I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
 
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I like
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth, 1804

Sleep Deprived...

As I'm feeling sleep deprived at this moment due to a busy week...I thought we could all enjoy some sleeping facts. The sentences bolded are ones that I feel I can relate to at this time in my life...sadly.

-The record for the longest period without sleep is 18 days, 21 hours, 40 minutes during a rocking chair marathon. The record holder reported hallucinations, paranoia, blurred vision, slurred speech and memory and concentration lapses.

- Anything less than five minutes to fall asleep at night means you're sleep deprived. The ideal is between 10 and 15 minutes, meaning you're still tired enough to sleep deeply, but not so exhausted you feel sleepy by day.

- A new baby typically results in 400-750 hours lost sleep for parents in the first year

- Seventeen hours of sustained wakefulness leads to a decrease in performance equivalent to a blood alcohol-level of 0.05%.

- Exposure to noise at night can suppress immune function even if the sleeper doesn’t wake. Unfamiliar noise, and noise during the first and last two hours of sleep, has the greatest disruptive effect on the sleep cycle.

- As a group, 18 to 24 year-olds deprived of sleep suffer more from impaired performance than older adults.

- Experts say one of the most alluring sleep distractions is the 24-hour accessibility of the internet. (Thank you blogger.com at 1:21am...study break).

Thanks to The National Sleep Research Project for their facts: http://www.abc.net.au/science/sleep/facts.htm

Twenty-eight million...

So...I was disappointed while watching the news over the break to see that someone paid 28 million dollars for a chair. A chair. This chair...

This Dragon chair, from the 19th century I believe, was bought at an auction just a few weeks ago. That's a lot of money for a chair. I cringe to think at the better ways such money could spent...and then I cringe at the many ways I could better spend my money as well. I may not have millions, but I have much in comparison to others. Anyhoo, it at least makes me a little more aware. Just a thought...

Some random fun to share with you...