Bounce Back

Things are looking up this morning. Fio slept well, probably because she has drastically adjusted her diet to combat the GERD that can wake her up in the middle of the night and keep her up for hours. Also, she is busily engaged in setting up the aforementioned computer era murder mystery/romance she and a friend are planning to write.
Another thing that is putting a smile on Fio's face and a spring in her step is that today is the day she calls friend Suzy in England and catches up on all the news across the pond. And today is also the day that she'll get the Microsoft sytem installed in her computer. And maybe today will also be the day she gets the family ranch land problem taken care of.

Spanish. Dream. Ditty

Fiorella lost a dia.  She didn't sleep well en el noche de martes, but more than made up for it on miercoles, which means most of her to-do list remains not-done. She didn't learn any mas palabras en espanol, work on her libro, check on a missing amiga, write some important letters, or any other pressing items. So on jueves she'd better dig in. Wish her bien.
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UPDATE: Fio had a wonderful dream last noche, that her hija had married prince and had a bebe and the royal familia had come to visit.  The other abuela handed Fio the bebe and a bueno time was had by todo, especially Fio.
***
Fio must be
Very sweet
Because
Mosquitoes find her
Quite a treat

High in the Saddle Again

Good MORNING! Fiorella, an emotional bouncy ball lately, feels Tony-the-Tiger G-R-R-R-E-A-T--she had ten hours of uninterrupted sleep last night!

And no wonder she slept well.  She and Husband had had a peaceful, productive day.  They planted caladiums in the urns in front of the house and worked together on sawing up a sheet of plywood that had been lying around forever.  Then, come evening, Fio caught fire and wrote a riveting climactic scene in her latest book.

World, here she comes!

Story Source

Before Fiorella wrote stories, she told them--to herself while she lay in bed at night.

Fio was afraid of the dark, or, more correctly, of what might lurk in the dark.  Her family had just moved from Ohio to Texas and everything was new and strange--and scary.  Instead of having a cozy little room next to her parents' bedroom,  Fio had a large room at the front of the house, and the filmy curtains would blow in the evening breeze, reaching out toward her on the bed like ghostly hands.  And, unlike the house in Ohio, this one had just one story, which meant someone--or something--could leap in on Fio at any minute.

Fio couldn't sleep, but she needed to sleep, so she calmed herself by making up happy stories.  As she grew older, the stories were based on her mother's Book-of-the-Month selections, then on her own reading.  And every story had a happy ending.

As do her stories now.

Refreshed

Sorry to make you wait
But Fiorella slept late
So now she's feeling grrrrrreat!

Up, Fio, up and away!
You've got a world to save today!

Night Owl

Fiorella the morning glory has turned into a night owl.  She is now devoting her mornings to housework, marketing, and general catch-up.  She spends four hours each afternoon on her work-in-progress.  After a three-hour break for dinner and pretending to be alive, she retires to her office from eight till approximately midnight, then prepares for bed,  Needless to say, she's been sleeping well lately.  And her manuscript is up to over 38,000 words. Only 55,000 more to go. Sigh.

Sharks, Tylenol, Mastiff, Weed Spray

Husband has been watching crocodile and shark horror movies all afternoon and Fiorella is doubly convinced that lakes, rivers, and the ocean are perilous to humankind.
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Don't know what's in Tylenol Nighttime, but it insists that Fio get a full eight hours of sleep.  Blessings on it.
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Sonia Dog has taught herself to push open the back porch door to come back into the house.  She's also learned to anchor a rawhide bone with her paw when she pulls at it. Obviously we have a mastiff genius on our hands.
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Sometimes the most beautiful sight in the world is dead weeds along the driveway.  Now we know the spray works.
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Fiorella may have told you before, but she'll tell you again--a psychologist reads this blog on a daily basis. Be warned.

Insomnia

Fiorella is not at the top of her game.  Despite taking a soothing bath last night, then lying in bed forever and ever, then taking another soothing bath, then wandering downstairs to work on PRINCESS REDLANDER and watch non-prime-time TV, then going upstairs and picking up the workroom, the bathroom, and some of her study, then returning downstairs with a bed pillow and trying to sleep on the couch, Fiorella did not get any sleep last night.

It happens now and then and scares the hell out of Fio each time.  People can die from lack of sleep, and Fio has so many more stories she wants to write.

Sleeping with the Dog

It's the third day the upstairs air conditioner has been out so while Husband sleeps upstairs in the bed, it's Fiorella's third night on the couch in the den.  Husband's British-Celtic-German heritage can take the warm weather, but Fio's Eastern European genes seek cooler climes. So do Sonia Dog's mastiff genes, which means she's on the couch with Fio.

Sonia is accommodating, adjusting herself to Fio's nightly tosses and turns, but somehow Doggie always manages to end up on top of Fio's legs or feet, anchoring her to the spot, which means Fio awakens far too early, like right now when she is sitting on the couch writing this blog as Princess Sonia, stretched out over two of the three pillows, slumbers at her side.

The repairman said the necessary repair part should come in today, but he said that yesterday and the day before too.  Fio needs to recheck Angie's List.

Sleepytime TV

Hear ye, hear ye!

In order to relax at the end of the day, Fiorella wants to watch happy. charming, non-challenging, low-key television from eight to ten.  No shows with tension in them, which cuts out America's Got Talent and the like, and also covers all the NCIS variants.  No scary shows either--Fio doesn't need to dream of what might be lurking in her attic.  And nothing that makes her sad, excited, or angry.

Plain jane House Hunters, Little Couple, and Income Property are usually her choices, but the former is in reruns and the latter two seem to be in abeyance..

Maybe she'll be forced to take up reading again.

Prayer of Thanks

Fiorella woke up this morning with Husband beside her, Dog at her feet, a smile on her face, and a song in her heart.  Yes, she's ready to take on the weight of the world again.

Ah, the miracle of sleep to relax the body, refresh the psyche, and unscramble the brain. Thank you, God.

Up All NIght

Fiorella's circadian rhythm is screwed: she couldn't sleep last night.  The night before, she slept more than ten hours as opposed to her usual six (plus a few naps during the day) so she paid for it last night by not being able to sleep at all, despite moving from the bedroom to the futon in the study to the couch in the den (television on, then television off), then back to bed again.  She gave up at 4:45, dressed, consulted Dr. Google, and decided to write this blog so everyone will know that if tomorrow's blog doesn't get posted till afternoon, it's because she's crashed at last--and deservedly so.

Meanwhile, think supportive thoughts in Fio's direction because she has to do a fair amount of driving today.

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Canine Factoids

Dogs are really good at catnaps.  In Fio's experience, a dog falls asleep in a second and awakens in half a second, ready to go.  In contrast, Fiorella takes her time doing both.  She'd rather fall asleep faster, but, as you know, values her long, slow awakenings.

And even though dogs spend most of their lives sleeping, they're rippling with muscles and loaded with stamina.  Fio wishes she could run full tilt up the driveway as fast as couch potato Sonia can.  (On the other hand, Fio is not interested in chasing cars--she already has one.)

And a dog, even a very large one, can fit itself into whatever space is left open on the couch or in the bed. It's important to Sonia to be close to Mommy and Daddy.  And that's the sweetest factoid of all about dogs.  

Healed!

She doesn't have West Nile virus after all!

After several days of tossing and turning and taking multiple hot baths, Fiorella finally slept soundly last night, waking only twice at three hour intervals to gulp down yet another half-hydrocodone.  She can breathe freely, think coherently, talk without searching for words, walk without lurching.  The headache is gone.  She worked the crossword in fifteen minutes,  breezed through the anagrams, and generated enough Fio topics to last her through the weekend.

Ah, the joy of a good night's sleep!

Doggie Bedtime

Good morning!  Fiorella slept part of the night in the best bed in the house, the waterbed--i.e., the tub.  Yes, it's an ideal shape for your Fio.  The recline of the back is good for her spine, and she can easily rest her swollen feet up against the front wall.  And the water is hot, soothing to her joints and muscles. Of course, it was a real shock to awaken three hours later in ice-cold water.

Normally Fio would partake of her water cure on a night she couldn't sleep and the hydrocodone didn't seem to be working, but last night it was because Sonya Dog needed her old routine before she would consent to going into her crate.  (Fio and Husband had tried to shake the pattern up a little, but Sonya balked at entering her boudoir.)  So they recreated the usual bedtime, with Husband going to bed first, Fio bringing Sonya up by the bedroom door next to the stairs, leaving her with Husband, then going through the other bedroom door into the bathroom and taking a bath.  Three hours later she returned to the bedroom, lured Sonya into her crate, sang "Soft Doggy" to her, and went to bed.

The good thing is that everyone slept through the rest of the night.  But Fiorella is concerned about the future.  Sonya's crate seems to be shrinking, and it's the biggest one PetsMart has in stock. 

Early Bird

Fiorella has discovered for herself what authors have known since forever-if she gets up really early, she can get a lot more done without interruption or distraction. The dogs are crated, Husband and Son are asleep, there are no noisy household gadgets running, and no phone calls. Yesterday she cleared her docket of a couple of list's worth of chores, correspondence, and bill-paying by 11:00 so she could dedicate the afternoon to revisions of Princess of Bosque Bend.

It happened by accident. A communication glitch between Fio's PCP and her pharmacy meant her Lyrica prescription went unfilled. She figured she was tired enough that she didn't need it, but ho-ho--that was one on ol' Fiorella! She woke up hurting about 4:00 and had to take a hydrocodone, then realized she'd slept just enough that it wouldn't do her any good to go back to bed. Besides, hydrocodone peps her up. Since sleep was a lost cause, she decided to put this "found time" to good use.

Obviously, this isn't something Fio can do every day without getting to bed a lot earlier than her customary 11:00. But maybe if she watched the 6:30 Big Bang Theory instead of the 10:30 one, and if she gave up bathing, it would work.

Bigger and Better

Fiorella came in the door just in time to see little Sonya walking carefully up the stairs. Yes, our baby dog has learned how to navigate steps. Apparently while Fio was gone for the morning, Bosco Dog showed her the basics, and then Local Son encouraged her the rest of the way. Sonya's also getting the idea of doing her business in the yard instead of in the house, but in the meantime, Fio is glad our first story floor is concrete.

Sonya is all puppy. First comes the whirl of excitement and activity--playing with Bosco, attacking the bottom of Fio's bathrobe, trying to chew or swallow everything she can get her teeth on. Then, suddenly, she's tired. Her shoulders sag and she either drops in place or comes over to the couch, where Fiorella lifts her up--Sonya still hasn't figured out how to leap higher than she herself is--and nestles her down beside her for a nice nap.

Oh, and did Fio mention that Sonya let her sleep till 5:00 a.m. this morning?

Blessed Med

Fiorella is healed! Well, not exactly healed, but she's hobbling round with a lot less pain, and she got a full night's sleep last night. In fact, probably ten hours worth--but then, she had a lot to make up for.

No, she didn't put her hands on the TV and pray. She took herself off to the doctor, who listened to her tale of woe and prescribed a little white pill. And although she didn't pray for it, God bless Lyrica.

Ba-a-a Works

Fiorella couldn't fall asleep last night, and with good reason. Checking her email just before she went to bed, she discovered a third literary agent had sent her a request for a partial. Fio was thrilled, of course, especially since the agent had replied within hours after receiving Fio's query.

Fio went to bed a very happy girl, but that adrenaline kept a-pumpin' and she couldn't sleep. She got up and watched TV till midnight, then took a wallow bath, then read a little, but nothing worked. Finally, when she went back to bed for the fourth time, she decided to try counting sheep. Now, Fio being Fio, those woolies didn't all jump over the fence. Some somersaulted, some vaulted, a few stumbled, but Fio counted every one of them as long as she could.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ . . . .

Singin' in the Mornin'

Fiorella woke up feeling good this morning. She even sang "My best to you this morning" to Husband from the upper landing, which is a miracle because of the wake-up frog which usually prohibits her from even croaking decently right after arising.

There's nothing like a good night's sleep. Handel wrote a charming song about it, which Fiorella, in her salad days, sang beautifully, if she dares say so herself.

O Sleep, why dost thou leave me?
Why they visionary joys remove?
O Sleep, again deceive me,
To my arms restore my wandering love.

Not that Fiorella is bereft of love, but she is sometimes bereft of sleep, and a good night of sleep presages a day of energy, activity, and accomplishment.