As of 9 AM yesterday morning I am on break until 8 AM next Monday.

And today I talked to the mechanic about my car, learned that the noise I've been hearing is what I thought it was (power steering pump going bad) and its failure will not doom me to total disaster if said failure occurs as I am merging onto I-10E at the Carrollton on-ramp. (This particular intersection or whatever is supposedly the most complicated in the country.) My car now has a "date" with the mechanic for next Monday. Not only that, but he'll run me back home, since I'm only a couple of miles away.

That's definitely a plus. Oh yeah, as long as he has the car he'll replace the timing belt which is giving me no trouble but has been happily functioning for 67,000 miles. (Replacement is recommended at 60K.)

I spent the afternoon reading at PJ's. After three tries I gave up on Laurell K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures. I just could not get "into" it. I'll tag it and "set it free" next time I'm at PJ's.

What I did read was Terri Garey's Dead Girls are Easy, and it was such a quick read that I read the whole thing this afternoon. A very enjoyable book. I'll have to see if she's written anything else.

As for my to-do list--it's at the same point as yesterday. As long as I don't get involved in another highly readable book this evening, I should be able to get a bunch done tomorrow both in and out of the house. Weather is still great--warm enough, but not hot enough for a clothing-soaking sweat.