind of joke myself out of it, so I end up only an hour short, say, rather than 3-4.

Also, I need more sleep the more I'm trying to do. I needed less sleep when I was in holiday and not working. I need more sleep if I'm exercising more, or getting over a minor illness.

[evalerie]

YAY for SLEEP!!!!! I wish the stars lined up and let getting enough sleep happen for you more often!!

We've had pretty good success with putting visiting youngsters on camping mattresses with a sleeping bag. I also have an air mattress (which hasn't been tested in years) and a squishy chair that unfolds into a squishy small-single-bed-sized mattress, both of which you are welcome to borrow if that would be helpful for your visiting six-year-old.

It was nice to see you for lunch! In case you were wondering, I brought home that enormous gluten-free brownie and used it as my first test subject for my new portable gluten-sensor. The gluten-sensor said it detected no gluten, so I split the brownie with my kids -- and it was really excellent!

[lunabee34]

I have been eyeing those as I also have celiac. Was it really expensive?

[evalerie]

Lunabee34 --

Unfortunately, yes. I justified the purchase to myself because several times in the past year my daughter has gotten violently ill from accidental gluten while traveling, and it seems worth having the expensive gadget to make that less likely to happen again. Those some of those were when she was on school trips without me, and I don't think a kid would take good care of a gluten sensor, so I don't think I would send it with her on a trip, so maybe it's not as good an insurance policy as I'd like.

The gadget I have is called a Nima. I read a lot of reviews before buying it. One of the reviews offered this discount code, which saved me $15 off the purchase price: FEDANDFIT -- though even after the discount it was still expensive.

Mine was $279, minus $15 from the discount code was $264. That includes enough capsules to do three gluten tests -- capsules that expire in a month or two. Additional capsules cost about $4 or $5 each, depending on how many you buy at once. I see Nima's website now says it costs $229 to buy the main unit, so I guess the price has gone down by $50 in the month since I bought it. Sigh.

The Nima company keeps sending me newsletters with results from when people tested certain foods with the Nima to see if they are really gluten-free. Sometimes they test foods that I was wondering about. I feel that getting other people's test results makes the Nima more valuable to me, and it sort of brings down the per-test price.

On another topic: Are you in Ann Arbor? I'm the mama of the local gluten-free support group (over 800 people!), and you are welcome to join it if you are in the area.

[lunabee34]

Unfortunately I am in GA or I would be joining your group immediately. That sounds like such a wonderful way to support each other.

Thank you so much for the info. I'm not so much interested in it for myself but for my mom because she's keeps getting violently ill all the time and not always being able to tell why. :(

I was thinking it might be a good Christmas gift.

[the_rck]

The problem actually isn't so much having something for the child to sleep *on* as having a place to put it where the lights won't be on until her father decides to go to bed. The places that will be safe in terms of lights being out are our bedroom and Cordelia's. The rest of the house... If people have lights on in the dining room, it's not possible to sleep in the living room and vice versa. Even if we put up a curtain, the upstairs bathroom and bedrooms being where they are is a problem.

The problem in the basement is that whoever goes to bed last needs lights in order not to be stumbling around. The likely sleeping area is at the bottom of the stairs. The rest of the basement is only partially finished.

[wendelah1]

Sleep is so important--especially for you.

[the_rck]

Thanks.

[lovepeaceohana]

Seconding the importance of sleep! Our whole household functions better when we've all gotten enough sleep. We're still working out exactly how much sleep that is, mind, but the difference between sleep-deprived-us and enough-sleep-us is, well, night and day. Hope you got, and continue to get, as much sleep as you need.

[the_rck]

Cordelia and Scott both have issues with viewing sleep as robbing them of time by making school and work arrive that much sooner. They staying up late makes them feel as if they can delay the unpleasantness.