Insomnia, how I hate it

Lately I have been having trouble with insomnia. I hate taking Tylenol PM because it causes me to have a real hang over feeling in the morning. So after a few nights of sporadic sleep I decided to start digging through my drawer of drugs.

Now those who know me well will remember my philosophy about raising kids. When you travel or when the kids were just plain ornery or sick I used the wisdom of "When in doubt, drug them out." Meaning a good dose of Benadryl or back then paragoric could solve many problems. I know, don't report me. The children survived. Yet on the other hand, I never used band-aids because I didn't want wimpy children and band-aids were expensive so all open bloody issues were solved with a wet paper towel.

Now back to my post, I was digging through my drawer of narcotics obtained from adult children who had had surgery or teeth pulled etc and I would get the narcs filled and then rarely would let them have any substituting it for tylenol.... and no I never took the pills either.
When low and behold I found a prescription of Ambien from Trent's finger surgery. My problem was solved. I would take 1/2 of an ambien. I took it one night and had a wonderful sleep (of course knowing ambien is habit forming) I took another 1/2 on another night. Great nights sleep. And then came Monday night.

Monday at work was horrible. I had to appear in court on Tuesday with a resident and the family so I thought I would take a whole Ambien and go to bed early. I did. Wonderful!!! great night's sleep. Got to the court room and the resident's daughter started talking about our conversation of the night before. What conversation I asked her. She looked at me oddly told me the one we had on the phone at 11:00 PM. I didn't have a conversation with you. Yes, I did. She showed me the phone log. WOW... I had NO recollection of that phone call. Thankfully, I was nice on the phone call. That was a scary feeling!!

I figure I could take Ambien 5 mg and have a colonoscopy or anything else and be fine. who needs Versed for procedures or surgery when you can take Ambien and wake up refreshed.

So last night, I was lying in bed wide awake and noticed a florescent square on my ceiling. don't laugh. There is a florescent square on my bedroom ceiling. I asked shannon this morning why the kids painted a florescent square on my ceiling and she said they did not. I lay awake all night looking at the square..... could I have painted it while on the Ambien????

Anyway, last night after tossing and turning for HOURS... I decided to count my blessings instead of sheep (yes, I have been listening to Christmas music) in order to help me fall asleep.
I remember starting with Devin and getting all the way to Trent. Sorry Brett and Whitney but now there is Amanda and Tom to stick in there but it doesn't mean I am not thankful for you.

Good thing I have so many kids..... and PS... for those who use Ambien turn off your phone and hide the florescent paint.

Balls update

I have just arrived back from the single adult "party." The balls were a smash but the name was not. First off, I need to admit to the fact that my balls were soft and mushy, kinda like a creamy filling rather than a cake like filling. I spoke with Devin and Amanda's balls were more like a cake. The difference being that I added all of the frosting and didn't use all of the cake.

Well, everyone thought they were delicious and could immediately tell they were a red velvet cake taste held together by something.

I didn't get to put a sign up but someone asked who made them and I admitted to it. They asked me what they were and I proudly said balls. The crowd of 16 went silent. Only one lady laughed and she said we would call them red velvet truffles..... I still prefer balls.

Balls

Today I ventured into Amanda's world and attempted the cake balls minus the lollipop sticks. I am girding up my loins and heading off to a single adult activity tonight where we have to bring a food item. I got such a laugh from Amanda's food blog and the comment about whether it was immature to laugh at the written word "balls." Yes, Amanda we are a like in many ways and I will continue to teeheehee whenever it is used.

So I thought maybe these cake balls would be a good filter for a potential date. Mine are made of a red velvet cake mix and cream cheese frosting. Let me give you some words of wisdom from an "experienced cook;" do NOT over bake your cake by forgetting to set the timer but thinking you set the timer, hence waiting for a LONG time wondering why your cake is not done.

If you over bake then you need to only use the middle and then don't use the bottom either... but it still works just doesn't produce as much. When you are forming the balls, I would suggest a melon baller or someting because if you are doing this and the door bell rings and you are the only one home it looks like you have just done something really mysterious and illegal as your hands are covered in red gritty looking stuff.

When the balls are on the pan to go into the freezer, don't let anyone see them as they will think you have just made meat balls from some very bad looking hamburger meat.

OK, well my cake balls are all dipped and look groovy and I am taking them to the single adult activity. I am putting up a label saying "BALLS." The first man, oops brother, who laughs is who I will go flirt with. If there isn't any man/brother there that laughs then the night will not have been successful as there won't be anyone who would understand my sense of humor.

Wish me luck with my "balls."