Twelve times this or that

I've seen this blog tag at Fiekefatjerietjes last summer, who in her turn had seen it at Irene.  I've saved it for ages in my drafts and now seems a good time during my Christmas vacation to fill it in.   Here is my 12 times this or that...

Coffee or tea?

I'm afraid I've gotten into the habit of drinking quite some coffee: 3-6 big cups a day.  But contradictory, I don't consider me a coffee lover: I only like the variants with loads of milk so maybe I need to mask the bitter coffee taste. 

So I think I like the feeling of drinking coffee. It is a warm cup of comfort.  

I am not sure why I don't consider tea to the same degree. I guess because at work there's no thee machines but coffee machines. And weirdly, I also have the feeling I need to run to the toilet even quicker than on coffee.  And I miss the milk foam in tea.  And the cold old used tea bags are gross.   
But sometimes I try to cut down on coffee and if I feel energetic enough to switch now and then to tea instead of coffee. I've not been very successful. 

Sleep in or getting up early? 

Both. I want to sleep in so badly but sleeping in is 8 AM lately which I would have considered as getting up early when I was young.

My 3 men at home are always up at 7 AM, always.  So am I on working days.  But on weekends I turn around, usually successfully, and sleep another hour and that is such a blessing. 

Book or movie? 

Books.  
I've lost the patience and concentration to watch movies. They are too long.  Then I prefer to watch series with shorter episodes. 

But I love reading books. 

Cat or dog?

Easy answer. I am a cat person.  I really am. 

Bigger dogs can be totally awesome and cute but I'd hate to own one for having to walk it and clean up dog poop.  Jan keeps claiming though he'll get a dog once he's retired.  Grumbl.

Beach vacation or city trip? 

Beach vacation.   I love city trips, but that's a (long) weekend activity and it's quite active. 

On a longer vacation, I love to wind down and nothing that gives peace as much as the endless water at the horizon.  Sitting in the sun with my feet in the sand and a good book.  Blessing. 

Evening person or morning person? 

Neither.

I used to think I was an evening person. I would rather study late than get up early as a student. (I tried once to get up early to review and my father found me asleep at my desk). I used to do loads of things in the evening, blog, read, start ironing at 10PM etc. My bed time was between 10PM and midnight.  And in weekends I slept in.

Then I became a mother and I breadfest and woke up regularly during the night. The only way to survive is to go to bed ridiculously early to compensate the interrupted nights.  And I became increasingly aware of the value of a fixed bedtime routine.  Now I go to bed by 10PM give or take 30 minutes. Sometimes I sleep before, sometimes a bit later but there will be very little variety.  And I feel my brain and body literally shutting down towards 9PM.  I can't concentrate to blog anymore, so my posts need to get written during daytime in weekends mostly.  I avoid big discussions and thoughts as they keep me awake. 
Nope my best evenings are simply slowing down after dinner and not doing much at all anymore.  I see all these younger generations complaining on social media on their lack of me-time and whether live is just that "work - sleep". Well yeah it is on weekdays and that's just fine to me.  No need to run a marathon for me or have loads of social activities . Nope, JOMO for me.  Long live being in bed on time. 


So did that make me a morning person? Nope either. I do need some quiet time to wake up. I'll shuffle along you to the breakfast table in my pyjama but mostly in silence.  
Then I'm not sleeping in anymore like I used to do either.   And I do notice that I often wake up with stress or anxiety.  My brain seems most alert and on guard in the early morning, painfully aware of to do's and challenges. Very annoying. 
Preferably I get a very slow morning, but if needed I can get ready and then get started. That wouldn't be early morning but I can achieve a lot before noon if necessary. 

Online shopping or shopping in the city?

Both.

Living in the city centre, I prefer to buy all my clothing still in physical shops with physical trying on. Clothes are just different on a website.  And I do want to support the stores in the city to stay alive. 

But we've almost totally switched to online grocery shopping and home delivery.  And all gadgets, toys, ... are usually ordered online.  Toy stores have disappeared from the city centre by the way.  

Chocolate or chips?

Easy. I dislike chocolate.  And I am a chips addict. 

Plan spontaneously or plan everything ahead?

I love empty agendas to relax.  I hate obligations. 

On the other hand, I like things to go well and I like to have control.  Children's appointments, school-free days, tournaments, friend's visits: I'll book it well in the agenda while Jan easily would agree to double bookings unaware of other obligations already made.  So I plan when I believe I have to.   But no more in detail that is needed.  Especially vacation days, I prefer to just think of where we are, not what we'll do.  

Summer or winter?

Both have their perks, but I guess I prefer summer more. 

Being creative or enjoy doing nothing? 

Doing nothing. 

Restless people make me nervous.  People that are bored and down when there's nothing on the agenda are to pity.  I've often thought excelling in doing nothing is a competence that will do me well when growing old.   
Give me a book and a tv (or ipad or so) and the day can pass in peace. 

Offline time or scrolling on social media ?

I spend an awful lot of time on social media.  But I do believe I've slowed down in the last years.   A lot of social media irritates me. I'm rather allergic to influencers and publicity. And as for the updates that interest me: my friends posts less and less.    

I scroll more and lots on online news apps.  I read many more books again than 10 years ago when the rise of social media (and having babies) had stopped me reading. 

I often pick up the phone first thing in the morning (yes I do) to notice a bunch of messages that I received the evening before but that I didn't spot or read any more even though I was still awake and running around with my phone.  (see above: I wind down in the evening and my brain shuts down and I shut myself down from the world).  It also helps that I have do not disturb settings on my devices that turn on automatically as well.