Late Night Ramblings 2: Skip the Chocolate Mousse

So, I've been doing pretty well at turning my room into a sleep sanctuary at night so I can sleep better.

And tonight I was all ready to crash at a decent hour after a very fulfilling day: I had a real interview for a grown-up job, I met with a cool family whose kids I'm going to be babysitting for a period of days to make some moola, and I had car trouble, which made for a funny story (I always love having a good story to tell).

I got ready for bed, I was exhausted, I lay there, drifting off into sleep...and then I noticed it.

NASAL CONGESTION.

I have environmental allergies so I'm used to a little congestion on a daily basis, but it's usually not enough to make it hard for me to sleep.

UGHH.  I couldn't sleep, despite being exhausted.  I popped a Sudafed, had some tea and did some research on relieving nasal congestion and combating mucus production.  And I came upon some info about food allergies.

I have no idea if I have food allergies.  Recently I've gotten really into health food/cooking/fitness blogs, and I'm fascinated.  I'm interested in eventually doing a little experimenting to see if I really am sensitive to dairy, or this gluten thing that everyone talks about.  

I have read that dairy increases mucus production, which can cause nasal congestion.

I eat cheese all the time and don't really seem to have a problem.  If I want chocolate, I have dark.  But today, I ate a little differently than usual.

My sis and bro-in-law brought home a box of delicious desserts, so even though I try to be more health-conscious in general, I dug in.  I had two pieces of pumpkin chocolate cake over the course of the day, and they were delicious.  But that's not all.

While out with the cool family I'm going to babysit for, I had a really, really rich chocolate mousse dessert, which I was wasn't super into, but it was offered to me, so I took it.

The result: lots of mucus and nasal congestion and INABILITY TO SLEEP.

I swear I am going to lay off dairy.

I have to be up in a couple of hours to go babysit.  I'm freaking out a little.  At this point I'm in the danger zone of lack of sleep: like sleep-through-your-alarm or impaired driving lack of sleep.  This is not good.

I just googled some free wake-up call services in a panic, so I have a couple scheduled.  I need all the help I can get...

I'm off to crash.  The Sudafed has worked.  I'm going to think of it as a nap.