Sleepless in The Bay

Never drink coffee after 7 p.m. if you want to sleep the night through!  Well I drank coffee well after that time and to my detriment last night and couldn't sleep, so till 4:30 a.m. this morning I tried reading, tried tidying up my sewing area and ended up sewing some string blocks!  I was really physically tired from snow shoveling, but wired from the coffee.... If you want a good nights sleep and if caffeine bothers you don't be a silly person like me!  I only got three hours sleep, why?  Because my internal clock is permanently set for 6:30 a.m. and once awakened, I can never get back to sleep.  How very silly of me to have broken my coffee drinking rule!  I not only feel wonky but look like a tattered dishrag and this dratted cold lingers and refuses to go.
When I shoveled the driveway yesterday afternoon there was so much water and the dratted white stuff was so heavy it so much longer, and now with the deep freeze temperature it is like a skating rink out there.  I thought I had played it smart by sprinkling road salt on it before leaving it, but seems like the freeze won out and I didn't use the salting recipe correctly.  Oh well, I will have another go at it later this afternoon, hoping what sunshine we manage to keep today will help in some small way.
With the deep freeze temperature which settled in last night, hopefully the cold/flu germs will also be killed off and people (like me) can get back to feeling better.  Barring the time I shoveled snow and went out to the Citizen Of The Year awards ceremony last Sunday, I haven't been out of the house and some of the groups I volunteer with are beginning to believe I have turned into a recluse!

While not being able to sleep and yet being physically tired I tried reading, 

I packed up all of the inside Christmas decorations away,

 and began tidying up the sewing area.  Finding lots more scraps along the tidy up route I finally sat down in front of the sewing machine and made some string blocks until finally I felt sleep enough to attempt inspecting my bed once again.  IF YOU VALUE the next day, don't drink the coffee after 7 at night (and that said by a coffeeholic)!

These are the string blocks I made while seeking sleep this morning, 

what a  nice change from piecing a structured block.  I think I will continue with these for awhile longer and see what I can accomplish with them today.  Seeing as I am not working on all pistons, these are a great way to make more blocks and use up some of this multitudinous scrap collection I have.  I can't think of a better way to chase away the grumps I get from lack of sleep.  Table runners will take a back seat today because I know I will make too many piecing mistakes if I try today.
WHAT do you do when you can't sleep?  
Thanks for popping in this morning, I hope I haven't put you to sleep, and to those waiting for parcels from the giveaways, no, I haven't forgotten you, please be patient, I haven't been to the post office just yet, guess I will try next week, rest assured these are all ready to go I just have to motivate myself to get there!