Today was a nice, quiet day

to myself, with the exception of my mom and John coming up for a visit. They gave me a DVD burner for my birthday and are going to help with my car as part of that, too. We went over and had a look at the car, and it was decided that the timing chain very well could have broken (which will cost about $350, much better than having the whole engine replaced), and that it would be better to pay a little more to have it towed back home to a mechanic they know they can trust who will probably be cheaper than the ones we've dealt with here. So my little car will be going away for awhile, and I hope it will be drivable the next time I see it.

After our visit, I had them drop me off at the bank to cash my paycheque and went up to Kroger's to get a few necessities, like dog and cat food, and a little for me, too, as well as some laundry detergent. I debated on going to the library as I walked back home, seeing as I had the day free, but I decided I didn't want to walk into the library laden with all that stuff, so I came on home. Besides, I have several mysteries out from the library already, and I decided my time might be better spent reading rather than watching the DVDs I'd considered renting for a dollar a day. But I might very well go in soon and get some of the discs that go to Battlestar Galactica, for example, since I loved the old show and I'm interested in what they've done with it, and it would probably be useless for me to watch the show until I get the backstory.

Then I came home right before the rain started, and promptly fell to sleep with the gentle breeze and patter of the rain. I slept from noon until around five and felt very refreshed afterwards. I had done some cleaning before Momma and John had come, and I didn't feel like tackling the laundry just yet, so instead I curled up with the cat (who amazingly stayed out whilst they were here and let them pet him--Darius, the once invisible cat who was too skittish for anyone) and a good book--I'm reading Charlene Harris' A Bone to Pick--watched a little TV at some point, then headed back to bed for awhile when a new bit of rain came in. I do that a lot when I have a free day...get up and work for a few hours, sleep a few hours, do more work, etc. I usually wind up getting a lot accomplished but get some rest as well. But today I just focussed on getting some rest.

Now I'm enjoying the quiet of the night with thunder rumbling in the distance. Tomorrow I'll work eight hours and do some laundry besides. But for today, it's nice to just relax.