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This Spring Forward time change is always a tricky one. Losing that hour takes longer to adjust to than gaining the one in the fall. For a week my body will be wondering why it's getting up so early. The feeling of going to bed earlier doesn't seem to balance that out, either!

In the past, Daylight Savings Time went from mid-April to late-October. In recent years we've been switching earlier (mid-March) and ending later (November). In theory, this seems great. Longer daylight hours for a longer period of time.

Trouble is, this time of year is ugly. Seriously. The snow on the ground is dirty and yucky. The trees are bare. If the snow melts the grass is yellowish-brown. And the gardens are piles of mud with no green in sight. And it's cold. I want to see this for a longer period of time into the evening? Not really. It's actually kind of depressing. Same at the other end in the fall. By November, all of the colorful leaves have fallen from the trees, leaving the limbs bare. The gardens have all been emptied. And chilly weather is definitely here to stay.

I've heard the original idea for Daylight Savings Time came from Ben Franklin. I'm not sure when it actually was put into place as a reality. And who makes the decision about when it should start and end? Is that a government thing? A weather-bureau thing? Hmn? I may need to do some research...just for fun. Maybe I'll spend my extra hour of daylight tonight doing that...

Until next time,

Happy Reading!

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

Although it's bittersweet in some ways to see Daylight Savings Time end, I do love getting an extra hour this time of year. It's most apparent for sleeping. For about a week or so after the change, it still feels like sleeping in everyday, even though I'm getting up for work.

I'd like to say I did something really productive with my extra hour last night. I have blogs to write and revisions to make and new stories to create. But I didn't do any of those things. (Well, actually, I wrote this blog, but that didn't take very long.)

What I did...was sit on the couch and relax. The hubby and I watched the CMA's we'd DVRd earlier in the week. (The best part of the show was that Taylor Swift did NOT win any awards.) After that was done, I turned all of the clocks back so they'd be ready in the morning. Hubby took one look at the new time and said, "Wow, it's early. I'm going out to the garage to hang out." (He loves the garage...hopefully he's doing some cleaning while he's out there!)

I thought, okay, I have the house to myself for a while, I can get some work done. But it had been a busy day: laundry, raking leaves, baking, cooking, and updating my web-site and sending off some guest blogs. All in all the day was very productive. I even put away the Halloween decs and got out the Thanksgiving ones.

The Chicago Manual of Style is a sort of bible of the publishing and research community and is now available on your desktop. It is completely searchable and easy to use, providing quick answers to your style and editing questions. I found it on SWET's site. The Society of Writers, Editors and Translators. I originally found that link through Art For Housewives, which led to another fantastic find of Janet Cooper Designs, whose art is created from found objects. Take a look at her quilts, mixed media creations and tin can art!