It Drives Me Nuts!

                          photo  credit Chris Ratcliffe / Bloomberg / via Getty Images

I use to spend soooo much time in Toys R Us stores when my kids were little.
The oldest was a LEGO Maniac.
Seriously addicted to them!
I still have the scars on the bottoms of my feet to prove it.......
Plus I use to sell some things on eBay.

So I had a real good guffaw when I was THIS STORY HERE about a mother/son duo who when on a methodical crime spree and sold the the illegally gotten goods at an online auction/marketplace site which will remain anonymous, by the name of eBay. ;-)

I love the ironic little twist at the end......see if you can figure out what I am talking about with that!

It made me stop and think too.
Now WHY didn't I think of this and implement it?
Ok, I know why......because I wouldn't have been able to live with myself, that's why!

And the title of this post?
So many things about our culture drive me nuts so take your pick. lol
Atcually, it's in reference to that stupid backwards "R" in the toy retailers name.  It drives me insane but I admit it IS a rather clever marketing tool that some ad person came up with for the chain.
And it never kept me from dropping $ on toys in the store so argh!!! at you T-(backward)R-U

What do you think about this story?

Sluggy

Food Spending August Week 2 & Meal Planning Week 3

Repeating the picture above again this week.  I got to thinking and the caption is all wrong!

It should read, "If Looks could kill women wouldn't need CAST IRON SKILLETS.

Am I right? ;-)

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And here is the "meal plan" that actually happened last week.....

Sunday--Chicken Parmesan, Spaghetti, Green Beans

Monday--Meatloaf, Squash Casserole 

Then things went haywire.....

Tuesday--Leftovers

Wednesday--Steak, COC

Thursday--Rigatoni with Mushrooms in Sauce

Friday--More Leftovers + mixed veggies

Saturday--Leftovers Yet Again(plus a big tossed salad)

I only made 2 of the original meals I planned.  Wed and Thurs we changed plans due to a store sale on steak, corn of cob and mushrooms(I had the sauce and pasta already.).  The 2 meatloaves and leftover pasta left us with many leftovers.

 

The weekly food spending was $188.09.  This is waaaay high for me in just 1 week.

I hadn't counted on the local Shursave market having their semi-annual MEAT SALE last week.  About $150 of that spending was pure meat.  I got a large Pork Shoulder(for smoking and barbecue), 7 lbs. of ribeye steaks and 2 large eye round tenderloins which I hacked up into smallish sirloin steaks and cubed the ends into stewing beef chunks.

Only about $40 of what I spent last week was on non-meat necessities.

I have $91.93 left of my $400 food budget for August. 

And it's just the 13th of the month.

A.C.K.

I do have $12 in Cats and a $10 gift card to help get me through the rest of August without going over my $91.93 left.   That gives me around $113 for the rest of the month.  Just keep any deals and sales away from my eyes!lol

Going into the new week I have the following leftovers to use up......meatloaf, rigatoni in sauce.

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This week's menu.....

Sunday--salmon with maple glaze, Stir-fried mixed veg, mashed potatoes

Monday--BLT sandwiches with tomato from our garden...slurp!

Tuesday--tuna helper, caesar salad

Wednesday--Leftovers

Thursday--tacos or taco salad

Friday--burgers, baked beans, cucumber salad

Saturday--Leftovers

 

 

I'm going for easy peasy this week on the stovetop or outside on the grill and no running the oven.

What I need to buy this week to serve this menu?.....cucumbers.

I bought bread, carrots, rolls, lunchmeat for lunches and lots of lettuce last week so it's just cukes and milk.  I'm going to try to keep the spending under $20 this week.....I have to use the $12 in Cats this week, so actual $ spending of $8 or less.

So what's on deck for your menu this week?

Sluggy

Wallowing in Self-Loathing

I have hit an emotional/psychological loggerhead in regards to the decluttering again.
 
I have gotten down to the last layer of stuff I need to get rid of both here in the house/garage and the storage unit.
The "stuff" are things I bought to resell but due to either just having too much and not enough time to sell it, or the "market" for this stuff just isn't there anymore(due to higher shipping costs and the weaker economy making collector's cut back on spending), it still sits here.
I've tried selling locally and even with ridiculously low prices and THAT doesn't work.
So I know intellectually I need to just finish carting all of it off to charity and take what little bit of a tax write-off I can get.

So I send a little bit off and then I stop......because I just can't emotionally continue to send off the rest.
So the rest sits for weeks on end while I wrestle with myself emotionally.

Eventually I get mad enough(at myself for buying too much, at myself for not being able to let it go, at "it" for still being here in my life causing me pain), and that motivates me to send a little bit more off to charity.
And then I show what I send off on the blog and someone who hasn't been here long, inevitably comments about "why are you giving away such nice and new stuff?.....why don't you sell it?". lol
And I plummet back into an emotional/psychological dark place again and the cycle starts again.

So in the end, I DO end up getting rid of this stuff but I am in a cycle now whereas it is going to take me FOREVER to get it all done.

Here's an example of what I am talking about......
I pulled a box of Boyds bears out.
This is a box of stuffed critters I've had since 2000.
I first pulled this box out 2 years ago to sort through and check the prices things were going for online(eBay).
All but 2 of the critters aren't worth my time or energy to sell, for what they would bring in(going by sold prices on completed listings).
Not worth it for the last 3 times in 2 years I've pulled it out.

So guess who pulled the box out again 2 days ago? lol
I check online again.
Still not worth the time to sell.
Duh....really?lol

But then I get another idea......why don't I sell them on Etsy?.....or even Amazon?
I go check and people have these things listed on both marketplaces.
Then I think.....but what are the chances they would actually SELL?
And how long would I have to keep them listed in order to get a sale?.....meaning I could still be storing these things a year or two from now, waiting on a sale.
And I don't want to still be toting these critters around in 2 years from now.

And then I got depressed......and now I am getting mad at myself......for being silly........and an idiot.

I feel like a full fledged hoarder sometimes.  I might have nicer stuff and not throw it on the floor with garbage and waste but the fact is, I am emotionally attached to this stuff like a hoarder.

I think I need some of y'all to come here and hold my hand while I make the decisions to to get rid of it all.

Do you have stuff you know you need to get rid of that you can't bring yourself to throw out or give away?
Or are those loony tunes of those hoarder shows and I alone in this?

Sluggy

Poking Fun At Politics

*WARNING!
If you have no sense of humor and you don't want to see yet another political post on the internet, just leave now.



If you've been hanging around Chez Sluggy for awhile you know that I often times drip with sarcasm.
I do enjoy a good needling, don't you?
Especially when a subject is ripe for poking fun at.
Like say......Politics and those vile creatures known as Politicians.
Or more specifically deeply embedded career politicians.

When the gang of guys who founded this country were tinkering with how things should work in the new Republic of the United States, one of their principles was that government be as small as possible.
It was there to protect us from foreign and hostile invaders(army/militia) and to keep the order internally by way of rules and enforcement(laws/police).
It was not there to take all our income(taxes)or get in the way of our conducting business(bureaucracy).

The people who served in government did so on a limited basis.  Elected officials served their term or 2 and then they went home to their REAL job or business and continued to live their life and SUPPORT THEMSELVES.
You didn't stay in office for 40 years and then retire and go home lugging along a big fat retirement package that the people who elected you in the first place had to work additional years to pay for YOUR lifetime monthly check along with the work to save for their own retirement income.

But I digress.....

The founding fathers didn't foresee how politicians would take advantage of the system.
Knowing human nature they should have  seen it coming but they weren't perfect.
They dropped the ball.
And after 236 years of bloat and graft, look at the Monster we have now!

(The cartoon could be a Rep. Admin....doesn't matter which party.)


Again I digress......

The point is I found a "cute" little video online and I thought I'd share it with you all.

It also reminds me of a favorite quote of mine attributed to Albert Einstein.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

Please thing about this quote as we get closer to Election Day on Nov. 6th.


And now, with apologies to Rogers & Hammerstein for your listening pleasure......lol.....



Sluggy

Thinking Like a Generation Z-er

This is a bit dated but it's still funny.
Though this would be funnier if I didn't think some of what he is saying IS what young people think!
Check it out......

The Daily Show
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Sluggy