High and Lows

The first week back after a long absence is always a bit disorienting. Life goes on as usual. I pick up where I left off. But yet, my eating and sleeping cycles still think I’m chillin in Louisiana. Jet Lag is pure evil, y’all. Pure evil. 

It’s also been a bit challenging to get back into the habit of blogging daily again, hence the afternoon/nighttime posts. In fact, I was just about to curl up for a jet-lag induced nap, thinking I had completed all my tasks for the day and then I remembered: Oh wait, I haven’t blogged yet! No naptime for me. Sigh... 

Sometimes I wish I didn’t take my commitments (especially those self-imposed) so seriously. But I figure if I squeak a post out real quick, maybe I can still have time for both. So let’s get on to highs and lows. 

Lows: 

1) Jet lag. I can’t go to sleep at night. I can’t wake up in the morning. I’m doing everything right. No alcohol. Daily exercise. No naps. No caffeine after 3 pm. I’m still not sleeping well. Luckily, I have an economy size bottle of illegal contraband from the States known as Melatonin. 

It’s been my saving grace this week, that’s for sure. But even with taking my daily dosage 30 minutes before bedtime, I still struggle to fall asleep before 1 am. Ugh. 

2) After a 4 hour impromptu Mahjong session with some friends, I was winless. Winless. 0-7. My friends were taking pity on me by the end and trying to help me win. That still didn’t work. I feel a losing streak coming on… 

3) Anytime I come back from a trip, I feel a tad overwhelmed at the amount of chores that built up over my time away. A load of laundry (which is about ¼ of the size of a US load of laundry by the way) takes 4 hours from start to finish so I am just now catching up on that. Not to mention the poop scooping, vacuuming, grocery shopping, and pound losing that I’ve got to accomplish as soon as I get back from an extended trip to the US. 

4) Being homesick. It always hits the hardest in my first week back, after I’ve become accustomed to seeing my parents every day and playing mahjong with them every night. 

Other than that it’s been a pretty good week. 

Highs: 

1) Social events which allowed me to catch up with my buds. We had Bachelor night on Tuesday, Book Club on Wednesday and a hike yesterday. It was a busy week but it was nice to get my fill of these awesome ladies after missing them so bad. 

2) Hiking with the AWA and Bailey-girl. 

She’s still wiped out after our excursion up Bennachie yesterday, and I forsee a warm and snuggly nap with her coming up this afternoon. 

3) Puppy love. 

I missed my dogs so much while I was away and  have been soaking up their sweet faces as much as possible this week. 

4) Valentine’s Day presents from my honey. He really did a great job of stocking my kitchen with crazy awesome tools. I can’t wait to try out my new food processor!  

 5) The days are getting longer!!

7 AM

By 7 am it’s light enough to take Bailey out for a run, and it stays that way until 5:45, which means Jonathan and I can walk Samson when he gets home from work.

5:50 PM

It is already opening up so much time in my day and the days are getting noticeably longer every day. 

Alright, it’s naptime for me. What were your highs and lows this week?