Want more time off work?

Hi neighbors. Is it spring or winter? This weather has me more confused than ever...and that's pretty confused! At least we are having a few warm days here and there and that's always good. Nice weather makes us all think of having a few more days off of work.

This is a long weekend. President's Day is Monday and some offices and businesses will be closed. President's Washington and Lincoln were painted well by historians, so I don't begrudge them their own holiday.

They might have been a little upset if still alive though. They used to each have their own day of recognition -- now, like so many things -- they have downsized to one jointly celebrated day of recognition.

Personally, I'm glad there is only one day now because I enjoy getting mail and the post office is closed on Presidents Day.

What if every president had a holiday named after them? Let's see, we've had 43 presidents including our current one. There are 52 weeks in a year. That means there would be only 11 two-day weekends each year.

As soon as the next election is over, there will be only ten! This idea should catch on pretty quickly I'd think. With all the worry about cut-backs all businesses could keep their doors closed each Monday.

Think how much money the government could save just shutting the doors of all federal and state offices three days out of the week instead of just two. Schools could operate only four days a week instead of five.

If we would honor all the First Ladies as well, no one would have to work most Fridays either. A three-day work-week and a four-day weekend -- doesn't that sound good? I don't know how the economics would work out on that type of schedule though. Most federal and state offices would need an extra day (at holiday pay) to fill out all the forms for people taking off the holidays. That means some people who used to work on Friday or Monday at regular pay would have to work one of those days at time and a half to do the necessary paperwork for everyone else who wasn't at work.

If we assume that every hour a person spends at their work is productive and necessary; could any office afford to lose 16 hours of production each week? More importantly -- could I survive with no mail three days out of each week? I don't think so.

Maybe the other 41 presidents and 43 first ladies should just be kept on the down-low and not given their own holidays.

Besides, where would it end? If presidents and first ladies got their own holidays, what would all those vice-presidents think? How about Senators and Representatives? Shouldn't they have at least a group holiday? Maybe an "Elected Officials" holiday -- celebrated the day before Election Day. Which makes me wonder why Election Day isn't on a Monday or Friday.

On second thought, maybe there isn't that much about some of our elected officials to celebrate -- or some of our presidents either.

There are some people who would want a "Gone Fishing" holiday schedule according to the weather.

Maybe we could have an annual "Spend the Day Outside" holiday.

How about making the Friday after Thanksgiving a legal holiday named "Shop Till You Drop" day.

Important holidays scheduled to be on a specific day, like Christmas, New Year's Day and the Fourth of July for instance, shouldn't be stranded in the middle of the work week. There should be a clear pathway to the nearest weekend. We could create holidays for those days and call them "Getting Ready for Fourth of July (or Christmas or New Years) Days" or "Getting Over Fourth of July (or Christmas or New Years) Days." If we had all these extra days off, what would we do with them? I suppose we can rule out cleaning out the closets, garage, basement or attic after the first few crazed weekends. You know those "Finally! Enough time to clean out (fill in the blanks.) Mowing the lawn and other yard work would take up at least one day of each weekend. You couldn't go to the library because they would all be closed.

If your family was large enough you might find enough new movies to go see each weekend.

If you are one of those employees who doesn't get paid for holidays; you wouldn't have much money to spend on those long weekends. You'd probably just go get a second job.

Until the next time friends remember, be careful what you ask for. Getting a lot of free time doesn't always come for free.