Day Two dawned early. The motel didn't have a proper breakfast so we packed and left. This day was to have it's own obstacles like Day One.
We left Marion VA headed toward Tuscaloosa Alabama. But first a pitstop at Mickey D's for breakfast on the run before we hit the interstate.
We headed southwest down I-81 into Tennessee. Hubs dreaded traveling through Knoxville but I wasn't looking forward to going through Chattanooga. Too much traffic in both but at least it wasn't tourist season. We got through TN and passed into the Northwest corner of Georgia briefly. We got off the road for gas and to hit Mickey's for lunch, to take to the first rest stop in Alabama ahead to eat and let the dogs potty and walkabout. Hubs was so sleep deprived and rattled he paid for his meal and then drove right past the pick-up window without picking up his food. I'm sure the employees there had a few laughs over their ditzy customer. Luckily I had gotten 2 sandwiches(BOGO 1¢ Deal on my app)so once we got to the Alabama welcome center I shared with Hubs.
Then it was back on the road toward Gadsden and then Birmingham. Oh Birmingham. A word of advice about driving around B'ham....be very defensive! Evidently not all Birmingham residents are aware that cars now come with blinkers(aka turn signals). And driving at 80 MPH is the norm and weaving in and out(and on the shoulders too)at high rates of speed are everyday practices. Somebody needs to tell Governor Meemaw a PSA is needed. *snort* Just craziness on the Interstate there.
So we got clear of B'ham headed for Tuscaloosa and made good time. Got to the motel and Hubs went inside to check-in. And I waited......and waited....and waited in the car. So I went to the lobby window and Hubs was on his phone and I gave him the "WTF?!?" look. He gives me a "wait" signal so I wait some more. Hubs comes outside a bit later to tell me what was going on.
Seems Priceline, whom we booked through, took our money and made our reservation but neglected to inform the motel we had a reservation! So it was an hour of having to get in touch with them and luckily the motel manager was still there even though it was after 5pm. We couldn't hand the phone over to the manager but Priceline had to contact the manager through their system to give the confirmation code and the motel's system timed out since they were taking so long to respond. ugh.
We finally got the room keys and hauled the dogs and their and our stuff into the room. Again, no dinner for us but thankful to be out of the car after 9 hours and in the bed.
So here are a few of the frugal-ish things that happened here this past week.......
* No food waste. I didn't cook much last week as we were leaving for a few days for the wedding so we ate leftovers and just fended for ourselves a lot. Free hotel breakfasts for 2 mornings, free wedding meal. Let's not count the rehearsal dinner we shelled out for or the suitcase of White Castle burger my kids talked me into paying for on Saturday night. ;-)
* I used an old Chili's gift card to buy Hubs, Ex-CB and I lunch on the way to NJ on Saturday so no OOP spent. Ex-CB covered the tip.
* I bought all this at various Rite-Aids on Sunday and Thursday.......
Got $5 in Ibotta rebates on the Max Freeze and Mitchum and spent BC on everything.
Bought this stuff at R-A South of town. Nothing spent OOP and $6 in BC earned, $3 earned at Swag Bucks(Baby Ruths)and $11.75 earned through Ibotta($8 Max Freeze, $1.50 Honest, $2 Manuka, .25¢ Quaker).
I bought this stuff at my R-A. For some reason a $2 ManuQ didn't come off and the register wouldn't take my BC to pay so I had to use a gift card. I earned $13 in BC($3 dry skin, $3 Nivea, $1 Manuka, $5 Honest spent $15). I earned $9.50 on Ibotta. I also got a $1 post coupon on the Caress(forgot to use it).
* I bought all this stuff for Ibotta rebates on a trip to Walmart on Thursday....
Not pictured is a loaf of Nature's Own bread, 2 different bags of Back to the Roots Soils, a pack of BTTR seeds and a lb. of Challenge Butter.
The beans qualified for 2 rebates as did the Maxwell House coffee. The Soft Soap refills were on clearance for $1 and gave me $2 each in Ibotta rebates so better than free,=.
The only items not Ibotta rebates was the kids Dove items. That was a Shop Kick deal.
Spent $28.55 after coupons and free $25 gift card and earned back $34.38 back in reg. rebates and bonuses.
The Shop Kick items cost me $1.78 total after kicks.
* I found some clearance deals at Walmart when I went to do my Ibotta haul as well.......
The 8 Nestle morsels and Fudge Kits were .50¢ each, the Rempure rose body wash was $3.55(Rose scent is my Achilles tendon), the 2 immunity packs were $2 each, the Bic razors were -.04¢ after coupons and the probiotics were $1.
Not a bad haul overall.
* I received 3 J&J gift cards in the mail totaling $25.......
Still waiting on that $50 R-A gift card corporate is supposedly mailing to me. It's been 4 weeks almost and their HQ is a 2 hour drive from here. By now I could have walked there and gotten it in person!!!
* I got lots of freebies at the hotel where the wedding was held..............
From mints to little bottles of toiletries to K-pods to tea bags and creamer packets to Kleeex to Tylenol to pens and notepads. Even a dishwasher pod. lol
I also got some free sodas and water.......
* I also got some extra sodas from the rehearsal dinner...
More on that later. 8-)
* I found money!
I found a penny and a quarter at Walmart on Friday.
I found 3 pennies at the Burger King drive thru also on Friday.
I got .50¢ from my daughter before she flew home as she doesn't "use" money.
Silly Rabbit!
2 pennies and a crusty dime in the parking lot on Tuesday on the sidewalk outside of Rite-Aid.
And 2 pennies in Aldi and a quarter from an abandoned shopping cart in the parking lot on Thursday.
Big money this past week!+
Total Found in last Week...... $1.18 Total Found This Year......$3.27
That's about all I've got for this past week.
Let's not even talk about the money spent this past weekend in Jersey!!(rehearsal dinner, gas, hotel, bar drinks though I am pretty good at getting men to buy me drinks lol, late night snacks, booking trips, paying to Kennel dogs, etc.
Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods? Let's hear all about them!
I am sitting here on a hot and hazy Saturday morning looking at what is ahead here at Chez Sluggy for the rest of the year.
We are almost halfway through August already(can't say as I am NOT happy that the hot weather is leaving soon!lol).
College Boy will be leaving to go back to school in 2 weeks.
I have barely seen him all Summer! It's been all I could do to corral him to A-get his school bill paid(you have to do this online through his account)and B-get me the info so I could reserve and pay for his textbooks.
He's been working full time this Summer and filling his off hours with rehearsing with various bands, playing gigs with various bands, hanging out with friends, and yes, sleeping as little as humanly possible. Ah to be young and full of energy..... ;-)
Before you know it, September will be here.
There is the family reunion in Virginia the end of that month. At this point I am on the fence about going this year. One of the few relatives who talks to me at this thing(and I actually "know" somewhat)died back in January and no one bothered to tell me until I took the Daughter to visit my brother in July. Another thing for me to have hurt feelings over besides the sadness I feel at losing this family member.
Between my frame of mind at the moment and just feeling old and not up to anymore traveling right now I might just stay home this year.
Then Hubs will get a hankering to go somewhere in October as he is want to do.
I would love to return to Ocean City Maryland this year as we were last there 2 Octobers ago. Last year we went to visit my crazy cousin Sonya Ann in October. 8-)
I do love it down in OC in October when the tourists have left but the weather is still nice and we can get an oceanfront room for $100 a night. It always seems like our last hurrah before Winter sets in.....
But I don't know if I want to travel again in October this year. Plus the expense of vacationing? I just don't want more vacation expenses right now.
Speaking of expenses, we've had a lot of them up to this point this year.
I am still trying to slog through Daughter's medical stuff from Louisiana to match up payments to bills to EOBs.
I figured out that one doctor was overpaid by us to the tune of $126. So back in early June I had Daughter call their billing office and find out when they were going to return our money. Well they weren't actually going to send our over payment back until we found it and requested it! Unreal.....
So we asked for the money to be sent back and were told it would take another month's billing cycle before they could cut us a check.
So Augusts 3rd, while I was in Maine the check finally arrived......(identifying info has been blacked out)
Please not that no one there bothered to SIGN THE CHECK!
Ass hats.....
So this meant yet another call to Louisiana to figure out what to do with this.
They want it sent back so someone can sign it.....I wonder how long THAT will take after waiting almost 2 months for this one?!?
The problem reusing this check is that my Daughter only has an online bank and she has to take pictures of checks to deposit them and since the online bank rejected this particular check/number, she needs a whole new check or the bank won't accept it.
Ugh.
So now I get to try to deposit this into my account IF it ever gets returned AND signed.
It's always something isn't it? 8-P
At the rate the bills are piling up this year I am having serious doubts I can get to my savings goal for the year.
We really shouldn't do anymore vacationing in light of this. Hubs can still take the time off but we can stay home and putter or take local trips if he wants to "do" something.
Maybe I can talk him into cleaning out the shed as a "FUN" activity on his vacation? 8-)
It's not that I don't have the money to cover the bills, for which I am thankful, but spending on non-necessities just doesn't seem prudent for the rest of this year.
Plus I need to reserve some of December's savings to help cover the high-deductible on our medical insurance when it rolls over in January. I know our premiums will go up(meaning more deducted from the paychecks)plus our deductible may also rise(we'll get the details on that in October).
And then there is that holiday coming up in December......don't make me say it's name! lolz
I have very little put aside so far for the "Bacchanalia of spending" in December. I have a bit tucked back and have a few things bought but nowhere near the amount I like to have set aside at this point in the year.
But I keep telling myself that as long is everyone is healthy and well it will all be fine.
"I always seem to stumble onto some weird shit."--Sluggy
Mid May of this year and we were off on another road trip to see our daughter in Louisiana.
Up and on the road bright and early on Sunday May 17th it took just about 2.5 hours to get out of PA and cross over into the South..........
Last year's trip we took I-81 all the way down into Tennessee, then down into Alabama, across Mississippi and west through Louisiana. This year we decided to take a bit of a different route to LA as we wanted to spend some time in Kentucky this trip.
We took I-81 into Maryland and then picked up I-68 West into West Virginia.
Maryland sign as we left.
Sorry we won't be back for a couple of weeks! ;-)
Another 1.5 hours and we were in West Virginia.....
While driving down I-81 we always see many large crosses along the highway, going across I-68 we see a fair share of gigantic American flags too......
We were getting mighty hungry by the time we hit Morgantown, WV so we got off the road to find something to eat for lunch.
We saw a sign for some chain restaurant that wasn't too nasty but we missed it once we got off the exit and ended up driving for miles.
Then we drove back toward the interstate and saw this place right across from a mall so we went with it......
Schmitt's Saloon and Davisson Brothers Music Hall.
I figured Hubs could get a nice brew and we could get something fried or "bad for us" to eat.
If I only knew......
As we approached the door to the place we say this big sign posted on the door........
Attention This event is being filmed, videotaped and/or photographed. By being present at this event each person in attendance irrevocably consents to being filmed, videotaped and/or photographed and releases all producers and users of such fill, videotape or photograph from any liability for loss or damages.....yadda yadda yadda.
WTF?
So we go inside and hope for the best.
Seems we stumbled upon a real life saloon and music hall(with a stage and theater lighting)venue for live bands. Supposedly the "premiere live band venue in West Virginia".
A wall of posters by the bathrooms from past local and national country acts that have played this hall.
So we go in anyway and get a table across from the bar and a waitress in a denim miniskirt comes over and slaps down a couple of menus that have the heading "Event Menu" on them.
Event Menu??
The plot thickens......
The menu has about 9 items on it so we choose a couple of burgers, Hubs gets a beer and I stick to iced tea.
It's a Sunday afternoon and we have great fun looking at the small crowd in this here bar.
Hubs loved the couple at the bar......a 40ish guy trying to look 20 years younger with his wrinkled up also trying to pass for 20 skinny gal friend dressed in white pants so tight seam failure was always seconds away. I counted that this guy drank 6 beers in the almost an hour we were there.
At about beer round #5 said gal friend actually fell off her bar stool. Nobody batted an eye.
Just a day in the life of a bar fly I suppose.
My favorite was the one I dubbed "Rastafarian WV Granny". Now picture this--an old, almost toothless white woman wearing glasses, dressed in an almost see through granny nightgown and bedroom slippers with ta-tas that hadn't seen a bra in decades with Rastafarian dirty blonde dreadlocks. I think she got lost and wandering out from a nearby trailer park and was looking for the way back home.
She must have shuffled back and forth by our table 20 times in the short while we were at Schmitt's.
I thought about getting a photo of her but the flash would have tipped her off and besides I just tried NOT to make eye contact every time she shuffled by.
These are exactly the kind of people who take a "shine" to me and decide to just come over to me, a complete stranger, and strike up a conversation like we have been pals for years. I just didn't want to take that chance today......
As we waited on our burgers, the emcee got up on stage at the mike and said their FunFest show for today was starting and they had 3 bands on today's program. And then he added that after the show they were going to film a music video for county singer Scott Shelby and that is why that sign was on the front door.
The emcee continued that they needed more people in the saloon so asked everyone to call or text their friends to come on down around 4pm and they could all be in the official music video for the title track of Shelby's new album, "Still Got It".
I begged Hubs to let us stay and hang around for the filming of the video but he didn't want to be driving late into the night. But wouldn't it be cool to be able to tell people that I was in a music video for some real life country singer? 8-)))
And with that, a band began playing music and the girl singer started wailing into the mike.
I decided to take a clandestine bit of video while the crowds milled around and Hubs played on his phone. That video is HERE.
After nobody seemed to notice and shut me down I took another short bit of video.....
This band is called "Trial by Fire". They have a Facebook page HERE.
The guy on the right with the orange guitar got my attention with the first tune they played. He put his guitar backwards behind his head and shredded during their first number.
Now THAT takes talent.....
HERE is another proper video of another of the songs they do.
We ate while the band played on and then we left before the other two bands took the stage and totally missed the opportunity to become famous via music video.
Oh well.....easy come easy go. lolz
And here is the music video that was filmed at Schmitt's that day after we left. They hardly even show the audience/crowd so maybe it was a good thing we let this one go by. I bet the next opportunity for fame and fortune are just around the corner......ya, that's it......
We got back onto the Interstate and made tracks ourselves.....tracks for Huntington, WV where we were to stop for the night.
Only problem was, the stretch of highway between Morgantown and Huntington WV wasn't conducive to me keeping food down. Somebody should have warned me that this stretch of interstate was rather twisty and hilly. And I'm not talking regular twisty and hilly.
I have since dubbed West Virginia, "The Land of Roller Coasters". On that day it sure felt like I was on a gigantic roller coaster without end, holding onto a plastic bag in case my lunch wanted a repeat performance.
I did manage not to hurl but was I ever glad when we hit Morgantown and could get off the highway.
Here are a couple of photos I snapped with my free hand when the waves of nausea weren't rolling like the road.....
That's Roanoke WV, not Roanoke VA.
Angry clouds matching my nauseous stomach rumblings......
And I SWEAR this is about the only FLAT stretch of road that day.......but it was twisty and curvy......sigh.....
We had a reservation for the Quality Inn on Route 6 leading into Huntington.
$89.60 for 1 night in a rundown "seen better days" Quality Inn with no amenities outside of a pretty bad free breakfast.
We stashed the luggage and went out in search of dinner as it was getting dark. I wasn't too hungry still but Hubs was famished.
We opted for a Bob Evans tucked into the other edge of town past Marshall University rather than attempting some of the places blogger buddy Jay had recommended. My stomach needed bland and boringly predictable food........
My grilled chicken came with a flag stuck into it so I had a little fun in the near deserted dining area......I embarrass Hubs everywhere we go.......
By the time we finished our meal and headed back to the motel it was pitch dark and our GPS "Vicki" was still having seizures--shutting down suddenly and then reviving long enough to bark out directions that made little sense before shutting down or recalculating yet again.
"Vicki" was not earning her keep on this trip.....
So we tried to find our way back up Route 6 despite a bunch of one way roads that confused Hubs even more in the dark.
A cool retro neon sign outside a bus station.
The Marshall U. sign I snapped right before Hubs took a wrong turn down a one way road....!!!
Yep, I noticed that there were headlights coming toward us from a distance and they were from ALL the driving lanes and that is how I figured out he was going the wrong way down a one way street.
Well, that and the headlights started flashing at us.
So we ducked into a driveway and waited for the traffic to pass and made a turn and went back down the road in the correct direction.
I guess we are just too old to drive in a town we aren't familiar with at night.......well, that plus I was still between cataract surgeries.....
We made it back to the room safe and sound after that and dare not go anywhere until daylight.
It sure wouldn't have been much fun to meet our end on a dark road in West Virginia.
Besides I can't squeal like a pig very well.....
Gosh, I've just done practically nothing since getting home on Tuesday!
Ok,, I DID go to Rite-Aid since I had another $25 in +Up Rewards expiring but as you can see(or would that be NOT see?!?)I haven't even posted about that shopping trip.
See? What did I tell ya........just a slug!
It's already the 17th of the month and I have yet to pay a single bill even.
College Boy is going back to school tomorrow and I still need to finish gathering up his goodies to take back with him(toiletries, food, etc.).
Hubs told me he put away all the Christmas stuff while I was gone.
Ha!
By "put away" he must have meant I've put some of it away and the rest is still sitting in boxes/tubs or is sitting on the dining room table and YOU need to finish this job. 8-(
While away in Virginia I was suppose to contemplate my goals for 2015 and frankly, the thought never crossed my mind while I was there.
8-/
I've also got to get a handle on the food/grocery situation here. Hubs will eat strange things and combinations of foodstuffs rather than cook or go to the store when he is left to fend for himself and as a result will let perfectly good food sit unloved.
That is the only reason I can think of to explain why an entire homemade apple pie I made for the Holidays is still sitting in the fridge untouched!!
The man is seriously ill(or in his own little world)to let a pie go bad......
And there is also the making of the plan for next week's dinners to work on and Hubs is no help.
I ask him, "What do you want to eat this week?" so I can work in his wants/needs to the plan.
So he answers me with, "How about chicken?"
"OK", I say, "There are only FOUR THOUSAND ways to make 'chicken'. Which way were you thinking?!? Narrow it down a little for me, willya?!" This is what I'm working with here.............
So between paying bills, packing the kid up, cleaning out the fridge and meal planning/preparing and then figuring out our goal plan for the coming year I've got more than enough to keep me busy this weekend.
I am not a big fan of January.
January, post-holiday, is always stressful to me.
It's too cold.
All the year end financial stuff needs attending to.
I get post-Holiday blues.
It's too dark and snowy. (And today it's 5F degrees. bleh.)
I have usually fallen off the eating right wagon w/the Holidays so I don't feel as well as I should.
There are Yearly taxes and FAFSA to attend to. bleh.
I have to pay full price for prescriptions as the high deductible kicks back in on Jan. 1. Happy New Year my ass!
And to top it all off, Hubs paychecks are lighter at the beginning of the year(due to all kinds of local taxes being taken out in Jan.).
The only bright spot is that January contains my birthday(this Wednesday).
Otherwise I'd be happy to just punt January off the calendar.
I did accomplish one thing this week(besides surviving it).
I got maintenance on my Sonic scheduled and completed.
What an ordeal THAT turned out to be!!(Don't ask.)
This fancy pants new car displays a message when you need to take it in to change the oil, have the system reset, rotate tires, etc. And you have 600 miles once the message displays to have the car services OR ELSE......they don't say what happens if you don't but it sure sounds ominous.
Of course the message came on while driving back from Virginia. I have been so paranoid lately about that message coming on while I was not at home in Pennsylvania and not being able to get the car serviced before that 600 miles. I've fretted bout it happening when I went to the Family Reunion in Sept., we rented a car for the trip in Oct. to OC so it didn't happen then, and again on 2 trips to get College Boy.
So of course it happens while in Virginia, right? lolz
But we were only 200 miles from home so it turned out ok.
The car is good to go and happy again with new oil/filters/etc.
So car tuned up, Rite-Aid +Ups spent and a few groceries picked up this week.
Now it's on to the weekend chores and getting back into the regular routine at home.
Or maybe I'll just go back to bed, pull the covers over my head and ignore my life for a couple more days. ;-)
Though I will probably spend the next week curled up in a ball, whimpering softly after having to plunk down the cash, it had to be done.
Check it out.....
I got them down about $2,200K from what they initially wanted. And I clawed my way there a $100 at a time.....ugh.
The car cost $17,766 before tax, tags and title.
This was my first time working a deal without "a penis" along.
Yah, I had a man with me at this place the first time we went into that dealer but I worked the other dealers via the internet and the phone and closed this deal on the phone.
The salesman sputtered at first that me, the WIFE, had called him back and wanted to dicker the price.
Hubs is so bad at this game and if I had left it to him we'd probably had paid MSRP or very close to it.
I did the research and found the same car(same everything)at another area dealer, plus found this color was a slow seller, and used both of those points to get both dealers to bid it down until one cried "Uncle".
Plus if something had come up at any point to turn me off of this car/model/deal, I had a Corolla waiting in the wings with a firm price offer I could live with.
Just call me Faye Dunaway in "Mommie Dearest"....
And if I didn't get a good deal please don't tell me and spoil this for me......lolz
So my next question is.....
Who wants a freeloading visit this Summer?
In a few weeks here, the Hubs & I will be taking a short jaunt to Ohio.
Since we'll be dropping off #2 Son at camp on the western edge of PA, we'll take the opportunity to spend some time alone with each other out that way. We figure we'll cross over into Ohio and see what there is to see and do there.
So if anyone knows of any thing to "see and/or do" while in eastern Ohio--meaning from Columbus and on over to the right of there in the state--please leave a comment with some suggestions.
And no, we don't do amusement parks and we aren't going up to Cleveland, but anything else we would love to hear some ideas! ;-)
Hubby & I had to take a trip to VA the week of the 4th. Drove down on Wednesday, stayed over Thursday and then on Friday, we had to drive to PA near Lake Erie(the western end of the state for those who don't know their PA geography). We slept over at a motel there because we had to pick up #2 son from camp the next morning and then drive the 6 hours home. It was a brutal 12 hour drive on Friday....12 hours EXACTLY from the time we left the driveway at my brother's house in VA to when we pulled up to the door of the motel in PA.
We took I-64 West into West VA. To avoid having to go all the way to Charleston to pick up I-79 North, we took local Rte. 60 to Rte. 19 north once we got into WVA. Rte.60 was a wind-y road up a mountain and back down again. We stopped for gas at the first town we came to while on Rte. 60. No stoplights and ALOT more teeny tiny than the teeny tiny town where I live. There was a gas station, a bank, a garage and I snapped a pic of the other "sight" in town while sitting in the car waiting on hubby to pay for the gas.
Nice to know you can pawn your jewelry AND buy a gun or get your ammo all in the same place! We made ok time but hit Pittsburgh right at rush hour too! I thought it would be horrible but surprisingly, the traffic was not.
West Virginia has some gorgeous scenery. But you don't want to eat Mexican food there. We stopped in some little town, near Summerville Lake. There were 3 dining options in the shopping plaza we pulled off into....a Bob Evans(our original reason for pulling in there to eat), a Chinese Restaurant(a buffet type place I believe)& a local Mexican Restaurant. Hubby loves him some Mexican food and we hadn't had it in awhile so I suggested we go there instead of Bob's(since you can eat at Bob's everywhere). That was NOT one of my better ideas it turns out! Bob's, the SAFE choice, would have been the way to go. We got some combo plates of food. The filling for my enchiladas and hubby's burritos was plain ground beef....NO seasonings at all! It was so tasteless!! The photo on the menu of my combo dinner showed a chile relleno(a battered & fried mild poblano pepper stuffed with cheese, served w/a sauce and melted cheese on top). What arrived was a SLIVER off of a pepper under a glop of sauce & cheese. There were also not enough servers for the number of customers. This place had 2 large rooms of tables and there were 2 servers. No one bussed the dirty tables in the hour we were there, so we were surrounded by trash and yuck and out of control children. After waiting upwards of 20 min. for the check, I walked up to the register and told the guy there I wanted to pay but our waiter had disappeared and I wasn't waiting any longer for a check and here was what we ordered.lolol I should have raised a stink about the poor food too or told him I just had a soda or something and not paid for this inedible garbage they served but I don't think he had a very good handle on the language yet and I just wanted OUT of there! Ugh. The place was called La Carreta or something like that. Looks like there are 3 of them locally in WVA. Take my advise if you are in southern WVA...stick to Bob's. ;-) At least there were no "gastic repercussions" later from our horid meal....if you get my drift. ;-))
