Monday I had some unexpected good luck. Unexpected good luck is always the best kind. In fact, have you ever noticed that when somebody is having the good luck that they expect to have they don’t call that good luck at all. They call it “the way life should be” and people whose luck isn’t as good at the time tend to call it “entitlement”.

But, I digress.

The point is that, on Monday, as I was getting ready to go to work, my cell phone rang and it was my boss, calling to tell me that the office had closed. They hadn’t done it out of the goodness of their hearts, of course. This is an insurance company.

There were lots of reasons why many people felt the company should have been closed on Monday. For instance, the 4th of July holiday was on Tuesday, and some people felt that if things were “they way they should be” they’d be able to go out of town for a four day weekend. Others pointed out that almost none of the clients that most of our departments serve would be open for or doing business on that day. People more inclined to action than complaint took the day as vacation or personal time if they had it.

Management tried to show its sensitivity by allowing us to wear jeans. It’s 95 degrees outside, someone, not unreasonably, pointed out. Okay, shorts then. The very thought of most of my co-workers bare legs was almost enough to make me call out sick! But, of course, I didn’t.

The office had closed because there was a storm, the power had gone out, there wasn’t any air conditioning, and only about ten computers were working, and the members of the IT department who had come in weren’t able to get them back up.

So, it was unexpected time off. Which meant that I was able to sit down and eat my lunch, and relax for the rest of the day. I don’t think I really relaxed much. I did laundry, but The Hub and I did go to an antique shop in Ellicott City to look for a china cupboard to replace the one we donated when we sold the house.

The old cupboard was a corner cabinet. Corner cabinets are a great idea, if you have corners. But what we have is an open floor plan, rendering a corner cabinet useless. Hutches and other pieces of furniture like that tend to be expensive, and modern ones tend to be very elaborate. I’m not in favor of either one of those two things, so I was pretty sure I was going to have to go with a “vintage” piece. Strangely, older furniture, which is usually much more sturdy and often a great deal more useful also tends to be less expensive than new stuff. But I’m not complaining. Of course, I love old stuff that looks old….so what looks like a bargain to me might look like junk to someone else.

Still, I found exactly what I wanted for $250. That’s less than my car payment, and the hutch will be around a lot longer than my car. Moreover, The Hub doesn’t have to do any modifications to it. We just brought it into the house and put the good china in it, and it looks great.

When The Hub went to work at the Depot, I went out and spent one of my Christmas gift certificates on a new book. Joyce Carol Oats’ The Falls. And I rented a movie, which turned out to have aliens in it. I stopped by Target and got myself some mixed nuts. When The Hub came home, he found Kendi and me watching the movie together eating nuts and seeds. I fed her nutriberries while she sat on my shoulder and made noises at the aliens – I almost ate a nutriberry myself by accident. The movie wasn’t all that good, but it certainly was relaxing.

That reminds me. I’ve gotta clean the crumbs out of the couch.