I Went to Rite-Aid & Weis

Yes, shocking I know!
I actually went to Rite-Aid to get a freebie and some bottle water but ended up getting 2 other items as well once I got into the store.......

The bottled water(not pictures)was 2 cases for $4 and you go $1 back in Plenti Pts. so effectively it was $1.50 per case.  Best price around here now for bottled water.
College Boy carted all of my bottled water off to college so I needed to restock that.

The razor(pack of 4 disposables)was on sale $7.
There was an in-ad Q for $3 off which I combined with a $4/1 Manu. Q, making it free.

The Neutrogena soap was BOGO 50% off....$3.29 for one + $1.64 the other=$4.93 a pair and gave back $5 in Plenti Pts. per pair so effectively free.

The Suave 'Poo is 2/$6 and you get back $3 in Plenti Pts. when you spend $10 on this item.
So 4 bottles cost me $12(over the $10 threshold), minus 1 x $3/2 Suave ManuQ(from Sunday's inserts) + minus 1 x $3/2 Suave Load2Card Q.
$12-$6=$6 + $3 in Pts. back.
BUT.....there is a SavingStar electronic Q for $3/2 Suave 'Poos so I'll get $3 in a cash back rebate in that account making this deal $12-$6Qs=$6-$3 Pts.=$3-$3 Savingstar rebate=$0.
Free 'Poo!

Going into this transaction I had $16 in Plenti Pts.

At the register the money was like this.....
$32.86 Subtotal, Minus $13 in Qs, Equals $19.86.  I used $14 of my Points(since my items would give me back $14 in Points)which brought the total to $5.86 + .96¢ tax=$6.82.
I paid $6.82 with my Rite-Aid gift card.
I got $14 in new Plenti Pts.
I'll get $3 of the $6.82 I spent on the gift card back in a rebate, effectively making everything "cost" $3.82, which is basically 3/4 of the price of the cases of water plus tax.
$47.79 worth of regular retail goods for $3.82.

And I still have $16 in Plenti points.

The one good thing about this new Plenti Points system is that I don't have to "spend" my points within 2 weeks like with the +Up Rewards system.
So I don't have to buy anything every 2 weeks if I don't want/need to.  I have 2 years to spend these Plenti pts. which leads to a lot slower accumulation of toiletries/HBA items.
Instead of a trip at least once every 2 weeks, I can just go when I am either out of something(not happening anytime soon!lol)or if there is something free after sale/Qs/pts.

Much better plan all-around.

Of course the deals just aren't as good anymore so there's the downside.

Moving on............

I also stopped in at Weis while I was out.
There are 2 deals worth doing this week there for me and both are running off of reg. shelf/retail price and not the sale prices of the items!
1-low cost Vlasic pickles, Wishbone salad dressing and condiments.  The deal is spend $15 and get $3 instantly back.
We are totally out of yellow mustard and I "heart" pickles so those both were going to part of the deal I ran.
2-low cost assorted Kraft owned brands from Kool-Aid to coffee to cheese.  The deal is spend $20 and get $5 instantly back.
Can you say more cheap cheese like that week this past June?!?

I ran each deal once(limit of 1 offer per transaction)and ended up paying $1 an item for the pickle/condiment group and .50¢ an item for the Kraft group.

I made a video about this shopping trip and you can see it HERE.
Please excuse my grammar in it as I kept saying "was" in reference to plural subjects instead of "were".  I blame the lack of oxygen in the air here.  ;-)

As for the Kraft Deal at Weis, even if you have no coupons and just buy the Cracker Barrel brand cheese logs you'll spend OOP $5 on 5-8 oz. logs so $1 per item, making this $2 a pound for cheese.  Where else are going to pay that little for cheese??
So get to Weis this week and get your cheese on.....


Sluggy

A Good Week

Last week we had some good things happen around here.

* First the Daughter got approval for her MRI test from our insurance.  It took 1 request and 2 appeals to get them to pay for it.  She has chronic back issues and we finally got her to go to an orthopedist to get to the bottom of things.  I pray that nothing serious is found but if it is, then we can deal with it and finally get her healed.
We had thought we would have to pay out of pocket for this test ourselves but now we don't have to(other than any co-pays). 8-)

* On Thursday the second Amazon gift card arrives........

This was earned from staying at various Choice hotels this Spring/Summer.  If I have to stay in a motel I might as well get something for it, right?
The Amazon options were half the points of the other gift card options so I got double value.
I have almost enough points to cash out for another gift card and after we take out October trip with motel stay, that should earn me more than enough.

* I got an email that a check from Google was on the way for blogging revenue.  That's the third payment this year(well, the first one was actually earned the end of 2014).  It's a massive amount.....lololol....but at least it's something. ;-)

* Back in early June, before I filled the fridge with Kraft/Crack Barrel cheese bricks in the Weis Deal I bought some Weis branded cheese on sale.  Last week I went to take out of the fridge to open it to use and discovered that it was covered in mold....still sealed inside the package! lol  And the sell by date was the end of September.

So on Saturday it got carried back to Weis to complain and I got the cost back onto a gift card.....

  

* College Boy survived marching band camp last week and starts classes today.  He messaged me on F/B on Friday and told me that he won a scholarship from the fraternity he joined last semester.
Who knew his fraternity gave out academic scholarships?!?
Anyway he won it because he has the highest GPA of the members of his fraternity's chapter.
He still hasn't said how much it is but I am hoping it's at least enough to cover the ridiculous dues he has to pay to be in this thing! lolz

* And just because I am mean, here is a photo of my volunteer morning glory vines.

This one is for you Sonya Ann.  The poor woman can't purposely grow a morning glory to save her life evidently.....bwwaaahh!


So any good things going on in your life lately?

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Danged Critters" Edition--

 

 

This is a cute, fuzzy, baby bunny the rabbits living under our shed had this Spring.  He has grown well and has figured out how to get into my garden now. Argh!  He keeps finding ways to get through the fence and munch on my goodies despite my best efforts to outsmart him.  Soon he will be too big to get through the fence and that will be about the time the garden season is over for the year.

In other danged critter news--"Mr. Black Bear" has returned to the neighborhood to dine on our trash last week.  Hubs installed a homemade "anti-bear" system on the trash cans but Mr. BB returned a second time last week for dinner at Chez Sluggy.  Now the trash cans will have to live in the garage again and we'll hope Mr. BB will be satisfied with just dining at our next door neighbor's trash cans(which were 20 ft. away from ours), as neighbor refuses to put his cans in his garage for safekeeping.

Now the garage that I spent 2 days on cleaning and organizing is even more crowded with trash cans in it.  oh well.....
 

Onward to the meal planning!

 

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

1. Sunday--Eating Out(after lugging CB back to school)
2. Monday--Pork Chops w/Peach Glaze(have), Squash Casserole(have)
3. Tuesday--Various seafood(in freezer), Fried Zucchini(have)
4. Wednesday--Barbecue(leftovers)on rolls, Cole Slaw(have)
5. Thursday--Chicken Marsala(have), Tom and Cuke Salad(have)
6. Friday--Steaks(have), Corn on cob or leftover Squash
7. Saturday--Kielbasa or Meatballs on rolls(have), Beans(have)

 

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Eating Out(Bob Evans, I had a big salad w/chicken)
2. Monday--Steak, Fried Zucchini(have)
3. Tuesday--Leftover Rotisserie Chicken, Squash Casserole(have), Cornbread(have)
4. Wednesday--Tomato and Cuke Salad(have), Hubs had leftover pizza, I had a BLT
5. Thursday--Barbecue on Rolls(leftover), Cole Slaw(leftover)
6. Friday--Baked Cod, Stuffed Clams, Zuke in Tomato Sauce
7. Saturday--Kielbasa on Rolls, Beans, Tomato and Cuke Salad

No pork chops or chicken marsala.  We had some more leftovers to use up(as well as an abundance of summer squash!) and we wanted some fish last week.

As for my grocery spending last week.....a trip to Sam's and a trip to Maine Source $82.15 + $21.28=$103.43
August food spending now stands at $401.29 in a month where I set a $350 food budget.
bleh.  It's not an insane amount to spend, we have the cash too, but I hate going over anyway.

Leftovers going into this week--kielbasa, beans, squash casserole, cornbread, tomato and cuke salad, barbecue, cole slaw, zuke in tomato sauce.
 

Here is this week's food plan--

1. Sunday--BLTs for lunch, Leftovers(I had squash and cornbread)for dinner
2. Monday--We might dine out, otherwise Leftovers
3. Tuesday--Chili, sauted mixed Veggies
4. Wednesday--Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw
5. Thursday--Salmon, Scallops, sauted mixed Veggies
6. Friday--Lobster, boiled Potatoes, Corn on cob
7. Saturday--Hot Dogs, Potato Salad

What I need to buy for this menu?.....lobster, corn on cob.  Price Chopper had lobster for $5.99lb last week and I resisted, but they are still on sale this week and I will succumb.  Besides I have a $25 Price Chopper gift card to use. 8-)
I have the ingredients for the chili, the salmon, scallops, veggies, hot dogs and rolls and potatoes.

Not much tempting me this week at the grocery stores--maybe some pickles and Weis has another Kraft deal(more cheap cheese?  I may not as I still have tons left from the last deal. lol).

 

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

Too Good To Be True

Oh, I just remembered that I forgot to tell y'all about something that happened while we were looking for a place for Eldest Son to live in Fredericksburg, VA.

You know all those stories you hear about Craigslist and how it's full of scammers and people who use it to steal from people and even as a platform to find people to kill?
Well we had a brush with a scammer on there.

Granted nowadays even legitimate realtors and apartment complex managers use Craigslist to find people to rent their properties.
But you still have to be careful on there because not everyone is on the "up and up".

I found a listing when we were searching for possibilities--a house for rent for $800 a month.
A WHOLE house, fully furnished.
A 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath house that included utilities in a gated community in Stafford VA.

I would show you the actual craigslist listing but it has been removed.

When I found that listing and passed it along to Eldest son to email them about setting up an appointment to see the property.

Eldest son got a reply from the "owner" of the house, who claimed to be a minister who was transferred to Texas and was now living in Texas somewhere with his family.  He said this meant he couldn't show Eldest Son the apartment.  He would have to rent the house and after he sent a money order to TX the "owner" would send him the keys.

After I passed along the listing to Eldest Son I had second thoughts about that listing.
Who the hell rents out a 3/2.5 house in a gated community fully furnished including all utilities for $800 in that area?!?
Eldest couldn't find a decent unfurnished apartment for $800 down there. lolz

Then I did a little more looking and I found that this house for "rent" was actually listed for sale on various MLS databases in the area.
HERE is the exact house that the supposed Minister in Texas was trying to rent out.

There was also a video of the listing on You Tube HERE.

Now thinking it IS possible that someone was trying to rent it out while it was for sale(as it's easier to sell a house if someone is currently living in it after all and a renter could keep up the lawn and keep it from sitting vacant and keep vandals away).

So I called the realtor and yep, it was a scam!

I guess it's a big thing now to find a house for sale, steal the photos and information and then put up an ad on Craigslist to rent it out and scam gullible people out of their cash.

When Eldest Son told me the guy couldn't show him the house I said, "Sure he can!  If he's legit tell him to have his realtor lend you the key to see it, because she still lives in the area
!"
Of course after that the "minister" never responded to Eldest Son. lolz

Eldest son, subsequently to emailing about that listing, also turned up at least one more scam rental.
It's been, oh......1983.....since I've rented an apartment and my how the world has changed.  ;-)

You just can't be too careful these days!

Sluggy
 

"He Needed Killing"

Sometimes you turn up some rotten apples hanging on certain branches of your family tree.  And oh man!, have I turned up a wormy doozy!

Among my family lines on my mother's side is one with the surname REDMOND.

The first American Redmond on this line was William Redmon or Redman.
The only known facts are that this line was originally from Scotland and William was born in 1715(maybe Scotland, maybe Virginia) and died in June 1779 in Charlotte County, Virginia.  William would be my 6x Great Grandfather.

William is thought to have married 4 times including Sarah Dickson.  She is thought to be the mother of their son, Thomas Redmond, born in Charlotte County in 1733. 

It is known that this Thomas married Letitia "Letty" Williams who was 22 years his junior.  Their oldest surviving child was William Redmond(born in 1777)and their youngest child was James Redmond(born in 1796).  My 4 x great grandfather was Thomas and Letty's third youngest child, Robert H. Redmond(born about 1792 in Charlotte Co.)

Robert Redmond married Clarissa "Clara" Smith.  Clarissa is my mitochondrial DNA lineage(My mother's, mother's, mother's etc. line).  Clara was born in 1802 in Charlotte County and died 11 Apr 1862, living her entire life in Charlotte County, VA

Robert Redmond and Clarissa Smith married 20 Oct. 1819.  There were 7 known children from this union--Angelina, Louisa, Whitfield, Benjamin, Susan Elizabeth "Fannie", Robert and Abraham(known as "Abb").

My direct ancestor is their daughter Susan Elizabeth, born 1837 Charlotte County, VA and died 27 Sept 1873 at the age of 36.  She is my 3 x Great Grandmother.
"Fannie" married Wesley Baxter Foster 14 Oct. 1857 in Charlotte County.  Their oldest child was Luretta Louise "Lou" Foster, my 2 x Great Grandmother, who I have written about before, born in 1858.

Susan Redmond Foster's daughter, Lou Foster, is on the far right. 

But let's back up to  Susan's parents, Robert and Clarissa Smith Redmond, shall we?

According to records, Robert died from a shotgun wound in Nov. of 1859 and was believed to have been 67 at the time of his death which would put his birth date as 1793 or 1794.

His death is recorded in the Federal Mortality Schedule for 1860 Charlotte County.  His death date is Nov. 1859 and he lived out all his life in Charlotte County, VA.
The cause of death is listed as "shot by his son Abner". 
Abner was yet another nickname for the youngest Redmond son, Abraham, also called Abb.

This plot just got thick......

While digging through documents there was very little information on Robert Redmond.  The only federal censuses he is listed in are 1820 and 1840 and neither of those go into detail with names of additional family members, just the name of the head of household and number of people in the household. 

In 1850 Robert's farm/holdings are listed, the non-population schedule goods like cows, sheep, acreage, etc. but there is no reg. federal census in 1850 listings him or his family members.  In 1840 the ages/sex/race of the members of Robert Redmond's household lines up with what we do know about the make up of his family--8 "white" family members(2 adults, 6 children-the 7th child was born after 1840)and 14 "black" members(slaves).  By 1850 the Redmond farm consisted of 570 acres of land and was valued at $9K+ per 1850 dollars(In today's money that could be anywhere from $300K to $500K.)

The next record for Robert is his death in 1859 in that Mortality Schedule of 1860. 

Connecting back to Robert's generation and filling in the children of Clarissa and him has been problematic for me as the records are few and far between.  I can't find a single census with their family unit intact in 1850 or 1860-the first ones that list family members by name.

 So I had to rely on other family trees at first.  When I found Susan's death record I finally had her parents name's but filling in the names of her siblings was a long process of trial and error.

Fleshing out the 7 known children of Robert and Clarissa has been slow and tedious. Most I only have a death or a marriage record for them but  I have been able to piece together their lives or at least parts of most of their lives.

Abb was especially hard to pin down.
Given his approximate birth date of  1841 he would have been of age to enlist in the War Between the States yet no record can be found that he ever served in the military.

Unless he was disabled in some way and was exempted from service in the military most Southern men between the ages of 15 and 40 served either in the regular troops or in a home guard of some sort and records were kept.  As the war dragged on and casualties mounted the younger and older men were called to serve due to the substantial inequity in the numbers of men in the Confederacy compared to the North.

No land transactions came up either for Abb.  The lone federal census he is listed in is for 1880.
Abb is listed alone with no other family members.  His birth date is 1834 and he is 46 years old.   He is listed as married and his occupation is farmer.
But then it says he's a prisoner.....what?

Then I found him on a 1880 Schedule of Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes which confirmed for me that on 1 Jun of 1880 Abb was indeed in jail in Charlotte County.

I figured he had a run in with the law, how bad could it have been, right?  Nothing led me to believe that he wasn't anything except a model citizen otherwise and this imprisonment was a lone incident in his life.

Next I found a death record which confirmed his parents, the name of his wife and his birth date and death date.

He died on 31 Oct. 1893.
Halloween.

No kind of research turned up a marriage record for Abb and E.S. nor any federal census record with them living in the same household.
Why of why doesn't this guy turn up in any records I kept asking myself?!

And then the other shoe dropped when I found a newspaper article someone had posted online.
And it explained quite a lot about my Abb Redmond!
When I read it my jaw about hit the floor.

Let me just post the article word for word here----you HAVE TO read this!

LYNCHED BY A MOB
The Notorious Abb Redmond Taken From His Captors
**************
He is alleged to have been the worst man that ever lived in Charlotte County.
Some of his crimes.
**************
DRAKES BRANCH, VA., Nov. 1

Notorious Abb Redmond, the worst man that ever lived in Charlotte County, came to his death last night at the hands of a mob.  He was arrested yesterday at daybreak by an officer and a dozen assistants, which was one of the few times he was every captured without trouble.  He mistook the officer for a friend.  A few days ago, he was after a negro to kill him and caught the wrong one by mistake, but did not let him go without having beaten him nearly to death.  He was taken before a justice of the peace, but for want of evidence was acquitted.  Later, after threatening some of the best citizens in the vilest manner, he acknowledged he was the man who served the negro so shamefully and only waited an opportunity to kill the right one.  The prisoner was taken to Dupres and was tried by Justices Boothe and Crafton, and after a day spent in looking up witnesses he waived the trial by the Justice and was sent on to jail.
It being night, Constable Crutcher was ordered to take the prisoner to his house, which was on the way to the court-house, under the guard of three men, Messrs. Hamilton, Driggs and Haynie.  they arrived safely at Crutcher's house without any sign of disturbance.

TAKEN FROM JAIL
About 11 o'clock two of the guards were asleep and one on duty, when all at once the door was broken in with a crash and all hands were covered with guns and pistols.  Without a word the prisoner was taken out.  It was a thoroughly organized crowd, every one knew his place, and in less than a minute everything was a quiet as before the mob came.  One of the guards when asked the number replied: "Don't know: they came into the light like men coming up out of the ground and disappeared in like manner."
This morning the body was found by a negro on Crutcher's place swinging from a tree, white with frost.  A coroner's inquest was held and the verdict was "Redmond came to his death by the hands of a mob of unknown men.".

FULL OF FOUL DEEDS
His life was full of deeds of the blackest hue, with but few good ones to counteract the bad.  The community was in a state of terror while he lived.  Everyone feared his fiendish ways, and no one knew when he would become his victim.  Punishment seemed to have no effect on him.  He would come back from prison as soon as his stripes were off and would return to his fiendish ways.  No one felt safe around him.  If a cow or a horse crossed his place he would often shoot it down.  Redmond was a man of means, and his whole fortune was spent in paying lawyers.  This man's bad career began when he was but a boy.  Some hot words passed between him and his old father.  Shortly afterwards the old man was walking along with his gun on his shoulder, when he was suddenly shot dead by Abb from behind the corner of a fence.  With the aid of the ablest lawyers this was proven to be in self-defence. 

NEGRO MISSING
Later a negro was missing, and after a short time his body was ploughed up.  This was proven to be the work of Redmond, and with the aid of the ablest lawyers in the state he got off with a few years in prison.  Then came the burning of the house of one of our best citizens. Redmond confessed to the burning, but through technicalities proved that it was his own house.  Shortly after this the same man had a number of his barns burned.  Later a neighbor had a few words with Redmond, and in a day or two, four of his horses were poisoned.  An old negro was cut almost to death by Redmond, and for this crime he got two years in prison.  When he came back he professed religion, joined the church, and pretended to lead a new life, but no sooner were his disabilities removed then he went back to his old ways. 
He had a way of putting his neighbor's hogs into his field and killing them, along with his own, and everyone was too much afraid of him to attempt to regain them.  These are but a few of his many crimes. 
This morning, while but few think his last deeds justified death, all agree it is a good thing to be clear of such a character.  Many of the old citizens say now they can live in peace, a thing not known to them for years.  While all good citizens deplore the horrible deed, yet all admit that it is a happy riddance.

****************

Holy Cow!

If the phrase "He needed killing" was EVER true, it applies to my 3 x Great Grand Uncle Abb Redmond.

I have since learned that Abb's wife's name was Emma Redmond and she was his cousin.  Emma was the daughter of Ab's older sister Louisa Redmond and her husband Thomas Redmond which means that Abb was his wife Emma's uncle and Abb's sister, Louisa, was his mother in-law and he was a cousin of his wife's father Thomas as well.
Emma's parents, Louisa and Thomas, were also cousins as well as husband and wife.

*Tune up "I'm my own Grandpa" here.....*

The theory is that Abb and Emma had to leave the state in order to marry as their bloodlines were too close.  The closest state was North Carolina, Granville County area.  And one or both of them lied on the marriage license too to avoid being questioned about their consanguinity, so we'll never find that document for sure.

So far no children have been found for Abb and Emma Redmond.  They'd probably all have 9 toes and 3 eyes anyway with all their shared genetics.  ;-)

Now given Abb's predilection for murder and/or torture one could go so far as to say that he was a racist of the first degree.
But then again, I sort of feel that if all things were even he'd had murdered/tortured anyone no matter their race.  At the place, in that time in rural Virginia it was just probably much easier to get away(even in court)with killing a negro.
I do think that Abner Redmond was just a bonafide homicidal sociopath.

And what I find so ironic in all this is that Abner Redmond is listed in a book, "Lynchings in the New South" and in various other databases online of documented lynchings, along side mostly African American victims of this crime.
He is immortalized as a victim along with countless other "true" victims of heinous crimes when, in his case, his punishment fit his crimes.

I feel I need to get to Virginia and do some poking around at the local courthouse there for more details of the sordid life and times of Abb Redmond.
Who knows?.....there may be a book in all this.

Sometimes when you start looking into your ancestry you find way more than you bargained for!

Sluggy