This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Crazy Neighbors" Edition-- 

The scene of the "crime".

 

I think next year I am going to get my doc to prescribe me some anti-anxiety drugs before the 4th of July rolls around again.
First off we had 4 SOLID DAYS AND NIGHTS of fireworks.  They ranged from 1 professional display down the road that I can see from my front porch, to everybody and their brother buying between exploding caps to full fledged "take your arm off if you don't do it right M-80's etc." craziness.  The noise started 9 am on Thursday and didn't fully end until 11pm on Sunday.  I was on my last nerve by Friday.

The thought of how much $$ was spent by all my neighbors on this loud crap boggles my mind!  I am betting whole paychecks were sacrificed at the altar of "let's blow shit up".
Leave this sort of thing to the professionals people!

Secondly our next door neighbor went bat shit crazy on Saturday night.  Quite a few years ago some hooligan kid threw a rock through his car's back windshield.  Since we had 3 teens living home at the time and we live next door AND we park our spare car on the road in front of the house right next to his car parked on the road, he just assumed it was one of our kids who did this dastardly thing.
First off, if you wanted to make mischief, would you do it to a person living right next to your house?
No.....you'd go to someone else's street or neighborhood and chuck that rock.
He asked our kids at the time and we asked them and they all denied doing this thing.
Personally I think it was the Russian guy's kid(who was the area drug dealer).....they live in the next development and that kid and his gang of "friends" use to cut through the end of our cul de-sac to this development to sell their wares here.  The were always leaving garbage down our road and yelling obscenities.

Well CB, his friend and friend's GF went outside on the road in front of our house on Saturday night( 9ish) and shot off a couple fireworks(really lame ones because after all, they are broke).  One of them shot over neighbor's car parked on the road.  Next thing I know he's tearing out of his front door screaming at the kids that they have damaged his car, specifically they have busted out his front headlight.
First off, the firework shot OVER the car, from the back end of it to the front end.  In order to bust our a headlight, it would have had to have stopped mid air and made a 180 degree turn and gone down into his headlight.
Personally I think this guy and his wife(she was out there screaming too)have aged into Dementia Land.
CB tried to go over there and apologize for upsetting them after the crazy ass neighbor moved his car but they just kept screaming over him so he gave up and came home.  They kept screaming about the broken windshield from years before too and newly accused CB of doing it.
I was sitting on the front porch and heard all of it.

We looked at the car in the morning when you could actually see and the headlight as well as the rest of the car is not damaged.
The Crazy Town has come to my street and truly should have drank more this past weekend.  8-(

 

Onward to the meal planning!

 

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

1. Sunday--Beef Enchiladas(leftover sauce), Corn Casserole
2. Monday--Salmon, Potato Salad(leftover), Cauliflower(freezer)
3. Tuesday--Burgers and/or Dogs on Rolls, Zucchini, homemade Pickles
4. Wednesday--Leftovers
5. Thursday--FFY(Fend For Yourself) or BFD(Breakfast for Dinner)
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--July 4th Cook-out

 

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Rigatoni with Mushroom Sauce, leftover mixed veggies
2. Monday--Beef Enchiladas(leftover sauce), Corn Casserole
3. Tuesday--Burgers and/or Dogs on Rolls, Zucchini, homemade Pickles
4. Wednesday--Leftovers
5. Thursday--Salmon, Potato Salad(leftover), Broccoli/Carrot Stir-fry
6. Friday--Leftovers(I had Stroganoff, Hubs had Enchiladas)
7. Saturday--July 4th Cook-out(the usual suspects...lol)

Everything as planned except no Breakfast for Dinner(pasta instead).

As for my grocery spending last week.....
I spent $98.55 on $264.87 of reg. retail food.

The food spending is up to $98.55 for the month of July and we are a mere 6 days in. bleh.

Leftovers going into this week--enchiladas, salmon, stir-fry broc./carrots, rigatoni in sauce, all the cook-out food(burgers, hot dogs, ribs, macaroni salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, chips, dip). I planned for a much bigger crowd but some of College Boy's friend never showed up so we have lots of leftovers.
 

Here is this week's food plan--

1. Sunday--Picnic leftovers
2. Monday--leftover Salmon, stir-fry veggies
3. Tuesday--picnic leftovers
4. Wednesday--maybe Subway sammiches
5. Thursday--more picnic leftovers
6. Friday--smoked bbq chicken legs(in freezer), picnic sides
7. Saturday--either take-out or eating out(eldest comes home)

This week I planned for "easy peasy".  My eye surgery is Wednesday so we'll attack the leftovers this week with a treat of Subway the evening of the surgery(since I won't even want to heat up leftovers).
Friday my eldest son comes for a visit so I'll haul that bbq chicken leftover out of the freezer(along with the pecan pie I made him for Christmas but forgot to take to Pittsburgh in December)for dinner that night and we'll either go out or get take-out on Saturday for his Birthday depending on how I feel.

What I need to buy for this menu?.....nothing at all.  And it's a good thing because the grocery ads are miserable, as they usually are after a big holiday weekend.

I may actually NOT step foot into a grocery store this week.
 

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

Ocean City October 2014 Vacation.....Part 2

On Tuesday we headed out to see a historic site-the Old St. Martin's Church.  This was on Hubs to-do list.
The church is 2 miles north of Berlin at the junction of two limited access highways.
Well we drove right by it once and then couldn't really get to it going back the opposite way.  It is REALLY at the junction of the roads but tucked back into the woods and it's not clearly marked how to access the site from the limited access highways.

Eventually we figured it out and arrived at our destination.

It was a chapel of the Snow Hill MD parish established circa 1692.  Eventually it was designated as the principal church of Worcester parish.

The original frame building was replaced by the still standing Georgian brick church in 1764.

Unfortunately we found out it is only open for tours on Mondays so we missed being able to wander around inside by a day. bleh.

So after walking around outside(not very exciting)we drove back to Berlin and checked out a thrift store across the street from the Sav-A-Lot market.

I found this coffee table book my sister in-law might have liked.  (She's a BIG Princess D fan.)

Another picture book about the Metropolitan Opera.  I had one of those years ago with all kinds of old hokey photos of rotund opera singers.

Hubs found this shirt.....

Turned it to the front and saw it was a restaurant shirt for the place recently departed blogger The Cajun use to work.......

TI bought a couple of books and then it was off to lunch.  We bought a Restaurant dotcom certificate before leaving home for this newish place that had opened up on the road to the casino in West Ocean City called Abi's Diner.
We didn't know what to expect but we are up for new eating adventures on vacation.

Hubs got a massive plate of shrimp stir-fry.  It was ok but a bit heavy on the soy sauce(salty).

I got a plate of crab cakes.  They weren't top notch(lots of filler/breading in the cakes)but for $8 what do you expect? lol
They were tasty and the meal came with a salad too.
It was cheapish(especially with the gift cert.), filling and the prices were very good compared to everything in Ocean City.  We will definitely go back there next trip to OC.

Then we went back to OC and took a walk along the boardwalk as it was a beautiful day.

This is the sign at the pool bar at our hotel.  
"Overpriced Drinks & Lousy Service"
Yep, that about sums it up(along with rude and noisy customers)....lolz

A strange looking seabird flew over head.......*snort*

Hubs had to pose with this bar advertisement for National Bohemian Bear.  When we were in college in Baltimore, all the broke college students drank this swill.
I guess life has come full circle because Natty Boh is the drink of choice among young hipsters in OC.....well the ones who can't afford craft/micro brews......

Some of the benches on the boardwalk have memorial plaques on them(paid for by folks who donated $ to the bench purchases)
Evidently the people who sponsored this bench add floral arrangements according to the season.

Nice big waves on an incoming tide....

After the walkabout Hubs got me a Slurpee(This is one of our rituals when at the shore.)and we had cocktails on the balcony.

Some one enjoying the beach even if it was chilly and they needed to bundle up.

The interesting saying on the bottle cap of my latest drink.....

A peanut butter porter.  Sounds interesting and yummy(if you like this sort of thing)but please just don't buy it.  It's not worth the price and was disappointing........

That evening we drove into Salisbury MD for dinner at Evolution Brewing Public House.
Hubs is a fan of their beer and we hadn't been to their restaurant yet.

I don't recall that I drank anything other than water that evening though they had a large selection on the board to choose from.

I was there to visit with Tanner!  Yep, we met up Tuesday night after she got off work at Evolution.  We had the darndest time finding the place without a GPS.  It was dark by the time we got to Salisbury and the building is an old factory type buiding right next to an active train track and has very bad nighttime signage.  We must have driven past it 4 times before we figured out this "be the place". lolz

Hubs took our photo for me and then we settled down for dinner and a visit.

 

I even splurged and got dessert....doesn't this look fancy?

Tanner downed about half of this bottle of Patron tequila!

Ok, not really.  I told her I was going to say that and call her a lush because she doesn't drink. lol
The restaurant uses old Patron bottles to serve their water in.

 I had to tinker around with this photo to get it light enough so you could see the signage.  Excuse the very pale white, too sharply focused lady under it.
You see what I mean about bad nighttime signage?  The inside of the building was almost as dark as the sign on the outside.

After goodbye hugs we headed back to OC to our nice comfy bed with the sound of ocean waves putting us to sleep.

Sluggy

Happy 239th Birthday!

I suspect that if Mr. Jefferson, et all where to return to present day America they would hardly recognize it nor believe what it has become, both good and bad.

That being said, let's hoist a cold one(beverage of your choice)to the people who make this crazy nation go round--you, me and our fellow citizenry.

My house is situation on a hill above the town park, less than a mile away, where they shoot off fireworks every July 4th weekend.
Enjoy this brief snip of what transpired last night in my neck of the woods!



Here's to the freedoms we still enjoy in America!
Now go wave a flag, shoot off bootleg fireworks(and hopefully not your fingers) and drink your neighbor under the table.

Sluggy

June Goal List Results

Here's a run down on how I did on the June Goals--

JUNE

* Clean Living/Dining Room  DONE
Got 'em both cleaned.  Still have a tub of Daughter's stuff to load and relocate but nowhere to put it yet.  bleh.

* Clean upstairs Hallway  DONE
Got everything put away and the rug vacuumed and the floor swept.  Trying to keep the laundry basket empty(clean clothes put away)and in the laundry room instead of the hallway.  I moved some tubs of stuff into the spare bedroom closet so they are out of the hallway now.

* Tidy up Garage  DONE
Got it straightened up.  It's still a mess though because there is too much stuff out there!  Once we get the spare fridge emptied out that is going bye bye.  Still have some stuff to take to Salvation Army out there as well as too much booze. lol  Ok, there is no such thing as too much booze.....what was I thinking!?! ;-)

* Bike 50 miles  DONE

I blasted my 50 mile goal and did 76 miles in June.
Woohoo!


* Weed/Fix up front flower bed  DONE
Planted, weeded and edged for now....of course the weeding and edged is continuous.....bleh.  I go out when it's cool in the morning and weed a bit at a time.  I need College Boy to go edge on his day off(as long as I stand around and nag him all day about it to get it actually done).  We still need to lay the mulch down....that might happen on Sunday if it doesn't rain some more. ugh.

*  Plant rest of garden   DONE
We had to replant the collards and the green beans since the rabbits took those out before we got the fencing up.  The second batch of plants seems to be holding their own against the chipmunks who can still get through the fencing.
We just need it to STOP RAINING for more than a few hours!  Seriously nothing is growing much yet.  I worry that the tomatoes will get blossom end rot again this year. Send the sun please.

* Use Hand Weights 10 days  FAIL
Didn't even try this month.  Will attempt to work those into my routine in July but don't hold your breath. lolz

* Pay the Bills   DONE
Everything paid on time.  Even that monstrously huge credit card bill was Paid in Full because there is no way in hell I am paying interest on any cc debt!

* Gather donation/declutter  DONE
Of course de-cluttering is an ongoing project so it never seems to leave my list. lolz

* Take donation to SA  FAIL
The donation stuff is still sitting in the living room.  I'll get it moved into Hubs car tomorrow morning or tonight and he can drop it off sometime in the coming week after work.

* Cut out 2 Tops and Sew Them  FAIL
Didn't do a lick of sewing in June.  No mojo......

* Write a letter  FAIL
I am always sending out emails on this machine.....does that count? lol

* Apply for Passport  FAIL
At this point it looks like I won't be taking a trip this Summer and won't need a passport anytime soon, so this goal is going away for now.

Do you make monthly goals?
How did you do on them in June?


Sluggy

Giveaway Update....PLEASE READ!

Ok, I love having people enter these giveaways(that's why I hold them, right? )

One tiny requirement is that when you enter I have a way to contact you if you win.

I see a lot of you entering but don't either.....
A-put your email into your comment
OR
B-email me your email privately
OR
C-have your email addy available on your Blogger member page that is linked to your comment.
OR
D-if you have a blog on a platform other than Blogger and you don't have your email addy listed on that blog.

If you don't have a Blogger account and your entry name hyperlink takes me to your Google circles page please be aware that I can't see your email on your Google page.
Please check to see if your comment either has an email addy or takes me somewhere I can find your email.
If it doesn't, you can't win.

I am NOT spending my time trying to hunt the winner down.
Make sure I can email you because if I can't, I'll pick another name.

Sluggy