Waking up early for work is hard enough already. But doing so when it's raining outside getting up an even more arduous task. If you ask most people, they'd agree that the sound of rain is soothing -- the perfect complement to a dark room and warm, cozy bedsheets. While this makes for a good night's rest, it can put us at risk of oversleeping, causing us to start the day off on the wrong foot by being late for work. I woke up this morning around 5 a.m. As soon as I heard the gentle rain hitting my bedroom window, I was almost lulled right back to sleep. I always enjoy a Saturday or Sunday morning shower, though. To be sure, it's a welcome treat on days where I don't have to go to work or wake up very early to run errands. Thunderstorms, however, are a different story. I'm a light sleeper, which means that the sound of thunder wakes me up in no time. While I'm usually able to go back to sleep, sometimes the persistent rumble of thunder becomes t...

Don't you just love Fridays? There's nothing like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel after a busy week. As I noted in a recent post, sometimes the "edge-of-your-seat" feeling that comes over us when the weekend draws near can be better than experiencing the weekend itself. I know for a fact that I feel a whole lot happier on Friday evenings than I do Sunday mornings. Just knowing that you'll be off the next two days is far more gratifying than waking up Sunday and realizing that, while you have the day to relax or do whatever else you need to take care of, you'll be off to work again in less than 24 hours. I'm not sure if you're the same way, but to me, Sunday doesn't start at 12 a.m. It starts whenever it is that I wake up, whether that be 10 a.m., noon, or 3 p.m. In other words, it could be 4 a.m. Sunday morning and I'll still think it's Saturday night. This always creates the illusion that the weekend is longer, even thoug...