Dogs, cats and husbands - a conspiracy to deprive me of sleep!

I haven't been sleeping well lately. Normally sleep is hard to come by because my mind is sifting through a thousand thoughts and nurturing the negative ones. But once I am asleep, things are usually pretty good and I get a solid 8 hours (read 9 or 10 hours). I still wake up grumpy and tired, but that's just me.

However, lately, I think the household has been conspiring to deprive me of sleep. The only things not waking me up in the middle of the night are the houseplants, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

First it was Shae, our doberman/greyhound/wussy. She decided that she realllllly needs to go outside in the middle of the night. Seeing as she is quite old and can possibly become incontinent, I prefer not to take chances, so I get up in the middle of the night and put her outside. I then stand by the patio doors, my forehead plastered to the glass as a way to stay upright and awake while doggy does her thing.

Second, Smokey the cat has decided that the Cd's stacked on the bedroom floor need re-arranging, you guessed it, in the middle of the night. I have since removed the Cd's. And perish forbid that I leave a book laying around, because she will proceed to flip the cover back and forth until I wake up.

Thirdly, Mephistopheles (aka Derek) my husband, my love, my soul mate...snores. Most of the time, I can prod him to roll over to his side and the snoring stops, but by then I am awake enough that my brain decides to do some marathon thinking and I can't get back to sleep.

This is not good. When my thoughts are on a run-away mission, I get no peace. My angels don't seem to be helpful (of course not, it's the middle of the night and they are fast asleep). So what to do.

Brilliant idea. Pop a Cd into the player and listen to it till I fall asleep. It works every time!! I am currently listening to "The Secret" . Rhonda Byrne's voice is pretty soothing, I can use all the positive messages I can get, and my sleep, though interrupted resumes pretty quickly. I'm so brilliant...or...maybe it was angelic inspiration. Naw, I'm brilliant (I kid, I kid).