Every month I calculate what my monthly income/expenses were, and so I've known since May that my totals were in the red, and growing worse each month.

Year-to-date, my spending has exceeded income by $8,700.

By year-end, my expenses should still come in at around $40K, give or take; my only remaining big expense this year is the 2nd payment of property taxes at over $3,000.

No, what's really caused this problem is my income is lower than projected. On most weeks, I get in a little shy of the 20 hours minimum I wanted to get: usually 17, 18 or 19 hours. And that, over the year, is enough to make a difference.

Am I overly worried? No, I have plenty of cushion. It's just that I am disciplined and don't like to see things slip. So, for the remainder of the year, I'll be going on a self-imposed spending diet to try to reduce that $8,700 in the red to something not quite as alarming. If I could cut that number in half, I'd feel considerably better.
After the fun trip to the tea company last week, someone told me about a tea company very close...like 15 minutes...to where I live! It might be worth a visit, although they do tea tastings only on Saturdays, and I dislike crowds.

There have been more bear sightings in my neighborhood. My next-door-neighbor, in fact, sent a photo in to the local paper of a bear across the street. So, umm, yeah, one of these days I expect I'll see a bear with a combination of fascination, awe and alarm.

I have continued to sell small things on Facebook Marketplace; it's almost like a hobby. And unlike most people, because I sell stuff primarily to "declutter," not to make money (although of course I do make some), I tend to prices things lower than most sellers, and consequently, they sell pretty quickly. People seem to be most grateful.

Along with selling unwanted possessions, I've also been trading flower seeds with friends, family, at a seed swap at the library, and through the mail with people in my Facebook groups. I am now well stocked!!

It's been a rainy, dark day all day long. I'm afraid the kiddies won't see any improvements by nightfall as the winds now are already picking up and we'll see gusts north of 40 mph. A scary Halloween indeed.

Yesterday at work the boss treated us to a free lunch at a nearby bodega. I took half of it home and had it today. Last night I enjoyed a great free dinner at an MS lecture and enjoyed meeting a few new people.

This weekend I'll be making my own yogurt for the first time, seeing my father (as usual), going to a crafts show and definitely mowing leaves with the mower once things dry out. I told my mower guy a few weeks ago he could quit for the season since I don't mind mowing in the cooler weather and it certainly saves me a small bundle if I can finish out the mowing for the season, although it does take time with my battery-powered mower (run time: 35-40 minutes).

There have been a growing number of bear sightings in my immediate neighborhood. They have been in town for years now, but most often they seem to be on the other side of town, in an area abutting a state park.

I walk around the block often in the morning, and a neighbor driving by slowed down to warn me to "be careful" as he'd just seen a bear in his yard that morning.

I've also talked to a woman I often see walking her beagle and she has seen the bear also as she walked home, her neighbors on their enclosed back porch suddenly shouted "Bear, bear! Go away! Go away!" She did, and as soon as the neighbors began yelling, the bear took off.

So now I need to avoid walking too early in the morning. They will be hibernating soon. And I think I want to buy a mini fog horn thingy.

My father and I had a really nice day today. It was a beautiful warm day in the 60s here and all the leaves are already past peak, I think. We took a drive northwest to a small town just over the New York state line to Harney & Sons tea company.



They have a cute little tea tasting room where, like a fine wine, you can taste a variety of teas. We tried 4 of them and I decided to buy an organic sencha Japanese tea called Bancha and an Indian assam tea, also organic.


The young man shown here was very knowledgeable about teas.


Here's what I bought. I couldn't resist this cute little mug.

Down the road we stopped at a very large organic farm and had a great lunch in their little cafe. Dad bought some of their purple sweet potatoes and a cluster of mushrooms from another local farm.

Another new-to-me cousin contacted me on Ancestry. Our DNA says we're cousins but we haven't yet figured out how, except that it's likely on my paternal grandmother's side. This person grew up in London but has lived the past 30 years in Germany, making her the first living ancestor I've discovered outside the US!