Well, friends, I’m back and bedder than ever.
[Typos already. Well, that’s what happens when you take two weeks off without writing.]
No, that’s not a typo. It’s an explanation of where I’ve been these past two weeks. Allow me to elaborate…
Brian gave me a Fitbit for Christmas. It’s basically a device I wear on my wrist that tracks my movements (sleep and overall activity level).
First of all, men, I need to inform you that this is an incredibly risky gift for a man to give a woman for Christmas. Particularly if she has struggled with depression.
“Merry Christmas, honey! Here’s a nifty gift that will track how many hours you spend in bed and how stagnant you are even during your few waking moments.”
I just had a flashback to the Christmas where my dad gave my mom running shoes and fluorescent jogging suits. I’ll never forget the look on her face. It’s the look that says, “I know just the perfect place to put this bleepity-bleep-bleep shoe!”
Needless to say my dad hasn’t purchased a gift for my mom since without passing it through the Katy filter. It’s just safer for everyone that way.
And though Brian’s gift to me makes about as much sense as a surfboard for an Eskimo, I’m actually really excited about it. Well, I love the gift, but I don’t love what it has shown me.
(Yet another example of why men will never understand women.)
For the past several months, I find myself dragging to the point where I can hardly get out of bed most mornings. It takes me an hour or more to feel completely awake, and I could easily sleep a full 12 hours if left undisturbed (a big “if” in a house with two toddlers). I assumed this was because the sleep I do get isn’t very restful. This is a logical conclusion for a person with two kids, a snoring spouse, and 50,000 items left undone on the to-do list. I just assumed I needed more sleep to compensate for restlessness.
But the first day I wore my Fitbit, it told me a very different story.
If you look at this graph, it shows how many hours I slept (11 hours and 17 minutes thanks to my husband, bless him, who kept the kids in the basement all morning so I could sleep late).
But what truly amazed me is that of those 11 hours and 17 minutes, I was awake ZERO minutes and restless for ONE MINUTE. Approximately 60 seconds of the 11 hours I slept were disturbed.
How in the world can a grown woman sleep for 11 hours almost completely undisturbed? Granted, this was after weeks of Christmas hoopla, but I rarely get less than 8 hours of sleep on any given night. So why all the sleep?
What am I, a grizzly bear?
Oh, no. It’s happening! All because of this photo I posted last year.
Y’all don’t even want to get me started on what I’ve learned about my (in)activity level. Let’s just say that I’m in full hibernation mode.
And I know it seems that this should all be very depressing for me—you know, since I basically have the lifestyle of an animal who, when he’s not stealing food from campsites, spends all of his time asleep. But this Fitbit has given me some insight into my sleeping habits, which have puzzled me for years. Even more so than how Brian can sleep through his own snoring.
Now, if I could just figure out WHY I sleep like a kid on Benadryl, we’ll be in business.
I can’t believe my first post after a two week hiatus is so pitiful. “Woe is me; I’m unbearably sleepy.”
[No, Katy. What is truly pitiful is that stupid pun.]
Since I have a love-hate relationship with my Christmas gift, I want to hear from y’all. What is the worst Christmas gift you ever gave/received?
This year my husband gave me a pink flashlight/taser combo. To carry in my purse when traveling the dangerous interstate to Atlanta. I don’t carry a purse…I’ve used the” wallet on a string” since they came out years ago. If I have a pocket, it’s got my phone and car keys in it; otherwise, they’re in my hand. And even if all that wasn’t the case, in the event it was needed, I doubt I would have the presence of mind to follow the sequence of steps necessary to turn the thing on. IF I remembered to charge it. But it’s the thought that counts, right?
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Kim, that is hilarious! Well, at least it was pink. That makes it way more feminine. You should ask him if you have permission to test it on him. Now THAT would be a fun gift! 🙂
I’m so jealous – I have the Fitbit on my wish list!
The worst gift was a vacuum cleaner my parents got me when I was 13. Gee, thanks, Mom.
Sarah, I would definitely add a Fitbit to your New Year’s resolution Wish List—if you have such a thing. I think that should be a thing.
A cutting board…
I was given a cutting board for Christmas this year.
I gave my mom a cutting board last year. Or maybe it was the year before. So, maybe that’s why we haven’t heard from her yet. 😉 In my defense it was a bamboo cutting board in the shape of the State of Georgia, and it had a heart over our hometown. I actually wish I had bought myself one. 🙂
My inlaws got me a carpet steam cleaner one year, exactly 1 month after I had paid a company to come clean my carpets…so, yeah.
Double ouch.
Katy,
I received many great Christmas gifts this year. I agree a vacuum cleaner should never be considered a gift and told your Dad the Dyson we bought on Black Friday did not count as one, until I used it. A vacuum that sucks like that is a gift!! I told him he was done. Nothing more needed. But then he surprised me in my stocking with erasers. And not just any eraser. It looks like a mechanical pencil, clip & all. I love it.
I think I might like to give a Fitbit to G-Man so I can stop filming him in the middle of the night. I wonder if it can translate what he is saying while he sleeps. And figure out who he is chasing. Now that would be a gift!!!!
I totally want one of these! I have the FitBit Zip and I want this because I want to know about my sleep, too. Hmmn, it is interesting that you sleep so well and yet are exhausted. Now I think it makes no sense. Boo.
I didn’t get a Christmas gift this year, but I got one thing for Chanukah which was nice, now I get to buy myself extra Chanukah gifts AND Christmas gifts (we celebrate both) so this is on that list … ehem. See. I think the husband should have just bought something else, no?