To Sleep... Perchance to Dream

Sleep is what I should be doing right now, but cannot. Why?! This bout of insomnia is early, too. Less than three hours into my night and I'm up cycling thoughts round my brain. Maybe if I get them out I can sleep?

This is where the "random thought of Sharon Cliff" comes in. You've been warned:

My room should be cooler. With the windows cracked, the temperature should be lower. I need to actually finish programming the new thermostat so it can start learning how to maintain the temperature I set. (Did you know new thermostats can learn?!) Turned on the fan, pulled window a bit more open. We'll see.

What woke me? I heard Anna get up to use the bathroom, but I think I was already awake. She came in to cuddle. I love that. It should lull me back to sleep. And John's snoring is nice and gentle tonight. I don't think I ate too much or too late. Why can't I sleep?

I want to clean. The kitchen ceiling project wrapped up yesterday (need to blog about it) and the dust should be settled, mostly, by now, and the floors needs another go round and all surfaces everywhere. The blinds need to be vacuumed, every single one. The window tracks, too. The windows need cleaning. I need to get up on the big ladder and dust the very tops of the second story ledges in the family room. And rig up a way to finally get that tip-top window clean (the one with paint smear dating from my big paint with Michele). I need to relieve Kate of vacuum duty this week and see that each room gets properly vacuumed, with crevice tool around the edges and furniture moved. The caulking in the shower needs to be replaced. I think there's a page in my big Home Depot reference book on that. That sounds like fun, doesn't it? I mostly ignore my ugly shower and pretend it isn't there, so maybe the caulking can wait. But I need to work on the sink down in the powder bath, because my usual bleach it routine down there isn't cutting it. And people use that bathroom.

More laundry to do. Then a big purge... big purge. With the cold weather is past, I need to go through the girls' things and set old/outgrown/worn out items for CCA and store usable off-season items somewhere not easily accessible to them so I can stop laundering fleece jammies in April.

My closet needs thinning again and I need to do my own seasonal rotation and organization so I can see the cute things to wear and not what I've been running around in this week. Some of the really cute things I've been hanging on to for the day I get back down a size... or two... will be offered to my friend Karen before they are completely dated. And I need to let go of some old faves that have seen better days.

John's side of the closet needs to be reviewed and organized, since he no longer commutes downstairs in short and polos, and so he can more easily find things to wear each morning at the crack of dawn when he gets dressed. If I do all this correctly there should be less laundry, right? Because right now, I'm washing cold and warm weather clothes and least-favorite items that get worn because the most-favored things are at the bottom of a pile of fleece jammies!

I'd like to find a new laundry hamper. The old one is shot, and it is not pretty enough for the new-and-improved laundry room. Which I need to blog about.

Why is my refrigerator beeping? I noticed it the other day while working in the kitchen. It's a quiet sort of popping beep from the inside. I'll google it. I google everything. Wish I had that google stock.

The guest room closet needs to be cleaned out and the room prepared for whichever set of grandparents will be staying there. I think the crib I can't give away can fit under my king bed, and the pictures can be stored in another location. Do I like the rocker in there? Do I want to move it back downstairs to the family room, and if so, should I rearrange the furniture down there? lt's been awhile. I'd like to try the antique furniture "recipe" on the icebox and scratched kitchen table. The camel saddle bag needs to be taken off and vacummed/beat. Where will I relocate the mola that was in the hall bath? I like the idea of the playroom upstairs -- I've got colorful prints up there already. The smaller mola would actually make a cute pillow. What is going on the new shelf in the bathroom?

What about Anna's birthday?!!! In my focus on preparations for her baptism next weekend, this week's birthday snuck up and now it's four days away with nary an invitation tendered. She insists that this year (following two years of family celebration) she must have a friend party, and it must be on her birthday. We've narrowed down the possibilities to an at-home party for late afternoon into evening on Saturday and now I must negotiate invitation calls with the moms. So proud to be so last-minute. Mother of the year...

Wondering how my friend's husband is doing, post-op. And how she is. And the kids. Wish I were closer. One of my former YW had her tonsils removed last week. Hope she's feeling better. I'm bringing lunch to a friend later today, also recovering from surgery, and wonder if I will pick something up or make sandwiches? Egg salad sounds good.

The fridge just beeped six times. Weird. Don't really want to deal with it. My very brief google search made my brain tired... a couple of suggestions to unplug and re-plug, someone posted something about how they cleaned the circuit board with alcohol and a q-tip. I really don't want to deal with it.

I need to get back to the gym. I hate the gym. It's not so much the gym itself, but I try to avoid mommy time and I hate getting "haven't seen you for a while" commentary from trainers. I would like to get back on the weight machines. I hate cardio.

Where am I going to put the second set of grandparents? I can convert the daybed and trundle in Anna's room and offer the girl's bath and have all four of us use the master. Or do we move out of our room (and closet) and then have all four use the girls' bath with them? That would be nicer for guests, but a lot more complicated with John's early morning work schedule and church meetings. I think we'll have to stay put.

Back yard needs weeding. Front bench cracked -- do I want to make a quick and crazy run to Canton on Friday to replace it? I am afraid it is only a matter of time before someone sits and crashes.

I ordered new lever handles to replace the worn and shiny brass ones on our interior doors. Once they are switched out, will I need to replace shiny fans? I'm not a big fan of they shiny but they still work.

Will I ever find a lampshade I like for the lamp in the front room? I should just bring the lamp with me to check out the one I saw last week at HomeGoods. It would make me feel better about not having the chair done for that room. Wish I'd found the fabric for the wingback chair earlier. Now the reupholsterer is backed up and it will be weeks...

I hate it when a plan with a self-imposed time frame is thwarted. Does it really matter? No. But with so many of the house projects done now, I am antsy to get all these things in order. I really wanted it all done before Anna's baptism. Oh, waaahh.

It should be enough to clean and organize and throw a fabulous birthday party on the fly and try to take care of the things I can control. That's plenty.

The fridge just beeped again.