Saturday Night Party

It's Saturday night on a Labor Day Weekend.

I feel like dancing....how about you?

Let's kick it old school circa 2000's....

 

If I was 25 years younger I'd be out gettin' stooped like this...... Instead I'm an old lady sitting home chair dancing. lol

Sluggy Peas

Taking Greta Garbo's Famous Saying to An Extreme

Say the name of the great actress Greta Garbo and one well known phrase immediately springs to mind...... "I vant to be alone."





Back in the Spring of this year a longstanding mystery in the state of Maine was solved.

                          Maine State Police Photograph

For the last 26 some odd years residents with cottages on the banks of the North Pond near Rome Maine have had their houses broken into and items stolen.  The thefts were long believed to be the work of a hermit living in the woods nearby but no one had ever been caught.

Until this Spring when Christopher Knight was discovered on a surveillance camera tape robbing a nearby Summer Camp.

He claims to have walked out of his life and into the Maine Woods in 1986 and has survived that many winters in Maine living in a tent.  He hasn't purchased anything since 1986, held a job, contacted his family or had any human contact(save for 1 person in 27 years), and has survived by stealing from homes and businesses near this seasonal lake which is part of the Belgrade Lakes system.

Reaction seems to be all over the place to this guy and what he has done....from some folks wanting to lock him up for life to others who admire him and have sent him money for bail and written songs about him.

What do you think?
If given the choice, could you or would you even consider making a lifestyle choice like this?
Could you walk away from your life and all the people in it never to return?

Or do you think he has a screw loose?

And what penalties should the man suffer for his actions?
While he never harmed anyone physically, he did break the law, and wreak havoc on the area's citizens' emotional and mental states as they never knew when he would hit and who's house would be robbed.

Personally I think he deserves a medal(or a straight jacket-your choice)for living 27 winters in a tent in Maine. lolz

Link to an article HERE.





Sluggy

Glad This Week is Almost Over....My Bitchfest

I think I have a manic-depressive aspect to my personality....ok, I see some of you who know me out there rolling your eyes, saying "Duh!" and just plain snickering......so cut it out! ;-)

Anyway, most everyone on the planet feels a sense of letdown after going on vacation, right?
What comes over me when I get back from vacation is a whole other level of letdown......I liken it to depression.
I get sad....sad that the good times are over.....real sad, like want to cry all day sad.....and then reality bites me in the ass and laundry needs doing, meals need cooking, the house needs cleaning, the dogs need looking after and I am here again, alone and having to do all these chores.....with leaky eyes.

And then I sink lower and just don't want to do anything but sit, or sleep, or wander the interwebs......making the chores pile up higher.....which leads me to get more depressed.

And this goes on until I finally snap out of it and get back to living life.
If I'm lucky, I'm only caught up in this cycle of blah for a week or so but it has been known to stretch out to almost a month before.

I tell y'all this to explain why I haven't been very chatty lately and god help me....perky!......ok.....more like "as-perky-as-I-get perky"(which isn't very).

I don't do perky.
Must be my dna or something.

I spent most of this past week sighing deeply and wandering around the house trying to ignore the chores.

I'd start to feel better and then I'd sit down and try to edit the many photos I took while on our Road Trip or upload those lame videos I made and I'd just feel even sadder......because I miss being on that trip and seeing/meeting everyone/doing fun things.

Plus I would also be sad about Tanner not being here.  I didn't get a chance to have a letdown after she left because we left on the Road Trip 4 days after she went home, so we were busy preparing for the Road Trip during that time.
I guess I am doubly sad, mourning the end of 2 fun times of my life.

Yeah, I am a big old emotional mess inside a hard snail's shell......

Then while I was going through my sad/letdown cycle,  annoying and bad shit started happening the middle of this week.
First the very expensive a/c system we had installed in July?  Yah, we come home and turn it on and it's not throwing off cool air.
WTF?!?
We had a heat spell the last couple of days here and by tonight I had it jacked all the way down to 65 degrees and it was cooler outside and no where NEAR 65 degrees in here and didn't even cut the humidity in the air.
Again...WTF?!?!
So now we get to call Sears and bitch about this and want to slap people around over it because I just paid that bill and now I wish I hadn't.
Plus I'm having flashbacks to earlier this year when the 3 week old freezer shit the bed.
PTSD anyone??!

Then the 4 month old tv remote died tonight which sent Hubs over the edge because he couldn't watch his baseball.
Forget that!....what about Project Runway?!?!lolz
So he went and wasted $15 on a universal remote(those things NEVER work!)before ordering a new remote from the tv manufacturer for $40 + shipping a few minutes ago.
Good times......

Shall I add that the mail brought 2 headaches today....
1-the Local tax company has no record of us filing our local taxes.  We don't owe them anything as it's taken out automatically by the employer and it always lines up as accurate but the tax collecting company needs their recordkeeping to be correct.  So Hubs has to take care of that.  It's a hassle but nothing outrageous.  Oh, and Daughter got a notice from them too about her local taxes so having to deal with her form will be a PITA since we have to mail everything to Louisiana to get her signature and then mail it back to them.
More good times.....
2-Got the EOB for our dental plan and the wisdom tooth dentist overcharged us on our copay by about $100 so now I get to go nag his office about a refund.  Oh goody!  I get to call someone on the phone.....one of my FAVORITE things!lol  I bet if I didn't contact them they'd keep my money too. 8-(

Plus I am having problems with my durable medical supplies supplier about my BIpap machine.  Their customer service sucks donkey's ass and I just found out today that we should have been getting bills from them(with co-pays owed)for the last oh.....5 months....but we have yet to see one bill.  Because we weren't getting EOBs or bills I assumed our insurance paid 100% on this stuff.
I am a donkey's ass for thinking this, right? 8-)
The sleep disorders clinic no longer has them as an approved supplier for their patients but once you sign up with one(might be a PA state thing)you are locked into keeping them for your needs for 3 months.  But this shouldn't apply to me since I've used them for 5 months now so I should be able to "fire" them.
But if I do, the 3 months credit toward my 10 month then I don't pay for the BIpap rental until I give it back goes away, and I would end up paying more in rental monies if I switch suppliers now.
Sigh.

Let's see, what else can I bitch about? ;-)

*  I finished paying all the bills for August this week and now I get to add up the damage.  I am HOPING we come out in the black and not the red for this month.  It's anybody's call which way August will have played out with the spending.  The semi-annual car insurance bill hits in August plus we had some unplanned medical bills(wisdom teeth co-pays)and a big check we wrote as our present to the Hub's sister's wedding.  "IF" there is anything leftover this month for the $20K Savings Challenge it is going to be tiny. 8-(

* How about the fact that I gained 12 POUNDS while on vacation?
Yikes!
Not so bad because I already lost 9 of it.  I chalk that part of it up to eating restaurant food(over salted/high sodium content=retain water)for 11 days(except for 2 meals of home cooking).
Let's chalk the last 3 lbs. up to too much alcohol and fried foods and I am on the way to losing that piece of it.

*  And the last part of this week was hot and humid, thus making my feet swell and feel like crap so it's been hard to get much walking in.

On the good side of things.....

I did go to a medical appointment today and I finally went grocery shopping, the 1st trip since we got back a week ago.  I figured the store would be cooler than the house today so why not loiter a bit in there. 8-)
I got some good deals(a few coupons the store sent me in the mail, and some instant discounts on bakery and meats).  All totaled I spend $108.48 on $191.82 worth of groceries, for a 43% savings rate.
Weis PMITA Markets had London Broils Bogo this week plus I had a snail mailed Q $2/$10 meat purchase so I got 5.65 lbs. of beef for $14.17 or about $2.50 lb.
They also had party size Lay's snacks BOGO($4.99)and I had a snail mailed Q $1/1 item so I got 2 mega-sized bags for $3.99.  If we have company Labor Day weekend or if #2 Son needs snacks I am set now.
Arnold breads were BOGO as well($4.29)and I had a $1/1 Q so 2 loaves of good bread cost me $3.29.  I also picked up some preformed burgers for cheaper than just plain old ground beef after Instant Meat discount Qs.  The flyer had some Qs as well so I got a hunk of cream cheese for free, another bag of chips for .99¢ and a case of Poland Spring water for $1.99.  Potatoes were BOGO and Jamestown bacon was 3/$9($3 each....not bad but not great but we need it for BLTs to use up all these tomatoes here).
I did splurge today and buy a pint of gelato for myself....it was on sale for $3.99.
Bad Sluggy bad!
Bananas, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, bagels 50% off, muffins 50% off, chuck steak $1 off, shrimp burgers $3 off, 2 1lb. bags of shredded cheese, sour cream, 2 bags of frozen French fries(for #2 son), a second cream cheese hunk, some deli turkey meat, a hunk of green leaf lettuce, a bag o' salad 50% off and a big box of greens 50% off round out the groceries procured today.

That trip and the unloading and putting it all away in the heat just about did me in though.

Can I just go back on vacation now??? lolz

Ok, I'll shut up now and go start adding up the receipts from the road trip and see how far off the tracks we went with the spending there.
Oy!

Sluggy




 

This Was Too Good Not to Share

It would be hilarious if it wasn't so close to the truth.
I feel for all those Millennials out there in the coming years.....

 

Sluggy

31 Years Ago Today.....

....I married my best friend.

 

 

We met in college. He went to Johns Hopkins University and me at Goucher College.
We met at "The Rat" on Disco Night.  He asked my girlfriend to dance and she declined.  Then he got it right and asked me to dance.

By the Spring of my freshman year, we were inseparable.....

Our relationship survived being separated during the Summers while in college.  He worked in Baltimore while I worked all over New England in Summer Stock theater those 3 years.....

 

 

After graduation I moved back to Virginia Beach to live with my mother and work as a waitress and also pick up theater jobs when they became available.  He moved to Charlottesville to go to graduate school.
Guess what I did on my days off?  If you said, "drive to Charlottesville" you would be correct.
Somebody had to go balance his checkbook, right?

1 week after we married, in the Fall of his second year in Grad school I moved to North Carolina and started and then dropped out of Grad school.  A week later I moved in with my new husband in Charlottesville to his bachelor pad.  That 1st year of marriage was spent living with the hubs and his 2 roommates.   It was my version of "2 and a half men".....

Hubs finished his Masters and we relocated down to Virginia Beach in my mother's townhouse until we got established and found our own place.

 

Unfortunately things didn't work out quite the way we wanted in Virginia so after New Year's Day in 1983 we loaded what little we owned and hauled it up to Northeastern New Jersey to move into the basement of Hub's parent's house.
After finding work and 8 months in the basement, we rented out the other half of Hub's oldest brother's 2 family home in West Orange, NJ.

 

Hubs career took off(and I worked various jobs plus did some self employed type things to make ends meet)and after 2 years we thought we were ready to buy a house and in 1986 we moved to Dingman Township PA, outside of Milford in the Poconos.

That is where we learned the meaning of WINTER as that area averaged 100 inches of snow per Winter.
We also learned how expensive electric heat could be and the joys of losing Power in the dead of Winter on a regular basis. 

Unfortunately, money was real tight there(who knew house expenses were so much!?!)so I got a job or two while Hubs commuted to NJ 5 days a week for his job.

We got pregnant a few years later but I suffered a miscarriage when I developed appendicitis.  Some fertility treatments followed but with no luck.  We became foster parents and I quit my job to stay home.
While fostering a year or so later, we finally became pregnant again.

Our oldest son was born in 1991, our daughter followed quickly after in 1992 and our youngest son in 1996.

 

The years passed.
We survived congenital defects with 2 of our kids and the sleepless baby years.
We barely got through the potty training. 
We lost a beloved pet and had to pass another pet on to another family.
Vacations happened, schooling happened and we lived life.

Our house seemed to grow smaller as the kids grew and the days went by until our 1000 sq. ft. house just wouldn't do any longer.
In 2000 we moved further west into PA into a bigger town(and a bigger house) for the opportunities it would afford our kids.

More years passed as the kids grew some more and we entered the dreaded Teen years.
We survived teaching them to drive and the high school drama.
We survived more pets(4 dogs anyone?)and saw 2 of them go over the Rainbow bridge.
And then the kids started moving away from home for college and beyond and the house sighed in relief and then started growing ever so larger. 
And Hub's career prospered some more and we were busy living life.

The next thing you know, I turn around and it's 31 years since we said, "I do." and I wonder where the heck the time went?


Which brings us to today, 31 years into this journey.

I can't wait to see where life takes us next! 8-)

Sluggy

WTF is Up With the USPS?!?

I'll tell y'all I am real upset right now with my local US Postal Service.

I had 2 giveaway boxes to mail off when I returned home from the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013.
One to Judy for winning the Boring Blog Box Giveaway and one to Linda for winning the School Supplies Giveaway.
So I packed everything up, printed out shipping labels and scheduled a Mail Carrier pickup for Monday, August 26th.
And Hubs put the boxes out on the front porch that morning at 7am.

And come 7pm at night, those boxes were still sitting on my front porch.
I checked at 3pm and the mail carrier had been by and left mail in the mailbox and had not taken the packages.  I left them out for 4 more hours after that, since if it's a heavy mail day, my regular carrier will circle back around to get packages after she finishes her route.

Still no pick-up by 7pm so I brought the boxes in and figured it was a substitute carrier that day.  This has happened before with subs.....they either forget to pick-up packages or they don't get the paperwork for it for some reason.

So I went back online to reschedule the carrier pick-up for Tuesday, Aug. 27th.

I get up this morning and check my email and this is what was in my inbox from the fine folks at the USPS......I have blacked out my name/address.   Click on it to embiggen.

Yes, it's an email confirmation that the USPS picked up my 2 packages on Aug. 26th, received in my inbox at 4:12 am.

But guess what is still sitting out on my front porch??

Click on the second photo to embiggen and read the note I left.....

I also emailed the USPS and complained about the slack service and downright lying to their customers.

It's no wonder I hate dealing with large corporations......

Sluggy

Bread & Soup is What's for Dinner

When the broccoli from the garden needs picking and you have a cool-ish day, why not make Broccoli Cheddar Soup?

That's just what I did today......I only needed 1/3rd of a brick of Velveeta from the store(cost under $2 for that much).  I had all the other ingredients at home.

And I cut my French bread recipe in half and made 2 loaves of nice crusty bread.  The recipe makes 4 loaves but with only 3 of us at home now, that is way too much bread.

No bread machine needed......just my two hands and a little elbow grease......

A simple and filling dinner and pretty darn cheap too. 8-))

And there are plenty of leftovers for later this week.

Tomorrow we eat some on the tomato crop coming in now......

Sluggy

This Week on The Dining Table

This is the "Gotta Use Up Stuff From the Garden" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

 

Sunday--BBQ Chicken, broccoli & cheese casserole, tossed salad, corn on the cob
Monday--raw  veggies, crackers, cheese and sausage(Sonya Ann had packed us some snacks and that was dinner)
Tuesday--Chinese food again!
Wednesday--Eating out
Thursday--Eating Out
Friday--something from my freezer TBA
Saturday--something from my freezer TBA

 

Everything above was eaten as was written.  The days where a specific food was not mentioned went like this....
Wednesday--Local Restaurant in AltaVista, VA
Thursday--Truck Stop Diner outside of Harrisburg, PA
Friday--Burgers, Steamed Broccoli(from garden)
Saturday--Leftover Meat Sauce over Rigatoni, Tossed Salad(w/garden cukes and toms)
  

As for food spending last week.....We didn't do ANY grocery shopping while on the trip(some alcohol procurement did happen but that's from the entertainment budget).  We left #2 Son $40 cash(plus $35 from a rebate check we finally cashed, so $40 out of my August food budget) and $10 in McDonald's bucks(the cost of which was accounted for last year).

Then we hit the grocery store on Friday after we got back from the trip and spent $34.48 on $48.11 of regular retail foods.
So my food budget spending from 8/11 to 8/23 was $74.48.
This means I am at $266.81 spent so far in August.  I have $133.19 left in the budget for the next 6 days.

 

Food waste last week.....bad.....real bad!  #2 Son didn't eat ANYTHING that was here that needed to be eaten.  Luckily I did remember to remind him to put some of it into the freezer(the garden tomatoes and the smoked pork I made).  I had to throw out melon, spareribs, a small amount of coleslaw and rice when I got home.  We tried to eat down what was in the fridge before we left but I thought #2 Son would at least eat the ribs.  *sigh*

  

Leftovers going into this week?  Some rigatoni, and lots and lots of BROCCOLI from the garden!
We also have green beans, cukes, eggplant and more tomatoes coming in, so the order of the meals below will depend on what is harvested and when.

Here's this week's meal plan---
 

Sunday--Broccoli/Chicken Quiche
Monday--Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Fresh Baked Bread
Tuesday--BLT Sandwiches(garden tomatoes)
Wednesday--Eggplant prepared some way?, Tossed Salad
Thursday--Broccoli Casserole, Caprese Salad(garden toms)
Friday--Green Bean Stirfry, Roasted Potatoes, Leftover Quiche
Saturday--Leftovers

On the shopping list......hubs picked up half & half and swiss cheese on Sunday morning already, but I still need a small hunk of Velveeta, sandwich bread(at the bakery outlet), fresh mozzarella, potatoes and more salad greens.
There is a sale on bacon this week as well which I'll end up taking advantage of. ;-)
I'm figuring about $50 food spending this week.

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy. 
  

 What's getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

When Life Gives You Broccoli.......

....Cook it!

We came home from the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013 to find that our son had NOT even LOOKED at the Garden, let alone gone out into it and picked what had ripened.
In addition, our 4 little Broccoli plants had gone into production overdrive!
How nice......

If you watched my little garden tour video from Friday you saw all the broccoli that is coming in fast and furiously.

So Hubs took a really big knife and went out to hack off heads of broccoli Friday afternoon.  I came into the kitchen and found this camouflaging sitting on the stove......

3 large heads of broccoli.

Ok, genius Hubs, now that you've picked it, "I" have to come up with some ways to use this up before it goes bad.
Thanks babe!

And freezing it is not an option, with the little freezer space I still have since the new upright freezer died before I had it a month.....but let's not go there right now, ok?

So Friday night, along with the burgers we had steamed broccoli.

Saturday night we took a break from broccoli and used up the meat sauce I still had in the fridge from when Tanner was here, I had made to go with the ravioli.  We had tossed salad with garden cukes and toms with the rigatoni and meat sauce.

Today, Sunday, I took a package of rolled pie crusts that has been sitting in the fridge since July 4th week(Oldest had been sent to the store to buy 2 crusts and bought 2 PACKAGES instead)which needed to be used up.  I defrosted 1 full chicken breast as well.  Hubs went out this morning and bought me some Swiss cheese and half & half so I could make a couple of quiches.

I finely chopped an onion and sautéd it and 3 cups of broccoli in a pan with olive oil.....

Beat 8 eggs together.....

Sautéd the chicken breast in a little more olive oil, then sliced/chopped it up....

Put 4 cups of milk(or half & half) into a pot.  Added a double pinch each of sugar, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg. Then add 1/4 tsp. of pepper. 
Heated the milk mixture on medium low and slowly beat in the eggs, continuing to stir so it didn't  scald and stick to the bottom of the pot.

I grated Swiss Cheese(I also used a bit of Cheddar Cheese).....

Unrolled the pie crusts into pie pans and crimped the edges....

Added the broccoli/onion mixture....

Added the cooked chicken pieces.....

Arranged the cheese(s) ever so artfully in the pie pan.....

Ladled the egg/milk mixture into each pie pan until full and popped them into a 325 degree oven for 50 minutes.
I always use a cookie sheet or pizza pan under my quiche in case the liquid spills out so it doesn't coat the bottom of my oven and make my smoke detectors go off.....trust me, I know this......

Then when it's firm and done, I removed the quiches from the oven, cool and slice up and eat it.
If you let it sit a couple hours(or refrigerate it after cooling and then slice and reheat it)it will hold together better than if you try to cut it and serve it right out of the oven.
Trust me, I know this too......

I still have a mountain of Broccoli to use after 2 broccoli meals.
Monday I'll be making a Broccoli Cheddar Soup.

After that?
I'm thinking more steamed Broccoli, some raw Broccoli and dip and then I need to get my friend Marsha's Broccoli/Cheese Casserole recipe.

Because I looked out in the garden this afternoon and there are 6 MORE heads coming to a table near me soon!

Broccoli here has become what the Zucchini usually is.....the vegetable that just won't stop giving!

Do you have any awesome recipes using Broccoli?
Please share.....NOW!!! ;-)

Sluggy

 

And the Digging Out Begins.....

Oh, how I love the end of a Summer vacation!.....she said, dripping with sarcasm.......


We've had one day back to decompress and now the mountain of laundry, the mess in the fridge and kitchen, and the jungle that sprouted up in the yard while we were gone ALL gets tackled over the weekend.

We also have to get ready for the Home Repairs/Renos to commence and I have 4 medical appointments coming up the week after next while the handymen will be here working on various projects.

Add in that I have to get Salvation Army to come get the dining room set before the work starts on the dining/living room AND get the Etsy store opened so it looks like I'll have more than enough chores to keep me busy over the next 3 or so weeks.

Sort of makes me want to just leave home again....lol

We returned the rental car yesterday and then went to Lowe's to order the rest of the flooring for the living and dining rooms.  I also got some paint swatches so I can decide on a wall color for those rooms.  It looks like I'll have 3 days(Friday to Sunday of the week after next)to get the ceiling and walls painted in the living/dining rooms between the time the handymen repair the walls/ceilings and come back to install the flooring in there.
At any rate, all the work should be completed by September 11th.  Hmmm, I hope that's not a bad sign......9/11....... '-)


While I go pack more dishware up I took out of the hutch, here's a quick trip through the garden I took yesterday morning to see what grew while we were gone for those 10 days.  I didn't take any film of the front flowerbed where our tomato plants are but we did pick our first two tomatoes yesterday.  One got used on the burgers we grilled to eat for dinner(along with a mountain of  broccoli I steamed).  We'll have more coming in fast and furiously once they all start ripening.  I plan on an Insalata Caprese (Caprese Salad)and multiple nights of BLT sandwiches later this week for dinners.
Plus Broccoli Quiche and Broccoli Cheddar Soup on other nights.

What has everyone else been picking from their garden lately?




Sluggy 

School Supplies Giveaway Winner Revealed

And the winner of the School Supplies is........

Linda!

LindaAugust 21, 2013 at 12:12 PM

You are still on my blog roll.

 

Congratulations to you Linda and please email me your mailing address and I'll get this box of goodies out to you on Monday.

 

More Giveaways coming up later next week so stay tuned!

 

Sluggy

Giveaway Ending TONIGHT.....Hurry and Enter!

Just a quickie to remind y'all that the School Supplies Giveaway is ending tonight at 11:59 EDST(eastern daylight savings time).

So get those entries in during the next few hours!!

Use this link HERE or click on the link at the top of the sidebar under "Current Giveaways".

Sluggy

I Am DOG Tired!

Well it's time to head home this morning from our Summer Road Trip of 2013.
I have come to the conclusion that despite having a real nice time out on the road for 10 days and traveling over 2,100 miles, I am dog tired and worn out and ready to get home and sleep in my own bed.

I guess that means I have turned into an old stick-in-the-mud at the ripe old age of 54.
I ache from sitting for hours in a car some days and ache from walking until I could drop other days.
After 10 days I yearn for my normal routine and food that doesn't come out of a restaurant.
Yah I know that means I have to COOK again but I am ready to ease back into the kitchen.....I think. ;-)

And I know Sonya Ann will fall outta her chair but I am ready to not drink for awhile.  I just am not cut out to be an alcoholic...... lol

I didn't take any videos Wednesday(yes, some of you have had your prayers answered!)so I have nothing new to post from yesterday.  I did however take 280, count 'em 280! still photos yesterday.  Mostly those shots are of headstones or pages from genealogy books so of no interest to but a few who read this blog.

So I'll leave you with a short film I took on Tuesday in Wytheville, VA from where we stopped for a late, quick lunch before blowing that town.

This will be my last post for a day or so as we head home and then I dig out from a mammoth pile of dirty laundry once we get to the old homestead.

Talk to y'all next week, if not a bit sooner over the weekend,

Sluggy

 

Where's Waldo, Er....Sluggy?

Can you spot the Sluggy in this photo?

More later......

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table--The Day Late Edition

This is the "Still On Vacation & I'm a Day Late" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

 

Sunday--Chicken and broccoli in garlic sauce,  PLUS fresh broccoli from the garden, coconut rice
Monday--Assorted Leftovers that #2 Son won't eat this week
Tuesday--?
Wednesday--Whatever Sonya Ann fixes....uh oh.....lolz
Thursday--Eat Out
Friday--?
Saturday--Wedding Reception

 

Everything was as planned that WAS planned beforehand.  Sonya's hubs, Den, cooked us a yummy gourmet Asian meal on Wednesday when we arrived and we ate out at a really good, authentic Mexican place on Thursday.  Friday was a steak dinner with the Hubs sister and her fiancée.  I only had to cook 1 day last week so it was an awesome week in my book! 8-))
  

I don't have my food receipt log with me here so I'll update our food spending when I get home.  The eating out is not on the food budget but the entertainment budget so I'll update that spending when I do a post mortem on our trip next Monday.

 

Food waste last week.....no clue.  I told #2 Son to throw any barbecue he didn't eat last week into the freezer.  I'll see what went bad while I was away when I get home.  I didn't leave much there that could go bad so it shouldn't be too awful.

  

Leftovers going into this week?  Not a thing since we aren't home.  I left cash with #2 Son and he is picking up what he needs until we return.  I will have to throw a couple of meals together later this week when we get home but I am pulling a Scarlett O'Hara and thinking about that "anotha day".....

Here's this week's meal plan--such that it is---
 

Sunday--BBQ Chicken, broccoli & cheese casserole, tossed salad, corn on the cob
Monday--raw  veggies, crackers, cheese and sausage(Sonya Ann had packed us some snacks and that was dinner)
Tuesday--Chinese food again!
Wednesday--Eating out
Thursday--Eating Out
Friday--something from my freezer TBA
Saturday--something from my freezer TBA

I have NO shopping list this week.....again!
I'll probably pick up groceries Sunday or next Monday.

 

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table-or rather NOT appearing on the kitchen table-this week here at Chez Sluggy.  Not much of a meal plan again but we'll be back to normal(or what passes for normal)next Monday.
  

 What's getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

Summer Road Trip of 2013 Day 8 -It's Family Day

I want to show y'all some relatives of mine.....albeit distant relatives or relatives by marriage.


I have a direct ancestor named Mary Hunt.
Mary Hunt was born 15 May 1695 and died abt. 8 Mar 1763.
Mary is my 7th great grandmother on the maternal side of my family.

By her third marriage after she was widowed twice, she has connected me to a slew of famous and esteemed persons in our country's early history.  She never had any children by her third husband so I am not blood relation to any of these people, but am related through marriage.

Here is the wife of the brother-in-law of my 7th great grandmother......

Here is the brother-in-law of my 7th great grandmother.....

Here is the 3rd great grandfather of the husband of the niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother....

And  this is the 3rd great grandmother of the husband of the niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother.....

This is the nephew of the husband of my 7th great grandmother.....or would it be the step nephew of my 7th great grandmother.....

My 6th great grandmother(Mary Hunt's daughter by her second husband), was also the cousin-in-law(or would it be half cousin or step cousin?) of that man.

This is the 3rd great grand niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother........

And here's the husband of the 3rd great grand niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother.....

 I point all this out because today on our Great Summer Road Trip of 2013, I'll be visiting the childhood home of the 3rd great grand niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother......

She became somewhat of a controversial women of her time in history.

Sluggy

When In Rome.......aka When In Tennessee

Y'all know the old saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans.".
I like to follow that advice so when I travel to other states, I eat and shop like the natives.

Yesterday our version of the saying went like....."When in Tennessee, Drink like a Tennessean".

Having spent most of Monday in Tennessee traveling east to Virginia, we made a few stops to shop.......for adult beverages.

Here is what we cracked open this evening back at the hotel room.....

 Hubs had some George Dickel Tennessee sipping Whisky.
Their motto is...."If you know Jack, you don't know Dickel."
One of their mixed drink ideas is called the "STIFF DICKEL".

Don't even GO there people...... ;-)

And my choice was from a bit further north from Tennessee.....
Kentucky made "Cinerator"  hot cinnamon flavored Whiskey.
91.1% proof.

I've had about an ounce so far and it's already taken me 20 minutes to type and retype this post.
Where the heck is spellcheck when I need it??

And my taste buds are on fire.......but in a good way.

I'll be falling into bed shortly if I don't hit the floor first.
I dare you to put a shot of this into your Cranberry and Amaretto concoctions Sonya Ann.

Sluggy-who will sleep soundly tonight!
 

Summer Road Trip 2013-Day 6

Here's another little film of our day yesterday.
I'm sorry if this is getting REALLY boring but there is really nothing to film and talk about when we are sitting in a car all. day. long. driving from location to location.

The best I can do is film these short clips of our lunches or dinners on the road.
Sunday's lunch was in Owensboro, Kentucky.

A feast of fried foods but stuff we don't usually eat at home.....well, at least for moi.
Hubs had chicken but we don't do it up fried anymore at home.

Sunday we stayed in Lebanon, Tennessee with a childhood friend but this morning we are back on the highway heading back north a bit.....and east.
Just a few more days until we make the last leg back home to the armpit of Pennsyltucky and I can recap the full itinerary of adventures we had the last week and a half.
After I edit a million photos(EEK!) and sleep for 4 days straight to catch up on my beauty rest, that is.....






Sluggy

Road Trip Day 5-May I Introduce.....

May I introduce the newly married couple.......

My sister in-law and her new husband(he's on the right wearing the do-rag).

The ceremony was lovely and the reception was great but YouTube won't let me upload any videos today(a reprieve for all of you out there!lolz), and I'm heading out the door very soon so that's all for today.

It's back on the road for us in a few mintues, so come back tomorrow to see where we are/were heading to next.

Sluggy

Day Four "On The Road Again" of the Summer Road Trip of 2013 Teaser

Another real quick post from me today.
Today is a busy one with the wedding happening and all.

So I'll just post another quick video from yesterday.

We stopped en route to our Day Four destination to meet and have lunch with a couple of online friends I've known for 14 years but have never actually met in real life.

After the hugs and giggles upon meeting finally, we settled in to the important stuff.....eating lunch! lol
The waitress told us about the specials, and since it was Friday most if not all of them revolved around seafood.
After she rattled off the list of fish and shellfish goodies available on that day and left, I looked at Hubs and said, "Should we dare even think about having the FISH SANDWICH??!".

Ya see......oh lord, sit down and get a drink, this will be anything BUT brief.....

a few years back when we use to drive our kids to summer camp on Lake Erie, we stopped one year for lunch before the drop-off at a place called KING'S RESTAURANT.  It's a local chain-type family restaurant place with modest prices and home cooking.
My hubs ordered the fish sandwich and when they brought it to the table, it was a regular sized sub roll with a piece of fried fish 3 TIMES the length of the roll.  Honestly, it was like a ginormous filet off of a whole 8 lb. fish!

Not having much of a censor between my brain & what I am thinking and what comes out my mouth, I half yelled, for the whole room to hear, "Holy crap!  That fish is HUGE!"
At that, Hubs, shot me a look that would kill, which just made me bust out laughing.....which in turn, made all 3 of our kids fall into hysterics.....which in turn made Hubs face go red and piss the heck out of him......which in turn made me NOT be able to stop laughing.  Hubs would glare at the kids and they would quiet but then he'd try to take a bite of that sandwich(wrestle with it really!).....and that would make me start up laughing again, which would cause the kids to begin snickering once more.
After about 15 minutes of this, we finally settled down and could eat without going into spasms.

So ever since that day we've had a 'thing' about fish sandwiches and the ordering of them, when we see that item on a menu.

But on Friday, Hubs dared the gods and ordered the fried Walleye fish sandwich at Cindy's Home Cooking Restaurant in Mendota, Illinois.

Sorry for the somewhat lengthy explanation but I needed to share that(if you haven't read about that story on the blog)before you watched this quick video......so you know why I took this video.  ;-)

 

Sluggy

Back to School Giveaway

It's that time of year again......Back to School time.

So I gathered a bunch of freebies or "almost freebies" I had sitting around my house and I'm giving them away to one of my fabulous readers!

So if you have kids heading back to school soon(or have already started back)or grandkids or you yourself can use this stuff, or you know a teacher who would like to have this stuff handy as spares or know a charitable organization that collects school supplies to distribute to the needy, come enter this Giveaway.

Here is what I will be sending the winner.....

1.  2 notebooks
2.  3 book covers
3.  1 box of business sized envelopes
4.  2 packages of pencils
5.  2 packages of ballpoint pens
6.  2 rolls of cellophane tape
7.  1 package of glue sticks
8.  1 bottle of glue
9.  1 pack of highlighters
10.  2 pencil sharpeners
11.  1 big eraser
12.  1 pack of pencil toperasers

Not bad, huh?

This entry time will run from when this spiel is posted until next Friday, August 23rd, at 11:59pm.
That's when I'll draw the winner and post the results on Saturday.

So for this giveaway, you can enter every day.  Just leave a comment about anything you want for an entry each day.
You can also have 2 extra entries each day for being a follower or posting about the giveaway on your blog of on Facebook with a link back to my page.  Just do either or both and leave a comment and the link in your comment on this post. 
If you do all of this each day you can have 3 entries daily X 7 days=21 entries total for this giveaway.

Happy Entering!

Sluggy

Quick Summer Road Trip of 2013 Update

Well we are at the end of Day 3 of the Great Summer Road Trip.

I am so behind on getting anything written up and posted.  It's all I can do to download photos/movies, edit them, upload them to YouTube so I can post them on Blogger(since Blogger doesn't like any movie I try to post over 30 seconds long...ugh).

I'm trying to balance staying "in the moment" and having fun with updating the blog......and obviously the blog is losing out on that deal.

We arrived at Sonya Ann's house yesterday evening.  She promptly hugged me, shoved a biiiig drink in my hand and that's about all I remember from that night.  ;-)

I'll get the full story up on the blog eventually when we are done driving all over creation to see all these folks on this trip.

For now, here's a little boring film I took early on Thursday morning.....sort of my video version of  "snooping in your friend's medicine cabinet".  lol




More later as events develop......


Sluggy

"Film at 11" of Day One of the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013

So tired and not enough time to perform proper hygiene this evening and edit, write and post photos and a report on Day One of the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013-Sluggy Edition.

So I'll just post this short video to whet your appetites for more......or give you a sick feeling in your stomachs, you decide. lol

We are somewhere in the bowels of Ohio this evening and it's  past my bedtime.

Enjoy the film and wish us luck on Day Two's traveling.




Sluggy

And The Winner Is........

Sorry for the delay in getting the winner of the latest Boring Blog Box Giveaway posted.
We've been busy packing and then driving all day today and this is the first chance I've had to blog.

I used Random dotorg to help me pick a winner randomly.
32 valid entries and # 25 was picked which means the winner is......

Judy S.

Congrats to Judy and as soon as I get your complete mailing address and I get home, I'll send your box o' goodies on it's way to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered and if I have a lucid moment later on this week, I'll be posting another Giveaway.

Now I'm off to edit some photos.

Sluggy

You May Want to Cover Your Ears Now.....

Because I'm going to sing.

When Tanner was here last week, she mentioned, in an off-hand manner, that she had just had a birthday.

I told her I should make her a cake, to which she said, "Oh, you don't have to do that." or "I don't need a cake." or something similar.

Well, you KNOW I took that as a challenge. lol

And besides.....
Everybody.
Needs.
Cake.

So before she left on Saturday afternoon, I had Hubs sneak off to the grocery store and buy a little cake at the bakery department.

And after we had our little cook-out, I whipped it out.....er I put the cake on the table and we proceeded to embarrass Tanner by singing to her.

You may want to hit the mute button when you play the short video below.
It's been many many years since anyone has paid money to hear me sing....*snort*

 

Now I want everyone to go over to Tanner's blog and leave her a Birthday message.
And you'd better all do it or I'll....I'll.....I'll sing again!!!


Sluggy

Last Chance to Enter my Giveaway....HURRY!

Just a quick reminder that I am drawing the winner of the Sluggy's Boring Blog Giveaway this evening at 1 minute to midnight.

So you have less than 6 hours from posting this left to enter.

Here's the link to enter HERE.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

This Week on The Dining Table

This is the "Leaving town so use it up few days" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

 Sunday--Subway sandwiches
Monday--Chicken and Broccoli(from the garden)in Garlic Sauce, Coconut Rice
Tuesday--Pork Chops, Green Beans, Roasted Taters(trying again to get this cooked!)
Wednesday--Barbecue Ribs & Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Coleslaw, Collards
Thursday--?  Will play it by ear
Friday--?  Will play it by ear
Saturday--Probably bunches of leftovers

 

Everything Sunday through Wednesday as planned, with the addition of Squash Casserole for Wednesday's meal.  Thursday we had homemade meat sauce with ravioli and tossed salad(at Tanner's request & I had raviolis and precooked crumbled ground beef for a meat sauce in the freezer) , Friday Tanner & I had a real late lunch at Friendly's so no dinner and Saturday we had a burgers/dogs cook-out for lunch before Tanner left so it was just leftover stuff from the week for dinner that night.
 

Last week,  I spent  $106.43 on  $167.51 worth of groceries at 2 different grocery stores and the farm stand.  That included about $50 in some meat deals and discount bakery goods(for while company was here), a pizza, snacks and PowerAde for #2 Son and $5 in fruit & $3.50 for local tomatoes at the farm stand.   The birthday cake was another $7 and bad planning on my part necessitated a $9.16 ground beef purchase(I had frozen but didn't think to thaw it out beforehand).  This means I spent only about $31 on essential food items that were used last week.

 

Food waste galore last week......4 strips of turkey bacon that just got "old" before it got 'et and a 1/4 of a bag of carrot shreds that again, just got "old".  And 1 of the cantaloupes I bought at the farm stand was too ripe so it went to the great compost in the sky. lol  I should have pureed it and froze it for smoothies but freezer space is still at a premium here and I had company and just didn't feel like standing around pureeing melon with them here.  Yes, I am using company as an excuse for throwing out a melon. 
I have NO  shame.......8-(

  

Leftovers going into this week's plan......where do I begin??lol......squash casserole(2 helpings), collards(1 helping), spare ribs(8), pulled pork, coleslaw, pork chops(2), meat sauce, coconut rice,, chicken w/broccoli(1 helping).  Hubs and I will try to eat on the foods #2 Son & others won't eat while we are gone today(just like we ate leftovers yesterday).

Here's this week's meal plan--such that it is--leftover foods are in bold lettering--
 

Sunday--Chicken and broccoli in garlic sauce,  PLUS fresh broccoli from the garden, coconut rice
Monday--Assorted Leftovers that #2 Son won't eat this week
Tuesday--?
Wednesday--Whatever Sonya Ann fixes....uh oh.....lolz
Thursday--Eat Out
Friday--?
Saturday--Wedding Reception

I have NO shopping list this week.....yah! 
Hubs and I will be eating out 5 nights this week.  1 night at Sonya Ann's house and 1 night at the Wedding dinner.  The other 3 nights are wide open and unknown at this point but will involve restaurants.  I am taking a bottle of no salt Ketchup with me however, if I need it to "doctor" up something that is not quite edible.  Plus I will be trying to make R/S diet friendly choices.  Wish me luck!

Instead of stocking up the fridge and leaving a meal plan for those who will be at home, I'll just give them money and they can decide what to serve/fix/eat.

Meals at my house this week will sort of be like Vegas......what happens at meal time at Sluggy's house STAYS at Sluggy's house. ;-)

 

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.  Not much of a meal plan but next week's post mortem should be "interesting". lol
 

 What's getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

Oh, You Poor People.....

Y'all will all eventually rue the day I discovered I can take videos with my new camera.
Yes you will.
It may not be today or next week or next month.
But I promise you eventually......some day.......after y'all get tired of listening to my "nails on a chalkboard" voice yammering on and on about nothing at all, in a stream-of-consciousness style, you WILL regret the day I figured this dang blasted technology on my camera out.

And that's the day that my follower numbers will start declining....RAPIDLY! lol

But until y'all get the good sense to abandon this ship blog, you will be subjected to more of my boring videos.
Oh you lucky, lucky people!!

Today's offering for this weekend.
A brief tour around Sluggy's garden......

 

 

You will need to crane your necks a bit at the end of the video as I went sideways with the camera....oops.....
I guess I started drinking "iced tea" before I shot that bit....wink, wink. ;-)

Sluggy
 

Don't You Wish....

Remember that old song that went something like....."Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend was Hot Like Me"?

Well my post title is a riff on that old song......Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend was Sluggy! lol

I know y'all are all jealous that you aren't up here in Pennsyltucky with me at my house like Tanner is.....was.  8-))

T left about an hour ago but we had some fun earlier today.  We had a little cookout on the back deck before she bugged outta here for home.
Check it out......

 

 

Off to catch up on what everyone else is up to and leave some comments on blogs....

Sluggy

She's Here! She's Here!

Sorry I didn't post anything earlier today.

#2 Son had his wisdom tooth removal appointment this morning at 10:30am.
The oral surgeon's office called here at 7:30am to say they had a last minute opening at 8:30am and if we wanted to, we could come in, in an hour for that time.

Riiiiight!
I am barely awake, not cleaned up or dressed, haven't fed myself breakfast or taken my meds, haven't taken the dogs out yet this morning AND even more important.....I haven't woken the "patient" up yet so he isn't ready to leave.
So how am I going to get all this done PLUS drive a half an hour away to their office in the next 58 minutes.

What are these people thinking??.....or are they? lolz

So we get our morning routine done and I read a few blogs while I shoveled cold cereal into my mouth.

Then it was off to the appointment. 
An hour later I hauled #2 Son home(after a quick stop to pick up his Vicodin)and tried to make him comfortable.
The poor kid......the Vicodin wasn't helping relieve his pain much, so we added some Motrin PM, to help him get to sleep.
It's after 10pm and he just woke up so I guess it did the trick.  ;-)

When we got home,  I commenced cooking.  I smoked a pork shoulder and a mess of spareribs yesterday.  About noon I put them in a low and slow oven(200 degrees)for about 6 hours to finish them off.
I also made yellow squash casserole, collards and coleslaw(for the pulled pork sammies).

At around 3:30pm I heard a car pull up out front and ran out to see that Tanner had arrived.

Here she is in all her glory.....in my kitchen....

The next 3 or 4 hours(see?....I don't even know how long it was!)flew by as we yakked it up.
And here I was worried that we'd run out of things to say........hahaha!!!

We gabbed and I finished cooking, Hubs came home and we ate and #2 son slept through the meal.

After our late dinner we settled down into the den and I subjected Tanner to Honey Boo-Boo.
I don't think she is a fan.....lol

Then I left her in front of the tv for a few episodes of Duck Dynasty while I checked my email, read some blogs and wrote this lame post up.

I'm dog tired and heading to bed early tonight.  But first I need to show Tanner to her room and where to park her stuff.
Tomorrow?
Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Maybe we'll just hang out here or go out to lunch or sightseeing or go rob a bank......
Ok, I'm kidding about the sightseeing. ;-)

Sluggy