Good morning, friends! It's 7:55 a.m. at home and I'm drinking yummy hazelnut coffee from my cool cow mug with the news on in the background (quite boring news channel). It used to be that I'd wake up around 8 or 8:15, when Jon would come in and roust me from my slumber. But while he's been away this last month with the occasional day home in between, I've been responsible for my own sleeping habits. So I've been trying to wake up and be out of bed by 7:00 a.m. because I really do like just laying around before I start my work day. And now I have the luxury of also writing a journal entry, if I so choose. That's pretty darned cool, eh? Well, I've come up with a pattern for waking up now.

I set the alarm for 6:30 a.m. (fortunately, this is what Jon sets it for since he's on the side of the alarm), then I wait until 7 to get out of bed (I actually get up BEFORE Jon!). Then I waddle out to the living room, pull the crocheted blanket off the chair (I made it) and with a pillow, lay back on the couch--after I make some yummy coffee. I then flick through channels. Only problem is that Jon always watched Sports Center, which was fine. And while he was gone, I figured "I want to watch something that I want to watch!" Well, there doesn't seem to be anything on for dear ol' Ellie. So I actually watched Sports Center for a good long while until recently, I discovered the E! was on. Heh heh. So now I watch that. But really, it's all still boring.

I've been tired, yes. I was actually going to do work at home, but I really shouldn't. Then it's still more like working every hour of the day and I have to rest!

I love my clients. Most of them. One is 23 and she's a little attached to her asshole boyfriend who fathered all of her children but doesn't help with them, and if he feels threatened by me, she won't work with me even though a week from now, she'll be angry with him again for not helping her. But then there's the client who witnessed her friend being murdered and raises three kids and was raped and it's all so painful, but also so admirable to see her living, every day, understanding how precious it all is. I told her yesterday that I admire her strength and I could see how wonderful it was for her to hear it.

There are definitely those moments in my job where the reward slaps me in the face and says "suck up being tired!" and I really will� but then there are other times when I think, "I'm so tired." It's very true though--those instances are very few and far between. I do hope, though, that I'm really helping these people and that the help lasts. I hope that I instill in them the dignity and pride they deserve as humans. Self respect is what makes us happy and some of the women I work with--children too--are missing that basic human right.

I'm going to get ready for work now. You all stay well. --Ellie