Rite-Aid This Week

I went to Rite-Aid after my dentist appointment this week.
I had $6 in +Up Rewards to use by Saturday.
These deals are good until Saturday night.....

1 x Vaseline Lotion(small bottle on sale but 20% wellness discount lower)=$3.43
1 x Excedrin on sale=$3.99
1 x Bigelow Tea on sale=$2.49
SubTotal...$9.91

Coupons Used
1 x $2/1 Excedrin 24 ct. bottle(Rite-Aid snail mailed me this Q)=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Peelie Q on Excedrin box=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$3.00

$9.91-$3.00=$6.91 + .09¢tax=$7.00

I used my $6 in +Ups and paid $1.00 OOP.

I received back $4 in +Ups($2 Vaseline, $1 Excedrin, $1 Bigelow tea).

My plans for these items.......the lotion is for my sister in-laws(Xmas) and the tea is for my daughter....she prefers Earl Grey but they were out, so I'll take this box back to exchange it when they get that type in again.
The headache pills are for our stockpile.

I have to go figure out how to spend the $20 in +Ups I got for buying some restaurant gift card last week, by next Wednesday when they expire.
Anybody got any good plans for getting things cheaply at Rite-Aid next week?
I'm all ears....lol

Sluggy

Back to the Bacon

So let me ask.....did I have you at "Bacon"?!?
I thought that would get some of you to open up this post. lolz

More genealogy today, but just a quickie.

You may want to go read this old post from 2012 first, located HERE.
In it I talked about my Snead/Sneed ancestor.....the first one to come to Virginia, Samuel Sneed and his son, Henry Sneed who is my 9th great grandfather.
Henry got caught up in the infamous Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.

You can go read up on what this was HERE.
It was one of the first revolts in the Virginia colony that foreshadowed the fight for independence from British rule 100 years later.

See?  I am not going on and on regurgitating history lessons this time and am trying to get to the pertinent meat of things.

Bacon?
Meat?
See what I did there? ;-)

I find that I have yet another ancestor who took part in that Rebellion.

Through my maternal grandfather's mother, I have a 9 x great grandfather named William Hunt.
Some say he was born in France about 1599.
Yes, another Huguenot ancestor fleeing to the British colony in Virginia?
Perhaps.
We do know he was living in England at the time of his immigration to America, arriving in Virginia aboard the Abraham in either 1635 or 1638....there is some disagreement on the year.

Well it seems from what I've read that old Bill aided and abetted Nathaniel Bacon and was known to be a "Baconite".

Though he was elderly by those day's standards(in 1676 he would have been close to 77 years), he sided with those that opposed the Royal Governor of Virginia, William Berkley.

Not sure what kind of "help" he lent but he was a planter and a merchant, shipping goods from England to sell to fellow colonists in Virginia.

For his trouble backing Bacon's allies, he was thrown into jail and died there in November of 1676 before they got around to bringing him to trial and hanging him for his crimes against the British crown.

After William died, his widow, Anne filed a grievance before the King of England, Charles II, for the return of her husband's property.  Seems property that was still onboard a ship from England when William was thrown into the pokey was seized.  Since he was never convicted of a crime, thus he was not actually a criminal, Anne put forth that it's appropriation was illegal and petitioned for it's return to her, the owner's widow.

Taken from Samuel Wiseman's Book of Record: The Official Account of Bacon's Rebellion--here is the actual wording of the petition put forth to the Assembly in 1677......

"By petition of Anne Hunt widow and relict of William Hunt of Charles City County, deceased on behalfe of herselfe and two children.

Complaining that the honorable Governor, being falsely informed that the said Hunt the Petitioners husband had bin actually in the late rebellion did after his death and without any indictment, tryall or conviction seize the estate of the Petitioner and her children, which had bin getting 25 yeares by the onest pains & hard labbour of the decedent and the aged petition and the same removed and caryed to green Springe. (Green Spring was the name of William Berkley's estate so the cargo was confiscated by the Governor and taken to his home.)

That the Better to Color the said doeings the Governor hath caused a Bill of Attainder to pass the last grand Assembly, whereby the Petitioners Estate without soe much as having the Petitioner or any other for her is adjudged forfeited to his Majestie.

Now for as much as the said William Hunt was never in armes against his Majestie or authority nor ever encourgage, aided or abeted the same; and ever a peaceable and good Subject of his Majestie.

And for that by the laws of England a man slaine or otherwise dyinge in open Rebellion before attainder forfeits noe part of his Estate: And the Petitioner beinge informed that this plantation of Virginia cannot or ought not to make any laws repugnant to those of his Majesties Realme of England.

The Poor Petitioner humbly Implores his Majestie would be pleased to putt a stop to or cause the said act of attainder to be taken of as to your Petitioners said Estate, and that his Majestie in his Royall Mercy will be gratiously please to permit her and her children to enjoye the same for their Support and Maintenance and without which they are most Miserable."

Goods William Hunt had brought to Virginia to sell were still aboard Nicholas Prynee's ship the Richard and Elizabeth, at the time of William's death.  Prynne also petitioned that Assembly that the goods in question be returned to Prynne....possibly because they weren't paid for?

The "Grand Assembly",  referred to above in February 1677, that attainted Nathaniel Bacon specifically identified William Hunt as a "principal ayder and abetter of the said Nathaniel Bacon" who, like the rebel, "dyed alsoe before the rebells were reduced to their allegiance to his majestie by which said meanes the said Nathaniell Bacon, junr...and William Hunt have escaped their due and just demerits for their wicked and unheard of treasons and rebellions."

Then Nicholas Prynne petitioned to keep the goods.....

"Settinge forth that Alderman Booth of London and Company beinge owners of the said ship, consigned to one William Hunt their factor in Virginia a cargoe of goods to the value of 265lb sterling to make sale and returne of for their proper account; for which goods the Petitioner Mr. Prynne gave bill of lading and is thereby accountable for the same.

Prayes restitution of the goods and Redress of the wrong and damage."

Nathaniel Bacon died of the Bloody Flux and Lousey Disease(aka typhus, dysentery and body lice)in October 1676 yet the rebellion continued even after his demise.

Before this incident was all over, Jamestown had been burnt to the ground and Governor Berkley had been recalled to England, where he died in 1677.
William Hunt lived a month past Bacon but neither lived long enough to hang for their part in the revolt as 23 other men had.

See?  Just more and more agitators and rebels in my family!

William Hunt was buried at Bachelor's Point on the banks of the James River in Charles Citie County Va near where the Kennon Creek empties into the James.  Today this area lies between Sherwood Forest Plantation and the Chickahominy Wilderness Management Area, off of State Route 5(also known as the John Tyler Memorial Highway).

William Hunt's granddaughter is my 7th Great Grandmother, Mary Hunt Minge Allen Jefferson.
She's the one who was the second wife of Thomas Jefferson's Uncle, Field Jefferson, that I've mentioned before.

I've got lots more notables connected with my Hunt and Allen lines to write about, all in the due course time.


Sluggy

 

Good Health & Money Day!

Today was a good day for a change.

Hubs bonus hit the bank account, as well as his paycheck AND a special $ award he was nominated to receive at work for being awesome.
Hey, I wish someone would pay me for being awesome..... ;-)

Anyway, the bonus was quite large compared to what he's received in the past.  This new boss of his recognizes what an important contribution he makes to their business and it's nice he's being recognized in this way.

The bonus was large enough that I was able to finish funding #2 Son's college account today!
That's the best news in all this. 8-))

Of course, college costs will continue to go up every year but at least now we have the amount we planned to give him toward his education, sitting, accruing interest(not much interest, but it's something).
Hopefully he gets some kind of small scholarship from the school he will be attending, like the other two received, so we won't have to worry about getting him across the finish line with his degree.

And even better--there is some $ leftover from the bonus to put elsewhere, like for a blasted car. Grrrr
And even even better--we no longer have to use Hub's bonus checks(when he gets them)toward college funds, like we have had to do since forever!
Now that extra cash can go toward retirement or wherever else we may need it.

We both celebrated the Bonus check by splurging......he bought two bottles of expensive Scotch(for himself!) and I bought a quart of ice cream and it wasn't even on sale!
I know......what was I thinking? lolz

And on the medical front.....my weight is heading South......very slowly but surely. 
And as soon as this bottle of Warfarin is depleted I have the green light to discontinue it's use.
Yay!!!
No more bloody noses and blood oozing from other places upon my body that I just don't really want to talk about.  ;-)


All my vitals are good, no problems(other than that bleeding thing I just mentioned).
And I just need a tune-up in 6 months, unless something crops up.
At one point back last April, when I had my health crisis, I was on ten medications!
After the Warfarin is gone, I am down to five(and three of those I was on before my health crisis).
and I've gone off the arthritis meds my old, crazy alcoholic and went to jail doctor had me on for years.  I still get a little stiff, like first thing in the morning, but it's nothing I can't handle without high powered drugs.  There is always an Ibuprofen if I need it.
I seriously think the ex-doc was overmedicating me.....

And in even better medical news--there is a light at the end of the tunnel on the DME company and insurance coverage issues, and I don't even think that light is on an oncoming train! lolz
My "order has dropped" DME co. person says and they are coming out on Friday to "hook me up" with goodies.
That just dropped my stress level by 100 points!

I promptly rang up the soon-to-be ex DME co. of incompetents and told them to come get their ever loving shit!
By Monday that deed will be a fait accompli, even if I have to drive their shit back to their warehouse myself.

And you better believe I am taking photos of everything and making the clown who shows up here to haul it off sign my own list of what they are taking back!
I trust them to get this all correct and NOT accuse me of not returning things, as far as I could "clean and jerk" one of their employees.

As Bugs Bunny would say at this juncture.....
"What a bunch of Maroons!"

I really needed a good day about now.

Sluggy

My Old Virginia Home......The Tale of Roxabel

The new background wallpaper, since someone asked about it, is an old photo of a place dear to my family.

Back early last year, while digging around online, I found this photo.......

It is housed in the Yale University Rare Book and Manuscript Library, among the collected papers of Margaret Marshall.
But let's back up a bit and start at the beginning.....
Yup, I am turning this into a history/genealogy lesson. ;-)

Margaret Marshall's grandfather was Hunter Holmes Marshall.  He was born in 1820 at Hermitage Plantation in Charlotte County Virginia in the Cub Creek area of that county.
Hunter Holmes married in 1841 Sarah Wilmer Stith of Baltimore, Maryland and brought her to Charlotte County to raise a family.
Hunter Holmes bought a large tract of land, built a house and had that land farmed by the slaves he owned, making him one of the elite planter class of Virginia.  The plantation he owned, he named Roxabel.
Hunter was also a lawyer by trade and became a Judge at some point in his career.  He had a small, one roomed brick office built near the house where he could practice lawyering.

The photo is of the plantation house at Roxabel.
Margaret Marshall White was the daughter of Katherine Parke and Griffin Stith Marshall. Hunter Holmes Marshall was Griffin's father and thus, Margaret's grandfather.

Margaret Marshall was a writer and left her papers(or her grandchildren donated them)to Yale Library after her death in 1974.
This antique photo was in amongst her papers.
It is not known who took this photo or the exact date of it.  Margaret believed it was taken sometime in the 1870's.

Contrary to everything you have been told about Southern Plantations and their Palatial Homes, this photo speaks volumes to contradict that misconception.  Yes, there were many grand mansions in the old South but some Plantation homes were quite modest.
The "wing" of the home to the left in the photo appears to have not been enclosed by 4 walls.  Perhaps it was an outdoor kitchen, which was very common in the South during this time.  Cooking was hot sweaty business and was conducted for most of the year outside, rather than in the house.
Which leaves just the main structure of the house for living quarters for 2 parents, and at it's fullest 6 children.  Add in at least 1(perhaps 2 or 3 indoor servants/slaves)and you'll see that Roxabel was NOT a large plantation home by any stretch of the imagination.

I do not know what, if any, interior changes were made to the main part of the house from it's original construction until I was a small child and roamed inside but I can tell you that there are 3 public rooms downstairs as well as a foyer, a stairway with gallery and 3 bedrooms upstairs.  A bathroom was added so there may have been 4 bedrooms at one time before indoor plumbing, or that area may have been a closet of some sort, I don't know.
At any rate, my great grandparents enlarged the house so the 8 persons(plus servants)who lived in the original Roxabel  was even smaller than the Roxabel I knew from my youth.

The home at Roxabel is a far cry from the typical southern Antebellum estate homes that have been restored such as Oak Alley Plantation or Belle Grove.
Roxabel could barely be considered a plantation house next to those behemoths of grandeur.

But I digress......

There are a woman in the wagon and a man standing next to it, and two young children, a boy and girl, standing on the lawn.
Not sure which members of the Marshall family these are, given that 1870's time frame.

By 1870 Hunter Holmes and his wife Sarah were in their 50's and their last child was born in 1859, so the children might be grandchildren, if in fact, this is Hunter and Sarah.

Or if the adults pictured are not Hunter and Sarah, it might be Hunter's eldest daughter, Mary Ann, making her around 30 in the early 1870's.    She married Robert Henry Gaines in 1868 and they had children--Hunter in 1878, Henry in 1880, Sarah in 1884 and Mary in 1886.  Mary Ann and Robert Gaines moved to Roxabel sometime after Judge Hunter Holmes moved to Richmond, VA to resume practicing law, and Robert took over the running of the farm.

So it's possible if the boy and girl pictured are their two middle children, Henry and Sarah, born in 1880 and 1884, this is a photo of the Robert Gaines family taken in the mid to late 1880's.  Mary Ann Gaines was Margaret Marshall's aunt.
Or it's possible that the children pictured are ones we have no knowledge of that were born earlier in their marriage and that would place this photo firmly in the 1870's.

At any rate, it's still a bit of a mystery as to the identity of these folks beyond the fact that they are Marshalls or Gaines.

And here is a photo of Roxabel as it stands today.....approx. 140 to 130 years after that first photo was taken......

Sometime in the 1930's my great grandparents, who had farmed this land as tenant farmers in at least the 1920's, bought the farm Roxabel.  They had the house extensively rebuilt, as you can tell from the side-by-side comparison below and then moved their family in sometime afterward.

My great grandparents lived here until my great grandfather's death in 1956.  My great grandmother continued to live here until sometime before 1967, at which time her children moved her into a house in town, where she resided until her death in 1973.

Roxabel passed out of the family sometime after that and was NOT kept up from all I've been told.
It passed through the hands of at least 2 owners after my great grandparents, before, sometime at the beginning of the 2000's, 3 of my mother's cousins pooled their resources and bought Roxabel back.

They continue to restore and bring back to it's former glory the "old home place".
The house and grounds are available to be rented out for weddings and other events.  Contact me for more information if you are interested in holding your event here and I'll pass it along to my 1st cousins 1x removed. 8-)
And of course the family reunion is held here each Fall.

So now you know more of the story and I didn't go too far off on a tangent with the genealogy stuff.  ;-)

Sluggy

Random Stuff at Chez Sluggy

I go to put the dog out and guess what I see?

* First off, it is snowing YET AGAIN here.  Friday through Sunday we had 3 storms blow through.  It started snowing again late last night.

Looking at the forecast online it looks like all this week is a pattern of a day of partly cloudy/sunny followed by a day of snow.
Oh joy!

* I may be going to that Blogger Meet-up in Delaware next month.  It depends on if someone who may give me a ride there can.  I should know in the next week if this will work out.
I SO need to get away from here for a bit before I start climbing up the walls!

* I just signed up for 3 month mail order refills on some of my prescriptions this morning through a company included in my new insurance coverage.  I paid $25.18 total for 3x 30 day refills last month.  Doing a 90 day refill for the 3 drugs will cost me $48.28, or $16.09 per 30 days.  It's only $8+ a month savings but since we have to pay full freight on prescription until the $3K deductible is satisfied, I'll take whatever savings I can get.
I just hope this works out and there aren't any issues not receiving my meds in a timely fashion.
And speaking of things happening in a timely fashion...NOT!.....

* Today begins WEEK FIVE of trying to get my DME company situation sorted out in regard to my healthcare coverage.  Despite being told over a week ago now by my healthcare company that my DME is covered and the company they passed me along to should have supplied what I need by now, I am still waiting on someone to DO something!  Now the DME Co. says they still need some form or other before they can deliver DME to me, which the healthcare company says it's all set.
No, it isn't.  My good buddy at the DME company, "Shaun", promised to follow up directly himself with the dr. office and get right back to me on Friday.  It's now Tuesday and "Shaun" is still MIA.
So yes, I get to call again and go through this whole rigmarole for the umpteenth time.
So tired of this......

* I got to have a broken filling replaced AND get a cleaning and ex-rays on the same day last week.  My jaw hurt for 2 days after that, as the dentist has a heck of a time getting the rest of the filling out, and she did some yanking on me.  She thinks they glued it in!
I get to go back on Friday for another filling too.
It's just a wild party around here, ain't it?  ;-)

* I get to go to my primary care dr. on Thursday.  While I am holding steady with my weight is it not heading South as fast as I would like it to be progressing.  The month of December was very bad for my weight loss since I gained.  Hey, it was Christmas and a holiday trip to a German Bier Haus.....what can I say?  January wasn't much better between being depressed and the weather et al.  February has been a wash as well.  I am doing ok health wise......no flu, haven't been sick, just depressed and tired of fighting about these insurance issues, which leads to more depression and "what the hell, I might as well eat my feelings" episodes.  sigh.

I do get to find out about getting off this blood thinner stuff I have been on due to that clot in my ankle last September.  I am due to be finished with this.

* I have had very few Etsy store sales since January 1st.  Frankly I've just neglected doing anything with that this year so far.  I did finally go into the Daughter's old room(aka my fabric lair now)and sort through some piles of fabric so I can get more new pieces up on Etsy.  I had hoped to get the rest of the flannel, corduroy and wool up in January but it didn't get done, so now that all gets thrown back into a tub to wait until late Summer to list it.  At least some of those Winter fabrics are now photographed and written up, so getting them actually for sale on Etsy won't take any time at all.
The last few days I DID get about 30 fabric pieces ready to list(photo'ed, measured, weighed and descriptions done)so I should have those up in the Etsy store this week.

I still don't "get" this whole "favoriting" thing on Etsy.  Someone can "favorite" an item in your Etsy store(it's like hitting the LIKE button on FB)and you can see who favorites what in your store.
I's a STORE folks, not an art show.....I don't CARE who likes my fabric!  I just care who BUYS my fabric!  That's how I judge whether someone likes my fabric or not, if they BUY it! lolz

* I let all the eBay listings expire in January.  I may go and relist everything later this week, just so it looks like I am doing something with it all.  But from what I hear not much is selling there lately for most everyone.  Things will pick up once the tax refund checks start flowing back into buyers' bank accounts though....I hope.  ;-)

* There is still no furniture in my living room besides some boxes of eBay stuff, a coffee table, an old wing chair, sofa table and the folding camp table I was doing taxes on in the dining area.  I just can't pull the trigger on buying a sofa right now.  I am not completely happy with my choices(color, size, fabric and price)plus there is no extra money left in the paychecks until March gets here to cover it.  I know I can yank money from elsewhere but why do that if I don't have to have a sofa right now?
It would just make me grumpier. lolz

* And speaking of taxes, I mailed off the Federal today.
Rah.  Had to redo the Education credit thing THREE TIMES to get it right. ugh.
And that $12K heating/cooling system we bought last year?  Guess how much Uncle Sam lets us take as an Energy credit for it?
$300.
Big whoop. 8-)))

* In GOOD news here.....Hubs gets a yearly Bonus.  We never know how big/little it will be.  It all depends on how his company does for the year, if his part of the business is profitable or not, how he is rated within the company, and the specific formula the company uses to distribute the bonus funds(this formula seems to change ever year and is more complicated than jumping through IRS hoops calculating your personal tax return).
He got his performance review and he was rated as high as is able.  Their business segment also had a fabulous year too.  So it all comes down to the formula they are using this year to decide on how far on the big side of the scale the bonus will be.  We find out Thursday when it hits the bank account.
I am so hoping it's enough to finish off #2 Son's college account with something leftover for us to use elsewhere.
Since as long as I can remember, the Bonus has always been used to fund the kids' college accounts.  At least the last 12 years.....even before we paid off the house, we dumped this money into the college funds.
Next year, if Hubs is still employed there, God willing!, will be the FIRST year in forever that we won't have to put the $ into the college fund.  I won't know what to do with myself if I have to make a decision on what to do with it.....but I'll give it my best shot. 8-)

* Cross your fingers we get to complete #2's fund and have money leftover, because(Sonya plug your ears)we are going to have to buy another car in the next few months.  The Hyundai Elantra needs to go!!  And Hubs won't just wait until August, when #2 leaves for college to just take back the Malibu.
I wish he would just limp along until August, because at that point we won't need 3 cars anymore and it will save having to ditch another car in August.  But he won't go with my plan so we are shelling out more money on cars in the coming months.
Argh.

* #2 Son applied for a new job last night on his way home from his music lesson.  He had quit his old job in January because it was getting so demanding of his free time and left him no time to practice for his auditions for college.  He was working almost 40 hours a week right before he left it.

This new one is just a weekend job so won't cut into his activities and school stuff.  But will give him a little cash so he isn't always hitting me up for some. lol

That about catches y'all up on the Drama here at Chez Sluggy.

What's going on in your world?

Sluggy