I'm lovin' it!
I have never felt this way about daylight savings before. In the past, the whole "Fall back" thing just means you can get an extra hour of sleep (well, that is before kids came along). Last year it was great because with adjusting to having four kids we were always running so late to church, and that Sunday we forgot about the time change and were so late we almost did not go, out of pure embarrassment, but went anyway--and arrived to find we were actually early! Whoo-hoo!
But this year, there is something different about it, something refreshing and revitalizing. My body clock is still on the old time, but this means that when I finally drag myself and baby E out of bed in the morning, even though I have been loafing, it is still only 8:00! And in the late afternoon, when it is starting to get dark and I think to myself, "huh, well, I'd better go figure out what to do for dinner"--it is only 5:00! That means dinner is on the table at 6, instead of the horrible hour of 7:00 I had gotten into for the previous couple of weeks (I have been meaning to write about my cooking blahs and procrastination for a while--meh, I'll do it later ; ) We actually have had the girls all ready for bed by 7:00 for several nights in a row! This makes the evening SO much better--instead of me being too tired and *done*, I am thinking, "hey, we are early!" and then I have more patience for the whole bedtime routine, which is a GREAT thing! (Esp. because D has been working late this week, so I have been the "on" parent from get-up to go-down) And best of all, D and I are going to bed a little earlier! Our body clocks had been set to 11:00 pm for a loooooooong time. Even when I try, it seems like I can't get to bed sooner, and getting the kids to bed at 9 only exaserbates the problem. So now, when the body clock says, "I guess I should go to bed now," I look at the clock and it is 10:00! That just seems like such a little gift!
So, really, nothing has changed. My bad habits are still here, needing to be addressed--but this time shift feels like just a little bit of grace to tide me over while I re-teach myself some better time management practices. I still have the same # of daylight hours in which to do my work, and the same # of nighttime hours in which to get my sleep. But somehow my mind is tricked into feeling like there is more time, more sleep--and it is giving me energy and higher spirits.
And a fresher mind! How about you?
True or False:
1. Daylight-saving time is observed by all U.S. states and its territories.
2. One of the biggest reasons we change our clocks to daylight-saving time is to save electricity.
3. Beginning in 2007, daylight-saving time was extended by one month.
4. The American law by which we turn our clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall was instituted in 1890.
I have never felt this way about daylight savings before. In the past, the whole "Fall back" thing just means you can get an extra hour of sleep (well, that is before kids came along). Last year it was great because with adjusting to having four kids we were always running so late to church, and that Sunday we forgot about the time change and were so late we almost did not go, out of pure embarrassment, but went anyway--and arrived to find we were actually early! Whoo-hoo!
But this year, there is something different about it, something refreshing and revitalizing. My body clock is still on the old time, but this means that when I finally drag myself and baby E out of bed in the morning, even though I have been loafing, it is still only 8:00! And in the late afternoon, when it is starting to get dark and I think to myself, "huh, well, I'd better go figure out what to do for dinner"--it is only 5:00! That means dinner is on the table at 6, instead of the horrible hour of 7:00 I had gotten into for the previous couple of weeks (I have been meaning to write about my cooking blahs and procrastination for a while--meh, I'll do it later ; ) We actually have had the girls all ready for bed by 7:00 for several nights in a row! This makes the evening SO much better--instead of me being too tired and *done*, I am thinking, "hey, we are early!" and then I have more patience for the whole bedtime routine, which is a GREAT thing! (Esp. because D has been working late this week, so I have been the "on" parent from get-up to go-down) And best of all, D and I are going to bed a little earlier! Our body clocks had been set to 11:00 pm for a loooooooong time. Even when I try, it seems like I can't get to bed sooner, and getting the kids to bed at 9 only exaserbates the problem. So now, when the body clock says, "I guess I should go to bed now," I look at the clock and it is 10:00! That just seems like such a little gift!
So, really, nothing has changed. My bad habits are still here, needing to be addressed--but this time shift feels like just a little bit of grace to tide me over while I re-teach myself some better time management practices. I still have the same # of daylight hours in which to do my work, and the same # of nighttime hours in which to get my sleep. But somehow my mind is tricked into feeling like there is more time, more sleep--and it is giving me energy and higher spirits.
And a fresher mind! How about you?
True or False:
1. Daylight-saving time is observed by all U.S. states and its territories.
2. One of the biggest reasons we change our clocks to daylight-saving time is to save electricity.
3. Beginning in 2007, daylight-saving time was extended by one month.
4. The American law by which we turn our clocks forward in the spring and back in the fall was instituted in 1890.
5. Benjamin Franklin was one of the first to suggest the idea of saving daylight.
Answers:
1. False. Daylight Saving is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and most of Arizona (except the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona).
2. True. In general, energy uses and the demand for electricity for lighting our homes is directly connected to when we go to bed and when we get up.
3. True. Last year, daylight-saving time was extended one month and now begins for most of the United States at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and lasts until the 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November.
4. False. Although daylight-saving time has been around since the early 1900s, the law is known as the Uniform Time Act and was formerly instituted in 1966; it does not require anyone observe daylight-saving time, but states if we agree to observe it, it must be done uniformly.
5. True. American patriot Benjamin Franklin first published the idea in an essay written in 1784 entitled, “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light.”
Image and quiz from https://newsline.llnl.gov
1. False. Daylight Saving is not observed in Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and most of Arizona (except the Navajo Indian Reservation in Arizona).
2. True. In general, energy uses and the demand for electricity for lighting our homes is directly connected to when we go to bed and when we get up.
3. True. Last year, daylight-saving time was extended one month and now begins for most of the United States at 2 a.m. on the second Sunday in March and lasts until the 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of November.
4. False. Although daylight-saving time has been around since the early 1900s, the law is known as the Uniform Time Act and was formerly instituted in 1966; it does not require anyone observe daylight-saving time, but states if we agree to observe it, it must be done uniformly.
5. True. American patriot Benjamin Franklin first published the idea in an essay written in 1784 entitled, “An Economical Project for Diminishing the Cost of Light.”
Image and quiz from https://newsline.llnl.gov
I remember that the time never changed in Indiana when I was in school there--are any of my readers in IN to confirm your participation in Daylight Savings?
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