Unexpected Days Off

No, I didn't call in sick. But I got to stay home from work Monday night. A coworker called asking if I would please work for her this coming Sunday night so she could drive to Ohio to visit her parents and help out with her sick dad. In exchange, she would work for me that night. I could see absolutely no reason to say 'no', other than it would shorten a lovely 4-day weekend for me.

So I stood there in my bathrobe (having seen no reason to dress beyond that point after sleeping Sunday night), wondering how to make the best of the situation. Days off in the middle of the week for me are just weird. If they're not in preparation for a major event going on at the house, or a big trip, then...what? An opportunity for unmitigated laziness. A great source of guilt. Wow, I didn't have to hurry up and get back to bed and then hurry up and go to sleep. I could stay up late! I could do...stuff!

So I did. And then took a 4-5 hour nap. Just so I could sort of stay on 'schedule'. I stumbled back out of bed around 8pm to send Tim off to work.

I puttered around the house all night. I felt like carb-loading (puttering takes a lot of stamina), and made pasta with a 'sauce' out of various leftover dips taking up space (and rapidly reaching the end of their shelf life) in the fridge. Ranch dip, dill dip and red pepper Ajvar and a generous shot of Sriracha. Pretty tasty. Took another nap. On the couch, A la Cat. With Bauble Channel on TV. I watched a weird movie (Sugar). I could have switched to something else any time, but found myself getting really interested in it. And honestly, the gay parts didn't bother me. Really. The parts that really did bother me were the goldfish down the toilet scene, and the way Butch dies.

I made Lebkuchen dough for cookies for our basement-warming party this Saturday. How many times a year do I have all the key ingredients on hand for those (solid vegetable shortening, candied orange peel, sour cream and molasses)? I think they'll go over well with the nearly all solidly German-descent guest list.

I made a Carolina vinegar sauce for the pulled pork we'll make for Saturday. Simmered some pinto beans for chili.

I finally exercised around 5am. And I could take my sweet ass time doing it, too. No hurrying and watching the clock like usual.

I thought about writing, and brought up a fic file on the Mac, stared at it a while, and then wandered off.

By this time it was getting light out, and I always feel like somehow I need to be respectable in daylight, even though I'm the only one in the house, so I showered and cleaned up. Did all the dishes. And tried to convince myself I'd been a really productive monkey all night.