This Past Week at Chez Sluggy

Christmas prep continued last week, ready or not.
Tuesday was spent at home, recovering from Monday's excursion to Hub's eye doc. Daughter helped me complete 2 large pizza for dinner and I got a few more ornaments on the Xmas tree.

Tuesday also found me deep into cookie baking.

  Italian Ricotta Cookies. This recipe sure made a TON of them!

I don't usually make so many kinds of cookies for Xmas but A-I had to be close to home more than usual, due to Hub's and B-this year I have 5 people here(plus 2 more on Xmas Day)to eat all this stuff, so why not get "into" cookie baking this year.

      Coconut Macaroons cooling in the snow.

I had printed off 7 cookie recipes I wanted to do(plus 2 usual varieties I make). I also had some mint chocolate chip cookie dough that I bought Nov. 30th at the store on clearance that just needed putting onto a baking sheet and running through the oven.
This potentially gave us 10 different cookie types for Xmas...yikes!

     Lemon Gooey Butter Cookies. Good but a PITA to make.

I didn't get to all of them(either due to lack of energy/time or special ingredients-who knew the grocery store would run out of white chocolate chips!?)but I did make the following 7.......

Lemon Gooey Butter Cookies
Coconut Macaroon Cookies
Peanut Butter w/PB M&Ms Cookies
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Italian Ricotta Cookies
Butterscotch Cashew Cookies
Chocolate Chip w/M&Ms Cookies

    The Cookie Tree, the best kind of tree.

I had to resort to this to keep the kids out of the cookies until Xmas.....

Yes I am that mom! 8-)

Also on Tuesday we spent an inordinate amount of time dealing with paperwork for Hubs' disability claim.  Not only does he have to submit paperwork to his work's HR, but also the disability board AND the FLMA folks.  His boss was suppose to handle some things with all this but she was wrong about it, Hubs had to do all this and he didn't jump right on it due to his boss saying she'd handle some of it and then she was on vacation this week.  So the paperwork is already late and he was freaking out that he'd not get it taken care of before the window closed and he's lose some benefits($$).
But we got everything back on track and the paperwork is in the pipeline now.

Wednesday, while I was out doing a Rite-Aid and grocery store run, a package arrived.

A bounty of unexpected Xmas gifties from buddy Kim.

MORE Cookies! lolz

Hubs even received a package...........

Homemade CANDY! *drool*
Thankfully the tag on his gift said he had to share it.  Score! lolz

My present said to open immediately.

And indeed I did because the next day I began the pie baking marathon.
And this lovely ensemble Kim sent me came in very handy..........

It's a Maxine apron(complete with ginormous rick-rack trim)and matching pot holders.
I posed for a photo with one of the pecan pies I made for Daughter.  Photo bombed by the dog too....how nice.  ;-)

On Thursday I made 3 pies-2 pecan and 1 mincemeat(for Hubs).  I bought 2 cream type pies at Weis(PMITA)Markets last week for $3 each.  One pie was for the BF and the other for the Nephew and me(Key Lime).

I also moved some stuff in the family room and found this.....

...a bag of items that were supposedly taken up to the food bank last month.
sigh.

On Friday, at least I think it was Friday, I made a quick shopping run to 4 different stores at the ass crack of dawn while the weather was good.  I was still in search of something for Hubs for Xmas(a style of shirt he likes that NOBODY makes anymore), plus some odds and ends for stockings and such.
The shirts were found at Kohl's and I used gift cards to pay plus got $10 in Kohl's Cash for later.
I also saw this sweet Xmas decoration........

A Xmas tree made from a plunger. 8-P

I found a Sara Lee pumpkin pie on clearance at Walmart(in there looking for Hub's shirts).  The pie was $3.50 for which I had a $1 off Q and there was a $1.50 rebate so for $1.00 OOP I didn't need to make College Boy his pie of choice for Christmas. Woohoo!
I also saw this at Walmart.......

I picked up 2 containers of 18 count eggs at Dollar Tree for $2 but my trip to Family Dollar netted me nothing.
A run to Weis later that day for a bottled water stock up and Christmas candy for 50% off and using coupons may have also been purchased. ;-)
I found this at Weis.....

Zitner's  is a Philly area candymaker.  I knew they made Easter confections but I'd never seen a Christmas one.  Ok, so it's just a peanut butter Easter egg in a red box. lolz

Saturday was pretty uneventful here thankfully.  I didn't need to go anywhere, just fill stockings and do some last minute wrapping.
My cookbook from the giveaway I won did arrived Christmas eve...........

I haven't had a chance to do anything but glance into it but something Anne didn't tell anybody about this book is that she was one of the editors for it!  It looks to be interesting and chocked full of recipes from famous chefs and/or restaurants throughout the country.
Thanks Anne!

Sunday....oh Sunday!!!

Santa came!

The kids arose about 10 am....finally!  Daughter made Sausage Gravy and Biscuits for breakfast.
The biscuit took twice as long to bake.  The oven just wasn't heating up for some reason.  Come to think of it, my cookies were all baking "weird" the other day....taking longer to bake and spreading out like crazy due to that.
After the oven cooled off I took a close look in there with a flashlight and noticed that there were a couple of places on the lower element that were deformed, like they had super heated and melted a bit.
Sigh.

But onward to the gift opening, which commenced around noon.

Daughter not thrilled with having to play Santa first.

Cinnamon hugging her new toy from her other grandparents in Louisiana.

Who invited this lumberjack to Christmas? lolz

My new slippers, purple of course!

The BF grinning about his Teletubbies wrapped gift.

If you haven't guessed by now, we have OLD wrapping paper we still use, that has been collected over many, many years.
The Daughter excited for her Justin Beiber paper.....

We had a new Santa's elf this Christmas.  Everyone takes a turn in the Santa hat.

My "Precious" giftie.  A robotic vacuum built specifically for pet hair.  Hmmm, I wonder why I now need this? lolz

The BF confounded by massive amounts of tape.  The tape monster(aka me)strikes again!

Daughter loved this tie-dyed psychedelic kitty head shirt that was a last minute purchase at Walmart on Friday.

The doggy chilling out.

College Boy with his obligatory AXE gift set.

The BF seemed to like his lined work pants we got him.

Even Hubs got festive and decorated his "boot".

And he really liked the authentic Viking chain and pendant Daughter gave him.

And likewise, Daughter was thrilled by her WOW(aka World of Warcraft)wallet and Firefly hat that the BF gave her.

WE followed gift opening with stocking emptying.  I think everyone was well taken care of by Santa this year.

I think the doggy sums up my morning on Christmas.  Happy but tired.  8-)

So I warned Hubs that our oven may be shot and our Roast Beef and Mac & Cheese Xmas dinner may be in jeopardy.  I had him call his brother to let him know we may be bringing a hunk of meat, mac and cheese and pans of rolls to his house to cook off.  I had done the Green Beans in a crock pot so that was one thing I didn't have to worry about.
After punching down the dough and making it into rolls at 1 pm I tried the oven again.
Nothing.
It barely got warm.

So Hubs called his brother to have him preheat his oven and Daughter and I headed out to brother in-law's house to cook the food.
When the food came out and hour and 15 minutes later, we called home to have College Boy bring over the pans of rolls and take the roast and mac back home.
20 minutes after that all 4 of us heading to our house with the rolls and got dinner on the table.

The hungry diners.  We ate about 3 hours later than planned.

And me, silly with hunger trying another failed selfie.  8-)

After dinner we exchanged gifts with brother in-law and the nephew.

Afterwards the youngin's sat and checked phones, vaped and checked out their gifts.

On Monday I didn't go out and hit any after Christmas sales.  I was too busy with Hubs and digging out from Christmas(cleaning out, dishes, etc.)and getting the garbage ready for Tuesday morning's pick-up and locating a heating element for our oven.

I think I can just replace the element and get the oven up and running again and not have to go buy a new appliance. Spending $16 as opposed to $500+ would be much better, right? ;-)

And those are the highlights of our week here at Chez Sluggy.

So what's up in your world lately?

Sluggy

A Week in Sluggy's World.....Oh Goody!

Well the Eldest was here for 8 days visiting.  3 of those days were spent in Virginia apartment hunting.  Other than that excursion we really didn't "do" anything while he was here.
There was a trip to Berwick on Saturday, to the brewery we like but I forgot to bring my camera.....horrors!

Then last Wednesday after we got back from VA, we took him and College Boy out to Logan's Steakhouse for a birthday celebration....

ice cream pie and coffee....

Let's just say they had drinks and we all had dessert(too much!)and this was one pricey dinner out!!

Then it was home for cake and the torture of having to listen to "Happy Birthday" in 3 different keys(by 3 different singers simultaneously).

But hey!, how often does your baby turn 24? ;-)

This bomber bottle of beer plus more bottles many have been opened and consumed that evening as well......

On Thursday I had my 1 week post-op cataract appointment.  The eye was 2/3rd healed up and I go back for a final check mid August.

Eldest sat around making calls, napping and playing WOW on my computer most of the day.
I made a big fried shrimp dinner for us all for a treat.  Eldest doesn't get shrimp often(and dearly loves it)because his GF is highly allergic to the little critters.

I also drug this bad boy out on Thursday....

....and smoked a pork shoulder to make pulled pork sammiches for Friday night's dinner.

On Friday morning Eldest got in his car and left along with a hunk of smoked pork shoulder in a cooler.......

And 3 minutes after he left I got a phone call from him.  His car was acting weird and cutting off, so he turned around and came back.

Then it wouldn't start so we had the local tow guy take it up to the car mechanic we use to give it a look/fix it.

So Eldest fumed and played WOW while I went to my yearly sleep apnea doc appointment.

The appointment went something like this(after they took all my vitals)......

Doc-"Are you using the machine regularly?"
Me-"Yep."
Doc-"Any problems?"
Me-"Nope."
Doc-"Are you sleeping through the night?"
Me-"Yep."
Doc looks down my throat and up my nose with doc instruments.
Doc-"Ok, we'll see you in a year."

The car mechanic calls late that afternoon and says they can't find anything wrong with the car.  I told Eldest it was probably a fuel line problem from what he described what the "symptoms" were.  He had let the tank run REALLY low and probably churned up a lot of sediment in the tank, plus the car sat for a solid week on an incline and wasn't started.
At least it didn't cost him anything this time.

We had bbq pork sammiches for dinner and he left Saturday morning for Pittsburgh.  Thankfully he made it home without any more issues.  I sat by the phone for 4 hours though waiting for a "come and get me or call a tow" phone call but it never came, thankfully.

Saturday was hot and humid.  Hubs decided to attend a Pow-Wow being held that weekend near here.  I declined to go knowing it would be out in the sun and it was so hot that day.  He said it was brutal but he had a good time and he even got up and danced.  I would have liked to have gotten THAT on film! (He's a notoriously bad white guy dancer.) lolz

I puttered around the house all weekend doing laundry, sewing, dishes, cleaning and riding my exer-cycle.
And on Sunday, even hotter and more humid that Saturday was, what bright thing did I decide to do?
Why go outside week whack the flower beds and weed the garden!

I also worked on my month end blog posts(savings challenge and food/toiletries spending)too.
As bills for July are all paid up I started working on my August budget/spending plan.

The garden is slowly growing.  With all the rain this Spring/Summer so far, I haven't had to water at all.  At this point we could use a little less rain and a little more sunshine. ;-)

I picked my first veggie yesterday........

One lone yellow squash.
My garden is pitiful this year.....

 Some pole beans finally vining out.

 My "volunteer" morning glories almost ready to bloom though.

 The collards still very small and the Japanese beetles have found them. Grrr

The yellow beans are turning....yellow.

Some Roma tomatoes peeking through the leaves.  Hopefully the deer will let these ripen and let me pick them first! lolz

While I was out in the yard on Sunday sweating my brains out I noticed that the big plastic sand filter for the pool pump was still sitting where it use to filter the pool water.
The pool hasn't been operational/up in 2 YEARS(and we are not going to put another pool up)but there sits the plastic thingy still in the backyard.
It's been sitting there so long we have gone blind to it......don't even notice it when looking out onto the yard.
How sad is that?

So I had College Boy haul it down to the road Monday evening for the trash man to pick it up and haul it off Tuesday morning.
Of course, CB followed my instructions to the letter.....leaving the black stand the plastic thingy sat on behind next to where the pool use to be.
Boy, you have to be very specific, don't you? lolz
So that will get hauled off next Tuesday.

This got me thinking about what else laying around the yard/in the garage/in the house we have gone blind to that needs to GO!
I'll be spending some free time later this week, to look around here with my new eye balls and see what else can get pitched.

I had no car on Tuesday as Hubs had my car since we took his into the shop Monday night as the oil change place said something was wrong with the a/c system.  Turns out there is nothing wrong with the a/c system and the oil change place was probably just trying to tack on more charges to pad the bill and replace perfectly good parts.
Argh.

So I called a friend Tuesday and had a long talk about our lives.  Come to find out, friend and I are leading parallel lives with our respective husbands and children.
Sometimes it helps to rant and bitch to someone who "gets you".  8-)))

I was woken up this morning by Hubs stomping about the bedroom.  He was in a snitch because we had no water and he couldn't take a shower before going to work.
So I was up for the day and called the water company(after Hubs checked to make sure the basement wasn't flooded and this outage was just us).
Turns out there are not one but TWO water main breaks in our town, one a few blocks away, so the problem had been identified   We got water back a short time ago and just in time so I don't have to hold my breath when going into the bathroom. ;-)

I have been thinking today was Thursday all day.  I guess it was just wishful thinking as the paycheck flies into the bank account on Thursday afternoon and I am anxious to finish out the bookkeeping for July.

So while I waited for the water to return I hiked up to Rite-Aid for a few things(since I had to go anyway for a prescription)and then I went to Weis.  More on those trips later.  I blew past $300 for July food spending as of today's trip.  Sigh.

I'm up to 62.50 miles this month on the bike.  I'll probably do another 1.5 to 2 miles tonight.  Even with not being here to ride the end of the month I should surpass my 80 mile goal anyway.

The weather the rest of this week is suppose to be low humidity and in the low 80's.  No rain until Sunday.  I'll take that anytime!

That's about all I got for now.

What's going on in your world?

Sluggy