TO-DO List.....October Update

It's about time we take a look at the old To-Do List for October and see how I did, shall we?


OCTOBER

*  Go to PT Sessions  DONE  I finished up my Physical Therapy and now the bills start rolling in.....oh. goodie! lolz

*  Go on Vacation  DONE  This was an easy one to do, and one I looked forward to.

                  Another Selfie Fail....I blame Sonya Ann

*  Vacuum Upstairs Rooms  DONE  Got the rugs cleaned finally.  This new vacuum showed me just how awful of a job the last vacuum did...bleh.

*  Sew 2 Pairs of Pants  IN PROGRESS  Well I got them worked on but not completed in October.  I made progress howver so it's a provisional win.  ;-)

*  Organize Stockpile  DONE  The unusually warm Oct. meant I could spend a long while in the garage without freezing so I made sure the stockpile got cleaned out and organized well before heading into Winter.  Of course by Spring it will be a mess again since we are constantly pulling out and bringing new items in. ;-)

*  Finish harvesting Garden  DONE  I finished harvesting the last of the Collard Greens once we returned from vacation the end of October.  2 more gallon sized bags of collards into the freezer.

*  Bike 10 Miles  FAIL  With my foot still on the mend I was under orders not to bike until I was finished with PT and then we were away for 10 days or so, so I only got 3 miles done in October.

And just doing that much was a struggle for me and it happened in short increments at a time.  Doing a half a mile at a time was torture when 6 weeks ago I was doing 3 miles at a time.
Of course, being away from home cut into my completed distance in October too.
It's amazing how fast you loose your abilities at this age and how hard recovery is.
But back on the horse, as they say, in November.


*  Hold a Giveaway  DONE  Giveaway was completed, winner picked.

*  Mail out giveaway Prizes  DONE  Prizes went out promptly and have been well received.  8-)
I've got a new Giveaway already launched, go enter it.(Look for the side bar link.)

*  Work on eBay listings  FAIL  Just didn't get around to it yet.  It's the season to sell this stuff so I need to get off my ass and just DO IT!  The only problem is I sort of make a big mess with the eBay stuff in the space I need to serve Thanksgiving Dinner in, so this adds stress to my life at this time of year.  Plus I just don't want to make the effort it takes to get back up on eBay....sigh...

Just 2 outright Fails, 1 "I'm working on it" and lots of COMPLETES on my list this month.  It helps not to have too strenuous a list to begin with, doesn't it? lolz

Now it's onward to November's list.  I was good this month and got it posted rather quickly(well, for me).

Did you accomplish what you wanted to in October?
What's on your List of Things to Get Done in November?


Sluggy

Lest We Forget

Veterans Day......it began as Armistice Day back after the "Great War" was fought and the eleventh day of the eleventh month commemorated the end of World War I, November 11, 1918.

Now in America we celebrate it as Veteran's Day while Canada and the UK calls it Remembrance Day.

But especially in the US it's a Day to remember and celebrate ALL Veterans of ALL wars we have been involved in.

I can't seem to find any direct ancestors who fought in WWI but I did record a man's grave in Drake's Branch, VA while headstone hunting my own family.

Bernard Jackson Wingo served in the US Army as a Wagoner and was part of the American Expeditionary Forces in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive(also known as the Battle of the Argonne Forest).  He was part of the US Army's 81st Division of the 4th Infantry(the famed NC Wildcat Division), in Supply Company 323.
He was KIA 7 Oct 1918, just 33 days before the Armistice was signed. Bernard had turned 25 just 13 days before his death.

Bernard was a farm boy from rural South Central VA who according to his WWI registration card was the support of his mom and dad before he was shipped out to Europe.

Bernard was not interred at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery near the village of Romagne-sous-Montfaucon in Meuse, France, like over 14 Thousand of his fellow patriots who died there, but was brought back to his home in Virginia to be buried near family.

Bernard's younger brother, Clyde Arlington Wingo, signed up to fight in March of 1918 and happily survived the "Great War". Bernard's youngest brother, George Elmo Wingo, went on in 1942 to enlist in WWII and also survived living to the ripe old age of 64.

Bernard's headstone reads--

Bernard J. Wingo

Sept. 25, 1892

Oct. 7, 1918

Supply Co. 323 Div. 81

Died in France while in the service of his county.

Greater love hath no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends

Remembering these brave citizens, especially the ones who gave their lives, today. You and your service are not forgotten Bernard Jackson Wingo.
R.I.P.

Update--After doing more digging around in the family tree it turns out that Bernard Jackson Wingo IS related by marriage, being the brother in-law of my 3rd cousins 4 x removed, Paschal Lee Holt.

Bernard's sister, Alma Lee Wingo, married my cousin Paschal Holt in 1906.

Sluggy

60% Savings Rate Anyone?....More Like 75%!

Back to Weis for this stuff yesterday...........

12 more boxes of Scotties tissues, .55¢ a box after sale/coupons.
1 more round of the Swanson/Campbell's Deal, $5 for all 7 items after sale/discount/coupons.
2 more pounds of LandOLakes butter, $2 each after sale/coupons.

I also got some new items this time around........
8 pouches of tuna for the food bank, .75¢ each after sale/coupons.
3 containers of sugar, .89¢ each after sale/coupons. These are for College Boy.(Reg. price is $2.19)
1 container of lunch meat on sale $4.49 with a $2 instant disc. sticker, so $2.49 for 1/1 lb. of "junk-free" ham.

$26.66 total and I used that free $10 Weis gift card I got for that disaster cashier situation 6 weeks or so ago so I paid $16.66 OOP.

Regular retail of $67.62.
60% savings rate.
But since the gift card was free the savings rate was really 75.36%.
Hey, even 60% savings was great! lolz

I did forget to get my BOGO ravioli yesterday so I'll go back today for that.
Since I'll be in the store a quick lookie at the meat cases will have to happen to, just in case there are any markdowns, right?  ;-)

Sluggy

How Boring AM I Anyway?

Every now and then I go take a peek at my blog Stats just for fun.

You know....the place you can go see how many views a page gets, where your readers are coming from and what country they live in, what keyword searches point toward your blog, etc....that sort of thing.

I must be fairly boring because the top viewed blog post in the past 7 days on my blog was THIS ONE .
I wrote that in 2011.
In the last 4 years they couldn't find anything more interesting to read on this blog??

It had more views last week than even the Giveaway post(which those generally get the most hits per week when I hold one)!

Either a bot is directing people to that page or I really need to step up my game here as my blog seems to be a real snoozefest. lolz

Here are the top referring sites from last week.....

Most people just google "sluggy blog" to find me if they don't have me bookmarked in their favorites.

But I also owe a big "Thank You" to OneFamily OneIncome, Sarah and Jenny at Digging Out of Debt, One Spoonful at a Time, Belinda at Saving Money in My Tennessee Mountain Home, Sam at It's Me, Sam, Alex at Living the Small Life and Lorraine at We are:Clamco for having a link on their blogs so folks can find me here.
8-)))

So who reads my blog?
Good question!

Take a look at this graphic to see who visited last week.........

Overwhelmingly it's USA readers with a smattering of Canadian and Ukrainian readers.  I was disappointingly only read last week by 134 internet blog readers in the UK(Hey, I don't get a lot of your slang terms either, so it's all good.)

 There were 50 or so English speaking folks in France, Russia, Germany who didn't think I was THAT boring last week(or they just wanted to practice their English with my dreadful grammar structure)as well as a few handfuls of Australians who probably read me to brush up on their North American/Yankee slang.

38 people in Ireland couldn't think of anything better to do last week(If  I was in Ireland I sure could think of a few better ways to waste my time!) and 14 couples in China must not have gotten the memo about that "1 child rule"no longer being in force and hadn't found the time last week to "get busy" yet......(for you Aussies "get busy" is US slang for "have sex").

But just to prove that the Earth has NOT tilted off it's axis and all is right with the world, the good news is that one of my top blog search keywords/phrases is still and will probably always be.............

Cat Hoarder

A gal writes one measly post about an episode of "Hoarders" yeeeeears ago and that's all people
see?
Either that or cat hoarding is a silent epidemic in this world and it's heading toward a crisis stage and why was I not informed?!?

Now I am off to Weis(PMITA)Markets to buy more unsalted chicken stock, facial tissues and butter while contemplating the growing cat hoarding crisis.
I bet a telethon or a celebrity "group hug" song for it is just around the corner!

And just for writing another post with "cat hoarding" in it, this will double or triple the keyword search hits my blog receives.
Go me!

If only my blog hits translated into real cash so I could get all this chicken stock, tissues and butter with all that free money and Hubs could retire now!!! ;-)


Non-Catty Sluggy

Getting Ready for Black Friday at Rite-Aid

I went into Rite-Aid today while I was out to the bank.
I had this from last Black Friday at Rite-Aid.........

JR Watkins lotions were a freebie last Black Friday, limit 2 bottles per card.
$5.99 on sale and gave a $5.99 +Ups Reward.

They never seem to have 2 bottles on the shelf of the same scent.....this rain check is for lavender.....so I hadn't cashed it in yet.

So I got 1 bottle of aloe and 1 bottle of lavender and cashed it in today.

Why cash it in this week?
Because when you buy 2 bottles of JR Watkins this week you earn 200 Plenti Points......

I also still have a Planters peanuts gift set rain check from Black Friday 2014 which I plan on using Black Friday 2015.  These nut gift sets will be on special......

$5.99 and gives $3 in Plenti Points.
My rain check lets me buy 2 of these gift sets for $2.99 and I'll get the $3 in points back making these .01¢ moneymakers each.
Sweet. 8-)

Also I am having a hard time deciding on my Black Friday strategy on what to buy of the freebies.
The plan is to use all my points(should be $37 on one card and $50 on the other card)on Day 1 of the BF sales on freebies and earning those same amount of points back on each card.  Then using those new points to buy more until I either run out of freebies(or freebies after coupons)OR time(3 Day sale).

So what are you planning on spending/rolling your Plenti points on during the Black Friday sale this year?

Sluggy