The State of the Economy?

Some random observations...

• They now sell half loaves of bread (literally labeled half loaf) at the Dollar Tree. Of course they charge the same price as a whole loaf of bread for it  :/
• A quick note if you use an OTA antenna on your TV, rescan every once in a while. We did this a few days ago and found that dozens of new channels have been added!
• I got a Starbucks gift card for Mother's Day so I swung by our local Starbucks to pick up a coffee Frapuccino and I couldn't believe that in the short time I waited for my drink, more than a half dozen Doordashers came in to pick up Starbucks orders. That seems like a crazy expensive way to get a coffee!
• Here is a subreddit on the proverbial cat distribution system.
• Also from reddit, a great list of frugal tips.
• Polymarket and similar sites prove that people will bet on literally anything!
• Finally, here are some uplifting memes...

Apparently It Is Now Summer...

...because it is 100+ degrees this week! eeekkk

In other news...

• Please get your kids their basic vaccines! Currently our hospitals are on high alert for measles and I can't believe some parents won't get their kids tried-and-true vaccines that have been around for ages and prevent their kids from getting debilitating--sometimes deadly--yet easily preventable diseases!
• We are also gearing up for the FIFA World Cup which will take place around the US this summer. It takes a metric crapton of work to get the emergency medical side prepared for such an event but one place I won't be this summer is at these events--mainly because I don't like crowds AND the tickets can run into the tens of thousands of dollars for ONE game. That's insane!
• Here is a good preparedness checklist for your important documents.
• My "you gotta be kidding" list...apparently it is a thing that kids aren't being potty trained prior to kindergarten??? "Personal pricing" sounds like AI evil at its peak. And I can think of nothing worse than being trapped on a cruise ships when a deadly virus outbreak happens...that's like the plot of a horror movie!

I'm hoping for a safe and wonderful summer for you all!

10 Random Things

In no particular order... 

1. We have an entire herd of feral cats that stop by each evening for dinner (examples above).
2. Find lots of good frugal tips here.
3. I've never tried to crochet before but after seeing these examples I might give it a try!
4. I'm glad I am pretty close to retirement age although I love my job and will work as long as they want to keep me...all this AI, Claude, n8n, Open Claw stuff is both mind blowing at what it can accomplish and slightly terrifying at what it is doing/will do to the job market!
5. In other news, I can't believe Spirit Airline shut down, those yellow planes are a common sight in Las Vegas. Here's how to protect yourself in such a situation.
6. Here are some amazing things...
7. And here are some old time videos that suddenly popped into my YouTube feed that I really like watching (reminds me of my grandparents time).
8. Here are a bunch of frugal meal ideas...
9. ...and a bunch of general frugal living tips.
10. Finally, I like the pretty way the vegetables are arranged at the grocery store (although the prices are, like everything these days, outrageous)!

Grocery Shopping

This week, for a total of $36.87, we got... 

• 8 ears of corn
• two half gallons of almond milk
• 8 pieces of fried chicken
• two half gallons of coffee ice cream
• a head of Romaine lettuce
• 5 tomatoes
• 3-12oz packages of cheese
• 3lb bag of oranges
• 6 pieces of pita bread
• 3 banannas

Of course these were all on sale or loss leaders.

10 Random Things

In no particular order... 

1. We are supposed to get a little rain this weekend. According to the sky this looks promising!
2. Are you a bad photographer? Here is a contest for you!
3. Speaking of travel, Frontier is selling its annual "All You Can Fly" pass now.
4. TIL (today I learned) there is such a thing as knolling.
5. This may be the coolest kid I've ever seen!
6. Celebrate Trails Day is April 25th; many events are scheduled around the country to celebrate the Rails to Trails Conservancy's 40th anniversary!
7. I will turn 59 this week. Imagine my shock when I realize I can file for Social Security in a few short years. Somehow it seems I went from 40 to almost 60 in the blink of an eye!
8. I am taking steps to "de Google" my life; these are some of the reasons why.
9. Here is a great list of free and useful websites.
10. I love it when people have weird hobbies...

5 Nice Things This Weekend

It's been a rather nice weekend so far...

1. We found a water storage barrel at Tractor Supply and got an additional 25% off the price so we are really happy to have a bit of back-up emergency water.
2. We still feed the feral the cats that roam around the neighborhood but the five that are hanging out now are completely different than the ones that we used to feed several months ago.
3. A new car wash opened near our local shopping center and they are giving free car washes this week so we got one and are very happy with how shiny and clean our car looks now!
4. I look forward to seeing the top wildlife photos each years...such cool pictures!
5. And here are some useful tips if you own a home.

One of our new feral cats...

Infrastructure...

...or lack thereof. Within the past couple of days we have seen gas prices rise exponentially, had a power outage, had an internet outage, and my bank's website "had issues" according to the customer service lady. Here's how we are dealing with these things...

• On payday I logged into my bank's website to move money to savings and to an investment account and nothing was working. A few hours later it still showed pending for something that wasn't pending and processed for something that wasn't processed. I called the customer service line and the lady said their computers were having issues. Several hours later the site was kind of working. Fortunately I wasn't in a hurry to get my banking done but we do keep some cash on hand in case the system stays down for an extended period of time.
• For some reason we had zero power outages for the first 12 years that we lived in Vegas, however during the past few years, we have had several. Our power was out for about five hours a few days ago but now we are so used to breaking out the power banks it's barely a glitch for us. Since these issues seem to be getting worse (and in case power costs really spike) we are ready with power banks and solar panels to take care of our basic power needs.
• After the power issue resolved, out internet had an area-wide outage. We dealt with that by hotspotting to our cell phones (I still had a few work emails to send off). Then, since streaming wasn't working we watched a TV show via the over-the-air antenna then watched a movie from our newly-created DVD collection. We got rid of our DVDs years ago but I decided to start collecting them at $1 each on dollar Mondays at the Goodwill. When I first started doing this, hubby said we will never use them but I pointed out that we are using the collection..as I slid the movie into the DVD player! :)
• Gas is continuing to rise so we just fill up when it gets to 3/4 tank. Which is better than the guy at the gas pump before us who left his receipt for $180 worth of gas on the pump. Yikes!
• My project this week is to acquire a 55 gallon water barrel. With infrastructure (and our government) hanging by a thread, and because we live in a dessert, it makes sense to be ready for a water service outage as well. Hopefully we never have to use it and can just rotate the water by watering the shrubs with is, but better safe than sorry!