On Saturday we had an "outing".
We traveled South of us to a Chinese Auction.
Hubs and I(and sometimes me alone or with the kids)would go to these on a semi-regular basis in years past, thought we haven't been to one in a few years now.
It's a raffle event/fundraiser for some group that you might know as a Tricky Tray, Penny Social or some other moniker.
They call 'em Chinese Auctions around here.
You buy sheets of tickets and then go around to all the prizes up for grabs and put tickets in for the prizes you want to win. At the designated time they start drawing numbers and if they draw your number you win that prize.
Here's a shot of our ticket stubs right before they started drawing the winners. Those who are "old hands" at attending these things always bring some cardboard and a stapler or scotch tape so they don't have to shuffle through stubs all day and miss their number being called.
Often there are better prizes you can win but you have to buy different tickets for those and they are more expensive to purchase.
Here is Hubs standing in front of the long line of tables holding available prizes.
You never know how these events will pan out. Sometimes they have great prizes and sometimes not so much. Sometimes there are lots of things you want to win and sometimes it's all bleh. And sometimes they don't have many prizes even. It's a real crapshoot.
But even so, we are moderately lucky at these events and hardly ever get skunked(not win anything).
Here's the loot we brought home.....
5 wins(2 for Hubs/3 for me)plus I won a door prize(a kangaroo candle). Hubs won a basket with a lap blanket and a metal sign and then won that autographed Yuengling sign. He really really wanted to win that one! 1 signature is the owner of Yuengling but we don't figure out the other 2 signatures.
2 of my wins were baskets of kitchenware stuff. Casserole dishes, a pastry roller, a mini chopper, a cookbook and assorted towels and a table runner. I also won a gift certificate for a music venue that came with a signed print by local muralist Dave Naydock. Dave died a couple of years ago so this signed print is special. ;-)
After the Chinese Auction we stopped in at a grocery outlet store I go to infrequently. It use to be an Amelia's(local/regional Berks/Bucks Co. mostly chain)Outlet but it has changed hands.........
It's called Grocery Outlet Bargain Market now.
And it's hardly a bargain anymore.
These were the only bargains we found, plus medium dozen eggs for $1.99.
Perhaps if this was a high income area(it's far from it, one of the more economically depressed areas in PA)these "bargain" prices might really be a bargain compared to the fancy pants grocery stores(which there are none of here). There is an Aldi, Walmart and a Weis right down the street and the only other grocery chain here is Giant(which is still reasonable though a bit higher overall than the other two I mentioned). I don't see this outlet with these prices lasting long term in this location.
On the way home we stopped to pick up dinner using 2 gift cards for a Chinese restaurant I had won at a Chinese Auction down here in 2004.
Yes, I said 2004. lolz
Was about time I used those, huh? Though we were sure they wouldn't take them they did!
Yes!! So dinner that night was free Sesame Chicken and I didn't have to cook.
The drive on Sunday South of here was nice as the fall foliage is out.
Here's a mediocre shot of the colors along the highway. I was on the wrong side of the car to get the nicer shot down into the valley with even brighter Autumn colors.......
Moving on......
On Sunday I spent a lot of time processing collard greens.
Here is what I picked that morning spread out on my swing......
It amounted to just over 4 lbs. harvested. I then washed(twice), cut out the spines, chopped and blanched them over the course of the day, between going to Rite-Aid and Weis.
I ended up with two gallons sized bags of collards for the freezer.....each half filled for 4 helpings of greens in each.
And here is what is left of the collard plants in the garden after I gave them a shave...........
There are 3 more plants on the other end of the garden. I'll wait until a frost to pull up the plants and process the rest of the greens. I tell ya, processing collards is WORK! so I need a whole day for get all this finished.
I also noticed my Hyacinth bulbs out on the back deck are trying to bud.....
Poor confused plants....
I blogged about the Rite-Aid trips on Sunday but here is a photo of what I bought at Weis.........
$15.21 OOP for $24.43 worth of reg. retail goods.
If you want to see the Deals I did, go HERE for the video.
On Monday I went department store shopping. I hadn't bought College Boy any clothes since May(and then it was only some shorts, t-shirts and sandals at Walmart)and he was needing pants and had requested some flannel shirts(it gets mighty cold at his school).
So with Columbus Day sales on I went to the mall.
The last time I was at the mall was in the Spring to get 2 of my kids some cookware at Macy's when the stuff was part of a great sale there.
I just don't go to the mall much and I only go to get to a particular store.....I don't "mall shop".
This is my second trip there in the last year which is about normal for me. I probably won't go back until next year sometime.
I went to JCPenney's looking for the flannel shirts they advertised for $14.99. I had a $10 off $25 purchase coupon so was going to spend $20 for 2 flannel shirts.
Ha!
I found a few other things for College Boy there AND I got 35% off my purchases all day there for opening a Penney's charge account.
2 flannel shirts $14.99
2 t-shirts BOGO Free
1 pair of Levi's $36.99
2 pair of Khakis BOGO Free
After assorted discounts(15% on the Levis but 35% on everything else)I paid $92.62 on $246 worth of clothing.
I also earned a $10 off Q for ladies handbags, accessories, shoes, etc. good for another couple of days. On the way out I passed through the handbag department and found a grey purse marked down to $25.20. My 35% off knocked it down to $12.92 and my $10 off Q took it even lower to $2.92 plus tax paid of .78¢ making my purse cost $3.07 OOP.
Nice. 8-)
Of course that Penney's bill will be paid as soon as I get it and that charge card will be filed away and probably not used ever again. Yes, I am the person who will open an account just to get the perk. lolz
Then it was on to Kohl's. I had $120 in gift cards to use so I found some more goodies for College Boy, including 2 more flannel shirts, another pair of Levi's and in the clearance section I found 3 pair of shorts(2 Vans/1 Hawk), a pair of sandals and some underwear for him. I got more things but they are tucked away for Christmas so I can's show or talk about them here. ;-)
I also got myself a nice quality Winter nightgown($17.60 after sale + a 20% Q)and found a soft Summer sleeveless nightgown on the clearance rack that came to $7.68 after clearance and 20% off Q.
$467.50 worth of reg. retail goods for $38.52 OOP after using my gift cards.
Picture of some of the goodies I bought on Monday, not including the Xmas presents, my nightgowns and purse.
I also earned $30 in Kohl's Cash for my purchase at Kohl's that I get to go shopping with this coming week.
I also hit the Dollar Tree on the way home for a few items we were out of--2 bottles of ketchup, a box of lasagna noodles, a cold drink(shopping makes me thirsty)and a bag of chocolate covered fruit. I also picked up 4 more pair of reading glasses in assorted colors. $9.24 OOP....$5 of that cost comes out of the food budget so I am up to $20.21 spending this week on groceries between the Weis trip on Sunday and the Dollar Tree trip on Monday.
So we combined having some fun AND getting some deals last weekend.
And nobody got injured in the attempt. ;-)
So what did y'all do over the long weekend?
Sluggy
We traveled South of us to a Chinese Auction.
Hubs and I(and sometimes me alone or with the kids)would go to these on a semi-regular basis in years past, thought we haven't been to one in a few years now.
It's a raffle event/fundraiser for some group that you might know as a Tricky Tray, Penny Social or some other moniker.
They call 'em Chinese Auctions around here.
You buy sheets of tickets and then go around to all the prizes up for grabs and put tickets in for the prizes you want to win. At the designated time they start drawing numbers and if they draw your number you win that prize.
Here's a shot of our ticket stubs right before they started drawing the winners. Those who are "old hands" at attending these things always bring some cardboard and a stapler or scotch tape so they don't have to shuffle through stubs all day and miss their number being called.
Often there are better prizes you can win but you have to buy different tickets for those and they are more expensive to purchase.
Here is Hubs standing in front of the long line of tables holding available prizes.
You never know how these events will pan out. Sometimes they have great prizes and sometimes not so much. Sometimes there are lots of things you want to win and sometimes it's all bleh. And sometimes they don't have many prizes even. It's a real crapshoot.
But even so, we are moderately lucky at these events and hardly ever get skunked(not win anything).
Here's the loot we brought home.....
5 wins(2 for Hubs/3 for me)plus I won a door prize(a kangaroo candle). Hubs won a basket with a lap blanket and a metal sign and then won that autographed Yuengling sign. He really really wanted to win that one! 1 signature is the owner of Yuengling but we don't figure out the other 2 signatures.
2 of my wins were baskets of kitchenware stuff. Casserole dishes, a pastry roller, a mini chopper, a cookbook and assorted towels and a table runner. I also won a gift certificate for a music venue that came with a signed print by local muralist Dave Naydock. Dave died a couple of years ago so this signed print is special. ;-)
After the Chinese Auction we stopped in at a grocery outlet store I go to infrequently. It use to be an Amelia's(local/regional Berks/Bucks Co. mostly chain)Outlet but it has changed hands.........
And it's hardly a bargain anymore.
These were the only bargains we found, plus medium dozen eggs for $1.99.
Perhaps if this was a high income area(it's far from it, one of the more economically depressed areas in PA)these "bargain" prices might really be a bargain compared to the fancy pants grocery stores(which there are none of here). There is an Aldi, Walmart and a Weis right down the street and the only other grocery chain here is Giant(which is still reasonable though a bit higher overall than the other two I mentioned). I don't see this outlet with these prices lasting long term in this location.
On the way home we stopped to pick up dinner using 2 gift cards for a Chinese restaurant I had won at a Chinese Auction down here in 2004.
Yes, I said 2004. lolz
Was about time I used those, huh? Though we were sure they wouldn't take them they did!
Yes!! So dinner that night was free Sesame Chicken and I didn't have to cook.
The drive on Sunday South of here was nice as the fall foliage is out.
Here's a mediocre shot of the colors along the highway. I was on the wrong side of the car to get the nicer shot down into the valley with even brighter Autumn colors.......
Moving on......
On Sunday I spent a lot of time processing collard greens.
Here is what I picked that morning spread out on my swing......
It amounted to just over 4 lbs. harvested. I then washed(twice), cut out the spines, chopped and blanched them over the course of the day, between going to Rite-Aid and Weis.
I ended up with two gallons sized bags of collards for the freezer.....each half filled for 4 helpings of greens in each.
And here is what is left of the collard plants in the garden after I gave them a shave...........
There are 3 more plants on the other end of the garden. I'll wait until a frost to pull up the plants and process the rest of the greens. I tell ya, processing collards is WORK! so I need a whole day for get all this finished.
I also noticed my Hyacinth bulbs out on the back deck are trying to bud.....
I blogged about the Rite-Aid trips on Sunday but here is a photo of what I bought at Weis.........
$15.21 OOP for $24.43 worth of reg. retail goods.
If you want to see the Deals I did, go HERE for the video.
On Monday I went department store shopping. I hadn't bought College Boy any clothes since May(and then it was only some shorts, t-shirts and sandals at Walmart)and he was needing pants and had requested some flannel shirts(it gets mighty cold at his school).
So with Columbus Day sales on I went to the mall.
The last time I was at the mall was in the Spring to get 2 of my kids some cookware at Macy's when the stuff was part of a great sale there.
I just don't go to the mall much and I only go to get to a particular store.....I don't "mall shop".
This is my second trip there in the last year which is about normal for me. I probably won't go back until next year sometime.
I went to JCPenney's looking for the flannel shirts they advertised for $14.99. I had a $10 off $25 purchase coupon so was going to spend $20 for 2 flannel shirts.
Ha!
I found a few other things for College Boy there AND I got 35% off my purchases all day there for opening a Penney's charge account.
2 flannel shirts $14.99
2 t-shirts BOGO Free
1 pair of Levi's $36.99
2 pair of Khakis BOGO Free
After assorted discounts(15% on the Levis but 35% on everything else)I paid $92.62 on $246 worth of clothing.
I also earned a $10 off Q for ladies handbags, accessories, shoes, etc. good for another couple of days. On the way out I passed through the handbag department and found a grey purse marked down to $25.20. My 35% off knocked it down to $12.92 and my $10 off Q took it even lower to $2.92 plus tax paid of .78¢ making my purse cost $3.07 OOP.
Nice. 8-)
Of course that Penney's bill will be paid as soon as I get it and that charge card will be filed away and probably not used ever again. Yes, I am the person who will open an account just to get the perk. lolz
Then it was on to Kohl's. I had $120 in gift cards to use so I found some more goodies for College Boy, including 2 more flannel shirts, another pair of Levi's and in the clearance section I found 3 pair of shorts(2 Vans/1 Hawk), a pair of sandals and some underwear for him. I got more things but they are tucked away for Christmas so I can's show or talk about them here. ;-)
I also got myself a nice quality Winter nightgown($17.60 after sale + a 20% Q)and found a soft Summer sleeveless nightgown on the clearance rack that came to $7.68 after clearance and 20% off Q.
$467.50 worth of reg. retail goods for $38.52 OOP after using my gift cards.
I also earned $30 in Kohl's Cash for my purchase at Kohl's that I get to go shopping with this coming week.
I also hit the Dollar Tree on the way home for a few items we were out of--2 bottles of ketchup, a box of lasagna noodles, a cold drink(shopping makes me thirsty)and a bag of chocolate covered fruit. I also picked up 4 more pair of reading glasses in assorted colors. $9.24 OOP....$5 of that cost comes out of the food budget so I am up to $20.21 spending this week on groceries between the Weis trip on Sunday and the Dollar Tree trip on Monday.
So we combined having some fun AND getting some deals last weekend.
And nobody got injured in the attempt. ;-)
So what did y'all do over the long weekend?
Sluggy
