Light

I tried something new last night, and I like it.  Thanks for the idea, Mom.  We're now down to about 6.5 hours of daylight.  The sun isn't coming up until about 10:30 a.m.  I'm fine with that with the exception that it's a little more difficult to wake up.  With the right amount of sleep, I'm good at waking up more-or-less on my own without the jolt of an alarm clock.  However, I started to notice a while back that I was sleeping much later on the weekends than I would normally.  Part of it, I think, was still the odd hours of life here.  I got caught up during the summer of staying up with everyone else until the wee hours, and it just started this cycle of unusual sleep patterns.  Then throw on a bit of a busy schedule recently, and....  I think, though, the other part of it is that the light wakes me up naturally and gets me going.  Without the light, I would just fall asleep again if I happened to wake up.

Mom suggested plugging a lamp into a timer and setting it to turn on in the morning.  Yesterday the hardware store was having a 20% off of everything you could fit in a paper bag sale, so I got a timer and set it all up last night.  It will be a little tricky figuring out the precision of it.  The light came on a little later than I was hoping for this morning, but I think it made a big difference to open my eyes and see light.  I immediately felt like hopping up and getting my day started!  I think Smoky liked it too.  I found her curled up right next to me in the light.

I also took advantage of the sale to spring for a plant light.  I have a couple of plants that were given to me when I moved in, and I've been turning the pots round and round in the window for a while now.  They're leaning almost sideways, and the lack of light will soon take its toll on them.  I have a great spot for a plant light, so I got one.  Now, I will hopefully keep my plants, my cat, and myself happy and healthy all winter.