What would you do on a furlough?

I pulled weekend reporter duty this weekend, so when the clock struck 11 p.m. last night, I skedaddled away from my desk. The voicemail message had been changed. An out of office message had been set up for my e-mail. My desk was even clean enough so you could see the desk top without having to move piles of paper.

I was ready for my week-long absence from the working world.

It's furlough time boys and girls.

I admit. At first I wasn't too thrilled with this whole idea of a week off of work without pay. But as it got closer. I realized I was looking forward to it. Not sure why, but for some reason I think it's a good time for me to be taking a break. And since it only took me 36 minutes to get a real, live person from the unemployment office on the phone Friday, I feel OK knowing that I'll at least get some cash coming in the week I don't work - which will be a little bit more thanks to a decision our governor made.

So what's a girl to do during her furlough? Plenty. I present the Furlough To Do List:

• Catch up on back episodes of 24. I need my Jack Bauer fix.
• I've got a hot lunch date with a bunch of first-graders on Monday. Seems my niece is dying to have me come to have lunch with her at school. Should be fun.
• A mid-week trip to the western part of the state to visit a friend.
• A Friday get-together with my college roommate - who's just been laid off from her job - in Milwaukee. The Titanic exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum is on the agenda.
• The apartment? It needs a good cleaning.
• I've been slacking at the gym the last two weeks - mostly in preparation for the furlough - so I'll be getting back on track by squeezing in some good runs and bikes and hopefully even hitting the pool once or twice.
• Relax.

That's the furlough plan. Should be an enjoyable week away from work. And maybe even a few stories to share.