Throwback Thursday.....Sluggy's Sordid Past

Have you ever "googled" old boyfriends and flames?

I did recently and found some upsetting news.

Back when I was a senior in high school I hung out with a diverse mix of folks.
In high school I had a variety of friends.......my "art" friends, my "theater" friends, my friends who I had known since childhood and elementary school and then my friends who I took  the same classes with and hung out with both in school and outside of school.

Then there were the friends I made outside of school doing local community theater.
One of these friends was named Jane and she was an older woman.....well "older" meant anyone over 18 years old at that time to me. lolz

I met her doing a local theater production of "Once Upon a Mattress". (Sort of a fitting title for a show if you knew Jane. *snort*)
As it turned out she worked at the hospital across the street from my high school and lived nearby with her husband.
Jane wasn't happy in her marriage and use to go out to clubs dancing all. the. time. 
And sometimes I went with her.  She was planning on leaving her husband and had rented an apartment and I and a friend from school(who's mother had kicked her out of the house)were going to share the apartment with her for the Summer(after I graduated from high school). 

Anyway, I was hanging out with Jane at night sometimes when I wasn't working my part time job or doing theater and let's just say that Jane met some interesting characters. ;-)  One night Jane invited me to hang out with her and her newest boyfriend, Romeo(yes, that was actually his name!)and this new beau brought along his friend, Mike.

Romy and Mike were buddies serving on the same ship in the US Navy.
My hometown had quite a large population of Filipinos, either immigrants from the Philippines or Filipinos who had joined the US Navy and were stationed in Norfolk, VA.
Yes, I dated a squid.....squid is the not so endearing term used by locals to describe members of the US Navy.
Hey! I grew up near one of the largest naval installations in the US so it's only natural that I would date a sailor at some point.

Mike was a nice guy and fairly shy.  He was only my second serious relationship at that point in my life.  He was also 6 years older than me and he was born and raised in the Philippines.  He joined the navy to see the world and to rise above a life of poverty back in the Philippines.  He had a large family with many siblings, all younger than he was.
He taught me how to make "pancit" and a few curse words in Tagalog, his native tongue.

We were "an item" the Spring and Summer of 1977 but the relationship quietly died away when I left to attend college outside of Baltimore that Fall.  Mike wasn't a letter writer and this was before the internet and cell phones and I had no landline at college.

I heard nary a word from Mike after the Summer of 1977, until two years later, during the Summer of 1979, while I was in New Hampshire doing Summer Stock Theater in a little town called Milford.   The phone in Mrs. Guertin's barn, where the theater's costume shop was located, rang one day and out of the blue, it was Mike on the line.  He had called my family home in VA and my mother happened to have been there at that time and gave him the number for the theater where I was living/working in NH.

We spoke for about a half an hour.  Mike was still in the Navy and still stationed in Norfolk VA.  He had leave(aka time off)and wanted to make a trip up to see me and renew our relationship.    Being Summer Stock I didn't get time off if he came up anyway so that wasn't such a good idea.
Besides I was now seeing and had been together with my current Hubs about 1.5 years at that time.  He said he'd call me again when I returned to Virginia before going back to college, we said goodbye and I never heard from him again.

  Mike and Romeo aboard ship..  Mike is the one mugging for the camera.

I went googling Mike the other day just out of curiosity and found out that he was dead.

Evidently he stayed in the Navy and achieved the rank of Chief Petty Officer.  Unfortunately he died in 1993 at the age of 39.  Place of death was listed as the North Pacific which means he died aboard ship. 
He was so young to have died.  It's sort of shocking to find out someone you knew when you were young died so long ago.
I don't know what he did between when we ended communications and his death.  I hope he had a good life after we parted ways and found love in his journey.
I still have a soft spot in my heart for him and this news saddened me greatly.

R.I.P.
Michael Carlos Nepomuceno

Sluggy



 

Busy Day, Getting Stuff Done....How About You?

Well the temperature finally dropped here to something more seasonal.  It hit 91F on Friday and broke a record for that date and it's been hovering in the high 80's since then.  I was beginning to wonder what happened to Spring!  We seemed to have gone from Winter directly to Summer in NEPA.
So right now it's 51F and it feels great to me.  I have looked at Shreveport LA weather for next weekend and it's going to be hovering in the high 80's down when we get there. ugh.  But that's seasonal for down there so I won't complain too much and will just stay in the a/c when we get there. lolz

The main thing I need to finish this week is packing for the trip.

Last week I did this........

I emptied my closet.....totally!  I needed to change out my clothing for Spring/Summer quickly with the extreme high temps coming so I just took it all out so I could also get rid of some items I haven't worn in years.

And here are all my clothes except the stuff in my dresser.....

And here are all my shoes in tote bags that I need to go through and decide what to keep and clean and what to get rid of........

Until I put the shoes altogether in one place I didn't realize I had this many pairs!
Yah, just call me Imelda......

So Sunday was spent pulling all the inserts out of my shoes and hand washing/scrubbing them.  Some actual shoes were also put into the wash and then air dried(great weather for that).

With College Boy home since Saturday my washer/dryer has been going full bore pretty much.  And this is after he DID HIS LAUNDRY(or so he says)before we picked him up.
But.....he had THREE COUNT 'EM THREE comforters on his bed at school so I've been washing those, along with trying to get everything clean that Hubs and I own so we can pack for the trip.

I haven't gone through much of the pile of clothing in the "toiletries/purple/guest room" yet due to the heat and not having the window a/c in the window in that room yet.
But today with the cooler temps I will tackle that chore and go through my dresser to boot.
Actual packing for the trip should happen after that or on Thursday.

I still need to gather/pack the things daughter wants us to bring her.  I'll get that finished today/tomorrow and all put in one spot so that after we pack the car with Hubs and my luggage, we'll
start adding her crap until Hubs says "enough".  ;-)

Yesterday was spent gabbing on the phone with a fellow blogger and then toting College Boy up to the grocery store.  I am done with trying to guess what he wants to eat, so I just make him come with me to the store and pick stuff out.
I picked up a few deals......dozen eggs for .99¢ x 2,  napkins for $1.88 x 2,  a head of lettuce .99¢, 2 containers of cottage cheese $5(for making lasagna at some point next month)and 2 bottles of a G2 Gatorade $2.50(I can't get in town that I wanted to try).

The rest of the $68.75 haul was all College Boy's doing.......4 x Doritos B2G2F($7.98), 2 loaves potato bread B1G1F($3.29), 4 x 12-packs cream soda($1.99 ea.), chili($2.29ea.), TastyKake  goodies(2/$6), frozen breakfast sandwiches($1.39 ea.), 2 bags of bagels(2/$3),  gallon of milk, 2 cartons of OJ(2/$3) and a frozen pizza($6.99)and a couple more things I don't recall but it was probably junk food. lolz

Speaking of College boy....he started his Summer job Monday night and it sounds like it will work out fine.....except that it's so far away.  He still needs to find another part time job since this one is only giving him 17 hours a week.  We have a couple of leads to follow up for one and I'll be nagging/pushing him to get one before we leave for our trip.

Today I need to hike up to Weis(PMITA)Markets for a few items, then swing by the bank for cash/Traveler's checks and to get CB to pull money out of his account so he can buy a PAYG phone and a phone card.
He lost his last phone at a frat party at school(argh!)last semester and I don't want him having to drive so far away to this job and coming home late at night in a rural area without a phone.
This is not negotiable with me even though he will balk at having to pay for it himself.  Well if you were more responsible with your phone you wouldn't have to, right?  Consequences are a bitch. ;-)

I've been trying to get lots of my cycling work in before we go, as I don't know if I'll have the opportunity to cycle while we are away.  I am sure I'll get some exercise walking all over so I won't backslide on the trip.

I know I won't get any sewing done before we leave now.  If I have time later this week I'll still work on that goal.  Not that I'll be able to wear any shirts I make on the trip anyway.....it's so warm down there I'll live in dresses.  I won't be wearing shorts except in my hotel room.  I don't want to be responsible for blinding the population of Shreveport Louisiana. *snort*

I went through and paid ahead all the monthly bills I could, earlier this week, since we may not be able to pay things or want to while on the trip.  The only ones not paid are the electric bill which hasn't cut yet and won't be due until after we get home and a few medical bills which can wait.
I hated to see all that cash fly out of the account especially since we haven't gotten any paychecks in this month.  But we have a nice cushion in the account so no worries.

I am off to pick up rx refills soon and up to Weis and the bank as soon as CB decides to get up today.

What are you up to today?

Sluggy


 

Tightwad Much?

I came across these series of videos on YouTube from the BBC show on Tightwads.

Here is the first video and if you watch it the subsequent ones should begin playing automatically afterwards.....




The English call tightwadery being "mean". 
Interesting, the expression "mean with money".

Give these a watch when you have some free time.   They are at least good for a giggle.  Heck, some of them might give you some good ideas! lolz


What have you done that would fall under the tightwad category?


Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Mother's Day" Edition--

 

 

The flowers from my daughter and Hubs, cards from Hubs and his oldest brother and my oldest son called me on Sunday to chat.  My only kid actually HERE on Mother's Day made no effort.....I didn't even get a "Happy Mother's Day or I love you Mom" or a hug outta him.  Just for that, I'll be waking him up bright and early today and putting him to work out in the yard......that'll show him! ;-)

 

 

Anyway, onward to the meal planning!

 

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

 

1.  Leftover Lemon Chicken w/Zucchini and Rice
2.  Leftover Taco Salad

3.  Kielbasa or Hot Dogs, homemade Boston Baked Beans(maybe), leftover veggies and macaroni salad
4.  Chicken Parm, Tomato and Cuke Salad(use up some produce)

5.  Ravioli,  Sauté of Squash and Onions

6.  Fend For Yourself
7.  Pizza?
 

And this is what actually happened--

1.  Leftover Lemon Chicken w/Zucchini and Rice
2.  Leftover Taco Salad

3.  Kielbasa or Hot Dogs, leftover veggies and macaroni salad
4.  Chicken Parm, Tomato and Cuke Salad(use up some produce)

5.  Ravioli,  Sauté of Squash and Onions

6.  Fend For Yourself
7.  Fend For Yourself

Everything went as planned I guess except no pizza.  We stopped at a nice? restaurant on the way home from getting College Boy on Saturday so we just scrounged at home for something light for dinner.

Last week I made 5 trips to 3 different food stores and spent $52.98 OOP on $143.47 worth of reg. retail groceries and toiletries

I had 3 transactions at Rite-Aid last week and spent $11.67!
Gasp!!!
That's what happens when you have no +Ups or Plenti Pts. and are starting from scratch.....the OOP is too danged high!
I now have 600 Plenti Pts.
Again like last time I say....."Whoo-pee".

$232.74(plus $11.67 at R-A) spent of my $? May food budget.

Leftovers going into this week are---taco filling and some veggies leftover from the osso buco and mashed potatoes.
Hubs is out of town after Tuesday dinner time so it's just College Boy and me to feed Wednesday to Saturday.....and College Boy has work already(evenings) and Thursday is a long standing "Wing Night" at a local handout with his buds.

I don't want to cook a lot of leftover type dishes this week since we are going on vacation and College Boy has a bad track record with eating leftovers when we are gone.  I'll just put some easy fix items in the house(burritos, chicken strips, frozen pizza, etc.)and some cash to get fast food(as he has been fast food deprived due to a lack of spending $ at college)as that is what he wants to eat.
 

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

1.  Chinese Take-out(Mother's Day and I don't cook!)
2.  Salmon, Squash casserole

3.  Leftover Chinese take-out
4.  Rotisserie Chicken, Roasted Cauliflower

5.  Fend for Yourself/Wing Night

6.  Tacos or Taco Salad
7.  Subway sammies

I am only cooking 2 "meals" this week.  I have TONS to do before we leave and all of College Boy's crap and laundry to deal with this week so I am all about making things as easy as possible this week.
 

What I need to buy for this menu.......nothing except to buy the take-out foods(Subway sammies,  Rotisserie Chicken at Weis).  I will use up the Osso Buco veggies in sauce by putting that into my taco filling this week.  Tacos leftover is the one thing College Boy will eat that is leftover even if we aren't home to remind him. 8-)

I will be hitting the grocery stores for some loss leaders this week and any deals that pop up or instant discount meats as usual.  I am figuring about $60 of spending.
 

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

Happy Mother's Day & Giveaway Winner

First off Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms out there!
I hope your kids fete you in some nice ways this year.....or at least CALL YOU! lolz

I lost my mom almost 15 years ago and I still miss her.

And now here is the Winner of my latest Boring Blog Box Giveaway.

CSKIES!

cskies1April 29, 2015 at 6:52 AM

Your food totals so far for 2015 look great....hope May doesn't blow you out of the water!! :)
Adding another entry for your giveaway box of goodies!!
cskies1 at yahoo dot com

Congratulations!
I guess that mountain of entries paid off for you.  ;-)

Please send me an email cskies with your full name and mailing address and I'll get this box of goodies out to you asap.  You have 48 hours from when this entry posts to get back to me with the information or I'll have to draw another name.

And another big THANK YOU to everyone who played along this go 'round.

I'll have another Giveaway Box coming up soon so stay tuned.

I am off now to enjoy the Mother's Day breakfast Hubs made for me......

Sluggy