Four days' worth of not very much

My four-day weekend is almost over. It's gone by in a flash, and I don't have too much to show for it. Here's how I've passed my time:

Saturday:

• Slept late.
• Finished reading Iris Johansen's Stalemate.
• Babysat the granddogs, Lucy and Winston, while their mama worked in her studio in my backyard.
• Washed and folded four loads of laundry.
• Spent half the afternoon working through the first three lessons in a tutorial called Adobe Photoshop Elements 5.0, Classroom in a Book.
• Ate something so boring I can't even remember it for dinner.
• Watched equally boring TV until bedtime.
• Started reading James Patterson's Cross.
• Oh, yeah, and read other people's blogs off and on throughout the day.

Sunday:

• Slept late again.
• Unloaded the dishwasher.
• Read the interesting parts of the newspaper (which my daughter kindly picked up from the driveway as she came over to work again).
• Babysat the granddogs again.
• Read other people's blogs and thought about answering e-mail.
• Dusted and vacuumed (which I'd intended to do on Saturday).
• Got a phone call from my boss, telling me he was on his way home from the hospital (thank goodness).*
• Showered and otherwise whipped myself into suitable shape to appear in public.
• Went to the movies with my two daughters. We saw Dreamgirls, which, if you like musicals, you might enjoy as much as we did.*
• Went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner after the movie. I had a horseradish-encrusted filet that was so good I can still remember the taste of every bite.*
• Forgot to tape the season premiere The Amazing Race. Dadgum it!
• Went to bed, read a little bit, and could not fall asleep for the life of me until after four in the morning. My legs ached (from dusting and vacuuming the entire house, standing up through a shower and primping session, and climbing stairs in the movie theater) and my brain pumped out a steady stream of thoughts and ideas that could have easily waited until morning.

Monday:

• Woke up early to let the dogs out, then went back to bed.
• Woke up again when my daughter called to say she was on her way over.
• Let my daughter and the granddogs in, then went back to bed until a little past noon.
• Read other people's blogs and considered answering e-mail.
• Scanned dozens of photos my younger daughter brought over the day before. These were pictures of her biological father (my first husband) and his siblings and ancestors. I wanted to be sure these people were included in my genealogy database in case my girls ever get interested in that kind of thing. Here's my favorite photo of the whole batch:

• Made a salmon loaf for supper--fast and relatively good.
• Talked on the phone with next-door neighbor I haven't seen for a while.
• Talked on the phone with neighbor in front of me to offer condolences after I learned (from next-door neighbor) that their little dog had died.
• Felt bummed out by those two phone calls, and wasted two mindless hours watching Wife Swap and Supernanny.
• Forgot to take the garbage to the curb because it didn't feel like Monday night.
• Went to bed and read for an hour.
• Slept eight hours of blissful, uninterrupted sleep.*

Tuesday (today, so far):

• Got up at six forty-five and stayed up (pats self on back).
• Watched the Today show in its entirety.
• Gave Butch a long belly-rub and Kadi a full-body massage.
• Read some more of my book. And some more of other people's blogs.
• Cropped and labeled all the photos I scanned on Monday.
• Talked to both daughters on the phone.
• Ate the leftover salmon loaf.
• Took ground meat out of the freezer to thaw for spaghetti sauce (which lets me put off going to the grocery store for at least one more day).
• Wrote this blog entry (while watching part of Divorce Court and part of Ellen).

Before the day is over, I'll answer those e-mails, write checks to pay a few bills, wash one more load of clothes, make and eat the spaghetti, watch American Idol and take my book to bed again.

If you're still with me, you may have noticed it would be difficult to get a good blog entry out of any single item on this list, which is why I didn't even try. These last four days have been mostly uneventful, but they've also been really, really restful. I'm feeling good!

*The best parts of the whole four days.