some days i can get right up in the morning. the alarm rings, i crawl out over (literally) and turn it off, grab the phone and pen and paper, and go to get ready for my day. my meds are usually in within the first half an hour and i'm putting on makeup. i nibble a bit of breakfast (which is taking some getting used to again - a certain husband wouldn't let me go without a decent breakfast when we first met in college, so i got used to a decent morning meal; he hasn't been so concerned since we got married and i graduated, so i'm trying to get used to a much smaller meal . . . which, of course, gets completely mucked up when he decides to make on of his monster omelet breakfasts!), make sure everything i want is in my purse and my school bag, then i'm off, either alone or being chauffeured by hubby and one or both of the little ones (the oldest having left before i can even get out of the bathroom). i can actually think about what to do with my hair on these days, which is nice when you have a fluffy mop like i do.

other days i can barely get out the door in time. i turn off the alarm and crawl back under the covers (yea, yea, yea, trying to train myself out of that particular foible) and doze off for another 20-45 minutes; 20 minutes isn't so bad, 45 minutes puts me on a rush-rush-RUSH schedule. i usually remember to grab the phone but have been known to leave the pen and paper behind - all three of which are needed if i get called that day (though, with so many schools trying to schedule in advance now, the pen and paper aren't always an issue - the phone is since i don't want any 6 am calls to wake my hubby). breakfast becomes a glass of milk, my meds, and maybe a biscuit or bite of toast or a granola bar in the car . . . maybe if i'm lucky, i get my makeup on in time to leave. if i'm not, then the eye stuff goes on at home and everything else goes on either in the car or at work( i just want to get the eye liner and mascara out of the way since they can be dangerous to put on in a vehicle). hair gets tossed up or left fuzz . . . er, curly. i still make sure everything is in the purse and the book bag, but it's usually a rushed glance with the hope it's all there. fortunately, i have yet to miss anything.

what's funny (not really in a haha kind of way thought) is it doesn't seem to matter how much sleep i got the previous night. oh, if i stay up until 2 am or so, that 5:45 wake up call is brutal. but between a 11:30 pm or a 1 am bedtime, there's no difference. i can wake up rip roaring and ready to go, or i could be dragging so badly that saying i'm slow on the uptake is being generous. bad days end up with less being done during my free periods too. those are the times when i catch up on any grading the teacher wants me to do, notes i'm writing for the teacher about the day (and i write pretty detailed notes), or work on my own stuff (which really seems odd to me - i usually feel a little guilty about it, but i only do it when i have nothing else to do).

now, whether or not it's cold is a different story. if it's cold, i'm more likely to get back under the covers and be unwilling to come out. and lately it's been pretty cold in the morning! and it's only going to get colder as the winter wears on. they're talking 20-30 degree temps now, and our heater doesn't quite get the whole house warm. with a split level, the heat rises, so the upper levels get nice and toasty, but the living room - where saxy and i are sleeping until we can afford a bed - is always cold. we manage to have a fire in the fireplace every now and again, but it usually doesn't last all night (which is a good thing). we can't do a fire every night either. the wood we have has been out back and needs to dry out, so we don't always have the wood.

fortunately, whether i wake up with energy to go or end up being slow on the uptake, i do get a good half an hour to wake up at school - sometimes longer. granted, i usually need that time to read the teacher's plans and notes, and to find the panic button. it's also a time for me to catch my breath and prepare myself for the coming day. unfortunately, i've found that if i start out slow on the uptake, i tend to be behind and slow for the rest of the day.

which, i suppose, only goes to show that at least i'm consistent with something.