The To-Do List....the June Edition

Let's take a look at what got accomplished(or didn't)in June.......

To-Do List for June

* Pay Bills  DONE  Everything got paid on time or early including credit cards so no interest charged or paid.

* Read 1, 2 Books  DONE
I read this.............

"To Kill A Mocking Bird" by Harper Lee

I hadn't read this since high school so it was worth picking it up again and reading it for "fun" this time.
I got a lot more of the subtext this go around.  Comparing  it to the 1962 movie starring Gregory Peck that was in my head was a challenge.  The book is so much more nuanced and delves deeper into characters other than the few leads.
If you know anything about Nelle Harper Lee's life you know that much of what is in this novel is autobiographical.
A classic novel is always worth a leisurely read.

And this one......

"Muskets and Applejack: Spirits, Soldiers and the Civil War" by Mark Will-Weber

This is a strange little book which explores a small corner of American history from a whisky soaked perspective.  As one reviewer on Amazon wrote, "....Spoiler Alert-nearly everyone drank and behaved badly."  I think that summed up this book perfectly! lolz
Spirits fueled the men who fought this war from the Generals on down to the lowly foot soldier.  It on one hand helped and on the other hand hindered each sides campaign against the enemy.  
There are many first hand accounts written by folks who lived through(or not)and saw the effects of alcohol on the war years about beyond.  After reading these journal entries how anybody stayed upright enough to wage war is beyond me.   Maybe applejack(and the sobering up time it took)is why it went 5 long years to finish this bloody shoot fest?
And another Spoiler Alert--troops from Louisiana were obviously the champion Wallpaperers and best friends of John Barleycorn!

An interesting, light read.....easy to pick up and put down, reading in fits and starts, which is how my June went. ;-)


* Get Chester's Shot  DONE  Chester needed a shot for Bordetella(Kennel Cough)before he could go to the doggie spa.

* Change out Clothes for Summer  DONE  I finally got all my clothes gone through and changed over for the hot weather.  Some clothing got thrown out, some packed off to Salvation Army and a pile was made of items that needed to be hemmed/fixed/taken in.  Of course I haven't gotten to any of the mending/fixing pile as the house is still in chaos with the bedroom redo.

* Have Trees Taken Down  DONE  Another item on our home projects was having 4 trees removed.  The bank account is very sad but I am glad to mark this project off the list.

We had 4 trees total cut down-2 on the side yard by the road and 2 in the backyard.  3 of them were to open up the yard, to get more light.  The monster tree above was a worry to me.  So tall and massive and not very deep roots.  With all the excessive rain and windstorms we'd gotten the last few years I'm amazed it hasn't fallen yet and taken out half our house(because it's so tall it could if it fell just right).  This was something that we needed to do in order to sell the house eventually(and for my peace of mind). 
It was interesting to watch(free entertainment! lol)the whole process and the massive combination saw and crane gizmo they used on the monster tree was way cool!
I can post some more photos and video if anyone is interested.....

* Repair Bedroom Walls/Ceiling  DONE  
Ex-College Boy and I got the bedroom repaired and painted early on in the month.  It has been sitting since then awaiting new carpeting being put in by the carpet folks.  Hurry up and wait.........sigh.

* Paint 1, 2 Bedrooms  PARTIALLY DONE  We got 1 of the Bedrooms painted, ceiling and walls.  Can't really do the second bedroom until we can empty it and we can't do that until the carpet gets replaced in the first bedroom(and it's STILL not in at the store yet, let alone on the schedule for installing ugh!). 
Here's a piece of what Dan's room looks like until we can move all my crap out of there........

* Take Chester to Doggie Resort  DONE  Chester went to stay HERE while we were away.  I think he had a better time than us! lolz  


* Clean Out Closets  DONE 
 I had a burst of energy one day and got lots of closets cleaned out and organized, my bedroom closet, the foyer closet and the linen closet.

*  Clean Out Fridges/Pantry  DONE

The fridges still need a good washing down inside but I got them cleaned out/organized.  I also got the pantry in the kitchen cleared out.

I found TWELVE open boxes of crackers in there!  TWELVE and many were duplicates of the same crackers.  Heck, I didn't even know we had TWELVE boxes of crackers!!  
After consolidating, and repurposing some(crumbs for breading)we have a more manageable amount(and certain people here have been warned under penalty of death NOT to open another box of crackers until the open boxes are gone).

* Hold Giveaway  DONE

* Mail Giveaway  DONE  And it was received and enjoyed by the winner. 8-)

* Pack for Trip  DONE  I got to break out my new fancy shmancy lime green suitcase.

* Go on Trip  DONE

This trip was so out of my comfort zone and Hubs and I didn't know a soul going in.  But we had a good time.  I'll blog about this trip soon.

* Use Ollie's & CVS Chits  DONE

All this was free from CVS and I earned $5 more in Extra Care Bucks before going on our trip.

I rolled some Bonus Cash before we left and again while on the trip as we passed by some Rite-Aids in Maine and New Hampshire.

I also used my 15% Ollie's discount before we went away.  I hit some 50%, 60% and 75% off food stuffs and used the 15% off on other things like bird suet for Hubs' feeders and potting soil.

* Continue to Clean Out Garage  PARTIALLY DONE

After 3 weeks worth of crap from Daughter moving out leaving the porch and garage we again had a clear passage through the garage on both sides of my food storage shelves.  
I wish I could say that I've made more headway in there but it's been too hot since getting back from NH to spend much time out there.  Maybe I'll take this item off the To-Do List until September when it cools off.

* Move More $ Into a CD  MAYBE DONE  I didn't get this goal finished in May before the month ended so it straddled both months.  The money is now moved.

* Sell More Locally  PARTIALLY DONE  Well I listed some things when we got back from NH but I didn't actually sell them yet. lolz  I tried.....  I am putting this item on hold until after garage sale season and it's pointless to try now.

* List Items on eBay  FAIL  I didn't even get one thing listed on eBay as there is just too much still going on here to concentrate on that.  Fall is the high season for eBay so I'll wait until September to list there.

* Gardening  I know I didn't put this as an item on the To-Do List for June but we did have some growth even with our wet/cool month...........

Other than the broccoli and cauliflower the plants didn't seem to visibly grow much in June.

But the lettuce seeds I sowed mid month in June popped up quicker than they usually do and are making strides.
We should be in salad material by mid July.

That's about it for my June report.
Did you accomplish anything in June?


Sluggy

This & That Boring Stuff

* Since Sue L. asked.........My Taco Con Queso Casserole on my meal plan this week is simply a Velveeta boxes dinner(Sluggy hangs her head in shame that it wasn't a cooked from scratch meal but a 75% off boxed dinner from Ollies lolz)......noodles, cheesy spicy cheese sauce and chicken.  We didn't end up having it yet this week but when we do prepare it we will add veggies(corn, red bell peppers or green chiles, that sort of thing).  You can probably make something like this from scratch....just google it.
Mostly I see it served with or cooked with rice rather than pasta.

* About couponing since a couple folks asked.........
Digital coupons are those that attach to a loyalty card.  Most grocery stores have them so check with your store's website and/or app.  Weis(PMITA)Markets as well as Rite-Aid have digital Qs(known as Load2Card at R-A).  Other than checking with your store or checking out the the Coupons dotcom app on your smartphone I don't really have much more info on that whole arena.  If anyone reading is a digital coupon Goddess please give us from tips!

About coupon lingo and shorthand, go HERE for a pretty comprehensive list of coupon abreviations and explanations.  I'll add a couple Rite-Aid specific abbriviations--L2CQ(Load to Card coupon), WW refers to Wellness Wednesday(the first Wednesday of each month when one day Qs are available)so a WWQ is a Wellness Wednesday coupon.

* Friday and Saturday are 30% sale days at Rite-Aid.  You need a catalina or a coupon for it that printed out on your receipt in the last 10 days or so or if you are lucky, you store will have coupons available at the register or somewhere in the store(sales flyer kiosk, by the pharmacy, etc.)  Let me just say that having/getting/using a 30% coupon is a YMMV(Your Mileage May Vary)situation.  Some stores will be pretty aggressive with handing the Qs out, some stores will have a stack at the register or one taped to the register and automatically give you the 30% off(if the items is on sale for BOGO50% or at a sale price that is GREATER than a 30% off discount the 30% off won't apply).
Other stores........*whomp whomp*.....other stores don't give a rat's ass if you know about the Friends and Family sale, won't mention it, won't KNOW about the sale(depends on that store's management)and might even look at you suspiciously if you hand them a coupon for it.
If you didn't get the Q go on the Rite-Aid website and there should be a link somewhere there to either print it out or show at the register from you smartphone. 8-)

* Since Teddie asked........... My Korean BBQ from Sunday was using a bottled sauce for the marinade rather than making it from scratch.  Again, I got the sauce/marinade very cheap at a discount outlet.  It's called Bulgogi sauce and you can find recipes for many versions of the sauce online.
A tip that really helps is that you slice your beef(against the grain)when it's frozen so you can get it really, really thinly sliced.(Next time I'll also add pineapple juice to the marinade as it adds in breaking down the connective tissues in the meat....oh, I am so smart!lolz).
Anyway, proper Korean BBQ is cooked on charcoal grills but being February in Pennsyltucky I high heat cooked the beef in a cast iron pan to get the crispy bits on the meat like from grilling it.  Then stir-fried the broccoli with some of the marinade and dumped it all together with ramen noodles and called it dinner. ;-)

* The last few days of February have seemed to have taken weeks to finish.  Ok, so maybe it's because we cashed out a CD a few days ago and are waiting for it to fully process and set up a new, higher interest CD at a different financial institution.  It was heart stopping yesterday to go online and see the CD account was close with a ZERO balance but the monies hadn't showed up in the bank where it was suppose to go!!!  That's a whole boatload of cash to have suspended in the ether somewhere and freaked me out a bit.  Hopefully everything will get to where it needs to go and I can fund the new CD before we leave for down South the end of next week.

*  I am in full-on planning mode for this coming WW(see what I did there?)sale.  The WWL2CQs are now available online.  Load all the WWQs to your account(s)as they come off ALONG with the paper WWQs in the store that day.  There are suppose to be RMNQs in the inserts this Sunday(of course I don't get these here!)for Centrum and Enmergen-C that will pair with the double dipping R-AQs making these items a MM.
A Werther's candy Q just popped up on Coupons dotcom too which would make this an even bigger MM too. ;-)

Ok, that's enough outta me for today.
Time to go close the books on February here(except for the interest which doesn't come through until tomorrow).
Hope everyone out there is ready for March......because it's coming if you like it or not!  8-)))

Sluggy

To-Do List.....August Update

Here's how we did with our To-Do List for August........

* Pay Bills  DONE  First thing I make sure gets done each month.  Don't pay your bills and you are in for a world of hurt.  I don't like to hurt.  ;-)

*  Read 1, 2 Books  DONE  The second book was monstrously long and I didn't finish it until 3 days into September but I am still counting it done. lolz

The first book was "Immortal Irishman" by Timothy Egan.  I haven't to this point in my life done much reading about Irish history, specifically about the 1800's and the time of the Great Famine and all it's fallout so this was a great place to start delving into that subject.  But that's just the beginning of the book!
Timothy Egan is a great storyteller IMHO and this was a great read.  I knew nothing about the person detailed within, Thomas Francis Meagher, before picking up this book.  Meagher lived about 4 lives during his time on earth.
The most interesting(oh to just pick one!)fact I garnered from this book was that Thomas Meagher had an unrequited love/infatuation with a woman named Jane Francesca Agnes Elgee while they were both a part of the Young Irelanders-a revolutionary movement in Dublin during 1840's/1850's.  Jame wrote under the psuedonym of "Speranza".  She would go on after this period in her life to marry Sir William Wilde, a Dublin ear and eye surgeon.  They were to become the parents of famous Irish writer, Oscar Wilde.
But I digress.......this is a good book about a fascinating person's true life, go give it a read.

The second book I read was Alex Haley's "Roots".  It was a groundbreaking book back when it was published.  I, like almost everyone on the planet, had watched the TV miniseries they made from the book back in 1977 but had never read the book so I finally picked up a copy and did read it.  
The tv show pales in comparison especially the original show from back in the day, which was jammed with "stars of the day" over quality of actors to tell Mr. Haley's story(such a bad tv production!).  I also watched the remake of "Roots" the tv show that the History Channel remade a couple of years ago and found it amazing how the two productions can be so different and take the story in unique ways that almost have nothing to do with the other and veer from the book quite a bit!

Anyway, I highly recommend this book and if you saw the original or the remake of the tv series try to wash that from your consciousness before you read the book.  It is a VERY long tome and at times your going will be slow as Alex Haley writes in the vernacular of his characters(especially slow I think if you didn't grow up listening to Southern accents and colloquial speech).  And I don't recommend this book because I have an ancestral connection to his family either.  It's a jolly good read......well maybe not "jolly" given the subject matter.  ;-)

*  Close CU Account  DONE  We closed out one of our bank accounts, the one at the Credit Union.  I always heard such good things about CUs so we moved our main account to one back in 2008-9 after the housing collapse/recession because away from a reg. bank that took TARP funds during the bank bailout.(It was Wells Fargo and you have all seen what a disaster they have been lately....)Anyway, this CU must have been a dud(unfriendly as hell tellers/staff, bad business hours, constantly sending us spam snail mail about loans/life insurance/etc.).  We also simplified our banking life by consolidating all our accounts/funds into one brick and mortar bank(we also have a few online banks).  We are quite happy with this decision.

*  Cash in Matured Bond  DONE  Another Savings Bond matured and cashed out.

*  Move Some $  FAIL  I am still waiting on Hubs to decide when to do this.  He keeps waiting for the interest rates to ratchet up again but I say just put it somewhere for now where it will earn something! Men.

*  Cell Phone  DONE  Got my new cell phone and I am still learning it.  What can I say?  I am an old lady who is set in her ways...lol

*  Hold Giveaway  DONE

*  Mail Giveaway  DONE  Rhitter won and received her box o' goodies.

*  Harvest Garden  DONE  Lots of squash and tomatoes this month and I've put up 11 quarts of tomatoes, made 14 pints of relish and frozen some zuke too.

*  Survive the Heat  DONE  I've made it through August pretty much intact and the temps are slowing starting to go down which pleases me a lot.  I am not a hot weather gal, never was, never will be........

*  Survive the Rain & Build an Ark  DONE  And it's raining again today. as remnants of Hurricane Gordon depart. Ugh.  We'll get more rain next week from Florence's visit after she wreaks havoc on the Carolinas, et all.  No ark in sight.....yet. lolz


How did you do on your To-Do List for August?


Sluggy