I’m a morning person. Generally. If I can get 8/9 hours of sleep, once I’m up, I’m up and ready to roll. I get all the important things done early in the day (i.e. I’ll write from 9 – 11 and then do errands if I have any), be home by 1 PM so I can write some more till the kids come home. I love being home in the afternoons. Whether I am working, or watching soaps, making dinner etc., that is the perfect day.
Enter my life now. My youngest daughter needs physical therapy on her ankle and because she’s in school all day, that’s a 3:45 PM appointment. Twice a week. For an hour and a half/two hours. 
I could drop her off but I feel like by the time I get home, I’ll have little time to turn around and go back again. So I bring my laptop, my kindle, and my knitting. I work. I get things done there. I know this is actually a good thing.
But it’s killing me. Because for some reason, losing my afternoons is making me irritable, grumpy and exhausted! It doesn’t make sense, but there you have it. And it seems like it’s going to be an endless proposition, although to be honest she only has appointments booked through early April and then we’ll re-evaluate. But I’m really out of sorts.
To add insult to injury, (haha) this week we add a dentist appointment for her on another afternoon at 5:45, and then another appointment or two next week. And … WAAAH!!!! 
So I guess that makes me a morning person. Who needs her afternoons at home!!! What about you? Morning, afternoon or night?
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And a very special HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my baby girl! Bailey is three years old today!
There were times I didn’t think we’d make it. Bailey was the most challenging puppy. I can really say watching her grow into herself and her personality has been a fascinating journey! I watched her learn how to be a pet, overcome (most) of her anxieties (with the help of medication), and really become the pet she was meant to be. She is all personality. She loves to be rubbed on her back, but will ease around until she is getting a “butt rub” instead. She still isn’t 100% trained and thinks the dining room is an acceptable place to poop, but we’ve come to accept there are things you can’t change. She’s sensitive and if I think she needs the vet or something is wrong, there usually is. She was just diagnosed with Lyme’s Disease this week after she hiked up her paw and refused to put weight on it. Last week it was an intestinal issue. But she is worth every little bit of work and aggravation. The ONLY thing I would change is that she doesn’t cuddle into me in bed the way Buddy does. Buddy loves body contact. Bailey just wants to be near me. If that’s the worst, I’ll take it.
I must get a more recent pic of her posted!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY GIRL! I love you :)
Carly Phillips would like to take 100% credit for all her stories but the truth is, Carly’s strength is writing family, emotion, funky elderly people and animals. She couldn’t plot her way out of a paper bag, which is why she smartly found her plotmonkey pals early on in her writing career. Thanks to their support, Carly is now a NYT Bestselling author of 23 plus novels. Because writing doesn’t keep her busy enough, Carly is also a wife, a mother of one preteen and one teenage daughter, the primary care giver of her soft coated Wheaten terrier and an expert carpool mom.
Destiny
Dirty Little Secrets
Once Upon A Valentine
Through The Night
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I used to be a morning person and then I had kids. I can relate to those appointments and how it kills your day. Just last weekend, for example, my husband took the boys to see “Alice” and he got home at 4:15 (he had to do an errand with one of them afterwards, near the theater) and said, “there goes the weekend” (he gets one day off this time of year).
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I am actually a 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. person. I am most alert at that time.
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I’m definitely a morning person. I get up everyday by 5:00 A.M. No alarm is needed! Lately I’ve been working evening shifts: 10-8, 12-9 .
I can’t go to bed at 10 or 10:30PM I need to relax a bit first. I get really irritable!!
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I used to be more of a night person but now I’m a day person (against my will LOL) I wake up @ 4:30am w/o an alarm. I only need 5-6 hours of sleep during the week but I will take a nap on weekends. And I definitely need alone time.
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I think that’s it. I need ALONE time in the afternoons and if I don’t get it, especially days in a row, or looking ahead in the week and knowing I won’t get it, really sets me off!
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It depends I guess on what needs doing. I am up at 5am for work and have no problems getting out the door. On the days i don’t work, I will watch tv and play on the computer til 11 before much of anything, including a shower, gets done. On the other hand I can stay up all night and read or clean or paint a room.
I really don’t care as long as I can find time for a nap somewhere in there!! I am a perpetual preschooler in that I love my nap time!
Of course with no kids home my time is mostly my own these days!
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The only time of day person I am NOT is afternoon. I love mornings and nights but for some reason afternoons just kill me. If I had time, I could take a nap every afternoon
I have always been this way and I am not quite sure why! LOL!
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I come home for lunch every day. I love being the only one in the house (I even put the dog out back!
) Just me and solitude. 
Next week is spring break
So, hubs and all 3 teens will be home all week. I’m already dreading it. 
Tami
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I’m more of a morning person. Even on the days I can sleep in, I’m up no later than 6:30 or so. I would love to take a nap every afternoon, but usually only do so on Saturday or Sunday. My brother is coming to stay with me for a few weeks as of Sunday, so I’m about to miss my alone time.
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I can’t believe Bailey is 3 years old!!! OMG, you just got her! OK…that old saying: “Nothing ages you like other people’s children” goes for dogs too.
If I lived alone, my perfect schedule would be: Write from 9:00 pm until 2:00-3:00 am, then go to bed and sleep until 10 or 11. I’m much more of a night owl than I am a morning person. But, I don’t live alone, so I usually get up somewhere between 4:00 – 6:00 am, try to get at least a 1K words written before anyone else is up. Then I try to finish my writing as soon as everyone leaves.
Like someone else said, I am not an afternoon person. I get tired and cranky and have to force myself to stay awake and not give in to the desire for a nap.
I even get a little irritated and feel like my day is sliced in half when I have to get my son from school. I love it when he’s running x-country or track, because I don’t have to get him until 5:00. I don’t do well with interruptions in the middle of the day.
I hope her physical therapy is going well and she’ll be finished on schedule!!
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I am not exactly a morning person but once I wake up, like Carly, I’m up. I can’t go back to sleep. But I am a slow waker. I need at least one cup of tea to give me that little jump start.
I do all of the accounting in the family, personal and business and for some reason my husband picks first thing in the morning to ask me those questions and I hate that.
I hate afternoon appointments or afternoon skating lessons–which she has twice a week–Monday and Wednesday. I don’t like dealing with the rush house traffic. I take my lap top and work while she is skating, but still I’d rather be in my office working or on the sofa working at home because I love that time between 3 and 6.
I love the days when there are no skating lessons, no appointments. Like today for instance. Aaah. The day is mine. It’s quiet and I can write, run any errands I need to and do household stuff.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BAILEY!!
Cher
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Get most accomplished in the a.m. But recently I’ve been staying up far too late reading and/or watching TV and/or playing on the ‘puter. So now my day looks like this: Coffee, NYT ed pages, crossword puzzle, Twitter, blogs, more coffee, some fiddling at the computer. Lunch. More fiddling at the computer. Wow, I’m beat and it’s not even 3 yet. 4! Okay, quitting time. Thnx for making me examine this! Must. Get. More. Sleep. Must. Get. More. Done.
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Hey Carly, I know what you are saying about ALONE time! I really need that, but the time varies. I used to be a morning person, then when I was in the military I was an evening person…now, I am not quite sure. It depends on whether I am on vacation or what the season is or something. If the sun is not out, I want to hide too…maybe I am just a sun person…I know, weak joke, but that’s all I got. I hope you are able to have some alone time today.
Happy Birthday Bailey. Give her a hug for me.
Peace and love,
Paula R.
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I’m a night owl…if I can sleep in the next day. Trouble is, that doesn’t happen except on weekends, since I have to get up at 7:30 to workout. I hate the schedule, but it’s the way it’s got to be for now.
It’s the alone time you’re missing, btw. I experienced that when I first started homeschooling. Luckily, my daughter also needs her alone time, so we have a certain time of day where we “split” up and go to our individual corners, so to speak. If we have errands, it throws off the entire day.
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Happy Happy B-day Bailey!!!
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Mornings? Bah Humbug! My day is scheduled so that I really need to get up and write in the mornings. I just…I’m brain fogged usually. I have commitments in the afternoons where I can maybe write, but usually have to split my focus. Once upon a time, I could stay up all night and write. I really am a night person at heart, but life forces me to be a day person. I live on coffee.
Bailey is such a sweety. I feel the same way about Cooper. Only he’s up to 110 pounds now. I really need to get him to obedience school….
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carly I am sorry to hear that your afternoons are so crazy right now. I understand about having alone time I like it when in the afternoon I have some time to myself even if it is to clean the house. It messes it up if someone is home it seems like I can’t clean like I would like to so I just don’t do it.
Wow Bailey is 3 already what happened where did the time go? How cute she is.
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Happy Birthday, Bailey!
Pat Cochran
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I am definitely 100% a night person lol. I remember when I was young my mom would put us to bed soooooo early and I would just lie there. Then I had to get up early for school and then at 5 AM for my job. I no longer have to so I have gradually been getting to bed some time between 2 and 3 AM. Unfortunately, the world revolves around early so most of the time I get very little sleep lol. And some morning people can be so judgemental!!!!! I bet they wouldn’t like me calling them late at night but early phone calls seem to be another thing lol.
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Happy Birthday to Bailey.
I am a night person, as in staying up late watching TV, a movie or reading! I’m usually up any time between 7:30 am & 8:30 am. Early in the summer so I can get my walk in before it starts heating up.
My morning is usually up, shower, have my juice, read, have breakfast, then coffee with The View, turn on the computer. Eventually I get dressed, do dishes or walk, do laundry and every once in awhile I even do some housework!! :*&#!: I hate housework!!!! I should be busy right now. 
Since I live alone and have for a good many years alone time is not much of a problem. Alone time is much harder when you have a family but once they are gone life changes and it is much easier to be good to yourself.
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I am definatly a night person……but because of my 8am to 5pm job I must be a day person Monday thru Friday. However don’t talk to be before I have had my morning coffee…
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Happy Birthday, Bailey.
I’m definitely a night owl and have trouble staying awake in the day.
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I’m definately not a night person, over the years I lost the need to stay up late and once the evening news is over, that’s it for me. I’m up early and get what needs to be done before noon. Happy Birthday Hailey, your a cutie-pie.
:rain:
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Your baby is adorable !! I love the picture, please post some more ;-)
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laughing my ass off about the not being worth going home cause you’d just have to come back….what about the cost of gas too??? I’d stay too…. Sorta like me and Autumn….she house cleans once a week for someone two towns over…so instead of wasting my time and gas to go home and come back 3-4 hours later….I go visit my mommy and bring my laundry….lmao…they have a well and don’t pay for water…so it’s cheaper to do it there and my mom loves me coming because she gets to have someone with half a brain to talk to instead of just dad, my little sister and my two little nieces they are raising….
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Carly, I’m mostly a night person except when I have day appointments then I have to get up early. I guess I’ve carried over my working nights(11pm-7am for 12 yrs) to my personal life. I’m retired so I can do what I want(most of the time). I went thru what you’re going thru now-my son is grown now & working. You don’t know if you’re coming or going. I’ll say a prayer for your sanity. Happy Birthday to Bailey-does her get a treat or get’s what he want’s to do for the day?
Have a wonderful weekend.
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I am SO not a morning person…lolol…as you guys probably have realized after all our Plotmonkeys getaways. I work best VERY late at night. The reasons are kind of summed up by one of my favorite writing quotes:
“At night, when the objective world has slunk back into its cavern and left dreamers to their own, there come inspirations and capabilities impossible at any less magical and quiet hour. No one knows whether or not he is a writer unless he has tried writing at night.”
– H.P. Lovecraft
PS: Bailey is such a cutie–hope she recovers 100% from her Lyme’s!
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I understand the being tried from all the running around. I do have you beat with it though. This past week is a good example. MWF I have physical therapy for myself about 1 1/2 Tues was the plastic surgeon to fix a skin graph, Thur was an MRI. M-F 1 son has to be picked up from wrestling practice @ 5PM but had matches on M & Th until 7pm. Wed night another son had baseball practice OUTSIDE it was about 45 degrees. Tues night another son had marching band pratice from 6-8. My husband does help out when he’s not working but Sat will be the worst. Husband working oldest son has SAT @ 7:45 middle son has wrestling practice @ 8 then matches @ 10;30, youngest son has pitching practice with trainer @ 1:30 and regular baseball practice @ 4PM. The SAT is ending between 12:30 & 1, wrestling will end about 12:30 and they are all in different towns about 20 mins to 45 mins apart and we are suppose to get 5 inches of rain in the next 36 hours. Maybe with a race boat I can do all this and then enjoy a nice LARGE cocktail Saturday night. Sunday I’m sleeping in
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I’m a night owl I can stay up all night and feel great. Where I work at we work a rotating shift 6 weeks days 6 weeks nights it kills me when I’m on days. I hate getting up so early and I tell people at work not to expect me to be to friendly until at least 10:00. It’s hard for me to get to bed very early I usually run on 4 or 5 hours of sleep when I’m on days.
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Definitely a night person!! The later it gets the more awake I am!! Thankfully, I don’t have to be at work until 10:00 (am)!! I hate getting up early..