Make him the cutest that I've ever seen

Give him to lips like roses and clover

Then tell him that his lonesome nights are over.

(Mr. Sandman by Chordettes, 1954)

Okay, so I have the cutest man I've ever seen and yes his lips are like roses and clover. (Ha ha! He's going to love that!) But his lonesome nights won't be over if I can't keep from going to the recliner at midnight. So really all I'm after is the dream part!

See, the problem is I can't sleep.

Or rather, I can sleep for a couple hours at a time and then I wake up again. I don't know if it's because I'm living in a different house, with different sounds, different every things. Maybe I've always done this, but never noticed it really because I was always alone. No one else was disrupted when I woke up at 1 a.m. tossing and turning. No one else accidentally got hit in the head with my pillow after I flung it out of the way in frustration because it wasn't behaving. I just don't know.

I'm extra worried about it now because the new job I took is an hour away from where I'm living. And while I've driven this road so many times its almost like driving across town for me, there is still the factor that an hour drive is a lot of time for something to happen when you aren't fully rested and alert. I've already had one bad experience and don't care to repeat it anytime soon.

So far people have given me all kinds of suggestions:

-Take a hot shower right before bed. (Which is normal, but maybe the water isn't hot enough?)

-Take a cold shower right before bed. (I think this was a cruel and sick joke, but I'm desperate.)

-Drink a glass of warm milk. (Yuck!)

-Read (Yay!)

-Take a walk (I could get two suggestions in with this one, walk then shower! Surely that would get me to sleep?)

-Eat a slice of turkey. (This seems odd to me, but whatever.)

If home remedies don't help I also thought about an herbal supplement to help increase the amount of melatonin my brain makes. I'd really rather not go to my doctor and ask for a prescription if I could handle it myself.

Do you have any suggestions? If so then post a comment, or flag me down at the gas station. Or if you happen to work with me, then come on over to my little cubicle and chat me up. That would be nice not only for the advice, but I'm new and only three people talk to me!

Oh, and if your curious about what melatonin is, then I'd suggest going to www.wikipedia.com and doing a search. I found it rather informative.