I've had nightmares for as long as I can remember. My mother says I whimpered and cried in my sleep as a little girl. By the time I was in my early 20's I was so afraid to go to sleep that I developed insomnia.

But over the past year, they've been worse than ever. I've woken up screaming, flailing, kicking (I once punched my poor sleeping boyfriend right in the nose). 

Maybe I needed to talk to somebody about my nightmares, he suggested, probably fearing a future of similarly rude awakenings. I had to agree. Luckily I knew exactly who that somebody was: Karen Hollis, a professional intuitive and psychic medium. I was fortunate enough to work with Karen before (she did an amazing reading with Kurt Cobain for me), and I remembered that she also offered Dream Interpretation with the Tarot.

I was in for another amazing experience.

When you have been married nine years and together for more than 11, sometimes it's easy to take sex for granted. My husband and I knew that Lifetime's 7 Days of Sex challenge was not going to be easy. We knew it would require more focus and determination than we had been giving to sex in recent months. But we also didn't realize how good that can be.

Day seven marks the end of our week-long journey. Over the course of a week, many things can happen. A person can start to change a habit, write a short story, or learn a new skill. I don't think a week is enough time to save a failing marriage, but since my marriage was never failing, it certainly was enough time to give us pause and make us look at some areas that maybe could improve.

Last night we "renewed" our vows.

When you have been married nine years and together for more than 11, sometimes it's easy to take sex for granted. My husband and I knew that Lifetime's 7 Days of Sex challenge was not going to be easy. We knew it would require more focus and determination than we had been giving to sex in recent months. But we also didn't realize how good that can be.

Day six was a Monday, which never bodes well for us. We were up late Sunday night after our long drive home from the lake. We had a million chores to do to get ready for the week (laundry, lunch packing, unpacking from the lake) and our cleaning people were coming bright and early in the morning, which meant we would have no time in the morning, plus I was spending the morning at my son's preschool.

When I woke up for the gym, I shut off my alarm without making the class. This never bodes well.

When you have been married nine years and together for more than 11, sometimes it's easy to take sex for granted. My husband and I knew that Lifetime's 7 Days of Sex challenge was not going to be easy. We knew it would require more focus and determination than we had been giving to sex in recent months. But we also didn't realize how good that can be.

Day five had a lot of pressure because of the, ahem, failure of Day four. Since it was Mother's Day, we had a lot of family around to watch our kids, which gave us ample time to take a long hike followed by a long kayak ride.

Time alone is pretty much the key to this week, and if there is one thing my husband and I excel at, it's being active together.

When you have been married nine years and together for more than 11, sometimes it's easy to take sex for granted. My husband and I knew that Lifetime's 7 Days of Sex challenge was not going to be easy. We knew it would require more focus and determination than we had been giving to sex in recent months. But we also didn't realize how good that can be.

Day four was supposed to be our grand date night, which was somewhat foiled by our location. We are in the middle of nowhere in Northern New England, far away from all the great restaurants in the city and fun nightlife.

We have to make do with what we have. And so we do. We head to the drive-in.

When you have been married nine years and together for more than 11, sometimes it's easy to take sex for granted. My husband and I knew that Lifetime's 7 Days of Sex challenge was not going to be easy. We knew it would require more focus and determination than we had been giving to sex in recent months. But we also didn't realize how good that can be.

Day three (or night three, I supposed) came on the heels of yet another long day of double workouts and kid shuttling and then a long drive up to our family lake house for Mother's Day weekend.

We have hit the point in the year where we do a 3-hour drive out of the city every Friday night and I can say the last thing in the world on either of our minds when we do this is sex. But last night we were obligated. And worst of all? I was obligated to initiate.

When you have been married nine years and together for more than 11, sometimes it's easy to take sex for granted. My husband and I knew that Lifetime's 7 Days of Sex challenge was not going to be easy. We knew it would require more focus and determination than we had been giving to sex in recent months. But we also didn't realize how good that can be.

Day two was a little better than Day one. Last night the challenge was issued to my husband. He was supposed to be "on top. Even though we were not taking this literally, I did give up control and let him set the tone. And he did not disappoint.

When we agreed to do the challenge, Lifetime offered us a beautiful candle, a few bottles of wine, underwear, money for date nights, and bubble bath all in the name of recharging. But my husband took it one step further.

It's boring, it invades our privacy, it makes us mad at our opposing-political-viewpoint friends and family, it's just so LAME ... it seems like there a thousand reasons for why we should all quit Facebook, and yet we never do. We say it's because we don't want to lose touch with friends or whatever, but maybe the real reason is that we're addicted. Like no-fooling, serious-withdrawals, shivering-over-a-crack-pipe-style addicted.

A recent study revealed that talking about ourselves, like when we post a status update, lights up the same parts of our brain that derive enjoyment from food, money, or sex. That's right, using Facebook is exactly like getting paid to have sex ... with a donut.

Frostitution aside, there's a simple way to figure out if your pleasure-seeking brain has become too hooked on Facebook. Researchers from the University of Bergen in Norway have developed the first "Facebook Addiction Scale" to determine whether or not you're addicted to social media.