Shiny Objects

Just a little nothing post today.....I am so bored.

I had to go up to the local jeweler's this afternoon to get a ring appraised for someone in the family.
That's all I can say about that here since someone with big ears(or should that be big eyes?!) might be reading this.


While I was there, I took up another ring I own to get it appraised since when it was inherited by me, I was not given a written valuation of it.

My mother left me this shiny object when she died......

It's a diamond cocktail ring from the early 1970's in a 10K white gold setting.

The jewelry store gal said it was 1 carat total wt. but that was a quick evaluation....she didn't measure all the stones, just the big one.
She gave me a ballpark current retail value on this baby of $4500.

My mom was big time into shiny objects like this.
Me?...not so much.
But I can't bring myself to sell it since it's now a family heirloom.
Plus my mother would come back to haunt me if I did. lolz

 

 

I guess it will give my kids something to fight over when I die.


Sluggy

Rite-Aid Pillaging....And 54% Savings at the Grocery Store

I shouldn't call my Rite-Aid excursions pillaging anymore should I?
Since they tightened up the deals and the coupon policy and the coupons just aren't as good this year, I don't get much for FREE.

Anyway, let's get to the details, shall we?

As of last week I had $5 in +Ups expiring on 11/6, which is today.
So last week I bought this.....

2 x Dawn dish liquid on sale for .97¢ each=$1.94
I used--
1 x .20¢/1 Dawn ManuQ
$1.94-.20=$1.74

I used $1 +Ups to pay
$1.74-$1+Up=$.74+.04¢tax=$.78 OOP

Then today I bought this......

1 x St. Joseph's Aspirin on sale=$4.99
2 x Purex Ultra Packs detergent on sale BOGO=$6.49
Subtotal......$11.48

I used--
1 x $1/1 St. Joseph's 120 ct. CatalinaQ(this spit out last month at Rite-Aid)=$1.00
1 x FREE ITEM Q Purex Ultra Packs detergent(up to $6)=$6.00 *Won from Frances' blog thanks Frances! ;-)
Total Coupons.....$7.00

$11.48-$7=$4.48

I used my $4 in +Ups I had left to pay....
$4.48-$4.00=$.48+.03¢tax=$.51

I paid .51¢ OOP and received a $4 +Ups for buying the St. Joseph's Aspirin.

Then I made an impulse buy.....uh oh......

2 x Axe Body Spray/Deodorant(this scent was on clearance 50% off so $2.99 ea.=$5.98

I paid .36¢tax so a total of $6.34 OOP.
Axe sprays/deos are Buy2/Get $3 +Ups this week on Select Unilever items, so I got back $3 +Ups AND another $2 +Ups for the purchase of Body Sprays, for a total of $5 in +Ups back.

Spend $6.34, get $5 back.
Wish I had had a couple of coupons to use too..... 8-)

Let's recap--
I got

2 dish liquids-who doesn't need this?
1 bottle baby aspirin-I use this.
2 packs of laundry detergent-who doesn't need this?
2 body sprays/deos-both son's use this.

I spent $7.63 OOP
And I have $9 in +Up Rewards to spend during the next 2 weeks.

Even if I don't get things for free paying $7.63 instead of the reg. shelf price of $36.13 and getting $9 to spend on more stuff isn't half bad, is it? ;-)

Then I went to the grocery store and did just as well!
I got $189.25 worth of groceries for $86.92.
That's a savings rate of 54.08%.

I hit the marked down meat-2 steaks for $2 lb., kielbasa for less than $2 lb., $2 off 4 packages of bacon which goes for $4.49 so $2.29 for each bacon, 85% angus burgers for $3 lb., some produce & fresh bakery muffins(for #2 Son)for 50% off, a rotisserie chicken for $3.99 to use for lunchmeat, fish fillets and grape tomatoes for BOGO, tuna fish for .74¢ a can and a can of crushed tomatoes for .50¢ after Q.
They have a deal this week if you buy $15 in Swanson/Campbell's/Pepperidge Farm items you get an instant $5 discount, so I bought 16 cans of soup on sale for $1, used $3 in Qs and after the $5 discount, paid $8 for 16 cans, so .50¢ a can.  I can use these in cooking.

Plus there was another deal-Buy 7 select Smuckers/Hungry Jack/Crisco items and get an instant $3 discount.  One of the items was 48 oz. bottles of Crisco oil on sale half off($2.14 instead of the reg. $4.29 price).  That's a great price for oil so I stocked up(#2 Son can go through some oil between making French fries and frying burritos).
So I got 6 oils and 1 pancake mix(for $2 on sale).  Total should have come to $11.48 after sale prices and $3 discount, but for some reason the register only took the $2.15 discount off of 2 bottles,  not all 6.
So since the register/computer rang the price wrong, I got 1 for free! 8-)

I also had a subtotal over $125.00 so I could use a $12 off your order coupon Weis sent me in the mail.
So my $189.25 in groceries, which should have come to $89.06 after all my discounts/coupons ended up costing me $86.92 (with an additional $2.14 subtracted for the free bottle of oil).
I am now over what I wanted to spend on food this week but I hadn't planned on such good meat deals and stocking up on oil, soup and tuna.
It's all good though since I have plenty of cash left for the month in the budget. 8-)


Sluggy

What's Going on Here Lately Besides No Heat.....

Yesterday, I went through some boxes of old ornaments I had bought years ago to sell on eBay and sorted them into keep and donate piles.   One pile of ornies is for the kids to go through and take whatever they want, as 2 of them no longer live here, so they may want tree decorations of their own.
When they get to a point where they aren't moving constantly and settle down I'll give them each the family ornaments that were bought for them while growing up.  Man, once I do that, our tree here will be practically bare! lol

So far I have 2 full cardboard boxes of ornies heading out the door.  It's a shame that Hallmark ornaments, except for a few special ones, aren't selling on eBay at ALL mostly, and the few that do sell are going for about $1 each.
sigh
So that, with a box of Ty brand stuffed animals and a box of used housewares and a swing arm wall lamp, gives me almost another full load to send off to Salvation Army in a couple of days.

Then I got up this morning and saw this report on Yahoo about Goodwill HERE.
YIKES!

Please be careful with your personal information when donating goods to any charity!
And it boggles my mind how any store manager would have let a customer buy personal documents like that......

Still no action on eBay but I am selling a couple of lengths of fabric on average each day over on Etsy.  At this rate I'll run out of excess fabric by.....oh..........2016! lolz
Still loving the ease of packing and shipping fabric. 8-))

I am now down just shy of 54 lbs.  I got past the plateau I hit back in May/June and am starting to see results.  Not being able to exercise much because of my feet is not helping the cause but I have weights to use to work my arms.  I know I'd lose faster if I gave up drinking(bad, bad carbs!)but at this point I don't want to give up the 3 or 4 drinks I have a week.  There is something to be said for keeping your sanity.....

As for what I am eating.......I haven't changed content much since earlier this year after the heart problem episode, except for having to be careful I don't eat too much green leafy veggies now while I am on this Coumadin drug.
It's been 7 months now since we basically changed our diet so I think we have made it a permanent lifestyle change.  I find I no longer crave junk food or sweets most days.

I eat a lot less at a meal(portion control)and try to stay away from carbs at meals.  I don't fix a meat, carb and veg. for dinner.  Usually I'll just fix a meat and veg(or 2 vegs. sometimes if one is a carby veg.).   Sometimes I do a sauce on the meat or veg. so I am getting some carbs anyway.  I also always have a sandwich at lunch, so I get plenty of good carbs with my bread and occasionally I'll have carbs with my breakfast-either a bowl of cereal or a mini bagel with my yogurt.

The big thing is I have cut down on cheese intake drastically.  No cheese on burgers or sandwiches EVER!  And we eat/fix cheesy dishes very rarely now.  We use to throw cheese on most anything we ate here, but no more. 

I plan on losing another 6 lbs. by the end of November, even with Thanksgiving, so wish me luck!
Right now I have 46 lbs. to go to get to the weight I was at 32, BEFORE I had children.  It won't even come close to what I should weigh, but that would be awesome if I could get there without any bariatric surgery.


I am off to get blood work done, then to Rite-Aid to use my expiring +Up Rewards and then maybe to the grocery store if the feet hold out.

Sluggy

Just Some Music for a Tuesday

Just a scene from one of my favorite Musicals and one of my favorite Broadway performers, Mandy Patinkin.

 

Incidentally, the guy who played Juan Peron in the original production is Bob Gunton.  You may recognize him as the evil prison warden from the film, "The Shawshank Redemption".

Sluggy

WTF AGAIN?!

Remember just yesterday when I said the Good News is that the new heating system is working again and we now have heat?
Well, guess what wouldn't turn back on yesterday evening after I turned it off 4 hours earlier?
Yup.....the heaters.

So we are back to having expensive white boxes hanging on our walls that do NOTHING.
And for a bonus, we get to call SEARS......yet again.......

I am just so tired of this......

Sluggy