10 Reminders

Off topic, mom cat came back a few days after we donated a big unopened bag of cat food to the local shelter.  We hadn't seen the cats in an age so we thought they were really gone and we had all of this cat food so we decided to donate it as the shelters in our area are overflowing with cats...and then she shows up out of the blue!  I don't understand feral cats.  At all.

Now some reminders...

1. Set your clocks back this Saturday before you go to bed.  Daylight savings time ends on Sunday.
2. Vote next Tuesday (or earlier if early voting is available in your area).
3. The last free entrance day to the National Parks in 2024 will be on November 11th--Veterans Day.
4. If the weather has changed significantly in your area (it's dropped nearly 50 degrees over the past couple weeks in our area), be sure to get the air pressure checked in your car tires.
5. A few other things to do when you change your clocks back include checking the batteries in your smoke/CO detectors, changing your furnace filters, and making sure your fire extinguishers are fully charged.
6. Start your Christmas shopping now.  This is a great time to pick up wrapping paper, cards, and bows as they come into stock at the Dollar Tree, you can pick up gifts before the Christmas rush in late December, and buying gift cards, a few at a time, are great for those last-minute Christmas gifts.
7. Now is also a good time to buy loss leaders at the grocery store for your holiday meals (our local grocery store is already starting to put baking items, potatoes, etc. on sale which we are stocking up on for Thanksgiving and Christmas meals).
8. With Halloween happening this Thursday, next week will be a great time to stock up on highly discounted candy/decorations/costumes/etc.
9. If you live in an area that gets winter storms, prepare now before bad weather starts.
10. Finally, who knows how things will shake out after the election next week (I'm hoping for calm, cool, and collected people but judging by how people act on a daily basis around here that may be hoping for too much), be prepared for civil unrest just in case.

10 Random Things

Just a bunch of random things from this week...

1. It is less than two weeks until the presidential election.  Big eeekkk  I hope people will be reasonable and cooler heads will prevail no matter what the outcome is.  I will also be glad that all of the political text messages will stop!
2. Mildly related, two of our military installations will be holding a disaster exercise on election day(!).  People are already wound up enough over this election so seeing military activity on such a contentious day is either #1, a warning to the populace or #2, really poor planning.  I'm thinking it is #2 but holy cow these people could have picked a different date. Yikes
3. Speaking of Election Day, here is a list of freebies and discounts you can get on Election Day.
4. My blender sort of died.  The metal part on the pitcher that fits over the metal part that sticks up from the motor seems to be stripped since the motor works but the blades won't spin so after not being able to find a new blender at the Goodwill and not wanting to pay full price for a new blender, I went online to Amazon and found that I could buy replacement parts for the bottom of the pitcher assembly for $8. I am waiting for the parts to get here and hopefully this fixes the problem for less than $10!
5. Hubby's coffee maker is acting like it isn't long for this world so while we were at the Goodwill looking for a blender, he picked up a new drip coffee maker for $6.  It works perfectly and looks pretty new (see photo above) so we will keep it to replace the old coffee maker when it stops working all together.
6. Prepper Princess posted a video on the things that were "best buys" for her house.  Our list is pretty much the same--bidets, Roku, a lemon tree in the back yard, OTA antenna, the $6.95 Netflix plan, a coffee maker at home so hubby never buys coffee from a coffee shop, freezing food when it comes on sale, etc.
7. Costco was ridiculously busy today!  I thought going to Costco on a quiet Thursday morning at 10am would be a good plan but apparently everyone else had the same plan.  There were a lot of sales so we stocked up on everything (dish soap, laundry soap, all kinds of canned foods, etc) so we shouldn't have to go back to Costco for months (thank God, that place is a zoo!).
8. The weather in Las Vegas is perfect now!  High 70s/low 80s is warm and amazing.  It makes for great walking in the morning!
9. In a creepy turn of events, hubby and I looked at a few open houses near our house a couple of months ago.  Besides having too many stairs, I told him I didn't like the houses because they were three stories high which to me is a huge fire hazard (the bedrooms are on the third floor and if there was a fire, good luck jumping out of a window that is 30+ feet off the ground).  Sadly, in the news this morning, there was the exact same style of house in another part of Las Vegas that caught on fire killing most of the occupants :(
10. My goal for November is to have a NO spend NOvember.

10 Things from This Week

In no particular order... 

1. I got an OK-ish picture of the Hunter Moon a couple days ago. 
   
   
   
2. And a pretty interesting picture of a recent sunset...  
   
   
   
3. And another Halloween-ish picture at the Goodwill (this big guy was for sale but it would be way too big for our yard!).  
   
   
   
4. My voting is done (I like to vote by mail so I can research each candidate and ballot question as I fill out the ballot).  Now if people would quit with the political calls/texts/mailers/doorhangers!
5. Marginally related to voting and our psychotic political climate...don't believe everything you read or see online.  AI is being used to create very realistic videos these days!
6. I think our very hot days are done now--we went from 96 degrees to 65 degrees during the day in a matter of less than a week!
7. I am still shocked when we come across ridiculously priced...anything.  Hubby and I looked at a nearby new housing development that featured all single-level homes.  They started at $780k and went up from there :(  Then I was curious what a new truck would cost and when I checked some local auto dealer websites, it looks like the starting price for new base-model trucks is $50k :( :(
8. Hubby and I are trying to figure out how to tell a couple we go out to lunch with regularly that we want to decline their offer to take us out to dinner for our anniversary.  We always take turns paying for lunch (which we need to cut back on) but the place they want to take us for dinner is $150 per person which is #1 ridiculously expensive, #2 way out of our comfort zone for the cost of one meal (we aren't foodies at all), and #3 would require reciprocity in the future (again, that is way more than we--or anyone--should want to pay for a meal!).  They are a nice couple and they mean well so we don't want to insult them but nearing $1000 for the meal/drinks/tax/tip for four people is simply outrageous IMHO.
9. Somewhat related to work, it seems like everything medical-related is in shortage these days including IVs, drugs, and providers.  eeekkk
10. Finally, while we have shut off the air conditioning for the season, we are hoping we can go a whole month (or longer!) before we need to turn on the heat.  I have friends around the country who are already posting their snow pictures on FB so there was really no break in utility costs when it comes to hot, or cold, weather for them.

It's Been a Busy Week!

It's still hot as Hades...in fact we set a few records over the past week.

But the sunsets are still fabulous...

And I saw this guy on my walk today...

Our lemons are just about ready to pick...

And we had several guests over the past week (don't get me started on seniors and stairs, senior falls, senior driving issues, senior forgetfulness...it was quite the interesting--but fun--time with a house full of elderly people visiting us!).

I will be glad when the presidential election is done and over with (don't get me started on Kamala's braindead economic policies like this and this, her braindead interviews, and the Dem's general dislike of the Constitution like this and this).  Ugh

Finally, here are a whole bunch of good safety tips!

10 YouTube Channels

Here are 10 YouTube channels to take a look at...

1. Buzz did a good update on trying to live on only Social Security (it looks quite challenging).
2. An FYI about the possible dock strike (FWIW we did a bunch of shopping today to stock up on food).
3. Frugal Finneas has a tiny, new YouTube channel but I like the efforts he is making to be frugal.
4. One of my favorite frugal YouTubers is Prepper Princess.
5. And my favorite weather guy is Ryan Hall.
6. I can't believe I have been watching Saturday Night Live since the late 70s!
7. Another favorite channel is the Geography King.
8. And Chef AJ always has good health-related topics on her channel.
9. Ask Leo! has a very informative channel on computer tech.
10. Finally, one of my favorite channels for daily, high-level news that mainstream media doesn't usually cover is S2 Underground.

Grocery Shopping and 5 More Things

Our weekly shopping trip to the local grocery store (Albertsons) cost a total of $36.78.  Nearly all of the items were on sale and while we don't usually eat canned soup and boxed cereal, for 97 cents each (soup) and $1.47 each (cereal), these are a good standby if we are sick or don't feel like cooking.  Things we don't use after a year get packed up and sent to the Philippines.  Note the picture is missing four bananas which I forgot to put in the picture.

Five more things...

1. The government is giving out more free covid tests at the link here.
2. The cats still haven't shown up and it has been more than a week.  I hope something good happened to them (someone turned them into house cats) and not something bad (coyotes).
3. We will probably do some extra shopping at Costco and Sam's Club this weekend as a looming port shutdown could have a drastic effect on what we will be able to buy at the stores in the coming months.
4. We are fortunate that our friends and family in Florida and Georgia are fine but it was pretty scary watching Hurricane Helene from the viewpoint of the stormchasers. Yikes
5. Tomorrow (Saturday) is National Public Lands Day (and free entry day to the National Parks). 

10 Things from This Week...The Mildly Annoyed Edition

In no particular order...

1. Food prices are still ridiculously high (who pays $7+ for 12 ounces of potato chips????).  
   
   
   
2. People are still annoying AF.  I've lost count of how many times people drive like lunatics, or come to an immediate stop when I am walking behind them at the store so they can do something on their phone (they don't even pull their cart to the side, they just stop in the middle of the aisle so no one can pass them and do stuff on their phone without even noticing other people might need to go down the same aisle as them).  Grrrrrr
3. And then when we went to leave this morning, someone was parked blocking our driveway.  I was on the phone with the tow company when the guy comes down the street and gets mad at ME because I was going to have his car towed for blocking my driveway.  He didn't apologize for blocking my driveway, just stomped over to his car muttering that he wasn't blocking anything and drove away.  Double grrrrr   
   
   
   
4. Also, the cats are missing.  We haven't seen them for four whole days and we have no idea where they went.  I was hoping they would return after a few days with their ears clipped which means they had been caught, fixed, vaccinated, and returned to their colony but so far there have been no sightings of them which is very sad :(
5. We are also worried for a few family members who live in Florida, right where the cyclone/hurricane is supposed to hit.  If any of you live in this area, please be careful!!!
6. On a better note, we have been laser focused on paying off the house and being more frugal than we have been.  I ran across these frugal tips, many of which we have done for ages.
7. Work is still great if not a bit overwhelming at times (a last-minute project came up...along with a 246 page guidance document for it...ayayay).
8. My friend sent me the name of a guy she was going to meet up with that she found on a dating app and wanted me to check out.  You would be surprised at how much OSINT information is freely available on the internet about everyone.  I told her to skip this one as a simple search turned up a couple of divorces and several domestic violence arrests.  Eeekkkk
9. I know a half dozen people who have been furloughed or laid off over the past couple of weeks.  One person every once in a while, is normal, several at once is really concerning!
10. Finally, from the 'this election is absolutely bonkers' file, we are stepping up our preparedness tasks just in case.