Restoring serenity. in A small but passable life.

At 3pm today the temperature was 116 breaking an all time high for the day set back in 1905. I believe that is the 5th or 6th daily record broken since I’ve arrived, stupidly, for the summer. Now I hear the sound of thunder off in the distance. No monsoon rain yet though.

I resolved the smartphone dilemma. The dilemma being that I really didn’t know what to do with it. I charged it up to 100%. I powered it down. I tossed it and the charger into my carry-on suitcase along with everything else I haven’t found a use for since I’ve been here.

Like socks. Or shoes. I haven’t worn either one for a straight sixty-eight days now. Or worn long pants or a long sleeved shirt.

I’ve actually only used six clothing items the whole time I’ve been here. Simplicity at its finest. A master of minimalism. For hanging around the house: blue T-shirt and black gym shorts. For away from the house; ie., public presentation: boxers under cargo shorts and my favorite button down shirt and my nearly ten year old flip-flops. The sixth item? My swimsuit!

Mom’s financial plan that we worked out for her is finally coming to fruition. The extra $400 a month she’s been shelling out for over a year to pay off the largest debt has paid it off. That’s $400 a month she’ll now use to pay off the last two smaller debts. So, in a few months she’ll have an extra $680 a month with no outstanding debts.

I’ll admit, when we first set this plan up we thought that the mountain was pretty damn high. But, you know, one step leads to another step.

Yeah, lets not forget that last winter she spent over $5000 for her new porch she had to have but really didn’t need. And she did that by just using her monthly income.

Now her and I are talking road trips. San Diego, Durango, Grand Tetons are a few of the places we’ve been tossing around. We’ll see.

Anyway, it’s 6pm and cloudy. I usually wait until sundown to go to the pool, but maybe I’ll go early this evening.