About six weeks ago, our 15-year-old range gave up the ghost.  I ordered one from Best Buy which was supposed to arrive last week--but didn't.  Now they are having issues tracking it down.  Since September we've been making do with the gas burners which still work and a toaster oven.  Today I went back to Best Buy, cancelled the original order, and ordered a different one for delivery on Saturday.    They seem very short staffed.  Another gentlemen was also in the appliance section and said he'd been waiting 20 minutes for someone to help him.  I finally rounded up a couple of staff, but I'm fondly remembering the days when staff would follow you around and try to help.     Cross your fingers that this one actually comes.

I withdrew a bit more money from DD's 529 to help with the tuition bills, bought some Halloween candy which I'm trying hard to resist, and picked up the last load of seasonal veggies from the CSA.  Excited to try a new recipe for a trio of vegetable salads like the ones I remember from Germany--a carrot, a beet, and a celeriac one.  I may even make the cucumber one too. 

School is busy, but it's midterm. 

Nothing like the middle of the semester to get me mired in thought.  I'm thinking about good students, bad students, disappearing students, and fraught committee work.    I'm also thinking about retirement.  I posted a question on the forums after learning some of my friends are either already taking Social Security or planning on taking it early.  Has the advice changed on that? 

Other things on my mind are the tuition bill juggling for DD's fabulous Scotland education.  She's having a grand time after a few blips.  But DH and I need to make some decisions about whether and when we might move to the UK. 

And then I think about mundane things like food budgets and decluttering and whether we should redo a bathroom here.  I should think about cleaning the house, but just thinking about that was made me decide to go for a walk in the wondrous autumn weather while it lasts.