I sleep with the bedroom door cracked so the animals can come and go all night. Our pets don’t like closed doors and I certainly don’t like being the concierge of door, so it’s all good.
Except, these kids don’t always turn off the lights. What lights? The lights that are every two feet for the entire back of the house. Kitchen lights — stove, sink, or even the overhead, hall lights, central or front, laundry light, bedroom lights —
I used to not allow them to stay up after me, because TURN ALL THE LIGHTS OFF!
I take this seriously. “I’ll keep your phone for a week if you leave a single light on in here tonight.”
I mean business.
I used to get up and do it myself, but in the last year or so I’ve become the town crier of lights. I’ll sit in my bed and holler out, “Whose light is on? What light is that? Turn that light off!” Cause I know damn well I turned everything out on my way to my bedroom.
“Is someone in the laundry? Is that light on? Who’s doing laundry now?”
I’m actually getting good at determining what light is on depending on the angle.
If I wake up at 2am and see a light is on, I might turn it off, but I also might yell about it. “Are you still up? Why is this light on? Turn this light off!”
We were all headed to bed when I said to the kids, “Turn all the lights off when you’re done.”
The Mister said, “Yes, you know how Mama is, turn all the lights off.”
“I can’t sleep with all that light poppin in my left eye, people. Shoulda painted the hallway black, for fuck’s sake…”
NO ONE WAS LISTENING TO ME!
They took this opportunity to mock me.
“Is there a light on somewhere in the house?”
“I sense a light.”
“Who’s in the kitchen? Why’s the light on?”
“Pee in the dark!”
“Sassy, are you using light past 11pm?”
“Read by the light of the moon!”
“Turn that light off!”
“I wish the neighbors would turn out their lights.”
“Is there a light on in Tibet? I think there may be a light on in Tibet.”
Are you in the mocking group or the mocked group?
joeyfullystated 
Ha! You and me with lights! Unlike Motel 6, I don’t keep a light on for you….
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HAHA! That’s a LOL!
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I am in the mocking group on this one, Joey. I remember my step-dad always yelling to turn the lights off and it drove me mad. Not only that, but I really don’t like the pitch dark.
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Fair enough, Judy 🙂
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I bought the Philips Hue lights for the house cuz ma would get comfy & call me halfway across the house to turn of the light 3 feet away from her…so….Now all she has to do is say “Alexa, turn off the living room light.” Instead of yelling for me. Lol
I cant sleep well with lights on either, so I hear ya.
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Clever! I can sleep in ambient light, but not some glare from the doorway!
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LOL! I’m both. I mock if somebody wants me to turn a light off, but I’m SO SERIOUS if I’m the one playing Blitz Blackout Warden. ‘Member that Daffy Duck WWII cartoon? “TURN OUT THAT LIGHT!”
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Sadly, I do not remember that Daffy skit 😦 I maybe look it up?
I’m not caring about lights until bedtime. The Mister cares about lights all day. I just wanna be able to sleep!
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Oh, I am definitely in the mocking group….
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🙂
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About this I am mocked, like my Father before me. It is about a needless expense and waste.
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And it’s hard to sleep through 🙂
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I’m in both camps. Use the lights if you need to, but make sure you need to. Then turn the friggin things off. I’d kind of like to take a .22 to my neighbor’s back porch light. He’s sort of lackadaisical about whether it stays on all night. It shines right into my bedroom.
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OH that is AWFUL! I don’t blame you one bit! May I suggest room-darkening drapes?
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We use the blinds in the winter, but kind of like the window open the rest of the year.
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I do, too. Sheers for me.
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Nothing more irritating than have your children ignore you. While they are still under your roof, which they have not earned, and are not paying for (including the electricity bill.
I need dark to sleep.
And you’re only asking for the courtesy that those who use something be responsible about putting it back the way it is supposed to be when they’re finished using it! On your side. Our side.
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Thanks! 🙂
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Sorry. The pain levels have been unusually high, and it makes me 1) unable to focus on writing, and 2) rather grumpy. My kids are lucky they are no longer at home!
Doesn’t make me wrong about what I write, but it comes out less kindly than I might otherwise manage.
You’re still right. Hope that helps!
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I’m sorry your pain level is up
I didn’t take your comment as less kindly at all.
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You’re sweet. Being able to give a reader the exact nuance you want has a lot in common with parenting. I often write a comment the way I really want to, and then edit it to ‘acceptable in public.’ Not this one – it was on the edge of grumpy mom.
Other times I dump the whole comment. Other times I store it in Notes, and then dump.
I’ve told my husband to not take a single thing personally, and have me cared for by strangers, if I lose my filters. There is a lot of buried stuff that needs to be tamed before being given a life. It would scorch your hair.
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I would definitely be in the mocking group, lol. This was a fun read. I always leave lights on…but I’m very considerate when with people who prefer darkness. 🙂
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It’s okay, we all have our “things” — and it’s great you’re considerate 🙂
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We leave the stove light on as a “night light” in the kitchen. My husband sleeps with the TV on so there is light all the time anyway. I do think it is a waste of electricity to have the lights on when not necessary but I’m not fanatic about it and wouldn’t mock you 🙂
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So diplomatic 🙂
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Well, the kids and I are behind a closed door, so there is no one to yell at about the lights. I only yell at cat Gibbs because he thinks the lights should be on and food in the dish before my alarm goes off.
You know, the kids might start turning lights off if you made them pay for part of the electric bill. Just sayin…
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We did have an incentive program when we had all four at home (so really it was about the previous teens.) I forget what it was, but they were rewarded when the light bill was under X amount in the summer. It’s not about the bill for me, I just can’t sleep with that light on my face!
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The Mrs is the goddess of dark in our house. I rarely make it 3 feet from the switch before she reminds me to turn the light off. She’s also not one to use a 60 watt bulb where a 40 watt might do. I think she’d buy 10 watt bulbs if they made them. I think 60s are dim. I’d leave them on as a nightlight.
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LOL I recall your wife and I are a lot alike with the lights. I could have guessed this. 🙂
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A little of both I think. I can sleep with certain lights on, but certain other lights have to be off. I get it, though. If you’re not using it, turn it off unless you pay that bill.
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Right! And don’t shine it on my face! 🙂
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Yep!
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Some of each for me–dark for the spouse, lights on in the room the elderly cats sleep in and then out at bedtime for them, light in the hallway so no one falls down stairs on way to bathroom, all of that–a lot of cost-conserving and some fengshui in areas that seem to need the oomph at times, or if laziness happens–but secretly I am the Ruler Who Decides when it all happens, even if others are here and differ in opinion–
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Yes, Ruler of Light and Darkness, right on. We have a night light in the front hall, it’s fine for traveling, but I definitely cannot see it from my pillow 🙂
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1) I cannot sleep with any lights. Even little electronic lights on fan, humidifier, alarm panel. I wear a mask 2) mothers are always the ones mocked.
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A sleeper after my own heart, Luanne 🙂
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Yuppers, a crabby one in hotel rooms because they always have little random lights.
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You mean THE UNDER DOOR BEACON FROM HELL?!? lol
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I get REALLY really upset if mocked, so I tend not to mock either. Except when someone has it coming. We are short on people who would stroll around in the night too. And bestia doesn’t mind the dark. That said, my mother also likes to holler from her bedroom. Not always so easy to take.
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Haha, I bet. I’m sure as my kids leave home, they’re like, “My mama ain’t here to yell!” 😀
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Well, I’m probably among the mocked group. I like the lights on most of the time. Except very early in the morning when I first get up, the only light is from my computer screen. I have 2 nite lights in my bedroom at night, plus the glowing stars on the ceiling. We leave the over the stove light on all night, and the porch lights back & front, too. I have some flashlights, too, which I use if walking through the house at night. 🙂
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Moo likes to walk around with her flashlight, too. Bit fraid of the dark, I think. I can’t see in the dark, hardly at all, but I sure can sleep in it 🙂
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Mocked, definitely mocked. This apple didn’t fall far from the tree. As a kid, I was in the mocking group; my best friend and I even nicknamed my dad Mr. Energy. Now I realize, I have become my father.
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Haha! Fair enough 🙂
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I see nothing wrong with painting the hallway black, and I love pee in the dark. 🙂 Heck, a nightlight bothers me.
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You and me, we agree ALAWT!
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I can’t sleep with bright lights, but we close the door. There’s some dimmers in the kitchen that I leave on low for any teen roaming in for a late night glass of water and to make sure the puppy isn’t left in pitch black. The girlie leaves the upstairs bathroom light on and the door cracked, but it’s far enough away not to stream under my door. All others, I will go around asking about whether or not people’s fingers are broken since they can’t shut of the light.
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Haha! Yeah, we’ve got enough light to get around in a kitchen and bathroom way. Lots of broken fingers around here 😉
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LOL!!!! Mocked! The slightest light!
The bed used to be next to the door, the year we moved here. Our room is warm. The rest of the house COLD! Door concierge all night long. If I left it slightly open it got cold in the bedroom. My brother and hubby invented and installed a pet door. Luckily when we got the dog we were elated she fit through it too.
As for light, it must be a genetic thing because my brother has it too. He stuffs blankets around his door (no pets allowed in his room). We finally decided to leave the light on in the mudroom so as to leave night wanderers a steady light to get to the rest of the house without tripping. But it doesn’t reflect into our room. But if hubby can’t sleep, he pulls off his apnea mask. Machine light goes on, breathing noises and loud hissing. He then pulls out his phone or fire. Lights. God forbid he should put on Netflix. The constant changing of light drives me crazy. I try to pretend to be asleep but I am waiting for the second shoe to drop. He’s going to get up to wander down the hallway, maybe even to get a midnight snack. Yep. There it is. Then wait for him to come back because I know there will be more to the noise and light party. Yep, there’s the machine lighting again. Nope, not ready for sleep. Phone lights. Forgot to go to the bathroom, undo machine, lights, bathroom lights, there are far more shoes to drop.
Me? If I can’t sleep I prefer watching a rerun of Pirates or something on TV with sound. It would be good to have it on auto-turn off but I have to wake to turn it off and that wakes me up. So I turn on the Fire, Netflix, some ocean documentary, Or listen to a book with black background white font. Or Audible and the picture fades to black as I listen. It doesn’t wake him if I put on a light to find Advil or even to sit and knit. I wish light and the slightest noise didn’t wake me. I wish I could do it like him. Heck, he can take a nap in the day and still sleep all night! Yes, I’ve been mocked! But I don’t need light to get to the bathroom or even in the bathroom. I don’t need light to wander the rest of the house. He and I should trade skills!
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Oh my word! I can’t see in the dark, but honestly, I don’t need to. I reckon I get to the bathroom and back with closed eyes on the regular.
I LOVE to watch nature shows before bed. That’s my thing. I swear two of my cats watch them too.
My husband can sleep through ANYTHING. Thunderstorms, crying kids, BOMBS, lol! And he can fall asleep faster than you can purl one!!!
That pet door was smart — we put one on our laundry.
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Lights on when I’m trying to sleep make me insane. I’m definitely a mockee.
Husband simply doesn’t understand that if he doesn’t completely close the blind in his office, when the motion detector light on our neighbour’s garage door turns on, the light comes through his office window, bounces off the blind in our bedroom, and WAKES. ME. UP.
Sheesh.
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Yep, yep — I understand you!
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Quicker than a purl one? That is impressive. Best I can do is a knit two.
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Hahaha! “Sassy, are you using light past 11pm?” 😀 My husband is kinda like that, but throughout the day. This is the part I don’t like about him working from home, because I need every light in the house on pretty much and he wants them all off.
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🙂 There’s one in every house 😉
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