Last Day to Enter!

My Boring Blog Box Giveaway ends tonight at 11:59pm.

Today is the last day to enter so don't forget to go HERE today.

Sluggy

A Quick Update

Well since returning from the VA apartment hunt I've been making up for lost grocery shopping time it seems.

After my 1 week post-op eye appointment Eldest son and I hit Maine Source for a pork shoulder($1.69lb!), tomatoes and squash, 2 dozen eggs, a chub of liverwurst for Hubs lunches and a 2 lb. bag of shrimp.
OOP came to $40.40

Then I hit Weis(PMITA)Markets that afternoon after lunch and spent another $36.33.

There is a video of the shopping trip HERE.

$11.99 of that $36.33 was spent on a birthday cake for Eldest son......and it wasn't even on sale! ack.

I still managed to "save" 42% on that trip over paying full retail for everything so it's all good.

I had another dr. appointment this afternoon plus some more unexpected fun(details to come later this weekend)and now I am off to go work on dinner.

The fun just never ends some days, don't it? ;-)


Sluggy
 

Throwback Thursday

Back in May I shared this photo......

It's one of those "old timey" photos tourist places sell.  We were in New Hampshire for this one and my youngest was about 6 months old.

Well here is another "old timey" photo of my 3 kids taken at Bush Gardens in Williamsburg, VA.......they will kill me for posting this one..............

 

Their Aunt and Uncle took them to Bush Gardens one day when we were down visiting in Virginia.
I thought it was the Summer their grandmother died in 2000 but that would have made College Boy only 4.5 years old in this picture.  I think eldest is 15 or 16 in this which would make it a 2006 or 2007.

I love how the photographer posed College Boy with a gun pointing at his sister.  Those two had a contentious relationship growing up(she tormented him incessantly)so I am sure if that gun had been real and loaded he'd have had the urge to "take her out". lolz

In the previous "old timey" photo the Daughter had been very upset she didn't get to hold a gun like her older brother so I am sure she loved that she got a gun this time.  ;-)

If I ever get the three of them in the same place at the same time I need to go haul them to a tourist photo place again.  They don't enjoy this sort of thing now so it would be a struggle.

Have you ever taken these hokey types of fun photos while on vacation?

Sluggy


 

The Apartment Hunt has Concluded

Well it was an anti-climatic apartment hunting trip.
A real mixed bag of highs and lows.

Let me "share" with y'all about just one place now.
We lovingly refer to it as the "shithole" apartment.

Would you allow your grown kid to live in a shithole? I'm sorry but that is the ONLY word I could use to describe this "apartment".

 

 Notice that eldest son has his shirt over his nose/mouth so he doesn't gag from the stench.  Too bad blogs don't have "smell-o-vision".....ok, maybe it IS a good thing on the other hand if you ever want to have an appetite to eat again.

The carpeting(if you can still call it that-and the linoleum in the combo kitchen/living room is so old and ripped up.   The window looked original to the building which had to date from the 1930's or 1940's.

 

The bathroom?....well I'll spare you those photos.

 

It looked like someone had been murdered in the larger of the two bedrooms.

They didn't even paint or clean the walls of the filth, graffiti and the feces smeared handprints. The "central air" turned out to be 1 antique window unit in the bedroom. 

 

This photo didn't come out to show you what was on the walls.

This was a ballpoint pen drawing of what looked like a giant turd.

 

 

Except for this newish stove/oven there was a 50 yr. old fridge.  The whole floor was slanted as the building was quite old and worn out and there was a grocery/convenience store under the apartment....and an equally ancient gas pump out front.

 

I thought I was going to have a lawsuit trying to get down the rickety stairs back down to ground level.
Well if I didn't trip on the missing linoleum times and rotted plywood underlayment of the "porch" first.
Hey, but there was a rain soaked old sofa on the patio area under the porch with a great view of the dumpster sitting next to the building.....

 

 

And they wanted $850 a mo. for the honor of living in this.....I wouldn't even live here if you paid ME $2000 a mo.!
 Heck I wouldn't even let their cat live here and you know how I feel about cats....lol

What planet is this guy living on?
Unfricking-believable.

 And what's even more alarming is that someone IS living in the identical unit next door!! It has to be a crack head NOT to be aware of the filth and smell.  But the crack head next door DOES have a satellite dish for his tv.   What is wrong with HIS priorities?   Live in a shithole but have 250 cable channels to dull the pain......lolz

And this bargain apartment isn't even NEAR civilization or an urban center with jobs/stores/services!

Eldest went back into the grocery store to thank the owner for showing us this disaster but said "no thanks".
To which the owner replied if he didn't like this one he had others.......wtf!?!?


We did find 2 other suitable living situations and eldest and his GF have decided on which one of those to go with so we'll be signed the lease and putting $ down later this morning.
And the other 2 apts. were clean, newly painted, with appliances that were from something post 1950, had a washer and dryer, attached to a complex with a pool, exercise/weight room, clubhouse, etc. and cost slightly more than what the slumlord was asking for the crime scene apartment.

All I can say is WOW......just wow.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Using Up Leftovers" Edition-- I think the only "cooking" I did last week was making a big pot of clam chowder.  The rest was just reheating leftovers pretty much. 

 

Onward to the meal planning!

 

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

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)

 

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Picnic leftovers
2. Monday--Picnic leftovers
3. Tuesday--leftover Salmon and stir-fry veggies
4. Wednesday--Chinese buffet lunch, leftover dinner
5. Thursday--Clam Chowder me(leftover pasta Hubs)
6. Friday--smoked bbq chicken legs(in freezer), ribs, picnic sides
7. Saturday--pizza for lunch out, Chinese take-out(I had gyoza and a big salad)

Everything as planned except I made a pot of clam chowder on Thursday and we had Chinese buffett instead of Subway on Wednesday.
Pretty boring on the eating front.

As for my grocery spending last week.....
I don't have my tracking book with me right now but I spent $28 and change on groceries last week.  I ended up making 1 quick trip to Weis on Friday when I went out for an eye drop refill.

The food spending is up to about $126 for July and we are almost halfway through the month.

Leftovers going into this week--baked beans(lat picnic leftover)and clam chowder.
 

Here is this week's food plan--

1. Sunday--?
2. Monday--?
3. Tuesday--?
4. Wednesday--?
5. Thursday--?
6, Friday--?
7. Saturday--?

This week I didn't plan anything yet.  Eldest son and I are in VA until Wed. apartment hunting so Hubs and College Boy will be fending for themselves.  Lots of stuff in the freezer and I think we have a frozen pizza out there too if they get desperate.
As for after we get home I have no clue yet.  I'll pull something out of my hat when we get home.
I did want to do a big roast turkey dinner at some point because we'll have enough people here to justify cooking one of the four large turkey breasts in the freezer.

What I need to buy for this menu?.....again, no clue yet.
 

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