I'm Back! & I'm on a Roll...a Nice Ranting Roll not Kaiser

Did y'all miss me while I was gone today? 
In a few minutes you will wish I was still out...lol

I hit the bread store.....$8.78 and 9 bread type products later.  It was Senior discount day(I forgot!)so I had to run the old people gauntlet.

What has happened to old people?
They use to be docile and sweet.
The ones I ran into(almost literally since they won't move out of the way!)today at the bread outlet were nuts.  One especially cutting in line ahead of me like they are entitled and giving me 'tude in a look that said, "if I had a shiv, I'd cut you just as soon as look at you".  If you wanted to get ahead of me you old bat, you could have asked nicely and I probably would have let you go first even though I was in line 5 MINUTES before you even thought of getting in the check-out line.  I don't care if you only have 3 items(hey! I only had 9!!) and I have alot of other places I need to get to today too.  Then you abandoned your cart in the middle of the aisle when that other cashier opened an aisle and took your 3 loaves, leaving it to gridlock our aisle.  Yes, because you were in such a big hurry to get back out to your Cadillac which had NO handicapped tags and was parked across TWO Handicapped Parking Spaces!
I should have keyed your car when I walked past it going into the store.....


Two more stops and a teen to the Orthodontist later and I finally get to the grocery store.

I hate you Weis Markets!
You decide to remodel the whole. fricking. store.
Nothing is where is use to be and your new discombobulated design makes NO. SENSE.
Products I like to buy are now banished from your shelves.  New(=more expensive)items are replacing them.
And the prices.

Every time I go, I notice prices have risen.....SHARPLY!
Way to Go Weis....using the excuse of a remodel to jack up the prices.
Spending money on the "atmosphere" of the place so you can justify jacking up prices not once, but twice or thrice.
I don't care if it looks like an abandoned warehouse inside, as long as the prices are good.

Yes, prices going up lately in this economy seems to be the refrain of the old song, but jacking them up every trip for the last three trips I've made to your store is INSANE!

I dread going back to the grocery store because I'll see the prices have gone up yet again.
If this keeps up, even with spending on the gas to get there, I may start shopping at the Weis in another town since the prices on the same items are lower.  I've compared them, item for item, and it's true!

And it was Senior Discount day at Weis too.....for the love of David Hasselhoff's Sainted Mother!

MEMO TO SELF--STAY HOME on TUESDAYS!

And it's almost October, right?
Why in gosh sakes is it so MUGGY???!!!
I came home and sat down and I am drenched in sweat!
And of course, the a/c units are in the garage and the pool is closed for the season since it's almost October and not suppose to be this warm here now!
Oh to be a 70 lb. gymnast and be able to fold myself up into a cube and put myself in the freezer!

And it's too hot to cook.
Seriously, who can cook in this heat/humidity?
I wish my stomach would figure out it's too hot to eat too.......ack!


Sluggy

Can It Be??......More September DeCluttering P*rn!

Oooh Baby!
I am on fire....on fire with decluttering p*rn!!

First off, Hubs contribution to the last trip's clutter was the Get Smart beanie, the Mets truck and the hand massager.....not that anyone tried for the Bonus Points or anything. ;-)

Onward to the third trip, as in "#3",  to Salvation Army for September.....

1 Cat in the Hat facial tissue cover(in the white box)
1 Wilton train cake mold
1 Christmas ornament
3 assorted books
2 Curious George toothbrushes
1 Cabbage Patch Kids playset
1 novelty coffee mug
1 Precious Moment figurine
1 Power Rangers candy mold

1 Gerber baby doll
1 Dilbert day planner/calendar
3 Pokemon pocket monsters
1 vintage cast iron wagon
3 Godzilla stamp sets
1 Polly Pocket pet shop
6 Teenie Beanies
1 Star Wars pin
2 Wilton cookie cutters
1 pair Thomas the Tank Engine shoelaces
1 roll Power Rangers stickers
1 Cat in the Hat watch
1 Walmart watch...yes a Walmart watch, as in a walmart truck goes around the face of this one!
1 package Troll party napkins

2 Avalon Hill strategy games
1 cross stitch pattern book
1 set Chinese iron balls(#2 son's contribution-still shaking my head why he spent good money on this at the amusement park?!)
1 McDonald's glass
3 California Raisin figures
2 Just the Right Shoe figurines

And if you are keeping score at home, that's 38 more items and the 11th load to Salvation Army for 2011.

Now I am off this blasted machine for awhile.
I actually have to leave the house today.
Go me!

What's on your plate for today?

Sluggy

Food Spending Week 2.5-3.5 & Meal Plan

So here is what I planned on serving for dinner last week....

Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs
Monday--Chicken Biscuits, Corn
Tuesday--Trout, Fries, Pan Roasted Summer Veggies
Wednesday--Pork Chops w/Apricot Glaze, Potato Salad, Brussel Sprouts
Thursday--Meatloaf, Roasted Potatoes and Carrots
Friday--Leftovers
Saturday--Hot Dogs, Leftover Veggies/Potato Salad

And here is what actually happened....

Sunday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad
Monday--Chicken Biscuits, Corn
Tuesday--Trout, Fries, Brussel Sprouts
Wednesday--Leftovers
Thursday--Meatloaf, Potato Salad, leftover Corn
Friday--Chinese take-out, Pizza(sleepover night)
Saturday--Hot Dogs on rolls, leftover side dishes

We got takeout on Friday since there was a surprise Teen Sleepover & I didn't have enough Pork Chops thawed to feed everyone.

Groceries bought last week....
$33.87
And most of that($25.09)was crap/snacks bought on Friday for the sleepover....ice cream, chips, soda and pies.  I never went grocery shopping last week. The only 'real food' I did buy were a container of ricotta cheese, a gallon of milk and a dozen eggs.

This week I want to stock up on some salmon which is on sale.  This hasn't been a good price in ages so I'm spending what I have left in the budget for September on fish for the freezer.  I should have enough for about 5 lbs. worth.

So here is what I am planning on serving this week for meals, working solely on what I have already.

Sunday--Pork Chops, California veg. medley, leftover Potato Salad, Applesauce
Monday--Lasagna(using crumbled leftover meatloaf from last week in the sauce)
Tuesday--Fried Mac & Cheese(using up leftover mac/cheese), Mixed Veggies
Wednesday--Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Broccoli
Thursday--Beef Pie Casserole w/carrots and green beans
Friday--Chicken Cheese Quesadillas, Green Salad
Saturday--Leftovers

No take-out this week.  And I know that Tues. meal is lame but it's the only thing I can think of to get them to eat the leftover mac and cheese!lol  I look at this unhealthy choice this way....the Fair they hold this week is canceled this year due to the flooding....and they ate far worse stuff at the Fair so Tues. meal is my homage to fair food.lol

I've got most everything to accomplish this meal plan except I will have to buy carrots and salad greens along with our usual milk purchases for the week.
And some fresh fruit as we are all out.

I'm at $215.34 spent for September so far.
I've got $34.66 left in the food budget with 5 days left to go.

Sluggy

Weekend Feelings & Progress

Well my back gave out sometimes between Friday evening and Sunday morning.
This means I didn't get all the potential toy sale boxes gone through in storage before the weekend was over.
Shoot!

I have sorted many of them however.

I also got all the shelving put together and arranged in the garage.

 I have 40 shelves, 1 banquet table with a shelf on top, 1 card table, 1 tea cart, 1 patio table & 2 storage tubs I can use to put items on(fragile/heavy items like ceramic cookie jars, etc. that the shelving can't hold).  If needed I can also put the pool deck storage box in the driveway and display more items on that.

And I got the Advertising Flyer designed and ready to print.

Now I need to dust off and price all the items in the garage and put them out for display since there are so many boxes of items out there now you can't even walk around.lol
After I get that all priced and out(the empty boxes go into storage in case I need them to cart what doesn't sell to charity), I'll get back to going through what is left in storage.
I am tired.

And I am emotionally raw too.
It sucks to be me right now, but I know I have to face these feelings so I can get past them.

Going through all these boxes of items and deciding what to do with them has been rough.
I've had to confront some bad memories.......from a time when I wasn't very happy and bought some of this stuff.
I've had to confront things about myself.
Things like...what made me buy all this stuff in the first place.
Things like.....the waste of money.  I made money on this stuff but not being able to sell what is left and hanging onto it has cost money.
Things like....not making decisions for so many years on some of this stuff.  Not being able to let it go!
Things like....throwing good money after bad and not just cutting my losses sometimes.
Things like.....letting some of this stuff take over my life.
Things like.....feeling like a hoarder.  It runs in our family so I have to keep an eye on myself.

Spending so much time with all this crap just makes me depressed. 8-(

But I know I am getting better.
Because if I had tried to sell all this crap last year for as little as I am going to charge, I wouldn't have been able to go through with it!
This tells me that I have loosened my emotional hold on these "things".....or have they loosened their emotional hold on ME?!?!
Hhhmmmm...

At any rate, I'm done dealing with this stuff for today and tomorrow I'll continue to make preparations for the sale.

Here's hoping your Weekend brought you some time off or good progress toward a goal!

Sluggy

When You are a Plant, There is a Thing As Too Much Rain!

I can't remember if I shared this photo yet....yes, it's hell getting old.lol

Late last month I harvested my banana peppers.  There were a few left on the plants that were still green but I think the rabbits have since stripped the leaves and peppers that are left.

And I had a tremendous bounty of pie pumpkins out in the yard....

Last I counted there were 9 pumpkins.
Then the rains from 2 Hurricanes came through within a week of each other, dumping 16 inches on our yard.
All my ripened pumpkins rotted or fell victim to hungry chipmunks.
Same fate befell many of my tomatoes.

I was able to pick/save enough tomatoes to make one large batch of pasta sauce(besides the few we ate on sandwiches).  There will be no canning of tomatoes this year......

I was able to save one pumpkin....

Well, the chipmunks did nibble on it....

I cut that part off, roasted, pureed and froze the pulp.
The good news with the pumpkins is that there are two still out there that are just ripening now, so not all is lost.  I'll be picking and bringing them inside this weekend.

 And my volunteer Morning Glories survived the rainfall, dried out finally and are still blooming.

We'll be closing up the pool and the gardens this weekend.
Fall is officially here and the changing leaves have already stepped up the rate at which they are a changin'.

Here's hoping you can get outside this weekend and get your hands dirty!

Sluggy