Time seems to be going very slowly, and that’s a good thing! We’re just finishing the second week of school. So far, Angie is really leaning into her senior year experience. I remember that from high school- being seniors together is a special bonding experience with the kids you’ve been friends with through the years. She’s enjoying it.
Also, it’s been a week of goodbyes, as the college kids are leaving! Lots of last hangouts and helping people pack. LUCKILY, Angie’s boyfriend is staying home and going to FAU (Florida Atlantic University, right in our town). It would be so sad if we were saying goodbye to him as well!
On a completely unrelated note, Angie is also thinking of going to FAU next year. Hahaha… okay, that’s not unrelated at all. But it’s not only because of her boyfriend- her best friend also wants to go to FAU. I’m all for it! I’m encouraging her to keep her options open, but if she ends up at FAU, I’ll be happy.
So what else is happening? WELL, we got the new oven and I MADE A DINNER. It was on Sunday, and I got motivated to look at Nora Cooks.. Her meals are usually easy, and we like them. I decided to make Easy Chickpea Curry. I added tofu and broccoli and left out the spinach, but otherwise kept to the recipe.
It was good! Angie liked it well enough to eat it on Sunday, AND have leftovers the next day. I haven’t cooked since- I think once a week is a good schedule for me.
Now I’m going to share a sleep hack. Have you ever heard of ear plugs? Okay, just kidding. Everyone’s heard of them. When I was at my sister’s this summer she convinced me to try them, and WOW. Wearing ear plugs has helped my sleep SO MUCH! It’s actually crazy that I’ve never used them. I mean- I sleep in a bed with another person, I have three cats who occasionally meow in the middle of the night, and a teenage daughter who has an irregular sleep schedule (I did the same thing when I was her age, so I don’t try to impose a schedule on her). Of course I need ear plugs!
Between the ear plugs and having a fan blowing directly on me, I feel like I’m inching closer and closer to a perfect night of sleep. Still not quite there, but I’m working on it.
The other day I was cleaning out the guinea pig cage. Remember them? I haven’t mentioned them in a while. Anyway, Nutmeg was looking so cute that I took a photo of her.
Her sister, Cinnamon, was hiding, but I’ll get a photo of her soon. To be honest, they’re not very affectionate pets- in the wild, they have a lot of natural predators so they don’t like being picked up- but they sure are cute.
Have you ever had guinea pigs? Do you sleep with ear plugs? Do you have any sleep hacks?
Top Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash
27 Responses
My first pet was a guinea pig. I was five, and his name was… Guinea. My mom got tired of cleaning his cage and was not super sad when he died, but she must have forgotten how much she disliked cage duty because we all three got hamsters who mated and gave us a plague of hamsters my god.
Ha ha… hamsters are very cute as well! Maybe not a plague though (although that does sound kind of fun).
Kai sleeps with earplugs! He even got customised ones that fit the ear perfectly. He says it makes all the difference.
I sleep very well, so I haven’t thought about it for myself. But I do want to try an eye mask for when I want to sleep in, as I always wake up easily when the sunlight comes in.
Yes, I’m thinking of an eye mask as well! And I’m intrigued about these custom ear plugs? I might have to look into that!
In our old house in Calgary I always slept with ear plugs – it was a small house, the boys were home and always coming and going, Rob snores. But here I don’t need to – our room is far from the action of the rest of the house, Jake is the only one home and he works very early morning hours, so he goes to bed early, and Rob doesn’t snore as much now that he’s retired and physically healthier. Ah, life. Things come and go in waves, like earplugs.
Oh really? Maybe my husband will snore less when he’s retired! And- I wish our bedroom was farther away from the action. When we bought this house over 20 years ago I somehow wasn’t thinking what it would be like when the kids were teenagers.
I don’t sleep with ear plugs, but I am a major fan of sleeping with an eye mask! It’s so much easier than trying to get my bedroom completely dark. Since my hair is short and fine, I actually wear a hat under it, to keep my ears from being bothered by the strap, but it works for me. I did get masks meant for people with false eyelashes, so I can open my eyes with the mask on; otherwise, I get weirdly claustrophobic!
Hmmm! Okay, I will definitely try an eye mask! There’s a lot of light getting into our bedroom.
Awwww Nutmeg is so cute! When I was a kid, we had hamsters — the first was a boy named Peanut and the second a girl named Princess. Peanut once broke his leg jumping in his cage and we had to take him to the vet to get a tiny cast! And Princess escaped and was stuck in our basement walls for a few days before she came out! So they were very interesting pets to have.
I used earplugs to sleep when I was a college freshman with a roommate and they really helped, but my ears are sensitive and they get sore from having anything in them, and even just sometimes sleeping on them since I’m a side sleeper. Now I just blast a fan and use white noise on my phone to drown out any noises, which are mostly from my upstairs neighbor since I live alone!
Omg- hamsters are so cute to begin with, and I can’t even imagine Peanut with a tiny cast- that is hilarious. We also had a hamster when I was a kid, and the one thing I remember is him escaping and us having to set elaborate traps to catch him. i guess it’s a hamster thing.
Sometimes my ears get sore from the earplugs, and I’ll take them out in the middle of the night. I’m intrigued by Catrina’s comment above, that her husband has custom made earplugs??? I’ll bet those are comfortable.
I don’t like the feeling of earplugs, but I do sleep with a white noise machine and I HAVE to wear an eyemask at this point. I’ve been using one for many years and if it happens to slip off in the night, I wake up.
I wear one that’s designed for people with false lashes. They’re inexpensive but make all the difference because they don’t put pressure on the eyelids! My daughter wears one at night, too. At least the one I use blocks out 100% of the light. It’s magic.
I do still sometimes have sleep issues, so it’s not like the white noise and eye mask solve all my problems, but they’re a great place to start.
We sleep with a fan on, which provides white noise. But there was still too much outside noise for me. I used to not like the feel of earplugs, but for some reason this time they’re working for me. I do want to try an eye mask- I think that would help as well.
I am a very light sleeper. I never NOT wear ear plugs.
Nope on the hamster… just cats.
I have been bbqing all summer. I used my oven for the first time yesterday as it was rainy and cool.
Both my stepsons and all their friends went away to school.
I did the same as did everyone I knew. It was a great experience. My BF went to a different college and we broke up.
When I was in high school, everyone went away to college. But we didn’t have a university in our town. It seems to be a thing now that a lot of kids stay home and go to FAU and live at home. I would like my daughter to have a “real” college experience and go away, but I also won’t argue with saving money!
Awww, Nutmeg is a cutie! I still for some reason have trouble grasping the concept that guinea pigs are wild in some parts of the world. They are just so cute! Same thing with hedgehogs.
Hahahaha – your sleep hack is so fabulous. I’m glad it’s working for you! I really wish I had some sleep hacks that work for me. Probably the best one is “get in bed by 9:30 or 10:00 pm” but I rarely accomplish that!
I know- it seems like guinea pigs are too cute to be wild animals! Same with hamster though.
Yeah, I still need to get in bed earlier. I mean I often get in bed before 10, but I always want to stay up and read for a while.
Oh yes, I wear ear plugs. I also need a sleep mask. I’m a bit of a high maintenance sleeper! Ear plugs can be life changing, especially when traveling as there can be a lot of noises I’m not used to (like the El in Chicago!!!). This week I slept through Taco waking up and yelling due to having an accident at 4 am (which is very uncommon for him!) so Phil dealt with the whole thing. I felt bad that he didn’t wake me up but that was his decision, I guess!
That is a cute picture of Nutmeg – she looks like she’d be cuddly but it makes sense that they don’t want to be picked up since they have a lot of predators in the wild.
That’s good that Angie has an idea of where she wants to go to school. That can be a really overwhelming decision. It wasn’t for me because I knew I was paying for it so I stuck with a state school and there are only 2 universities in North Dakota.
Yes- I’ve suggested that my husband wear earplugs as well, but he feels that SOMEONE should have their ears open at night. I tried to tell him that even with ear plugs we would be able to hear if someone were screaming or something like that- but then the other day I slept through my alarm (which almost NEVER happens) so that didn’t help my case.
OH! I did not know you had guinea pigs, too. I had a series of guinea pigs in college, starting with the one I used to carry around in the pocket of my smock when I worked at a department store’s pet department. He was tiny, very ill, and they ended up giving him to me. He looked a lot like your Nutmeg, except Eric was an abyssinian, so he had the swirly fluffs of fur.
I’m glad that earplugs work for you. I tried them, but I hated the thought of not being able to hear if someone needed me in the night. I’m still trying to find a solution to my sleep problems, so if you hit on anything else, or have other tips that might help, do let me know!
Okay, I’ll continue to explore sleep hacks. One thing we’re thinking of is getting a window unit AC for the bedroom- obviously we have central air (I mean we live in Florida) but I’m always too warm at night. Someone suggested a window unit to make the bedroom ICY COLD. I like the sound of that!
I love the thought of carrying a tiny guinea pig around with you in your smock!!! So he was probably pretty cuddly, since he was used to being carried? That’s so, so cute.
I love Nutmeg! We had temporary guinea pigs ages ago. We took turns hosting the class guinea pig over the summer for weeks. Baby Brownie ( a black and white pig, but that’s what you get when you let kindergartens name the pet) enjoyed being here and would squeal to me when I came in the morning. I was her broccoli and toilet paper roll source, ao she loved me.. Calico Rose ( the next year’s pig) wasn’t quite as interactive, but they were fun. Wed bring them outside and put them on the g rass with the top cage over them so they could eat grass and dandelions. This was years before we had cats.
No sleep hacks- but my son does sleep with a eye mask. Another has a weighted blanket. And I just play wordle and read blogs in the middle of the night.
Ha ha… I always let the kids name the guinea pigs (we’ve had many over the years). They mostly stuck to colors- Indigo, Violet- but there was one unfortunate pig named “Silver Sword.” Now we’ve switched to spice names… and when these guinea pigs go, we are DONE.
oh yes, earplug is my hero! I use the silicone ones that block 99% of noise. I take them with me on travels can’t sleep without them anymore.
the curry looks delicious!
I have the most amazing earplugs that I got from a link on Suzanne’s blog. They are called loop earplugs and block out more noise than the plain ones you picture. I could still hear if the fire alarm went off, and I can sometimes hear my husband snoring, but it sounds far away and doesn’t bother me. If I had known how much they would improve my sleep, I would have invented the damn things rather than waiting. These are the ones I bought – they come with 4 sizes so you can find the perfect fit for you. I bought them for all of us, thinking about how they would help with travel. My daughter tried them once, said they didn’t work and put them away. But maybe when we’re all in a hotel room together somewhere she will change her mind.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3V6TR98?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
The curry looks delicious! I’m curious about the cooking once a week thing – do you make enough for the week or do Angie and your husband cook the rest of the week? There was a point in time when I was cooking twice a week and it was glorious. Should probably figure out how to get back to that!
I only wear earplugs when I’m traveling with my mom, but they have been LIFE CHANGING. I have the Loop ones that Julie linked and I think they are the BEST because they are pretty comfortable in my ears and block out most of my mom’s snoring. 😉 I’m glad you’re inching closer to a good night’s sleep!
I love guinea pigs. I forgot you had two – Nutmeg and Cinnamon! OMG! 🙂
I don’t think I could sleep with ear plugs (but I am not a super light sleeper). Do you hear your alarm?
My best sleep hack is to be appropriately tired and having a good mattress. I love my Tempurpedic 🙂
P.S. I do not think that time is moving slowly right now, but I know time perception is so weird… and I am glad that it’s kinda slow for you right now! I always enjoy when that happens.