...I feel refreshed and relaxed for the first time in over a week.

Yesterday, I had planned on going directly home to do some cleaning and go to sleep. The last week or so has been a whirlwind of not getting a lot of sleep compounded by other stress in my life. Over the last week, I have had an average of about four hours of sleep a night. Some nights were less than that. With school, work, Easter week services, and two shows since the 15th... I was pretty run down.

So, that was the plan. What ended up happening is I went over by the lady and spent some time with her just relaxing. She cooked me up a great dinner, and we just sat watching television and playing chess. At about 9, it was time to go home. After my 45 minute drive home, the effects of my non sleep routine started to really kick in. I won't get in to specifics. It was not pleasant. 

I got some really good sleep last night, and I dont think my body knew how to handle it. I woke up at 2am, and then at 6am. Both times I was ready to go and thought it was a super great day. I haven't had that in a while. 

It was nice to wake up and feel refreshed. Getting that "good morning, love" phone call on the way to work was nice too.

...things are looking up.

A few months ago, I couldn't say that. I had all sorts of things that would get me down on a daily basis. Work, not seeing the kids, not having time for anything fun, my house, bills. All of that was a huge stress pile of blah.

Home of the World Champion Green Bay Packers.

Now things are looking a lot better. April is quite a nice month for me right now as it stands. Homework and school aside, I know it will be good.

Tonight will be my 4th hockey game of the year, the third one with the lady. I really like that she can go to sporting events with me and enjoy them. We've been to three Brewer games, a Packer game in the luxury box, and three Admirals games just this year. It is a perk working where I work and getting free tickets to these things!

Work seems to be heading in the right direction now as well. The plan is slowly coming in to place. One more week and the whole building will be calling one spot for help. Just the way we want it.

This weekend is a trip to the big city, and what do we plan on doing? Whatever we want. Most of it will be spent in the hotel because it's a very nice one. We're going to just kick back, relax, watch movies, do our homework, and not think about life at home.

...there was an end to the madness.

I'm on vacation in a couple days. I have a lot of school work to get done, but there is always something about those last few days prior to a vacation. You have to get everything in order, and set for you to go. It is quite hectic actually. So much to prepare for, what if something goes wrong?

At least I know will have done everything I could to prepare and then some.

I also have a very loving lady in my life and friends who are fantastic. Tonight, after class, they told me to get my ass over to the place where they were doing food night and sit and eat with all of them so I didn't have to do my usual "Monday night fasting" that usually happens thanks to the schedule. It was really nice. I didn't think I'd get to see my girl until around this time NEXT week because of everything that is going on at home. But I got to see her tonight. She's also been keeping tabs on how my knee is doing. I tweaked it pretty bad yesterday to the point of having to get out the old Rebel99 brace (see picture on the side for reference on what this brace looks like). She's looking out for me. Her dad went through some pretty rough stuff with his knees, so she knows what I am possibly heading towards. I want to be able to run around and keep dancing with her. If this knee of mine gives me any more problems, I won't be able to. And that will upset me greatly.

BUT! Today was better, tomorrow should be fantastic as well... and that's the bottom line...

...I didn't have to go to sleep by myself.

Normally, I let her know when I get home so she knows I haven't died on the freeway. I forgot to do that today, and my phone was still set to silent from earlier in the day. Well, at about 10:30 she decided that I must be dead on the freeway and drove down to make sure I wasn't getting my face eaten off by my cats or something. So, today is better because I don't have to sleep alone.