I returned from my month in Alaska on Monday night. I cleared up accumulated mail and papers, met a Living With Less deadline, did a laundry, had lunch with my sister and then got up at 4:15 a.m. Friday to head back to the airport.
Now I’m house- and dog-sitting for a friend. It’s raining and chilly in Los Angeles. Naturally.
From here I go to Phoenix, where below-freezing temperatures are being reported. Am I being punished? I feel stupid for having packed shorts and light slacks, and even stupider for thinking I’d have a nice warm vacation in either place.
All of which is my way of saying, “Sorry I haven’t written a whole lot lately.” Sadly, today is no exception. I slept in, took the dog out for a long walk, had a mid-afternoon nap, met a Get Rich Slowly deadline and did some reading. Not much of a day at all, really, yet I’m wracked with a massive headache, fatigue and cerebral sluggishness.
Having (finally) caught up on my sleep, I was stumped as to what could be making me feel so lousy. Then I realized it’s probably caffeine withdrawal. I usually have two or three glasses of iced tea plus a Diet Coke every day. The last time I had caffeine was with supper on Friday.
Going cold turkey is playing hob with my powers of concentration. Although the smart money is on toughing it out, I’ll probably walk down to the CVS tomorrow and get a couple of bottles of bubbly caffeine. What’s life without a little sin?
Or without a few fun reads?
Technology proliferates at I Pick Up Pennies
The rise of the “sugar mamma” at Manisha Thakor
Owning is good. But renting is OK too at Dinks Finance
11 ways to big summer bargains during the winter at Lease Trader
Veggie might: Fast, easy soup for stick vegetarians at Cheap Healthy Good
25 quotes when you are having a craptastic day at Eventual Millionaire
I kicked caffeine in three days. First, I made sure I had Diet Coke with caffeine and Diet Coke Caffeine Free. I usually had three or four caffeinated Cokes each day. The first day I drank caffeine DC until the last Coke of the day and made that a caffeine-free one. The second day, it was caffeine all day until the last two Cokes. The following day, I had one caffeine Coke in the morning and three caffeine-free Cokes. The next day, I was totally caffeine-free all day.
The reason I did this was because the waking-up drink of the day is important for most people. For a year or so this worked just fine. Now, as a decision I made not a force driving me, I have one Coke with caffeine in the morning. I don’t need it. When I forget to drink it first thing, I just have it later in the day but before noon.
I don’t go to the bathroom all night. There is less urgency in the day. I don’t need a Coke. I fewer slumps during the day that call for caffeine. My pulse is lower.
Last summer, I accidentally drank caffeine Cokes for about ten days and played havoc with a few relationships, started sleeping only about three hours a day, and then only in the daytime…it was horrendous.
When the Coke company took most of the gold from their packages and can, it was hard to determine which was which just at a glance.
I would be interested to hear how kicking the caffeine addiction goes.