Super Moon

Today is the Beaver moon, the largest super moon of the year!

Also, a picture of the new feral cat that has been hanging around. 

Sunset

A beautiful--and early--sunset last night!

Quick tip: find my favorite cheap meal YouTubers here, here, and here.

So. Many. Sales.

Capitalism is relentless these days. For the longest time there wasn't even a Black Friday (it started in the 1950s). Then, advertising would come on hot and heavy towards the last week of November for after-Thanksgiving Black Friday sales. Then they invented Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Now they have 'Early Black Friday' which apparently starts in October!?! Ugh

Quick tip: Even if there is a great sale, unless you actually NEED the sale item, save you money and skip buying. You don't need two, three, or four of an item and, especially these days, the 'newest and greatest tech' is usually a tiny, incremental change over last year's newest and greatest tech item. 

I Love Curry!

I love all kinds of curry--Japanese, Indian, Thai, etc--and it is so simple to make! Like any other soup or stew, add a bean/meat (I like lentils or garbanzo beans), onions, garlic, any vegetables you have on hand, and a can of diced tomatoes. Next add spices (curry powder, curry paste), and in Thai curry, I add a can of coconut milk, and you have a hearty meal that also freezes well and travels well--if we will be out, I will heat up rice and curry and bring it with me in an insulated container for a nice lunch. Yum!

Quick tip: tomorrow is Halloween, here are some safety tips.

Tiny Cacti

These are about the only plants that do well here in the desert...

Quick tip: be sure to set your clocks back in most of the US before you go to bed Saturday evening.

Crooked Tree

Very crooked...

Quick tip:  if your job is at risk of elimination due to AI (a lot of them are these days), consider working in a job that is less likely to be replaced by AI in the near future.

Pomegranate

This month is pomegranate season! 

Quick tip: when you do your grocery shopping this week, buy a little extra; maybe to help others in need, maybe to avoid going to the grocery store the following week when talking heads on the news expect all hell to break lose when 40+ million people find out their SNAP benefits have been canceled. Let's hope someone invokes the 25th amendment sooner rather than later.

Sunset

Last night's sunset was AMAZING!

This morning's sunrise wasn't bad either...

And a quick tip: another note on medications, our hospitals are continually dealing with medication shortages, meds that are suddenly pulled from the market, etc. For the average person, this may not be as big an issue, but it is still kind of shocking if you go to refill your prescriptions and some are unrefillable. Of course, contact your doctor if this happens, but here is more info on the topic here and here.

Wetlands Park

My walking club had a nice walk this morning around Wetlands Park which is sort of an oasis in the desert with lots of ponds, wildlife, and great views!

Today's quick tip: with it looking more and more like WIC and SNAP won't be funded anytime soon, if you can, please donate to a local food bank to help out those in need. You can find a local food bank here, and on a side note, I've heard that it is even better to donate money instead of actual food to food banks as they use the funds to purchase food that they can get really good discounts on by ordering in bulk. So, food or cash, either would be much appreciated by your local food banks!

New Cat

We have a new feral cat. We thought this was our old feral cat because they look almost identical but this one is fatter (pregnant?) and terrified of people (I had to use the zoom on my camera because if we get close to the door to look at her she takes off, our old feral cat just backs up a few feet when we open the door to giver her food). Hubby was wondering why one skinny cat was eating so much food and now we know why. We think this may be one of the old feral cat's kittens from a previous litter.

Quick tip: if you really want to know what is going on around the world in news and politics, check out the Wire every evening.

Jets!

There were a bunch of fighter jets from Nellis AFB practicing today. I wish I could have taken clearer pictures but they were moving so fast! 

Quick tip: if you rely on the military medical system, there are some changes during the current government shutdown (info here). I learned this today when we picked up hubby's prescriptions and one was missing; the girl said they ordered a bunch of meds ahead of the shutdown but can't reorder any medications they run out of until the shutdown is over. 

Rain!

I woke up this morning to a thunder and lightning storm which soon settled to just rain. I love storms!

Today's tip: If you rely on the ACA for your health insurance, prepare to be sticker shocked!  I have no idea how the average American can keep up with exorbitant health/auto/home insurance price increases at 20%+ year over year :(

Sky

Our sunset went from this...

...to this in a matter of minutes this afternoon...eeekkk

Today's tip: Shannon Morse is starting a 30-day cyber security challenge to help people lock down their online privacy. Great info here!

Kitty

The cat has started coming by nearly every day. And she really loves bacon.

Today's quick tip: One of my favorite YouTubers is Prepper Princess!

Yum!

I baked bread today (although I will point out that it came as a frozen loaf you just put in a pan, let rise, and bake).

Quick tip: This frugal wiki is chock full of money-saving ideas!

A Jeep Meet Up

I was out walking today and I came across a Halloween-themed Jeep meet up!

And a quick tip:  You should always have three USB thumb drives with you, one with all of your files backed up on it, one with your operating system backed up on it, and one with your program files (ie: MS Office install files, printer/scanner driver, etc) backed up on it. This way, if your computer gets lost/stolen/burned up in a fire/blue screen of death, you will quickly be able to restore your whole system to a new or restored computer.

Added Expenses

This is my modem/router. When I recently changed my internet plan, the guy said I would need a new modem/router. He said he would send me a new one and when I asked if it was included, he said yes. I just got my internet bill and found that I was being charged $15 a month for this device. When I called and said this was supposed to be included in the price, the person in billing support said it was included, but I would need to pay for it each month?!? So I promptly bought a new one (renewed on Amazon as it was much cheaper than new) and this is going back to Cox tomorrow.

Today's tip: review every bill you get each month and make sure there are no unexpected fees on them, and #2, always buy your own modem/router as it is much cheaper than paying a rental fee for it for years. 

Another Sunset

I love the clarity of the pictures on my phone...

And today's quick tip: Speaking of my phone, I bought it as a "renewal" item on Amazon and saved more than half the cost of a new phone. It may be used but it looks perfect and works just like a new phone would work so why not save a whole bunch of money over the cost of buying new?

Sunset

A pretty photo of the sunset I took a couple of days ago...

Quick tip: With the cost of the average new car hitting $50k, hubby and I discussed the cost of a car/gas/maintenance/insurance and figured that if our old car ever dies, it might be more cost-effective to take Uber instead of buying a new car!

Inflation!

These rolls of Christmas wrapping paper were $1.50 at the Dollar Tree last holiday season and now they are $3 a roll. 100% inflation is no bueno :(

Quick tip: Microsoft ended support for Windows 10 today. Considering that 40% of Windows users are still using Windows 10, there will either be a great migration to Windows 11 or a great migration to Linux. I am choosing Linux.