Merry Christmas! I'm Back....

From my house to yours I hope y'all had a Merry Little Christmas!
We are finally back from our 2023 Farewell Tour to see friends and relatives.  It was over a 3,000 mile road trip when all was said and done.

Not having my computer with me I really couldn't post on the blog while we were gone. (I tried once and it was all bolloxed up.)

Here's our little tree this year that I couldn't post until now.  We still haven't done Christmas with my Daughter and her husband so we are still in Holiday Mode. 8-)

Mostly it's decked out in ornaments from our travels.

The Alaskan Inuit Totem Hubs bought in Ketchikan, AK........

The Angel Oak from Johns Island outside of Charleston, SC.

The Boll Weevil Statue from Enterprise, AL........

The Stingray from the Grand Cayman Island.....

The Thistle ornament, the National Flower/Emblem of Scotland from Edinburgh.......

A replica of the Norwegian Dawn, the ship we took around the 

British Isles last May........

An ornament of Icy Strait Point in Alaska from the cruise in 2021.......

Greyfriars Bobby in stained glass from Scotland....

A soft felt version of the Westminster Abbey......

And Hubs set up the handmade ceramic nativity set I made decades ago when we lived in the Poconos.  He cleared a bookshelf by the tv for it.  The green and red poinsettia fabric underneath wasn't the best choice but it had to do. ;-)

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table for 2 Weeks

 The "You Know You Are Back From Vacation" Edition

We returned on Monday to home.  Oh what a tale I have to tell but not now.  Jet Lag was bad on both ends of a less than stellar cruise and 1.5 days in London.  But more on that later.

I am still in the land of sleep deprivation and this prettier than me representation of me should have drool hanging out of her mouth. lol

I am sorry if I've already forgotten items consumed or muddled the days as this a 2 week report.  I'll do the end of the cruise food eaten next time if I can get my brain working again and spell better. 8-

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned the first week.......

1. Sunday--Chicken Parm, Yellow Squash

2. Monday--Beef Pie

3. Tuesday--Riced Cauliflower, other Veggies and Beef Stir-fry

4. Wednesday--Trivia night at different place so no clue

5. Thursday--Applebee's Salad(late lunch)

6.  Friday--Tempura Shrimp and Zuke, Spinach Soufflé, maybe Cole Slaw

7. Saturday--Chicken in Peanut Sauce, Noodles and Veggies

And here's what actually happened........

1. Sunday--Chicken Parm, Yellow Squash

2. Monday--Beef Pie

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Leftovers

5. Thursday--Tempura Shrimp and Zuke, Spinach Soufflé

6.  Friday--More Leftovers

7. Saturday--In n' Out Burger for lunch, no dinner

Lots didn't happen as I've been having a gastrointestinal issue all week.  Hubs had to fend for himself mostly. He made the Beef Pie and finished it all as a lefttover as I was not up for food running through my intestinal system most of the week. TMI but true.

What got put into the freezer last week....

*   sweet potato I cooked up so I could freeze it.

What got taken out of the freezer and used...

*  1 lb. Ground Beef

*  1 container of Chicken Parm

Last week we spent $0 on grocery shopping

This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $0 for June.  

There are 16 shopping days left in June.

Here is the second week's "food plan".....

*Sunday to Saturday there was no plan. Duh.

And here's what actually happened........

Sunday--I had a small Caesar Salad for lunch, Hubs had his first ever Poutine in the Montreal airport(*cue the hu hu hu" French attitude)during out 6.50 hour layover(after leaving the hotel before breakfast was to be served).

 Then  a less than stellar Air Canada dinner at about 3 am  and then at 5 am they served a flavorless cup of yogurt(which was suppose to be flavored but danged if I could tell other than sugar what the flavor was suppose to be) and a soggy croissant before kicking us off the airplane at Heathrow airport on Monday morning at 6:30 am.  The cruise line arranged for a man in a van to take us to the hotel in the Kensington section of downtown London(which took ages as it was Monday morning rush hour into London).  Not being able to check-in to said hotel until 3pm we checked our bags with the front desk and skiddadled to Westminster Abbey for the verger tour we had booked there and made it just in the nick of time.

Monday-- We checked in to the hotel at 3pm and had a beer each and I had 2 appetizer plated(roasted mixed veggies plus a plate of olives at the hotel bar then fell into bed for hours(jet lag IS real people!)

Tuesday--Hotel breakfast buffet  with lots of different and strange English and ethnic food(there is a reason people refer to London as "Londonistan" lol)

Then Lunch/Dinner at a the Paul cafe near the Tower of London(I had a  Coronation Chicken" sandwich which was dry as dirt on a small tooth breaking Baguette roll with another Coke Zero.

 There was a half pint of Samuel Smith Extra Stout at a pub in the West End before the show we caught Then cabbing it back to the hotel.

Wednesday-another hotel Breakfast buffet forage 

Where I ate a "real meal" because we'd not eat dinner until late on the ship.  I discovered that I LIKE breakfast beans and Cumberland sausage!
then to the cruise ship and the traditional lunch of carrot cake, water and Guinesss.

Then a late dinner at a Brazilian Steakhouse on the ship.  Best item on that menu was the grilled pineapple they brought to the table on big skewers like the meats to serve you.  I think I ate mainly pineapple there.  So good!

Thursday-- Breakfast was a Coke Zero and oatmeal.

The rest of the week breakfast was a drink(Coke Zero, Hot Tea often with Lemon and Honey or the English way with cream plus a banana in the cabin on 2 of the mornings.

Lunch in Edinburgh was Irn Bru......

And Haggis, Neeps and Tatties in a pepper cream sauce with flavorless bacon on top(which was not eaten).  More on this meal later on another post.

Dinner on the ship was an appetizer of 2 ravioli(with the tomato scraped off)

And a main of Eggplant Parmagiana(and Hugs took the spaghetti)

There may have been more carrot cake and water with lemon in the pub onboard later that evening but no dessert in this main dining room.

Early excursion that day so I ate one of the bananas for breakfast in the room.

It slipped out of the peel in two pieces.  I learned to do that magic trick as a kid but had no needle with me so it was a magical bananas I guess.

After walking around Belfast, we stopped in a coffee shop(I had water and about 1/4 ofra beetroot salad and Hubs had COFFEE. For lunch bad on the ship Hubs has Penne pasta with Arribbiata sauce which was not spicy at all as it should have been.

 I had pork Asian sliders and Coke Zero and some salad green on the plate.

These were very good.

I decided to push my luck at lunch and had a sliver of cheesecake with peanut butter flavor.  The only problem the ONLY PB flavor was that 1/3 of a miniature Reese's cup on top.  Most of what's pictured stayed on that plate.  

Dinner as the Asian restaurant(we ate there two nights).  Same name and menu as the last ship Kim.
This is Hubs with his dessert -Green Tea Ice Cream and Red Bean and Hazelnut filled triangles.

I had 5 spice Ginger Chocolate Cake

We also had LOTS of Calamari appetizers there because Kim was not there.  I hope a photo of it doesn't give you allergies. lol

The first visit I had Char Siu and was was nothing like that same dish on the other boat.  The second visit I had a lemon pepper chicken entreé which was so good.  So this was Friday dinner not the first visit.  I am so confused on what nights we ate where. lol

This was fish and chips in the pub one night.  I found a guy too Kim who kept me lubricated with Coke Zero.

 One morning Dan bought a breakfast coffee before excursion time using the ship credit on my card so they put my name on his cup. lolz

This was taken in Cork at the Frisky Whisky Bar.  We were there for the top tier Guinness(and Beamish) draught stout they serve in Ireland. The second tier Guinness goes out to the rest of Europe and the Shite stuff in cans goes to America.  Now that I've had the best how can I drink Guinness again here over the pond?  My life is ruined!

We ate one lunch in the buffet on the last day of the cruise.  I was in singing prep mode so I ate little of lunch and waited until after the Karaoke Finals that evening to have a late dinner in the smaller of the two main sit-down dining rooms with one of our favorite waiters serving us.  Got tiny grilled scallops without the fennel cream sauce(Hubs also had this appetizer but he said the sauce had no fennel taste so when he was finished I scraped my scallops onto his saucy plate.  For the entreé I had a lackluster steak(overcooked but asked for Rare)with au jus, pomme frites(french fries)and something green I can't recall.

We ended the night later with a Guinnes toast and  Kim and I's carrot cake tradition.

There was also boat load of fish(with a few chips consumed), a good Rueben Sandwich(with the smallest sliver of dill pickle I've ever seen), some Bulgogi with was drier than a dry county in Tennessee and some really good Pecan Chicken that looked dry but had flavor abounding.

Me with the infamous pickle "spear".  You couldn't  harm a sardine with that pickle *said in my best Billy Connelly accent.

What got put into the freezer last week....

*  Not a damned thing as I wasn't home

Last week we spent $0 on grocery shopping

This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $0 for June 

There are 25 shopping days in June

I've earned $0 on Ibotta in June.

I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in June.

I've earned $0 on Coupons dotcom in June.

I've earned $0 on Shopmium in June.

I've earned $0 on Kroger Cash Back in June.

I've earned 0 points from food shopping on Fetch in June.

I've earned 0 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in June.

I've earned 0 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in June.

That is $0 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $0 of grocery spending so in reality it's $0 in food spending after the 5 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 0% and the monthly savings total for June comes in at 0% so far.  0% spent...Hooray, I win!!

Leftovers going into this week...nothing

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--me-Asian Green Beans, Hubs- Burritos

2. Monday--No Clue

3. Tuesday--No Clue

4  Wednesday--No Clue

5. Thursday--No Clue

6.  Friday--No Clue

7. Saturday--No Clue

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Beats me.  I am still trying to fight off jet lag from the trip home and have serious brain fog.

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any deals on food at your stores this week? 

Sluggy  

Making Plans & Calling for Input

Hubs and I leave for our cruise on May 20th.  We are flying Air Canada with a 5 hour stopover in Montréal then on to London.  We are staying in the Kensington area of London for 2 nights before being bussed down to Southampton to the dock and onto the cruise ship.

Our port itinerary is thus......from Southampton, England to Edinburgh, Scotland, to Inverness, Scotland, to Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, to Belfast Northern Ireland, to Dublin, Ireland, to Holyhead Wales, to Cork, Ireland, to Portland England back to Southampton and then to Heathrow for our flight back to the US, via Montréal again, where we have another lengthy layover(7 hours).

First question.......if you had 2 days in London, what sights would you want to see?  We may book a full day sightseeing tour one of the days there involving a bus ride and a river ride on the Thames, with a stop at Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London(I won't be putting extra $$ into the Crown Jewels room donation box Anne!), a photo op outside of Buckingham Palace and maybe see the changing of the guard or at least the Household Calvary parade(depending on what time we are there).  This tour meets at Victoria Station and leaves you via "the Tube" at Gloucester station which is right near our hotel and we'll toddle back to the hotel for some pints and fish and chips in their pub.
The second day we may go to a museum or two(hotel is near the V and A Museum, Museum of Natural History and something else), have High Tea at Harrod's or elsewhere and end the day with a matineé performance in the West End.  I keep joking that "Hamilton" is playing right now in one of the theatres but being performed in England by English actors it might just end with us losing the Revolutionary war and instead of Hamilton dying in a duel he'll be hanged at intermission and the show ends there. lol
My vote at the moment is to see "Six" which is the musical version of the reign of Henry VIII through the eyes of his 6 wives who make up the cast.  Afterall, except for Anne of Cleves I am related genealogically by cousinry or by marriage to cousinry to 6 of the 7 figures involved in that messy, colorful, misogynistic part of English history. 8-)) 

Of course there are so many tours and sights to see, including tours going off to Salisbury Plain(Stonehenge), Bath(Jane Austen's stomping grounds), etc., but we have at the most two days(unless jet lag takes us down on one of those days, then it's one day).  So what would you do, see in London?

If you know the Kensington area where is the most advantageous place for currency exchange?  I know rates vary from day to day but we'll be needing to have some British pounds on us of should be do that at Heathrow once we land?  And should be also carry Euros as we are going to Ireland, Wales and Scotland?  So many questions I know!

As for the cruise ports, we waited too long to book a couple of excursions we were interested in.  No way I was going to climb to kiss the Blarney Stone but I would have liked to seen the castle as it was built by my McCarthy ancestors(my paternal grandmother was born a McCarthy)outside of Cork.  We did book an On Your Own tour in Edinburgh where they dropped and pick you up on the Royal Mile, a Whisky tasting at Glenmorangie Distillery outside of Inverness(sorry Nessie), a Dublin on your own which will mean lots of pub stops for "real" Guinness, a trip to Caernarfon Castle in Wales since  Edward I and II Plantagenent are my 22nd and 21st GreatGrands respectively, and a coastal bus tour of Kinsale near Cork.  We have no excursions booked for Belfast(Northern Ireland.....they may shoot me as I am a descendant of Free State Irish)nor Portland(nothing looked interesting there really).  In the Orkneys we don't have time to do a tour(only there like 4 hours)so we'll bus to the Kirkwall Transportation Centre and walk to a thing or two(very compact town)or take a cab to see the Ring of Brogdnar and the Stones of Stenness(which are near each other)because Hubs loves that sort of thing(old rocks and mounds of dirt....I can't tell you have many I've visited in the US! lol).  There is also an Orkney pub at the base of the harbor I want to go to.  Maybe I can connect with locals there who also share my Viking heritage over a pint before staggering back to the ship. ;-)

So if you live in or near one of these ports, would you like to meet up or drive us around or something, especially in the on your own towns(Edinburgh, Dublin)or Belfast or Kirkwall in the Orkneys or Portland England?  Or even if you are in London and want to meet, or play tour guide?  Or do you want to meet in Montréal at the airport?
I'd love to meet more blogger friends.
Just email me.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday....the December 31st Edition

 So here are a few of the frugal-ish things that happened here this past week.......

*  Been eating all the Christmas leftovers this week when not using gift cards for take-out.  No food waste so far. ;-)

*  Santa was very good to me last week........

3 gift cards, a 6 pack of craft beer, a bottle of Prosecco(+ a can of peaches to make Peach Bellinis), a new calculator, a set of ginormous wind chimes(not pictured), a set of cat butt fridge magnets, some tea packets, some mints, fridge clips, mailing tape, a magnifying glass(thanks Hubs!lol), 2 tins of homemade candy(mmm), a cat butt coin purse, a tin with emergency underwear(make me feel even older than I do Sissie!), reusable bubbles to pop, and some hazelnut choccies.

Now everyone needs to gear up because my birthday is 3 weeks away and I expect even MORE presents! LOLZ

*  Christmas was a lowkey affair here.  Most of the family(missing my daughter and her hubby in Louisiana)were here.  We had appetizers and a modest meal mostly from foods I had here.  The salt cured ham and fresh produce were the only new purchases.  Everyone left full and happy.

*  Took up another donation to the food bank.  Another 40 items out of the house and with rebating/coupons this stuff cost me pennies if that.

There was also a trip to Salvation Army to drop off another 20 items to donate as well so the decluttering continues......

*  Except I hit the after Christmas clearance sales and added to what is in the house.  I tried to contain myself and only buy things for gifts for next year.  I showed some restraint. *snort*

*  I remember a couple of years ago when the Downton Abbey movie came out.  I so wanted to see it but Hubs wouldn't go with me and I really didn't want to spend that kind of money on a movie ticket. Christmas night after everyone left and Hubs went upstairs to take a nap I put on the local PBS and guess what they were showing?  The Downton Abbey movie. 8-))

*   I found money!

Sissie put .41¢ in the cat butt coin purse she gifted me on Christmas.

I made the rounds for clearance finds on Dec. 26th and found this dime at my Rite-Aid....

Then this penny at a different R-A.........

And this nickel at Walmart.

A dime and a penny as I hung around waiting for Hubs to bring me my wallet to Walmart(a clusterf**k of a day I tell ya!)

While sort of "not" found money I got this at the Walmart CS desk from an employee with less than stellar math skills as it's $3.95 more than I was expecting.......(but I won't count this as found money).

And this dime on the 29th somewhere...Weis?, Rite-Aid?, Walmart?  My mind just can't seem to remember where this was found.  I didn't leave the house on Wednesday or Thursday so that cut down on the change finding a bit.

Total Found in last Week...... .78¢
Total Found This Year......$24.38

That's about all I've got for this week.

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

And here is today's Holiday song...........

Sluggy

Stuff Here Lately at Chez Sluggy

**  Today is the last day to enter my current Sluggy's Boring Blog Giveaway!
Go HERE before 11:59 pm EST to enter.

**  I went back to Rite-Aid this week to do this Deal on son's card............

4 x Ziploc(I was running low on bags)freezer bags BOGO sale=$8.98
2 x Blue Diamond almonds BOGO=$6.29
SubTotal.......$15.27

Coupons Used
2 x $1/2 Ziploc IPQ=$2.00
1 x $2/2 Blue Diamond items IPQ=$2.00
Coupon Total.....$4.00

$15.27-$4=$11.27+.42¢tax=$11.69 using Plenti points.
I earned back $5 in new Plenti points(Spend $15/Get $5 select items)so this all cost me $6.69 in Plenti points.
I also bought some gift cards(restaurant and movie theater ones)that were giving back Plenti points and earned $20 in new Plenti points on this card.
My BPE points on this card are now at $66.87(the Ziploc spending counted toward the BPE)and $66.17 on my card.

**   I was at the grocery store this week and the woman checking out in front of me had lots of snacky-type items on the belt, so the cashier asked her, "Getting ready for a Super Bowl party?".  To which the customer replied, "Nah, I really don't care this year."  The cashier then said, "I hear ya!  'Our' Steelers aren't in it so who cares??  The customer nodded and retorted, "Exactly!!".
So the consensus around these parts seems to be, "Who Cares about Super Bowl w/out the Steelers?!?"

I say NO MATTER WHO PLAYS, WHO FREAKING CARES, PERIOD!?!
It's a game people....a game played by guys who end up with CTE and brain damage for the entertainment of their fans.
It's not on my personal enjoyment radar and I am tired of hearing about it.
8-)))

Having said that I'll be going out for sour cream to make Hubs dip later today so he can nibble chips while watching it.
If the game is NOT a rout(as Hubs informs me that many times these SB games are)then it will mean I WILL MISS TONIGHT'S DOWNTON ABBEY EPISODE!
Grrrr.
Now THAT does NOT make me happy at all......
But I will give it up and watch it later online so Hubs can worship at the Altar of Sports Lunacy.

**  And speaking of going out later to the grocery store.......
This week has been a killer of spending!  Here are all my receipts from trips to various stores this week--

I've just been piling them up on a corner of my desk all week.
Ugh.
Of course the Rite-Aid receipts I actually spend no grocery monies there, the Bakery Outlet receipt wasn't much and there was little spent at CVS out of pocket BUT the Weis(PMITA)Markets receipts....oy vay!!!  Not a lot of spending on each one but there are so many of them!!! lolz

I know it's not a lot of spending for the month, but it's all been concentrated into one week.  I am sure that once I add it all up on Monday that the bulk of my grocery money for Februrary will have been spent. sigh
I'll get over it with time. lolz

                    the checks I want but not for $70+

**  I got to the place in my checkbook recently where it says that you should think about reordering your checks last week.
Since we can no longer order checks through our credit union, I went onto my current check's check printing website and saw that a 4 box reorder(the cheapest way to go)would be over $70 + shipping!
EEK!!!
So do you think I reordered my checks there?
Of course I didn't!

I went right to a different check printing company's website and bought my 4 boxes of checks as a new customer(which gave me a new customer discount)for around $40 w/shipping.

I guess my old check printing company thought I'd just reorder what I had from them because I A-liked that check design so much I couldn't even THINK about not having it again, or B-they thought I was just lazy and would keep reordering from them because it was the easiest thing to do.
Neither of those scenarios apply to me unfortunately for them!
You want my business?
Then give me a quality product for a good price and don't try to rip me off.

**  Yesterday we went to Lowe's and signed the remodel/renovation contract and shelled out a big hunk of money we had put aside from Hubs Bonus check last year.  The job actually came in under budget(shock!)but that didn't make it any easier to give over all that cash.  We got a Lowe's credit card and put it onto that for a 5% discount on the costs.  I'll pay it off in full when the bill arrives.
Even with that discount I still thought, "Ugh.".
I will be less upset once the bathroom is done and I can use it again.

As the 2015 Bonus money stands, we still have over $4K left of it.  We'll see what happens once the contractor opens up the walls in the bathroom and if any hidden surprise costs materialize but it's possible we could still have most if not all of that $4K leftover once the job is done.
So now we have to decide what to possibly do with all that leftover cash.
Stash it away with all the cash I save each year to augment the Retirement Funds?
Keep it in reserve for College Boy's school costs?
Splurge on something for us for a change?.....like a special trip?.....some new furniture?.....or ?
Give our grown kids some money?
Just hang onto it for now and see what 2016 throws at us?

What do y'all think?

Ok, I have to go run to Rite-Aid to do a deal or two and then to Weis to brave the Party Gathering Hoards there for Hubs' sour cream.

Sluggy