Today is one of those days when I'm dreaming of early retirement

It's not an option, of course, but today is Monday, and I've had a long weekend, but it wasn't really long enough.
What I'd really love to have is a sabbatical -- the bitter irony is that the possibility does exist, but the caveat "can be granted only if it is possible to find an adequate replacement for the duration of the sabbatical" is all the employer needs to refuse. Bugger them.
I'm not particularly unhappy with anything; it's just that I've been working for almost 24 years, and now would seem like a good time to take a break. Considering that I can only retire when I'm 65, a looooong holiday seems even more desirable -- while I may still be healthy and in good shape at age 65, I'm sure I'd be better able to enjoy a bit of freedom now.
Idle dreams...

Well, at least the long weekend was well-spent.
Last week I bought a new aerobic step from Luli, our Pilates trainer. The old one was, well, old, and because I'd started using it when I was still much heavier, some of the transversal supports on the underside had cracks, so it wasn't really safe anymore. The new one is bigger but also higher. Twice as high, to be exact (about 35 cm), and after I tried it for the first time on Thursday my muscles -- calves mostly -- were horribly sore. Then there were two hours of pretty tough tennis on Friday (Elena was in a drill-sergeant mood), and running on Saturday. So yesterday I asked Elena to shorten the scheduled two hours of tennis to 1,5; I think it was a good decision. There's a fine line between laziness and your body telling you that you need to take it a bit easier.
So, today at the gym, there won't be too much cardio and more muscle-building instead.

In cooking news, I made a simple but extremely yummy salad on Saturday: green asparagus and prawns with spring onion and a soy-sauce-and-chilli dressing. The winner, though, was what I sprinkled on top of it, i.e. sesame seeds roasted with a little bit of raw sugar and ground cardamom. I also made a tabouleh salad (using buckwheat instead of bulgur), and turkey meatballs.
There were leftovers, too *drools*
It's amazing how much better meatballs taste eaten cold and out of the tupperware bowl, with a generous helping of mustard.

I've already finished the email backlog and finally dealt with the overdue accountancy problem, so now I feel free to crack on with the SSHG promptfest fic. There are only two weeks left till I have to send it off, after all.