I am exhausted, and it seems never ending. I wake up tired, I come home and stare into space, too tired to get on the computer, let alone come up with a blog post and then I go to bed and lay there, unable to sleep. My how I love insomnia.
Other than my inability to get to sleep, additional things contribute to my overall lack of energy.
1. Myself: The amount of non-lab related physical activity I am involved in lately amounts to almost nothing. For me, less exercise usually correlates with less energy.
2. Myself (cont.): I'm getting old. I used to sleep late on the weekends which allowed me to catch up on the sleep my insomnia deprived me of during the week, but over the last year I find that I can't sleep beyond 9:30am, no matter how late I stay up the previous night.
I could try to go to sleep at 9:30pm in hopes of a nice 12 hour slumber, but I can't bring myself to do it. I feel old enough as it is. If I start going to sleep at 9:30pm on a Friday or Saturday, I'll be eating dinner at 4:30pm while discussing the good old days before I know it. Besides, the chances of me falling asleep that early are very slim. I could try napping, but the only way I can sleep during the day is if I've been awake for over 24hrs.
3. My cat(s): One of my cats, Sifo Dias, is obsessed with getting into our bedroom closet, but only between 5:30am and 6:00am (FYI: This could be as little as 2-4hrs after I've FINALLY fallen asleep.) He scratches at the doors, making horrible high pitched scratching sounds (think claws on metal). When that doesn't make the closet open, he resorts to howling in front of the door. This cat is freaking loud, so loud that if I want to merely muffle his meows, I must put him in a bathroom with the door shut, which is inside another room where a door can be shut, then I go down the hall to my room and shut my door. Mind you, I can still hear him, but the volume is low enough to sleep through. I rarely lock him up like this, because I have to chase him around the house and catch him first.
Personally, I think this whole closet thing is some sort of cat conspiracy because as soon as I get Sifo Dias to quit making noise, another cat finds something irritating to do. Specifically, walk over me repeatedly, while making the most pathetic little sounds I've ever heard.
I've tried nipping this problem in the bud by putting sticky tape all over the door where Sifo Dias uses his claws. While this does (somewhat) prevent Sifo Dias from scratching the door, it creates another noise issue. Another one of our cats (there are four total) likes to lick tape. I have no idea why, but it is pretty noisey and he goes at it for a long, long time. It is less annoying then the scratching, but I can't sleep through the tape-licking any better than the scratching and I don't like my closet doors covered in tape.
Sure, I could just let Sifo Dias get in the closet, but I am tired of all my clothes being coated in cat hair so thick that a lent roller won't get it off. So, the battle wages on.
I'm thinking ear plugs are the next step.
Other than my inability to get to sleep, additional things contribute to my overall lack of energy.
1. Myself: The amount of non-lab related physical activity I am involved in lately amounts to almost nothing. For me, less exercise usually correlates with less energy.
2. Myself (cont.): I'm getting old. I used to sleep late on the weekends which allowed me to catch up on the sleep my insomnia deprived me of during the week, but over the last year I find that I can't sleep beyond 9:30am, no matter how late I stay up the previous night.
I could try to go to sleep at 9:30pm in hopes of a nice 12 hour slumber, but I can't bring myself to do it. I feel old enough as it is. If I start going to sleep at 9:30pm on a Friday or Saturday, I'll be eating dinner at 4:30pm while discussing the good old days before I know it. Besides, the chances of me falling asleep that early are very slim. I could try napping, but the only way I can sleep during the day is if I've been awake for over 24hrs.
3. My cat(s): One of my cats, Sifo Dias, is obsessed with getting into our bedroom closet, but only between 5:30am and 6:00am (FYI: This could be as little as 2-4hrs after I've FINALLY fallen asleep.) He scratches at the doors, making horrible high pitched scratching sounds (think claws on metal). When that doesn't make the closet open, he resorts to howling in front of the door. This cat is freaking loud, so loud that if I want to merely muffle his meows, I must put him in a bathroom with the door shut, which is inside another room where a door can be shut, then I go down the hall to my room and shut my door. Mind you, I can still hear him, but the volume is low enough to sleep through. I rarely lock him up like this, because I have to chase him around the house and catch him first.
Personally, I think this whole closet thing is some sort of cat conspiracy because as soon as I get Sifo Dias to quit making noise, another cat finds something irritating to do. Specifically, walk over me repeatedly, while making the most pathetic little sounds I've ever heard.
I've tried nipping this problem in the bud by putting sticky tape all over the door where Sifo Dias uses his claws. While this does (somewhat) prevent Sifo Dias from scratching the door, it creates another noise issue. Another one of our cats (there are four total) likes to lick tape. I have no idea why, but it is pretty noisey and he goes at it for a long, long time. It is less annoying then the scratching, but I can't sleep through the tape-licking any better than the scratching and I don't like my closet doors covered in tape.
Sure, I could just let Sifo Dias get in the closet, but I am tired of all my clothes being coated in cat hair so thick that a lent roller won't get it off. So, the battle wages on.
I'm thinking ear plugs are the next step.
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5 comments:
yup, earplugs would be my suggestion.
Our cats have recently been banned from the closet because Thing1 (who is probably evil) has decided in his adolescence that territorial marking is a) a good idea (he is wrong), and b) that it should expand from previous restricted locations to um, wherever he feels like (he is also wrong on this one). He even took it upon himself to pee on our cat-sitting friend while she was sleeping.
Thing1 also does the stomping all over people whilst they are trying to sleep and sticking his daggers into your soft places while he is enjoying a blissful tail-sucking session and people are trying to sleep.
Thing2 continues to be as polite and charming as ever. I swear that "Nermal" from the Garfield cartoons was based on his personality.
Sorry for your insomnia. As for the cats' contribution, remember that it could always be worse.
PS - the pheromone remover from the pet store seems to have worked. We can't smell anything anymore...Thing1 has taken up marking everywhere else. Maybe we should just put it in a bug-bomb and do the whole house.
Our cats are banned from the bedroom, but in the mornings they scratch at the door and poke their paws under as far as they'll go. Luckily they're quite quiet though.
One of them did make me late for work today. She got through my legs while I was taking the garbage out, then got spooked by the garbage truck and ran away. It took ages to coax her back inside with a can of her fave wet food.
You know what works to prevent (at least a majority) of animal hair on clothes?
Hangers. ;)
that would be one of the reasons I don't have cats ;)
good luck with that. I would probaobly throw them into the closed bedroom with silence in...
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