So at the moment, I’m not a big coffee drinker. So much so, that caffeine really quite affects me. It keeps me awake equal to the amount that I consume. One full cup of coffee? About 48 hours. One can of coke? About 36. Tea? I wouldn’t know… I hate the stuff.
But that being said, the effects are cancelled out by the amount of sleep I’ve had. As in, if I’ve pulled an all-nighter (my definition, where I work from when everyone else goes to bed until everyone gets up again the next morning) then generally a coffee the next morning will help to keep me awake until about 10 or 11 that night. If it’s just an all-nighter by Hubby’s definition, where I work between 4 to 8 hours (between when the the kids go to bed at 7 and when they get up at 5.30ish) then a can of coke will keep me up the whole following night… Depending, of course, on how many nights in a row it has been since my ‘normal’ night’s sleep of 11pm to 5am.
So I don’t drink caffeine that regularly. I run on adrenalin instead, and need the sleep that I can get. The trouble is, I really quite like the taste of a very sweet, hot, black coffee. Not particularly keen on coke… I’ll drink it if I need to… And I haven’t had a tea in well over a decade. But coffee? That, I like.
It didn’t used to be this way. When I was a teenager, I started drinking tea like my mum. Warm, not hot, lots of milk, and a ton of sugar… looking back, it was probably more hot milk with a touch of tea more than anything else! Then I hit senior school and tried coffee. Didn’t like it much, but then by the time I joined a cult in third year uni, was up to several cups per day. Hot, black, sweet… sometimes even a cappuccino or two. But I gave up the habit after marriage (Hubby doesn’t drink the stuff) so haven’t had much caffeine until the last few years or so.
This morning, I’m enjoying half a cup. That should keep me awake, both physically and cognitively, until about 10pm. Because today, I am exhausted. Last week was a full-on one of very little sleep; on Saturday night Mr 3 wormed his way into my bed and kicked my ribs for several hours (and I was too tired to wake up properly, get up, and move him back into his own bed) and last night I was up with him again at 10.30ish and again at 1am, when he decided that he wanted dinner. Seeing as he had slept right through it yesterday, falling asleep in the car at 3.30 and in spite of my best efforts, not waking up for dinner, and seeing as he asked – using words!!! – so nicely for milk, and then a peanut butter sandwich, I just could not refuse.
So, I’m exhausted. And I feel the need for coffee. So I’m indulging this morning. And enjoying it! Plus I’m blogging too, first thing this morning, which I’m rather enjoying too. Maybe I’m set for a very good week?!!! Here’s hoping! (And I hope the same for you, dear readers… have an awesome week!!!)
My favourite coffee mug. Given by an appreciative student when I was Head of Middle School. Seeing as I wasn’t a coffee drinker at the time, it was rather a funny gift! But much appreciated now. Cos it’s so big! LOL