Day 1 is starting off decently. I already realize the great benefit in rising early. It’s funny how each time I do this it feels like the first time. It was nice to wake up and smell the fresh coffee that was already brewed that I had set on autopilot the night before.
I went to bed around 11:30pm last night and got up around 6:15am this morning after two snooze pushes. 
It’s amazing how easy it can be to use excuses and just go back to sleep. I had plenty of excuses I could have used this time around, but I stayed strong and here I am typing this at 6:45am.
Birthday
Today is my son’s birthday! He is turning 4 and VERY excited for this day. In my kickoff post I wrote about all the reasons why I love to be self-employed.
This is one of them.
To be able to be here and see my son enjoy his birthday is priceless. Actually, it does come as a price. I have to stop working to watch that happen. Before today, I would have slept until about 8:30 or 9:00. I would have moved around the house slowly doing what I usually do in the mornings. I would have finally sat down in front of the computer at 9:30 – 9:45.
Stray Dog
When we got home from the grocery store last night I noticed a note on our door. Our neighbor wrote that he found a pup wandering around and was pretty sure it was ours. He left it in the back with a pail of water.
We were pretty certain that we had left our dog inside before we left, so we were a bit curious as to what dog was back there. I went through the gate and searched all around, but did not see a dog. I assumed that our neighbor found out who the owner of the dog was and came to get it.
We went inside and had dinner and turned on the t.v. Out of nowhere a dog, which looked strikingly like our own dog was standing on the back deck and our dog went ballistic. I jumped up and went around the house through the gate to retrieve the dog. My wife thought it was strange that I had not seen it before. She asked if I looked under our deck. I thought hard and stuttered and stammered. “Well, DID you??”, she asked. I guess I didn’t.
So, fast forward to now… We kept the dog overnight, gave her a bath and fed her. This was an unexpected event that consumed a few hours of my time. I posted a craigslist ad and added a few entries in some ‘lost pets’ sites. Additionally, the poor dog was up part of the night whining probably wanting to go home.
*** UPDATE *** – The owner of the Goldie called this morning! She’s coming to get her later today.
Homecoming
Last night my 7 year old son got home from spending the weekend with his best friend and their family on his friend’s grandpa’s farm in Oklahoma. We had expected him home earlier, but the family was held up a few hours before leaving to come home. Once he was home and tucked in bed and our 3, almost 4 year old was finally sedated from all the excitement, we went to bed.
I had PLENTY of excuses I could have used to stay in bed, but here I am! It’s now 7:00am and I am all ready to attack this day and get PRODUCTIVE!
Rising early is kind of like making a deposit of money into a savings account. I am allocating extra time to my day to get things done or to account for other events in the day. If I can keep up the goal I have for myself this week I will be adding an additional 10-13 hours to my work week!
