AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 9, 2005 — I slept pretty late. And then I went back to bed! And I didn't care.

And. After that I watched Sunday morning TV in my sweats and drank coffee and read papers. I did this as long as I wanted, too.

The gym was deserted when I got there. FFP was still there. (Yes, separate cars but at least they aren't SUVs.) I told him to buy some sweet relish if he stopped at the store. So he stopped and got that and a few other things. Because I wanted to make tuna salad.

When I got home I did make that tuna salad. And I did an hour of pouring over finances. The time drug slowly by. This is the way to prolong your life. Of course, you will be miserable. But actually allowing myself to quit after an hour made it OK. I actually sort of enjoy it. You do have to face up to the bad investments along with the good...although I tend to look at what they are worth now instead of the face value. I write up some questions for FFP and he immediately researchs them and corrects things.

So I read. (Finished my book, read some papers.) I watched some TV. I have practically a canonical collection of The Simpsons to watch. We watched a DVD from Netflix of Before Sunset. I have to tell you...I liked it. But then you could film Bart Simpson walking around Paris and I would like it. (Oh, they did that and I did like it. Although it was a little boring when he was stuck being a slave in the French countryside.)

FFP made chicken parmesan. In two batches. With the result that the added cheese from batch one sort of burned into the pan. Ate some of it (good) and cleaned up from it, too. Put laundry in while we were lounging around the house.

While FFP watched Desperate Housewives I worked on one short story and wrote a couple of paragraphs of another. These are really just things that happened to me with a little poetic license, names changed. Maybe I give myself better motives, but I, of course, don't think so.

I almost finished the Sunday papers while we watched a parade of crime shows and a Northern Exposure episode (the one where Maurice has a fire and has to move out for asbestos remediation and Chris has a standoff with a buck).

My New Year's resolutions are so simple that I can easily match my day up with them. I've been devoting my 'to do' time (which could go to household chores beyond the usual laundry and cooking and washing dishes) to finances. It's that time of year. Shudder. To consider taxes. I have been putting in the creative time on the stories but I think I need to branch out some. I haven't been taking my camera out enough nor have I been reporting 'from the field' for you as much as I should. I'd hate for you to spend all your time in my head. As for the gym...well I've been spending about an hour a day in the gym unless I do something else real phsyical (like two hours of singles). I am not coming along as well as I like but I have been trying to just do 'one more thing' before bolting out the door.

Weather has been so mild. Winter will speak again here in Austin. At least once or twice anyway. I left my sweatshirt at the gym yesterday because I took it off, dropped it on the floor and then forgot it until I was driving down the street.

This was the kind of Sunday even retired people dream about. When you haven't scheduled anything and your time is really your own. Well, except for taking interrupts from the dog and the husband. Granted we schedule most of the obligations on any given day...lectures, performances, movies, dinner dates, meetings, lunches, interviews. The only danger of such a day is just sitting watching TV and reading papers and drinking one cup of coffee after another.

We went to sleep after midnight. And I couldn't fall asleep right away. I didn't worry it, just lying there thinking, trying to get comfortable. Maybe I drank too much coffee late in the day. (And too much all through the day.) Of course, I didn't drink any alcohol. Maybe a nightcap would have sealed sleep.