Rambles about Gardening, Shopping, Company & Fabric

Last weekend we spent some time at Lowe's......yeah, I am just getting around to talking about that......

We picked up some stones to remake the fire pit in the backyard......we have all those tree limbs now to burn so why not have some fun and sit around a fire at night, right?

I also picked up 2 Hostas to replace the ones Hubs dug up and threw out, thinking they were weeds....grrrrrr.

Because we had a gift card we only spent $8 on everything above.  NC Chic loves gift card shopping too. ;-)

Then I bought that HUGE 12 pack of Coleus plants you see.
If you are Sluggy, you don't go to the garden center in the Spring and pay $2 a pop for a tiny little plant.
You wait until halfway through the growing season, when the garden centers put everything on clearance before all the plants die, and you buy them fully grown at a price of $5 for a 12 pack.
At least that's the Sluggy way.....

Then you put them in your flower beds just in time for company to come visit.......

so they can marvel at what a GREEN THUMB you have! ;-)

Looking around the garden last week we saw.......

 2 Heads of Broccoli coming along......

Our first and biggest cuke......all 4 inches of it........

And this is the second eggplant we had to pick.......

And when I turn it around you can see why we had to pick it......

Some critter got ahold of it and ate a big hunk out of it near the stem.
Figures......
Hubs decides we need to put a fence around the eggplant plants to keep the plethora of rabbits living around our yard away from them and the next 2 days the largest and second largest eggplants are attacked.
They weren't messed with before fence.......sigh

But with a goodly amount of rain last week and then sunny skies the broccolis were approaching picking size.  One of them looked like it was going to head to "flowering" so Hubs picked it on Sunday.....

Last time we attempted broccoli in the garden, we ended up with "special" broccoli....you know, misformed  and tiny heads that bolted to flowers before we could pick some of them.
This year's did much better and will be part of a chicken and broccoli in garlic sauce for Monday's dinner.
Yumo!

I hope Tanner likes broccoli because the other head will be ready for eatin' soon too.

Sunday was spent cleaning.
Yes, one of my most favorite things to do in the world!!! ha

But it was time to do it and of course, we couldn't have Tanner arriving and thinking Sluggy is an awful host and housekeeper(well, one out of two ain't bad....).
We will continue on with the making the house presentable for company on Monday.  I may have to break out the bio-hazard suit when I get to the main bathroom since #2 Son is the sole user of said bathroom.
This won't be pretty and I'll spare y'all the Before pictures of it....lolz

In other news, sort of, I have filled 4 shelves with piece goods from my fabric stash.
It has been photographed, catalogued, measured and folded neatly, all in prep for selling it all on Etsy.
Here's the spare room as I was in process and about halfway to filling the white shelves in the back of the room.....

And here is the room at the moment.....

Shelves filled with 4 more tubs of fabric to sell in front of it, still to be gone through.
And there is more fabric in tubs in the garage.....Eeek!

The bed has been striped and aired out and awaits fresh linens.  A little dusting, run the vacuum over the carpet again and run the air filter/cleaner thingy for a couple of days and this room will be ready for company.....or as ready as it's gonna git.....

I also went through my walk-in closet in the bedroom today.  It's August and I still hadn't unpacked my Summer clothes.
Where does the time go? 8-)

I found a brand new swimsuit in there I had forgotten I had bought on clearance at the end of last Summer's season.  It's a good thing I didn't buy it again last month, because I almost did....the same exact suit.
I wonder about me sometimes.......

I spent 2 solid hours going through clothes and trying things on since my weight has changed and has "moved" so some things fit differently.  When I finished I had a small pile to send to Salvation Army(including a dress I bought at Fashion Bug years ago that is HIDEOUS!  What was I thinking? lol), plus a small pile for the rag bag.

Speaking of clothes, since my summer wardrobe was getting rather thin, I bought 3 dresses and a nightshirt online at Woman Within.  I found 2 coupon codes I could use together to get a great deal.
The regular retail on the 4 items was $204 and change.
With sale prices it all came to $124 and change(with $12 shipping), then my coupon codes took another $44 off, so I ended up paying $80 and change for all.
Not bad.

Between the swimsuit I forgot about and these dresses added to my wardrobe, I am all set for clothes for the road trip.
Packing commences later this week.

What exciting things have been going on at your house lately?

Sluggy

$20K Savings Challenge.....July Update

In our family we save money. It is important to us to put money aside for "rainy days".  You know.....those unexpected days when things happen in your life that you can't plan on, but that DO happen and they cost you money you didn't know you'd need to pay out.

Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.
Once the automatic savings, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision payments are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2013 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am going to keep the Goal amount at $20,000 again this year.

 
On to the July report.....

I have posted my July End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $1,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up June in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of June with?.......$3427.59

Income
We had $3242.23 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Add in a per diem expense reimbursement check, a check from Savings Star(for my coupon savings through them for 2012)and a rebate from the power company for recycling our old freezer and we have another $185.36 not spent this month.  This brought our gain to $3427.59 for July.

 

Outgo

As for the expenses this June, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Music lesson bill was $30 less due to paying a week ahead last month.

*  The food/toiletries bill was approx. $42 less than my budgeted $400 each month.

*  With the credit for the return of the new freezer, the credit card bill was only $200.70 in July.

*  Cash withdrawals were $660 less than last month.

*  No doctor co-pays this month....woohoo!

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The electric bill was $2 higher than last month.
*  An additional $225 camp bill balance was paid in July.

*  The water bill was $27 higher due to more pool leakage.

*  I paid the 3rd quarter garbage bill early this quarter.
*  Annual homeowner's insurance was due and paid in July.

Overall, the Good outweighed the Bad in July.

The Food Budget costs for July are in another post, which is located HERE.

We came in under budget by $42.14 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 7 months behind us, half the year, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $15,999.22.  Only $4,000.78 left to save and 5 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $800.16 per month for the next 5 months to reach the goal.
 

Looking ahead for August......
 

*  #2 Son is having 3 wisdom teeth pulled, so we have a co-pay of $411+ this month.
 

*  The credit card bill will be large again, due to the $500 car repair Hubs put on it and my "hobby" spending for dna tests.  This is in addition to the regular things we put on it, like gas and spending for the house.

*  The semi-annual car insurance is due in August so that's about $1,500.00.

These items combined may make it difficult for us to have $800.16 leftover when August ends.  But we'll see what we can do. ;-)
  

So how was your July financially?  It was a good month for us with the money.
 

Did you put ordinary living expenses on a credit card last month and not pay it off in full when due?
Did you spend less than the income you had in July?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in July like a tax refund, a dividend or bonus at work, and what did you do with those funds?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!

Sluggy

It's Happening!

Well we received the wedding invitation from Hub's sister....

 

So this thing is happening....
Eeeek!

The next 3 weeks are going to be jammed packed with excitement for moi.

At the moment I am desperately trying to get the house in some kind of order because.......

I am having company next week!

After I get home from taking #2 son to have 3 Wisdom teeth out(ouch!) on Wednesday, the one and only Tanner from Working for a Goal is coming to stay at my house for a few days.
Instead of going to Chicagoland, she is going to hang out here in Sluggy's Boring Land.
Gee, I hope we don't disappoint...... ;-)

And if the planets all align correctly on that Friday, Judy from That's Udy with a J will be joining us.

I wonder how much trouble us 3 Musketeers can get into in 24 hours?
Wanna lay some bets?  8-P

Then a couple days after they all leave, Hubs and I are setting off on our Summer Road Trip of 2013.

During the course of the trip we are going to stop outside of Chicago to visit with a friend I've never met in person.  We are/were on a private email list of beanie collectors formed 15 years ago, back in 1998.  She use to live in Southern California but moved back to the Chicago area about 6 years ago.

Then it's onward to visit with Sonya Ann over at A Mom, Money, and More.
Nelly bar the door.....
I am going to Sonya Ann's prepared for anything.
Yes, bail money will be packed.....

Then it's down to the Sister in-law's wedding, but on the way we'll be stopping to visit and have lunch with 2 other online friends I've never met.  These two are sisters and are from another collector's email list from the late 1990's I was on.  This email list was a spin-off list from a Ty brand Attic Treasures collectors list....it was another toy line the beanie baby folks put out but was discontinued years ago. 

After that, we proceed to another location in Illinois and the wedding festivities....

If anyone has ever seen "Trick My Truck" on the CMT cable channel, you may have seen this wedding company's mobile Wedding Chapel, which was created on an episode of that show.

Sis in-laws wedding will be at the big brick church, not the truck church.....
Then it's reception time and back to our motel, before we hit the road again.

Then it's off to visit a gal I grew up with in South Norfolk, Virginia.  South Norfolk no longer exists by the way....it's now part of Chesapeake, Virginia.
Anyway, we were both born when our parents lived in the Portlock section of that city, in houses right next door to each other.
We've known each other since birth basically, but we went our separate ways in our teens and then the years rolled by, though our mother's remained in touch all those years.
We recently got back in touch so we are detouring down to Tennessee to pay a visit.  I haven't seen her or her sisters since my mother's funeral in August of 2000.  It will be nice to get reacquainted.

Then it's off to South Central Virginia to do some in person genealogical research at a couple of counties' historical societies, visit some cemeteries where some of my maternal ancestors are buried and maybe hit a few museums and/or tourist attractions down that way. 

Then it's back to Pennsyltucky and home.
And any burglars out there, don't even think of robbing our house.  There are vicious dogs and extended family living here while we are gone.
Do you seriously think I'd leave a 17 year old teen home alone? lol

Plus I don't own anything worth stealing that's kept here.
No ginormous tvs or electronics(hey! I use a flip phone...lol) and the laptop is coming with me. 8-)

So excuse me while I go try to pack up some more dishes because when we get back the handyman is coming to start work and I need to clear out the dining room before we leave too.

I haven't even packed and I am tired just thinking about it all.....

Sluggy







 

Well It's Over.......Yah!

* WARNING*
This post contains talk about a medical procedure and the subject of poop.  If this is offensive to you, please stop reading now and move on. 
Thank you-The Managment

I survived my colonoscopy.
Or rather.....I survived my colonoscopy Prep.....oh, and the procedure too. lol

After a fitful night's sleep, where I only got about 4 hours of shut eye, I was up bright and early at 7:30am Friday so I could drink my second bottle of PowerAde with a full week's worth of laxative in it.

This hour wasn't nearly as bad as the first bottle at 6pm on Thursday evening which also had 7 days worth of Miralax in it.
By 6:30pm, when I was halfway through the first bottle of deliciousness on Thursday, things started gurgling and happening in my nether region.
Let's just say a combination of FOUR ducolax(which I was required to swallow at 3pm that afternoon), and 7 day's worth of Miralax at 6pm in a PowerAde solution gave rise to an Assplosion.

Yes, if you used the term "explosive diarrhea" here, you wouldn't be too far off........

It was NOT pretty y'all and y'all would have been correct to look at me with sorrow in your eyes and exclaim, "Well, bless her heart". ;-)

The rest of the evening involved much time in the "small room" sitting on my throne.
By comparison, Friday morning's bottle of fun was a piece. of. cake.

Mmmmm.......cake.
Poor choice of words for someone who hasn't eaten since Wednesday evening......

I was worried because the literature they had me read about this procedure mentioned that if you weren't "cleaned out enough" for it, and the doctor couldn't see your innards well enough, then you'd have to go through this again in the near future.
I so didn't want to have to experience this thrill again anytime soon, but I figured since it's me.....who has to do everything the hard way.....my prep wouldn't be adequate so the doc could get the job done the first time!
Especially since I was still, how shall we phrase this?......"leaking" all the way to the hospital.
!!!
I carried a Ziploc bag with 2, count 'em 2, pairs of fresh underwear with me, plus a couple of feminine pads(things I haven't needed to use for years now!), because I just knew I'd cough or stand up too fast or something and would soil myself.

But my fears didn't come to fruition thankfully.
The nurses and doctors were professional and prompt and it was one of the better medical interventions/experiences of my life.



Oh, and the drugs were awesome.......

I don't remember a thing but I came out of sedation quickly, while I was still in the operating room actually.  No dizziness(other than my usual hehehe)and no grogginess.
But I sure looked like hell......but nothing new there.....lol



Sluggy giving the thumbs up sign....notice my fancy jewelry bracelets......they might not be purty but they sure is expensive!

 

And after the doctor said everything looked good and I didn't have to come back for another 5 years....

Damn, I need to tough up my roots again.
And yes, I am that crazy woman who brings a camera to a colonoscopy and takes photos of herself.  8-)

So everything went well as can be expected and Hubs took me to a Chinese Buffet for a late lunch/early dinner afterwards.  I haven't been to a buffet restaurant since Christmas of 2012 actually as that sort of eating situation and that sort of food is basically off my L/S diet.
But this was a special occasion.
Thankfully I didn't pull a Homer Simpson and restrained myself.
 

But goodness!
I had two whole plates of food and I don't think I'll need to eat again for a couple of days.....
Well, maybe until lunch on Saturday. lolol

And I had a nice long nap when I got home so now I'll be up until the wee hours of the morning again.....sigh.

So if you are of a "certain age" and you've been putting this off, just go. do. it.
It's not as bad as you've built it up to be in your mind, once you get past the prep stuff.

And they have really awesome drugs........

Sluggy

JULY 2013 Budget Results.....Food & Toiletries Spending

 

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JULY 2013.

I have posted July's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2013 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in July.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(3-4+ at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 17.
******************

BIG LOTS
OOP  $16.72
Value  $28.63
Savings  41.60%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $10.00
Value  $33.43
Savings  70.08%

MAINE SOURCE(restaurant supply)

OOP  $35.20

Value  $61.22

Savings  26.02 %

PRODUCE STAND
OOP  $10.00
Value  $12.00
Savings  16.66%
 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $72.48

Qs/Ads  $42.51

Value  $114.99

Savings  36.96%

SURPLUS OUTLET
OOP  $66.72
Value  $133.62
Savings  50.07%

WEGMAN'S
OOP  $46.47
Qs/Ads  $19.40
Value  $65.87
Savings  29.45%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $100.27

Qs/Ads  $75.06

Value  $175.33

Savings  42.81%

I am no longer adding my rebates received into my food budget directly. I will use them on food on occasion and will note that when used.  I will keep track of rebates/gift cards/certs received here as before however.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN July.....$35.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES....$0

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$35.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Zero

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bread Outlet 70.08%, Surplus Outlet at 50.07%, Weis at 42.81%.  I food/toiletries shopped at 8 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$357.86

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$267.23

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$625.09

TOTAL Savings of...................................42.75%

This closes out the July food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into July with $400 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  Ended the month $42.14 leftover.  It's a good thing I reconsidered lowering the food budget to $300 in July, huh?  Otherwise I would have been in the red.  ;-)

While I didn't stock up on any meats(other than some chicken)or frozen items, due to not having a big freezer at the moment(let's NOT get into all that again right now tho!lol), I did do some stocking up on shelf stable items like no salt ketchup, canned tomatoes, etc.

I did NO Rite-Aid shopping last month again.  We are still good on the whole range of toiletry items.
The garbage bag supply is dwindling so I did pick up a couple boxes of those in June at the Surplus Outlet as they were a good price.

 

Looking ahead to August---We are going to have company at the house, which will necessitate a little more food purchasing.  Then we have our road trip later this month which means about 10 days of eating will go onto the Entertainment/Vacation budget instead of the Food budget.  With all that in mind, I am going to reduce the Food budget to $300 for August and shift the last $100 of the $400 I usually spend into the Entertainment budget.  This will give us a little extra money cushion for the Road Trip of Summer 2013 and who doesn't want a little extra spending money on vacation? 8-))

 

And here is the run down of my Food & Toiletries Spending for 2013 so far--
 

2013 Total Saved $1,830.11

2013 Yearly Total Value of Items  $4,395.53

2013 Yearly Total Spent $2,565.42

2013 Yearly Savings Total of  41.63%

 

In July, total savings percentage for the year has gone UP .18% over June's total of 41.45%.  So we saw a slight increase in our savings rate on food/toiletries spending for the year.
We are holding steady in the 40%s.
Works for me! 8-)

 

How much did you spend on food in July?
 

Sluggy