Thursday Ramblings

So what has Sluggy been up to today you ask?

Well......I finally got all that food I can no longer eat on FreeCycle earlier this week on Monday.
I had 7 people respond by Wednesday. 
Of those 7,  I emailed back the 3 who weren't demanding or belligerent to offer the food to them.
Yes, even when you are giving away things for free people get nasty with you.  Don't ask me why they feel that someone would give them something if they coped an attitude with the giver.

Only 1of the 3 has responded as of late last night.
If the other two don't respond before she comes tomorrow morning to pick the items up, she will get it all.  Trust me, it's 6 boxes and 3 plastic bags of food, enough for 3 different families.  But she will hit the jackpot and take it all as things look now. ;-)

I got up later than usual and did a load of white clothes.  I had to take a pain pill last night, as my legs were bothering me(they do that sometimes)plus I couldn't sleep due to some "things" going on here, which I'll get into tomorrow in my next blog post.

Then I took #2 Son with me and I spent the early afternoon looking for dead people.....

Found most of them.
Go me!
In the last couple weeks I've added 152 new memorials to this cemetery on F.A.G. plus another couple dozen photos onto memorials already posted by other members.  I've had a few members contact me to thank me for posting photos of their relative headstones even though they hadn't requested a volunteer take a photo for the memorial.  I also fulfilled about 10 of the 30+ photo requests for this cemetery.
I've got another 100 or so photos from today's batch to edit and post, among them some photo requests.  I also transferred the ownership of 8 memorials I created into the care of a family member who wished to have them.  I love when a relative asks for their peeps and gladly surrender them.  Family should be with family....
It amazes me what bad manners some of these people asking for ownership have though.  Not a please or a thank you.  I have started a list of these ill-mannered folks and should they ask for anyone else I maintain, they'll get a cold shoulder from me until they learn some decent etiquette. 8-(

After I stopped at Wendy's and bought #2 Son lunch as thanks for helping me at the cemetery, I came home so I could meet a lady who bought some packs of diapers off of me.   These have been sitting around in my garage and were part of the stuff I got for FREE at Rite-Aid over the last couple of years.
The lady took this clutter out of my life and handed me this.
Say hello to my little friend, Mr. Hamilton!

What a handsome fella.....though a tad 2 dimensional as far as personality goes.....lol

Then I started dinner.....

The pan of asparagus is ready for the oven(once I put a little lemon pepper Mrs. Dash's on it).
The Portabella caps are awaiting some pan sautéing, leftover homemade spaghetti sauce and mozzarella/provolone cheese and then popping it into the oven for 20 mins.

But eating dinner will have to wait a bit, as we have a guy coming within the hour from Sears home improvements to check our house out for the feasibility of installing one of these.....

A mini-split a/c unit or a/c and heating unit.
Too bad hubs and I don't look like the couple in the picture, huh?
Nah, I'd look dreadful with blonde hair......but I wouldn't mind if Hubs looked like that guy..... ;-)

We are going with Sears(probably)because if we buy the unit(s) through our daughter who sells appliances at Sears, she gets a nice little commission.
Sorry Sears guy....

After dinner I get to finish the laundry and download and start editing the 100+ photos I took today.
Then play a little Bubble Land and read blogs before turning in for the night.

So how's your day been?
Anything exciting on tonight's agenda??

Sluggy

 

More Money Running Through Our Hands

Ok.
I lied the other day when I said we hadn't eaten out/gotten take-out all week.
Mea culpa.

It's  heck getting old and not being able to remember stuff.....
Hubs & I did go out for lunch on Saturday after viewing the "shit hole" property and taking some headstone photos at the cemetery nearby.

I took him out for Father's Day to Friendly's in a town south of here.  They are usually crowded big time on weekends as they are across from the town's mall, but not last Saturday they were not.
It was a lovely meal.  I blew my sodium restrictions but not by much and I took half my sandwich home to eat for dinner.
And then we had ice cream.
And we spent $30 with a $5+ tip.
Yeah, I was bad...... ;-)

We went down to this town after our earlier adventures to possibly buy a pressure washer.  Kmart had one on sale last week and we need to pressure washer our house and the deck.   I figured if this one was heavy duty enough for these needs it would pay for itself(vs. the cost of a rental)in a few years plus it was almost Father's Day and what guy doesn't appreciate a new "toy" in his work shed?
But Hubs didn't seem too thrilled with a PW for a gift(go figure!lol)plus though buying a new PW would be the frugal thing in the long run vs. renting each time we wanted to PW something, who needs more crap in the garage or work shed taking up space?  For something that would get so little use, it makes more sense for us at this point to rent or borrow one from someone we know, when we need one.

So quick on my feet(or should that be brain?), I told Hubs I would take him to Boscov's(the regional/local hoity toity dept. store)across the street and buy him some new work clothes.  I knew he wanted to pick up a few summer type shirts as his were getting ratty.  They also had a great sale on nice belts(of which Hubs could use a couple)for $3.99 and a killer deal on dress socks(.99¢ a pr.).
Hubs hardly ever buys new clothes so it was nice to help him pick out some things.
We left with an armload full and a new bill of $118 + change charged to the c/c bill(which will be paid off this month).

Hubs and I hardly ever go shopping together anymore.  That use to be one of our main entertainments(well, sort of entertainments)when we were younger.....and usually we had kids along with us so not so enjoyable and Hubs wasn't the one enjoying the experience anyway back then, because he's a guy and isn't "in to" shopping.  The only shopping I use to enjoy was buying other family members stuff or going discount store or clearance sale shopping.  Give me a rathole store with low prices or a sea of clearance racks and I am in my element.
But that all went by the wayside about 7-8 years ago when I joined The Compact. (It helped to that my kids had gotten older and didn't need as much in the way of clothing/weren't outgrowing stuff as quickly/had gotten part time jobs to pay for their own "wants".......)

So there.....
I feel better having come clean on all my non-grocery spending (about $150)last week. 

It would make the spending we will be doing on the house coming up this summer not seem as bad.
8-))

So did you get any presents or do something special for your Hubs/Father/SO last week?

Sluggy

Like Water Pouring Through Our Hands

That's what the money has been like lately.
First off, #2 Son needs a better flute.
He's at the point where he has a serious commitment to his music and plans to make a career in the music field.
He needs an upgrade in the instrument department and this is the one his teacher recommended.....ain't it purty and shiny?

There was an identical used one for $200 less but his teacher tested both and the difference was more than $200 in quality, as the used one hadn't been taken care of.  It would have cost more than $200 to get it back up to new quality, so we bit the bullet and bought the new one.
This brand is a gem among flutes, Di Zhao.  The only brand that handcuts the head joints on flutes at this level of instrument.  Hand cut parts are only seen otherwise in custom made flutes and/or the highest end pro models these days, which are out of our ballpark in price.
Professional flutes start at around $7K and go into the $20K & Up range.

The teacher says this upgraded flute should see him through his 1st two years of college, at which point his professors will start pushing him to trade up to a better instrument.  We have told him, the next upgrade is on your dime so start putting away that summer job money for when that day comes.

As with cars, luxury watches and some electronics, you don't pay the "list price" for a quality musical instrument.  There is haggling and/or discounts.  We paid $1000 out of pocket for this flute.
The cash is coming out of his college fund so I don't have to dig into our regular savings for this. 8-)
We are however paying OOP for his flute camp next month.  It's just 3 days so not that large an outlay of cash.

We may have to give our oldest child a loan later this year.  He graduated in May and is now job hunting but his SO needs to finish up 1 more year at a school in Pittsburg, so they need to locate there for at least until next May.
So they need to move and find an apt. before August & the beginning of classes for the Fall.  But it's very hard to find an apt. if you have no job in the area and aren't independently wealthy enough to afford to pay rent.  Besides, landlords run your credit score and they want an employer on your application.  And it's hard to find a job if you don't live in the area, so it's a vicious cycle.

Hubs wanted to hand the kid a check for $ to make trips down to P'burg to find a job.  I told him this won't work because the type of jobs the kid will be interviewing for will most probably be the kind where they want you to start right away, and then they'll need to logistically make the move, still need money for an apt.(1st/lasts/security + moving expenses), so why not just co-sign the lease for 1 year(or 10 months if they can get one of those)?  Then when they get on their feet, they can take over the payments and then pay us back when they are in a position to financially.
Right now they are living with the SO's grandparents but they have no family in P'burg to stay with while they get jobs/find an apt./etc.

So we will be loaning them a heap of money(around $10K all totaled if a job never materializes there).  Knowing this kid, there is no way in hell(short of death)that he will NOT repay it....it just might take awhile.  We have the money to lend and it won't leave us short.  I also told the kid that if he doesn't repay us, his little brother can't go to college(not really). ;-)  The guilt of THAT will eat at him.....lol

I made the mistake of mentioning to the Hubs after this conversation that if we had NOT had 3 kids, he'd probably be retired by now and we'd be swimming in cash.
Kids are damned expensive to raise to adulthood, even if you are frugal and careful with the money, ya know?   They are a pricey hobby......

Just for fun, I went HERE and used their child cost calculator to figure what our youngest will cost to get to adulthood.  He is 17 now.
The answer was $518,000.
Gulp.
Really??  It's that much?!

Figuring his 2 siblings were about that(maybe a little less due to inflation and they are older), it means we'll have shelled out $1,500,000.00 in child related costs.
Woweeeee!
I've seen a figure to raise a child to 18 as low as $235,000(not including college).  Under $7000,000 total for 3 kids sounds a mite better......say $800,000 better. lol

I'd say including college, our 3 might be at a total of approx. $900,000 with college.

Hey, no wonder the couple across the street(who are about our age)who have no children and live in a house identical to ours, seem to take a lot of trips and have a fancy pants sports car for a third vehicle.  lol 

C'est la vie......

Then we got the credit card bill yesterday in the mail.
$2,800+ statement for June.
$658.70 in charges related solely to the kids.
See what I just said?!

Have I mentioned how expensive kids are?? ;-)

Ok....to be fair there were $1000+ in charges for NON-Needs from Hubs and I.
* A new desk, a new computer chair & a DNA test kit for me.
* A new computer and a yr. of internet chess club for Hubs.
Hubs was MORE expensive than me though in June.
That's my story and I'ma stickin' to it!



Sluggy


 

What is Wrong With People?

I just saw the local news report below and I am sick to my stomach.
What the hell is wrong with people today?

News Report

Doing something like this to your brother or your own child?
Not caring for someone who can't care for themselves and not taking him to a facility where he can get adequate care because you don't want to lose his Social Security check each month?

Where are the people who should be overseeing caretakers?  Just because they are family doesn't mean some agency shouldn't be monitoring his care!  They hadn't taken him to a dr. in almost 4 YEARS.  If a social worker had seen the man sometime in the past 4 years and recognized his deteriorating state(he didn't dwindle down to 60 lbs. in a couple of months afterall-this took years!), they would have yanked him out and gotten him adequate protection from these monster who profess to be his family.

Now I am getting mad......

Sluggy

Ear-Brain-Mouth Disconnect

Sonya Ann  posted a video of misheard song lyrics today.

We all have been guilty of getting song lyric wrong, haven't we?

Here is my high class contribution to the mangled song lyrics theme.....

Enjoy!



Sluggy