This Week on the Dining Table

The "We Have Heat Again & We Survived the COLDpocalyse!" Edition.....

 

The new compressor arrived courtesy of Our Installer Guy last Monday, just in time for the Polar Vortex CoLdpocalypse Event of last week.

First we got hot weather(well, HOT for January)and all the snow melted, then the winds picked up and the temps dropped to 0 degrees or more(or would that be less?), not accounting for the wind chill and then we got 50 degrees on Saturday.
Can we just go back to our regularly scheduled average of 20 degrees cold and 5 feet of snow for the year total Winter now?!?

 

 

On to the Meal Planning.

Here is what was planned last week--

 Sunday--Lamb Chops(have), leftover Roasted Cauliflower, leftover Corn Casserole
Monday--Leftover Pulled Pork Sammies, Coleslaw
Tuesday--Leftover Beef Stew, Biscuits
Wednesday--Mushroom(have) Parmesan, Green Salad, Pasta(have)
Thursday--Clam(have) Chowder, Cod(have), Sugar Snap Peas(have)
Friday--Pork Enchiladas(using leftover pulled pork), Green Beans(have)
Saturday--Pork Chops(have), Red Apple Kraut, Stuffing(have)

 And here is what actually happened--

 

Sunday--Lamb Chops(have), leftover Roasted Cauliflower, leftover Corn Casserole
Monday--Leftover Pulled Pork Sammies, Coleslaw
Tuesday--Leftover Beef Stew, Biscuits
Wednesday--Pork Enchiladas(using leftover pulled pork), Green Beans(have)
Thursday--Hamburger, Salad
Friday--Fend For Yourself Night
Saturday--Mushroom(have) Parmesan, Green Salad, Pasta(have)

Moved some meals around during the week, Hubs didn't eat one night so Fish got bumped to next week and I just had a fresh burger and salad and we finished some leftovers but not all.
I also made a big pan of Bread Pudding for desserts.
  

As for the food spending last week....
There was 2 trips to the grocery store & 1 trip to Rite-Aid and I spent a grand total of $98.58(including my Rite-Aid trip of $1.02 OOP)on $203.55 worth of groceries/toiletries at 3 different stores.  I am going to strive for another $300 or less grocery month for January and I have $127.89 left in the food budget for this month(or $64 for each of the net 2 weeks).

Leftovers going into this week--Pulled Pork(1 portion), Beef Stew(3-4 helpings), 1.5 Enchiladas(1-2 helpings), 4 Mushroom Parms(2-4 helpings), 2 portions of Spaghetti w/Sauce, Bread Pudding(2-3 helpings).

Here is this week's meal plan---

Sunday--Pork Chops(have), Red Apple Kraut(have, Stuffing(have)
Monday--Meatloaf(have), Garlic Mashed Taters(have), Collard Greens(have)
Tuesday--Leftover Pork, Enchiladas, Beef Stew(diner's choice)
Wednesday--local Italian food meal out *
Thursday--Clam/Corn Chowder(have), Cod(have), Roasted Cauliflower(have)
Friday--Leftovers Night
Saturday--?  More Leftovers if we have them

* Hubs & I are going out to local Italian place.  I have a free entrée for your birthday card and a gift certificate for a free pizza we won at the Church auction, so I'll get my b-day meal and Hubs will get a pizza and the leftovers will come home with us.  Cost out of pocket.....a tip and drinks on the Eating out Budget.

What I need to purchase for this menu?.......nothing at all.  I bought everything I need for these meals last week or I have it at the house already.

I will go to 1 local grocer later this week to pick up--OJ, strawberries, Ramen noodles(at #2 Son's request) and a Turkey Breast on sale for .99¢ lb.

The turkey will be cooked/served either on Saturday(depending on whether the leftovers are gone or not)or Sunday of next week.  Leftover turkey will be used for lunch sandwiches for me the following week. 8-)


 What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

The Great Summer Road Trip of 2013......Day Six

 

Continuing on with this saga......

On Sunday morning we rolled out of Mattoon Illinois and headed South toward our destination for that day, a small town outside Nashville, Tennessee.

Not far into the day's drive, we spotted these strange white lookout towers in a field.....

I think it was a corn field.
Anybody know what that is all about?

Then we passed through this little town....

I snapped the photo too late to get the other sign to the right of the town sign that claims to be the birthplace of this guy......

 

 

Oh goody! Another water tower.....

Hey!  That's a lot with old oil drilling/pumping equipment in Newton Illinois.....

 

And outside of town there were oil derricks pumping away in the corn fields.....

 

We passed from Illinois, into Indiana, crossing the Wabash River.....

 

And while at the Tourist Information Center I saw this.......

Oh crap!
Is there any state around here not infected with "Lincoln-itis"?!

Back in the car and shortly we crossed the Ohio River.....

And then we were in Kentucky....

 .....where we stopped for lunch at a place called Grandy's in the town of Owensboro.





After a quick fast food-y lunch we hit the road again, going through Bowling Green, where I got another photo for my Water Tower Collection, only I still had the camera on movie mode from our lunch stop so you get to hear me swear on this quick clip.....




Here's the lame still photo I did end up getting......

After Bowling Green another water tower for my collection in Franklin KY.....

Then we passed by Kentucky Downs.....

 

And no, we didn't stop and bet on any horse races.

We hit the open road for a bit once we crossed the border into Tennessee.....

 

Just so you know, we were here in Tennessee to visit my first friend in life, Marsha.
Our parents lived next door to each other when we were just babies so I consider her my first friend.

Here we are many years ago at my 2nd Birthday party.....

Marsha is in the middle with the "deer in the headlights" look and I am the hambone on the right mugging for the camera....

Anyway, Marsha now lives in Tennessee with her DH Parker and we reconnected in 2013 via Facebook, which led to an offer "to come visit if you ever get by this way", so when we knew we were going to be in the general vicinity in August we made plans to come visit.
I don't think I had seen Marsha since my mother's funeral in 2000.

After arriving in Tennessee, we crossed the Cumberland River on a fairly rickety bridge.....

We made a wrong turn, somewhere after driving by Reba McEntire's old Tennessee estate.....

Of course, we weren't up in the air, so the view was more like this....

 

We did see a neat jet while we were somewhere circling Nashville lost on a back road.....

 

 

About 20 minutes after passing this jet TWICE, we got straightened out and found Marsha's house.

We had a yummy dinner she fixed us, then talked and drank and made up for lost time that night, and I didn't even think to take one photo or movie that evening.
Silly me.
But aren't you secretly glad I didn't? ;-)

I did think to haul out my computer to download this mess of photos and empty my camera and check emails.
While I had it out, I checked my Ancestry account and one thing let to another(as they will do)and we got to talking about ancestors and family stuff.  Marsha then pulled out a big manila envelope that her DH had with some research someone in his family had done on Parker's ancestors.  I pawed through it a bit and soon discovered that......are you ready for this?.....I am related to Marsha's husband!

Does this shit happen to anybody else besides me?!?! lolz

He has an interesting family tree as I've done a bit more research on it since August.

He is related to Earl Hamner, who wrote the book "Spencer's Mountain" which was made into a movie, that became the basis for the TV series "The Waltons".  Parker was aware of this family connection though I haven't been able to find the direct link yet, though his Hamners are from the same area as the Earl Hamner line.
But I have since found that Parker is related to Patrick Henry's wife(Dorothea Dandridge) and his 7 x Great Grandfather was the Uncle of Martha Dandridge Custis who later married George Washington.

So he is a 1st cousin 7x removed of the 1st First Lady of the USA.

Unfortunately I am not related to Parker through any of these lines.

I am related to him through Captain Samuel Snead and Alice Gallimore though I haven't done any work on his particulars of this ascent to verify the claim yet.
This happens to be the same line that Sonya Ann and I are related through.
So if you are reading this SA, my childhood friend's Hubs is related to us both.  8-))

The hours passed quickly with some more drinks and chatter and it was time to hit the bed all too quickly.

I did remember to take a shot or two with Marsha on her back porch before we left the next morning.....

Then we packed ourselves back into the car for what was going to be a very long day of driving with a couple of stops along the way.

We waved goodbye to Marsha.....

And we were off again!
Another day another adventure......

Sluggy

Christmas 2013 Budget/Spending Autopsy

Ok, so calling this an Autopsy is not very festive or cheerful.
So call it "The Post Where I Talk About What I Was Going to Spend for Christmas and What I Actually Spent for Christmas".
Whatever works for you.....

I budgeted $1650 for Christmas spending.  Except for what Hubs spends on gifts for me, this is our entire spending budget for Christmas.

$1650 in money we HAD already, so no putting Christmas spending on Credit Cards(no running a balance I mean)to pay off sometime in 2014, or 2015, or 2016.......

Here is where the funds were allocated at the start.....

Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $20.00
Gifts for immediate family(includes any cash gifts)  $600.00

Gifts for extended family & friends  $100.00
Secret Santa Gift   $35.00

Electricity for lights   $5.00

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie   $80.00
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)   $800.00

Extra  $10 (the "just in case" cushion)

And here is where the money actually went.....


Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $37.05  Over by $17.05

Gifts for immediate family  $1041.07  Over

Gifts for extended family & friends  $105.00  Over by $5

Secret Santa Gift  $21.98  Under

Electricity for lights  $5  Even

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie  $76.15  Under
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)  $878.52   Over by $78.52
TOTAL SPENT...$2164.77  Over by $514.77

Here are the Spending Details....

$37.05  *Shipping/Mailing Holiday Cards & Gifts----
We sent out 25 cards and 3 gifts.  I got free photos to enclose in the cards.  Stamps cost $11.00 and the cards I had already from previous Christmases.  1 package mailed to Daughter, 2 boxes sent to friends cost $26.05 in postage.
We saved some postage this year, because I gave my brother and his wife their gifts when we saw them in person at the family reunion.  But I still didn't budget enough for shipping costs this year.

$1041.07  *Gifts for family----
Last year I spent $698.82 on gifts for family.  In 2012, this included $300 in cash and $398.82 in gifts.  This year I didn't give out any cash(unless you call gift cards cash)so I combined last year's gifting & cash for purposes of comparison to what I spent this year on gifts.  
I way over spent on this category by $342.25 from what I budgeted for.

I usually cash in points on my credit card for gift cards and gifts, but I didn't this year except for 1 gift.    I did shop sales, both in store and online.  In years past I've been known to start buying for Christmas if I find a deal, at any point in the year.  This year, I bought some booze in August for #1 Son's & his GF's gifts and some clothes on clearance in September online for Hubs and both Sons.  # 2 son's big gift was on sale but not as cheap as I would have wanted to get it for. 
I do cheat and buy things the kids need rather than want(like clothing)on sale and wait until Christmas to give it to them, so it's considered part of their Christmas loot. ;-)
But I just overspent on gifts this year and I own that. 8-(  Not thrilled with myself but we won't go hungry or get our lights shut off because of it so I am not going to stew over this.
 

$105  *Gifts for extended family---

Locally we give something to the nephew(a gift card and a jarred candle this year)and a food/toiletries box to his father/brother in-law.  I get deals on the food and always put a bag of Dunkin Donuts coffee that I buy at the Holidays on sale in his box.  I give my sister in-law homemade pepper relish(using my time and skill over spending a lot of money to purchase something ready made)and my brother got bottles of wine purchased on vacation, types of wine he can't get(regional)or deals on brands I find.

 

$21.98  *Secret Santa Gift----
I had Hubs' name this year.  He wanted books and gave a list with specific titles.  A quick trip to Amazon and that was done and I kept on budget for this.


$5  *Electricity for Lights----
Same stuff hung outside the house, same lights on the tree inside.  Hubs got the lights and tree lights up late this year so they didn't get turned on much, so we didn't give PP&L Electric much of a Christmas present. lol


$76.15  *A Christmas eve meal and show or movie----
We had our immediate family(only 3 that were here for Christmas this year)and took brother in-law and the nephew for dinner as well.  We took #1 Son and his GF out when we went to Pittsburgh but that is included under Travel expenses.

$878.52  * Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)----Gas was about $111.36, Lodging was $285(including 2 breakfasts we ate at the motel) and Meals out were $275.08(including generous tips-Hey! it's Christmas!!). #1 Son paid for 1 meal out plus a snack out and he cooked us dinner one evening, so our meal costs could have been higher.  We had .68¢ miscellaneous spending(don't ask! lol)and then we spent $206.40 on liquor.
Oh, yes we did! :-O
If we had stayed stone cold sober for the whole trip, we would have come in under budget for this category.  But who wants to spend a whole four days in Pittsburgh sober?  ;-)

Last year my Christmas budget was $1000.00 and I spent $1020.48.
This year I budgeted $1650.00(due to a vacation during the Holidays)but we spent $2164.77, $514.77 more than my budget.
I will have to pull from available cash in the checking account in January to cover the overage.

 If Hubs and I hadn't bought so much booze on our trip out to Pittsburgh, we would only have been about $300 over for Christmas.  But then again, 90% of that money spent on drinks was not "drinks out" but buying in bulk at the stores to drink at #1 Son's or in our room and 90% of that 90% was brought home with us to consume over the coming months.

All totaled the only category I am not happy with myself about is the gift spending on the immediate family.  Last year I had vowed to bring that one down since two of the "kids" are now 21 or older.
Big.
Fat.
Fail.

Oh well......Christmas 2014 we try, try again and hope to do better.

If you kept track of your spending for Christmas, how did you do?
Did you spend more. less or right about what you planned on spending?
Did you have any money epiphanies(epiphany? epiphani?)when you look back at the Holiday plan?
Do you see anything you'll change about your spending for Christmas 2014?

Leave a comment and let us know how you did and what you learned about yourself & money this year!

Sluggy

Food for Thought

Sluggy

2013 Finances Review....Cars are Money Suckholes!

January is the month where I pull out all the receipts, paid bills and such from the year just ended and start going over and analyzing all the data.

I have started the Christmas 2013 Spending Autopsy(will post that later this weekend probably) and the Yearly Spending category totals to see where we need to do better in the coming year.

One of first categories was Car Spending.....Sonya Ann, you may want to cover your eyes while I talk about this one. ;-)

It was NOT a great year at Chez Sluggy for spending in the car category.....

Between a totaled car, buying another "new to us" used car, a rebuilt motor, expensive repair bills(four of them above $400 a pop-one was over $900!) and regular oil changes, parts replacements, we spent $7,186.86 on our "fleet" of automobiles.

Car insurance brought that total up to $10,267.00.

And that doesn't include any GAS purchased to fuel said cars.
bleh.

At least I take consolation in the fact that we got off rather cheaply with the totaled car and having to replace said car.
With what insurance gave us for the totaled one and what the new used car that replaced it cost us, we were only out $1363.42(plus new registration/tags).  Plus our insurance only went up just short of $69 per 6 months with that claim.
But I was sad to see that totaled car go, as it was a great deal and in really good shape, well....before it got hit, it was. lol

The car Hubs bought to replace it has been bad news.  It did fine for a few months but then it developed 2 leaks, one in the oil something or other and another in the transmission.  One is repairable and the other isn't, as it would cost more than what the car is worth. 
Ugh.
So Hubs is having to be vigilant about checking his fluid levels every week and carrying bottles of fluids in the trunk to top off levels or risk having something or other run dry and kill the car.
Don't you love my use of all these fancy technical mechanical auto terms? 8-))

Basically the replacement car has turned into a PITA car and he is making plans on how to get rid of it.  He wants to trade it in and get something else but once the dealer finds out what a fine driving machine*cough* this is, who in their right mind would want to take it?
I said we are probably better off just leaving the keys in the thing with a big sign on it "STEAL ME, PLEASE!" and then report it stolen.

To bad we don't live in a flood prone area, like someone I knew in my 20's who lived at the beach and had a POS old VOLVO.  It had been flooded during a hurricane so it started only running when it felt like it, which turned out to be every 3rd Tuesday and alternate weekends from 11am to 3:15pm. 

She got a phone call in the middle of the night a few months after the hurricane that her car was sitting in the middle of a major highway about 5 miles from her house, abandoned.
Seems someone had stolen her car that evening after she went to bed(who in their right mind, would want to steal an old, rusted Volvo station wagon?!?) but it stopped running 5 miles away and the thieves had just left it there at an intersection and fled.
True story.

But I digress....

If #2 Son goes away to college in the Fall we only need an extra car for 7 more months so Hubs may just limp along with this PITA car until then and then get rid of it, instead of replacing it soon.
I just don't know but personally I am not in a big hurry to throw more money into cars at this point.
As long as it is safe to drive if these issues are kept on top of, I say keep it on the road and keep the money in our pockets.

The fact is all of our cars are now becoming senior citizens of the car world.  My van, which was bought new, has barely 90K miles on it, but turned 10 years old last March.  I don't drive it much as I don't need to haul lots of kids anymore and I never go anywhere, so it should make it through 2014 without a lot of spending on repairs now that we had the rack & pinion work done.  I might need new tires but that's about it.  If it comes down to it, Hubs can use it for commuting, though it doesn't get great gas mileage. 
Should cars start to fall apart again!, we have options before we dig into our savings for expensive repairs.  #2 Son no longer has a part time job or extensive band commitments and I don't need a car to commute to a job, so between the three of us, one job and three cars(that all have issues of some kind), we should be able to limp along until at least the Summer.

The goal is to get to where we only need 1 car but that won't happen for at least a few years yet.

As far as car spending in 2014, I hope to keep it below $8K including insurance this year.

So how was 2013 for you and your vehicles?
Did you spend a little or a lot on cars last year?
(I expect Sonya Ann to leave me a long comment/rant on this post! lolz)

Sluggy