Sleep.

Do you get the requisite 8 hours a night?  How about at least 6?  There was a study done a while back (can't remember when or who did it) that says our bodies work on 1.5 hour cycles, and you need at least two of these cycles of REM sleep in order to be able to function.  I, my friends, am living proof that this is not true, as I very frequently manage to not only function but pretend to be a normal person on less than 3 hours of sleep.  Today seems to be one of those days.  I really do TRY to sleep earlier, but for some reason, it never seems to happen.  Take last night, for example.  At 11pm, everyone was in bed.  As I lay there, staring in the dark at the ceiling, I thought to myself, "Maybe you need something else to help your brain unwind.  Why not try a book?"  Thinking this was a wise idea, I grabbed a book my sister gave me a few weeks ago, but that I had only managed to read about 4 pages in.  This was probably around 11:15 or 11:30.  I finished the book around 2:30, with no signs of tiredness happening any time soon.  So I picked up the second book in the series (there are three that I have, I don't know if there are more than that though) and read it for about 10-20 minutes, then realized I really needed to get to sleep because the alarm was set to go off at 8:45, and I really wanted to be able to get up then and be productive today.  So I turned on my white noise app, and laid down, fully prepared to stare at the ceiling for a few more hours before finally falling asleep.  Surprisingly I fell asleep quickly, but UNfortunately, I woke up much sooner than expected.  I'm guessing my hubby must've bumped the bed or something, because I woke up as he was getting ready to leave for work this morning (he went in as 6am today, and will be going in at the same time tomorrow) so by 5:45, I was awake.  I thought I could go right back to sleep, but that didn't happen, so I tried moving into his spot on the bed, to see if that would help me sleep.  After about 20-30 minutes of really trying and wishing that I was sleeping, I gave up, got dressed, put away the laundry that was sitting about in my bedroom, and came out to the computer, to discover my 16yo sound asleep on the couch with his glasses still on!  lol  So of course I removed his glasses (I really should give him back his contacts one day soon, lol) and sat down at the computer.  I've been here ever since, but I think I'm going to go do some dishes and start breakfast.  Maybe the smell of strawberry syrup and French toast will wake up my Littles so they can eat and work on some summer workbooks for a little while.  Most likely I will be back later, and possibly even with PICTURES of my attempt at a simple breakfast for my kids.  :)