What to do with eight hours of peace and quiet?

This morning, I think I must have gotten the surprise of my life when I hear Per's voice from the bathroom, "What if I take her to work with me today?"

I was groggy and still half asleep. Did I hear him right? Did he just say that he would take Keira to work with him today? "What?" I mumbled.

"What if I take Keira to work today?"

He did say it. I wasn't hearing things. "Ok," I say agreeably.

"No," Per said. "You probably don't want to be without her."

"No, it's ok," I said. I mean, the girl needs to be with her father right?!

Since it was such a surprise to get a day free, I wasn't exactly prepared to take full advantage of the day...like making sure I had the right snacks in the house, a nice bottle of wine, cheese, DVD's etc. But, I can tell you that I took full advantage of the eight hours of peace and quiet..no diaper changes, no interruptions.

How did I spend the eight hours?

1. Surfed the internet in front of the TV for a couple of hours while savoring a hot cup of Starbuck's coffee.

2. Worked out.
I did the 20.5 km ride on the virtual reality Spinning set up we have at home. I beat my last time by 7.5 minutes.

3. Unloaded the dishwasher in about 2 minutes flat.
No stopping every couple of seconds to say, "No, Keira don't touch the knife." or "Don't sit on the door. You'll break it." or "That's not for you."

4. Felt 20 lbs lighter taking out the trash.
If you've read my blog post from yesterday, you will see that I have to go up and down 3 flights of stairs every day in order to get to the apartment. Think that you have to do this with groceries and Keira.

5. Make a big pot of congee and ate it in front of the TV.
Yes, ate in front of the TV. It's been a darn long time since I've done that. We've been trying to teach good habits to the kid so meals are always at the dinner table with the TV off. Ahh...what a decadent thing this was.

6. Resurrected past beauty routines.
Yes. That's right. Girls, you know what I'm talking about. Plucked eyebrows. Exfoliated. Shaved. Manicure. Pedicure. I had a chance to do it all at one time. No more sneaking in a little here and there and always only doing a half ass job.

8. Took a loooooooong shower.

9. Watched two back to back episodes of NCIS.I love this show. I wish I was more like Jethro...He's such a grump, and he makes his staff quake in their boots. Gotta love it.

10. Talked to my parents--uninterrupted.
No little one pulling my pants down or making a lot of background noise. I actually heard and understood what they were saying.

11. Made a new iPod playlist.Keira has inadvertently taken over my iPod. There's nothing but children's songs loaded onto an iPod that was previously stocked with pop, trance, jazz, and latin songs. Approximately $30 and 1.5 hours later, I had a new playlist made especially for my tastes!

8. Looked at my watch and realized that it was 5:00pm and I needed to start dinner for my family. Where did the time go?

How did Keira spend her day? Here's a few pics of a day at work with Dad: