10 Things from This Week

It's been pretty quiet around here this week...

1. We had several days of rain (thankfully a lot less than southern California) and the cats were wet (they don't like being wet) but they still showed up every day (sometimes multiple times a day) to be fed.
2. The kids and grandkids are excited to come to the reunion/hubby's birthday party in Las Vegas.  We are getting ready for everyone, stocking up on food/soda/etc so we can feed everyone, and generally looking forward to the festivities.  We've had a big family reunion about once a decade for the last 40 years (once in the Philippines, once in Connecticut, once on a cruise ship, and this one coming up in Vegas) but the more people who are added to the family over the years, the harder it is to get everyone's schedules to work out to allow everyone to plan for the same days off.  Unfortunately, not everyone will be able to attend but it should be a big group anyway.
3. Hubby's cousin took us to a nice lobster/seafood/sushi buffet for his birthday.  It was good, and by Vegas standards, fairly inexpensive at about $45 per person (the buffets with lobster on The Strip are closer to $100 per person!).  
   
   
   
4. The Super Bowl is coming up tomorrow so we will, of course, be parked in front of our TV to watch it.  Although the game is in my city, paying $6000 to $10,000 per ticket is absurd!
5. I saw a lot of people complaining on social media about their natural gas bill going up this past month around Las Vegas.  I got our gas bill yesterday and I feel like complaining too--it has more than doubled since the same time period last year (and basically the same amount of gas used!).
6. Seriously, who thought it would be a good idea to put President Biden on TV for a live press conference???  Our presidential choices this year are awful!
7. Hubby seems eeked out about how much money I make now from my job (he keeps asking how much I am spending to bring everyone here for his birthday, saying he should be the provider, etc).  Since we have always had separate accounts he didn't realize that I made the same amount of money several years ago when I was working.  I asked his if he thought the big house payments, new cars, and travel several times a year in the past was just funded out of thin air.  He had to think about that for a minute.  He said he is worried about what will happen to me financially if he dies before me (he is 20 years older than me).  I guess for both of our sakes, I need to take things like my investments/retirement fund/sources of income/etc more seriously and plan better for my/our future.  
8. I'm a bit concerned about the Europe cruise we have scheduled in the fall.  And stories like this, plus other things like this related to my work are not helping!
9. On another travel note, something I have never heard of before even though I used to regularly attend Quaker meeting is this option instead of hotels.
10. Finally, here is a cool infographic on National Park passes.