Sleep or the lack of...

Sleep is so important, right? We all know it is. So why is it sooo hard to get any? I'm not the best sleeper under the best of conditions but when Brandon is gone, its nearly impossible to sleep. I don't really know why. Its not a nervous thing or anything like that. I just hate sleeping by myself. Usually its for a night or so when he is out of town and its no big deal. But now he has been gone for about 5 weeks and it is getting to me. I barely even TRY to sleep anymore. I've just given up on it. Last night it hit me, I was so very tired. I was so tired I was throwing up. (tmi I know but really it prompted the blog) I was physically ill from not sleeping. So I went to bed right after the kids did and fell to sleep right away. It was the best night sleep I have had since Brandon left. But now tonight, I can already feel that my body has no interest in sleeping. I don't want to get back to that point again but if I knew how to sleep at all I would be doing it. Most sleep medicine has an opposite affect on me. I end up wired and not sleeping for even longer. Melatonin makes me sleep, right away in fact. But I am spend the entire next day recovering from it. I get so groggy and cranky. It doesn't feel worth it unless necessary. 

Now Zach seems to be following in my footsteps. That is much worse for me then my own problems. I hate seeing him so tired and having bags under his eyes. When I wake him up in the mornings he tells me "I just barely fell asleep!" or "I've only been asleep for an hour! I'm so tired!" or "Mom, I haven't even slept yet!" Its so frustrating for me. I know what he is going through. I remember saying all of those things to my mom in the mornings when I was growing up. And I couldn't fix it then and I'm having the same problems now. I have set up a strict calm down time before bed to see if that helps at all. Now Zach gets home from school, watches wild kratts, has half an hour 'free time' and then he does his homework while I make dinner. After dinner its a bath and story time. Then bed. I got him a cd player and a classical music sleep cd. We are only on day 2 of this schedule but I am praying it helps him. I hate seeing him so sleepy every day. I don't want him to have this problem his whole life. 

Piper Down Night

Fanny Packin' Sister Wives! 

La Dayna and I had our fundraiser at Piper Down a few nights ago. I have been planning on blogging about it but seem to have been putting it off. I suppose I am afraid of sounding like a brat in it. So bear with me and remember thats  not my intention!

La Dayna and Andrew. On their phones...

 We have been working on this for quite awhile. I cant remember where the idea started but I am pretty sure it was La Daynas idea. I was really excited but a bit terrified of it. It was a big job. And lets be honest, we are 2 stay at home moms. We have ZERO connections. We were starting at nothing. And it was just the 2 of us. No committee. No event fund. Just 2 mom working hard. Not to mention that La Dayna has a lot of other things on her plate right now. And I am basically a single mom while Brandon is working in New Orleans. But we never even considered scrapping it. We put our hearts into it.

Awesome, supportive friends! 

We found a bar, we found a band, we found another band, we found donations for our raffle. Our goal was at least 3 prizes for each raffle. We ended up having 20 total. 10 for each raffle. And there were some amazing prizes. This was no small feat.

The day of the event we were both so excited and so nervous. We had high expectations for the night. The plan was that the bar would be charging $5 a person cover that would all go to us. I was thought this was going to be huge. I figured it would be the main fundraiser and our raffle would be basically a side thing to add on the top. My goal for the night was $1,000. And I thought it was realistic.

More awesome supportive friends!

I had a ton of fun. To be honest, I expect more people that we actually know. Everyone who came for us fit at a table. The people who came are amazing. I adore every one. I think its pretty fantastic to have such supportive people in our lives. I was feeling a little bad that a lot of the raffle names were coming from our table until I realized the reason they were coming from there was those are the people who bought the most raffle tickets!

On stage before the Folka Dots started. 

We heard two fantastic bands play. I am beyond pleased with the 2 bands who performed. They were both great and fun. If you ever get a chance to hear The Red on Black or The Folka Dots play, don't skip it!

We gave out our awesome prizes. The main event ended up being the love swing. More then one person was vying for it! They guy who one it was super adorable. I was pleased when it was him.

This dude REALLY wanted the love swing. In a big loud way. 

At the end of the night we went to collect the cover charge money. I was pretty excited about the cover. Like I said, as far as I was concerned, it WAS the fundraiser. But they didn't start the cover until 9 and everyone there had been there since before 9. We ended up getting $14 from the cover. It was a bit disheartening, to say the least.

Luckily, we did pretty well in the raffle. We ended up with a total of $449.48. I went ahead and tossed in 52 cents to make it $450. Its not a bad amount at all. Its a great start toward a fundraiser that hasn't even officially started yet. It wasn't our goal and it isn't going to get us our win on its own but its a beginning.

Now we have to come up with another fundraiser to add to this one! We are VERY open to suggestions!

$450 headed to Make-A-Wish!!