Christmas Time......Part 2

Hubs and I went out a few days before Christmas to use $15 in Kohl's Cash before it expired.  He needed new sweaters as his were getting very ratty so I told him I'd get him sweaters for Xmas...hohoho!

I found this ugly pug sweater but he wouldn't get it.....I wonder why not?!? lolz

Nor did this ugly T-rex sweater tempt him.  Our Daughter has the BEST T-REX Ugly Sweater anyway so no dice on this one either.

We found 3 sweaters that looked nice on Hubs so I bought them and brought them home to wrap up.  The only thing that tempted me at Kohl's was the sign above. hehehe

We hit a beer store last week too for some browsing.  I got Ex-CB I 6 pack of something he'll enjoy.
I saw this series from Epic Brewing called "Bg Bad Baptist".  Obviously they don't mean "Southern Baptists"! (PS-the Southern variety don't drink.)

Our local ABC tv affiliate station, Channel 16 news, has a segment every newscast called "TalkBack", wherein local viewers are encouraged to call into the tv station to air their grievances about just about any topic(sort of a 'Festivus for the Rest of Us' but 365 Days a Year).

Here are a classic few........




And of course this is the same tv station that was on the John Oliver Show about their little backyard train outside where the weathermen/women do the weather segment....

 

Anyway, there is a newish craft brewery over by Lake Wallenpaupack called(wait for it!)Wallenpaupack Brewing Company that is canning some of their beers.

They paid homage to Talk Back with this Saison variety. lolz  I should buy it all, cornering the market and wait for HBO to feature it, so that everyone in the country wants it too. lololz

But the BEST BEER we found there was this one........

Yes if you remember these commercials for Carvel cakes........




That is THAT Fudgie!  And it's endorsed by Carvel!!lolz

Some other things we saw while Xmas shopping..........

Kim needs this for her Birthday!  It's at Ollie's should anyone want to go pick it up. lolz

And these were another Ollie's sighting...........

Chicken rain boots.
So cute!

At my Rite-Aid this appeared there a few weeks ago.....

Yes a black Santa.  My teeny tiny town "may" have 3 Black people living in it(and they are all in the same family).  Why would R-A ship him to my town's store and not down the mountain where there is a large black community?
  It's a head scratcher.  The person in charge of distribution at the R-A warehouse needs some pointers that's for sure.

Me and one of the employees at R-A sort of adopted black Santa as our mascot.  Every time I go to R-A I find where they've moved him and check-up on him.  As of Sunday he is 75% off and still there.  I told the manager they should keep him as their goodwill ambassador year round. ;-)

We were able to put our big Xmas tree up this year since Daughter's hanging torture rack left with her.  It lived in the living room taking up space where we put our tree so we've been using our little 3 foot tree for a few years.
It was nice to see my white tree again.
Here are some of the ornies we put on her this year.........

Three from recent trips--

The Angel Oak on St John's Island in SC we visited.

 One from Fort Sumter we also visited this past March.

And this purple glass one from Beauvoir in Biloxi, MS in May of 2016 which had yet to make it onto the Xmas tree until this year.  Has it been 3+ years since that trip??

Hub's buffalo ornie from the Badlands of South Dakota(from Wall Drug actually lol)

And the 'gator ornie from the Alligator Park in LA we visited in May of 2016 too.

One of the many ornaments my mom made when I was little.

A Snoopy ornie I made back in the 1980's.

And a set of Wiseman and his Camel I also made back then.  These were modeled on the sets my mom made to sell at our elementary school's fundraiser when I young.

And this is one of the wooden DYI ornies from a kit we made back in the 1960's.  Note the neon colors....lolz

A Xmas Furby from the 1990's as well as a Powr Ranger ornie from when my kids were little.

And the tree isn't complete without a leg lamp from "A Christmas Story".


Speaking of which, eldest son and his GF arrived Christmas morning.  After the extended family left we sat down to watch a Xmas movie.  Watching  "A Christmas Story" is a must in this house.  The GF has NEVER seen that movie!!  Is that unbelievable or what?  And no, she wasn't raised in a cabin in the woods away from civilization. lolz
So I rented it from Amazon(since we don't have cable and I suppose they still run it for 24 hours on a continuous loop at Xmas on TBS).  I guess she liked it.
And then Eldest and I made her watch "Bad Santa" too which of course she had never seen that either.  I don't think she enjoyed that one as much. hehehehe

The GF spent a lot of time that day snuggling Dixie, at Dixie's insistence. lol

Eldest son played Santa and handed out the gifts.

The GF laughing so hard when she opened a gift from me, two boxes of tampons.  Only "I" would give someone tampons for Christmas and now she knows that.  In between the boxes was a coupon to redeem for a free shopping trip in my toiletries stockpile.

The mysterious Ex-College Boy giving Dixie attention too.

And Chester got some cuddle time too.  So cut wearing a bow on his head(which he detested).lolz

A line-up of the motley crew at our house for Christmas.
I hope everyone got their wishes granted and had a good day as we did here!



Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Fa-La-La-La-La" Edition................

My plate at the Chinese Buffet where we took eldest son and GF the day after Christmas for lunch when they drug me out for after Xmas shopping on Thursday.
I know that the pickled ginger is suppose to be used as a palate cleanser but I LOVE it and put it on all my sushi rolls and sashimi items so I suppose no matter what I am eating it all tastes of pickled ginger. lolz

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Broiled Salmon, Yellow Squash and Onions
2. Monday--Ravioli, Salad, Garlic Bread
3. Tuesday--Leftovers or Fend for Yourself

4. Wednesday--Eye Round Roast, Roasted Carrots, Baked Potatoes, Lasagna, Corn Casserole

5. Thursday--Chicken Enchiladas, Beans, Rice

6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Broiled Salmon, Yellow Squash and Onions
2. Monday--Ravioli, Salad
3. Tuesday--Leftovers or Fend for Yourself

4. Wednesday--Eye Round Roast, Roasted Carrots, Baked Potatoe/Sweet Potatoes, Lasagna, Corn Casserole

5. Thursday--Fend For Yourself

6. Friday--Chicken Enchiladas, Beans, Rice
7. Saturday--Leftovers

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/ffy, and 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out(but a lunch out).  Mostly the menu happened just not necessarily on the chosen days.

What got put into the freezer last week.....

* 1 Boneless Ham(once I make room for it)

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
* 1 pack of BSCB
* 1 hunk of Salmon
* 2 bags of Ravioli
* 1 big Eye Round Roast

3 small trips to Weis and a trip to Malacari's produce market brought the weekly spending to $75.36 and my December spending on food to $364.76 and as Porky Pig says, "Th-Th-That's all Folks!" for the month.
Anything I bought after last Friday(a few things)will be added into January's tally.

My savings percentage last week was 56.32%(without Rite-Aid trips)and December's monthly savings total comes in at 57.06%(w/out R-A).  

I have 0 more food shopping/spending days in December.

Leftovers going into this week.....some chili, lasagna, beef roast, corn casserole, rolls, refried beans.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Leftovers
2. Monday--Leftovers
3. Tuesday--?

4. Wednesday--Lasagna(I'm not making it tho)

5. Thursday--?

6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--Wedding Food

What needs buying for this menu?  Nothing.  I'll leave Ex-College Boy some cash if he needs to buy any groceries while we are gone.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week? 

Sluggy  

Christmas Time...Part 1

Well elder son and his GF just left to head back to Jersey, Ex-College Boy was out of here early for his shift at his work and I sent Hubs to return something to Weis so I can hear myself think again. lolz

Christmas is essentially over here and the household clean-up begins and the getting ready to leave for the trip to Louisiana for daughter's wedding begins as well this weekend.

But first.......
Here's a look at the Christkindl Market Hubs and I went to 2 weekends ago.

A town an hour west of here, Mifflinburg, has held a European style Christmas Market in their town for the last 31 years.  Booths with traditional crafts, food and drink you'd find at a German Holiday Markt, as well as traditional specialties from other regions of Europe are all to be found there.

It only goes for 3 days a year in Mifflinburg, a Thursday to Saturday.  We saw a report on it in Friday's news and were free on Saturday so thought, What the heck!, and went to check it out.  We've lived in our current town for 19 years and had yet to make our way over there for the event.

There were two problems though........first the parking and signage.  There were no clear directions on were to park, though we did find out there was a shuttle bus from some place clear on the other side of town but otherwise you were on your own and good luck finding street parking.

The second issue was the weather.....it rained. All. Day. Long.  And the rain got heavier as the day went on and it was in the 40F's which made it pretty miserable to linger there for a long time.  We also didn't dress appropriately.  Hub's had a hat and a rain slicker and I had an umbrella and a fleece coat on.  Gloves would have been an excellent idea but alas, my brain didn't think of that. ugh.
So basically we made a speedy pass through the entire market with a couple of brief stops and then left in a soaking wet condition.

Here's the main entrance where the shuttle bus let you off.  The brick church in the background and the old fashioned wooden painted gave it an authentic, albeit shabby, look.  I'm guessing here since I've never been to Europe or a Christkindl Markt there.
There were moderate crowds but with all those umbrellas to dodge making your way through was slow.

A sea of umbrellas held by taller than me people meant I was dodging metal ferrules(tips)threatening to poke me in the eye and water running off of their bumber shoots.

Here I am posing with a Zwetschgenmännle or Prune Man.  The tradition of making little prune people figures started in Nuremberg Germany. They are suppose to bring luck.
 It's said there...“Hosd an Zwetschga im Haus, gäid dir es Geld und Gligg ned aus” or "With a prune man in your house, money and happiness stay too.".  Maybe I should have brought one home with me to ensure that I keep finding change! lol

Here are the vendors of a booth were we actually bought something.  They were selling goat products-cheese, fudge(goat fudge?!?), milk, soap and lotions.  They are from Mifflinville not Mifflinburg, which is a lot closer to us and we have been there.  We tried the fudge and flavored goat cheeses and bought some cheese.

Very nice folks and products.  If  you are ever out this way, look them up.

Here's Hubs feeding St. Nicholas' steed from coffee.  He needed warming up in the rain too.

This was one of the odder vendor booths, the Light Bulb Lady.  Evidently she takes old burnt out light bulbs of various shapes, paints and decorates them into Christmas tree ornaments.  An ingenious way to recycle old light bulbs really!  I didn't get close enough to see how much she was charging for them though.

We made it over to the entertainment stage just in time to see a set of folk dancers in costumes performing various dances.  I thought I had my phone set on video but it was on still photo so I didn't get film of them dancing. oh well.....
They had a space heater up there on stage with them.  I was this close to climbing up there and dancing with them so I could keep warm. lol

There were tons of booths of craft vendors...everything from traditional wooden Christmas crafts, prune men, to blown glass ornies.  Lots of pottery, knitwear too plus more modern crafts(hello, lightbulb lady!).

This guy was selling dog/cat sweaters/collars/bandanas/leashes/etc.  All of it was way overpriced since it all looked machine made and something you could get in any pet shop.
I did want his hat however. lol

Here's Hubs posing with Kris Kringle.  I think he was asking Kris to make the rain stop for Christmas.

There were TONS of food vendors!  Every kind of German sausage you could imagine, Strudel, Schnitzel on a stick or in a sandwich, Krauts of every ilk, Glühwein(German hot mulled wine), as well as the ever popular Philly Cheesesteak sammies and French Fries.  There were also other Central European specialties on sale for eating.  They had two "Eating Tents" set up to escape the rain while knoshing on your purchases but these were very crowded(no seats available)and still cold and wet so we didn't eat anything there.
This board at one stand advertised a German Sauerkraut Chowder.  Mmmm, no thank you! lolz

I kept hearing sheep bleating and on the way out I found the Live Nativity area.  The people were wrapped up in coats and looked more like a Boy Scout Troop than Mary, Joseph, Shepherds and Wisemen but the Donkeys and Sheep were cute.  This sheep and dog were having an interesting conversation while I was there.

Here's the one photo Hubs took of me in front of the giant German Christmas Pyramid.  My mother gave me one of these Christmas decoration years ago(but hardly this large!).  We always called it a "Whirlygig" since you put candles on it and the warm air moves the blades and spins the figures on it.  I never knew it's proper name and that it was a German thing.  I thought it was Dutch.

We did end up buying two things(besides the goat cheese)to bring home to eat.....2 hunks of Strudel and a loaf of Stollen.  The strudel was heavenly but the stollen left much to be desired.  It was tasty but I've had better from Aldi's. ;-)

One last look as I left to wait for Hubs to bring the car around.
I only wish the weather was better, we were dressed better and Hubs wasn't a Grumpy Gus.

We did stop at that Amish Grocery Outlet on the way out of town which turned out to be a great thing and made my day complete!


Sluggy

Frugal Friday...........December 27th Edition

A look around finds these frugal happenings for this past week...........

*  A earned a free meat item at Weis.

Since I already have 2 turkey breasts in the freezer as well as a smoked bone-in ham(I got free at Thanksgiving time at Weis(PMITA)Markets)I chose this boneless ham.  It's good to live in the fridge until Mid March so I have plenty of time to make room in the freezer for it.

The receipt showing what it cost if I didn't get it for free with Weis Points.  I had almost 600 points(only used 400 for the ham), most of those were earned doing surveys and not from spending $$ at Weis.

*  I earned $4.70 in Ibotta this past week.  Mostly that was at Weis, not Rite-Aid.  There was a $2 Hatfield ham rebate good at Weis, but the single ham steaks also qualified.  Ham steaks were 2/$5, got $4 in Ibotta rebates so they ended up costing .50¢ each.

*  I got the Weis freebie last week.........

Just what I needed after getting that GALLON jar of olives at the Amish discount grocery that week before for $3.99.....another free small jar of olives. lolz

*  I found money!

Another quarter at R-A in the corner by the register peeking out from the floor mat last Friday.

Then this crusty, salt laden penny, also at R-A, next to the cigarette butt holder outside by the front door on Friday.

Another quarter in the same spot in front of the register at Rite-Aid on Sunday.

This penny at Malacari's produce that same day.
There was another penny I forgot to photograph that day at Rite-Aid as well.  Total of .27¢ on Saturday.

This nickel was found at Rite-Aid on Sunday in the middle of the entrance as I walked in right out in the open.  Sweet.

This dime was found, where else but Rite-Aid, back in the Pharmacy area on Tuesday.

And another crusty penny found that same day on the sidewalk outside of Rite-Aid.

The day after Christmas I got dragged out "after Xmas shopping" and I found these two pennies in Staples.  I didn't buy anything so I was "up" 2¢ for the day. lol
Grand Total of last week's take........... .71¢.  8-)))

*  I combined a 3 day Q(Spend $15 on select Beauty items/Get $5 off)at Rite-Aid with an In-Ad $2/1 Nivea lip balm/men's items and a 50% clearance on one type of Nivea shave cream with 2 Cover Girl deals(1-Spend $15/Get $5 BC 2-$5 BC wyb certain CG foundation monthly)to buy this stuff.........

Should have been $10.51 spent in BC and $15 earned back in BC.
Of course I bought the wrong Cover Girl foundation(should have bought the Matte finish)so I had to return them and bought the  correct ones(they were $1 more each than what I bought so I couldn't just exchange).  I got $8.51 back in BC AND $9.28 in cash(huh?? prolly all those Qs I used).
The the return/rebuy I "spent" $9.76 in BC and earned back $20 in new BC because rebuying 2 Cover Girl triggered the weekly $5 wyspend $15 CG deal again, so the 2 x $5 CG foundation worked and the $5 wyspend $15 G worked again.

I should make mistakes like that on purpose more often.  ;-)

That's about it for this week.  Christmas and having family here has kept me from going out and spending money lately.

What frugal wins happened to y'all this past week?
Tell me all about it!



Sluggy