Stuff Lately, Doing Stuff & Making Progress?

 June was a very expensive month here at Chez Sluggy.

Between having to replace the mini-split units(just the units, not the compressor)and replacing 6 of our windows in the house(the front of the house gets a great amount of direct sunlight and all the glass seals on those 6 windows were busted)so we can get this place ready to sell had to be done and paid for in June.
That all came to the tune of $6000+  meh.

Two of the new windows in the living room.  The other four are upstairs.

Hubs finished painting the walls last week.  Now it's on to the ceilings(along with a bit of repairs on some ceilings).  I need to paint the folding front hall closet doors.  Then clean up the white baseboard woodwork.

Just one of five photos of molds I took.

I spent this morning counting all the ceramic molds in the basement, taking photos and posting them on Craigslist.  I've got 240 molds.  eek  

I also carted up in my Ikea bags some of the bisque ware that's been squirreled away down there.  I've still got more to go(can't climb stairs with heavy bags but for awhile)but it's a start.  The bisque ware is getting packed in Rubbermaid tubs and will go with us when we move.

If I get no takers on the mold for a cheap price I'll contact local ceramic studios and see if they want the  molds for FREE.  Now who's going to turn down free when it's supplies they can make money off of? ;-)

That's the chore for this week.  Drag bisque ware and pack it and put it into storage and wait for nibbles on the ceramic mold listing.  Oh, and clearing out the living room too.  It's full of shipping boxes and toiletries.

I think another Toiletries Sale is in order too but it's kind of hot here now.

Now I am off to clean the dining room floor where the a/c guys replaced the mini-split as it's dirty as all get out in there.

Sluggy

To-Do List.....the May Edition

Here's how the progress on the May To-Do List turned out............

May

* Pay Bills  DONE  Always at the top of the list and the first thing I get done.

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

"Blood Brothers:The Story of the Strange Friendship Between Sitting Bull and Buffalo Bill" by Deanne Stillman
The title is a bit misleading once you get into this one.  Mostly it's biographical information on various people of this era-Sitting Bull, Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, George Custer and a few others and how their lives intersected along with  general history of the end of the "Old West".  
There really wasn't much of a "friendship" between these two other than Sitting Bull spent 4 months touring with Buffalo Bill's show in 1885.  The author uses this brief acquaintance as a jumping off point to delve into the events such as the Battle of the Little Bighorn(Siting Bull was for decades thought to have been the one to kill Custer), the Ghost Dance and Massacre at Wounded Knee and the Murder of Sitting Bull.  A few interesting stories but more an easy, light read(except for all the Native American slaughter and such). 8-(

And this one........

"Ten Hills Farm:The Forgotten History of Slavery in the North" by C. S. Manegold

This book traces the life of John Winthrop, the first Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony(the second colony founded in what is now Massachusetts), his descendants and other families who owned the farm-five generations of slave owners who profited from human misery at Ten Hills Farm.

Winthrop owned the 600 acre farm which is where Medford MA now stands called Ten Hills Farm.  It is Winthrop who wrote the first law in the New World condoning slavery and owned a large number of slaves that toiled on his farm there, all the while proclaiming their colony as a beacon of enlightenment and justice.  
Slavery was an entrenched way of life in New England but it is rarely recognized or admitted to.  Many of these founding fathers in MA not only owned slaves but traded in slavery(even when it was outlawed)but also owned slave sugar cane plantations in Caribbean lands(most notably Barbados).  And this doesn't even touch on the New England shipping industry that profited from the Atlantic triangle of trade between the New World, the Caribbean plantations, the shores of Africa and England.

These New Englanders of the gentry class also suppressed religious freedom other than the mainline Puritan teachings(exiling and/or killing those who didn't subscribe to the Puritan ways).  Among the native peoples they made and broke treaties to suit their needs, looked upon the natives as lesser forms of humans and started wars with them so as to sell the captives into slavery and ship them off to their Caribbean plantations. 

It's a long sorted past that the North refuses to acknowledge and it's a breath of fresh air to read this awesome book and see the truth of how widespread this cancer was rooted in the Northern colonies.
Slavery wasn't just a stain upon the Southern parts of America, it was an affliction upon all of it.  The North just got rid of slavery sooner than the South as the North due to weather conditions ended up as an industrial economy while conditions in the South was more conducive to an agrarian economy.  

John Winthrop's legendary "city on a hill", the example for the world of rightful living and a model of "Christian charity" was anything but to anyone other than it's leading citizenry.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interesting in American history and New England history specifically.


* Hold Giveaway  DONE

* Mail Giveaway  DONE  And it's winging it's way to Sue L. as I type this.

* Go on ED Plan  DONE

So far it hasn't turned up any foods my system/my HS doesn't like.   Except my body doesn't like eating only potatoes.  I'm ok as long as it's not a potato monotrophic diet.  I haven't added back in dairy(other than a bit of cheese on that cheeseburger last Thursday)and there were no issues in the 24 hours after eating that.  My HS symptoms haven't changed since going on this ED either(for the good or bad).  

* Start Home Projects  DONE  The Monday after the Daughter pulled out of the driveway we began the purging and cleaning.

Things have been uncovered that haven't seen the light of day since the Daughter moved back home 3 years ago.  The living room has become the dumping ground for items leaving and for items we have to keep and find a new place for.
We have completed a few tasks and we are deep into this project now.
It's a process people! 8-)

* Email a Company  DONE

I emailed Alka-Seltzer about their informing my entry was invalid AFTER the window to resubmit it closed(and they told me to resubmit it!)  Radio silence from them so I am putting them on my AVOID THEIR PRODUCTS list and moving on.
I did return the product to the store for a refund of course!

* Purge Garage Again  IN PROGRESS
We got lots of things removed from the garage, including the evil Dreadmill which Daughter packed into her POD.  However the garage doesn't look like much progress has been made yet since it's packed with garbage cans and trash bags awaiting being carried off by the garbage company.  Daughter and Ex-College Boy have filled so many trash bags that we've had to space out throwing them into our trash collection pile for pick-up over the last three weeks.

This morning 2 large trash cans, plus another 5 trash bags and a large broken exercise bike got picked up.
We only have a large broken desk sitting on the front porch to send to the garbage now.

This is a shot of the garage this morning before Hubs took one of the garbage cans to go back and live on the side of the house as we usually only fill 1 can, but we've been filling two cans+ for the last 3 trash pick-up weeks.
See the clear pathway through the garage?  We haven't been able to walk out of the garage on this side since Daughter started packing and throwing shit out.

* Sort Through Seeds  DONE
I went through my old packets of seeds and found quite a few things I can plant this season.  I put some mesclun salad mix seeds in the half barrels with the broccoli and cauliflower plants.  I've got some basil to sow among the tomato plants later today and in late August I'll plant some spinach seeds after the cukes and Summer squash are done.

* Buy Plants  DONE

Plants were bought in early May from our favorite nursery and everything got planted by mid-month.


* Plant Garden Beds  DONE

We've had lots of days of rain(too many days!)but the plants are hanging in there.  The broccoli and cauliflower are loving the cooler temps though.

* Cash in Savings Bond  DONE
Cashed in the first chance I got to go to the bank and the proceeds are squirreled away with all the other funds from cashed in matured Savings Bonds.

* Move More $ Into a CD  DONE sort of
I got this accomplished on the last day of May(so it was still processing until June).  I say sort of did it because I moved the $$ but I didn't put it into a CD as the rate was lower than the rate to just move the $$ into an online savings account.  I didn't move that much, just the portion of interest earned last year on a previous CD since I didn't roll that CD over fully into a new one.
That $4K+ in interest is now sitting in my "Misc." Fund at Capital One and earning 1% instead of .25% at the brick and mortar bank.
This is just temporary until Hubs and I can sit down and talk over what we want to do next with this $$.

* Help Daughter Pack  DONE

All packed into the POD and her car and the POD got picked up the day after she left for Louisiana.

* Start Selling Locally  DONE

I put a few things on the FB site but the only thing selling are the diapers and pull-ups.  That's fine by me because I had 3 large boxes filled with diapers.  I still have quite a few left(about 30 packs)but I've made $115 so far.
I really don't want to do a garage sale(and I really don't have enough stuff to make it worthwhile)but Summer is not the time to list stuff on the FB site around here as people just want to go to garage sales now. sigh.
Plus people around here answering my FB ads are driving me crazy.  Morons, imbeciles and idiots, the lot of them!!!


Sluggy

To-Do List...........June Update

The To-Do List update for June....let's see how it all shook out!


* Pay bills  DONE  Everything got paid on time, no interest or fees assessed or paid.

*  Read 1, 2 Books  DONE

My Brother's Crown by Mindy Starns Clark and Leslie Gould.
I picked this one up because of the Huguenot emblem on the cover....had no clue if it would be good or not.
It's one of a series of books by these two authors all about women from one fictional family, a Huguenot family from France that immigrated to Colonial America.  It jumped from a story line in present day Virginia to 1600's France and a story line of the present day person's ancestor.  It was well done and flowed well, very readable.
Not too heavy on the history but I still enjoyed it.
If you have Huguenot ancestry you might want to give this a go.

Then I read.......

"The Great Influenza" by John M. Barry.  This was a historical account of the Spanish Flu Pandemic that swept the world between 1918 and 1920.
As the generations that actually experienced this world changing pandemic have died off, the horror of this time in our history has faded from our collective memory.  Just to refresh the scope of this disease, the Spanish Flu killed more people in 20 weeks than AIDS has killed in 20 years and killed more people in a year than Bubonic plagues during the Middle Ages killed in a century.
Choked full of detailed medical history, important researchers and leaders in the field of American medicine, as well as timelines, how authorities greatly mishandled the outbreak(from the government to the military to the news media) and the first hand accounts of victims and others from that time.  This book gives one a real sense of just how devastating this influenza outbreak was everywhere in the world and how it's consequences affect our lives today.
The influenza affected the waging of World War I all the way to the terms of surrender and our then current POTUS and his life and term in office.
Any history fans out there need to pick this one up and give it a go!

*  Clean Laundry Room  DONE  Our laundry room was in need of a good cleaning, including the machines.  The pan under the washer was removed and scrubbed down(and then promptly broken but fixable)and the dryer was disconnected and the hose and back of the machine were cleaned out.
The pan being broken happened because Hubs didn't reconnect the water hose tightly enough and a week later we found that the leaking hose started to over run the pan with water which meant moving everything AGAIN to dry it all out and during this transfer period it got cracked on one corner.  Luckily there was no floor(or ceiling on the first floor)damage since we found the problem quickly and some duct tape fixed the pan edge.
After all the extended work we had to do cleaning and moving stuff times 2 I am calling this a....

 *  Do 1 Home Improvement Project  DONE  The floor has never looked so clean in the Laundry Room after two scrubbing downs. lolz  Hubs even removed the louvered vent where the dryer hose attaches and I scrubbed that.  Other than some paint the laundry room is in ship-shape shape now.

 * Organize Garage  FAIL  It's been too hot and Hubs hasn't cooperated  when it wasn't too hot to go through stuff.  I have been picking up in there and moving stuff around a little and tidying a bit but no major clean out yet.  I did get Hubs to dig out the old a/c unit to give to his brother and the nephew as they have no air in their apt. and we had a week long of 90+F heat wave.  It's an even bigger mess at the moment and I am hoping I can get Hubs to help me this weekend(the weather is suppose to be less humid and cooler)to go through and put some of it right.
The garage can only get so clean until next Spring when Daughter moves out and takes all her stuff stored in there(plus the stuff stored IN the house).  I guess I need to be less critical and don't expect too much until that happens. ;-)

* Hold Giveaway  DONE

*  Mail Giveaway  DONE  Mailed and received.

* Purge Coupon Inserts   DONE

Went through all the inserts, clipped a few Qs that weren't expired yet that I might use before they did and put back about 10 whole inserts on my bookshelf.
It feels so good to purge papers sometimes.  8-)))

*  Plan possible 2018 Travel  DONE...sort of
We've got a possible plan....nothing wild or crazy or long and nothing happening until September.  Still working on some Winter plans too and lots of details need to be fleshed out still.

* Work on 2018 Goals   PASS  some of the big yearly goals have been worked on or finished, some have not.  Here they are.....

  *  Sewing--NOT DONE  Other than hemming and mending I've done nothing yet on this one. I'll try to dig out and decide on which fabrics to use in July for the table runner I want to make.

  *  Dropping some weight--NOT DONE  Well I have lose some weight but it was weight I put back on this Winter.  Winter and being sick for 2 months is not conducive to weight loss I have decided. lolz

  *  Culling more of my toiletries stockpile--SOME DONE  Until this week, I had been scaling back on the freebies from Rite-Aid but having to roll Bonus Cash within 2 months is crappy. 8-P
I did make a Food Bank donation already this year(Was it March? I don't think I wrote about it when I did it.).
I'll be giving the Brother In-Law and Nephew some stuff in July which will jump start the purge again.  And once we go traveling I'll be giving stuff away too so I see more toiletries flowing out of here.

  *  Make a new Password/Log in Book and new Address Book  DONE AND NOT DONE.

  Password Book done.
  Address Book not yet.  I still need to buy an Address Book.

  *  Deal with the house in Louisiana.  DONE!!!

  Goodbye house!

  * Sell more stuff.

   Done and done.

    I should start ramping up some more eBay stuff in the next 2 months since we aren't leaving      town until September.

  * Start putting together a punch list of things to address in the house here in preparation for         putting in on the market--NOT DONE
     We will sit down and put a preliminary list together in July, along       with a timeline and           how to handle paying for it all.

  * Put my genealogy stuff in a software program--NOT DONE Still looking for which software        I want to use.  Will make this a priority to get done by January 2019.

  * Gardening and travel--DONE  Gardening got done in May.  Travel is still up in the air                 though we do have a soft plan now.

Looking at the Yearly Goals list we still have plenty to finish there along with smaller monthly goals I have planned.

June was productive overall and we'll head into July with good intentions on getting lots accomplished.

How was your June in terms of getting to chores and plans?
Any successes or epic fails?

Sluggy

Random Stuff Lately at Chez Sluggy

* I haven't been feeling well lately.  I had my semi-annual primary doc visit last week and all my bloodwork/tests are great!   I am in good health for a woman of my age in my condition......besides my symptoms of aging(shaking of my right hand, arthritis and pain in my neck/shoulders/hands)and on top of my chronic HS symptoms which ebb and flow in no predictable manner.

But lately, I've been battling anxiety as well.  So after a long talk with my M.D. he put me on an anti-anxiety med and it's knocked me for a loop.  Fatigue, dizziness and muscle pain and soreness have kept me from getting much done for the last week.  I went to the grocery store a few days ago and it wore me out and I had to take to my bed for the rest of the day. ugh.
Hopefully these side effects will go away with time....if not, I'll talk to the doc and try a different medication.
A different doc put me on Prozac years ago when I was having a really rough patch and it about made me crazier than I felt so maybe these mood changing meds aren't for me and my body chemistry?
I am not ready to dismiss this new drug out of hand though because it seems to be helping some of the arthritis/shooting pains I get.
Like I've been told, "Getting old isn't for sissies!".  Truer words were never spoken! ;-)
So if I miss a day or two posting it's just that I'm feeling poorly here and there.

* I think I won't be buying anymore diapers to resell locally.  Not having a problem selling them but MAN!....the assholes you have to suffer along the way to the actual buyers!  People flaking out and not communicating well with you and then not showing up(those get reported to the moderators).

And then there are the down right creepy ones.  I had a guy message me about diapers a couple times and then he said he was at a party(this was a Sat. night)and he wanted to meet me at midnight after he left this party to do the deal. WTF?!?  We worked it out and met in the afternoon at the Weis parking lot(lots of people around)but I did take Hubs with me in the car just in case.  It was a youngish guy(well of course if he has a baby in diapers)but he still gave off a creepy vibe. lolz
And then there are the messages I get that go like, "I want diapers, are they available?"  Ok....what size/type do you want? Give me a CLUE so I can tell you if I still have that size!  And when you respond they either don't answer or they ask you 300 questions about the diapers like they have never bought diapers before.
Maybe this is feeding into my anxiety, dealing with these nimrods. 8-)
What I have left I think I'll put away until Summer is over and then sell them in the Fall.

* I was all out of Dill Weed so I told the Daughter to write a note on the erasable calendar on the fridge that I needed to buy some.
Here's the note she wrote.......

Yeah, she's a smart ass.....

*  Speaking of weed....hehehe.....I had a strange looking plant pop up amongst the tomato plants in the garden.
Anybody know what this is?

It's a vining plant  and the leaves are sticky.

*  Back in May, after Daughter put the window a/c unit in her room she noticed banging behind the screen that accordion's across the window, attached to the sides of the a/c.
Seems a birdie built a nest on the windowsill next to the unit.  You can see part of it in this shot I took....

 The eggs hatched and daughter got this shot of the almost grown babies in the nest before they flew away.

I encountered one of those baby birds the day they left the nest.  I was out in the garage doing something and had the door open when I heard a chirp chirp in the garage.  One of the babies was standing on a might unsteady pair of  legs at the front of the garage.  I shooed him out and he hopped under the evergreen tree out front before trying his wings again and he flit up onto the branch of a maple tree and disappeared.

*  The night we had steaks I gave Chester a bone to see what he'd do with it.

Well let me tell you, after sniffing it a bit and poking it, he thought that was the best thing since sliced bread! lolz

I watched him of course to make sure he didn't chew off a fragment and swallow it(he's got tiny teeth so little chance like the Shepherd/Husky who would have chewed it up lickety-split).

After he had pretty much stripped it the Daughter tried to take it from him and he actually GROWLED at her!  It's the first time Chester has threatened anyone like that.
So we let him take it outside, where he promptly found a hiding spot for it under a pile of leaves next to the side of the house and left it there for later.  After he went inside I retrieved it.  Yeah, I spoil all his fun......

I'll be over here working on closing out June's financials, working on my To-Do List some more and getting the July giveaway ready to launch.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....June 22nd Edition

Let's take a look around and see what frugal wins we had this past week.........

*   Basically free after BC mouth wash at R-A this week....

*  I sold some diapers locally this week.....

$65.50 back in my pocket.

*  Hubs picked up the Weis Friday Freebie last Friday.......

Free Weis "Pop-Tarts".  Somebody around here will eat these(not me). 8-P

                                     
*  More free items at Rite-Aid last Friday.  The toothpaste was totally free and didn't use any of my Bonus Cash even!

*  Remember that Aleve I also bought at Rite-Aid last week?
There is an offer for a free movie ticket this Summer when you buy qualifying Aleve products.  $5 off a ticket for 1 bottle, $13 off two tickets for 2 bottles(when purchased on the same receipt).
Details on the offer HERE.
I received my movie ticket code on Wednesday.
I'll use this the day Hubs decides to do his beer brewing since the smell is overpowering to me and I'll want to be somewhere other than the house.  I'll do a little grocery shopping after the movie since I'll be near a few food stores down there.

* I earned .25¢ back on Ibotta. whoopee! lolz

*  Hubs and I had a yearning for some Chinese food so we had a lunch date out at our local Asian restaurant. Lunch prices and lunch sized portions are good for our wallet and our waistlines.  8-)

*  I picked the first greens from our garden this week......

4 ounces of leaf lettuce.  Ok let's call it a quarter pound because that sounds like more. lol

*  I bought 2 pair of shoes on Thursday online.  Easy Spirit was having a one day sale on the Summer Solstice. (I know how Belinda loves these things at the grocery store!) 
I found something I could use that was on sale plus purchasing them on the Solstice gave me a code for an additional 30% off.....AND free shipping too! 8-)

*  In conjunction with buying the shoes I went through a cash back site to make the purchase and earned back $1.10 cash, so an additional discount on the footwear.

So what frugal-ness did you experience this past week?
Tell us all about your wins.....

Sluggy

My Weekend with Picture & Video PORN

Well we sort of got a lot done over the weekend.

Hubs got the deck swing awning put back up and the patio chairs out of the shed.
He also got his Winter/Summer clothes switched out in the closet.

We got everything hauled out of the daughter's old room.
It is presently occupying my living room........

 

So far all she wants, that I have told her about, is a box of her baby things, a belt and the gorilla suit.
Yes a full bodied gorilla costume.
Don't ask.....

After purging all her crap from that bedroom I started in on reorganizing what was left in there.  I can now almost fit all the toiletries either in the dressers or the bookshelf and I can fit all my tubs of fabric in the closet. Yay!
I might even be able to put my out of season hanging clothes in there.  That would be nice since our walk-in closet is so crowded....mostly with photo albums of family pictures from 3 generations.  While I have very few photos of my grandmother's, my mother was quite the prolific picture taker.  I have nowhere in this house to store ALL the photo albums together. sigh.  I need to come up with a better plan with these.

In the daughter's old bedroom there are also the open shelves of fabric which is a mix of what is left after selling off all I could in 2014/2013 and some of my personal fabric which I hope to use soon.

And speaking of fabric.......I relisted about 81 pieces of fabric last week on Etsy.  Nothing wintery or Christmas, just the lighter weight and Summer-y stuff.  And over the weekend I sold 5 pieces to 2 different buyers.
Go me!!!
These new listings expire in August and I'll decide what to do then...whether to relist anything and/or add the Fall/Winter fabrics depending on how it goes the next 4 months.

Late Saturday I had to go up to Rite-Aid and spend my last $3 of +Up Rewards.  I went earlier in the week but some Load2Card Qs came off unexpectedly(to me)so I still had $3 to use by Saturday night.

I used a Rain Check for trash bags($3.99), use my $3 in +Ups and paid $1.05 with tax OOP.
No more +Ups.
Sad Face.


I did my 1.5 miles on the bike too each day, and here is what I am up to so far for April.....

It's a fancy computerized bike so it tracks lots of stuff.  Note that under distance I have gone 19 miles so far this month.  Last month I worked myself up to 22 miles for the whole month.  At this rate I'll break 40 miles probably for April!
Woohoo!


We also cleaned off the front porch and I did a little cleaning in the garage.
Then Hubs hung out his flag......

It was such a nice day on Sunday that we went out to lunch at Bob Evans just to get out of the house.
I took this video there.......




Please ignore whatever I was doing with the fingers on my right hand.
WTF was that?!? lolz

And here the food arrives......



We hung out when we got home.....reading, listening to music and relaxing.

I made a pot of "Sunday gravy" with meatballs for dinner and packed up the Etsy orders.
Before you knew it, it was time for my Sunday TV orgy.....Call the Midwife, Mr. Selfridge & Wolf Hall.

Wolf Hall has some very good acting.  It's a historical drama about the goings on of the Tudor court of Henry VIII.
I've always been fascinated by this guy(going so far as to take a history course in college on Tudor England).  In many ways he was one of the worst British rulers but he also changed the course of the world in some ways for the better.
Such a narcissist.
My interest is also heightened because supposedly one of my 5x Great Grandfathers is a descendant of one of Henry's bastard children from one of his mistresses while he was still married to Catherine of Aragon, Agnes Blewitt.
There are 7 known or suspected illegitimate children of Henry Tudor, only one of which he publicly acknowledged.

My supposed Ancestor from an illustration by John Dryden, courtesy of Wikimedia.

Yah, Agnes "blewit alright".......hehehehe

So there you have it.
My weekend.

Next weekend we have grand plans around here.  The project from last Summer we bought supplies for and never did.
Last year we made this nice surround area for our HVAC compressor on the side of the house.....

We had cleaned out next to the other side of the house last Spring......

We are going to make a similar rockfilled bed on this side of the house.  It will serve two purposes....1-to keep grass from right up next to the foundation(and impossible to get to with a mower)and 2-make it look nice and be low maintenance.  Plus we'll put a bench out in it so we can sit under the tree during the heat of the Summer.

I don't suppose it will get finished next weekend since we need so much stone we'll need to have it delivered and we haven't even began to look into having that done.  At least we can rake it out, level it, put down edging and a weed barrier(with enough stones to weight the barrier down so it doesn't blow away).

That's all I got.......

 

How was your weekend?

Sluggy

One More Day....

....Until December!
I see all of you out there, you KNOW who you are!, talking about having your Christmas buying all wrapped up or nearly wrapped up.
And it's not even freaking December yet!
Come on......

WTF?!?!lol

I can't compete with this so I won't try.
I have bought throughout the year in years past, but with teens and older who don't want 'stuff' anymore I just don't buy much anymore.

I do give gift cards or money, which I can do late in the game and it's so much less stressful.
I ordered some gift cards with our c/c points over the weekend.
Now I have to get something for Hubs and my family 'Secret Santa' person.  The immediate family draws names and we each give 1 nice present to our SS person.
And I'll wait until this weekend to start freaking out over getting this done and getting the house in shape to decorate a bit.

I did buy 1 item for the Nephew for Xmas that was discounted 40% so reasonably priced on Black Friday.  And that was it for BF, except for the Gift Cards(that aren't gifts)I got at Rite-Aid.

Since I was online working on listings all day on Cyber Monday I did a little window shopping though.
I also wrestled with myself most of the day over the Deal of the Day on Amazon......

A $499 600 Pro Series Kitchen-Aid Mixer.
After sale price, rebate AND additional discount if you opted out of the Free Year of some magazine, the price was $183 and change.
I debated over buying this all day....never did hit that order button though.
I'd love to have it but with the kids leaving home, I find I make less and less baked goods.  It would end up being a very pretty and expensive counter tchotchke I'd have to dust.


With reopening the eBay Store, I haven't had time for much else the last week except for throwing food on the table or clothes in the washer.lol

Here's something shipping out today......

3 3-pack gift sets of CARS cars.
I sold them for $69.99.
I paid $5 each on clearance at Target 3 years ago.
My "geiger counter hands" strike again!lol

On the other hand, my 2 local Tag Sale Doll/Toy buyers crapped out on me.  There will be no $153 for me and less crap here to unload.
I'll repost all the Tag Sale stuff tomorrow....Pay Day!lol

There is major consternation in the local online Help Site. I'll post separately about that brew ha-ha when I have more time.

After a week of 60 degrees the temp has dropped and I swear it looks like it's going to snow at any minute.
My poor confused plants.....lol

I got an invite yesterday to go to Scranton and protest Barry Obama.
He's in town politicking and yammering on about something or other.....and causing major clusterfuckness on the 2 Interstates around here.  Thanks so much Washington and don't wait dinner for anyone who has to commute around here today.
Screw your Presidential convoy!  Why don't YOU sit your ass in traffic like the 99% do.....

I decided to stay home and stay pepper spray-free.
Of course, I do have a nice camping tent and I could probably drum up some people and start our own local OWS group.
Maybe if it was still 62 degrees and I didn't have work to do...you know, to make some money so I can support myself and not have to rely on the Government for handouts.

I'm more concerned about this protest right now....

 Sluggy