10 Random Things

In no particular order...

1. From the looks of our stores, it's time for Halloween!
2. But it is still over 100 degrees here (it is very late in the year to be so hot!)
3. The Presidential debate is this evening...I'll have my popcorn ready.
4. Only somewhat related, September is Preparedness Month so...prepare accordingly.
5. This was a good video from Buzz on the first year after retiring.
6. We tried out a new restaurant yesterday that hubby found on YouTube.  The food was just OK (which is often the case when YouTubers rave about new restaurants) but the waitress saw me making a short video of hubby and the food when it came out--to send to his sister who always asks us about the restaurants we go to--and at the end of the meal the girl said she gave us a 10% YouTuber discount(?!?).  FWIW, we aren't in any way YouTubers.
7. Speaking of restaurants, some years ago when we could get lunch for both of us for around $10, we would leave a $3 tip and be good with that.  These days, lunch for two is $20 to $40(!) so the tip is exponentially higher for basically carrying out a few dishes.  Even worse, when the bill comes, it often has suggested tips printed on the bill that go up to 50% of the bill!  Blech  :(
8. I haven't been shopping (except for the Goodwill) for a few weeks.  There is just nothing I need or want to buy.  So today I walked over to the shopping center on my daily walk and went to Ross and Target and was...very underwhelmed.  Both stores looked understaffed, checkout lines were long, inventory was sparse in some places...retail apocalypse?  Yikes
9. Speaking of shopping, lots of Big Lots stores are closing.  It's always sad when a store that has been around for ages goes out of business. 
10. On the flip side, I am paying off our house as quickly as possible.  Each week when I get paid, I go to the bank that has our mortgage and pay several thousand dollars on the principal.  This week when I went to the bank, the teller did a double take look at her screen and said "wow you are paying off your mortgage so fast" and she clapped her hands.  I've never had a teller clap for me before so that was a bit odd.  Once this debt is paid, I never want to have any debt--car, house, consumer--ever again!