Is this real irony, or just irony in the "Alanis Morissette not-really-irony-at-all" sense?

Before the death in the family (scroll down three posts) occurred, The Wife was scheduled to attend an out-of-town, overnight meeting on Monday and Tuesday, which forced me to request off from work at The Store on those days (since no one would be around otherwise to watch The Kid during the non-preschool daytime hours). Of course, now, they are both going out of town for the entire week, leaving me with a few days completely alone during which I won't even be working, since The Store's schedule for next week was already posted by the time news of the sad event reached me.

So, how to spend the time?

Well....part of me feels a bit dirty for considering doing this, since it rather feels like putting a death in the family to work for my own purposes, but I'm leaning strongly toward taking in the Lord of the Rings films in their entirety. I'd watch Fellowship and The Two Towers tomorrow, and then go to a matinee of Return of the King on Monday. Or something like that. I don't know, really -- all this time just plopped into my lap via circumstances I could not possibly have ever wished for, and I'd really rather actually work. I've notified the managers at The Store that I'll be available if they need someone on a call-in basis, but it's still a weird feeling -- a little like "The Monkey's Paw".