Counting sheep

So what do you do when you can't fall asleep? Tonight, I blog. Yes. I actually got up out of bed because my mind just wouldn't stop. By all accounts, I should be out cold, because today was the dreaded Corn Day. Jason was out soon after 7, slogging it out in the wet-as-a-kitchen-sponge humidity, picking corn. Because of the 3 inches of rain and very strong wind yesterday, the ground was mud and the corn was all blown to the ground. Bless his heart. I now have slight tingles in my right hand and wrist, due to all the shucking, silking and cutting of corn off the cob that I performed. Bless my heart. The kiddos did very well today. Owen and his cousins got thoroughly soaked, splashing in the tubs of water for cooling corn. They would grab ears out of the tubs, then throw them back in, drenching each other, all the while laughing their heads off. Then we shucked their clothes and put them in swim diapers and let them play in a kiddie pool until lunch. Then naps. (Helen took a fake nap here and just kicked around happily in her Pack n Play for more than an hour.) Bless all their hearts.

I worked at the hospital yesterday, Jay and I had a date last night--Ruby Tuesday's and Wal-Mart run, hubba, hubba--and then we did corn today, and so tonight I still had dishes in my sink from Friday morning. But more important than cleaning up the kitchen was baking a chocolate cake that I have been craving all week! So now I've had my coveted piece, and I'm done. Cake, anyone? Vitamin cake, I should say. It's yummy, yummy, with rum flavoring.

So I think the piece of cake is keeping me up, plus--how embarrassing to admit--while cleaning up my kitchen, I found a half mug of coffee from this morning that I couldn't bear to toss down the drain. I just absolutely adore my coffee from the Roaster's Gallery. I think this current stuff is Panama?? But coffee at 10 pm? Stupid, stupid.

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Sometimes when I am just drifting off to sleep, my coherent, conscious thoughts will blend with my silly dream thoughts, producing some wacky stuff which makes perfect sense to my floating mind. For instance: I'm the kind of person who likes to know or have certain things in advance. Corn day, we found out about just before we got to Ruby Tuesday's--not a big deal to me. I'm flexible. But other things, I want to have the security of knowing. It's kind of like my pantry. I feel that I must have it stocked. One flour bag emptied into the canister, one on the shelf, and when you take the one off the shelf, write it on the grocery list. I hate to run out of staple ingredients in the middle of something. So one of these things that I want to know is names for my children. Come on, I know I'm not alone here. I had Owen's name picked out for years! I was seriously stressing because we didn't choose Helen's name until halfway through my pregnancy. Just to clarify, I am NOT expecting another baby, but I do have another boy's name in mind. So the other day, as I was sprawled out in the recliner desperately trying to nap but my mind was rebelling, I set my thoughts on scanning through names. This is where the dream-state took over, and quickly I was quite happy with the names of the future Weber children--(hear the ring?) Owen, Helen, Magpie, Tweety and Bush.