Sweet Dreams and Good Night Folks!!!

In the past years, I have made a new friend. Her name is “Insomnia”. She insists on visiting me in the night, overstaying her welcome every night. Taking me to places I don’t want to go, talking about things that should be irrelevant and unimportant in bed – To-Do Lists, Little Ego Tussles, Health Related Worries, Deadlines, Planning for the week ahead, K2’s lunch box, the best use of the vegetables in my fridge…the list goes on. Finally, when she is ready to leave me, I fall into a tired restless sleep and wake up tired and with a constant crick in the neck (I blame that on K2, who insists on sleeping in the crook of his mommy’s neck…he gives a pain in the neck a new meaning).
Last week with K1 away on one of his many trips…I had K2 finish his routine and tucked him in and watched him drift away instantaneously to sleep. I got my computer out and started working for the next couple hours, walked the dog and was getting ready to go to sleep…suddenly Jinx (the cocker spaniel) set up an unholy barking for 15 minutes and I heard some creaks and noises in the backyard. The absolutely unflappable, will of steel suddenly became a bundle of paranoia and I ended up calling 911. A really nice officer came by and checked the backyard and concluded it was probably a raccoon rummaging through the garbage…anyway net sleep yesterday was about 3 hours…I think I closely resemble above said raccoon with deep dark circles under my eyes.
Anyway coming back to the topic of Sleep (or my lack of it), last month, I decided to take back control of my sleep patterns and here are some of the techniques that I have tried that have worked for me –

• I am very caffeine sensitive. So I try to avoid anything with Caffeine after 1.00 PM in the afternoon. I don’t drink Coffee, so this means no green/black tea after 1.00 PM
• I eat dinner by 8.00 PM.


• I relax in bed and read a story to K2 and try to limit night TV in the bedroom


• I tried drinking a warm glass of almond milk ( no luck with this one)


• I have started taking a couple times a week a homeopathic pill Calms Forte’ and it seems to help me sleep restfully.

This weekend was extremely relaxed. On Friday, we had a simple dinner of White Beans Soup with a pizza from Whole Foods (Full of Life Flatbreads). K1 was not a fan of the pizza but I liked it. Saturday saw us having lunch in a new Indian Restaurant called Koriander. We both enjoyed the lunch immensely. Dinner was a Beckmann’s Sourdough Baguette toasted with some habenaro cheese and some Thai Vegetable Soup (With fresh corn, cauliflower, carrots and red bell peppers, laced with Coconut Milk)…it was a soul satisfying meal. Sunday was a lazy day with a trip to the Farmer’s market – I picked up some new potatoes, Shallots, Taro, Broccoli, Carrots and fresh crisp Somerfield apples. Ketan was enamored with an Afghani food stall and we picked up a sweet jalapeno relish. I have picked up two editions of “Vegetarian Times” and have a relaxed afternoon planned….How was your weekend?