--EVERYWHERE AROUND THE WORLD HEARTS ARE BREAKING

…Sorry to say, it was a fairly dull weekend here.  I could make up some great things, but I think you’d be able to tell that I was lying and I’d feel bad.

…Someone did call me a “fabulous writer.”  That was nice.  I need to hear that every now and then.

…Here are a few things I learned last week:

-People spend $310 million on Halloween costumes for their pets.

-In 2001, 17 million people got food stamps at a cost of $15 billion to run the program.  By June of this 

year, there were 47.8 million people getting food stamps at an annual cost of $75 million.

-The average person checks their phone 150 times per day (wow).

-The average U.S. temperature was a full degree Fahrenheit warmer than the hottest year since record-keeping began in 1895.

-So far this year over 5,000 people have been killed in Iraq.  That's the highest level since 2006.  800 were killed in August alone.

-The median household income in the U.S is $51,000.

--The yearly median household income for the richest 1% of Americans is $385,000.