Friday at Chez Sluggy

Sorry for the radio silence yesterday on the blog.
It was my birthday.
I'd like to say that I was too busy partying and carousing with friends to write yesterday.
But the reality was quite different and I was holding a little pity party for myself.

Some folks on Facebook did send me some Happy Birthday messages which I appreciated.
But I am so bad about remembering other people's birthdays I am not surprised, nor should I be, that most folks don't make a fuse for mine.
Plus not having any friends in "real life" living around here doesn't help.

So I just got wild and crazy yesterday and went up to Rite-Aid and picked up a prescription, bought some air fresheners(will be a .30¢ moneymaker after Saving Star Rebate(lolz), then I went to Weis(PMITA)Markets and spent 33.43, saving 58% over regular retail.  I then got some soup for lunch at the Chinese restaurant and laid down and took a nap.

Hubs took me out for a Birthday dinner at a local steak place that evening and I splurged and got a flight of Long Island Iced Teas......

What's with that face I am making? lolz
And I don't even remember actually eating dinner after drinking those little tiny drinks.
I am a lightweight when it comes to drinking.....

This weekend Hubs will get a cake and sing to me, after I stuff cotton balls in my ears of course......yah, he can't sing.  ;-)

As of now it looks like the Jonas Snowmageddon will miss us mostly.  Only 2-5 inches of snow in these parts on Saturday.  We can do that standing on our heads!  Eldest says they are predicting 2 feet+ down in F'burg and they called school off for Friday on Thursday.  Scuttlebutt by other teachers in his building is that school will be out for all of next week there too if they get as much as what they think is coming.

As for the good "deals" I picked up at Weis yesterday........

4 cans of Pillsbury Grands! biscuits after sale/Qs were .50¢ each.  At this price I don't mind using some of them to make dumplings for chicken 'n dumplings next week because they are as cheap as the store brand whack biscuits I use for this dish usually.
 
4 packs of chewing gum for free after sale/Qs.

2 jars of peanut butter for $1 each after sale/Qs.

6 boxes of whole grain Barilla spaghetti for .55¢ each after sale/Qs. (These are headed to the food bank.)

1.04 lb. of steak for $2.67 after sale/instant $2 off sticker.

1 bottle of ketchup for .79¢ after sale/Q.

4 cans of Hormel chili for .75¢ a can after sale/Qs.

1 bag of fresh spinach $1.24 after 50% off sticker.

4 bags of Oreos(for CB)$1.99 bag after sale/Qs (I'll also get a $2 rebate from Checkout51 for buying these so they'll turn out to be $1.49 a bag in the end.)

College Boy likes Golden Oreos but I just had to get a bag of this one I haven't seen before, Cinnamon Bun.  I may have to actually try one of these before he gets home for break as I love anything Cinnamon......lolz

I'll be going back to Rite-Aid today to do some deals on my Plenti card(I already did some deals on Eldest son's card last Sunday).  I have $5.94 spending tracking toward #1 $30 Bonus Plenti points Reward from those air fresheners I bought Thursday.  I couldn't finish off the deal I wanted to do yesterday because they were out of some of the products so I have reformulated a plan and will go back later today to "work it".  After all is said and done I'll spend $43.96 in Plenti points, get back $40 in new Plenti points AND qualify for $15 in cash Rebates so another moneymaking opportunity!  8-)

Eating out this month...We have only gone out twice--for my birthday dinner last night and for breakfast on Monday(Hubs was home and I had a dr. appointment so he came with me and we hit Denny's for some eggs) and my take-out Birthday soup.  We have spent $75.99 on only 2 meals out/1 take-out meal.  I don't foresee anymore eating out this month so we will stay under $100 on that tally.

All the bills for the month are in and paid for January.  It's only been about a week since the credit card bill cut and we already have $500+ more on that one which will be due in February.  Half of that is for 1 drug refill(medical high deductible)so it's really not so bad.  We had a car that needed it's yearly inspection, another car needed an oil change/etc., CB needed a black shirt for symphonic band performances, we spent $75 at Lowe's and another $75 on CB's books for the semester and then CB's new glasses didn't come in until after he went back to school so I had to mail them to him yesterday so postage was put on the credit card.
The costs of just living your life do add up, don't they?  8-)))

I tried to work on a Giveaway to post yesterday but didn't get very far with it and certainly didn't get it all sorted so I could post it.  Maybe this weekend I'll finish that up and it will go "live" as they say.

Not much else new going on here that I can talk about yet.  I'll have something to share after next Tuesday so stay tuned..........

What's going on in your world?

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