i am the sleepyhead

I can tell how much I get out of a book by how many times I mark certain passages or phrases in that book with a small sticky note.

I'm still working on writing down all the passages I marked and then will work on formulating my own Happiness Project.

In the meantime, I decided to start by trying out the "Get more sleep" suggestion but also coinciding that with "Wake up earlier." Since I work from home I've come into the habit of pushing snooze right up until about 8:57 a.m. when I roll out of bed and head over to my computer (I worry about showering on my lunch hour, typically after doing the C25K that day).

Last night I went to bed just before midnight (early for me - I've been falling into a routine of reading in bed until about 1 - 1:30 a.m. before heading off to sleep). Today, I got up at 7:58 a.m. and did not go back to sleep. I had two weird dreams involving dancing at an Avril Lavigne concert and a neighbor from my hometown dressed up as a giant turkey for Halloween with her husband pulling her along on string ... I didn't really need to go back to that craziness.

In that extra hour this morning, I accomplished:

• Putting away the dishes from the dishwasher, reloading said dishwasher and hand washing all the leftovers that aren't meant for the dishwasher.
• Calling up the cable company and paying my bill that is due tomorrow.
• Checking my Gmail, Facebook, and an online forum friends of mine from college post on.
• Successfully balancing my checkbook that had been off by about $100 for a week. I worked at a bank for two years in high school. Having an unbalanced checkbook makes me feel frazzled. Finding and solving the error is so delightful.
• Calling my auto insurance because my renewal period is approaching and last time they told me they would try to find me a better rate. Awaiting an e-mail from them now.
• Discovering the Tiny Desk Concert by The Mynabirds, a band I recently heard of and am looking forward to see play in August.
• Starting a load of laundry.

Time I got to my desk to start my work day: 9:01 a.m.

In what I accomplished in an hour, I would have spent all day trying to fill in slow times here and there during my work at home job. Or I would have had to wait to complete them when I got off at my library job at 9 p.m., which most often is the case. Which most often never gets done because I'm too tired by then.

I think it's clear this will have to continue to be one of my resolutions. (Plus it means I may actually have time in the morning every now and then to go grab a chai to start my day. Yum.)

Bravo, Happiness Project.