Insomnia

Few things exist that are more irritating to me than laying in bed, unable to sleep. Over the past five years, I have struggled with bouts of insomnia and I have only been able to pinpoint one sure-fire way to put myself to sleep. Pride and Prejudice. Not the six-hour nonsense, but the two-hour, Americanized version that ends with the only kiss in the whole film. Over the past five years, I have had to resort to this so often that I have virtually every detail of the movie memorized. I don't have to actually watch it because I can picture each scene as I listen to it and drift off to sleep.

On the occasions, however, when my own Mr. Darcy is sound asleep and I opt not to wake him up by putting the movie on, if I cannot fall asleep, I sometimes just give up and go do something productive. This morning was one of those days. Because I will be directing a four-week long summer camp and already know that my motivation to spend any length of time cooking at the end of each day, I have decided to spend the next month stocking the freezer with a host of reheatable or partially made meals.

It's strange what lack-of-sleep does to me. I was overcome with the obsession to make and freeze waffles. So, at 3:00 when I was finally over the idea of sleeping at all, I got up and made almond whole wheat waffles. Then I made a couple of quarts of marinara sauce. While that was simmering for an hour, I put together two things of pizza dough, a double-batch of cheesy garlic roll dough, made four diffent chicken marinades, mixed and cooked pineapple vanilla baked oatmeal, unloaded the dishwasher, drank two mugs of tea, organized my least favorite kitchen cabinet, and washed the counter way too many times.

Anyone have any favorite freezable meals, by the way?

So now it is 7:00 and I am absolutely exhausted. Invariably I always reach this point and then wrestle with the to-sleep or not-to-sleep-because-I-won't-be-able-to-sleep-later predicament. Oh to have a glorified body someday that will not battle insomnia...