"Day off"

What exactly is a "day off?" Day off from what - our jobs? What a charming thought - I can take the weekend and divorce myself from the things that I must do in order to have money to enjoy this (and future) weekends, feed my family, and live my life in an increasingly expensive world. The amount of rest/fun/relaxing that I do over these two days will have a direct impact on my outlook/performance in the week ahead. Wow - quite a lot of pressure on the those two poor days. So how should one maximize the time off? Sleep? Exercise? Watch TV? Read? All have their own cathartic value and will aid in the recovery from a long week and preparation for another. I am reminded of the old comic strip - Calvin and Hobbes - wherein the chief characters would exhaust themselves attempting to squeeze every bit of enjoyment out of the weekend. Confusion generally seems to be the order of the day and the weekend usually fades with a whimper as one finds oneself going to be early as ideas become less and less appealing.
I find myself in this very dilemma that I referenced in paragraph 1 - I sit here in my chair with my legs propped up on my ottoman. I have slept in (as well as one can with a 1 and a half year old full of energy and brimming with childish testosterone) and now find myself pouring out confessions to my white laptop with the glowing apple/orb in the center. Sleep will only make me crabby because I will not get enough and more exercise will jeopardize the quality of tomorrow's endeavors. TV is out of the question - the writers are on strike and reality TV has sunk to new lows - Dance Wars, American Gladiators, Wife Swap - just to name a few. I could read, but....... So I guess what I am saying is - see you Monday.