My Morning Schedule

CMHL posted her take on "Rawhide" the other day, along with her typical morning routine. In the interests of not posting anything too huge in her comments, I thought I'd share this morning's schedule as it was fairly typical.

Foreword...
I may have mentioned a time or two that I am nocturnal by nature. I don't willingly do mornings. My coffee mug at works says "A morning without coffee is like sleep." and I mean every word of it.

Something else, I sleep like the dead. I fall asleep almost before I make it under the covers and I don't move again without 10 or so alarm clocks buzzing, ringing and squawking in and around my ears. I can sleep just about anywhere, and through just about anything. Once when I was young, my father attempted to pry me out of bed by picking up one side of the mattress and flipping me onto the floor. It didn't wake me up. My brother and my mom are the same way.

One side effect of this is that I do not wake up well. None of my blood has been moving for several hours, and things just don't work. I usually fall at least once, 'cause I essentially have to relearn how to stand and walk. My voice is a rusty croak, I can't see, I have no cognitive abilities - actually, you won't see a better shambling zombie impression anywhere. Well, anywhere outside my family.

I have learned to cope as much as possible. My morning routine begins the night before. I pack a lunch and leave it in the fridge, set up the coffeepot so it'll have the elixir waiting for me, set up the coffee mug - 1 teaspoon of sugar and some milk in a mug and leave it in the fridge in its spot, put my badge (electronic, to get in the door at work) and my house keys in my purse, gather everything that needs to go to work and pile it by the door, set out whatever I'm wearing the next day including jewelry and shoes, and ensure all alarms are set properly and ready to go. If there's anything special that I need to remember, I write myself a note on the mirror in dry erase marker, and leave a post-it on the door at eye level. I shower and wash my hair every night. (This is partly 'cause my hair eats dryers and this way it can air dry overnight.) Once I've done everything possible the night before, I snuggle into unconsciousness.

So this morning...
I know the alarms started blaring when the clocks read 6:30. (Actual time: somewhere around 5:45 - I change it regularly to keep myself off-balance) I started smacking snooze buttons between 5 and 10 minutes after that. When the clocks read 7:15, I crawled out of bed, and flipped the covers back up. (That's all that is necessary to make the bed. I really don't move at night.) Stumbled to the bathroom for the morning absolutions, fell over the kitten on the way. From the bathroom, headed to the kitchen (whacked into recliner, the coffee table and only one wall this morning), retrieved my mug from the fridge and poured the first cup. Sucked that one down, took the refilled mug (black this time) to the bedroom and got dressed. Grabbed the cell phone and the blackberry and left the bedroom, shutting off the light on the way. Back to the kitchen to put cell phone in purse and refill coffee mug. Back to the bathroom to brush teeth, fight with hair and take vitamins. Yum, coffee, multi-vitamin and calcium tablets - the breakfast of champions. Turned off light, back to kitchen to change cat water and refill food bowl and chug last mug of coffee. This morning was my turn to drive, so I gathered up my stuff and was out the door by 7:15.

From there, I picked up my friend and headed for work. In the building by 7:50, clip on the badge, hit the power button on the 'puter and head for the coffee pot with my carafe for pot #2.

Afterword...
Once I'm done in a room, I turn the light off. Otherwise I will, at some point, wander back in there and then just stand in the middle of the room, trying to figure out why I'm there.

I use Oberweiss milk, which comes in glass containers. I am not coordinated enough in the morning to handle the bottle without dropping it, which is why the mug is prepared the night before. Also, that keeps me from putting the coffee pot in the fridge and trying to stuff the bottle under the coffee drip. (Yes, I have done this before. More than once. If you expose a cold milk bottle to a hot burner enough times, you too can experience the nearly explosive cracking force from the temperature extremes.)

This morning was uneventful. Some mornings are worse than others.

My father works nights, so he was just getting ready to go bed when my brother and I were living at home and starting our days. He used to be very entertained watching us bumble around. We have actually ran smack dab into each other, and then both fallen. *sigh* At least I'm not alone!