I remember the olden days when you snuck off to do something it was usually bad like breaking into the last of your little sister's Halloween candy or rummaging around the top shelves of your parent's closet to see if they'd bought your Christmas present already but hadn't wrapped it yet. I can't believe how very much time changes all things.

Well, the 4 day weekend is finally over and I can stop my adult type sneaking. And I haven't been sneaking candy or present peeks, no, I've been sneaking into my studio.

I've been self employed, or as I like to put it, professionally unemployed since 1984. But the reality is that I usually have 10 jobs to make up for the fact that I don't have a job. And that usually means NO DAYS OFF. Now I'm not saying I'm working every single minute of every day, but most of the time I'm working at least some of every single day. But when something like a 4 day weekend rolls around, there's a disruption in the force, young Skywalker.

When my family has all this time off, they want to, you know, have me spend some of that time with them. What's up with that? So I was forced to do all these terrible awful things like eating a delicious turkey dinner and a heaping portion of one those whipped desert fruit salad dealies that otherwise I wouldn't touch on a bet, but in the right setting tastes oh, so scrumptious. I was waylaid into making our annual tree farm excursion to find the perfect Dr. Seuess Christmas tree. And then I had to sit in front of a crackling fire to admire it. Torture, I tell you.

In between these forced interactions I'd creep up the stairs, carefully avoiding the creaky third step, and slip into my studio. Then I'd wake up my trusty little netbook and run away to my WIP. A few minutes of bliss later, I'd hear through my door,

"The dog needs out!"

"Have you seen my hat?"

"Who ate the last of the pie?"

"Do you wanna play tennis?"

Uh-oh, the "t" word. Of all the words they could utter to really get my attention other than "zombie attack" it's "tennis". I carefully put my netbook back to sleep.

I know my last post was all about the thankful, and sorry for the repeat but that's what this post's about too. But this time, do you want to know what I'm thankful for?

The end of the 4 day weekend.