A shredding day. in A small but passable life.

A cold (er) front moved in Sunday night. 50mph winds ripping across the desert valley. That brought in a week of Winter (ish) weather. High’s in the fifties, lows in the thirties. One whole week.

Friday and yesterday I was able to return to poolside for afternoons of reading.

My brother and sis-in-law showed up Friday. We spent yesterday discussing “the plan” and today sis-in-law and I started on the paper. We emptied a two drawer filing cabinet filled to the brim with twenty years worth of paper. She sorted, I shredded. We reduced it down to two big bags of shredded bits and about a three inch tall stack of files.

Starting tomorrow we’ll do phone calls and walk-in calls. And hopefully by the end of the week everything will be set up and stashed away.

Mom won’t have to do anything. Money in, money out. All automatic. And we’ve already cut her monthly bills by about $300. We may be able to cut it more.

We’re still waiting on the newest doctor to review Mom’s chart and call back with an appointment. Whatever.

Anyway, bottom line. I really don’t like dealing with money. In any amount. I’ve lived without money for five years now. I don’t miss it or the hassle that comes with it.

But here’s the breakdown we’ve worked out:

Mom’s two checks coming in every month will go into a joint checking account with her and my name on it.

Automatically drawn bills will come out of that.

The car will go into my name along with the insurance. Mom will pay the insurance.

The house and property will go into my brother’s and my name.

The investments will go into an account in my brother’s and my name.

The extra money after paying bills at the end of the month will go into a savings account in my name.

If Mom wants money we’ll give it to her.

And then after Mom is gone everything will be divided into thirds. One third for me, one third for my brother, and one third for my sister’s three kids. Done deal.

As of right now I don’t see my staying here as anything but indefinite. We just can’t see Mom living on her own again unless there is a dramatic improvement.

Anyway, tonight I gave my brother and his wife a ride back to their motorhome parked on the road right outside the park. We pull up and there’s an orange sticker stuck on their door. From the local po po telling them unoccupied vehicles weren’t allowed to park there. Which is total bullshit. They parked there last year for a whole week. Needless to say, my brother was a bit pissed off.

It may be a few days before I’m able to return to my new routine. Such is life.