Alarming

“If you’re not going to get up to the alarm clock when it goes off, quit setting it,” I faintly heard the hubs tell Thing 3 yesterday morning.  Truthfully, I was glad he said it, because while I felt that way, I didn’t want to be the one to say it. For two reasons… (a)I don’t get up right away either (although I at least hit snooze!) and (b) I’m not one to discourage any child to get themselves up in the morning with an alarm.  After all, the hubs and I won’t be around after they move out of the house to wake them up.  Unfortunately, none of them have reached that stage.  They all talk about.  They all, at one point in time or another, have attempted it.  But when it comes right down to it, they rely on us to wake them up.

In order for us to wake them up, that means I have to get up, and that is always a struggle.  For whatever reason, I find it impossible to go to bed when I should.  There’s always something going on, or something that I feel like I’ll miss if I go to bed early.  Therefore, I get less sleep than I probably need, and I find myself a zombie in the morning.  But let’s be real.  I’ve NEVER been a morning person.

But I know that there’s no one to wake me up and therefore, take precautions make sure that my alarm wakes me up in the morning.

As in there are multiple alarms.

And they are all different sounds.

The first alarm to go off is the sound of ocean waves.  When the hubs got me a fancy alarm clock that I can hook my ipod up to and displays pictures of whatever I want, I was in awe of all the things it could do.  I decided that I wanted to wake to something peaceful, something that, since it was the first alarm, wouldn’t jar me from a peaceful sleep.  So the waves go off first.

I’ll be honest, I rarely hear them right away.  We’re either 5 minutes into the waves before I hit the snooze button, or they automatically go off when alarm #2 goes off.

Another feature of the alarm clock that does everything except the dishes is that I can have up to 3 fun alarms… as in I could record the kids screaming at me to get up… or my husband lovingly whispering “it’s time to rise beautiful.”  (That wouldn’t be realistic though as he’s just as much of a non-morning person as me and we typically know to avoid one another…therefore, if that’s what I heard in the morning, I would assume I was dreaming and not wake up.)  All that to say, I have utilized one of the fun wake-ups to play “Good Morning” by Mandisa in the morning.  I also felt that this would wake me to the sound of someone who was excited about the morning and a Christian song and perhaps make me feel a little better about getting up.

I hear this one just fine when it goes off at 6:15am, but I chose to hit the snooze button.

At 6:25, it goes off again… “Good Morning!  It’s a brand new day!  I hear the bird singing, I hear the alarm ringing… get up! get up! yay!” sings Mandisa.

I slap that snooze button again and I might murmur that Mandisa should shut up while attempting to figure out why in the world I would want something so freaking peppy in the morning.

And at some point in time after this alarm and before the next is when Thing 3′s “beep beep beep” alarm goes off across the hall.

Now, at 6:30… my cell phone alarm goes off.  It’s supposed to be Mandisa again, however, I NEVER remember to turn the app on before I go to bed, so what happens is this loud horn, honk sound goes off and for a moment, I can’t remember why anything is honking in my house or how to turn it off.  Sliding my finger across the phone to make it stop is difficult when you’re not awake, don’t want to be awake, and suddenly wish it WERE Mandisa singing nicely to you to telling you it’s a brand new day.

This alarm is important for two reasons — It’s the alarm that saves me if I accidentally turn Mandisa off instead of just snoozing her AND that fancy dancy alarm clock?  Because it’s digital and technological, some times, in the middle of the night, it’s freezes.  And then?  There are no waves… no Mandisa… and if the cell phone alarm didn’t go off?  I’d have kids late to school, I’d be late for work, and no one would be happy at my house.  (Another reason it would be nice to have someone else in the house who arose to their own alarm clock!  Then we would have each other’s backs in case an alarm failed to sound.)

After the jarring alarm from the cell phone, I typically tell the hubs it’s time to get up.  I’m convinced that he doesn’t hear any of the alarms prior to that as he never moves…

I will be honest in that I have a fear of sleeping through an alarm.  In my mind, it’s okay for me to sleep to the last possible minute and be running late for work, but it’s not okay to sleep through an alarm and be late for work.  One indicates lack of responsibility and the other not.  Heh.

Regardless, the alarms sound… we all rise (maybe not shine)… and go about our day.

The next alarm sounds to let us know there are five minutes until the kids need to leave for the bus… and after they leave, when I do laundry blog or read or catch up on Facebook, another alarm sounds for me to get ready for work.

Alarms are a necessary evil.  And until the day comes when I don’t have to be anywhere at a certain time, I guess they’ll continue… and with that, the 7:45 alarm to get ready for work is ringing….

How about you?  How many alarms go off in your house?

Until next time…

Heather