Sleep- Suddenly Better

For too long, I had been waking up before my alarm, before dawn, and nothing seemed to help me sleep longer. Even when I was recovering from COVID corona I awoke before my alarm. Just to make sure I got more sleep, I actually turned off the alarm, except for days when I needed to rise early.

People keep telling me to take melatonin, which I may ask my doctor about.

When I resumed turning on my alarm, I made it a half hour later than before. Then suddenly, for no comprehendible reason, I began sleeping better and waking from the alarm. I've been sleeping more than I had been, meaning a normal night's sleep.

Davka this morning I awoke a half hour before the alarm, and that was good. A friend had sent a message when I was sleeping that she'd be driving to the pool in Ariel rather early. It gave me enough time to prepare, pray, pack and drink some water.

Thank Gd

 

Eeks! I Keep Forgetting to Prepare Cold Brew/Press Coffee

Not today, sigh...

After a great start of season, I now find myself consistently forgetting to prepare my summer cold brew/press coffee in advance. It must be made the evening before and then refrigerated.

It's just awful to wake up on a hot summer morning and realize that there's no cool/cold coffee waiting for me in the fridge.

So, I decided to take an idea that has worked for me for other things. I set up a daily "event" on my phone. It will ring with a message about 9pm every night until late September, and there will be a reminder to prepare the coffee. Gd willing that will work.

Watch Saga: Clock for Shabbat

Last Shabbat, just as my husband said that he was going off to shul, my cheap NS40 watch, which was well under a year old, died. I looked at it to check the time and saw that the "second hand" wasn't moving anymore.

I'm very grateful that it was working when I woke up, since otherwise I wouldn't have known if it was a time to get out of bed or not. We no longer have a wall clock in the livingroom, since after that one died, I decided that we wouldn't get a new one until we did the kitchen and got new lighting fixtures for the livingroom.

I could manage fine without a watch until Shabbat afternoon, so when we came back from lunch at a neighbor, I asked my husband to leave his watch with me. I woke him when he needed to get up, and then his watch stayed with me most of the time until Shabbat was out.

This week I need to get a watch before Shabbat, but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. There's no place to get a reliable watch here in Shiloh. I bought the NS40 one in a toy store. Yesterday I was in Pisgat Zeev with my and granddaughter, and even though we walked around stores and a section of the mall, I didn't see any watches. Sunday I had been in Jerusalem for the NCSY Ben Zakkai Reception, but it was too cold, dark and windy to walk around the Center of town to shop.

Today I'm arriving in Jerusalem too late to shop in town, unless I got to a mall, Center 1, Hadar or a quick walk from Matan during my break on Wednesday. The watch stores people have been recommending aren't in those places. So, if you have any recommendations for those places, please let me know, thanks.

Getting rather desperate, I began to search for clocks in the house. Yesterday I found an old battery powered clock, and I even found working AA batteries. I will have to tape the back shut for Shabbat, since the batteries fall out otherwise. But since on weekdays I have my phone as clock, that can give me a bit more time to search.

I don't know if I really want to get another junky, cheap watch sans guarantee. This is going to be my third watch in less than three years. Cheap is starting to look more and more expensive.

One of Those Embarrassing Moments

As the ceremony for Israel's Soldiers and Terror Victims Memorial Day was about to begin, I very carefully turned off the volume of my phone, so I wouldn't hear all the rings and pings.

I'm pretty sure that I've blogged that my easiest method for Omer Counting Reminder is just to set up a simple phone alarm. It works well on weekdays at least. And to be honest, I hadn't realized how well it works. Yes, you guessed it. Even though the volume for phone-calls and notifications of emails, whatsapps etc was off, the alarm went off on schedule. Even worse is that I never recognize the sound of that alarm as coming from my phone, and it rang on and on and on until I noticed that everyone nearby was looking at me.

Then I finally turned it off and quickly opened the email, found a "sefira count letter," said the blessing and counted.

Yes, I Guess I'm Human

I'm one of those people who jump up with my alarm if not sooner.  I can become pretty intolerant when hearing people talk about always being late and not hearing their alarms.  But yesterday was a rare one. I slept through my alarm. 

I had a mid-morning study date with my Matan Al HaPerek chevruta buddies.  To get to my friend's apartment I didn't need to leave all that early, but I always get up at least two hours before I have to leave the house to drink my water and coffee, shower, dress, doven, have breakfast etc*.  I hate starting off the day rushing and panicking.

At about 2am I awake and couldn't fall back to sleep.  Too many things were swirling in my mind.  I didn't even fall asleep on the couch.  I tried drinking water and having some goats yogurt.  It was already almost four; I decided that if I didn't fall sleep soon I'd just get up and do things. 

The next thing I knew my husband was calling my name and saying:

"It's a quarter to seven.  Didn't you want to get up early?"

Oops!  I sure did!  I DID NOT HEAR MY ALARM AT ALL!!  I rushed through my morning routine* which also includes blogging on both blogs, this one and Shiloh Musings.  Two hours later I was walking out the door, after pretty much everything was done.  The only thing I didn't do was pack a snack, some almonds and fruit. 

The bus to Jerusalem showed up just as I got down to the bus/tremp stop.  I got to where I had arranged to meet a friend exactly on time.  We had a fantastic learning/study session.  My plans were to then take sandals to a sandlar get new heels, then go to Machaneh Yehuda to shop and then meet up with my daughter to shop with her in Ariel, dropping off my bags, the shuk stuff and younger grandchildren at home on the way.  But as my friend was about to let me off on Rechov Agrippas, I realized that I was too, just too, tired and hungry (remember that I had forgotten to take fruit and almonds) to do those errands properly.  So she dropped me off at the "city line" outside of Pisgat Ze'ev and I efficiently tremped home.  The rides came quickly, and I was home in no time.

At home I made a quick lunch with the vegetable soup made the other day and was ready to go shopping with my daughter when she showed up.

The extra sleep I got when I didn't hear the alarm made up for the sleep I had missed in the middle of the night, which is good.

And the new day dawns...

I could barely sleep last night. I was in suspense. Would the new cellphone's alarm go off automatically, like the old one, or would I have to get an alarm clock suitable for Shabbat? My old cellphone had the best alarm for Shabbat. It went off after making noise. One burst of annoyance, and then silence. And I'm the type to get up on time and easily, so I don't need the nudge, or snooze setting.

I must have been waiting, awake in bed, at least forty minutes until it make its peculiar sounds and then, silence. It turned off, all by itself. Hurray! Then I went into the kitchen to make my coffee, pour some water to drink and then to the den to blog and whatever. I left the phone over the bed, confident that all would be fine.

Then my husband walked into the den:

Your alarm is ringing again.

No! No! NO! and NO!

It's not fair! Now I have to get a new watch, since the automatic battery saver blackens the screen when the phone isn't in use, so I can't use it as a clock in the classroom. And I have to get an alarm clock for Shabbat in order to wake up on time.

There's another automatic thing I've noticed on the phone. The keyboard locks automatically. That's a good safety mechanism for the phone.

OK, I shouldn't complain. Baruch Hashem, I can afford to buy these things when I need to. And I have a special treat planned for today. "The boy from the Bronx," as I called him when I used to write my "Baile Rochel's" for Counterpoint over twenty years ago, is in Israel, and G-d willing I'll see him this afternoon. Classes were cancelled--very convenient. Baruch Hashem! Maybe he can help me figure it out. He got our shelves and pictures up twenty-one years ago when we moved into this house!