Wait, what? September is over already? How did that happen?
With the kids now back in school (well, OK… virtual school) and my focus on keeping the kids focused on their studies, September absolutely flew by. It was here and gone in a flash!
The Tako family mostly stuck to home and kept to ourselves in September… which I suppose is pretty normal life these days. You know, because of the pandemic.
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It’s officially fall here in the Pacific Northwest. While warmer weather may still linger in certain parts of North America, the shift in seasons here in the Pacific Northwest is quick and decisive.
After 3 glorious months of summer we’re officially back to the wet and the damp. Take a look at this pic I snapped from my kitchen window on Thursday morning…
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August is normally a month for travel… but 2020 is anything but a “normal” year. Despite the crazy pandemic situation, the Tako family did manage to do a little traveling this August.
With hot temperatures blanketing most of the Pacific Northwest, we first decided to escape the summer heat by heading out to the coast…
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Like most families, when school lets out for summer, that’s when the Tako family does most of our traveling. This year the world had other plans for us. COVID-19 happened, and our summer travel plans were canceled.
Instead of visiting the national parks of the American Southwest (like we planned), we settled for a quiet summer at home. It was a bit of a bummer to be honest… but we tried to make the best of it.
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Are you feeling a bit bored with life right about now? With many parts of the world still under pandemic restrictions (due to the COVID-19 virus), I frequently hear people complaining of boredom — both in real life and speaking with acquaintances online.
People are bored with the lockdown life. They want things to get back to “normal”, with its free international travel, movie theaters, indoor restaurants, bars, as well as concerts, conventions, and other social meetups….
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“It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times”… as the saying goes. July fit this description quite accurately. Much of July was a very good month, but we had to deal with some costly equipment failures and a health scare. It was a difficult month for my mental health…
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Have you ever had a long string of bad luck, completely out of your control? A whole series of bad events, seemingly unconnected to anything you’ve done that suddenly all lands in your lap at roughly the same time?
A whole bunch of these bad things just happen, and there’s very little you could have done or said to avoid this fate…
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Summer is the busy season around the Tako household. While most of the world is undergoing some form of shutdown because of the pandemic (including our family), we’re still finding a myriad of ways to keep busy.
So much so, that I hardly have time for blogging. I wish I still had the time to crank out a two blog posts per week, but alas, my time is now very limited…
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Like most people, you’ve probably found yourself cooking AND eating at home a lot more in 2020. As a result you’ve probably seen some very significant savings in your monthly budget this year.
You’re certainly not alone – The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis recorded a national savings rate of 32.2% in April and 23.3% in May. This is the most recently released data from the BEA. Those two months in 2020 are the highest savings rates ever recorded in the United States! No period in history even comes close (at least since the Bureau of Economic Analysis started keeping track).
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