Can't Stop Moving

A couple of weeks ago I asked my mother what Courtney and I were like when we were my niece's age (7, almost 8).  She said she couldn't remember.  My mother used to have a lot of migraines.  Some days she would just lay on the couch for the entire day with the lights off.  My mother said that the one thing she remembered about Courtney and I from that time was that we never stopped moving, we were just like blurs in her peripheral vision and that it was hard when she was having migraines.

So I have a desk job...and I still don't like to sit still.  I get very antsy at work and for the last 7 years of working a desk job, I have come up with ways to move.  I drink a lot of water, so I have to get up several times to refill my glass, and subsequently, use the bathroom.  I've taken walks around the block on my breaks.  I run up and down the stairs, and go to the printer, and organize and put away files.  Anything to find an excuse to move when I have a minute of downtime.  

We were recently in our slow period and because I had so much extra time I would just get up and walk around the office.  Get some coffee, wash my coffee mug, fill my water, get a snack, walk to say hi to someone, do some work, print my files to the printer on the other side of the office, get my papers, do some work, get some more water, use the bathroom....and on it went. Luckily, I am extremely efficient when I am completing my work.  Really, I am very good at my job.  

I was having lunch with a coworker, B, the other day and had asked him to join me for a walk after we ate.  While we were walking b looked at me and point blank asked, "where do you go when you're not at your desk?" This is the first time someone confronted me about my wandering.  I was a bit taken aback..."I don't know. I just walk around the office."  

Maybe it is time to reign in my wandering before other people start to notice.  My only consolation is that B probably notices what I do more than other people at the office since we're friends and he sits behind me.  Also, I don't wander when we are busy, only when I don't have something I could be doing.

Under the Pillow

I seriously need to do laundry.  Formerly, when I lived in a place with a washer and dryer, I was really good about keeping up with the laundry.  But when I moved into an apartment without a washer/dryer, I began to hoard dirty laundry.  It would pile up until I was out of underwear (and I have a lot of underwear), forcing me to go to either my sister's house (she has three girls and a never ending pile of laundry) or my mother's house.  My mother's house was usually a better bet because she worked late and had cable.  I didn't even have a TV, so cable was a real treat...hours of food network to watch.  Plus, if the last load was taking too long to dry, and I was tired and had to wake up for work the next morning, my mom would fold the last load and she would send me home with a lunch to take to work the next day. Score!  She would  even fold my underwear, which as I said, there is a lot of.  The first time my mom folded my laundry she asked if I changed my underwear several times a day (depends if I workout, but really just twice a day, that's normal, right?).

So I have since moved in with my mother (go 28 year old me!), and thus have full-time access to a washer and dryer.  My laundry is still piling up, but one advantage of living with my mom is that she washes my towels and robe when she does a load.  So, I was posting about under the pillow...I am at the point where I have a huge pile of laundry in my basket, and while I am not yet out of underwear, I am out of workout clothes and pajamas. Pajamas were what I was actually looking for, since I've been wearing nothing but my robe for the past several hours (total house outfit of choice, since I no longer live alone and naked is no longer an option) and it is time for bed.  So I look in the drawer and I don't have pajamas...then I remembered they were under the pillow.

Why do I keep my pajamas under the pillow?  Because I over think way too many things.  As mentioned above, I generally prefer to be sans clothing when I am at home by myself (unless I'm cooking), and I also prefer to sleep naked.  One night, while laying in bed naked, it occurred to me that should something happen, such as a fire, I would have to run out of the house naked, and how embarrassing would that be?   One possible option I considered was just wrapping up in a sheet and running out of the house if necessary.  However, should I grab my blanket to run out with, there would be a good possibility it would drag and either (a) catch on fire or (b) get caught on something, and in both scenarios, I would still end up outside, naked, and possibly cold (although this is Florida, so maybe not cold).  From that point forward, I began neatly folding a tank top or t-shirt and boxers and keeping them under my pillow (because the end table might be too far to reach during a fire).

Sure enough, I lifted up my pillow and found my pajamas.  Then I remembered the story of how it came about that I started leaving my pajamas under my pillow and decided to share it.  It is much like the story of why, from the age of 12, I began almost exclusively wearing my hair in a ponytail.  But that is another story.