To-Do List....June Update

So another month done and dusted.  Let's see how the JUNE To-Do List turned out, shall we?

* Pay Bills  DONE  Everything paid early or on time as always.

* Read 1, 2, 3 Books  FAIL  I went to VA with high hopes on getting lots of reading done.  What I did get done was lots of napping instead. lolz  I got halfway through a book at home but didn't take it with me.  I started another book on the way down at my son's place but promptly left it there so another book begun(barely)but not finished.  
Oh and I made two trips to Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)-one trip with son and another trip with brother and sis in-law, and besides a few pantry goods to bring home guess what I mostly bought at those two Ollie's?

If you guessed MORE BOOKS you'd be correct! ;-) That's my cart with the 5 or so I picked up in Va. Beach.
But!  I did get one book completely read in June.

"Backbone: Living with Chronic Pain Without Turning Into One" by Karen Duffy
If you are a wise-ass, have a sarcastic gene and especially if you are a fellow chronic pain sufferer, I implore you to find this book and read it!  The book is enlightening and uplifting and a reminder that you can thrive even if you are among the 1 in 3 Americans who suffers from some form of chronic pain.
I felt like she was speaking directly to me.  5 Thumbs Up!!!!!

* Hold Giveaway  DONE

It took awhile to get in touch with the winner as she just had surgery and is enduring a tough recuperation period.
Please send out good thoughts out to Lisa B. if you would as she gets over this time.
I hope the package lifted her spirits a bit too. ;-)

* Mail Giveaway  DONE
Mailed and received quickly.

* 2 Doctor Appointments  DONE
Got a semi-annual check-up with one doc which went well and all blood work came back good.
Had a check-up and TB test with my dermo doc to see how the Humira was working or not.  She is recommending a Laser Excision Surgery on one spot of my HS that the Humira is not helping.  She gave me the paperwork/info on what that surgery will entail and I should be scheduled for surgery later this month.  Oh goody. 8-(

* Change out Clothing for Summer  DONE
I finally got around to changing the wardrobe for warm weather out before I left town.

* Pack for Trip  DONE
I sort of killed two birds with one stone by packing for the trip while changing out my clothes for Summer.  It was far easier since I was already reorganizing clothes in the closet.

* Sew Masks for Folks  DONE
Eldest had told me that VA had recently gone to face masks in public mode before I left home.  I had sent him a mask I made back in March(along with tp as he couldn't find any at his stores back then)so I spent some time a few days before leaving making more fabric masks-2 for Hubs, 1 more to bring to Eldest son and 3 masks for my Brother and Sis in-law as well as another mask for myself in a lighter colored fabric.  My  brother never leaves his property but my sis in-law is a realtor so she's been spending for disposable masks as she doesn't sew.  Having 2 so she can wash and change it out daily will help her and her wallet. ;-)
Some where along the way I lost the new mask I made for myself so I need to make another one soon. 8-(

* Deal with "Stuff" in VA  PASS
Well we've done some stuff and gotten the ball rolling but there are more hoops to jump through.  Decisions have been made and more are to come.  That's about all I can say for now on this.  We are waiting on some blocks to fall into place and the lawyer to return from vacation now so we are in "wait" mode for now.

* Visit my Son  DONE
I stopped for 2 days on the way down and 1 night on the way home.
He's leaving where he taught for the last 5 years and relocating to NJ so we had a lot to talk about.
Atlas, the cat was always nearby to comfort him. lolz

* Visit my Brother/Sister in-Law  DONE

Besides a quick trip to Ollie's my brother didn't go anywhere.  But we did get visits from the neighbors and their dogs while I was down there.  That's Harper and Truman and their humans visiting in the photo above.  We also got a visit from Petey on another day and his human.
Sis in-law and I, on the other hand, hit various Rite-Aids, Kroger, Aldi, Lidl, Cracker Barrel, Walmart and an Estate Sale while I was.  We bonded and laughed a lot.

* Plan Goals for 2020  PASS  Hubs and I have hashed out a few goals and made some decisions about our living arrangements going forward.  There is still a lot to do and it feels overwhelming at times so I'll be biting off a bit at a time for now.  Mostly, the Goal for 2020 is now to survive it! 8-)))

* Arrange for Painter  FAIL  This was on Hubs list of stuff to do while I was gone.  He got a list of painters at the hardware store then the store owner told him, "frankly, I wouldn't recommend any of these guys to paint inside your house". lolz  I am thinking once we contact a realtor about selling our house they might have better sources.  So this search for a painter is ongoing.

* Have Money Meeting w/Hubs  PASS  We had a half-assed financial meeting.  Half-assed as some financial things were up in the air and I was gone half of the month.  July's money meeting should be more productive but we did make a few money decisions in June so I am giving us a pass. ;-)


Did you have a To-Do List in June?
Tell us how you did with it.


Sluggy

My Week Away

Sorry for the radio silence lately but I was down in Virginia for 10 days.
And mostly I laid around doing nothing at all!
Just a regular Sloth Fest down there.

Well, except for trips to Rite-Aid(which I posted)and a few other mundane trips out.

When we left Virginia Monday night it was 56F degrees.
We went from "no coat weather" to this...............

That was the temp reading on my car's dashboard the afternoon we got home.....and that was the HIGH for the day.  8-(


Now for the highlights of the trip.......

While my brother, College Boy and my Great Step-Nephew(yeah, I'm a Great Step-Aunt)played basketball......

My sister in-law took me shopping.
First to a consignment store, then to Tuesday Morning where I found these Awesome Christmas Cards on clearance...........

Then I sat in the car people watching while she returned stuff..............

We hit the drawbridge open delay on the way back to the house.  I posted this on Facebook and no one got the location correct.  This is "the bridge" in the Great Bridge section of Chesapeake, VA.

That evening College Boy & I went to Rose's looking for clearance Claxton's fruitcake but to no avail.
We did however pick up some foodstuffs for him to take back to college and I found this awesome shirt.........

I also found this classy lenticular painting for College Boy's dorm room.  Next month is, after all, his birthday too.......

On Monday my brother and I went to Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!) and Trader Joe's.........

TJ's down here has beer and wine in it so that was a no brainer!

I saw this woman wearing a hoodie promoting a local landmark here..........

(My sister in-law's mother worked there as a skating waitress for something like 40 years btw.)

I also found the brand/type of wine Hubs wanted me to look for at Total Wine & More.  I must say I never made it to TW&M but TJ's had it......

We also went to visit my oldest brother's house while in Virginia Beach.

This is a shot I took of the HUGE magnolia tree that takes up the entire front yard.
My brother loved that tree...........and not just because it kept the grass from growing(and having to be mowed-a chore he thoroughly detested)...............

On Tuesday College Boy wanted to get some "real" seafood so we went out for lunch.  Not wanting to have to drive all the way to the Oceanfront we tried to find something nearby, even though I really don't know my way around Chesapeake since it got "built up" like this since I left in 1982.
We got the GPS out and ended up driving from Chesapeake, into Va Beach and back to Chesapeake to get to Wicker's Crab Pot......

We were the only customers in the joint on a Tuesday afternoon.
I had a cup of She Crab Soup..............

I should have stopped at the soup.  I got the scallop basket(FIVE scallops)for $15! The hush puppies were a ball of grease and the coleslaw was lame.
College Boy wanted fried shrimp for $24.99.  I told him if he wanted fried we should have gone to Captain D's for a helluva lot less money!!

Yah, I was pretty crabby after I got the bill...........

As punishment for making me spend so much on mediocre overpriced seafood I made College Boy accompany me to a Fabric Store!  Oh, the evilness I can inflict on that child.......

I did get to give my next year's Christmas list to the Big Guy early at Wicker's.
I asked for the good money I just paid out to be returned to me in my stocking next Christmas....geez!

That night we all went out to a local Mexican place...........El Toro Loco

A warning here--they use a very caliente Pepper for their Chille Rellenos so beware if you are thinking of ordering that.

They had their Christmas tree still up in the foyer.  That's my sister in-law standing with it.........

 

They had these little ornaments all over it........

And the tree topper was this wreath of peppers, very cute..........

 

But the best was this everyday decoration by the front door..........

Too funny!

I found this local microbrew at the grocery store but Hubs didn't want me to buy him any......

Great name for a local beer!
Mmmmm.....swamp water!!lolz

I also found this wine and thought of cousin Sonya Ann........because she's so "sweet".
Yeah, that's why.................

I made dinner on Wednesday.  Spaghetti and Meatballs.  It turned into quite the production because sister in-law didn't have all the ingredients.....which we didn't find out until we were knee deep in cooking so there were two, count 'em TWO excursions to the grocery store to pick up needed items.

I took College Boy out for lunch again on Thursday.
Of all the places he could have chosen, places we don't have up in NE PA, he picks The Golden Corral.
bleh.
Well at least it was lunch prices and not dinner prices.

Even though it was a buffet I ate very healthy there.
Stop laughing.
I am serious!
Well, I didn't go into it wanting to eat healthy, but it turned out that way.
They had some "Chinese" selections but everything I took was doused in soy sauce, even the Sweet & Sour Chicken.
Then I took a slice of Lasagna but it was nasty and dried out from sitting too long so I couldn't eat it.
So I took a hamburger slider and it was overcooked.  All the meats and the fish I tired tasted like they were marinated in salt.

I ended up just eating 2 plates of vegetables.....Brussels Sprouts, Asparagus, Sauted Cabbage, Collards and Carrots and a couple of rolls.  And not 1 fried veggie thankyouverymuch!  Though the fried Okra was calling my name. lolz

The dessert bar was almost as long as the real food stations and full of cakes, pies, puddings and a chocolate fountain.  They also had cotton candy!  I am thankful I wasn't there when a bunch of little kids were there, as they'd probably be swinging from the rafters after ingesting all that sugar!

Other than lunch out I slept Thursday away.

On Friday and Saturday College Boy had work.  The sister in-law's daughter cleans houses for a living(mostly new construction and flips I think)and she asked College Boy if he wanted to make some $$ helping her those days.  He jumped at the chance, since his Bakery gig never materialized back home for this school break.  I spent Friday just hanging out at my brother's house doing dishes and laundry for everyone......and more naps.

On Saturday I took a ride by myself to Va Beach to a bread outlet I use to go to near Princess Anne Plaza.  Come to find out when I got there that the bread store was gone and now that building housed a thrift store.
So I went around the corner to the Harris Teeter grocery store.  HT is the king of "Buy 2/Get 3 Free" Deals and we don't have HT's in NE PA so I went in to see what I could find cheaply.  Last week HT also had a "Double any Q up to $2" Event so I went in to see what few Qs I brought with me that I could match up with sales.

I got 2 loaves of bread, one for .92¢ and the other for $1.15 after doubled Q.
I got 4 cans of Healthy Request Campbell's Soup for ZERO money after Qs.
I got a box of Cheerios for $1 after Q.
I got 2 bags of Starbucks coffee for $4.99 each after Q.
I got 2 bags of Community coffee for $5.49 each after Qs.
I got 5 bottles of good olive oil for $4.57 each after B2G3F sale.
I got 5 cans of Progresso soup for .86¢ each after B2G3F sale.
I got 5 large jars of Ragu sauce for $1.34 each after B2G3F sale.

I also bought some other items on sale which got used while we were down there and I bought a bottle of Asti Spumante which I promptly forgot to bring home and this "other stuff" with taxes came to $19.61.

Yes, I am the kind of oddball who buys groceries while on vacation.

I had to find an alternate route to get back to my brother's house because when I went to get onto the interstate it was a parking lot and the cops had the entrance ramp blocked off due to a very severe accident.
So I headed south and made my way via local roads.  Along the way I passed a couple Rite-Aids so I stopped in to see what they had that I could spend/roll some +Up Rewards on.
The most exciting thing was clearance Axe Deos for $1.34 that gave back $2 in +Ups wyb2, making them .34¢ OOP.
Score!

Sunday was more lazing around the house.
I went out at lunchtime to get a sub at a local chain I used to work at when I was in high school.
At dinner time I went and bought a bucket of chicken as a treat so no one had to cook.

I didn't take hardly any pictures while down there....except for the Rite-Aid stuff I bought.
Sad, isn't it?

There were quite a bit of adult beverages consumed though.

This......

And this among them........

And this photo is for Sonya Ann again............look at THIS can of peanuts!

Note the weight........

Now THAT'S a CAN OF PEANUTS!!!



Monday my brother and College Boy went with me to a new local BBQ joint(it was ok, not great) and then we ran over to Walmart so brother could pick up an order that was in and I wandered around the Christmas clearance stuff.  If it was 5 years ago I SO would have bought a bunch of clearance toys to resell on eBay(I had the same urges while in Ollie's the week before to score some clearance toys to resell), but the fact that I'd never fit them into my teeny tiny car made me pass on those deals.

I was tempted to get this though..........

Not to sell but just because it was so weird and I wanted that ice tea glass. lolz

Speaking of weird, I found this book in Ollie's........

And here's another strange cookbook............

What kind of a protein is a "Pooh" anyway? ;-)


We packed up and after a late dinner at IHOP(College Boy's choice)with brother, sister in-law and great step-nephew, we headed out into the night to start the journey home.
Because of weather forecasts and wanting to avoid Philly at rush hour we broke the return trip into 2 stages and spent that night in Seaford, DE.  After a leisurely breakfast we made it home around 2pm on Tuesday.

So now you are up to date on the Travels of Sluggy.  8-)

Sluggy