Detox Diet and Writing

I wrote my A post late last night for the A to Z Challenge.  It was fun, but not what I need to get myself mentally in the mode to write fiction.  Forgive me for writing two posts today, but this is what I need to get myself in writing mode.  I feel very motivated to write today, which may be because of my friend's A post on writing with alacrity.  Her alacrity is contagious - I am excited to work on my novel today too.

When my alarm went off this morning at 6:10 AM, which was intentionally set late to allow my teenager the opportunity to get herself out of bed, which she never does, I had a headache again.  It wasn't as bad as the day before, but there it was again, greeting me.  The greeting wasn't a nice hello but was more like a smack in the forehead with a sledgehammer.  I begged my daughter to get out of bed.  She said she was getting up, but she wasn't.  "Feet on the floor," I insisted.  She stood up impertinently - she's not a morning person so I didn't take it personally and never do.  I turned on the light, and she groaned on cue.  I left the door open as usual to make sure she at least had to walk to the door before she got dressed, hoping that motion would make it less likely she would fall back into bed the minute I walked out. 

I went back to half-sleep as usual and opened my eyes with no alarm at 6:25.  The lack of any sounds in the house except the interminable hum of technology, that really has no business humming at 6:25 AM, tells me she went back to sleep.  She yelled at me when I barged into her room to find her still in bed.  I announced the time.  She said something like, "Holy crap!" and magically got dressed and ready for school in 15 minutes, which is all the time she had left without being late for her history class. 

At 6:40 AM, I heard my daughter trying to wake up my husband.  He is the designated early morning driver to school.  The school buses come rediculously early, so we drive our little sleepy heads to school so they can sleep an extra 30 minutes a day.  I asked him to get up with the same tone I used with my daughter.  He said he was. I asked him to physically get out of the bed.  Again, he said he was.  He wasn't.  He's not a morning person, so I did not take his crabbiness personally and never do.  I offered to drive instead, but he declined and pulled himself out of bed.  I thanked my husband and told my daughter to have a great day.  I went right back to sleep. 

My plan was to wake up my middle child at 7:00 because I found the homework assignment he thought he left at school.  He's the kind of kid that would want to wake up early to do it instead of getting in trouble with his teacher.  I reset the alarm to 7:15 thinking 15 more minutes would make a difference for both of us.  At 7:15, I turned off the alarm.  At 7:55 that magical thing happened again, and I woke up just in time for him to get to school without missing his class.  I went downstairs and asked my husband if he could handle it.  My headache was worse. 

Sometime later, my sleep was again interrupted by the sound of a small person calling, "Mom-meee!"  Before I got out of bed, my husband did an intercept and said, "I've got it.  Go to sleep."  So I did.  And I slept until 11:00 AM.  The coffee maker had turned itself off hours ago, so I microwaved a cup to try to revive myself, noting the absence of the perpetual headache.  No one was in the house, just me and that incessant hum, which seemed louder than normal. 

I know that really shouldn't count as a good night's sleep considering I went to sleep around 1:00 AM and woke up several times between 6:10 and whatever time it was that my baby called my name.  But it's more sleep than I usually get and is a blessing, even with the interruptions.

When I woke up , my face seemed really puffy and uncomfortable and still does.  I am definitely having some issues.  I decided yesterday to do a detox diet for the next two weeks as a remedy to the chronic headaches.  I am very hopeful it will make me feel better.  The book that has the diet is The New Detox Diet by Elson Haas.  Whenever I have followed the diet even for a few days, it has really helped me get on track to losing weight and feeling better.  (Note to self that D is for Detox.)

I don't know why, but the idea of going on a two week detox diet and powering through a writing project over the next two weeks seems like a perfect match.  Refocusing my mind to be productive after a week of not being focused at all combined with a diet designed to rid my body of toxins seems like a good fit.  We will see.  I definitely can write more if my headache goes away.

My baby and husband are back.  My husband has graciously offered to stay for a little while longer and apparently made arrangements to work only this afternoon.  If my babe sleeps, I will definitely write this afternoon - if not, it will have to wait until this evening. 

Early Morning Headaches

I have had amazing headaches almost every morning.  This morning was worse than normal.  I could hardly see when I woke up and am still having problems, although the tylenol and coffee seem to help (yes, I have a vague memory about some sort of warning about the combination being toxic but it's too late now).   I had to wake up my daughter at 5:15 this morning, which is brutal.  I'm happy she stayed awake and made her way to school on her own.  I only half-sleep while she's getting ready for school and say goodbye before she leaves.  Not today.

My baby stayed up too late last night and is up already.  This day is going to be challenging with an overtired small person and a headache.  It's going to be one of those days where I need to take it hour by hour and not expect much.

I want to write and haven't been able to all week since my little guy is on his break from school.  Maybe it will just renew my appreciation for his little school and the hours I have most weeks.  I have one new story in particular that I want to work on.  I think it will be my next novel, my main project that I will work on this writing class term.  I only have six weeks left until the end of the term and am pretty sure I can finish it in that timeframe - a first draft at least.  I also need to rewrite the last chapter of my last novel.  I love the ending but am not happy with how I wrote it.  I can't wait to share it with my writing group.

I can hear from the background noise of my house above the incessant hum of technology that my husband is getting ready to leave for work.  I am upstairs but can hear him pouring cereal for my baby - literally I heard the clink of the cheerios as they hit the bowl.  I have an insane gift/curse of super-sonic hearing.  Even when my kids whisper, I can hear the words.  I married a man who is naturally loud in everything he does.  No wonder I have a chronic headache, huh?

The last thing I want to say is that I've been thinking about a theme for the A to Z challenge.  I have been studying for the GRE forever and need to take it this summer if I hope to apply for graduate school for 2012, which I do - sort of - most of me except that part of me that fears a low GRE score.  So I am thinking I may choose a word - a big word - or a word that I would never use in normal conversation because I wouldn't think anyone would know what the heck I'm talking about - and use that word in a post.  I'm not sure how easy that would be to pull off without making it an A to Z dictionary.  I'm thinking maybe a poem with the word or something.  I dunno.  Boring maybe, but at least I will add 26 words to my own vocabulary - selfish maybe.  But this is kind of a selfish thing, writing what I want to write and electronically imposing it on others.  Whatever ... it's what we do, right?