March Goals Results

* Start Crochet Project
DONE!
Just barely though.
I did the first row, aka the chain.  Here it is.....lolz

* Get College Boy/Return College Boy
DONE!
I didn't actually have to return him as Hubs did that part of it.

* Clean House
FAIL
We did a little cleaning before company came for Easter(cobwebs, floors downstairs)but the house still needs some deep Spring cleaning.
Have I mentioned lately how much I despite cleaning??

* Use Exercise Bike 25 Days
DONE!
I have turned using the exercise bike into a habit at this point.  There were a few days earlier in the month where I didn't get on it.  I started slow, trying to do half a mile was a struggle!  I am an old woman who is out of shape after all.  Now I am up to having biked 22 miles for March and am up to almost 1.5 miles per day by the end of the month.

* Use Hand Weights 12 days
FAIL
While I have made the bike riding a habit I only did the hand weight exercises 3 or 4 times(see?  I didn't even keep track.)
I need to put more of an effort into getting this one done every other day.

* Pay the Bills 
DONE!
Everything was paid either on time or early and in full.

* Go the Dentist
DONE!
Had a cleaning and 2 fillings done and the bill just arrived so that will be paid this week.  I am good for another 6 months on this chore.

* Have eye surgery consult
DONE!
What a long drawn out day.  But it's over, now we just have the actual cataract surgery to go at the end of April.  I'd love to get this done sooner however.

* Make vacation plans
IN PROGRESS
We have the stay in LA booked we just have to plan the route both there and home.  We may take a bit more time getting there and stopping along the way to do things(still to be determined).
Anybody out there located between PA and LA want to get together for a meal or something mid to late May?  Email me.

The APRIL To-Do List is now posted on the blog.

How did you do on your March goals?

Sluggy


 

Using Up the +Up Rewards

I went to Rite-Aid Monday to use up my $20 in +Up Rewards I have left.
The plan was to cash in as many rain checks as I could and get some things we can use/need(like trash bags).

Things didn't quite work out the way I planned.....

2 x cases of R-A water bottles on sale=$4.66 *not pictured*
1 x container Edy's ice cream 50%off clearance=$3.24 *not pictured*
2 x Glad kitchen trash bags Rain Check $3.99ea.=$7.98
2 x Irish Spring body wash Rain Check 2/$4=$4.00
2 x Dial bar soap Rain Check .99¢=$1.98
1 x Reach toothbrushes Rain Check=.99¢
1 x GE light bulb Rain Check=FREE
SubTotal......$22.85

Coupons Used
2 x $1.50/1 Irish Spring body wash IPQ=$3.00
Coupon Total.....$3.00

$22.85-$3=$19.85

That's what should have happened, but this is what actually happened....

Coupons Used
2 x $1.50/1 Irish spring body wash IPQ=$3.00
1 x $1/2 Dial soap Load2CardQ=$1.00
1 x $1.50/1 Irish Spring Load2CardQ=$1.50
Coupon Total.....$5.50

$22.85-$5.50=$17.53

Yes, 2 Load2Card Qs came off I wasn't expecting so the cashier pushed through both my IPQ Irish Spring ones.

$17.35 + .15¢tax=$17.50
I used $17 of my $20 +Up Rewards and paid .50¢ OOP.

$59.69 worth of items brought home for .50¢.

And I still have $3 in +Ups to use before the week ends so there will be one more trip to Rite-Aid for me this month.

Sluggy
 

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Hubs Birthday on Easter" Edition.....

 

The year Hubs was born that day was the day before Easter.
His mother, we were told, considered naming him Peter because of that......as in Peter Cottontail hopping down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity Easter's on it's way.
So glad she came to her senses. lolz

Happy Birthday Hubs!!!

Anyway, onward to the meal planning!

 

Here's what was planned last week.......

1.  Broccoli Soup, Salad(We had steak out for lunch so not so hungry at dinner time.)
2.  Irish Stew, leftover Cabbage

3.  Grilled Fish, Roasted Veggies, Coleslaw

4.  Mushroom Quiche, Salad
5.  Sloppy Joes(leftover),

6.  Coq au Vin, Potatoes, Carrots, Asparagus
7.  Easter Ham, Deviled Eggs, Mac & Cheese, Green Beans

 

And this is what actually happened--

1.  Broccoli Soup, Salad(We had steak out for lunch so not so hungry at dinner time.)
2.  Irish Stew, leftover Cabbage

3.  Shrimp and Grits(I didn't have the grits), stir-fry Veggies

4.  Mushroom Quiche, Asparagus
5.  Sloppy Joes(leftover),

6.  Hubs has lasagna leftovers, I had a salad

7.  Stuffed pork chop, leftover stir-fry Veggies

Everything went as planned except no Coq au Vin because I found reduced stuffed pork chops at the grocery store so we had that instead.   Plus I put Easter dinner on this menu when my plans run from Sunday to Saturday so I lost a day somewhere last week. lolz

Last week I made 4 trips to the grocery stores and spent $161.52.42 OOP on $265.34 worth of reg. retail groceries.

The Target and Maine Source trips I talked about last week plus 1 trip to Weis where I picked up reduced meats and items needed for Easter dinner. I also bought Hubs and I chocolate covered Easter eggs at Weis(small ones)which added an unplanned $7.98 of spending there.

Then I made an unplanned stop at Price Chopper on Saturday as they were running a TRIPLE 10 Coupons a day deal(only coupons for .99¢ or less).  I bought 10 items--frozen rolls(for Easter), LOL butter, ICBINB(aka I Can't Believe It's Not Butter), Jasmine rice, a can of roasted corn, a box of Little Debbie oatmeal pies, sliced Kraft cheese and 3 shakers of Parmesan cheese.  The parm was $2 a shaker, the rice was $1.50 and everything else was between .24¢ and .74¢ after sale prices and coupons were tripled.  The can of corn was actually free after tripled coupon.  I also stocked up on Gatorade2 as they had it for $1 per 2 qt. bottle.

I had 1 transaction at Rite-Aid last week and spend .25¢ OOP on $5.29 worth of toiletries.

For the week, $161.77 total spending on $270.63 worth of food/toiletries/HBA.

$161.77 spent of my $300 April food budget, leaving us $138.23 for the next 25 days of the month. 

Leftovers going into this week are--1 whole quiche, asparagus, Popeye's chicken and green beans(Sat. lunch take-out)and sloppy joe mix.  Actually we have a lot of food leftover from Easter dinner too(since I write this on Monday)even after giving the BI-L and nephew a goodly portion of ham, mac and cheese and sweet potatoes.

Here is the plan for this week.........

1.  Easter ham, deviled eggs, mac & cheese, mixed Italian veggies, sweet potatoes
2.  grilled fish, leftover Easter side dishes

3.  chicken marsala, mashed potatoes, asparagus
4.  Assorted leftovers

5.  Boston baked beans, assorted leftovers

6.  leftover Popeye's meal stuff
7.  quiche leftovers

4 nights of leftovers and 3 nights of new dishes.  We will be eating Easter leftovers all this week in between making new meals, plus the leftover chicken from Saturday lunch.

 

What I need to buy for this menu......nothing at all.   I have the fish, the raw chicken, the dried beans, molasses, onions, potatoes, mushrooms, etc. for the new meals.  I also have makings for a nice salad still which will be fixed sometime this week.

I haven't even glanced at the grocery ads for this week and I may just stay out of the stores as my food budget is looking puny after last weeks "shopfest". 8-(

 

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

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten that week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?

Sluggy

Random Money Stuff

Just a bunch of financial things without enough for a whole post......

*  April 1st Net Worth is DOWN $3842.66 from March 1st's Net Worth.  This is mainly due to A-less than stellar stock market gains and B-we bought a car for cash.

*  Comparing our net worth(I don't count the house)with 2014 April 1st's figures we are UP $89,985.59 from this same time last year.  Two thirds of that gain is because of the retirement accounts.

*  Though we are doing well saving, personally I am still not happy with our savings rate.  Working off of straight income from Hubs, last year we saved 29+% of our net income.  So far in 2015 the savings rate is 28+%.

Who are these people who say they save 70% of their income?!?  How is this possible without either sleeping in a tent and eating Alpo.....no, not even Alpo as that's pricey.....Gravy Train!?

Where can I find someone to pay me for just being an awesome human being? ;-)

*  It looks like we will spend every nickel of Hubs bonus this year.  Between the new to-us car, having the bathroom work done and various trips we are taking this year that need funding, the bonus monies will be tapped out.  Last year by comparison we banked almost half of the bonus. 
I suppose 2015 is not a great bonus year but at least he got a bonus so I should be grateful.....and I AM!

*  I have saved $25.50 in change so far in 2015 in my Sealed Pot Challenge.  Pitiful.....

I also have received $19 in rebates and 4 Vouchers for 12-packs of Coke in the mail.  I don't hardly even drink Coke anymore!  I'd love to see more food/toiletries rebates come down the pike but since the recession "ended" 4 years ago companies just aren't putting rebating opportunities out there. sigh

*  Hubs has now decided that he will retire in 3 years and not 2 years.  This makes things a bit easier since College Boy will graduate in 3 years as well.  He still needs medical insurance until he graduates and finds a j-o-b and I don't believe Hubs retiree medical can cover him once Hubs retires.

While having Hubs retire is a good thing it still scares me.  I know we will be fine financially but retirement will be a big change financially and in other ways too.  It's something we've been working toward for so long I am having anxiety at it really being almost here.

I must say, if you/your spouse has a good paying job and has finally worked their way up the pay ladder it's kinda hard to let go of those nice regular paychecks even if you know you have enough(or will have enough)to live on after the salary ends.  8-)


Sluggy
 

I Meaded This!

Last Sunday we finally had a nice day here.
By nice I mean sunny.....I don't mean warm yet. lolz
I really needed this excursion out......or should I say I "meaded" this?! 8-)

Anyway, Hubs had a Groupon I gave him for Christmas and we finally got a chance to travel down to Allentown to use it.

It was for a tour and tasting at a Meadery...The Colony Meadery.

If you don't know what a Meadery is, it's like a Brewery but they make mead, not beer.

Mead is a very old beverage.  It's been around in some form since prehistoric times.
It's still made close to it's original form in places like Ethiopia and Egypt to this day.
Of course, mead, or tej as it's called in Ethiopia is very different from the modern versions of mead.

       #getbuzzed on the back of their tasting glasses.....too cute
Mead was one of the first products humans knew to ferment.  Honey and water were combined and the natural yeasts pulled from the atmosphere ate the sugars in honey and turned it into alcohol for our enjoyment.  Of course, we learned during the tour that there isn't enough nitrogen present in honey to complete the process to make it drinkable for a modern audience.  Often what you end up with is similar to tej, which is a thick viscose overly sweet "liquid". 

Recently home brewers have been experimenting with how to keep the yeast working.  This involves lowering & maintaining temperatures artificially in brewing vats to adding other forms of yeast and/or ingredients to keep the yeast happy and eating until you have a more acceptable product which people enjoy drinking.

Dan with his 2 new girlfirends, "Bertha" and "Agnes".  I love how they name their vats. lolz
Colony Meadery is currently using smallish food grade plastic vats.

They have these big bad boys on site and will upgrade to them and a higher production output soon.....

Meet "Matilda".  Off to her right and behind is my favorite, "Otis".....hehehe

Many commercial brewers add grapes and wine yeast to make their mead(Chaucer's and Bunratty).  These are technically Wine-Meads and much sweeter than a good mead.  Mead when crafted well has much more complexity than these brands. (Plus it isn't as sweet.)

Anyway, the operation we visited "The Colony Meadery" has only been around for about 2 years and it still in it's infancy.  But they are already making a taste line of products and are winning medals.

Yes, like beer and fine spirits, there are competitions for mead makers.  There are 3 mead only Events held in the US, one each in New Hampshire, Michigan and Colorado.  In fact the MAZER CUP, the Colorado competition was held the week before our visit to Allentown and The Colony Meadery won a few medals, a Silver for this interesting mead version called "Mo-Me-Doh".....

It's a lime and mint infused mead and the name plays on the cocktail called a Mojito.  8-)

We also learned all about the art of beekeeping and more than you'd want to know about honey and bees.  The Colony Meadery only uses orange blossom honey that has been minimally processed.  The type of honey is very important in mead making since the sugars in honey are converted to alcohol so your raw materials(used by the bees to make the honey)can impart good or bad characteristics to your finished product.

We even got to take home these spiffy glasses.


When the folks at Colony Meadery began there were only a few meaderies in PA.  Today there are 40 and more coming down the pike.
The revolution in making mead came a few years ago when someone posted a recipe for making mead on a craft beer home brewers group and people started experimenting in earnest with making modern verions of mead.

But enough of all that edification, soon it was time to taste the good stuff!

 The selection of tasting bottles and Greg, one of the owners.

We ended up bringing home a case of various meads we enjoyed..........

They also do growler fills though Hubs hadn't brought any of his along this trip.
There is a small craft beer brewery next door called "HiJinx" so we will probably be making another trip down there later this year, maybe when our craft beer crazed son comes home for a visit.  ;-)

 

A shout out to Todd and anne marie-- this isn't too far away from where you live and I think you'd enjoy this....at lest the tasting part. ;-)

If any of my readers are going to be in the Allentown PA area, HERE is a link to the Groupon for The Colony Meadery.

Sluggy