Spoiled Brat

The combination of holiday/vacation time off I've had in the last few weeks is going to either spoil me rotten or kill me. Last week I worked only Wednesday. (I'm not far enough up the seniority ladder to get Wednesday off, too.) This week today and tomorrow are holidays, and because 'm taking a vacation day next Monday, I'll end up with a 5-day weekend. Hoo hoo!

Not everyone is as thrilled about this as I. Especially some of my customers, the tax-paying residents of my dear state, who think that I--and my coworkers--should be available around the clock. I hope that they--and you--aren't too resentful or jealous. If they only knew that, perverse as it is, I spend a lot of my down time trying very hard not to think about work--the thick pile of applications, callbacks, and cases to research sitting on my desk--and what I can do to solve all the problems of the many individual customers that my pile represents.

Enough of that kinda talk! Now I'll bore you with the non-work stuff. Sean spent last week with us, and we have a fabulous time. We went out exactly once, to shop downtown and then meet Uncle Jim & Auntie Susan for dinner at the Old Fashioned. The rest of the time we spent doing not much of anything--reading, talking, eating, drinking... It was fabulous.

I started this long weekend off right, I think, by sleeping in until 8:15. 8:15! I can't remember the last time I slept in that late. Sure, starting at 5:00 I work up several times, but I just kept rolling over and going back to sleep. Bliss!

After getting up, the first thing I did was rush in my jammies to take the trash & recycling to the curb, 'cause I was afraid if I didn't get it out right away the collectors would miss us. Then I sat down on the sofa on the radio, with my coffee, morning banana, and sparkly new pink netbook* to surf the net and listen to WPR on the radio. I haven't moved since.

It's not all about being a layabout today. Whenever I decide to rise from the sofa, I'm going to clean my messy, dirty house and put away the Christmas decorations, so we can start the year with a clean and tidy house. It'll probably be time for a nap after that.

****NEWS FLASH***

My Dearest O and I are going out tonight! Yep, we're gonna party like it's 1999--like we're thirtysomethings instead of fortysomethings, that is. I'm not sure what came over us. We usually stay home, struggling to stay up until midnight, on New Year's Eve. A few weeks ago we stopped for dinner at Harmony Bar, where they were advertising their New Year's Eve celebration, which includes The World Famous Harmony Bar New Year's Eve Buffet, midnight toast, goofy hats, and music by The Jimmys. We bought two tickets, so now we're committed. To ensure we can stay up, we plan on taking a several-hour nap after My Dearest O gets home. Gee, we must be getting old.

I just hope there's no ice storm or anything else that'll keep the always-open Madison taxis from running tonight. I'm not going to be in the mood to walk home after midnight.

Enough for now. I need a coffee refill.

Cheers, and may you all enjoy a happy, healthy, and prosperous new year!

-b

*Yep, cheap as I am I bought myself a prezzie. My laptop has been broken for years, and the guys have been harassing me to buy a new one. I finally put a crowbar in my wallet and ordered a Eee PC for Christmas. So far, I love it!