no snow here

The weather is so lovely today that I have moved my laptop PC out to the covered porch beside our swimming pool. Our indoor heating system was set to 73F; lo and behold, the outside temperature has risen to that very level. I turned the heat off and moved to the table outside.

A most inspiring setting. Birds and squirrels, no breeze and a clear view of the loquat trees, bamboo, spider plants, palms and ferns, with National Public Radio coming through my Internet connection to keep me connected with rest of the world.

My day had started with a stiff neck and manic behavior. Both eventually passed thanks to prayer and physical activity. I am feeling more relaxed. At the moment I am taking a short break from working on a spreadsheet intended to organize our limited budget. Lisa had been trying to juggle a payment schedule in her head (commonly known as "robbing from Peter to pay Paul"), but with her recently problematic life she has become overwhelmed, leading to a cycle of stress breeding more stress and ultimately depression.

This morning I suggested that I examine our stack of bills in order to devise a reasonable method of dealing with our financial state, and her response was that she had been hoping for me to make such an offer. Since I love creating spreadsheets, that seemed like a logical method.

Longtime readers of this blog will recall that I spent about four years in an essentially homeless state and thus cannot in good conscience allow Lisa to lose the creature comforts to which she has become accustomed. My personal comfort is relatively unimportant; I can handle adversity with a modest degree of aplomb. Her physical and emotional comfort take priority.

Ah, break time is over. Back to development of the budget.