P.M.

For once, a day's gone according to plan. By the time I was done showing houses it had cooled down a little and was still light out. I happened to be close to the reservoir and I had my running stuff with me so I ran there. It sounded a heck of a lot more appealing than pounding the hot asphalt around our neighborhood.

I got in only one lap around the lake because on the second mile the bugs were really, really bad for the first time this season. So after that I just followed some random trails until I was ready to quit. I have no idea how long or far I went, but it felt good. After I finished I stretched out on the dock for a few minutes before heading home for a shower and a sandwich with the last of Granny's ham.

Then I did the closet inventory and was surprised how evenly things broke down. I have a total of 193 articles of spring/summer/summer night clothing, including shirts, cardigans, dresses, skirts, shoes and pants. (I forgot about the stuff in my ironing pile, and my winter clothes are in another closet and didn't get counted, but 193 is close.) I know 193 sounds like a lot but don't judge me until you count your own!

Of these, 64 came from a thrift or consignment store; 63 came from a store along the lines of TJ Maxx (I counted Target in this category) or an outlet; 61 came from a "regular" store, like Banana Republic or Gap; and five were given to me.

The first thing I noticed is that I have a ton of skirts (35), and 24 of them (69 percent) are secondhand. (This reflects the fact that I wear a skirt any day I can get away with it and that pretty much any skirt that's a size "small" fits me fine.)

In contrast, I have 15 pairs of pants, and 13 of them (87 percent) were bought new, mostly at Express, since their "longs" are actually long enough for me. (This reflects the fact that I have a terrible time finding pants that fit me right so I usually don't even look for them in thrift stores anymore. It's worth it to me to pay full price for pants that fit me well.)

I was surprised to see that I have only one pair of shoes from a thrift store. More than half of my shoes (14 out of 25 pairs, or 56 percent) are from the middle category -- mostly Ross Dress for Less. I used to find a lot of shoes at thrift stores, and I still look for them, but I guess I haven't been buying them lately.

I didn't have a single clothing item from a yard sale. I thought I would, but in retrospect, I've never been very lucky with clothes at yard sales, and for years now I haven't even looked for them there. Furniture, yes; books, definitely; clothes, not so much. In high school I got an Ann Taylor dress for $5 at a yard sale and that was the end of the road.

After all that I just now made it out to the porch. I think my favorite thing about Matt being gone is that I can stay up as long as I want. I'm probably even going to sleep out here on the porch. We've been meaning to get our air mattress back from Stephen for that purpose but haven't yet, but I'm an easy sleeper and think I'll be fine on a pile of blankets.