10 Things for the Upcoming Week

It's kind of a busy week around here...

1. First of all, vote.  I voted by mail which was really easy to do, however we drove by a couple early voting locations today and there were long lines at both places.  Our early voting ends on Friday then voters can go on the usual voting day (next Tuesday) for their final opportunity to vote in person.  
2. This Saturday is Halloween.  We have no plans at all for the holiday and we won't be handing out candy either (neither of us wants to greet dozens of germy kids!).  Usually friends host Halloween parties as well but of course that isn't happening either...it's kind of like we all got an entire year off from social obligations!
3. Also this Saturday, before we go to bed, we will turn our clocks back an hour as Daylight Savings Time ends on Sunday.
4. Speaking of Sunday, November 1st is the official start of NaNoWriMo.  This stands for National Novel Writing Month during which participants are challenged to write an entire novel during the month of November.  With nothing else planned for the month I may actually give this a shot!
5. Then there is the ever-present covid.  Our state, like many other states, is again trending up in covid cases.  Fortunately the hubby, I, and our recent guests are all still healthy so we dodged a bullet there.  We have again cut back on leaving our house except for hubby's bowling (he throws his ball then moves a dozen feet away from the other players and of course wears a mask, also no more high fiving the teammates when someone does well).  It looks like isolation, masks, and copious amounts of hand sanitizer are the new normal for the foreseeable future.
6. We are getting ready for winter.  Our temps dropped from the high 80s to low 50s in one day!  Now it looks like these up and down temperatures are here to stay so it was a good reminder to change out the furnace filters, make sure our outside faucets are covered, and to break out our winter clothing.
7. It's always a good idea to be ready to evacuate due to a disaster.  We have been kind of lax about preparing for any sort of disaster because we don't really have natural disasters in Las Vegas but I need to be more proactive about this.  When I heard people in Irvine were evacuating due to a wildfire I was pretty surprised since that is a more urban area that isn't usually in the path of wildfires.  Lesson: everyone needs to be prepared to evacuate at a moment's notice.
8. Another thing on our radar is the possibility of post-election rioting and protesting after Tuesday's election.  No matter who wins. many cities are gearing up for unrest which is kind of scary.  I've seen this type of behavior in other countries around elections but never in the US.  Needless to say, we may just stay home for the entire week next week.
9. Did you know that November is also known as No-Spend November for many people?  This is a great way to cut spending and increase savings before the Christmas holiday.  Hubby was looking at our bank accounts today and pointed out that we are spending about $500 less per month over the past several months due to not eating out, not shopping unless we really really need something, very little online shopping, not traveling, and not going out and about doing other activities that we used to do.  I guess if there is a bright spot to this year's situation, it is that we learned how much money we wasted with mindless spending; a little here and a little there...it all adds up!
10. Finally, we feel pretty prepared if there happens to be another lockdown.  Shutting the state down again is just rumor now but whether it happens or not, we are way more prepared than we were back in March.  Our food stock is up, we have plenty of bleach and masks, we have lots of bottled water stocked as well as lots of toilet paper.  Hopefully there won't be another lockdown but if there is, we are ready and getting more ready by the week!