Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Monsters Revisited....


Remember the Youtube Video I shared awhile back?....This one HERE.

Well I found out this group of guys is a bonafide student a capella group affiliated with the U. of Oregon. 
They are called "On The Rocks".
And they have been around for some time.
They have released a few records....ok, I guess you don't call them records because they don't make records anymore, so they have released albums or recorded music or whatever the terminology is nowadays. ;-)

They also re-recorded this particular GaGa video with actual production values.
So if you liked these Monsters the first time, go have a listen to this version....



I still say one of the lead singers, the one in the baseball cap, looks a bit like a young Seth Rogen....

And I'm having a debate over which video is better with a friend.
Do you prefer the impromptu one or the cleaned up "professional" version?
Leave a comment and let us know which side you weigh in on!

P.S.
I so hate you Joe because you have tickets to the tour!

Sluggy

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Simplifying the Holidays...How to Get off the Santa Express


Do you dread the approaching of the Month of December?

Do you tense up and stress out over all the extra work that is expected of you during the Holidays?

Do your kids turn into Self-absorbed Robots at this time of year, demanding a neverending list of toys?

Maybe you need to consider stepping off of the Madison Avenue Christmas Express and start destressing, reducing and simplifying how you celebrate the Holidays!

That American Popular Culture Christmas Express train you are on, makes stops in the State of Exhaustion, the Land of Disappointment, and ends up delivering you right to The Poor House in January when those bills come rolling in.
Make this season the one where you change up the game and play it by Your Rules, not Madison Avenues!

I'm going to do a little series about Simplifying the Holidays.  Each Week I will post about some aspect of the Winter Holidays where you could make changes in your life and in how you celebrate this year.

If anyone has any thoughts, questions or some aspect of simplifying your holiday season you would like to see me cover, just leave your ideas in the comments and I'll work them in and address them in subsequent posts in this series.

Sluggy

Monday, October 18, 2010

Randomly Yours Monday

**My sleep schedule has been off for a week now.
I am wide awake at the crack of dawn.....so unlike me.
Then I crash and nap by noon and wake up again around 2 or 3pm.
Then I am wore out by 9pm and crawl back into bed.....and it starts all over again the next day.

I know this schedule is like most people's out there but my usual schedule is to to go to bed between 2 and 7 am, sleep until 2pm, nap again around 7pm for 2 or 3 hours and then up by 10pm until 2am or later and start it all over again the next 24 hours.
I have always been a night person and find I am much more productive at night.

Anybody else have unusual sleeping/waking patterns?

**And no, I haven't been to Rite-Aid this week yet.....but the week is young yet!lol
Anybody else been yet?  What did ya get??

**I have a Meal Plan figured out for this week to as far as Tuesday.lol  Last week I hardly cooked at all.  Only one night getting take-out too.  Seems the teens have hardly eaten here all last week so when I cooked something it lasted for 3 meals or so for just Hubs and I.....meaning I didn't need to cook but 2 times.

**I just found 2 high value coupons over on AllYou dotcom.  1--It's a Scott products Q for $2.50/1 on the purchase of 8 or more roll package of Scott Extra Soft Bath Tissue or a 4 or more roll package of Scott Towels.   Print it now for any upcoming TP deals.  2--It's a $2.50/1 Kendall/AMD Wound Care Product(they make bandages, etc.) Q.  Rite-Aid has a sale/+Ups deal coming up on Kendall/AMD products in a week.

**After slacking off on the decluttering/donating the last couple of months, I sent 2 loads to Sallie's last week.  No pretty pictures though....

**And from the annals of "The Grocery Store Powers That Be Heard Me"......I saw a Catalina Deal in the Price Chopper(northeast) Sales Flyer from my Sunday paper yesterday involving.....BACON!
Woohoo!!!
It's a Hormel Catalina.....Spend $10-$14.99/Get $3 OYNO Cat Q, Spend $15-$19.99/Get $5 OYNO Cat Q, and Spend $20 or More/Get $7 OYNO Cat Q.
Price Chopper has historically gone off of the reg. retail shelf price to figure spending threshold levels(not the sale prices on the participating items),but I haven't been in awhile so I'll be taking a trip to the store tomorrow to test the waters.  When my coupons arrive in the next couple of days I'll be all ready to stock-up then on some Pork Love. ;-)

**I got something rigged up for my Eggplant plants, in hopes that I could keep them alive long enough for the tiny eggplants to grow enough to be edible.
First I took a clear plastic gallon milk jug and cut the bottom off of it so I could put it over the plant.
That would have been quick and easy but the plant was too tall.  I then considered taking more milk jugs, cutting the bottom and tops off and leaving the sides(making a big plastic square)that I could duct tape together to make the 1st milk jug taller.  But that idea fizzled out once I started the cutting.lol

Then Hubs and I came up with this.....

We put a tomato cage on each plant.
Then we took a drum liner.....it's a HUGE clear plastic bag(used to line metal drums, like oil drums).....and put it over 2 cages at a time. 
Then we used pieces of bricks to hold down the edges of the liner to keep out the cold and keep the liner from sailing off with the first stiff wind gust.
It turned out to be a quick and easy fix with no cutting or taping involved.  Plus we can reuse the bag. ;-)

Two days out and so far so good.
I don't know how much time I can by these eggplants though since we will probably get our first freezing night later this week. 8-(

**October is almost 2/3 over!  I was adding last week's grocery spending to my budget book and realized that.  Speaking of grocery spending, I spent $37.89 last week.....fresh fruit, produce, 1lb. of butter on sale and about 16lbs. of meat/chicken.  Ok...I also had an impulse buy and picked up a bag of cheese curls for $2 on the spur of the moment.  Yes, my one wild and crazy purchase for that week!lol  Sometimes junk food calls my name.....well, it seems to SCREAM my name loudly and often.....and I just give in.  Ah well......
Anyway, I haven't even broken $100 for food spending in October yet.  Yay for the freezer and the stockpile!! ;-)

So what has everyone else been up to lately??

Sluggy

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sluggy's Boring Blog Box #4 Giveaway....WINNER!

There were 42 valid entries to the 4th Boring Blog Box Giveaway.

I listed the names in order of them being received and assigned a number to each entry.
Then I plugged the parameters into Random.Org and it spit out the Winner.


And the winner is......

Entry Number 2
SonyaAnn said...
Hey, I should just win hands down cuz I'm a sci-fi nut! Not to mention all the probs that I'm having lately, I deserve a little trek love!
September 17, 2010 7:55 AM

Congratulations SonyaAnn.  The sci-fi gods must have heard your please from outer space.lol
Please email me your snail mail info. within the next 48 hours from this time stamp and this lovely box of assorted Boring Blog Stuff will be on it's way to you!

And thank you to everyone who entered!!  We picked up a couple new readers along the way during this Giveaway and I'd like to say Welcome to You! and I do hope you all stick around and keep reading and participating.  If you have any questions or want me to blog about some specific issue with couponing, frugality, decluttering, stockpiling, cooking, sewing, personal finance or dealing with those alien lifeforms called teenagers, just leave a comment or email me.

More Giveaway Fun coming soon....

Sluggy

Got Candy?......I Do & It Was Free Thanks to Rite-Aid!

After using up the 6 bags to make Trick-or-Treat Bags for the kids, I still needed candy to make more bags.
So I went up to Rite-Aid to see what I could do with some coupons, +Up Rewards and a free Gift Card.

First I returned the Udderly Smooth Lotion I had bought on Sunday as it was the wrong size AND we didn't get the +Ups deal on that product in this region anyway.  I got back $1.94(after sales tax) for that item which I hadn't paid anything for(with my Q overage on other items and my free-to-me gift card that I put any OOP amount on).
Then it was time to shop.....

6 x Bags of Chocolate on sale $2 each=$12.00
1 x Sucrets on sale=$2.99
1 x Vicks VapoSyrup on clearance=$3.49
7 x Sinful Colors Nail Polish on clearance $.99 each=$6.93
2 x Ooh La La! Nail Polish on clearance .25¢ each=$.50
SubTotal....$25.91

Coupons Used
1 x $5 off $25 IPQ for registereing my wellness acct.=$5.00
2 x $1/3 Hershey's Candy Bags ManuQ=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Reese's or Kit-Kat Candy Bags AdPerks/VV IPQ=$1.00
2 x $.50 off $5.00 Candy Purchase Wellness IPQ=$1.00
1 x $1.50 Vicks Product ManuQ=$1.50
1 x $2.00 any Vicks Vapo Product Flu Booklet Q=$2.00
Coupon Total....$12.50

$25.91-$12.50=$13.41
Used $13 in +Up Rewards....
$13.41-$13.00=$.41 + $.12 tax=$.53 OOP put on free Rite-Aid gift card
*Sometimes they charge me tax when I pay with Gift Cards and +Ups and sometimes they don't. 8-P
I qualified for a SCR on the Sucrets...$2.99.
I earned $12 in +Up Rewards(3 x $1 WYB 2 Bags of Chocolate, 9 x $1 Nail Polishes)=$12.00

Analysis--
The candy was needed for Halloween.  After Qs/+Ups received all 6 were free.
The Cough Syrup(Vicks) was also free after clearance sale and Qs.
The Sucrets were free after rebate.
All the Nail Polish was again, free after +Ups received.
I only needed the 7 $.99 ea. polishes to get over the $25 threshold to use the $5 off $25 Q(which made my candy bags free), but the 2 tiny polishes were only .25¢ ea. and still triggered a $1 +Up each.  Rite-Aid paid me $1.50 in +Ups to buy those thangs too so how could I refuse?lol


THIS TRIP Total Spent....$.53(put on free Rite-Aid gift card)
Value of Items....$52.15
SCR qualified for...$2.99
Gift Cards earned....$0.00
+Up Rewards earned...$12.00
+Up Rewards spent...$13.00

I lost $1 in +Ups but gained a $2.99 cash rebate so this transaction was a moneymaker when all is said and done.

I also figured into my Grand Totals the Manufacturer's Rebate on the NasoGel I bought earlier this week.  Not only was it a Free After SCRebate item at Rite-Aid but the Manufacturer has a direct rebate you can submit for on it.

GRAND TOTALS so far-October Rebate Period

Number of Transactions......11
Total Spent....$3.74 put on free Gift Cards/Certificates so ZERO OOP
Value of Items purchased....$518.66
SCR qualified for....$32.95
Other Cash....$1.94 cash refund
Additional Non-Cash Rewards....2 x $5.99NasoGel(Mfg. Rebates 1 for me/1 for BIL)=$11.98


So far this month, I've spent nothing out of pocket and I'm getting back $46.87 in cash and have $518.66 in products. 8-)

+UPS Totals for Oct. SCR Period
+Up Rewards carryover from last trip....$25.50
+Up Rewards spent....$13.00
+Up Rewards earned....$12.00
+Up Rewards left....$24.50


Check out my other Trips during the Oct. SCR qualifying period HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE.

Sluggy