Day off?

Technically, yes. In reality, all the things I would normally do on Saturday or after work needed to be done today, or they wouldn't get done.

First item of business: sleep in. So what if that means I was up at six rather than five? Extra sleep is extra sleep, even if it is fraught with dreams of Elizabethan dresses in easter egg colors and an SUV with beef broth six inches deep in the passenger side footwell. I have no idea where that came from.

Putz around home for a bit, picking up miscellany, returning things to their home.

Head out just before nine, reaching Goodwill just after they open. The single bag of donations has been in the car trunk since the rummage sale...in July.

Zip over to Aldi. This time, remember to take the list into the store. Haven't had breakfast, so some impulse items make it into the cart. Still, the damage is just $30. The store has been much busier of late; many seem to be coming to Aldi for the first time, in search of a lower overall grocery bill.

Home to unpack groceries and eat breakfast, surf a bit and organize my next foray.

The five buck haircut place wasn't overly crowded, but there was a wait, even with six stylists working. Three were doing more complicated things (they are actually full service, though I'm not sure I'd go to the five buck haircut place for a perm or color) and three or four people were in front of me for a cut.

"Cut" is a bit ambitious of a description for a two inch, straight across trim. Still, she took her time with me, and put in a shine treatment that didn't weigh down my hair or make it look stringy (I have lots of hair, but it's fine - lots of leave-in conditioners make me look as if I haven't washed my hair in weeks).

Off to a coffee shop, intending to finish a novel (reading, not writing) and do a bit of lesson prep. I finished the novel, but found that my eyes kept closing. Home it was, for a nap.

Dinner prep is pretty much done, as are lunches for the next few days. Why, oh why is it so much trouble to make a salad? The hope is that all the prep work I did tonight will pay off in saved time during the week, but I don't know. I want to take salads for lunch (lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, a little bit of cheese, crumbled turkey bacon and a bit of diced chicken breast) and it's just easier to do all the prep at once.

Limp salads are not my thing, so I end up with all these little containers in my lunch bag with tomatoes, cheese, crumbled turkey bacon, diced chicken and a little shredded cheese. The dressing is a homemade dijon mustard vinaigrette, which may taste a bit off this time, as I appear to have every kind of vinegar known to man except the red wine that I needed. I used white wine vinegar; the color is way off, but the taste seems ok.

If I can manage to eat dinner, do the dishes and find clothes for tomorrow before dropping from exhaustion, it will be a good thing.