Did Anyone Miss Me?

Hubs & I took off for a couple of days to go down to Ocean City MD.
It's a regular thing now that we try to do every year in October....just the two of us.

And no electronics come along, except the cell phone.
So that's why you haven't heard from me online.

It was short this time(2 nights)but sweet, as the high temperatures hovered around 75 each day! 8-))
The bad was that we found out the hotel turned off the A/C for THE YEAR before we got there.
Meaning, the room was hot as heck, even at night and I had a hard time sleeping for 2 nights.
bleh.

Now I would NEVER go to Ocean City in season.  The place is tacky, wall-to-wall tacky shops(beyond the actual ocean and beach part)and WALL-TO-WALL PEOPLE!
Loud people, out of control teens, screaming tots, drunk people, obnoxious people, cruising up and down the strip blaring music(mostly bad)so loud that the car vibrates people.
All of which I had to endure growing up in a beach town during "the season".....all of which are not on my list of fun things to be around.
So we go in the late Fall to avoid all these annoyances. The beach and ocean is still there and even though there ARE people there,  relative quiet is also there.  It was so warm this time you could have gone into the water though we opted not to.

Here is the lone photo I took....

Either I forgot to take the camera when we went somewhere or on a walk on the beach or we just didn't do anything photoworthy.
Mostly we sat around on the balcony or went out to eat something.  Neither of those things make great pictures.

We made a detour on the way down via Reading so I could get some Easy Spirit shoes.  These shoes are expen$ive but there is an outlet in Reading.  Ok, so there is an outlet in Rehoboth too but that one is so small I haven't been able to find any shoes that fit me there for the last 2 years.  The store in Reading is twice the size.  I found 4 pair of shoes that fit and they were on BOGO50% sale so it was worth the detour.

We stopped in Rehoboth on the way home at the Vans Outlet and I picked up most of #2 son's Christmas loot there.  If the child could have Vans tattooed on his butt, he would. ;-)
They also had the Jumiez Store a couple of doors down from the Vans Store opened now(at Easter when we passed through, it was not opened yet).  #2 son will be sad to hear that he missed it but that place was crazy expensive and not outlet prices so not on my places to go back to again.  I did find some jeans for #2 son clearanced to $9.97 plus BOGO50% off which was sweet. 

Since the weather was even warmer than forecast(Hubs didn't bring but 1 short sleeved shirt)he picked up a couple of summer polo type shirts at an outlet store in West Ocean City.   They were on clearance so I didn't have a fit. lol

Then we get to the 'unconventional shopping' that I do....grocery shopping!lol

On Wednesday we hit the Sav-A-Lot store down there.  We don't have one here so I like to go in and see what I can score for cheap.  Last year I got a ton of 100% juices but the pickings were thin this year.  They had Gwaltney rolled sausage for $1!....but it was sold out. 8-(
So here is what I picked up.....

Good strong instant coffee for Hubs at $3.99 a jar.
Sloppy Joe Sauce for .85¢ each.
Peach cough drops for .99¢....while not a deal price, the flavor is unusual for here and Daughter is addicted to peach anything AND she loves cough drops, so these go in her Christmas stocking.lol
I also picked up a couple of Jiffy brand corn bread mixes for .45¢.  They are selling for .70¢ & up around here.  No real stock-up worthy items there this trip.

Then we went looking for Smithfield ham(meaning salt cured ham).  While I no longer cook a whole Salt-Cured ham for the Holidays, we do like ham and biscuits on occasion so we always pick up ham slices when we get below the Mason-Dixon Line.

6 packaged of salt-cured ham for $4.39 each.
4 packages of Jiffy banana muffin mix(for #2 son)on clearance for $.39¢ each.
1 bag of masa or corn flour for $4.49
3 lbs. of dried chillies(various types, nothing really really hot though) for $2.99 lb.


Except for the muffin mix, this is all stuff I can't get here in my Ethnic Polish town.  I might be able to get the Mexican/Southwestern items up at Wegman's but I'd pay a much heftier price.

Then on the way out of town yesterday we picked up these items.....

FUDGE!  Select varieties were BOGO Free.  Fudge was $11.75 a POUND this past season!!
I would eat fudge until I weighed 800 pounds but NOT at that price.
So we picked up 4lbs. at a price equal to 2lbs.
1 lb. each for #2 son and the Nephew and 2 lbs. for Hubs and I.
I will try not to eat all of mine before the weekend is over........

Then we stopped at Rose's.  It's still there hanging on in OC, but barely.  Rose's is a department/discount store that has been around in this area of the South since before Kmart/Walmart, etc.    It is the place to go for this......

Claxton Fruit Cake!
Best.
Fruitcake.
Ever!!!

I know you are all making nasty faces at this because fruitcake is gross.
ALL fruitcake EXCEPT this or your granny's homemade are gross!

This fruitcake is all fruit and nut meats, barely any cake.
It is the CADILLAC of Fruitcakes!
But if you order this from the company in Georgia that makes it, it's Very Pricey!
I go to Rose's and get it for $3.75 each.
Last year it was $3.50.  I was shocked that it hadn't gone up more!
1 fruitcake will go into #1 son's stocking(He loves this stuff!)and the other 4?
They will be eaten, trust me!lolol

I also picked up this at Rose's......

Some slippers for $5 that I might actually get my foot into.
If not, I'll give them to Daughter for Christmas as her foot is as big but not as wide.

We left Ocean City MD and it was around 11am and 65 degrees....re-cue my first photo but with a little more overcast clouds....

We hit rain as we left Rehoboth DE.  The drizzle picked up and the temperature dropped slowly as we drove northward.

By the time we got 20 miles from home, we had this on the Turnpike....

FREAKING SNOW!
Ok, I didn't take that picture and it wasn't QUITE that bad, but it was SNOW!
I was in a summer dress and sandals.
A 4 hour drive shouldn't take you from summer to winter weather, right?
Ugh.

At least it didn't stick and it's gone today.....though they are calling for more snow on Saturday!!
Did I say UGH yet?lol

I'm off to catch up on blogs and real life now.

Sluggy

My Trip--The Ocean, WW2, Pruney Donuts and Russian Prostitutes Part 1

Well, I guess that title got your attention enough to look at my post, huh?lol

Let me tell you....thought I run a boring blog and life, it's never a dull moment when I'm around!

Hubs and I took a 3 night get-away to the ocean last week.  That's part of the reason why I wasn't online. ;-)
There is a beachfront motel in Ocean City MD that runs a very nice off-season package including $80 in food vouchers.  And let me tell you, $80 in food vouchers does NOT go very far in the 'OC'...but I digress.

I've been to Ocean City 3 times now in the last few years.  Let me say, I am NOT a big fan of big, built-up beach places....like Ocean City.  The place goes on for miles....over 140 blocks of big ass hotels/motels, junky souvenir shops, pizza joints, restaurants, putt putt golf, ice cream and candy shops and on and on and on.  It's a cacaphony of Visual Clutter in bright colors as far as the seared corneas of your eyes can see.
Not only that but I hear the place swells to a population of over 300,000 in the summer.  I am not a 'wall-to-wall obnoxious, touristy people' type of gal.  Maybe when I was a college student I could handle a beach scene like this....

But now?....not so much.
So we go in the off season when the college crowd and the families with children are back at home and in school. Having grown up in a beach town I relish the beach in the fall and winter when the tourists are scant and the locals rule.  This was more like the scene on the Boardwalk last week in Ocean City, without the snow however...

Relaxing and nothing moving at a frantic pace.  And the $500 a night hotel rooms have dropped to a reasonable price.
Since the tourists are mostly gone until next spring, alot of the businesses are closed up as well at this time of the year so there are no outside pools, no go-karts, no rides, no arcades.  Nothing that would make my head explode.   Just lots of walking along the beach or boardwalk or renting a bike and looking out at the horizon line.

Last trip we did some historical type excursions in the area.  This year, we just sat around and vegetated mostly, contemplating the water and the occasional surfers.

We stopped on the way down in Rehobeth at the Outlet Malls to do some promised clothes shopping for the teens and Hubs picked up some much needed shoes for a deal.  We also did some Christmas shopping as well.....


I did some shelling our 1st morning, as a storm had just passed.  Being among the first on the beach I was able to score this beauty.....

 An intact 8" long Whelk shell.....

These whelk shells, especially of this size, are hard to come by intact off of OC or any mid-Atlantic beach for that matter.   A predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod, use to call this beauty home.  Sort of fitting that the Slugmama, a human gastropod, owns it now....though I don't exactly fit into it.  ;-)
We talked with a local gal on our beach outing, who was oohing and ahhing over my shell.  She had a beautiful Australian Cattle Dog that was an unusual Red Heeler coloring that you don't see much of in the US.  She  had adopted from an Animal Rescue Group.  Real nice dog....and owner.lol

We headed over to West Ocean City later to do some shopping, food shopping.  We picked up a few things to eat during our stay so we didn't have to go out and spend for the high-priced/mediocre quality restaurant offerings or for the ubiquitous fast food.  Those seem to be the only choices in the off-season as alot of food joints are closed up.  We had a choice of Subway, Arby's, Mickey D's type places or some Crab Houses, non-descript local overpriced Restaurants and Pizza Joints or Ruth's Chris Steakhouse where hamburgers start at $30, not including fries.lol

We also hit a Save-Alot grocery store looking for Smithfield Ham for ham biscuits.  This place had it 2 years ago but not now.  We did find the ham at Food Lion and on sale....woohoo!  While at Save-Alot I found a couple of good deals....100% Juice for $.99 and $1.79 and Veg. Oil for $2 for 48 oz. sized bottles.  Daughter has a 'thing' lately for deep fried ravioli and has been going through my oil stockpile, so I loaded up with 4 bottles, since it was almost half the price of what it goes for around here.

We also hit the Dollar Store and picked up some water for the stay and a couple of books to read on the beach.
I took a nap when we got back to the motel while Hubs took a swim.

We used our $40 dinner voucher Tuesday night at a nearby hoity toity restaurant that's been in OC for ages.

Authentic Italian food but the view was non-existent.  Our hotel has a deal with this place for the food vouchers.  The restaurant provides a price fixe menu(one price meal menu)with a small selection of entrees.  Of course it's $20 a person, so your voucher covers dinner for two.  The food was good but I wouldn't say that it was necessarily "worth" $40.  But I am NOT complaining.  It was a deal with the voucher and the place was empty so we enjoyed the peace and quiet.
We had drinks on the balcony of our room and just enjoyed listening to the water and the cool night air.

Hubs was up bright and early each morning to enjoy the sunrise.
Here's one of the photos he took.  This is the only way I saw the sunrise since I don't "do" mornings.....

Part 2  tomorrow.....

Sluggy