I took a nice warm bath earlier. I might make this my Friday night ritual going forward. If my family hadn’t roused me from bed at 10:00 p.m. to dye Easter eggs, I’d be asleep already since the warmth and cleanliness of the bath got me right into sleepytime mode.

Other nice things about taking a warm bath: when you don’t have a significant other around to provide you with a nice warm hug, the warmth of the water is a nice substitute. Also, there is something womblike and cozy about it as well, for those of us who occasionally find that comforting. There are definite meditative elements as well, such as watching the steam rise from the surface of the water, submerging your head just until your ears are covered by water and then listening to those sounds or lack thereof, depending on what’s going on in your home/plumbing/tub.

Unlike a shower - which is my daily morning ritual to wake up, the bath is a relaxation ceremony, and as such, invites sleep. Or at least restfulness.

I can’t take another bath now just because I would feel awful about wasting that much water. However, had I not been interrupted, I would be fast asleep right now, enjoying the warmth and comfort of another wonderful relaxation place: my bed.

Now I am stuck in “awake” mode since there was frustration and crappiness downstairs and agitation/annoyance wakes me up and keeps me awake. I’ve got my bottle of water, a good book and a movie I’ve seen a million and one times playing on the TV to provide a certain level of “white noise”… but not.

This weekend is going to go by far too quickly. I have a paper to write for next Wednesday, Easter preparations, as well as some letter writing to do to contest a medical insurance thing. Impacted wisdom tooth extraction is covered - but it seems to have been processed incorrectly by the insurance company or the doctor’s office since they’re saying the procedure was not covered. All inquiries and requests for re-evaluation have to be submitted in writing, so I need to gather the info and set about the letter-writing campaign that this might turn out to be. I wish I could just make a phone call. I will call on Monday before I mail the letter, but chances are they’ll tell me to put it in writing. Yay.

I also want to carve out some time for exercise. I can’t do any Pilates or anything of that nature because of my wrist pain, but I can run on the treadmill. My wrist is exceptionally painful today, and I think it’s because of the rain and storminess we’ve had today. It’s horrible; I am an old woman and can feel the weather in my wrist.

I have another follow-up with the doctor on Thursday, and I think we’ll be getting down to brass tacks in terms of the word “surgery.” He’s tried a bunch of things and considered several different diagnoses. However, my gut tells me that the surgery he wanted to consider as a last resort is indeed going to be necessary. I will have to wait until I return from Tunisia and Poland in June for that to take place, and it won’t be pleasant wearing a cast throughout the hottest of the summer months… but it beats the pain.

Well, “Double Indemnity” is rolling and “To Kill a Mockingbird” awaits. It’s like I’m reading it for the first time since the first and only time I read it up until now was in freshman year of high school. I shudder to think that that was 14 years ago. So I can say - at least about this - “wow, I haven’t read that book in over 10 years.”

Although we aren’t even mildly religious anymore, I’ve agreed to accompany my mother tomorrow afternoon to take our food to be blessed. It’s really become more of a tradition than a religious observance. I still think it’s a little “wrong” in some way; I feel like it’s disrespectful to the people who ARE faithful and devout. But there are two sides to that. The people who are devout might be thinking that “at least” some people hold onto these traditions and not resenting the once-yearly food blessers at all.

If nothing else, it will be amusing to note that I don’t burst into flames upon crossing the threshold of the church. I ate some meat today, after all. That’s a big Catholic no-no on Good Friday. I was hungry and headachey… and why am I making excuses??? Ugh. Force of habit.