TGIF!

I'm so glad it's Friday, mostly because I woke up this morning convinced it was Saturday. I couldn't figure out why my alarm had gone off at 4. Why would it do that on Saturday morning? I never make that mistake. By pure providence, I didn't turn it off, I just kept slapping the snooze. I did that for two hours, dozing slightly while listening to my kitty purr contentedly on my knees, until I heard my upstairs neighbor running out the door yelling "I'm going to be late for work." "Work? He doesn't work on Saturdays...he's a lawyer," I thought to myself. And then it hit me...it was Friday, it was 6:04, and I was going to be late for work too! My boss is a huge stickler for punctuality, and I had just been talked to about being late last week. I got up, flung my cat off the bed after she bit me for moving, and jumped into the shower. I hadn't laid out clothes for work or packed my gym bag or made a lunch or set my coffee pot up to make coffee for me automatically. This was all doable, but it had to be done without a hitch or I was going to be late.

After the quickest shower in history, I ran about trying to pack bags and find clothes to wear for work and get the coffee pot started. Hitch number 1, I was out of coffee. How does that happen?! I'm a coffee fiend. How could I possibly run out of coffee? I remembered a sample packet of french vanilla coffee Gevalia had sent me to try to lure me back to their mail-order program. Thank you Gevalia! I may never order coffee from them again, but it was thoughtful of them to send me a sample so that I didn't have to go without coffee this morning.

Once I got the coffee pot off and running, I went about getting dressed. Finding a suitable outfit, I scrambled to find a pair of nylons to wear with it and (hitch number 2) promptly put my thumb through the last good pair of them I own. There really is nothing more frustrating than being in a hurry and ruining a decent pair of nylons. The damn things are expensive to replace! With a little help from my clear nail polish, I "fixed" the pair I had on and continued running around. It was 6:25. I had to leave the house at 6:30 sharp in order to make it to work. I still had a towel on my head, and I hadn't brushed my teeth either. It wasn't looking good.

I hurried with my boots, packed a pair of shoes to wear at work, grabbed coffee from the pot that was still running, and ran out the door...at 6:35. I didn't wait for my car to warm up. I didn't brush the snow off of it. I just drove. Every slow person, erratic SUV, Mr. Fix-It truck, school bus, and CTA bus was on North Avenue. Remembering the speeding ticket I got the last time I was late for work, I drove relatively slowly (only 7 mph over instead of 12). By some luck of the gods or the Irish, I pulled into the parking lot at work at 7:25 and managed to get to my desk by 7:32. I can't figure out how I did it, but at least I did. Thank God it's Friday, because if this had been Saturday and I had done all this, I would be really pissed off right now!