Yes, that is my attempt at humor.

Yesterday — Saturday — I worked a 10 hour day. We have a big project going to the client (hard deadline) on Tuesday and they are still writing one portion of it. One of my ‘hats’ is report production, so I went in to take all of the other portions of the report and make them pretty. This is after working a normal week.

It’s an important job: the client pays us a lot of money to do our work ($50k to $500k), but all they see are invoices until they see our report. The report has to be worth, visually, what they paid. So I stress — BIG time — when the process is getting weirder than usual, and there is no time left to make the report look good.

Because J. is visiting his parents this weekend I have Sasha care. (Quick note: J’s mom is doing great. She’s in a rehab facility in their hometown, so Dad can live at home and her friends can visit her. She’s progressing well, and they’ve set a tentative ‘go home’ date for her in a couple of weeks.)  So I took her with me, hoping it wouldn’t be *that* long a day.

She had a lot of fun, I think, although she continues to have problems with ‘strange’ men. So there was a lot of barking (especially when they called me on the speaker phone — a new thing for her). And a little submissive peeing (boring!). But mostly she just hung out. Played a bit, napped a bit, the usual.

I wish I had my camera with me. One of her napping places was on my ‘visitor’ chairs. She doesn’t really fit . . . but she made it work.

Moreover, I have not been sleeping well. I’m off sleeping pills, but still sleeping only on one side. Which is really messing with my lower back, shoulder, and legs. Essentially, the whole right side. We have a ‘tempur-pedic’ type bed unfolding and de-gassing in the living room, but it will be a few days before I can sleep on it (the smell alone is horrid). I’m really (REALLY) hoping it will do the trick of supporting me on my side. As it is I have a whole battalion of pillows: one under my head to support my neck, one across my middle so my left arm doesn’t drag down on the BLO, one in front of me to hold my arm up further and to provide an illusion of being on my stomach (which is how I used to sleep), and one to put across my head/face if I get cold or am lying on my back.

Oh, it’s great fun.

I think I need to cut coffee out of my diet completely, because I know that my old habit of two cups will now keep me from falling asleep. And one cup might be doing it as well. In any case, I have a hard time falling asleep when I go to bed at 10pm.  Sasha, however, is full of vim and vigor at 6am, so that’s when I get up.

J. comes in at midnight tonight, and I’ll pick him up. I doubt I’ll sleep past 6am tomorrow, and with work stress  . . . suffice it to say that I doubt I’ll get a lot of sleep tonight, either. I’m strongly contemplating a nap. Yes, a nap.

(*looks to see if the 5th seal to the gates of hell has come off*)