A nice hot cup of Fall

This morning was different from most for me; I got up at 5:15, made coffee for my boyfriend and had a cup of my own. I'd like to say that this was an act of selflessness, but I was having back spasms and a toothache. The reason I went downstairs in the first place was to hunt for an aspirin. Unlike most mornings I decided to push through the grogginess, have a cup of yummy fresh ground, from the french-press, coffee (great idea!). Surprisingly, I slept through most of the night last night, which is almost unheard of in my world. Most nights, I sleep for around four hours before waking up at about 2-3 am and tossing and turning until David gets up. At which time I noisily (to make sure he notices that he's disturbed my "slumber") thrash around and throw a pillow over my head until he kisses me on the forehead and leaves for work. After that, I try to get back to sleep and almost always succeed within about 15 minutes of my oldest getting in the shower. That's when it's a done deal because I now have to get up to supervise morning routine and make lunches.

Getting back to the point, I was up before David (so he assumed something must be wrong with me.) I feel pretty darned refreshed. Maybe the problem with my sleep isn't that I'm not getting enough, but that I get too much. Don't say' "I told you so", I'm aware that that is the case more often than not for most. I only get 4 to 5 hours of good sleep a night though, so I just assumed that it was lack of instead to more than necessary. Call me crazy, but I think I just had an epiphany (and if you're wondering, yes it hurt.) Now the issue becomes, not how to obtain more quality sleep, but how to drag my butt out of bed when I can no longer sleep. Either way, I'm still no morning person.

I thought maybe if I made a coffee station in my bedroom i t might help, but this poses a few problems: waking up the other room occupant, clean-up, and additives. Crap. Setting an alarm is no good because it actually has the opposite effect, which is to make me think I'm more tired than I really am. Opening the window and letting in the cool pre-sunrise air helps, but then I just want to snuggle back into my cozy and already warm bed with all my comfy pillows. Ugh! Why can't this just be easier?

Moving on, I read in my Whole Living (Formerly, Body and Soul) Magazine yesterday that coffee is good for reducing your risk of Parkinson's disease (wow!), type 2 diabetes and that it is a perfect catalyst for much needed nutrients. "1,299 milligrams: The amount of immune-boosting antioxidants the average American gets in her daily coffee." Who knew?! The article also makes a few suggestions of what to add to fortify your morning cup of brew: Cinnamon helps to stabilize blood-sugar and Nutmeg reduces inflammation. Sugar and creamer are apparently bad (shocker) and organic 1% or calcium fortified soy milk are great options (I like the Albertson's line of Organics: vanilla soy milk.) Honey is also a great sweetener for coffee that is much under used and can help with an unsettled yummy, which I am plagued with often. I also suggest having a banana or apple alongside your am beverage to ward off jitters, which are caused by the metabolism boost brought on by the caffeine in your drink. I'm not an expert, but have experienced much bouncing off the walls as a result of too much, too fast and the comedown that comes with it. This morning I opted (on my 3rd cup) for a little cinnamon and a few drops of pure vanilla extract, YUM. It tastes like a nice hot cup of Fall, which happens to be my favorite season.

As for the rest of this crisp morning, I suppose it's time to get a move on with my morning rituals. I'm walking the kids to school this morning so that my daughter can donate a few guppies to the class aquarium, Alex is off to Pioneer days for his first field-trip of the year, maybe I'll do a little morning Yoga, and then I'm meeting Cheryl at the farmer's market to see what treasures we can come up with for our canning (and wine drinking) adventure on Saturday. Happy Friday :)