Randomness on a Sunday

*  I am still editing photos from my road trip last month.  Eventually I'll get them finished and be able to blog more about my trip.

*  We are in the final weeks of getting #2 Son ready to pack off to college.  We are ALL ready for this day to finally arrive.  I am down to my last 6 items to procure before he heads off.  So glad I never have to do this again! lolz

*  I'm happy to report that the net worth went up $6,500+ for August.
Most of that gain was from interest on the retirement accounts.  The September 1st Net Worth snapshot will NOT look as rosy I fear.

*  I need to get some more sewing done.  I also need to get more tubs of fabric out to measure, photograph and list on Etsy.  Unfortunately we are heading into the hot/muggy days of Summer here and that gives me no motivation to get any of this done. bleh.

*  I just discovered that there is bus service from #2 Son's school to a nearby town so for those short holidays he needs to come home, I don't have to drive out to get him if I pay for a fairly inexpensive bus ticket.

*  I figured out my gas expense for my road trip--$309.26.  Taking into consideration how many miles I drove and that gas expense, I got just over 37 miles per gallon.  Add in the fact that my car was loaded with glass bottles of booze for most of those miles and I'd say I got pretty good gas mileage. lolz

*  It's August and I still haven't finalized a 2014 Goal List.  I guess I need to give up that this will happen this year. 8-)))

*  My poor neglected garden is chugging along.  The critters dug up everything we planted from seed, save 2 bean plants which survived their mayhem.  I came home to one of our cauliflower plants gone.....plant, roots and all....wtf?  Something big surely dug up that monster plant and hauled it away.  The only thing we've managed to grow successfully this year are tomatoes, cauliflower and morning glories.

*  I smoked that 15 lb. brisket yesterday and am finishing it off in the oven today.  Fresh made potato salad and roasted carrots will complete our dinner tonight.  I'll freeze some of the brisket we don't eat today so we'll have bbq in the coming months too.

What's going on in your world?

Sluggy

Thoughts in The Random Fashion

** First off, here are the fundraiser gift baskets from last week(or was it the week before that one?) after I finished arranging/decorating them....

The Band Competition was last Sunday so the baskets are gone!  I hope they raised some $$$s.

Our Band did well at that Competition.
Tonight is the 1st Play-off Game for the Football team......can you hear me saying "Oh Goody!"?lol
So the Band has to march and play tonight.  The Band is hoping the team loses so that this is the last Football game they have to attend.  Nights are just too bone chillingly cold here to be outside performing with a metal instrument up to your face.  I have visions of getting a call that my son's tongue is stuck to his flute.

 I'll keep my fingers crossed.....

** Saturday is the State Championships in Hershey.  They did so well this season that they got pushed into the Open Bracket section.  They went from 30th to 9th place in our state's region since the last tournament.
Go them!!
Not sure about how that affects the Band(probably makes their odds of winning anything worse)but #2 Son is bemoaning that now they don't get to stop at Friendly's for lunch on the way down, like they have done since forever.  He will just have to eat nasty "made at home" food on the bus instead.
#2 Son is not amused.....

I think Saturday marks the end of Marching Band Season.
#2 Son has already started with Pitt Orchestra rehearsals.  That's the band for the School's Musical Production which is staged right after Thanksgiving.
Then December they start rehearsals for the Jazz Band and the Concert Band, so 3-4 rehearsals each week continues until the end of December.
Oh, and add in his weekly private music lesson too.
And that doesn't begin to address the academics and studying for the SAT he's taking on December 1.
I can't wait for January!

** I haven't been on Ancestry or Find A Grave dotcom in over a week!  Weird, huh?
Cemetery walking Season is coming to a close as the temperatures drop and the snow starts to fall.
I just felt a need to lay off the dead people for awhile.  I'm sure the feeling was mutual on their end as well.   I'll be back at it sometime soon.


** If you look at my Blog Roll you may find new Blogs there in the coming days/weeks.  I have dropped a couple that have fallen off the face of the Internet and added a few, in my vain attempt to stay relevant and "hip".   You will find all kinds of folks on my Blog Roll because that's how my Blog Roll rolls.
If you have a blog you enjoy, feel free to drop me a note about it.  I am always excited to find a new morsel....

** I did go through my Christmas box this week......

The things I pick up over the year when I spy a great deal go into this box.  Sometime in November I pull it out(the box silly!)and dig through the goodies.  I make little piles of gifties for each person I buy for at the Holidays.  Here's some of it spread out over the bed.....

The Christmas/Gift box has changed over the years.  It use to be many boxes worth of stuff and eventually, when the kids were young and I had many more friends, family members, as well as teachers, professional contacts and others to gift, the Christmas Box was a whole darned closet!
That's when I came to my senses and put a stop to shopping on this level.  Now that I'm not buying toys, nor expensive electronics, the Christmas box is at a small manageable level.

Most of what I pick up for cheap/free gets used as Stocking Stuffers.  More and more of what I pick up is consumables or "needs" based because, really, how many useless tchotchkes does one human have to have?  The lot above consists of socks, combs, brushes, more socks, bath salts, incense, more socks, gum, candy, more socks, snacks, humorous pasta, and yes, more socks!

I take a grocery store bag for each person I gift and dump everything for that person in that bag and label it.
The few things I wrap for 'stand alone' gifts get bagged together and once I drag out the gifts bags, wrapping paper and Furoshiki cloths, I'll attend to them at that time.  For now, it all goes back into the Christmas box once it's all bagged.
I've pretty much got all the kids and Hubs stocking goodies completed.  A couple of gift cards to procure and I'm done with that.

The few presents I'll buy for under the tree won't require a trip to the mall, that's for sure!

** And I know it's the Christmas Season without looking at a calendar.
I just have to look into my mailbox.....

Why does it have to be that if you buy a few things online, you get on everyone's stupid catalog mailing list?
I had just about gotten the superfluous barrage of Holiday Catalogs down to a lone LL Bean one a couple of years ago.
And then I went and bought some unmentionables for me and for Hubs from Hanes and BAMM!.....we are back on the lists.
bleh.

I have a new Holiday Tradition I'll be instituting here at Don't Read This; It's Boring! this Christmas Season.
Look for my new Weekly Feature called "STUPID CRAP PEOPLE REALLY BUY" next week!
And feel free to send me your submissions.  While I feel there will be no end to the stupid crap I find to post about, my readers imput is always encouraged and looked forward to.  8-)

 

Sluggy

Random Things In My Brain

* After hearing of another big aftershock earlier today in northern Japan, I am thinking what Dim Bulbs in charge in our country thought it was a GOOD IDEA to build not One but TWO, count 'em TWO nuclear reactors on Fault Lines???
Yes, California has two plants built along the San Andreas Fault....

Not only that but there is another reactor just outside of the Metro NYC area(Indian Point Station), 24 miles from Manhattan.  The population density within 50 miles of that plant is so dense that should it meltdown the vast majority of people would have no hope of evacuating in time.  Screw a survival kit and iodine pills, kiss your ass goodbye. ;-)

* If you have ever watched the tv show "Third Rock From the Sun", tell me it's not just my imagination, but that French Stewart(the actor who plays Harry Solomon)never opens his eyes!  Please tell me this was part of his interpretation of the character and that the man is capable of opening his eyes.  This seriously bothers me every time I watch an episode.  Yes, I need a life.lol

* The last time I left the house 3 days ago, gas was $3.49 a gallon.  I went out to run errands today and it's $3.72!  Holy Crap!!  We'll be hitting the $4 mark before Memorial Day at this rate.
Bleh.

* Look at the bright side of the government possibly shutting down due to lack of money.  At least when they aren't open for business as usual, they can do no harm.  Much like the Oath Doctors take, "First, do no harm.".  I think Congress should have to take a similar oath.....and be prosecuted if they violate it....or at least just send them home and strip them of their job.  Call it downsizing, yah, that's it..... ;-)

* At the Bakery/Bread Outlet today, they were very low on product.  And some items I usually buy were not available as they were cleaned out!  And some items they had raised the prices on so my OOP was higher for basically the same stuff I always buy.  I think more people around here are frequenting the outlet and not paying the high grocery store prices for bread anymore like me.
Ugh.

* I have noticed that items are going up in price....that's nothing new right?  But these escalating prices are just so much more noticeable to me than say in 2010.  I think most companies can't just shrink the product sizes and keep the same prices anymore like they use to do.....they are having to actually raise prices on these shrunken products.  And it's not just a few cents to a nickel anymore.  Items are going up every week so if I don't go to the store for a week, the products are blatantly higher in price to my discerning eye.  And my Price Book prices are having to be adjusted up....ACK!

* And I still see very few people when I am in line at the register using coupons here!  How can these people(who I just KNOW for the most part are in worse financial shape than we are since the median income in my area is way lower than what we make), how can they afford to pay these prices on non-sale item goods w/out even a coupon used either? 
Plus the ready-made food the markets sell seem to be doing a box office business!  I see lots of deli meats and cheese and deli salads, etc. and hot baked chickens, sides going out the grocery store's door when I'm there.  What a waste of money that stuff is......  How hard is it to put a chicken in a crockpot before you leave for work in the morning?  Just that tiny bit of planning would save you from overspending on a $12 tiny baked roaster at the market.  No wonder people spend $800 or more a month on their food budgets!

* Some days I think people should have to get a license to have and raise a child!  I won't go into why I believe this would be a good thing but after my conversation with someone today I'll just say it's worth investigating the possiblities. lol

So what weird or wise things are on your mind today?


Sluggy

Randomness on a Monday.....

* I know you are all dying to know how I did on the Focus Group!
Well I snagged 3rd place in the final task Contest which added another $50 to the check I am anticipating the arrival of any week now.
Even though it was a looooong 6 weeks and some days I dreaded the pressure of having to meet a deadline(here at Chez Sluggy, I AM mostly the deadline hander-outer, not the deadline meeter), I miss being part of the Group now.  Whatever shall I do with all this free time on my hands??  Oh, right....clean the house like I was able to avoid for the last 6 weeks.lol

*  I have my own theory about all the stuff happening around the Pacific Rim.  I believe that the cause of it all is Charlie Sheen!
Think about it.....things like this don't happen in a vacuum.  It's like a Cosmic Domino Effect.  One event leads to the next, to the next, to the next, etc.
Charlie Sheen goes off his rocker aka "gravitates out of his orbit" as it were.  The pull of this radiates west and causes one week later, the active eruption of Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawaii.  A week after that a now 9.0 Earthquake and resulting Tsunami wipes out whole cities of buildings in northern Japan.  All because of Charlie Sheen. 
Ok, so this what I wrote a couple of days ago.....before the nuclear reactors started melting down and so many where reported dead and missing.  I'm all for having fun but now?
Seriously, these disasters are horrible and I think only positive thoughts for good outcomes for anyone dealing with these situations.  Take a minute to pray, reach out to the cosmos, send healing white light, or whatever you do and believe in.  The folks impacted need all the positive vibes they can get!

* I feel I am suffering from URF, aka "+Up Rewards Fatigue".   Rite-Aid shoppers in increasing numbers are coming down with this malady.  The main complaint is burn-out from figuring out how to roll/spend down/convert to cash all those +Up Rewards we earn shopping the deals at Rite-Aid.  Making it worse is the fact that Rite-Aid keeps running the same deals over and over again.  Enough with the Oreos, Nivea Lip stuff and Gillette Razors and Holiday candy!  Geesh, I almost go into a diabetic coma just smelling the air as I walk into Rite-Aid and have to pass through the Sugar Gauntlet of Holiday Candies/Chocolates.

*  I am so ready for Spring to come.  But at what cost?  Because of the warming in the weather,  I found that an unwelcomed visitor has taken up residence in the garage the other night.....Mr. Field Mouse.  I guess the lure of warmth(well, warmer than outside)in the garage combined with the spilled dog food(thanks so much kids! who feed the dogs)was just too awesome an invite for him to turn his nose up at.
Bleh.
The mouse traps are set and we await the capture of Mr. FM anytime now.  If you have experience in shoving 27 boxes of pasta noodles, 8 boxes of oatmeal and 3 bags of flour from the shelves in the garage into my already overstuffed pantry, I'd appreciate the help! 

*  Daughter got a letter from her 5th choice college the other day.  In order to lure her to send in her deposit and tell them she is attending there in the Fall, they have awarded her(before the financial aid stuff has been all decided)a Board of Governor's Scholarship which will cover 1/3rd of her tuition.  Considering the school, it isn't a lot of money and doesn't cover much of the total cost of attending for an on-campus student, but hey!  it's nothing to look down your nose at!lol
Daughter poo-poo'ed it.
I looked her in the eye and said you had better keep that letter in your back pocket until the financial aid letters start rolling in from the other 4 schools because depending on what you get elsewhere, you may end up needing that scholarship offer!  She looked at me and turned green.  I guess she figured her dad and I would just cave in eventually if PITT didn't give her enough aid to cover her costs, after we handed over the chunk of cash we told her we would contribute.  Silly, silly daughter......to think that I didn't actually mean what I said!  Oh, I guess even though we'll be shelling out for 2 teens in college next school term, she believed we'd just hand over whatever it costs or that PITT would just let her attend even if she didn't pay the the term in full if she smiled & batted her lashed at them  a la Scarlett O'Hara enough.
Nope. 

*  So who is ready for another Giveaway?  I feel we need to do one.....  At least it would give me something to write about.lol

Off to get my Meal Plan done now....

Sluggy

Randomly Yours Monday

**My sleep schedule has been off for a week now.
I am wide awake at the crack of dawn.....so unlike me.
Then I crash and nap by noon and wake up again around 2 or 3pm.
Then I am wore out by 9pm and crawl back into bed.....and it starts all over again the next day.

I know this schedule is like most people's out there but my usual schedule is to to go to bed between 2 and 7 am, sleep until 2pm, nap again around 7pm for 2 or 3 hours and then up by 10pm until 2am or later and start it all over again the next 24 hours.
I have always been a night person and find I am much more productive at night.

Anybody else have unusual sleeping/waking patterns?

**And no, I haven't been to Rite-Aid this week yet.....but the week is young yet!lol
Anybody else been yet?  What did ya get??

**I have a Meal Plan figured out for this week to as far as Tuesday.lol  Last week I hardly cooked at all.  Only one night getting take-out too.  Seems the teens have hardly eaten here all last week so when I cooked something it lasted for 3 meals or so for just Hubs and I.....meaning I didn't need to cook but 2 times.

**I just found 2 high value coupons over on AllYou dotcom.  1--It's a Scott products Q for $2.50/1 on the purchase of 8 or more roll package of Scott Extra Soft Bath Tissue or a 4 or more roll package of Scott Towels.   Print it now for any upcoming TP deals.  2--It's a $2.50/1 Kendall/AMD Wound Care Product(they make bandages, etc.) Q.  Rite-Aid has a sale/+Ups deal coming up on Kendall/AMD products in a week.

**After slacking off on the decluttering/donating the last couple of months, I sent 2 loads to Sallie's last week.  No pretty pictures though....

**And from the annals of "The Grocery Store Powers That Be Heard Me"......I saw a Catalina Deal in the Price Chopper(northeast) Sales Flyer from my Sunday paper yesterday involving.....BACON!
Woohoo!!!
It's a Hormel Catalina.....Spend $10-$14.99/Get $3 OYNO Cat Q, Spend $15-$19.99/Get $5 OYNO Cat Q, and Spend $20 or More/Get $7 OYNO Cat Q.
Price Chopper has historically gone off of the reg. retail shelf price to figure spending threshold levels(not the sale prices on the participating items),but I haven't been in awhile so I'll be taking a trip to the store tomorrow to test the waters.  When my coupons arrive in the next couple of days I'll be all ready to stock-up then on some Pork Love. ;-)

**I got something rigged up for my Eggplant plants, in hopes that I could keep them alive long enough for the tiny eggplants to grow enough to be edible.
First I took a clear plastic gallon milk jug and cut the bottom off of it so I could put it over the plant.
That would have been quick and easy but the plant was too tall.  I then considered taking more milk jugs, cutting the bottom and tops off and leaving the sides(making a big plastic square)that I could duct tape together to make the 1st milk jug taller.  But that idea fizzled out once I started the cutting.lol

Then Hubs and I came up with this.....

We put a tomato cage on each plant.
Then we took a drum liner.....it's a HUGE clear plastic bag(used to line metal drums, like oil drums).....and put it over 2 cages at a time. 
Then we used pieces of bricks to hold down the edges of the liner to keep out the cold and keep the liner from sailing off with the first stiff wind gust.
It turned out to be a quick and easy fix with no cutting or taping involved.  Plus we can reuse the bag. ;-)

Two days out and so far so good.
I don't know how much time I can by these eggplants though since we will probably get our first freezing night later this week. 8-(

**October is almost 2/3 over!  I was adding last week's grocery spending to my budget book and realized that.  Speaking of grocery spending, I spent $37.89 last week.....fresh fruit, produce, 1lb. of butter on sale and about 16lbs. of meat/chicken.  Ok...I also had an impulse buy and picked up a bag of cheese curls for $2 on the spur of the moment.  Yes, my one wild and crazy purchase for that week!lol  Sometimes junk food calls my name.....well, it seems to SCREAM my name loudly and often.....and I just give in.  Ah well......
Anyway, I haven't even broken $100 for food spending in October yet.  Yay for the freezer and the stockpile!! ;-)

So what has everyone else been up to lately??

Sluggy

Friday Randomness with Sluggy

 Here are some things fermenting in my wacky brain lately....

**Have you noticed the escalating price of bacon lately?  I hit a rather decent sales/coupons double out of the ballpark about 5 months ago so I haven't really checked in on the current going price for that porky goodness since early last Spring.
Since our supply is almost gone, I started last week to take note of the market price for bacon.
And let me say for the record....that shits gone way up!!  Regular retail here for $5 to $6 a PACKAGE!
Great Googley Moogley!!
I paid $1.00 a package the last time I stocked up and it was an amazing $2.00 straight sale price without a coupon then.
I might have to start trolling the local animal shelters for abandoned pot bellied pigs to bring home and fatten up.....ok, not really but I *did* consider that for a few moments. ;-)

**I took SonyaAnn's ADVICE and cashed out my credit card Rewards for Christmas gift cards the other day.  I have 8 gift cards winging their way to me in time for Holiday giving.  I have to dig out my gift stash and figure what more I still have to acquire/make.  I'll probably do that next week or this weekend.  I want to have everything in process or done by Thanksgiving so I only have to darken a stores door for food between Black Friday and New Year's Day.
Not to freak anyone out or anything but there are only 70 Shopping Days left Until Christmas......

**This is a photo of part of our high school's Marching Band taken 3 weeks ago.
The kid in the center playing the flute is my son.
I do think it's time for a haircut.....

**Have you noticed that Outlet Malls are no longer the place to get a deal?
Ok....maybe sometimes they are.....but over the past few years outlet malls have really become just another excuse to throw up a shopping mall somewhere and sell regularly priced stuff.  I am old enough to remember when an outlet 'store' meant it was located in the geographic area of it's manufacturing mill and carried overruns, imperfects, seconds, etc. and you could buy them at a deep discount off of the regularly priced perfects that got shipped to the regular stores.  My mom and I use to take trips to Lightfoot VA to snag deals at the Williamsburg Pottery Factory when I was growing up.  Good times.....
Somewhere about 1978 though they began renting out space there(after they over expanded and the economy tanked a bit)directly to the manufacturers they had previously bought outlet bound stuff from and resold.  Other real outlet stores followed suite.  That's when it all went downhill for the deals in my humble opinion.  The manufacturers began stocking/running their own outlets.  Seeing how successful this model was, developers began building outlet malls so you could go to one place and get deals from many different brands without traveling far.  And they located them in touristy areas to generate more revenue.  Then they started offering regular mall bound merchandise or lines created just to sell in the outlets, which raised all the prices and just bastardized the whole original concept and made outlet stores/malls mostly crap in my opinion.

The point was illustrated clearly this past week on our trip to Ocean City.  We stopped in Rehobeth Delaware at the Tanger Outlets to do some clothes/shoe shopping.  While Hubs got some deals on shoes at Rack Room shoes and I picked up a pair of Chuck Taylors for Daughter for less than full retail, no deals were to be found at the supposed Under Armor outlet store.

#2 son wanted a basic black shirt to wear under his Marching Band uniform so we went looking. Everything in that store was full retail price, unless you wanted some boys sized shirts(that were STILL $20!) or some hideously ugly pieces I wouldn't buy at a thrift store for a fraction of the price they were charging.

**I mentioned awhile back about a relative who was having a financial crisis, and that I was helping them with a plan to get them "out of the weeds", as they say in golf.....not that I play golf or anything....
I am so happy to hear that they got through September and have taken the budgeting info. and embraced it, tweeking it and making it their own.  Hopefully, they should be able to get through the next few years until their situation is scheduled to improve.

**One of the Deal Blogs(sorry, can't remember which one)had something posted Sunday about a 10-10-10 sale on 6pm, the dotcom shoe/clothing store.  Big clearance sale where everything was $10!
Luckily we have some oddball sized feet in this house, so I was able to find 9 pairs of shoes we could use...woohoo!
I am not a big fan of buying shoes online since you can't try them on, but I figured for $10 I'd take some calculated risks on styles/sizes and if some don't fit right, I can pass brand new shoes along for Christmas to friends, other family members, the local Christmas charity program or make a thrift store donation.

#2 son is a skateboarder.  He goes through shoes quickly.  He lusts after expensive skaterboarding branded shoes.  I found one of these brands in this clearance sale for $10 a pr.  Reg. retail of $65 a pr.  I bought 5 pairs(in 3 sizes) for less than what 1 pair would cost me at the mall store(not that I'd every buy them there for full retail). lolol

The downside.....now my bedroom closet looks like the storeroom in a shoe warehouse.

Anybody seen my shoe horn?

Sluggy

Is it Just Me? and other Randomness

**Is it just me or is it strange that at Rite-Aid you can use your WELLNESS CARD to get a discount on Junk Food?  Every week in the sales flyer there is some candy or snack food on special sale when you use your Wellness Card.
Isn't that kind of like presenting a card to show your membership as a Quaker to buy bullets?

**Is it just me or is October 1st the start of the official Fall Season for you too?  And right on cue, the weather here went from rainy and warmish yesterday to windy and cool today....or as Hubs would call it, COLD!  I swear the man can't take a stiff breeze and temperatures in the 60's without breaking out a sweater or two.  I truly believe Hubs was a lizard in a previous life wanting nothing more than to sun himself on a hot rock.lol

**Is it just me or can you really believe that the year is 3 months away from being over??!  Here comes the triad of American Holidays....Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas(or Chanukah).  Of course, if you've been in one of the Temples devoted to American business(=a store) in the past month or 2, you already know that the Holidays are quickly pressing down on us.  I am so not ready for all the hype and the pressure to be too busy with activities and stuff.  Stop this merry-go-round and LET ME OFF!  Be careful this Holiday Season and don't take a nosedive off of your Financial Future into that deep hole called Debt!  Limit your Spending, Budget for the Holidays and STICK TO IT!!  You'll be so glad you did in April when you aren't getting Credit Card bills still from stuff you bought and the kids broke in December.

**Is it just me or is applying to FIVE colleges overkill?  I've always been told to apply to THREE--the school you want most to attend, a "stretch" school(one you probably wouldn't EVER get into with your grades/scores &/or that accepts a low percentage of freshmen each year), and a "safety" school(one with lower standards for grades/scores/etc. than you possess, that would consider you a great catch even on your worst day).
Unbeknownst to me, Hubs has allowed Daughter to submit applications to FIVE schools.  In retrospect, #1 son only wanted to apply to 2 schools...both of them on par with the other, nothing "stretchy" and we had to insist that he apply to a third.  (He got into all 3 by the way.)
This is not a case of "Daughter has to spread a wide net in hopes that SOMEBODY will want her".  The girl is gifted in many ways(not all of them evil either!lol), scored 1890 on her SATs, ranks around 24 in her class of 250 something, has a 4.2 cumulative average, was in the Carneige Mellon Talented Youth Program for PA in grade school(she outscored 8th graders in the state in math when she was in the 4th grade), etc. etc. etc.
I applied to 3 schools, though my criteria for applying was somewhat bizarre....but then again, my home life during my teen years were somewhat bizarre compared to most people's lives.lol

**Is it just me, or do teenagers do things out of left field sometimes?  This same child from above, also in the last 3 months, has decided she may not go to college directly.  Like her brother before her, she's been told she's receiving XX amount of dollars for school from us, so depending on where she decides to attend/where she gets in, she may need student loans if she doesn't save any money toward her own schooling while in high school.
This seems to be putting a crimp into her grand plans for life as she envisions herself going to medical school eventually and becoming a doctor.  That's great and all but the cost of getting a medical degree is way more than we can afford without liquidating our retirement funds and Daughter is somewhat of a miser-in-training and can't see herself going into that HUGE hole of debt for medical school.  Hey, let someone else take the financial hit is cool, but not her.

That is when she came up with the bright idea to join the military because they'll send her to college for free.  Envisioning my Daughter in the military in my head sounds much like replays of Judy Benjamin in that old classic movie, PRIVATE BENJAMIN.
"See, I did join the army, but I joined a *different* army. I joined the one with the condos and the private rooms.
To be truthful with you, I can't sleep in a room with 20 strangers.
And I mean look at this place.
The army couldn't afford drapes? I'll be up at the crack of dawn here!"

So between what the recruiters are telling her and what her father & I have discovered, she is trying to wrap her head around the pseudo-reality of what enlisting & going to boot camp will REALLY be like.  She is not a morning person and she has a problem with living with 4 other people....oh, to be a fly in the barracks when/if she does join the service!

She had decided on the Air Force IF she enlists since they have a base somewhere with an actual college on it.....and she 'assumes' that is where she'll be stationed.haha  She took the aptitude test last month that they use to see what jobs you qualify for(Daughter wants to be in the medical field).  She scored 93 on a scale of 99 and will find out some time this month what opportunities await her in the military with that number.

**Is it just me or do you think Daughter has some interesting ideas about how the whole higher education crazy train runs?  Daughter "thinks" she's going to get all the options first--her career track offerings from the military and her acceptance letters from the schools WITH how much in scholarships they will give her(even though I've told her that that actual financial award letters come much later AFTER she accepts and her parents have divulged all their financial matters & they don't offer money to those who don't accept first so she'd have to accept admission to all who offer it to get all the aid letters!lol)--BEFORE she decides whom she will grace with her presence.
Yah......not only does the child has NO ego problem here, but she has only a teeny tiny clue.  It's a good thing we love her or someone around here would have met an early grave years ago....;-)

Sluggy

Randomness on a Saturday

As I sit here contemplating one last run up to Rite-Aid before the September Single Check Rebate Period ends this evening, I've got some randomness on my mind to share.

Well, one thing I won't share since I'm expanding my thoughts on it into a full blown blog post all it's own.
I know, I know.....you can't wait for that, but you will have to. ;-)

* First I want to thank everyone who left comments on the passing of our BAGEL(Beagle/Basset Mix) Hound, Peanut.  Your heartfelt words were very much appreciated and touched me deeply even if I wasn't able to email and thank each one of you.
Peanut & I butted heads alot due to both of our rather large passive/aggressive streaks but he added joy to our family when he wasn't eating us out of house and home.  The photo above was one of the last ones taken of him before he left us.  It's fitting that he's sporting a rather large drool bubble on the left side of his muzzle(on the right facing the photo).  Though he was crippled and incontinent and half-deaf, in true Peanut style he NEVER lost his appetite when there was food around.   The week or so before he died he had resorted to opening up the cabinet where the trashcan was located.  #1 son always said Peanut was an idiot savant of the Dog World....dumb as a mud fence but when it came to food, he was a genuis.  ;-)

* Let me say that I sure didn't expect the negative reactions to THIS POST earlier this week.  I received quite a few hateful comments for my unvarnished honesty about my feelings on the subject.  Everyone has their own opinion and that's what makes the world go round, right?
I'm cool with diverse opinions but....when you call me evil and a witch, how can I not feel a tad unloved?
Fortunately for me, I moderate all comments(due to spamming issues) so those comments won't be published. 
However, if the commentators in question would like to step up and not hide behind posting as "Anonymous", I am more than willing to put through their comments.
Sluggy ain't afraid of being called an ass as long as I know who is doing the calling. ;-)

* Tomorrow after harvesting yet MORE tomatoes and a few other things, we'll be putting some of the garden to bed for the year.  Basically all that's left in the garden is the aforementioned tomatoes, collard greens, peppers(red bells, roastings, jalapenos)and the butternut squashes.  Most of the fences will be coming down and some of the compost moved into the beds that we clear.  I will leave the collards until the 1st frost because every Southern gal knows that collards left to harvest until after a frost are sweeter and tastier.....

I'm also hoping to get some cleaning done Sunday while the manly men are home to help me with the heavy lifting and moving part of it.  Plus get some things into Hubs trunk so he can make a Salvation Army run this week.

* I'm waaay ahead of schedule for this coming week with my Meal Plan.  Between the meals we changed up this week and didn't fix/eat and the meal ideas I listed already using what we have on hand, I've got 10 meals now for the family to choose from.
And I really hope there is a good deal soon on pork here since I am down to my last package and it would be a good way to use those OYNO of meat Cats I need to use this coming week at Weis.

* I guess my "Call for PA Bloggers" was a raging failure, as I haven't heard a peep from anyone.  I have 2 local/sort of local PA blogs I follow.  Go check them out......HERE and HERE. 
Strictly Deal Bloggers who cover most stores in PA and are located around Philly are HERE and HERE.

* I just found out yesterday that my mother's family's Yearly Family Reunion is/was being held today/Saturday.  Would have been nice to have had some advance notice.  Oh well....
It's not like we could have attended anyway.  We are in the midst of Marching Band Season here so most Fridays and Saturdays are full up.  Fridays for football games and Saturdays for band tournaments.  Today #2 son is down near Quakertown PA for a tourney.  Hubs is driving the prop/equipment truck and I get to stay home with the doggies since Daughter is working and the pups can't go all day without food, water and toileting.  Just me and doggies....Do I have to mention that it's been a nice quiet day here?lol

Have a nice Sunday and I'll be talking to ya'll on Monday!

Sluggy

In the Land of Randomness...Welcome to My World! Sept.10th

This is a photo of Little Edie aka Edith Bouvier Beale taken around 1972.  She was the cousin of Jackie Kennedy(as in First Lady Jackie Kennedy).  If you haven't been under a rock for the last couple of years you already have some inkling who this woman was.  If you want to watch the documentary the Maysles Brothers made, that brought her and her mother, Big Edie Beale, to the attention of the public, go to Hulu and find "Grey Gardens".  It's much better than that movie HBO put out last year.  Too bad the Broadway show of their lives isn't still running.  Christine Ebersole was grand in the role of Little Edie.  To find one of the few clips of her in the role, performing at the 2007 Tony Awards go HERE.
I think this documentary is a mesmerizing and wonderful study of two amazing women who were both trapped by their time/society and made free by their approach to that life.
If I can be half the Staunch Women that the Edies were, I'll be happy with how my life turns out.

It's here!!!

It's so nice to have a real working refrigerator again.....
Now I need to clean up the inside of the old one that is sitting in the garage and after Jury Duty month I can try to arrange for a repairman to look at it again.

From the annuals of "I just don't get it".  How come people who realize that they are on the brink of disaster won't change their behaviors...or won't even do the few things they need to do to make their situation not-so dire?  It's one thing to not know that the cliff is there but when you know it's there and you are standing on it, why do you insist on taking that one step over it when you know how to take a step back instead??
I just don't get it....
I do get that you can't force someone to change if they are not ready.  If you try, they just get all passive/aggressive on you.
And then later, after the sh** hits the fan, others will blame you for not helping, when in fact you tried to help.  The other people's definition of help is really 'enable' anyway, and enabling does everyone involved a disservice and makes nothing better.

My friend Brenda said I could share this photo with ya'll.  She did something creative this year in her garden.  If I had a wooden shed that got good sun, I'd do this too in a heartbeat next year!

It's sections of gutter, nailed to her shed and used as a planter box.  Just fill with some soil and sew lettuce seeds and pretty soon you have salad!  Salad greens without ANY BENDING OVER TO PICK!
It's genius I tell ya, Genuis!...lolol


Tomorrow we say goodbye to our dog Peanut.  With the loss of his bladder and bowel control as well as the deterioration of his back legs, the time has come.  He will have family there with him as he takes that last walk to the Rainbow Bridge and a steak dinner in his belly.

As Edie Beale might have said,  "He was a Staunch Character".....

Sluggy

In the Land of Randomness...Welcome to My World!

* When I looked in the mirror this morning....at the crack of 10....the pic above is similar to what I saw....well, except for the wet nose.

* I forgot to mention in all of my recent blog posts that Hubs and I celebrated our 28th Wedding Anniversary last Saturday.  28 years married to the same man! I have been married longer in my life than I have been single....5 years longer.   Am I a throwback to a different time or what? ;-)

* I was suppose to report for Jury Duty next Tuesday and for the rest of the month of September(unless I was placed on a jury and finished my service before Sept. was over).  The same week I got the notice, I was selected to take part in an online chat/focus group that would pay me $25 an hour!....to sit and talk.  Of course it turns out the focus group is being held mid September. 8-(  And this is the 1st time I have EVER been offered this kind of work(at this level of pay!) though I've been signed up like....forever!
Since often times here, if you get called for duty, you never actually have to report, if they have no juries to seat for trials.  But you have to call every Friday to find out if you need to report the following week.  So I said yes to the online work and I'm crossing my fingers I don't have to report the week it's being held.  If it does conflict I'll have to back-out, gracefully of course.lol
How come nothing is ever simple in my life?

*Besides a load of laundry or 2 I've gotten nothing on my list accomplished.  Yet, I feel like I've run a marathon this week and just want to lay down and sleep for 10 hrs.

*My biggest accomplishment today, as Dr. Oz and Oprah would say, is having a really nice 'poop'.  I guess eating 10 pitted prunes(excuse me, they now call them dried dates, not prunes because prunes is an old person's fruit and they are attempting to market them to a younger crowd)will do that to your BM.  I really like prun....er....dried dates.  They sure blow prune juice out of the water as far as taste goes.  Um, maybe I should NOT have used the word "blow" here.....

*eBay is offering FREE LISTINGS until Sept. 7th....you still pay the final value fee if your item sells however.  I can't seem to get my stuff together enough to jump back into eBay and finish selling off the stuff boxed up in my living room....oh yeah, and all the stuff in my storage unit that isn't toiletries and toilet paper too.

*Some one near and dear to us called 3 days ago wanting to shop in my stockpile.  Come to find out they lost 1/4 of their income(which was very low to begin with)3 months ago and they don't have enough income/savings to cover what they spend each month and they are just letting some one know the pickle they are in now.  So I've been working with them for the last 2 days, getting them on a plan(plus directing them to available resources locally)so they can get through this month with what they have left.  If they succeed in following the plan for September, I have a plan for the next 3 months, that if followed, will net them some cash for an emergency fund/savings acct. by the end of the year.  I am crossing my fingers they can stick to the budget and some other 'things' and people that have a capability to derail the plan don't sabotage what can be accomplished here.  I'll be sitting down with one of the possible saboteurs this evening face-to-face for a frank, adult conversation.  Please keep good thoughts and prayers for me!

*Speaking of stockpiles.....I haven't added to it in weeks and it's being depleted at an alarming rate!  The surprising part is that I am NOT freaking out over this and I am good with it.  The stockpile needs some thinning out.  It's the loss of no good deals over the last 3+ months that's freaking me out.

*I missed Project Runway last night...again!  I enjoy that show(given my background, I should!lol)but since they changed networks, I just can't seem to keep straight where or when it's on.  I guess I'll have to cruise around this coming week during the day and find when they are rerunning it for the umpteenth time.

*The fridge is still limping along.  I've had to move all the frozen foods to the upright freezer in the garage.
Basically both the fridge and the freezer section of the fridge can be used as refrigerators since the freezer can't maintain a frozen foods temp.  Hubs and I are buying a new fridge Saturday so by next week sometime I'll have a fully functioning fridge again...yay!  Not having any room in the upright freezer because of the current situation has stopped me from stocking up on farm market buys, to this point, for freezing for winter.  Gosh, I hope there is some local farm produce left to buy late next week like corn and tomatoes and beans.

*We could use rain again.  I thought Earl would generate some rain inland here but Jim Cantore is dashing my hopes.....  I have lost quite a few tomatoes here due to skin splitting because of weeks of drought in between the rain.  I can't keep the plants wet enough even with the hose.

*Hubs took off another week from work for vacation.  We are thinking of getting away for a few days during that week.....getting away ALONE!  Maybe somewhere at the beach since the small children set will be back in school.  I like the beach without crowds of people and screaming little children.  We use to vacation before having kids during the 'off seasons'.  I recall it was lovely..... 8-))

*Besides the wanting to sleep 24/7 I seem to be in a holding pattern as far as making decisions.  I can't decide on ANYTHING!  What towel rack to buy to replace the one that keeps jumping off the wall.....which fridge to buy(well, that one is more about how MUCH money to spend!)....what to make for dinner.....what color to paint something.....which brand of sealer to use on the deck.....etc., etc., etc.
Is it I just don't want to be held accountable if my choice isn't the best one in the end?   If I don't make a decision then I can't be blamed for anything.....except for NOT making a choice...lol

*"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years."---Mark Twain
#1 son proved this quote correct last week.  He actually took Hubs aside and told him something to the effect that he thought we were very good parents and he was glad he was our kid and not the kid of many of his friends' parents.  Then he posted something similar on his Facebook page.
When I asked Hubs why he didn't mention any of this to me, he said it was probably because he didn't want to see my big old smirk and the smartass comment I would make at his expense.  Yes, the #1 son apple didn't fall far from his mother's tree.

*Ok...my brain is empty again.  Time to go fill it up with randomness again this week.
What do you need to get out of your head?  Leave a comment and share!

Sluggy

Dumping the Contents of My Head

Yep, that's just my colorful way of saying this post is just a mish-mash of random things rattling around in my head.


eBay
RE:Mr China/NY/CA Guy--Not a peep heard from him on Sunday.  Oh, did I mention he is now unregistered?  Gee, I wonder why.......!lol  I filed on him and got my fees back on 1 of the items.  Now that eBay has unregistered him, I'll write them to try and get my fees back on the other item.

Mr. Didn't Pay Me $249 Yet--Still no payment.  He has been filed on too.

Ty Lawyer Bullies--I changed "beanie" to "beanbag" in the listing.  DH gave me a "look" when I suggested I play around with these snakes.....playing with snakes will just get you bitten so I'm just going to let it go.

I sold a couple of things over the weekend...yah!  Now I need to get more listed while I'm on a roll.

One of the items I sold was a massive Mega Bloks set.  I went to the storage unit Sunday to fetch it so I could prepare it for shipping.  Now this box is 4.5 FEET tall and 3 FEET long.  I asked DH to get it out of the car for me.  DH knows me....I usually have multiple boxes of stuff in my car at any given time.  So he asked me how he'd know which box I wanted him to carry in.  I said, "It's the big box."  He just looked at me and reinterated, "How will I know it's the right box?"  I gave him a "look over the top of my glasses look" and said, "Unless you are dumb as a mud fence, you WILL know!"
He got the correct box....and on the first try!
LOLOL

Food
My new favorite food--I Love a freshly grilled hamburger or beefalo-burger.  Just season it up well with sea salt and slap it medium rare on a plate with a little puddle of ketchup.  If you have to bun it, bun sea salt, burger and a slice of tomato...that's it!
No cheese.
No other condiments or onions or bacon or other gunk.
Just the salt to enhance the beefy/buffalo-ness and some tomatoness.
Simple and nothing better.

I have also discovered that no candy/junk is better tasting than Peanut M&Ms.....DARK CHOCOLATE Peanut M&Ms. I picked some up for free on one of my many Rite-Aid excursions and finally opened a bag to try.
Dark Chocolate heaven!!!

Clutter/House Stuff
Other than it looks like a bomb went off in the Den, I need to get more stuff out of here.  I've got another load in DH's car heading for Sallie's on Tuedays and I started another load on Sunday to put in his trunk as soon as he empties it in a couple of days.
The living room is a mess too with all the stuff I got listed while DH was out of town.  I need to pack it all into boxes now and wait for people to buy it so I can ship it out.

I had daughter help me bring up toys from the basement on Saturday.....I had forgotten I still had stuff down there.  I am trying to be ruthless as I go through it all on whether to keep to sell or donate this stuff.
So far I've decided to send about 75% of it to Sallie's.  I'm only keeping to sell the stuff that after fees/shipping will give me a profit of at least $5 over what I paid.
The eBay criteria now is to list stuff for a REALISTIC Price that it will sell at quickly.  If it doesn't in 30 days, relist for a bargain price and if that doesn't work, off it goes to Sallie's after the 2nd 30 days.  According to my CPA brother, if you can't recoup at least 60% of what you paid on something in cash, it's more financially prudent to donate and take the tax write-off.  Of course, if you really really NEED the CASH, that rule of thumb flies out the window and you take whatever Cash you can get for stuff.lol

Anything that is very pricey to ship, that is not rare or valuable, will also just get donated since buyers don't seem to want to pay for shipping.


I donate every year to the local volunteer fire dept.'s fundraising auction that's held in the fall.  But the woman who runs it won't accept my donates until the month of the auction(even though they do have space to store the stuff in the fire hall).  I'd love to donate some of what is going to her but she's totally rigid on this.  I'm not planning on having much if anything left that donate-able by Nov. so she's totally getting nothing from me this year.  Her loss....

I am addicted to 2 shows:the one on Sunday on TLC and the one on Monday on A&E.  Both are about Hoarding.
It's a fascinating subject to me because it hits close to home.  We have the hoarding 'gene' in my family and I believe this condition is partly to blame for my oldest brother's death...indirectly but still, it did contribute to his demise.  I've seen this stuff up close and personal and have helped a hoarder clean...if you can call it that.  Some nights I just want to reach through that tv screen and shake these people it's so frustrating that they just don't get it.  If only they could get out of their own heads and look at themselves.
agh....
Last night's episode they said the woman was an organized collector type of hoarder and that she had 60 bottles of shampoo, among a bazillion other things.
60 bottles of shampoo, huh?
Well don't look at me!lolol
I wonder if someone saw my hundreds of rolls of t.p. and my 50 bottles of shampoo if they would want to sign me up for this show?

I've rattled on long enough I guess.  Off to make a list for the food bank and get some stuff hauled up there.  Then it's back to going through eBay 'treasures'....oh joy!

So what is everyone else up to on this fine Monday?

Sluggy