Saturday Around Town

Here's what got accomplished on Saturday--

* Charity Donation.....check!

Some of what went to Salvation Army today........

*  Shopping Done.....check!

Then we went to Big Lots so I could show Hubs the calendar I wanted but they didn't have it in a desktop model.
sigh.

But I thought these were cool......

This is an antidote to that  "Life is Good" crap you see everywhere......lol  But a bit too negative even for me!

And I found your calendar Sonya Ann ...........

Hubs found a Christmas gift for me there and I found some underwear and food items like canned clams for $1.20, even cheaper than the local market on sale at $1.50 a can.  Yes!

Then off to Kohl's and I spent my $15 in Kohl's Cash on 2 Christmas presents and am OOP $8 & change.

* Tasty Lunch......check!

Then off to lunch at Breakers Brewery........

*  Clothing Procurement......check!

Next was Kmart to get some free toiletries with doubled coupons plus Q-Tips I'd have to actually spend money on.  But the cashier said 2 of my coupons(of which I used 2 others earlier in the week with NO PROBLEM)wouldn't scan into their system.
So the toiletries were left behind as NO, I am NOT paying $15 cash for this stuff thankyouverymuch! ;-)

Then I bought 3 sweaters(I was down to 1 sweater in my closet it won't last the Season).  These sweaters were all on sale for 40% off and I had a $5 off a $35 or more purchase coupon and after using my $40 gift card for transferring 1 prescription to KMart a couple of months back, I paid .57¢ OOP.
Sweet.

*  Toiletries Run.....check!

Then it was off to Rite-Aid for this stuff........

4 x Hall's cough drops BOGO sale=$4.38
2 x Rolaids BOGO sale=$5.79
4 x Gerber baby foods sale but Wellness disc. was better($1.51 ea.)=$6.04
SubTotal......$16.21

Coupons Used
2 xx $1/2 Hall's Cough Drops ManuQ=$2.00
1 x Rolaids BOGO ManuQ(up to $5.50)=$5.50*
Coupon Total......$7.50

$16.21-$7.50=$8.71
I used $8 in +Ups and put the .71¢ on a free R-A gift card paying $0 OOP.

I earned $6 in +Ups(2 x $3 Gerber wyb2).
Spent down my +Ups by $2 but we are all set for cough drops this Winter.

* I couldn't remember if you can use a BOGOQ with a BOGO sale item at Rite-Aid and the cashier didn't remember either so she just tried to scan it on and it worked!  Woohoo!  2 free Rolaids bottles for free.  Well not really since the limit on the BOGOQ was $5.50 and the items were $5.79 so I paid .29¢ for 2 bottles.  Maybe that's why the BOGOQ on a BOGO sale item worked, since it wasn't technically free?


*  Food Shopping......check!

Then it was off to the local market to pick up .69¢ Powerades and home.
While in the market I spotted this novelty Holiday item.......

I might just have to break down and buy someone this stuff.  The price point is $3.99 so it isn't prohibitive to my budget.  ;-)

Another busy day today of getting the errands down--more Rite-Aid and Food Shopping.
TTYL,

Sluggy

 

What's Been Happening at Chez Sluggy

Frankly, most of what's been happening is quite boring so I don't mind if you just skip over this post. 8-)

This......

 

 

....is now firmly secured back into place in my mouth.
A big shout out to my Awesome Dentist!
She responded to my emergency call within the hour and 2 hours later I was in her office getting my crown but back in.
And she didn't even charge me anything. 8-)

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It's been a week now and still no word from the contractor about a new compressor for the HVAC system.
Sigh.
I am guessing this lack of information means we are going to have to wait for something to be shipped from overseas.
Sigh.

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And while I am sighing.....lol.......let's discuss eBay sales.
I am just gob smacked at how anemic eBay sales have been.  It's so slow I just cant' even get up enough enthusiasm to finish listing the entirety of my 50 free listings!
I finally sold 1 item this week!
Then I had put an item on auction instead of BIN and it ended last Sunday for a very disappointing amount.  Even so, it DID sell, but as of this morning the buyer/winner has NOT paid me for it.
So frustrating....

And the other HIGHLIGHT of my eBay week was a potential buyer who wanted to buy a pretty rare NIB old Power Rangers toy I have listed.
It's so rare I have it listed for $175.
Gulp
And that price is very reasonable compared what others have sold for.
My target buyer is an adult collector, not someone's mom or dad buying this for Junior to play with.

Anyway, I get someone emailing me about the toy.
There are 3 possibilities on who this buyer is....either a collector, a dealer who wants it for pennies to resell it to a collector or a kid using his parent's eBay account.

Potential buyer says they really really really want it and to make HIM an offer.
What???   This person has it all backwards.....he's suppose to offer ME something.  lol

As for how much I want for it?
Duh....$175.

They go on to tell me they can't afford that.
So I retort that I have "Make an Offer" feature enabled on the item so they can offer me less.
(I also have MAO set up to automatically accept offers of at least XX$s so serious buyers aren't waiting around on me to respond when they make an offer.)

So they go and make me an offer.....guess how much this clown offers me?

$11

And when I rejected it I enclosed a note like this....
"$11?  Seriously dude??
Yah, I'm probably dealing with a kid here or someone pretending to be a kid so I take pity on them and sell it for nothing.

"$11 Man" has now been blocked from buying/bidding on my crap.

As of now I am up to 3 items sold(2 paid for)on eBay in the last 14 days.
Pitiful......

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In better news, over on Etsy I have now sold 21 items in the 19 days it's been open.
I have over 1000 views in my shop so traffic is building.
One thing I don't get over on Etsy is this "favorite" feature.  Someone can "favorite" an item in your store.  What significance does this have?  Is it making me money?  No.

If they like something so much, why don't they BUY it?? lolz
Someone buying one of my fabrics is the only true indicator of "favorite" I care about.  8-))

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And since eBay seems to be rolling over and playing dead and the local Fire Dept. lady who asks for donations for their raffle each year never called me this year, there is all this that went to the Salvation Army last weekend.....

 

And there is all this that is going there later today.....

 

And today I am collecting more items to ship off to Sallie's.  If we go out Sunday I might have another load full by then to drop off.

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I went to the Podiatrist earlier this week as well.

The verdict is that my feet are too small.
Earth shattering I know......lolz

Add in that my legs are not straight so when I step my feet roll to the outside and then to compensate, the feet roll to the inside, which puts stress on certain muscles and joints, which makes my feet hurt like a sonofabitch sometimes.
Ok, so he explained it differently but that's what I heard.

Otherwise my feet are normal structurally, nothing broken or severely out of place, and I have good range of motion.
So the only thing that will help me at this point is to continue to lose weight(duh)and to wear diabetic shoes with good insoles or some other custom made footwear, since my feet are oddly shaped(wide as they are long.....I have cubed feet).

The sound of "Ka-ching" is ringing in my ears since this doesn't sound inexpensive.
Heck, I am really going to have to get $175 for that Power Rangers toy now to pay for these sort of shoes! ;-)

The only other thing the podiatrist can do for my feet if icing, resting them and pricey shoes doesn't help is to give me cortisone injections where the pain is located every few months.  But we aren't looking at that yet.

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On the Turkey Day grocery tally to get to my gift certificate front......went to that store earlier this week and I am $6.48 from having spent enough to trigger the cert.   So Saturday we'll be picking up about that much in groceries and then I am DONE.

I've got my menu made up for Turkey Day too.  Now to make sure I have everything I need to cook it.

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Can you believe that November is half over already!?!?
Dang.

The first paycheck of the month flew into the account yesterday so now I can start paying bills.
Goody! lol

I sent off a check for Daughter's next 6 months of rent yesterday and then transferred that amount from the college account back into our checking account.

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I did a little genealogy work for someone this week.  Found them some goodies they didn't have.
I really need to email a couple of folks who contacted me from Ancestry and a post I did on Philip Packer a few months ago.  Might be that we all are related.

The tests came back from my son's Y-DNA sample last week too.  Very curious findings on that and not at all what my Hubs thought his DNA is/was.  More later on that.

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Speaking of living rooms......when I went to return the wheelchair we rented in October I stopped over at Big Lots since I was in that area.  They have a sofa advertised that I think might fit in the living room plan.
It's a small chaise sectional like the one we found at Just Cabinets this Summer......

It's a better maker than the other one at Just Cabinets and they want $100 less than JC for it.
Comfort is comparable to the other one too.
In person though, this one had this green cast to the color.  I am thinking it was because of the fluorescent lighting in the store but can't be sure.  Maybe I'll go back with Hubs and see if they'll let me take one of the pillows(the backs are the same fabric as the upholstery on the sofa)outside to see it in natural light.  I didn't think to do that yesterday.

Here is the other sofa contender.....

What I REALLY want is a leather or faux leather chaise sofa in this color and small size/style.
If anybody knows where they sell that, please let me know!  I hate to have to settle this time.

Here's the co-ordinating accent chair.....

Only thing is this chair is for looking at and not sitting on.
Very uncomfortable so I think I'll take a pass on this.

They also had this recliner that I think my Daughter would just ADORE for her Birthday.......

Now how to get it to Louisiana is the problem! lolz

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This weekend I need to get out into the garage and do some organizing and cleaning since the temps are going to get into the 50's(and maybe 60's)here.
It's a disaster out there....again!
Too much hauling stuff into the garage and NOT putting it away in the correct spot and not enough hauling stuff OUT of the garage.
Plus we still have boxes out there from cleaning out the dining/living room so those need to be dealt with.

And Hubs and I have been on a liquor bender of sorts.  The last few months have been a Spending Spree of adult beverages.  And as I don't NEARLY drink the stuff as quickly as Hubs seems to be going through it my stuff is all over the place.  Add in that some beer I bought this summer for #1 Son for part of his Christmas present he doesn't want.(He is uber picky about not letting beer sit for 2-3 months between when you buy it and you consume it)  I now have about 3 6-packs of microbrewery beers I can't give him and I don't drink beer! lol  I'm going to try to get Hubs to drink it instead....I don't think that will be a hard sell. ;-)

And the bbq smoker & wood chips needs to be unearthed out there, so we can use it soon.

Otherwise this weekend we don't have much planned.  Cleaning, Salvation Army, a quick trip to the grocery store, maybe cleaning out the roots from the garden beds but no other outside work as the leaves are all raked and hauled off already.  I could get Hubs to rake the leftover leaves into the back garden bed though to decompose there.  Yep, I think I'll do that.

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Ok, I have stuff to do.....more fabric to photograph and measure for Etsy, toys to list on eBay, a garage to organize and on and on and on.

So what's going on at your place this week/weekend?

Sluggy
 

What's Going on Here Lately Besides No Heat.....

Yesterday, I went through some boxes of old ornaments I had bought years ago to sell on eBay and sorted them into keep and donate piles.   One pile of ornies is for the kids to go through and take whatever they want, as 2 of them no longer live here, so they may want tree decorations of their own.
When they get to a point where they aren't moving constantly and settle down I'll give them each the family ornaments that were bought for them while growing up.  Man, once I do that, our tree here will be practically bare! lol

So far I have 2 full cardboard boxes of ornies heading out the door.  It's a shame that Hallmark ornaments, except for a few special ones, aren't selling on eBay at ALL mostly, and the few that do sell are going for about $1 each.
sigh
So that, with a box of Ty brand stuffed animals and a box of used housewares and a swing arm wall lamp, gives me almost another full load to send off to Salvation Army in a couple of days.

Then I got up this morning and saw this report on Yahoo about Goodwill HERE.
YIKES!

Please be careful with your personal information when donating goods to any charity!
And it boggles my mind how any store manager would have let a customer buy personal documents like that......

Still no action on eBay but I am selling a couple of lengths of fabric on average each day over on Etsy.  At this rate I'll run out of excess fabric by.....oh..........2016! lolz
Still loving the ease of packing and shipping fabric. 8-))

I am now down just shy of 54 lbs.  I got past the plateau I hit back in May/June and am starting to see results.  Not being able to exercise much because of my feet is not helping the cause but I have weights to use to work my arms.  I know I'd lose faster if I gave up drinking(bad, bad carbs!)but at this point I don't want to give up the 3 or 4 drinks I have a week.  There is something to be said for keeping your sanity.....

As for what I am eating.......I haven't changed content much since earlier this year after the heart problem episode, except for having to be careful I don't eat too much green leafy veggies now while I am on this Coumadin drug.
It's been 7 months now since we basically changed our diet so I think we have made it a permanent lifestyle change.  I find I no longer crave junk food or sweets most days.

I eat a lot less at a meal(portion control)and try to stay away from carbs at meals.  I don't fix a meat, carb and veg. for dinner.  Usually I'll just fix a meat and veg(or 2 vegs. sometimes if one is a carby veg.).   Sometimes I do a sauce on the meat or veg. so I am getting some carbs anyway.  I also always have a sandwich at lunch, so I get plenty of good carbs with my bread and occasionally I'll have carbs with my breakfast-either a bowl of cereal or a mini bagel with my yogurt.

The big thing is I have cut down on cheese intake drastically.  No cheese on burgers or sandwiches EVER!  And we eat/fix cheesy dishes very rarely now.  We use to throw cheese on most anything we ate here, but no more. 

I plan on losing another 6 lbs. by the end of November, even with Thanksgiving, so wish me luck!
Right now I have 46 lbs. to go to get to the weight I was at 32, BEFORE I had children.  It won't even come close to what I should weigh, but that would be awesome if I could get there without any bariatric surgery.


I am off to get blood work done, then to Rite-Aid to use my expiring +Up Rewards and then maybe to the grocery store if the feet hold out.

Sluggy

One Last Bit of February Decluttering Porn & Short Fat Ken Dolls

Let's close out February on this Leap Day in style, shall we?
How do we do that?
Why with Decluttering Porn, that's how!

Micro Machines Star Wars Action Fleet vehicle set
Micro Machines Star Wars Playset
McDonald's Playset
Lord of the Rings Mt. Doom Figure set
Star Wars role playing card game
Set of Miniature Teddy Bears
GI Joe action figures Keychain set
Power Rangers Trans-Armour Cycle with figure
Micro Machines Star Wars Endor Playset
4 x Micro Machines Star Wars vehicle sets
Small Soldiers stuffed toy
Power Rangers Card game
2 x 101 Dalmatians pens
101 Dalmatians cookie cutters
Hot Wheels truck

Set of John Wayne Racing Champion Cars
Small Soldiers Chip Hazard Room Defender figure
Star Wars Ep.1 Anakin's Pod Racer
2 x Micro Machines Star Trek Vehicles sets
Power Rangers mini Megazord figure
Power Rangers Zeo Ranger figure
2 x 101 Dalmatians mini pillows
2 x 101 Dalmatians water globe toys
Set of Dilbert magnets
2 Throw Blankets
12 Political Beanies

Star Wars Micro Machines Endor playset
Beast Wars Micro Machines playset
Numi blooming tea set
Pink & Yellow Power Ranger Dolls Set
20 Posters
4 Johnny Lightning cars
Drew Carey Doll
Small Soldiers Archer figure
Power Rangers playing cards
3 hand dyed Beanie Babies
Set of Power Ranger cupcake papers
Hot Wheels set of Reggie Jackson cars

81 more items outta here!!

Yes, turns out this was NOT the brilliant idea I thought it was years ago.
The Drew Carey Doll has not become a much sought after object of desire.....

...unless I want to take the doll out of the box and sell him as a "Short Fat Ken in Suit".  Which is what this guy does....he's hit on a formula to unload a buttload of these dolls.  Check out  one of his auctions HERE.

And speaking of Drew Carey, has anybody seen him lately?  I dare say he's looking mightily hot....

He's single, funny, rich, a Libertarian, is a close personal friend of Craig Ferguson and he gives money to libraries. 
Damn.....some days it's too bad I'm married! ;-)

I'm sure Drew would be thrilled to know he was included in a blog post about porn.....

But I do love his tv work.
And the various openings to each of the 8 Seasons of his tv series.....

Sluggy

Wave Bye-Bye as It Goes Out the Door

Here's a quickie before I go out the door with a couple of bags of goodies for the food bank.
It's not food per se but toiletries are welcomed at my local food bank.
And thanks to Rite-Aid, I've got all this to give.....

10 bottle of contact solution
23 tubes of toothpaste
3 boxes of hair coloring
1 tube of denture adhesive

Then it's off to do some banking, food shopping and if my back is ok from yesterday, I'm going back into the garage to lift and tote around stuff out there.  Yesterday I gleaned this lot plus 2 more boxes of stuff for the Salvation Army.  I'm hoping to fill Hubs trunk for another full donation to Sallie's this weekend.
Maybe another post later....maybe not.

Sluggy

Getting Rid of Stuff.......One Way or Another....It's Still DeCluttering P*rn!

Since the Great Toy Sale of 2011 didn't happen, I have had to come up with other ways to try to A-get rid of things while B-getting back of few of our hard earned dollars as well.

So I listed about 40 items on the local Yahoo Tag Sale site and threw photos of it all in the online photo album for the site last Friday.  I sold 11 dolls of the 12 I had listed before Saturday was over!  Of course, 1 person crapped out and didn't take 2 of the dolls she asked for and then I held for her for 3 days. Grrrrr
None of the toys or collectibles I listed sold, just the dolls. Weird....
I made $89 on the ones I sold and I'll relist the 2 that person didn't take.  I'll list some more items this weekend and see what else I can sell....or maybe I'll wait until Halloween is over and people might be more in the mood for spending on Christmas presents.

A lot of this stuff  from the Toy Sale will end up going to Salvation Army as well as the local Yahoo Group Christmas List for helping the needy.

Another group I give to is a local volunteer fire department.  They hold a fundraiser each fall, usually Oct. or Nov.  It's what they call a Chinese Auction around here.  You may know it as a Penny Auction, or a Tricky Tray or a Silent Auction or some other name.
Basically, you buy sheets of tickets at the door, as many or as few as you want.  There is a master stub and about 25 other smaller tickets on each sheet.  All tickets have the same number.  You keep the master stub and you deposit your smaller tickets into buckets that sit next to prizes in the hall....one bucket per prize.  You can put 1 or you can put 1000 tickets in the bucket of something you want to win...or you can skip buckets and put nothing in, it's all up to you.
After a couple of hours of ticket dropping, they call time and you sit down.  The folks running the auction then pull a ticket from each bucket and if it has your number on it, you win the prize.

I must say these are very enjoyable events and I go to them whenever I get the chance.  It doesn't have to cost you much money and besides the social aspect of the event there is the thrill of maybe winning stuff so it satisfies the gambling addiction in me....such that it is.lol

Mostly the folks running one of these will solicit local businesses for prizes.  The organizations members also will donate items to make it more successful.
And then there are crazy people, like me, who donate brand new stuff from my hoard of crap.lol

About a week ago a local volunteer fire dept. that I have donated TONS of items to for their auction contacted me.  I have been a very generous donator of crap there for the last 6 or so years so they plan on me giving them stuff at this point.
Since we were out of town for a few days I didn't have a chance to call her back yet.
Well she called again while I was out at the grocery store yesterday.  The event is a week from tomorrow so the fire dept. ladies are getting antsy.  Hubs, who took the call, said that the fire dept. lady(who is in charge)is tired of hearing the other ladies nag at her about getting stuff from me.  She feels like she's stalking me.lol

So I went out in the garage this morning and here is what I've got together to donate to their Fundraiser....

3 ceramic Cookie Jars (Ronald McDonald, Boyds Bears Xmas, Nightmare Before Xmas)
2 sets of ceramic Salt & Pepper Shakers (Wedding Set, Xmas set that matches cookie jar)

Dept. 56 Old Globe Theater ceramic set
Maxine Snow Globe

1 Original Furby
1 Curious George Bank/Gumball Machine
1 Spider-man Clock

 3 Boyd's Bears Critters

1 Cat in the Hat Clock
3 assorted Boyds Bears Resin Figures (Ike & Libby, Edward the Elf, Jeremy as Noah)

That's $365.00 worth of good, new in the box, decluttering crap leaving the house on Monday, making 2 nice big fat donations to charity for October.

Yay me!! ;-)

Sluggy