If there's a prize for how little a person can accomplish on a Sunday, I think I might be in contention for it. The best thing I did all day was decide that work could wait, and so could housekeeping and car washing. I can run the vacuum or the hose any time (not that I do, but I could). And what else is there to getting ready for Monday morning anyway?

At one point I started to clean off the dining table where I'll have to set up the auditor, whenever she deigns to make her appearance here. I was going to have to do a little filing, and put a few CDs and office supplies back in their places (that place is not strewn haphazardly over any flat surface in the vicinity). I might even end up throwing a few loose papers in the recycle bag.

But I didn't pick a single thing up. I just looked, and thought about it, and realized that I'll end up doing what I do every time I have an audit. I'll toss everything on the bed while she's here, and close the bedroom door. With that kind of a plan, I don't need more than about ten minutes' warning before she shows up.

So I guess I did get something done today. I got rid of some of the stress I've been wading through for the last two weeks, simply by declaring myself ready for whatever comes up this week. I know I'm probably not ready for everything that could happen, but whatever happens that I'm not ready for isn't going to be made any easier to deal with in the future by worrying about something completely different and equally improbable now.

That's my new philosophy. I have a new philosophy every few days, and that's the one I'm going with today. It's a great philosophy because it rationalizes the course of action (or inaction) that I've already taken. Anything that justifies doing nothing is a useful philosophy.

It's not as if I spent the whole day sitting in front of the TV set watching stock car races and baseball games. That only took six hours (three hours each). I also finished, at long last, the book I started reading just before I left on vacation, and I started another one. (I'm now reading A Place of Hiding, by Elizabeth George. The title page says the book was printed in September 2003, so I'm already reading it on borrowed time.)

And I worked on my rosemary potatoes again this evening. I think I almost got it right this time. I don't think I could have had a better Sunday even if I'd spent it vacuuming and washing the car.