What a week!  Sorry about the light (read: Non-existent!) posting this week!  For some reason, getting back into the swing of things after this last vacation has been.........whew!  See, part of the problem is this:  I grew up in a Night Owl family (not the kind with wings, silly! No, really not!).  My bedtime as a child was 10pm.  So I learned young that staying up late was good for you. lol  I don't know why, it's just the way it is in my family.  For years I worked evenings and nights and was quite content to do so.  Day jobs just didn't interest me because they usually involved going to bed early and getting up while it was still dark.  Not for me, no way.  Then I got to a job where early (and I mean EARLY)  was the only choice.  I start work now at 0515.  Not first hear the alarm, not shuffle to the kitchen for coffee, not get in the car, but START.  I don't think I need to go into how early this means I have to set the alarm....... But since I've done early for almost 3 years now, I've gotten sort of used to it.  I said used to it, not loved it!  =)  And there is a part of me that rather enjoys waking up before dawn---on my days off that is!  I don't mind the dark, quiet mornings watching the sun rise if I can be sitting in my chair with a cup of steaming coffee in hand!  But when I have to drag out of bed and face work........that is another story.  Though again, I'm semi-used to it.  So when I go "home" to see my family it's interesting.  When I first get there I'm awake and ready to get up by 7am-something and no one is stirring, not even a mouse.  Sometimes I lay there a while longer, sometimes I get up.  Eventually everyone gets up and the day goes along cheerily, until evening---somewhere around 7 or 8.  At this point I am ready to collapse in a bed again and the family is just settling in for a cozy evening of fun and games.  I hate going to bed when the party is going on at all, let alone when it's just getting started!  So I usually prop myself up somewhere and try with all my might to keep semi-functional!  If I'm kept busy it's usually not too bad, though the later it gets, the harder it gets, so sometimes along about 11 I've been forced to take a cat nap in a chair somewhere. lol  Finally I go to bed, but since my body is still on "O-dark-thirty" time, I'll wake up fairly early again the next morning...... You see the cycle here.  However, after several days of this, I start to get switched around a little, so I can stay up a little later a little easier, and don't wake so early.  Which is great when I'm with the family, because I can spend more quality time with them. The real problem comes when I get back to real life (vs vacation.  I'm not trying to suggest my family doesn't live in the real world! lol).  In real life, I go to bed around 7pm.  Don't ask, it's just what I have to do to survive!  So after a week of pushing myself to stay awake past 730 my body says "What? You think you're sleeping now?  That is SO not happening!"  But the alarm still goes off at its usual before-the-crack-of-dawn time.  So I slog through a day, then get back to bed and try to go to sleep early again.  And since it takes me several days to get into the Night Owl routine, it stands to reason that it will take me several days to get back out of it again.  Sigh.  So that is what this week has been about.  Survival! lol  I can't complain, they are my family after all and I'm glad I got to visit them.  It has been harder to get myself back to my necessary sleep pattern than usual, though. Not sure why.  Probably has something to do with the phases of the moon. Yeah, that's it. lol  Anyway.  I've said all that just to bolster my excuse for not posting.  Aren't you so happy you kept reading?  =)  Hope you all sleep good tonight!