This is my third day alone. Shelly and the girls are on their Big Adventure Out West, and I will have the house to myself for 13 days. We've all been looking forward to this trip: Shelly for the chance to visit her family and get away from her everyday drudgeries, and me for the chance to not have to worry about anyone but myself for a while. I dropped them all off at BWI on Thursday afternoon, and now it's Saturday morning. So far, so good.

I've had two nights of really good sleep, without anyone screaming at me to come feed them or waking me up in the morning. Today I actually didn't get out of bed till 9:45. I don't know when the last time was that happened. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but I also have noticed that my dreams the last two nights have been much more vivid. I don't remember what they were about, but I do remember waking up and thinking "Wow, that was a more intense and realistic dream than I usually have." Maybe it's the fact that I am asleep for longer than four hours at a time, or that deep down inside, I know it's going to be quiet all night long. Maybe it was something I ate.

Speaking of which, last night I did an experiment in the kitchen. A while back I decided to try my hand at making my own pico de gallo salsa out of roma tomatoes, cilantro, onion, and garlic. I must say I make a mean pico. So last night I tried the next step in the progression: homemade tortilla chips. I looked online, and all you have to do is fry corn tortillas in vegetable oil. So in preparation for watching the late Jazz game (when they knocked the Rockets out of the playoffs! Go Jazz!), I fried up some chips. And you know what, they turned out pretty good! A few probably could have been left in the oil a bit longer - they were occasionally a bit chewy - but overall they were certainly a step above Tostitos in both taste and bad-for-me-ness.

I have a list of things to do: read, practice the piano at all hours, clean, fix little things around the house, sleep, bill more hours at work so that when the girls are around I can spend more time with them, watch shows that Shelly wouldn't want to watch with me. Of course I miss my girls - I came close to getting choked up when I was saying goodbye to Ellie at the airport - but I'm making the best of the situation, and I'm going to have a great time.