Well I Lied & Other Randomness

*  I went out to Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!) yesterday for a mop but I didn't come home with one.

If I buy a mop I like to buy refills(sponge heads)that fit it.   Though they had some cheap mops, there were no refill heads and I won't buy a mop when I don't know where I can replacement heads for it.
I guess I'll continue to be the Queen of "spray the floor and use a rag/paper towel with my foot to clean" for awhile longer. 8-)

I did however, at Ollie's, buy FOUR books, a bath rug and a few food products(hummus dip/corn oil/dried refried bean mix/grated cheese shaker).  The food was $7.44 to add to my grocery spending.

Then I stopped at the Shursave grocery for a couple of things.....

1 x Flounder fillets on sale=$3.99
3 x mushrooms on sale=$5.00
6 x roma tomatoes=$2.26
Total.....$11.23

I used my last $10 store scrip from a deal I did in May so $1.23 OOP for this transaction.

I didn't go in for the mushrooms or fish but it was a good price so I snatched it up.
I went for slicing(sandwich)tomatoes but they all looked anemic so I got these roma ones instead.  Romas are known for being meaty with less seeds and goop so that suited my purpose for sammiches.

So another $8.67 bringing my weekly grocery spending this week to $56.78.  Just over 1 more week to go in June for shopping and I've spent $423.74 on food/toiletries.

*  I pulled a chunk of smoked brisket out of the freezer and dumped it into the crockpot yesterday, added a little barbecue sauce near the end and we had pulled beef bbq sandwiches with leftover cole slaw from the other night when I made flounder.
I also put that big pack of chicken leg quarters I got earlier in the week for .50¢ a lb. on the smoker yesterday late afternoon after I applied a dry rub and barbecued up those suckers.  Hubs doesn't know what he wants to do this weekend yet as the weather forecast keeps changing so if he wants to cook-out at some point all I need to do is heat those legs up on the grill and slap on some sauce and then worry about scrounging up some side dishes.

*  There is also 6 bags of mulch sitting on the front porch so if the rain holds off we'll hold Mulchfest 2015 sometime this weekend.  Come on over!

*  I am up to 46 miles on the bike so far this month with another 11 days to go.  Not bad considering I didn't bike 2 days out of the month to this point.  That's almost 2.5 miles a day average.  I'll reach my goal of 50 miles easy this month and will up the goal for July.

*  One of the books I got the other day is called "The 5 Years Before You Retire" which I have already finished.  While I get the premise, if you wait until 5 years before you retire to do ANY saving/planning for your retirement, man, are you screwed! lolz

There is a lot of helpful information in here, especially about Medicare and Social Security that is hard to find in a digestible way in any one place.  It's a good book to refer to as you wind down toward retirement.
Being a "worrier" about all things financial, parts of this scared the hell out of me(the SS and Medicare/Health stuff). 8-O

*  The weather here has been cooler than the last couple of weeks, more in line with June weather in these parts.  Cooler being in the 70's/80's as opposed to the high 80's/90's.  I'll take 70's any day over the latter.

*  My doctor's office pissed me off this week.
I had an appointment(routine semi-annual)on Thursday at 9am.  I get a phone message at 5:45pm on Wednesday from the office that they have to cancel/change my appointment and to call them back.
So I call them right back within 5 minutes and get the "the office is closed" message and you can't leave a message. grrrr

So I don't know whether I still have an appointment and now I still have to get up at the crack of dawn anyway to call them back in the morning.  The office opens at 8am so I start calling then and no one is answering the phones, they still have the "office is closed" message going.

It isn't until 8:30 when they actually start answering my calls!  So I get rescheduled for this coming Wednesday and she passes the buck as to who is too blame for this crap AND I don't even get an apology(even a half-hearted one).  I'll bring this up at my appointment with the doctor but I am sure he won't care either.  I want to know who the hell screwed up dammit!  And I want them to grovel.....  ;-)

*  Ok, I am off to take some giveaway box photos(new giveaway coming up soon!), finish putting the decluttering into bags so it can get hauled to Salvation Army and jump on that exercise bike for awhile.

What are you up to this weekend?

Sluggy


 

Ocean City Fall Vacation 2013.....Part 1

Well as I was going through and editing photos from this last trip to Louisiana I realized that I never blogged about 2 of our trips to Ocean City Maryland in the Fall of 2013 AND 2014.

Doh!

So here goes a brief(well at least for me)summary with photos of our trip to OC in 2013. 
Ok, if you know me you know this won't be brief but will be, instead, a long multipart post.  ;-)

We got onto the interstate not too early, 9ish.
Man, somebody should have cleaned the windshield before we left.....

Once we hit Delaware(Wilmington)it was time to make our pilgrimage here......

A big ass liquor store with every libations known to man(within reason).  Due to the archaic alcohol regulations in PA, we have to bootleg many of our adult beverages into the state from bordering states with sane alcohol sales laws.

This being our first trip into Total Wine & More I think we wandered around for close to 2 hours.  Well I was in a wheelchair(due to that blood clot in my ankle back then)so it took me awhile to get through the joint.
I don't recall what we spent but it was a LOT! lolz

Back on the road........

If you live in these parts you know that "Dover Beaches" doesn't mean there are beaches in Dover Delaware.  Dover and Beaches are two separate destinations. ;-)

We had tentative plans to meet up with Ron from Retired in Delaware for lunch.  After taking so long in the Liquor Nirvana we were running late.  I called him from the road when we were near the shore to let him know what time we were due to arrive and to meet us at the restaurant.  I got his voice mail.

Well we waited around for about 45 minutes for Ron to arrive or call, sipping on drinks before we gave up on him and ordered.
I didn't know at the time that Ron's nap time is sacred and never changes when it happens.  Ron had turned off his phone to nap so that is why I couldn't reach him.

I had fun with Ron even though he didn't show up and made a video which you can see HERE

Me, mugging for the camera afterwards to prove to Ron we were here.
It was a beautiful sunny day and warm for October.

As for our lunch.....Note to self--don't ever get the oysters at The Bay Leaf Restaurant again......frozen prepackaged and all batter, no oyster.  You would think a restaurant down near the shore would have fresh seafood, wouldn't you?

After our late lunch(more like 3pm)we got into Rehoboth and spied another large liquor store.

 

I think my minivan had a liquor store sensor as it always seemed to stop at large liquor stores this trip. ;-)
Another hour or so browsing(and buying)via wheelchair and we were back on the road again and finally hit Ocean City MD about dark.

It took quite some time to unload everything into the hotel room this trip.  Being in a wheelchair nothing was quick or easy for me.
We finally settled into the room as a colorful October moon came up.....

I took a shot off the balcony of the boardwalk.  Nice and deserted....

Around 8 or so we got hungry so I loaded my PWA into the wheelchair and Hubs pushed me down the boardwalk toward the supposed Backshore Brewing on 10th St. that is suppose to be open until 2am.
Well we get there and it's closed up tight.  Seems at least in 2013 they were only open during the Summer season.
So Hubs started wheeling me back toward the hotel and we stopped in an Italian place to eat called Brothers Bistro on 11th St.

I won't complain about the cost($20 for a pizza.....seriously?!?)because every single restaurant down in OC is exorbitantly overpriced.....except for Pizza Hut, Subway and Denny's.  Yes, the cahin restaurants are reasonable but every local place has crazy prices!  And this is for mediocre food, nothing special.  I guess if you are in a seasonal area you have to make a year's worth of profit in 8 months(or less)to stay open.

But I will complain that there was hardly any staff and the wait time was long for said pizza.  Why so long a wait seeing as there was hardly anyone in the place?  We had a ringside seat for the brick pizza oven and not another customer within 30 feet of us.

Back to the room after a brisk roll down the Boardwalk.

The next morning Hub get up at the ass-crack of dawn to see the sun rise.  He does this every time we are here.

 You would think, since he is on vacation and doesn't for once have to get up so blasted early he would sleep in!
No.

Hubs took a walk in the a.m.(without me since I couldn't walk far this trip)and then we relaxed on the balcony a bit.

Later that morning we headed out to pick up foodstuffs for this visit.  We always get a room with a kitchenette and make most of our meals in the room(breakfast and some dinners while we do lunches out).

 Later, after a quick lunch in , we headed out for our activity that day.

Doing the brewery tour at Dogfish Head in Milton.

 Here is the door where they start the tour, next to the restrooms.

The Women's bathroom had a little wooden fish hanging on the door.  The shark(or is it a dogfish?)had POO-PEE lettered onto it.
Wtf?
I guess if you drink enough dogfish head beer(the tasting bar is right near the restrooms) you need to go pee-pee but who goes poo after guzzling beer? lol

I just thought this was bizarre....or maybe my pain medications for the blood clot made me think this was bizarre.

Next time we tour the Brewery.

Sluggy

This Week's Shopping

Not much to report in on as far as shopping this week.
A trip to Weis(PMITA)Markets for loss leaders and a cheese deal spending $39.22.

You can see the video of this trip HERE


A trip Hubs made to the Shursave affiliated grocer last weekend for milk and 3 cases of bottled water(on sale)that I forgot to mark down on last week's spending, so $8.89 extra on this week's tab.

$48.11 for the week.
Now I am off to buy a new mop.
Oh the wild and crazy adventures I have! lolz

Sluggy

Ask the Sluggy......Answers Part 1

Here are some answers to blog readers questions from the other day.....

*  Janet, One Family and Linda all asked how did I get the nickname Sluggy.

Ok, here goes the long answer....lolz

My middle child, the Daughter, was born in Dec. 1992.

My Daughter doing her Mr. Magoo impersonation at 1 day old.


Being the middle of freaking Winter in the Poconos of PA none of my family came to visit us after she was born, due to the distance/weather.
So that Summer in June Hubs, oldest son and baby daughter and I took a trip down to show off new baby to my mother and my brothers.
My mother was living with my oldest brother, Dennis, at that time so we stayed with them.  Daughter was 6+ months old by the time we went down to visit.

But let me explain before we took that trip--Daughter began teething at 4 months.  When babies teeth their immune systems go beserk so teething babies are prone to getting colds, infections, etc. plus teething babies drool incessantly.

My daughter once she began teething did so constantly for a year or more....so she also seemed to keep a cold that entire time too.
When babies teeth/get colds their noses run and they drool excessively.
A great combination!
If you've been around a bulldog IRL, you get the idea.  Many is the day I'd threaten to tie a drool bucket around her neck. ;-)

The Daughter was also orally fixated as a baby, meaning everything that made it to her hand, went directly into her mouth.  To experience something she had to taste it.

A normal baby activity, putting toys in the mouth and chomping down on it when teething.

 Grandma giving her a taste of cantaloupe after she kept dive-bombing the bowl sitting on the table while being held.  Later that trip Grandma gave her a pork chop bone to gnaw on.  The child wasn't even on solid foods yet.

 Trying out a new tooth on mom's nose.  I went in for a kiss and she opened her mouth and chomped down on my nose. It hurt like a sumabitch!

Nothing within reach to taste?.....go with the old standby of fingers.

 Tasting the stroller.

What's better than Cheerios?  Cheerios AND snotty fingers!

Tasting Uncle Dennis.....she is sucking on his hand.

Immediately after this shot she put her toes in her mouth....sigh

In the bath it's hard to decide between sucking on your bath toy or your washcloth.

A large number of baby photos of this child have her with something in her mouth edible or not.  These are just a few random shots from my collection.

So her hands were coated non-stop with drool and snot from the teething and she put everything in or on her mouth.
And once she started crawling she left a slimy trail behind everywhere she went.
She lived her fist year of life always wearing a bib and with an exhausted mother hovering nearby with a wad of Kleenex at the ready. lol

So after about 1 day of interacting with Daughter down in VA, my oldest brother christened her "the Slug Baby".....you know, because slugs leave a slimy trail behind.
And then, since I was the Slug Baby's mother I became known in the family as "Slugmama".

A few years later when I went online and joined a private forum group of collector's I used the name Slugmama.  These people started calling me Sluggy for short....I guess Slugmama was just too cumbersome. lol

So that is the story. 8-)


*  Linda also asked....."Where, how, when did you and Hubs meet and court? Did you play hard to get, just running slowly until he caught you?"

Hubs and I met at "The Rat".  The Rat was the nickname for the student bar/hang-out/café at Johns Hopkins U. located in the basement of the Student Union building there.
And every Thursday night at Hopkins was "Disco Night" in the Rat.

My college, Goucher, use to run a bus daily to Hopkins(back before Hopkins went co-ed, Goucher was the "sister" school to JHU)for social and academic reasons(living downtown, taking classes at Hopkins or Peabody, going to activities, etc.). 
I happened to go with a girlfriend to Disco Night in the Fall of my freshman year.  

Hubs asked my girlfriend to dance during Disco Night and she said no thanks. 
Hubs started to walk away.   Then my GF yelled at him and offered ME up as a dancing partner.....so he reluctantly asked me to dance.

After dancing awhile we went outside to talk since it was too loud inside(disco, remember that?).
We walked and sat and talked for about an hour.
I thought he was full of himself(and he WAS!)plus he was a really bad dancer(as in painful to watch).
But we hit it off.  I gave him my number(well, it was the dorm switchboard number and my dorm room #).

When I went to leave with the GF to go back to school he tried to kiss me and I turned my head so he got a cheek.
Then I said, "Aw, how sweet." referring to a kiss on the cheek.
Hubs said I said it sarcastically so he didn't call me.

Hubs was roommates with a guy who was the then BF of a sophomore girl who lived in my dorm.
I don't remember how this happened but she either asked me or asked one of my dorm mates if I wanted Hubs to ask me out/call.
The next time she went over to Hubs/her BF's apartment she left Hubs a note....."Call Denise.  She wants it."  8-P

He called and the rest, as they say, is history..... 8-)

More answers later.

Sluggy


 

How Many Careers are Enough?

Ok, so I left the bulk of this comment on a PF blog but she decided not to publish it.  This comment was in regard to a discussion on "second careers".
Or as the younger folks call it "your Second Act".  This blogger was talking about people putting in enough years to "retire" from a career to receive a pension and then leaving to go do something else/have a second career.

First off, the number and types of jobs in our current world are quickly dwindling that offer pensions when you leave their employment.  Most pension plans are attached to state or local public sector jobs nowadays.....fire, police, teachers, etc. or federal or US military government employees.

The private sector employers(business corporations)have been discarding pension plans for the last 20 years.  And many of those that remain are rife with underfunding and borrowing from these funds to put the monies elsewhere in the company.  And when companies go under these loyal longtime employees who thought they had a securely funded retirement until they died are told the money is all gone so too bad.
This group of jobs that let you "retire" with a pension after 20 years in is a rapidly shrinking pool of employment.

But the thing is, this pensions disappearing act isn't only happening in the private sector either.  Remember in 2010 how the entire town of Central Falls went bankrupt in Rhode Island and the city workers near retirement were told not to expect much of a pension and all the then already retired workers' pensions were sliced by 50% or more?  "The state bailed them out(more tax hikes for working RI residents!)and now they are getting about 75% of their pensions for the next few decades.
But this scenario of pensions crumbling is playing out in other US cities as they become insolvent.

A few years ago, well before this current Recession, my Hubs major corporation asked all it's then current employees to choose between a company funded pension at retirement or offered to give them the equivalent balance in cash that was in their pension account to invest/manage themselves.  We chose the latter.  Any one starting work at this corporation no longer can choose a pension over a 401K/Defined Benefit/Cash Balance Plan.  Pensions are no longer offered.

Looking back at the last few years I am glad we decided against the pension.  Sure, it's more work on our part looking after our funds but I know I won't wake up some morning at the age of 72 and get a letter from Hubs' old company saying that their pension fund is bankrupt and there will be no more checks to live on.  Having my future in a corporation's hands is much scarier than having to decide how to invest our money ourselves.  It's almost as scary has having our future in the hands of our government. ;-)

There was talk on this particular blog about having a second career in the private sector because salaries were so much more lucrative.

While that may have been true 20 years ago, salaries as a general rule are no longer higher in the private sector.....plus they are also not as secure as they once were.   Many positions, even with-in large, long established corporations have little to NO job security!  Especially if you live in a "at will" employment state....you can be fired for no reason.

That's always been the trade-off between public vs. private sector jobs.  Private sector salaried jobs paid out more while public sector salaried jobs had better benefits and more security.  Since the recession hit many well paid private sector salaried jobs have gone away, never to return.

Leaving a job after "getting your time in" doesn't mean retirement necessarily.  Who needs to retire at 40 years old when it's possible you may live another 40 years or more?  They would spend the majority of their life not working in that scenario!  20 years though enough to "retire" with a benefit from some jobs, is a very small slice of your working life!

Why quit a job after "getting your time in" when you still plan on working a number of years?  Unless that job is so onerous the thought of doing it for any amount of time longer, why quit?  If you go elsewhere, you will be the "first hired, first to get fired" in the employee hierarchy.  If you go elsewhere you will have to start fresh fitting in, getting up to speed, learning the ropes.  If you go elsewhere you may also be starting at the bottom of the salary scale too.

If your job is too stressful I can see leaving after "getting your time in" but not every job is THAT stressful and all jobs ARE stressful to a degree in one way or another.

In my grandparents generation people retired at 65 or so and most people didn't live much past that so no issue about saving/paying for retirement years.   Plus their jobs had pensions so they needn't save for their golden years.  Now pensions are quickly becoming a thing of the past in the US and as companies go bankrupt they are renigging on pension agreements leaving pensioners with nothing.

Nowadays everyone wants to retire "early".  My BIL retired at 50 with a nice company package to go that early.  He now lives in a mobile home, has no money and basically is waiting to die. Sad.
Though BIL chose to go when he did, sadly, post recession, many older workers were sacked and didn't get a choice about retiring nor did they get a package of extra cash/benefits.

Many folks near retirement age has not saved nearly enough to support themselves well and will run out of money at some point in their old age. 
If you figure that our grandparents lived not long past 65 and worked until 65 then we could possibly live another 20 years(or more)to 85 so for us, retiring at 65 IS early retirement.
But that's another discussion for another time.

As for the Millennial generation,  talk of a first and second career will be moot.  This generation may know 4 or more job/career changes before they see retirement.  And now with the ACA these workers no longer feel tied down to a location/job like the previous generations of workers because healthcare benefits are no longer necessarily tied to their company/position.  Our workforce is much more mobile than it ever was and work is taking on a whole new look.

Bottom line, I think it's a wise thing to save early and often and to run retirement numbers well before you actually get anywhere near to a retirement age(say 50+).  I'd recommend running retirement figures as early as your 30's and every 5 years after that to rebalance and reassess your savings and your goals.  That way you know where you stand with your "post working" income and have a better handle on when you can afford to retire.

Stop living a life on borrowed money now, keeping working as long as it benefits you not matter your first, second, third, or fourth career and save, save, save!

Sluggy