Random Bits and Bobs

Lots of stuff to talk about but mostly no common thread and nothing worth an entire post so let's get crackin' with it! ;-)

*   First off an unexpected package arrived last week.  It was from one of the folks I sent a Xmas card to in Anne's card swap, "Treaders" who blogs at Random Thoughts.

Anyway the package was addressed to me but the back said it was for Hubs.
I had mentioned in my card to "Treaders" that Hubs' father's family was from Sicily and we hoped to travel there during out retirement.

Imagine the surprise when Hubs unwrapped a 2019 calendar from Sicily!  I think it made his holiday........  8-)))
Hubs is a big one for calendars. So thank you "Treaders" for your kind gift.  It is now hanging in a place of honor in the kitchen and Hubs has transferred all his important dates onto it.

*  Here is all the WAM(aka Walking Around Money)I ended the year with.....

Just short of $600.  At $100 per month that almost half of my WAM for the year.

*  And speaking of spending money(or not), I did buy myself a couple of things during the after Xmas sales.........

Rite-Aid had these two different Vera Wang fragrance sets.  I got a couple for real cheap during the Black Friday sale.  I figured I'd have one to give if I needed a last mintue "Oh crap! Someone's coming over and I didn't buy them anything gift".  I opened the other one and man, do I LOVE these scents!
So I decided to keep both for myself since they were practically free after sale/rebate/BC.
My R-A had 2 more left when they went to 75% off so I scooped those up too at $5.49 each.  There's where $11 of my leftover WAM went before 2018 ended.

*   Loved this fortune cookie..........

So true that!

*  Hubs and I have been taking advantage of no snow so far in January and just going out to stores to walk around and poke around in the clearance stuff.
Walmart was a boon for fun crap to check out...........

I have threatened all my family/friends on Facebook with these fuzzy/long john pajamas.  They are tacky cats and Xmas themed pjs.  That green panel is the back flap so you can do your bathroom business w/out disrobing.
Hy-sterical!

*  My daughter loves a good ugly sweater.

I got her this one in 2017 for her December birthday......

Got that one because I couldn't find the one with the unicorn vomiting glitter..........

Anyway, Walmart has been a treasure trove of ugly Xmas sweaters this month.......

Mooory Christmas!

And who wouldn't want a Santa riding a Unicorn, ALL DONE IN SEQUINS!lolz

Or this one that lights up in case you get lost in a snowstorm.......

Or this one with tinsel and half a stuffed unicorn sewn onto the front.
Yes, I believe, I believe this sweater is butt ugly!!!

Hey, I even found a matching fuzzy hat for this sweater....

Though I did like THIS HAT much, much better.......

A different Walmart had these lovelies...........

Beer Mug Hats

And this one where I looked like a demented Christmastime Mad Hatter.........

And then there was this Star Wars hat, there was........

Why do I always screw my face up like that for photos??

*  I had some salad bits and pieces to use up, some almost expired grilled chicken strips and frozen cranberries to get out of the freezer so I tried my hand at making the Bob Evans Cranberry Pecan Salad.  Except I didn't use pecans and we had feta not blue cheese.
I found a copycat Colonial Dressing recipe(though they LIED obviously because it called for ACV and not white vinegar and celery seeds instead of poppy seeds)and made a batch.

Though not quite on point it was tasty and used up some stuff lying around the fridge/freezer.

*   I saw this unusual word on FB and am embracing the concept.

My whole life seems to be a coddiwomple.

*  Speaking of traveling I went to the Weis(PMITA)Markets in the town West of here.  They are a much larger store than mine and sometimes they have better meat sticker deals.
As I got back in the car I noticed all the trash lying around my car in the parking lot.  Usually at this time of year there is a permanent layer of snow covering the ground so it doesn't look at run down and nasty as the parking lot looked that day.

Lots of the usual sort of litter......cigarette butts, food wrappers, bits of plastic....

Is it me does anyone else see dental floss picks all over the place!?!  Everywhere I go I spy them on the ground...bleck!

And the worst thing......

Do you see what's in the center of this photo???
A condom.
A "used" condom.
I guess I should be happy someone is practicing safe sex but really?  Who has sex in a grocery store parking lot???  Such a romantic place to park and do the nasty with your honey, yes?

*  They are predicting we are going to get hit with two snowstorms this weekend.  Oh goody.  I can't wait! hahaha
At least it shouldn't be anywhere near like this one from the '90s....

Ok, that's about it from me.
Hubs and I have our 2019 financial meeting soon.  We'll wrap up 2018 and see how it went and plan out a few things going into 2019.
I'll report in on that after we have it.

What's everyone else up to lately?


Sluggy

Random Stuff with Photo Porn

Just some stuff that's been happening around here this week or so.

*  I picked the first "real" tomato from the garden on Monday.  "Real" meaning, not miniature sized, not buggy and/or didn't rot immediately after picking.  It had started turning so I beat the deer to the punch and plucked it before they fount it.

*  You will also notice in the photo above I colored my roots on Monday in preparation to going to the Family Reunion.  That's about all the fancying up and prettifying I do for it.  ;-)

*  This month has been crazy expensive with eating out.  Between having company and taking folks out for meals and the take-out food we've been buying while I was unable to stand to cook we've spent $280.62 on eating out/take-out at this point in September. bleh.  But then again I've only spent about $125 on groceries so far this month. lolz

*  This PT is doing nothing for my foot.  What helps is elevating it during the day and putting heat or ice on it and wearing shoes all the time(hate that!).  It feels better with good support.  It's probably something that will heal up on it's own with tender loving care.
Despite the PT I am off the cane now and bicycling shall resume next week, albeit wearing shoes.  rah!

*  I've paid all the bills for the month(besides one crazy ass bill the eye doc sent that makes no sense....their billing system is SO screwed up!)and have closed the books for September(except for any interest that will show up on non-retirement accounts on 1 October).  Even with assorted medical bills and the school taxes being paid in September we'll have a nice hunk of cash leftover to throw into savings.  Next month is the 3rd paycheck month(yeah!)but all the medical co-pay bills for the medical testing and other nonsense that happened in September will be arriving, as the EOBs from the insurance company have already been streaming in. ugh.  Other than that and credit card spending(some vacation charges coming up in October)we have no large bills left this year to pay.....just the usual suspects of utilities, medical drug co-pays, etc.  Of course Christmas is coming in 3 months so there is that too, although we don't go hog wild spending at the Holidays and we certainly don't put anything on credit that can't be paid off in January!

*  I have been doing a fair amount of sewing the past 2 weeks.  Already completed are 4 pairs of pajama pants for various offspring. 

These are projects that have ben languishing in my sewing piles for years now!  They still need elastic in the waist and hemming but I need the bodies here to measure and cut the hems and adjust the amount of elastic for that.  These bits are easily done.

On the top is also a flannel nightgown I made for myself.  It's got 3/4 sleeves even though it's flannel because I just HATE long sleeves! lolz

*  I found my cousin Melanie on F/B yesterday and sent her a friend request.  I've been trying to track down my cousins for 2 years now since I had a phone call from my aunt in late June of 2013.  She wouldn't tell me and never wrote back to me their mailing addresses or phone numbers and of course my girl cousin got married so I couldn't even find her name now! lolz
But due to my mad genealogical detective skillz I found her last name, etc. and 2 of them are on F/B.
We were never close with my only cousins growing up partly because we lived in VA and they lived in MA.  This photo is from one of the only time we visited them up in MA at their house.  I don't even know the year but it's around the mid 1960's.

*  After PT the other day I went to Rite-Aid to get some free/cheap stuff...........

2 Transactions(1 on each card).  The body wash was free after IPQ Qs and In-Ad Qs were stacked.
The Watkins lotion was also free using up a rain check from a Black Friday deal last year(they finally got it back in stock!lol).  The Mentos were $1 for all 4 after earning $1 in Plenti Pts.  The single chocolate candy was because the Qs brought me into the negative at the register so it's a filler item.
Total spent OOP .30¢.
I used $2 in Plenti Pts. on the Mentos transaction, earned $1 back so 1 card has $11 in Pts. the other has $21 in Pts.

*  We finally hauled a load up to Salvation Army on Sunday as well.  Here are a few shots of some of what left the house............

Hubs had a fair number of "guy" things to take since he cleaned out/organized his garage workbench this month.  I had some odds and ends and a small stack of fabric to contribute, as well as clothing from his mom that's been in the garage for years now.

I tell you, it's getting very difficult to find stuff to declutter at this point.  Spending 12 years decluttering your life in conjunction with not buying new crap to take it's place for a large number of years kind of has that affect on your life. lolz
There IS more left to get rid of but not the sheer volume like before.  I am so glad I am not waiting until I kick the bucket and leaving a big mess for my kids to deal with.  8-)

*  We'll be going to the family reunion very soon.  This is the group shot from last year's shindig courtesy of Cousin Gary's daughter(sorry I don't know her name!).  I hope the weather is good again for the upcoming get together.  Then we see my mom's cousin's family from her dad's side for dinner that same evening.  This year my son who lives in Fredericksburg is coming too so that will be nice.

If you are a Baker/Vassar/Foster/Snead/Hamilton/Hudson/Womack/Redmond/Etc. come on down!

Sluggy

Random Stuff

Lots of small items to cover today---

*  We got word this past weekend that Hubs sister, who just got remarried Aug. 2013(and we traveled to the Midwest to attend the wedding ceremony), is getting divorced.
Things just didn't work out due to her husband's issues so instead of just riding it out until he drinks himself to death and being miserable, she's bailing.
I don't blame her at all not that I would have married the guy in the first place, but that's just me.
8-(

*  College Boy has the promise of a Summer job in a town nearby here.  And hopefully it's more hours than the bakery he worked at in high school use to give him.  He also has a possible second Summer job if the first one doesn't keep him working enough hours per week.
Being broke his first year of college has spurred him into going back for his sophomore year with the cash he saves from this Summer employment.  Hopefully he feels confident enough in his course work next semester that he can try to get a part time job while attending school.  That would help a lot to keep him from draining his college fund at the alarming clip that it is now being depleted.

*  Now seeing as College Boy will have employment this Summer this also means that he needs transportation.  We are down to 2 cars here--my purple bop around town vehicle and the old used Malibu(which was the 3rd kids' car)he took over when we donated his Elentra last Fall. 
So Hubs has decided to get a new, used car within the next month.  He may even buy it this weekend.
He found a good deal at Enterprise(the car rental people-they also sell cars)on another Malibu.
We'll be using part of his yearly Bonus which we received in February to pay for this.
Not only does this mean forking over $$$ for a new-to-us cars but having a third vehicle will mean our car insurance will again go up.  *sigh*  Well that reduction in insurance was nice for the 7 months it lasted......

*  Speaking of bonuses--Hubs and I need to sit down and talk about how the rest of the Bonus money will be spent this year. 

*  We need to pay for a bathroom redo this year so most, if not all, will go toward that.  It's a redo but we aren't going high end.  Just replacing worn out fixtures/cabinet/floor/toilet and taking out the moldy tile(yuck!)and fixing the wall behind where the tile is and installing a new tub.
Pretty much everything is being changed because we can't even THINK about selling this house until this work is done.

*  I would also like to get a freezer as I never replaced the one that died 3 weeks after buying it.  We've been limping along using the small compartments on two fridges-the one in the house and the older one in the garage.  I am figuring on getting a small chest type since we don't need/use as much food as when all the kids were home.  A small freezer will be adequate and will fit just fine where the older fridge resides in the garage.

*  I just saw that cable channel TLC is bringing back another episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" this Sunday.  And we no longer have cable.
Bleh.
I suppose eventually they'll put the episodes online or on YouTube and I can catch them there.
So don't anyone give away the endings to me, ok? lolz

*  We are set to travel to Louisiana in mid May.  The Daughter has gotten time off from work so we are trying to plan some activities and such.  There is the Bonnie & Clyde Festival(weird)and a War of Northern Aggression Battlefield/Museum(boring) and a new brewery to visit(hic).  I just hope the weather down there in May isn't too humid.
I am still trying to set up motel reservations that don't cost an arm and a leg.  I don't want to stay where we were last trip there(too far)but I don't want to spend a fortune.  I found a reasonably priced motel but the reviews mentioned roaches and crack 'hos in the lobby........ick.

*  I go to the eye surgeon on Monday for my cataract surgery consult.  Still have forms to fill out before then and decisions to make about what type of lens to get.....the regular or the corrective lens.
I am sure insurance won't cover the corrective lens as much so that decision may be already made due to cost differences.  I still don't know when they will cut my eyeball open but it had better be well before the middle of May.

*  Easter is sneaking up on us soon.  College Boy won't be here for it this year, so I've got to decide if we just have a small meal Hubs and I or invite the brother in-law and nephew over.  We'll probably just hide out from family this year and relax. ;-)

*  Speaking of genealogy......I've already heard back from the Huguenot Society folks.  On the positive side of thing, there is someone who was confirmed into the Society using my Huguenot ancestor already and our lines are in common down to my 2x GGs, which means if she agrees to let me use the information in her application, I only have to prove 4 generations back from myself instead of 8.  It will be much easier to obtain documents going back to the 1800's rather than the 1600's, but while easily to get, it will cost me for official state vital statistical forms.
On the negative side here, the cost to apply is $20.  Then there is the annual dues to the National Society($25 or if over age 50 you can pay a one-time lifetime membership fee of $500) and then there are the yearly State fees for your chapter($10 or included in the lifetime membership fee).
So I'll be out $55 to start and then $35 each year.....or $520 in fees now and forever more, no more fees for my lifetime.   If I pay for the lifetime I'll have to live another 13 years to break even and after I am 69 it's all gravy.  ;-)
I also need up to 8 different vital statistical forms at $12 a pop to apply, so another $96 + postage.

*  I bought that Steve Jobs biography that came out a year or so ago at Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!) It was less than $3 with my discount card.  I'm about 2/3rds of the way through it and I can safely say the man was a narcissistic jerk!  I am glad I never worshiped at the Apple altar......

*  In other news, my oldest son is going to an educational job fair in Pittsburgh this weekend.  His GF is finishing up her degree in nuclear medical imaging and by August they will be ready to relocate so he has begun the search for a "real" job in his field.  He has a teaching degree in History and wants to land a job in a high school setting.  Please keep him in your thoughts this weekend that he gets some interest from the school districts in a state he has targeted and that his GF can land a job in her field in the same city/area.

*  Oh, and Happy Spring!
I went out for an Rx first thing this morning.
Now look at my backyard......

Mind you yesterday this ground was bare, save a few areas of leftover snow.

@#%$&%!@$@

Spring my ass........

Sluggy


 

Happenings at Chez Sluggy Lately

Let's see what's going on around here this week, other than hitting up Rite-Aid for almost freebies and going to the grocery store.
Boy, do I lead a dull, dull life.......

Here's the biggest news this week.

Going......

Going......

GONE!

Another vehicle bites the dust.

We'll save approx. another $800 a year on our car insurance having this van gone.
Yay!

From a high of about $2,800 a year for insurance to $1,340 a year now.
Sweet.
My van insurance was roughly the same I now pay for the Sonic(since it's new) but unloading the Hyundai Elantra and Dodge Minivan will save us $1,460 a year going forward.
Plus all the repairs, gas and taxes/fees.
Plus we'll get a small partial refund on the car insurance bill I paid last month.

#2 Son will either have to be happy to drive the purple car when he is home for breaks or he will get a lot of exercise walking places. lolz

In other news........

I didn't sleep well yesterday because I am stressing out over--

A.  The repairman coming back today to fix the a/c and heating units.  He left here 2 weeks back and couldn't tell me what was wrong with them.  He had to call for technical support to a guy in India...WTF?!?  I have little confidence that this will be fixed today.  At least we aren't paying for a service call or parts as we got an extended warranty on the thing.

B.  Someone bought a boatload of fabric from me on Etsy 2 days ago.  She didn't pay me enough so I am waiting on more shipping $ at Paypal to come through.  This stuff doesn't leave until I am FULLY paid.

The daughter paid us the first installment of the loan we floated her to buy her house.
Yay!
Only 119 more to go.
I hope I live long enough to get all this $ back. lolz


Not feeling so great this week, besides the not sleeping.  I have some naggy ailments happening, things that pop-up every so often.  Annoying and make me grouchy.

I also have to schedule a mammogram, a CT scan(for a final check on a scar on my lung to make sure it isn't a tumor)and I need to get to the eye doctor before the end of the year.  That "baby cataract" that wasn't even large enough to mention really last Fall is now causing me eyesight problems.  I dread having a surgery but I need to get this taken care of before I head off on any more driving trips.  I just don't feel confident driving long stretches with my vision as it is now.

Speaking of trips........

                         photo credit S Walker


Next Friday we head out for the Vassar/Baker Reunion down in VA.  This is a shot of last year's attendees taken by my 1st cousin's(once removed) wife.  I'll be more mobile this year since at last year's event I was still recovering from a blood clot in my ankle.

I hope people hang around longer this year and don't just eat and run like last year.  Between that and not getting around well I didn't get to talk to/get to know hardly anyone there. 

I also want to go visit a cemetery while we are down there and take some photos of my 2x Great Grand headstones.
Later on the evening of the Reunion we'll have dinner with my mother's cousin & her husband, from her father's side of the family.

I hope to stop at Berky's Restaurant outside of Lexington for early dinner or late lunch on the way down.  Never been, always wanted to go there.  The fried chicken is to DIE FOR!
I haven't had fried chicken in ages.......

What else--

*   I got an old ragged nightgown ripped up with the seam ripper so now I can use it as a pattern to make some more gowns.  I loved that gown and it hurt to have to let it go....sniff, sniff......

*  Paid bills.  It looks like we are going to end September with $2K+ for the Savings Challenge so we are on track for this month.  We are, however, behind for the year at this point in the game.
But never fear because October is our 3 paycheck month. 8-))

*  I mostly piddled around and didn't get much done besides canning the relish.  Now I have to find a place to put it all! 8-)

Not much else going on here.
How about you?
What are y'all up to?

Sluggy

 

Random Stuff at Chez Sluggy

I go to put the dog out and guess what I see?

* First off, it is snowing YET AGAIN here.  Friday through Sunday we had 3 storms blow through.  It started snowing again late last night.

Looking at the forecast online it looks like all this week is a pattern of a day of partly cloudy/sunny followed by a day of snow.
Oh joy!

* I may be going to that Blogger Meet-up in Delaware next month.  It depends on if someone who may give me a ride there can.  I should know in the next week if this will work out.
I SO need to get away from here for a bit before I start climbing up the walls!

* I just signed up for 3 month mail order refills on some of my prescriptions this morning through a company included in my new insurance coverage.  I paid $25.18 total for 3x 30 day refills last month.  Doing a 90 day refill for the 3 drugs will cost me $48.28, or $16.09 per 30 days.  It's only $8+ a month savings but since we have to pay full freight on prescription until the $3K deductible is satisfied, I'll take whatever savings I can get.
I just hope this works out and there aren't any issues not receiving my meds in a timely fashion.
And speaking of things happening in a timely fashion...NOT!.....

* Today begins WEEK FIVE of trying to get my DME company situation sorted out in regard to my healthcare coverage.  Despite being told over a week ago now by my healthcare company that my DME is covered and the company they passed me along to should have supplied what I need by now, I am still waiting on someone to DO something!  Now the DME Co. says they still need some form or other before they can deliver DME to me, which the healthcare company says it's all set.
No, it isn't.  My good buddy at the DME company, "Shaun", promised to follow up directly himself with the dr. office and get right back to me on Friday.  It's now Tuesday and "Shaun" is still MIA.
So yes, I get to call again and go through this whole rigmarole for the umpteenth time.
So tired of this......

* I got to have a broken filling replaced AND get a cleaning and ex-rays on the same day last week.  My jaw hurt for 2 days after that, as the dentist has a heck of a time getting the rest of the filling out, and she did some yanking on me.  She thinks they glued it in!
I get to go back on Friday for another filling too.
It's just a wild party around here, ain't it?  ;-)

* I get to go to my primary care dr. on Thursday.  While I am holding steady with my weight is it not heading South as fast as I would like it to be progressing.  The month of December was very bad for my weight loss since I gained.  Hey, it was Christmas and a holiday trip to a German Bier Haus.....what can I say?  January wasn't much better between being depressed and the weather et al.  February has been a wash as well.  I am doing ok health wise......no flu, haven't been sick, just depressed and tired of fighting about these insurance issues, which leads to more depression and "what the hell, I might as well eat my feelings" episodes.  sigh.

I do get to find out about getting off this blood thinner stuff I have been on due to that clot in my ankle last September.  I am due to be finished with this.

* I have had very few Etsy store sales since January 1st.  Frankly I've just neglected doing anything with that this year so far.  I did finally go into the Daughter's old room(aka my fabric lair now)and sort through some piles of fabric so I can get more new pieces up on Etsy.  I had hoped to get the rest of the flannel, corduroy and wool up in January but it didn't get done, so now that all gets thrown back into a tub to wait until late Summer to list it.  At least some of those Winter fabrics are now photographed and written up, so getting them actually for sale on Etsy won't take any time at all.
The last few days I DID get about 30 fabric pieces ready to list(photo'ed, measured, weighed and descriptions done)so I should have those up in the Etsy store this week.

I still don't "get" this whole "favoriting" thing on Etsy.  Someone can "favorite" an item in your Etsy store(it's like hitting the LIKE button on FB)and you can see who favorites what in your store.
I's a STORE folks, not an art show.....I don't CARE who likes my fabric!  I just care who BUYS my fabric!  That's how I judge whether someone likes my fabric or not, if they BUY it! lolz

* I let all the eBay listings expire in January.  I may go and relist everything later this week, just so it looks like I am doing something with it all.  But from what I hear not much is selling there lately for most everyone.  Things will pick up once the tax refund checks start flowing back into buyers' bank accounts though....I hope.  ;-)

* There is still no furniture in my living room besides some boxes of eBay stuff, a coffee table, an old wing chair, sofa table and the folding camp table I was doing taxes on in the dining area.  I just can't pull the trigger on buying a sofa right now.  I am not completely happy with my choices(color, size, fabric and price)plus there is no extra money left in the paychecks until March gets here to cover it.  I know I can yank money from elsewhere but why do that if I don't have to have a sofa right now?
It would just make me grumpier. lolz

* And speaking of taxes, I mailed off the Federal today.
Rah.  Had to redo the Education credit thing THREE TIMES to get it right. ugh.
And that $12K heating/cooling system we bought last year?  Guess how much Uncle Sam lets us take as an Energy credit for it?
$300.
Big whoop. 8-)))

* In GOOD news here.....Hubs gets a yearly Bonus.  We never know how big/little it will be.  It all depends on how his company does for the year, if his part of the business is profitable or not, how he is rated within the company, and the specific formula the company uses to distribute the bonus funds(this formula seems to change ever year and is more complicated than jumping through IRS hoops calculating your personal tax return).
He got his performance review and he was rated as high as is able.  Their business segment also had a fabulous year too.  So it all comes down to the formula they are using this year to decide on how far on the big side of the scale the bonus will be.  We find out Thursday when it hits the bank account.
I am so hoping it's enough to finish off #2 Son's college account with something leftover for us to use elsewhere.
Since as long as I can remember, the Bonus has always been used to fund the kids' college accounts.  At least the last 12 years.....even before we paid off the house, we dumped this money into the college funds.
Next year, if Hubs is still employed there, God willing!, will be the FIRST year in forever that we won't have to put the $ into the college fund.  I won't know what to do with myself if I have to make a decision on what to do with it.....but I'll give it my best shot. 8-)

* Cross your fingers we get to complete #2's fund and have money leftover, because(Sonya plug your ears)we are going to have to buy another car in the next few months.  The Hyundai Elantra needs to go!!  And Hubs won't just wait until August, when #2 leaves for college to just take back the Malibu.
I wish he would just limp along until August, because at that point we won't need 3 cars anymore and it will save having to ditch another car in August.  But he won't go with my plan so we are shelling out more money on cars in the coming months.
Argh.

* #2 Son applied for a new job last night on his way home from his music lesson.  He had quit his old job in January because it was getting so demanding of his free time and left him no time to practice for his auditions for college.  He was working almost 40 hours a week right before he left it.

This new one is just a weekend job so won't cut into his activities and school stuff.  But will give him a little cash so he isn't always hitting me up for some. lol

That about catches y'all up on the Drama here at Chez Sluggy.

What's going on in your world?

Sluggy