Thanks for all the birthday wishes, folks!

I really really want to go to back to sleep, or spend the day on the sofa. If people at work didn't already know I was in Vegas this weekend, I'd consider taking a sick day, but I don't want them to think I'm too hung over to come in.

Julia's the only one who's ever try to fake sick to date, so we had a heart to heart. My rule is: If you've had good attendance, and you need a mental health day, I'll probably let you have one. Don't fake sick, because thinking you're sick makes me worry.

This is some awesome parenting. And a great lesson about getting needs met without having to be sneaky. Wish a lot of my clients could have gotten that message early on.

WGN is running Homicide from the beginning, it looks like. The pilot's on right now.

I have never understood why Homicide wasn't more popular in syndication. I heard that when they showed a L&O crossover on TNT, the Homicide half got better ratings than the L&O half.

Anyhoo I have a 2:30 massage and then I am getting a pedi and then I am going shoe shopping AND then I am going to have a cold beverage outside and people watch.

Oh God, that sounds lovely.

I had a houseguest all weekend, and now I'm sleep deprived and fighting a headache. But did the headache cause the sleep deprivation or did the sleep deprivation cause the headache?

My rule is: If you've had good attendance, and you need a mental health day, I'll probably let you have one. Don't fake sick, because thinking you're sick makes me worry.

If you've had good attendance, and you need a mental health day, I'll probably let you have one.

Had this been applied to me, I would never have attended school on Thursdays. I dreaded and hated PE squaredance day with such a passion that very often I did end up with a stomach ache.

It took me years to get over my dislike of Thursdays in general. Damn Ms. Krauth! (My mom tells me she's still in the business of terrorizing elementary students and generally being an exceedingly unpleasent individual.)

Every now and again I'd fake a sick day and say I had a headache. I knew when I did this I'd get a headache, because that's the sort of fiercely literal kid I was, but sometimes it was just worth it.

I never puked from illness, very rarely got fevers, and still haven't broken a bone. All my illness involved my mother taking it on faith. But when your kid starts getting migraines at 8, I guess you just have to get used to that sort of thing.

I was sick quite a bit when I was a kid, so I always knew what symptoms to push when I wanted a day off. Once I got to fourteen or fifteen though, my parents would just let me have the days when I wanted them. I'm guessing if my grades had started going down they wouldn't have, but by the time I was in my last year I was probably taking a day off a week.

Every now and again I'd fake a sick day and say I had a headache. I knew when I did this I'd get a headache, because that's the sort of fiercely literal kid I was, but sometimes it was just worth it.

This is me too!