Ritual, baby!

Now that we're parents, my husband and I kind of have to follow a pretty close ritual:

Baby to bed
....free time - television, Mahalo time, coupon clipping, relaxation....
Wash sippy cups
Give dog and cats dinner
Scoop cat litter box
Showers
Happy Adult Play Time
Reading Time
Sleep

Yeah, we've kind of got the whole thing worked out nicely so we're usually in bed between 11:00-midnight, depending on how many times we....wash sippy cups.

I sit somewhere in the middle on that actually. A few years ago I would have easily answered "crash and burn" with multiple nights a week being spent closing down the bars... after a few years of that (plus the fact that I now have a 8-4 job in banking) I now have a somewhat normal ritual that gets me to bed so I can function somewhat normally early in the morning.

My nighttime ritual? Wow, it's surprisingly similar every night...

1. Finish work.
2. Go straight from work to the gym (take the bus)
3. Browse the grocery store in which my gym is located. Make the 35 minute walk home from the gym, probably eating some sort of baked good.
4. Get home around 7:30. Play with the ferret and make sure her food and water is full and her cage is clean. Give her too many treats for her own good. Cuddle her until she gets frustrated.
5. Be lazy. Watch Futurama at 8:30.
6. Make some dinner. Usually involves some form of defrosting, or, on energetic days, boiling. Eat said dinner in front of TV.
7. Take ferret to the park to play in the grass, or for a walk. Usually get harassed by people asking "what the heck is that thing?!" or children trying to endlessly pet her. In some cases I get "Why you put your pussycat on a leash?"
8. Wash the dishes or take out the garbage - if I feel like it. Try to get some more unpacking/decorating/organizing done from moving (it's been a couple weeks and still lots to do)
9. Seat my butt on my chair in front of the TV with the remote in one hand and my laptop at the other. Remain there while Simpsons and King of the Hill are on from 10-11. Sometimes if I'm ambitious I clean on the commercials.
10. Realize I got lazy between commercials and I fell asleep in my chair or on the floor and I'd really like my bed (I don't own a couch so I often recline on the floor.. It's pure class).
11. Retrieve the ferret from wherever she is surely sleeping.. usually in a drawer, laundry hamper, or under the bed. Usually takes some coaxing and shaking of treats. Put the ferret in her cage.
12. Go to bed.

That's a pretty standard weekday... and some weekends as well (minus leaving work).

Then SOME weekends are more like...

1. Shower and dress up.
2. Go to friends/invite friends in.
3. Drink
4. Drink
5. Drink - Cab to downtown.
6. Dance
7. Drink
8. Dance
9. Drink
10. Stumble
11. Wake up the next morning in my bed. Frantically check to make sure I still have my ID, debit card, and credit card. Try to figure out who I called, texted, or emailed. Ensure I didn't post anything stupid on my facebook. Check camera for evidence. Figure out how much money I spent. Make sure ferret is in her cage. Make sure door is locked. Make sure no clothes are missing. Brush teeth. Go back to bed.

Oh yeah - even after partying, the ritual stands! It HAS to go down like this or things get weird... I don't know why.

Anyhoo, it goes like this:

1. Turn off all elctronic equipment (tv, X-box, all lamps EXCEPT ONE)
2. put dog in puppy bed and pick him up to go upstairs.
3. Turn off last lamp before going upstairs
4. go upstairs and get pup situated
5. get fresh water for pup
6. get in bed and read till I pass out
7. wake up to wife telling me a) stop snoring and b) turn off the light by the bed.
8. Comply with wife.

repeat each evening until the baby is born and then create somethnig else - but stay as close to this formula as possible because I fear change.

I don't really have a ritual. My nighttime schedule generally consists of browsing the Internet until I get tired (unless it's a weekend and I'm going out, and even then, such things tend to wind me down), and then going to sleep. Needless to say, I'm a bit of a night owl.

Of course, this means I need an alarm clock to wake up. Thankfully I don't sleep through mine.