Dixie Belle............
And Chester(giving the melted Wicked Witch a ride home)...........
Just an average Gal, older mom, trying to live a simple life & what happens along the way.
Dixie Belle............
And Chester(giving the melted Wicked Witch a ride home)...........
There were 52 Valid comments for the October Giveaway.
I had Random dotorg pick the winner comment.
And the winner is.........
Sue L.!
For autumn we usually go up to Apple Hill - we used to get our Christmas tree there when the kids were little and we got a real tree, now we just go for fudge & caramel apples, lol.
Congratulation Sue! Please email me your full mailing address within 48 hours after this post going live to claim your prize and I'll get this out to you Monday or so.
Thanks to everyone who played along. The next box will be girly stuff(make-up, etc.)and chocolate!
Sluggy
So, we've had a busy week. Not good busy but not so good busy.
First Chester our doggie got sick. As in he won't eat and just lays around sick. He was spitting up bile(since there was no food in the tank)and he was making strange little runny poops. Something wasn't right with his gastrointestinal tract obviously. He wasn't showing any signs of pain like whining or whimpering, just lethargy.
After 3 days of this Hubs took him to the emergency vet an hour away(since it was a weekend and our vet wasn't open). After tests, bloodwork and a full exam they couldn't find a certain cause. So we put him on a specific diet and the bet armed us with an appetite stimulant and a course of doggy antibiotics. Chester only needed one dose of the appetite stimulant to get back into eating his very small meals and within 4 days he was barking his head off for more food! lol I think he's made a full recovery. Of course our wallet is $800+ poorer for it all. 8-((
Then I went to refill one of the Rxs which usually costs me $25 per month and the pharmacy said that would be $375 please. WTF?!?
Then I remembered that this drug needed preauthorization each year and October is when this occurs. So I got in touch with the doctor's office to arrange for them to reach out to the insurance company/prescription provider.
I went back to the pharmacy a week later and they tried to pry $595 out of my hands for it. Another WTF?!? and back to various entities.
In the end my insurance company/plan provider decided to up this drug from a Tier 2 to a Tier 3 and thus they now don't cover it(which was why I then owed $595 for it instead of $375).
Insurance provider cancelled the preauthorization but didn't tell anybody why or what to do next. Hubs got on the phone madder than hell to find out what was going on(the Tier change, etc.). Insurance rep said they will cover two different drugs now at a Tier 2 cost and neither needs a yearly preauthorization(at least that's good news).....well, until they change their minds again. lol
So the in house pharmacy arm on the insurance provider filled the Rx automatically when the doctor put the Rx order in. I only have my one specialty drug filled by them(as they have proven to be incompetent ninnies in the past)because I am forced to use them for that drug. We'll see what happens when this new Rx comes and how difficult they make it to have it filled locally instead if I choose to change the delivery method.
Then last night I was in Rite-Aid trying to buy a gift card. I had put my credit card into the machine and then the power went off in the store. ugh. Checked my c/c this morning to make sure I wasn't double charged for the gift card. Thankfully that didn't happen. But we all had to wait, once the power came back on, for another 15 minutes for the registers to boot up. Ain't technology grand??
And I got my flu shot but haven't had any complications from that. yay.
It's always something, isn't it?
This coming week is the election that we work. The fun just never ends around here.......
Hope your Ghosts and Goblins are good ones this year,
Sluggy
* Not so frugal now but it will be in the future. Ocean State Job Lot had an event this week-Spend at least $30 and earn 40% of what you spend on a Crazy Deal Card. I went 2 times this past week. I picked up some Christmas goodies as well as houseware needs(new door mats)and some food items. Between a trip to the Produce Market and the food items I stocked up on at OSJL my food spending was $174.87 which put me at $296.49 for October. So I won't have the ultra-low grocery spending I was shooting for in October but I am still well under my $400 target AND I have 40% savings on everything I bought so when I go back to OSJL I have lots of free money to use! woohoo
* I decluttered some more items and Hubs hauled them off to Sallie's. I didn't get any photos before they left but it was another 32 items so we decluttered a total of 50 items in October to the Salvation Army.
* Last Friday this all went to the food bank. ..........
64 more assorted items from food to toiletries.
* I received that $10 Visa card for buying Pepcid a couple of weeks ago.........I want to talk about my connection to this group of my cousins.
I remember as a teen in the 1970's when a bombshell book came out written by the historian Fawn M. Brodie It was called "Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History". My mother bought this book and it sat in our den on the bookshelf. At the time I remember it caused a stir(especially since I lived in Virginia)as it included the accusation that Jefferson had children with his slave Sally Hemmings outside of his marriage to his wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson.
Just about everyone at that time who knew anything about Thomas Jefferson knew these rumors were true but people didn't go around talking about it nor had anyone written a book containing this information for public consumption. I took the book and read it when I went away to college in 1977. This was right after Alex Haley published "Roots" in 1976 and they came out with the much touted mini-series based on his book.
As for the cousining, let's start with Henry Isham I(1627-1675). He had two daughters, Anne Fitzhugh Isham and Mary Isham. Anne married Col. Francis Eppes III(1659-1718). Anne is my 2nd cousin 12 x removed. Their son, Francis Eppes IV(1686-1734)married Sarah Kennon(1684-1748). Their daughter, Martha Eppes(1712-1748), my 4th cousin 10 x removed)married John Wayles(1715-1773)a Welshman who immigrated to America.
Martha Eppes and John Wayles had a daughter, Martha Wayles(1748-1782). Martha Eppes Wayles died a few days after giving birth to that daughter Martha.
John Wayles also had an older brother, Richard Wayles(1714-1765)who married Martha Cocke Bolling(1726-1758)and they had a son, Francis Eppes(1747-1808). This Francis Eppes married Elizabeth Wayles(1752-1810). Elizabeth Wayles was the daughter of John Wayles and his second wife, Mary Tabitha Cocke(1724-bet.1758-1760), making Francis Eppes and Elizabeth Wayles not only husband and wife but also double cousins and making Martha Wayles and Elizabeth Wayles half siblings. Is everyone following this so far? ;-)
Not only did John Wayles have two wives, he also "took liberties" with one of his slaves, Elizabeth "Betty" Hemmings.
Betty was the daughter of a sea captain, John Hemmings and an African slave, thus Betty was biracial or as they used the term back in the day "mulatto". The story goes that John Hemmings plied his trade between England and the port town of Williamsburg and that is where he met and had his way with the African slave who's name is lost to history. This slave was the property of John Wayles. Captain Hemmings claimed paternity of the child Betty and tried to buy her from John Wayles but Wayles would not hear of it and took the slave and child into the "great house" to live to keep the child away from Hemmings if he considered kidnapping the child. Wayles also thought her a novelty, being mulatto, and saw this as "a grand experiment" and wished to see how she would "turn out". So John Wayles raised Betty and then once his second wife died he turned around and slept with Betty, producing six children with her. Betty had already had 4 other children with unknown fathers-well one was a carpenter of Irish extraction who worked on building Monticello named Joseph Neilson. Among these offspring Betty had with John Wayles(the number are still undecided)were Thenia, Cristena "Critta", Robert "Bob", James and Sally Hemings(1773-1835).
This would make Sally Hemings 3/4 European White and 1/4 African American and John Wayles' "white" daughter, Martha Wayles, with his wife Martha Eppes Wayles, Sally's half sister. This ad mixture back in that day made Sally an "octoroon" or "almost white" in appearance. There are no images of Sally Hemings from that era but here is one often used to "portray" her....
Compare that to a known portrait of Martha Wayles, Sally's half sister......
So why my interest in these genealogical lines? I am a 5th cousin 9x removed to Thomas Jefferson through my maternal Great Grandmother and his mother who was a Randolph. I am also a 5th cousin 9x removed to Jefferson's wife, Martha Wayles Jefferson through the same Great Grandmother and her mother who was an Eppes. Isham, Eppes, Wayles, Jefferson are all my cousins by blood. (Also my 7th Great Grandmother married as her 4th Husband, Thomas Jefferson's uncle, Fielding Jefferson, though they had no children together. So my direct ancestor was also for a time the Aunt of Thomas Jefferson and was the part of the first couple in English America to have a legal pre-nuptial agreement.)
So this whole argument that has raged for centuries about Thomas Jefferson having a "shadow family" as it was often referred to in the South with Sally Hemings, his slave and half-sister of his wife, is near to my heart.
Once the Brodie book came out the debate among the direct Jefferson ancestors as to whether to accept the Hemings ancestors "into the family" has taken center stage. First the Jefferson Society hierarchy refused to provide DNA to confirm or deny the Hemings link and court cases ensued. Then the sticking point became only the "white" direct ancestors of Jefferson were allowed to be buried at Monticello as is the family members' right. Even after DNA testing has confirmed centuries of oral history there is still a segment of the "white" Jefferson's who started the ultra-conservative Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society who still refuse to come around and deny any Jefferson-Hemings ties. These folks keep pushing against the tide.
My thoughts? I am all for embracing the Sally Hemings offspring descendants as Jefferson descendants.
I grew up in the South during the Civil Rights Era. I saw that struggle first hand from the sidelines as a child. I have progressive relatives and I have relatives who'd prefer we all go back to the "good old days". I've seen my share of racism. (Let me add that having lived up North since 1984 I've seen about as much racism up here as down South where I grew up.)
All the Hemings descendants are welcomed as my cousins and I have added them(as much information as I can find)to my personal family tree. We are ALL cousins when it comes down to it and any of them are welcomed at my table.
Sluggy
The "End of the Garden" Edition...
Haven't hit a grocery store all week. Go me. Let's see what other frugalness I got into this past week.......
* Sat my butt home all weekend except for a quick jaunt to Rite-Aid. Did some cleaning and sorting, especially in the Guest/Stockpile Room. No $$ spent.
* Monday Hubs and I went to get some screening tests done. These were free through our insurance company. Then I went to a different R-A and got this.......
As posted before I spent a whole .20¢ on all this.
* I got another Giveaway up.......
Don't forget to enter this one once a day. Check the link in the side bar.* I decluttered the kitchen cabinets........
Ex-College Boy took a few things when he was over for dinner last Friday night and I'm waiting on oldest to get back to me this weekend so the rest can go to Sallie's. That makes another 28 items leaving this week.
* Last Friday this all went to the food bank.
50 assorted items from food to toiletries.
Who's ready for the Ninth Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2021?!?
It's October already and the cooler weather is back finally(unless you live near the equator or in the Southern Hemisphere.
Let's take a look at what is in the Giveaway Box this month........
1 x RolaidsOn Monday Hubs and I had signed up with our insurance company to have some health screenings done in a town nearby. I was glad to hear we are not ready to keel over from Afib, PAD, Atherosclerosis or abdominal aortic aneurysm any time soon, rah.
Afterwards we headed somewhere for lunch and ended up near where my Discount Grocery use to be before they closed up this Summer. 8-( Also in that area was one of the R-A's I frequent so I popped in, even though I didn't bring my coupon envie or have any plans.
Here is what I got......
The "Ugly Car" Edition...
So I am still not getting ANY Ibotta Bonuses and it's almost 3 weeks now! Anybody else having this problem? One of the Youtube couponers I watch is also having this problem.
I wrote to Ibotta and asked about this problem and got this canned response....
"Hello Denise,
|
Taking a look around, here are the frugal wins for this past week....
* I had gotten an Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)15% off digital coupon as soon as I got home from my September trip. It expired on Monday so Hubs and I went up to have a poke around and bought this....
* Hubs got a flu shot at Rite-Aid on Tuesday. With that he received a $5 off when you spend $25 shopping pass.
* Speaking of that shopping pass I spent it on this stuff.....
2 x Pepcid 20% gold discount=$21.58* I hit up Weis on Tuesday for some provisions. I had some coupons expiring and a few that paired with digital Weis Qs too that also doubled........
* A Target coupons arrived in the mail this week. Our store just had a remodeling so they are eager to lure you back in to spend money.
It's good until sometime in November so I'll pair this with circle offers/coupons and app deals to spend very little out of pocket.* Sissie sent me home with 2 bags of homemade cookies and a meatloaf this past trip in September. We had the meatloaf on Thursday, my shot day when I don't feel up to doing much. It was a godsend having that already cooked and thawed to heat up. Wish I had gotten sisters sooner in my life! lol
That's about it from here.
What frugal wins did y'all have this past week?So back in July, after I had a collagen shot in my knee after Kim and Sissie tried to break me on the "Shopping Death March" back in May/June, I went for a quick visit to Sissie's house outside DC.
Sissie promised not to break me this time so it was a low key visit. We did NO outlet shopping! Amazing, right? lol
I called from my car in her parking space and Sissie came flying out of the house looking a might confused. She thought I was coming on Wednesday when I had said Tuesday(or something like that). Oh well. I was here so it was time for hugs and laughs.
We did think of ways to torment Kim the whole visit, that was part of our fun. We'd send her photos by text to make her jealous and you wouldn't believe what she said in reply...oy! What a potty mouth!!
So here's the first one, taken the afternoon shortly after I arrived.
Sticking our tongues out at Kim. Neener, neener!
My buddy, Bud the cat, guided me upstairs to my room and showed me candy and lots of change on my bed. Good old Bud!
I screwed up Sissies dinner plan since I don't eat egg salad. 8-( But she went into action and make wienerschnitzel, spaetzle, gravy and veggies instead.
The next day we headed out for our BIG adventure-a trip to Ikea.
I had never been to an Ikea before though there is one 2 hours away outside of Philly. If I had thought of it, I would have brought my Viking helmet with horns and worn it in the store. lol
Sluggy