Monday, October 7, 2013

Chez Sluggy as a Vacation Destination--Part 2......Long but Picture Heavy

If you didn't read Part 1 of this saga, go HERE to check it out first.

On Friday....oh we had some fun on Friday!
The one activity I mentioned, among them all, that lit a spark in Tanner was the one with trains.

You know?........"chugga chugga, toot toot" type trains.
So we headed north to Steam Town National Historic Park in Scranton PA to go look at all things train.

Steam Town is an old rail yard with a train turntable and train houses/sheds that they've preserved.  They have exhibits in the train sheds as well as actual train engines from various periods of rail history there.  They also have a piece of the train line tracks still in place and they give train rides of various lengths during the day.
We made it there in time for the last short train ride of the day!

Since Tanner works in a train related industry, she really dug Steam Town.
I mean dug it like a 4 year old boy!   *Not that she IS a 4 year old boy..... 8-)
Seriously.
Loving.
Trains.



Me? I had enough of trains for a lifetime, having a train obsessed son who had every word to every Thomas the Tank Engine video or PBS tv show memorized and liked to recite them constantly one after another on a daily basis from the time he was 2 until 7 years old.
So.
Over.
Trains.

But even old jaded me found it thrilling to see the real thing up close and personal either sitting in a train car being pulled/pushed by an engine or watching an engine scoot by and being close enough to reach out and touch it.
And Tanner was a great companion to have along for this excursion.

Here's shot of an engine in the yard.  Old 514 is a diesel engine and it was to be the engine that pulled our cars on our little ride.


Here's a brief clip of the Park Ranger trying to talk over all the rude passengers who can't seem to keep their mouths shut long enough to LEARN SOMETHING.....ggggrrrrrr.....




Here's another quick video before the ride began.....


Here are some shots while we rode around the train yard at 5 or 15 mph.....

                               A really old steam engine.

                            More train cars.....


     T enthralled as we pass another train with a caboose sitting on another set of tracks.

After finally getting T's attention......lolz

                        Me trying to get a "selfie" shot.

Me again, take 2 of the "selfie" shot.  Gawd!  Throwing a peace sign and smiling gritting my teeth! lol


This is my *favorite shot*-note the high degree of sarcasm.  The set of tracks we took runs past the old Train Station which is now a Radisson Hotel.  It displays French Renaissance style architecture, having been finished in 1908.  Of course my shot is of a back employess parking lot and a big blue dumpster.....with the station/hotel in the distance.  8-P

A History of the Lackawanna Train Station is located HERE if you are interested in learning more about it and seeing much better pictures. lol

And here is what is written on the train car overhead as you exited the front car after our ride.....like I would even CONSIDER doing that......



I made a couple of short videos of one of the engines being taken to the turntable and being turned and then run back down the track to get it ready to hook up to some cars for the weekend longer ride to Moscow PA.

First up is the video were I thoroughly EMBARRASSED the hell outta myself.
As I was watching the engine come down the track onto the turntable I was looking through the camera's view finder so I didn't see the Conductor standing on the outside of the engine as it went by and I was being silly and cute and all and talking TO THE ENGINE and oh my!.....Open my mouth and insert a foot or FOUR!
Just watch it and you'll see how bad what I said sounded.....



I swear you can't take me anywhere!! 8-P

And here are the rest of the train videos......




And here is the video after T told me I had embarrassed myself propositioning the Conductor.....

  



And here is the last video, the one where I called the Engineer the Conductor.....doh!
I guess after 14 years, the time since my oldest son was gaga for trains, I haven't retained much of what I learned. lol



Then after the thrill of watching that big engine move about, we climbed up on the outdoor platform and took a couple of shots....

   They were bringing another engine back from the line, having switched it to the yard line.  The smallish building on the left is now the Gift Shop.


And a shot of  T with the turntable and sheds in the background.  I think she needs to blow this one up, frame it and put it on her desk at work!


Then we went inside and checked out the exhibits.....



Then we walked to another building and Tanner had to sit down and rest for a bit.  She wasted that pose since no dating prospects were around.....hehehehe


And then I got silly too....ha!, like I am NOT always silly.....

Sluggy the Eastern European peasant immigrant with her parents so happy to be in this brand new land....


And when I couldn't talk T. into sitting on the conductor mannequins lap and playing "nice" with him, I got fresh with a hunky porter.......


Funny but he was real standoff-ish and didn't cotton to my advances, even when I tickled his ear.
He was all business.
Some men......

After we closed down the Park(I think we were the last ones to leave that day!), we headed over to Friendly's for Lunch....Dinner....LINNER......

And of course, there was ice cream.


Hhhmmmm.....this seems to be a recurring theme for this visit.....


Gawd!  Look at the face.....it could melt ice cream......and it did!


Later on that night we sat out at the fire pit and started a fire.
And I learned that T has pyromaniac  tendencies.......
Yep, the girl likes fire!
And likes to catch small sticks a light and write in the air with them.
But then again who doesn't like to do that?? ;-)

On Saturday we had a nice picnic lunch and then had a surprise Birthday cake for T.  I know I shared it in August but here it is again if anyone missed it the first time around on the blog.....




And then a quick photo of just the two of us.....



And then, just like that, T was gone....


Thanks for the good times T.  And maybe it wasn't too too boring and you'll want to come back again sometime.  ;-)

Sluggy

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Boring Blog Box Giveaway Winner

And the Winner is.....


Comment #47--
Rachel!

Rachel  September 18, 2013 at 7:01am
9/18
"I don't can, but I do freeze veggies for the winter, especially zucchini and peppers.  Here in central Ohio, we are still getting tomatoes, zucchini and peppers.  I am hoping to get to the apple orchard maybe this weekend to pick apples with the kids.
Have a great Wednesday!"

Congratulations Rachel!
Please email me privately your full mailing address so I can get this box of goodies out in the mail to you on Monday.
If I don't receive a response within 48 hours of this post going live, I'll have to draw another winner.

And thank you to everyone who played along and entered.  There were 106 valid entries this go around, which is awesome!

I might have one more Giveaway to do before Christmas/December so keep tuned to this blog for details.

Sluggy

Friday, October 4, 2013

Giveaway Reminder.....Friday is Last Day to Enter!

Just a quickie that today, October 4th is the LAST DAY to enter my Giveaway.  Entries close at 11:59pm this evening so hop to it!!

Link to entry page is HERE.

Sluggy
 

September $20K Savings Challenge 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 September report.....

I have posted my September End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog 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 September in the black but just barely!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of September with?.......$40.12

Income
We had -9.51 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
Yeah, not such a great month here.
 
Other monies received in September totaled $49.63.  This brought us back into the black and our gain to $40.12 for September.
 

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS
 
*  Evidently I over paid the long distance phone last month so our bill was only .60¢ in Sept.
*  The food/toiletries bill was about $84 less than my $400 budgeted amount.
* Cash withdrawals were $70 less than in August.
 

HERE are the BAD THINGS
 
*  The annual school taxes were due which ate up almost an entire paycheck.
*  The electric bill started going up, this month by only $7 but the trend will continue as the weather gets cooler.
*  Credit card bill was $700 higher than last month's bill which included the payment for the dog's surgery and a $600 car repair.
 

The Food Budget costs for September are in another post, which is located HERE.
We came in under budget by about $84 last month but with the taxes due that wasn't enough to give us more than $40 leftover at the end of the month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 9 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $16,302.96.  Only $3,697.04 left to save and 3 months left to accomplish this.
That comes out to $1232.35 per month for the next 3 months to reach the goal.  It is going to be tight to get us to that goal but it's doable.  Especially since we still have a 3rd paycheck month left this year.  8-))
 
Looking ahead for October......
 
*  The heat will get turned on sometime in October so electric usage will increase.

*  No big annual or semi-annual bills come due in October(the next one is in February)so we can save a bit of money this month.
 
*  We have another short getaway trip this month, so those costs will come out of October's pay.  I usually take trip costs out of the last year's savings challenge pot, but with all the remodeling/heating and a/c costs and summer road trip costs so far in 2013, the 2012 savings have been depleted.  So all Oct. trip costs will be paid for out of this October's pay.

 
So how was your September financially?  It wasn't a great month for us.  If not for the dividend checks with received from some investments, we would have had to dip into our savings to cover our expenses in September.
  
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 September?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in September, 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

Fundraising Update

Hey, if I haven't answered your email or acknowledged your contribution to the fundraising effort to help JUDY I am sorry for the delay.
Between this and my real life I am a tad overwhelmed at the moment.

I am getting to everyone as quickly as I am able.
So don't think I have forgotten you or am ignoring anyone.
I am working on it.

 
 
I sent over the Paypal money that was collected as of yesterday at 5pm to Judy's account and she about freaked out.....because it was more than she ever imagined!  And there is more coming in, plus the Go Fund Me site and some folks have money orders on the way too.

She also shared with me that today was the first day she's gotten up in the morning without a big old heaping of DREAD on her shoulders.
And every one of YOU GUYS DID THAT for her!!!

And I thought about something Kim over at Out My Window said on her blog on Wednesday this week in regard to Judy's situation but it rings true to me for many situations in my life......

"....and I just believe that prayers are answered through other people."


Kim is so right.  If you believe in a higher power(whatever you want to call it/him/her)this is how prayers/requests/wishes are answered, by that unknown/higher force placing people in your path through your life who can help you or are good for you in some way.

If I haven't said it yet, you guys are FANTASTIC PEOPLE drenched in AWESOME SAUCE!!

*And if you know me I don't rave all happy and perky like that at just anybody or anything..... ;-)

Now go carry on with your day and do some more good in the world. 8-))

Sluggy