Stage 1 dreaming

I have been telling my husband for years that I have a "strange thoughts stage" right when I first go to sleep. From researching the dream stages, this appears to be happening during stage 1. Sometimes this is just a stage of a jumble of thoughts. Sometimes it is half-awake dreams. This also occurs regularly when I am lightly sleeping between alarm clock snoozes, while sleeping while watching TV, sleeping in the car, etc. I haven't been able to find anything on dreaming in stage 1...do any of you have any information about this?

Thank you!

This is hypnagogia, its very beginning to be exact.
Hypnagogia begins by your thoughts going independant. It, like dreams and all other mental activity consists of conceptual thought and the "hypnagogic imagery", "hypnagogic audio hallucinations", etc. all manifest themselves only relative to different reasons that make different senses intensify during hypnagogia.

This is where the WILD (Wake Induced Lucid Dreaming) technique comes in.
I'd suggest you read a tutorial on it but the point of utilizing it is to train one's self to be able to stay aware to some degree while going through hypnagogia thus entering the following dream with enough awareness to become lucid right away.