They're Baaaaaack! Can you say NEPOTISM?!

Like that little girl from the film, POLTERGEIST, exclaimed, the FBI has returned to Luzerne County.
Well, with all the corruption here, I doubt if they truly left in the first place.

Remember my post last Sat. about the Corruption at the Luzerne County Courthouse? Remember what I said about the widespread NEPOTISM in ALL segments of public work(the state paid employees-including judicial, courthouse administration, probation, police, prison & public schools)that goes to the core of the problems with this area I live in?

Well it seems that more canaries in the system are starting to sing, this time within the Public Schools.
Look at the lastest headline from our newspaper....

FBI seizes W-B Area, career center records/ The Citizens' Voice

BY DAVE JANOSKI, ERIN MOODY AND MICHAEL R. SISAKSTAFF WRITERS
Published: Friday, April 3, 2009 8:54 AM EDT
A federal grand jury has subpoenaed documents from the Wilkes-Barre Area School District, the district superintendent said Thursday, and one school board member said the federal probe appears focused on the district’s hiring practices.Federal agents also visited the Plains Township campus of the Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center on Thursday, seeking the names of all board members of that school since 2005. Five of Wilkes-Barre Area’s board members also serve on the Career and Technical Center’s board.
View stories, documents and videos related to the court corruption probe
U.S. Attorney Martin C. Carlson declined comment on the subpoenas Thursday and would not address how they might relate to the ongoing federal corruption probe at the Luzerne County Courthouse, which has led to guilty pleas from four high-ranking former court officials, including two judges.

For the Full Story, go HERE.
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Do ya'll think I am just hallucinating now?

As a glimpse inside our world in Luzerne County, here is an interesting tidbit that came to my attention via a local talk radio program-The Steve Corbett Show.

The Disgraced EX-Judge Mark Ciavarella has a grown daughter. Teeny Tiny Town(where I live)has 1 of the 2 best School Districts in the County to work in. Guess who got a plum teacher's job here, right out of school?

Yup, Ciavarella's daughter. New hires in our public school district make WAY OVER the median average salary for workers in our county. High starting salaries with good raises AND a Benefits Package not available anywhere else on the planet for most people(hardly ANY copays on health coverage, reimbursement for tuition spending,etc.) Add in 2+ months off a year paid and it's a very SWEET DEAL!

And guess what happened when Ciavarella's daughter married a couple of years ago? Her new hubsband was hired as a Probation Officer in the county's Probation Dept.
Even though his degree in school had nothing to do with law enforcement or social work.
Even though he had NO PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE in the probation field.
He lands a plum job over scads of applicants who were alot more qualified.

Looks to me like he married well.....until the "you-know-what" starting hitting the fan. I wonder if he was one of those 11 out of 80 probation officers laid off after the FBI started nosing around in the county?

There were often tales coming out of the Elementary School my kids attended. Tales of teachers who were hired as substitutes when the district was in need. And when fulltime positions opened up(a RARE occurence), these substitutes(with their experience & qualifications)were bypassed to hire unskilled new teachers.....unskilled new teachers with the RIGHT last names. Names of or related to school board and high-ranking school administrators or county politicos. Tales of applicants, extrememly qualified ones from outside this area, who were never even called for interviews for jobs that were given to local connected relatives with far less credentials(if they even HAD ANY credentials).
Another tale that The principal of my kids elementary school(now retired) got his sister(someone famous for throwing desks and screaming at the kids)a teaching position in his facility.

And how about the Ex-Major League NFL Player who grew up in Luzerne County, down the road from Teeny Tiny Town and attended a local High School. His career goes south in the NFL and he returns here and is immediately hired as the Football Coach in Teeny Tiny Town. Nevermind we have a fine Coach already. Nevermind he has NO experience as a Coach....he's marginally famous(at least in the minds of people from around here) and as important, he has the RIGHT NAME to get a plum job in this County. FYI-marginally famous ex NFLer quits the coaching job after a couple of years(after leading the team to a couple of losing seasons)and runs for a County Commisioner position, and wins. Yes, he was just using the Coaching position as a stop-gap on his way to a highly placed government job, with highly placed salary & perks.

Speaking of County Commisioners, some day maybe I'll tell you all about the LUZERNE COUNTY DEBIT CARD FIASCO. That's yet another BLACK EYE on the face of Luzerne County Politics.

I'm sure there are more Tales I am not aware of, as I never went out of my way to involve myself in the pseudo-politcal hub-bub revolving around the school district here.

I am glad to hear this news story and sincerely hope that people keep talking about the nepotism & other shady dealings that went down so we can have some HONEST and WORTHY people hired in this district.

Sluggy

Mail Call...FINALLY!

Guess what FINALLY came in the mail yesterday?
Yep.....

My SuperBowl Pepsi/Frito-Lay Coupons!

I had written them off as "they-aren't-going-to-get-here-this-century" since I mailed the rebate off in early Feb.
It took just under 8 weeks to arrive.
I guess when they say, "delivery in 6-8 Weeks", they really mean 6-8 Weeks, huh? lolol

Sluggy

Getting FREE STUFF at TARGET

Here it was the last day of March and I had lots of coupons expiring this day.
I had a FREE ITEM Q for a new Cascade Rinse(it's like Jet-Dry). I also had $2 Qs for Gillette Body Wash. I had been to Target twice already & was looking for those smaller bottle of this Body Wash.....the ones I read that were $2, which would get me FREE Body Wash w/my Qs. So I headed on over to Target to try one last time before the Qs expired.
And BINGO! I finally found the 8 oz. Body Washes. More like they FINALLY had some in stock because the rack where they were located had been empty every trip until this one.
So I was able to use those 11 $2/1 Qs and get 11 FREE bottles along with that FREE Cascade Dishwasher Rinse.
I picked up the Glucerna Cereal for FREE too. The Q is $5/1 and the box is priced at $4.49 at Target & the cashier doesn't adjust it down in price, so it's a .51¢ overage.
I had a $1.50/1 for the Dawn Foaming Dish Soap and it was priced $2.49, so for .99¢ I thought I'd try it. The barcode on the Q rang up/took off $2 instead of $1.50! Basically, added to the overage on the Glucerna(51 cents) I got the Dawn Soap for Free too.
The only items I paid cash for were the Granola bars. They were on sale for $2.50 & I used 3 $1/1 Qs.

TRANSACTION
11x Gillette Body Wash @$2.00
1x Glucerna Cereal @ $4.49
1x Cascade Rinse @ $3.64
3x Granola Bars @ $2.50
1x Dawn Foam @ $2.49
Subtotal........$40.12
Tax.................$.36
TOTAL..........$40.48

Coupons Used....
11x Gillette Body Wash @ $2/1=$22
1x Glucerna Cereal @ $5/1
1x Cascade Rinse @ $3.64/1
3x Quaker Granola Bars @ $1/1=$3
1x Dawn Foam @ $1.50/1-rang up $2
TOTAL.........35.64

TOTAL OUT OF POCKET.....$4.84
SAVINGS of just over 88%!

Basically I paid for the Granola Bars and tax on the cleaning products.
These Body Wash are a good size to send with my #1 son who is going off to college in the fall.
I noticed that they had lots of stuff on the Clearance shelves in the toiletries dept. in Target. Quite a few items marked down I also had Qs for, but none of it would have been Free or under $1 even with a Q. So I just left it all there.
Yah, I'm getting a tad picky about the deals I do. If it isn't Free or I already have enough of it, I leave it.

Unless it's chocolate. You can never have ENOUGH Chocolate!
You can quote me on that.....

Sluggy

MARCH MADNESS...NOT the Basketball Kind

Ok, here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for MARCH 2009.

I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in March.
Grab a cup of something, this could take awhile.

These Totals include Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products & tax where applicable.
We are a family of 5. No kids under 13.

CARONE'S

OOP $83.82
Qs/Ads $62.75
Value $146.57
Savings 42.82%

CVS

OOP $19.27
Qs/Ads $330.84

Value $350.11
Savings 94.50%

KMART

OOP $45.06

Qs/Ads $146.55

Value $191.61

Savings 76.48%

PRICE CHOPPER

OOP $67.97

Qs/Ads $216.61

Value $284.58

Savings 76.12%

REDNER'S

OOP $30.64

Qs/Ads $15.99

Value $46.63

Savings 34.30%

RITE AID

OOP $20.82

Qs/Ads $77.25

Value $98.07

Savings 78.78%

TARGET

OOP $25.48

Qs/Ads $63.92

Value $89.40

Savings 71.50%

WALGREEN'S

OOP $136.72

Qs/Ads $628.34

Value $765.06

Savings 82.13%

WALMART

OOP $78.37

Qs/Ads $42.45

Value $120.82

Savings 35.13%

WEIS

OOP $306.60

Qs/Ads $335.75

Value $642.35

Savings 52.27%

TOTAL Out of Pocket.............................$855.39

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings....$1940.45

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased.............$2795.84

TOTAL Savings % for MARCH......................69.415%

I've decided NOT to track CVS ECBs & Walgreen's RRs. They will be included when used on purchases under "Coupons". Rebates will also show up in the Monthly Totals when spent, but I'll keep track of what rebates are received monthly.

REBATES RECV'D. IN MARCH

Gravy Train.......2x $1 Qs

Suave.................Free Item Q

CVS/Hershey....$5 Gift Card

Rite-Aid............$40.98

Samy..................$7.99

Dr. Pepper.........Free Item Q

Duncan Hines....$2.25

Walgreen's........$56.07 Gift Card

TOTAL Value.....$118.88

$855.39 is fairly good for the month. Way over my Low Spend Goal for March of $250.00 but I've already justified that.

Damn you to hell Heinz, Hormel & Kraft! lolol

My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 78.78%, Walgreen's at 82.13% & CVS at an amazing 94.50%!

This closes out the March spending.

Onward to April and let's see if I can keep it under $500 for Out of Pocket this month & break 70% in Savings.

Sluggy

GREEN & THRIFTY THURSDAY-Being Frugal AND Environmental TIP #3

Today is.... GREEN AND THRIFTY THURSDAY!

That means it's time for another small tip on things you can do to save money AND help the environment. After all, being frugal is great but saving money & time is not so good, at the expense of our Planet!

This week's Tip is a quick one because I am trying to get all my receipts done so I can close out March on the books.
So this G&T Tip is about using water in the Bathroom.

Our Little Planet is quickly running out of Clean Water for evereyone in our world. We are blessed living in this country with all the water we can ever need at the turn of a handle, while a good portion of our world has to walk many miles to fetch clean water, if they can find a source for clean water at all.

It's so easy to get clean water, that we hardly ever think about the awesomeness of that fact! Taking clean water for granted leads to Unconscious Waste of this, one of our most precious and necessary natural resources.

So next time you are in your Bathroom, washing something or flushing your toilet, think about cutting down on running/using water unnecessarily in that room.
Here are a few tips on how to cut your water usage in the Bathroom.

1. Fill & cap a jug of water and put it into your toilet tank. The water displaced by putting an object in your tank will make each flush of your toilet use less water.

2. Before you shower, put a bucket in your tub right under the spigot. During the course of your shower, you will have filled this bucket with water that would have just gone down the drain otherwise. You can use this found bucket of water to flush your toilet once(just pour it into your toilet bowl instead of using the flush handle) OR take that bucket of water outside and water some plants. Plants enjoy a bit of bath water now and again, just don't use it everyday. And if you are on a city's water system where they chlorinate your water, let the bucket of water sit for a few days so the chlorine can evaporate before pouring it on your plants. Plants don't mind the soap generally, it's the chlorine that hurts them.

3. Don't run water while you brush your teeth. Wet your brush, turn off the water and turn it back on to rinse.

If you want to take this Tip one step further, do like Sluggy does. Keep a cup in the bathroom. Fill the cup with water. Dip your toothbrush into the cup to wet it. Brush. Spit the toothpaste out in the sink, then use the water in the cup to rinse your mouth. Any water left in the cup after you are done can go into the bucket in the bathtub/shower. This technique saves the MOST water when brushing your teeth!

Remember, every gallon of water you save, saves you money on your water bill or if you have a well, puts the cost of digging a new well when this one runs dry further out into the future.
Either way you are saving yourself money AND making this natural resource go further.

Sluggy