Stressing Over Bills and Presidents – Thoughts from August 1 and 2, 2023

August 1, 2023

I talked to my dash cam today for the first time in a while. I realized the last time I dash camed was before Quest started getting sick. My dash caming stopped when I was changing out my NAS (Network-Attached Storage) hard drives. I didn’t want to add any videos to it while I was upgrading it. My last pictures of Quest were when I was changing out one drive and she climbed on top of my legs. She was fully blind at that point. Freeway shenanigans were not high on my list at that point. I was just angry at the stupidity I saw on the freeway. It didn’t amuse me.

August 2, 2023

I was opening my electric bill email yesterday and was already cringing because I know how high it can get in the summer. Patti and I live in the desert after all. My cringe dropped into pure shock. I got a bill for $666 last year. You’re just going to have to believe me, but I swear it was exactly that amount (Satan!) This year’s July bill was $821. 821 is the new sign of the beast. It’s the highest electric bill we’ve ever had. Before you chime in with how your electric bill was even higher than that, know that I don’t care. My bills are my problem. Your bills are your problem.

There are several reasons for the exorbitant bill. Patti works from home every other day, she leaves the door open for the cats when it’s way too hot, and I get home at about 1:00 am and turn the temperature down to 75 degrees. I sometimes forget to turn it back up the next morning if Patti is at work. During most days, we set the temperature to 78 degrees. We’re not cooling the house to 72 degrees. I told Patti about it (without telling her the total of the bill), and she went into full defense mode. The only thing I told her is that we can’t have the door open during the heat of the day. I pay the electric bill so it’s my problem. I told her so she could know it. This will be a creative month for paying the bills.

My bills are all paid automatically except for my credit cards. I pay more when I have more. This month I will pay less (insert Payless Shoes reference here). It frustrates me when Patti says we only have so much for groceries. She pays for the regular groceries each week, but she gets paid every two weeks. She pays right to the edge of what she can pay. If I buy some or all of the groceries, she pays me back. I have learned to use a credit card to pay for groceries because I can’t count on her sending me money right away. My checkbook is an Excel worksheet and her checkbook is an actual checkbook. It has been many years since I have written a check. Someday, Patti will catch up to the technology of the early 2000s.

Patti keeps telling me that Trump has more and more charges against him. I have to find this out from her because I don’t watch, listen to, our experience the news in any form. Until I hear that he and everyone who supported him are in jail, I don’t care about what the justice system is doing with him. Hearing about Trump on the news is annoying, and it stresses me out. It’s just a reminder that the United States is run by Christians for Christians. You can be a Republican or Democrat but you also have to be Christian or at least say you are. Christians are the exclusive occupants of the presidency, while we tolerate other religions only on a small scale. Obama was the first black president, but he was a Christian. Trump reminds me you can be the worst president in history and pay no consequences because you claim the right religion. I choose to be a good person and not good at being religious.