a peek inside the fishbowl

24 Apr, 2007

Waking up is not a gentle act

Posted by andrea tomkins in: Misc. life

At precisely 6:19 a.m. this morning, our bird exploded into a barrage of chirps. It was enough to raise the dead. Pixie is a budgie. But don’t let that fool you. She has a formidable set of pipes for such a wee bird. She likes to talk to the outdoor birds, and she knows she has to raise the volume in order to penetrate bricks and mortar. 

The bird club starts when the sun rises. When they start, she starts. Upstairs, we don’t really hear the outdoor birds unless our windows are open. Pixie’s chirps echo throughout the whole house. Each chirp is like a jab in the head when you’re waking up.

But that’s not all that woke me! Nooooo. There’s more! Sarah woke early and came into bed with us. She’s a talker, and she can’t keep still under any circumstances.

“MUMMY I HAVE A QUESTION,” she said in a loud whisper.
“It’s quiet time now Sarah. If you’re coming into bed with us you’ll have to save your question for later.”
“BUT I NEED TO KNOW SOMEFING.”
“What is it.”
“WHY WAS IT BAD WEATHER YESTERDAY AND GOOD WEATHER TODAY?”
“The wind chased it away, now please let me get some sleep.”

But sleep wasn’t going to happen. Sarah played connect the dots with “the freckles on Daddy’s back.” (“THEY’RE LIKE THE STARS IN THE SKY MUMMY!”)And then Emma joined us. It was suddenly getting a little snug in the bed. And then the alarm went off, blaring the news. Someone had turned up the radio earlier and forgotten to turn it down. Sarah got out of bed and turned hit the snooze button. But then someone got out of bed and someone got back in. I lost track of who was stepping on my legs and getting their hair in my face.

After some time Mark finally got up, and I convinced the girls to get out of our bed and go make themselves some breakfast. They complied, and I am still astounded at how two little girls can sound like a heard of waterbuffalo when they’re running down the stairs. They get that from their father.

Perhaps you’ve figured out that I don’t like high volume in the morning?

After a few minutes of hiding under the duvet I finally got up too. I shuffled around, trying to find my slippers. Sarah came upstairs. What’s that noise? She was wearing empty Kleenex boxes on her feet.

I’m still trying to pull my thoughts together about living without media. This is another entry from my notebook, originally written last Monday. I guess I wrote more than I thought. :)

Monday April 16
Day one of media detox. It’s 9:53 and I’m caught up on all my work and outstanding emails. We’ve just had a gigantic dumping of snow. Why couldn’t I have waited until better weather to do this?

Must. Not. Surf. Laundry will distract.

Meltier than everAM: Made Rice Krispie Peeps with Sarah. [see the rest on flickr] Due to the mixture of blue, purple and yellow peeps, the final product was the exact colour of mould. But they tasted good, once I got over the initial revulsion. It’s strange eating food that’s such a yucky shade of green.

PM: Wrote a letter. Doodled. Laundry. Vacuumed. Cleaned kitchen. Went to PO despite amazingly bad weather. Bored. Headed to basement to tidy and eventually hauled out 2.5 garbage bags worth of stuff. Grocery shopping.

Late PM: cooked and prepped dinner for next day (!), studed intricacies of audio player and (finally) read the manual, listened to BBC version of Kubla Khan about 20 times.

Additional things I can be doing:

– menu planning (bah)
– continue in the basement
– sewing
– ironing
– writing my autobiography… haha


2 Responses to "Waking up is not a gentle act"

1 | liss76

April 24th, 2007 at 10:03 am

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Haha! I wake up “slow”, as well. The funny thing is that my oldest son is exactly the same as I am in the morning.. meanwhile dh and our youngest wake up ready to go at the crack of dawn.

I admit to enjoying the crack of dawn–but only when I’ve awoken by my own choice and at my own pace (like this morning!). :)

2 | Sharon

April 24th, 2007 at 2:43 pm

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Oh you have one of those I can’t keep quiet at all once I’m awake kids too. Although once in a long while he will cuddle and go back to sleep..>Awww nice.

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My name is Andrea and I live in the Westboro area of Ottawa with my husband Mark and our dog Piper who is kind of a big deal on Instagram. We also have two human offspring: Emma (24) and Sarah (22). During the day I work as a writer at the Royal Ottawa Mental Health Centre. I am a longtime Ottawa blogger and I've occupied this little corner of the WWW since 1999. The Fishbowl is my whiteboard, water cooler, and journal, all rolled into one. I'm passionate about healthy living, arts and culture, travel, great gear, good food, and sharing the best of Ottawa. I also love vegetables, photography, gadgets, and great design.

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