Sleepless

Problems with solutions: two solved puzzles. 

I'm having trouble sleeping these days. I can't really pin down when it started or why it's happening. 

Could be the trip to Italy knocked my circadian rhythm off kilter. Could be stress at work. Could be because I am so inexpressibly old.

The changes I have implemented to try and get more sleep: 

• remove caffeine from my life forever
• stop looking at a blue screen (like the one I'm looking at right now) for at least an hour before bed and
• don't drink any fluids for at least two hours before bedtime so I don't have to wake from dreams of fruitless searches for a bathroom.

These have kind of worked. I fall asleep OK but still wake up two or three times in the night. And I keep dreaming about that bathroom.

Happiness is a Sharp Knife

I was in Belleville last weekend visiting my sister and brother-in-law. On Saturday they took me to a shop selling kitchen supplies both for commercial operations and the public. I've been looking for a decent bread knife for a while now. This seemed a likely place. 

At the shop, I found a Heckels Twin bread knife at a good price and went to buy it. On the counter were a stack of Heckels Twin chef's knives, on sale for about a third of the MSRP, so I got one of those, too.

I have at home a collection of good knives, acquired over the years. I use them a lot and I thought, at least until I brought the new knives home, that I kept them sharp.

The new ones are scary sharp, practically atom-splitting sharp. Almost too sharp. My old knives (which I have sharpened) feel like I'm holding a tool; the new ones like I'm holding a weapon.

Thanks for reading!

Karen