I'm a Morning Hag...

This is how I feel in the morning....

Like Grendel from Beowulf...

Like a junkyard dog...

Like the Wicked Witch of the West...

Like a venomous snake...

Like an evil old hag...

Like a prickly cactus...

Like a man-eating shark...

Like a zombie....

This morning, when my little girl came bouncing in at 7:00 a.m. (on a Saturday mind you), I exacted all the wrath of all of these terrible, fearsome creatures onto her. I was yelling and stomping around in a sleepy, growly, fumbling fog, ordering her back to bed. 

It was ugly. 

I felt ugly.

I had to apologize. 

My husband finally had to intervene and get up at that ungodly hour because I was in no mood to deal with breakfast or cartoons or opening my eyes. 

At 10:00 a.m. I finally arose to a fresh pot of coffee (saved by my man again!) and began to feel human.

(what is it about this black, magic elixir that soothes the savage beast  first in the morning? 

I'm not sure, but I sure do thank God for coffee)

This happens way too often and I'm so tired of feeling this way every morning. 

The beginning of a new day is an opportunity to start fresh, to enjoy the quiet, to thank God for his new mercies. 

But quite often, for me anyway, it's more like a, "Who gets their head bitten off first for waking me up?" start to the day. 

Not good for me, or the recipient of my hatefulness.

I know that I set the tone in my home and it's my job to build it up, or tear it down. Proverbs 14:1 says,

A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.

I don't want to be the one responsible for the tearing down of the people in my family. I want to work to build them up! They deserve better...

and so do I.

So, I'm making a proclamation...

I'm getting up early this week!

But getting up early starts with NOT burning the midnight oil writing books or writing blogs or surfing the net or reading, or watching old movies. 

To get up early, you have to go to bed early. It's nothing for me to stay up til 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, but I am committing to going to bed this week, no later than 10:30 p.m.

And I'm going to try my level best to get up by 7 or 7:30 a.m....hopefully before the munchkin, who is usually bright-eyed and bushy-tailed by 8 a.m. at the latest.

So here's the checklist...

1. Set coffee pot to brew by 7a.m. (after dinner the night before)
2. Go to bed by 10:30 p.m.
3. Set alarm clock for 7 a.m.

There...not so bad.

I will keep you posted on how this goes.

But it has to be done. 

Because who likes waking up to "Grendel" first thing in the morning? :/