Are five hours enough?

Five hours of sleep, that is.

I was up late watching the Rangers slaughter the Yankees (sob, sob), and woke up suddenly at 4:30 a.m., panicked at all I have to do this week and how little time I have to do it. I stayed in bed until 6:30, but I could be two hours ahead of schedule if I'd just gotten up when I woke up.

I'm a lark, always have been, and I find when my bedtime is more owlish (anything past 10 p.m. is late for me), I don't sleep well at all.

Add to that the very long to-do list this week and it's no wonder I was up before the birds.

It's kind of funny, actually. I don't work outside my home and I shouldn't have so much to do. Usually, I don't. A combination of events and issues have come together this one week to create a perfect storm of Things To Do.

I need to make a list, lest I forget something.

Number-one on the list is Take A Walk. It's rather amazing that I just keep going out and doing it every morning without thinking about it. Before I made this commitment to myself I had rousing back-and-forth arguments. Walking Debbi knew it was good for her health, Sit-on-her-ass Debbi just wanted to read magazines and drink coffee. There's no question about it now, though: A walk is definitely part of my daily routine. Yeah, me!

I have a freelance design job that's due tomorrow. I have to be gone all day tomorrow, out of town, and Thursday, working at Democratic headquarters again. I'm helping a friend with some software training Friday. I have two evening meetings this week, as well. And the garden is still a mess, although in addition to dismantling the fence I've also removed and stored all the tomato stakes.

Who's going to do the laundry and cook dinner? Why, that would be me, but I don't know when it's going to happen. It will happen, though, just as the daily walk also will happen. The things that need to be done expand to fill the time available to do them.

Small and straggly now, but they'll look great in a couple years!

Why couldn't I have done some of these things yesterday? Because we planted hydrangeas! I killed the grass where I wanted to plant them ages ago. By the time we got around to actually planting them, that grass was good and dead. I tilled it up, our friends came with a truckload of plants and mulch and shovels and all four of us got to work. We're so pleased with the result, and will be even more pleased when the bushes grow and establish themselves beside our garage. There are more little landscaping projects in the future, but I can't think about that now.

I'm too busy.

P.S. Four more rounds on the baby blanket and it will be done, done, done. I'm nearly finished with the same baby's Christmas stocking, too. It will be good to have both projects completed before the wee one has children of her own. Heh.