The benefits of sleep

For a second night in a row, I actually feel like I got a decent night's sleep. This is a vast improvement but this doesn't mean I feel great. I have a stiff shoulder/neck this morning. On the other hand, I was not woken up by the smoke detector again. Three times recently when Walter was showering the steam from the shower set off the smoke detector - not conducive to me sleeping. And it scares the cat.

I am also trying to use the benefits of waking up in the middle of the night. I have found one benefit. I have to take my thyroid medicine on an empty stomach and then wait an hour before eating. Then after I eat, I can take the anti-inflammatory for my back. By waiting an hour, sometimes I am sitting around hungry. But if I am awake at 4 am, I can take my thyroid medicine then, and go back to sleep. Then when I wake up I can eat breakfast whenever I want. (Which is right now because I am starving.) So there is a silver lining in the back pain/waking up at night business.

Yesterday I set up the 'new to me' hummingbird feeder. Now I am waiting for the hummingbirds to show up. I have been checking the migration maps at www.hummingbirds.net (go to Science - Migration Maps). They have been seen in southeastern MA on April 5th which means they should be along soon.

What else did I do yesterday? The other exciting thing I did yesterday was to make hummus from scratch. It was easy and yummy and I will be doing it again. I also went to work, worked from home, and went for a walk in the 43 degree, cloudy, damp, raw weather. (It felt like November, not April.) Today is supposed to be 60 and sunny. I am meeting a friend for lunch and a walk before I go to work. Maybe I will do a little gardening (a/k/a murdering little maple trees that are growing with my flowers) as well. I need to enjoy the nice weather today because then it will be cold and yucky again and next week I have to spend two quality mornings at doctor appointments. (What fun! NOT!) This reminds me, I am breaking in a new doctor next week - the back pain doctor - so I need to get all my notes ready for him. Bringing a new doctor up to speed can be very time consuming.