This Week on the Dining Table

It's the "Can You Believe This Weather?!?" Edition--

We went to Virginia yesterday(though CB stayed home as his band has a gig in PA for NYE).  The temp while driving through Delaware hit what is in the photo above.  Once we got to Maryland further South we hit 76F degrees.  Yooza!  My brother said it was a tad warmer than that at his house earlier, before we arrived after dark.
Crazy crazy weather for the end of December this year.........

Onward to the meal planning!

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

1. Sunday--Rigatoni w/(leftover)Meat Sauce, Salad
2. Monday--Bourbon Glazed Salmon, (leftover)Cole Slaw, Olive Oil Potatoes
3. Tuesday--Chicken and Dumplings or Pot Pie(using leftover roast chicken meat)
4. Wednesday-Leftovers(this will mean fish, stuffed shells and/or rigatoni w/sauce + a veggie)
5. Thursday--Traditional Chinese Dinner out Xmas Eve
6. Friday--Beef Roast, Mac and Cheese, Ginger Carrots, Rolls, a green Veggie TBD
7. Saturday--Leftovers or a Subway sammich or Fend for Yourself

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Rigatoni w/(leftover)Meat Sauce, Salad
2. Monday--Bourbon Glazed Salmon, (leftover)Cole Slaw, Olive Oil Gratin Potatoes
3. Tuesday--Pot Pie(using leftover roast chicken meat)
4. Wednesday-Assorted Leftovers
5. Thursday--Traditional Chinese Dinner out Xmas Eve
6. Friday--Beef Roast, Mac and Cheese, Ginger Carrots, Rolls, Salad
7. Saturday--I had a Roast Beef sammich and Salad

Pretty much everything planned was prepared last week.

As for my grocery spending last week...... multiple trips to the grocery stores with last minute holiday splurges put me over my $350 food budget for December by $53 and change.

Leftovers going into this week.....Meat Sauce, Stuffed Shells, partial Chicken Pot Pie, Prime Rib Roast, Baked Mac and Cheese, Rolls, Olive Oil Gratin Potatoes.  I also made up a big container of Taco Meat Filling for College Boy to munch on while we are gone.  The freezer is also packed with a pizza for one, frozen cauliflower, chili and chicken strips so he won't starve this week.

Here is this week's "food plan" for Hubs and I--

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

This week will see 0 new meals cooked and 1 meal of leftovers consumed plus 5 night Eating Out.
We are traveling and in Virginia most of this week so a break from cooking for me....yay!

There will be no food shopping this week so my December food spending is in the books and I'll post my End of the Month/Yearly Update for 2015 on our food budget later this week if I can remain sober for that long.  8-)

What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?
Are you making something special for Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

Was last week's plan successful, did you go off plan or did you not even plan what was going to be eaten last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?

Sluggy

Well I Blew It! Oh Well......HoHoHo

Right after I published the post earlier this week about how I am such a careful shopper and spend so little on our food budget, wouldn't you know....I went out and let the Siren Song of Christmas lead me into temptation and overspending.
8-)))

Yes, bought a few things and then a few more........

It started with this---

a Standing Rib Roast at $6.99 lb.
$59.90.
Then a Cheesecake.
At least that was 50% off-$7.49.

Then while I was at it, I bought a port wine cheese ball for Xmas appetizers to go with the crackers I already have.

And while in the store they announced that all Christmas candy/confections were 50% off.
Some York Peppermint Patties, miniature Reese's cups and dark chocolate covered cherries jumped into my shopping cart.

And then marked down to .99¢ lb.spiral hams, even though I don't really eat ham anymore, well one of those landed in my cart too, to shove into the freezer for Easter dinner in 2016.

I have just finished doing the numbers and I am now at $403.67 spent for December foodstuffs.
Over for December by $53.67.
meh.

Not too bad really but I had so wanted to stay on budget at $350 this month.....sigh.
Oh well.
Life happens and none of us is perfect.
But I'd much rather grab a deal(like that ham)now to avoid paying full price in March.

I am still at less food spending in 2015 than in the last two years since I've kept track of this sort of thing so no worries.
And that Christmas prime rib dinner tasted oh so good! 8-)

Sluggy

Merry Christmas!

From Chez Sluggy to all of you out there in Blog Reader Land I hope your day is filled with whom and what you love most.  And if your loved ones are not near, keep them near in your heart.

Be kind to each other and make the world a better place for you being in it.

Love,

Sluggy

Throwback Thursday....Christmas!

First off here is a photo from Christmas Eve of 1960............

This is one of my earliest memories in life. It was taken at my maternal grandparent's house in front of their Christmas tree.  Note all that lovely tinsel! lolz

Growing up my parents let me and my brothers each open up one gift on Christmas Eve night.  I don't recall what I had unwrapped that year but each of my brothers had opened up gift watches.

Then my mom told us to sit in our pjs in front of the tree for a photo.
And she had my brothers hold their gift they had opened.
She told me I couldn't hold what I had opened and I got quite upset.

You will notice that while I am not bawling out my eyes I don't look very happy either.  ;-)  I think I was on the verge of tears when my father snapped that photo.
I was 1 month short of being 2 years old in that picture.

And for the other TBT photo(s) here is a shot of our Christmas tree for 2015........

We only put up the small tabletop tree this year again.
And most of the ornaments are old handmade ones.

This is from a set of Santas I made my brother in the 1980's.  When he passed away in 2009 I was sure to retrieve these to keep to put on my tree in remembrance of him.......

This is another handmade felt Santa my mother made when I was in elementary school.

Another handmade doll ornie made by my mother.  She was a homeroom mom and the school had a big Christmas bazaar/fundraiser and all the moms made ornaments to sell.

This is a ceramic camel ornie I made back in the early 1990's when I had a craft business.  This was an ornie I gave my mother back then and after she passed in 2000 I inherited it back......

Another of the felt ornies made by my mom......

Hubs favorite ornament, a barrel of George Dickel whiskey....lol

Another homemade by my mom.  It's hard to make out from this angle but it's a drum a la the Little Drummer Boy......

Either my mother or I painted this wooden ornament back in the 1960's or early 1970's.  It was from a kit she bought...

This is a tiny, 2 inch long plastic Nativity scene ornament.  It was what I got as a reward for selling crap for my school/class for Christmas in 2nd or 3rd grade.  I sold enough to "buy" a few of these as my reward.

This is a sand dollar I painted, put a ribbon on and made into a Christmas ornament back in the late 1980's.

And this is my version of the lace doll above that my mom had made.  I made these in the late 1980's to sell at craft shows before I started doing ceramics.........

And that's it from me for TBT.

College Boy and I ran to the grocery store again today for a whole mess of stuff, mostly a ham for cheap to stick into the freezer and a whole bunch of foodstuffs for CB to take back to college in January.

I hope everyone has a quiet and peaceful Christmas Eve and if I don't pop back on here to post before tomorrow I wish you a Merry Christmas celebrating the way in which you choice.

Sluggy

Last Minute Rite-Aid Deal

Ok, so I was in Rite-Aid yesterday getting a script and I did this deal too after I saw someone online mention that the Gillette razors was a good deal this week.....

I bought these in groups of two per transaction as my R-A allows you to use 2 of the In-Ad Qs per transaction.  There is a $2/1 Gillette disposable razors Q in this week's sales flyer.

I got 20% Wellness discount as these items are not on sale this week.
The deal is spend $25 on select Gillette items and get $8 in Plenti points back.
There are $5/2 Gillette disposable razors on Coupons dotcom now.  Print 2 of either the Venus or men's Gillette razor coupons.
Cut out 4 of the $2/1 Gillette In-Ad Qs.

2 x Gillette razors(20% off reg. price=$6.79)=$13.58
I used 2 x $2/1 In-AdQ and 1 x $5/2 Gillette razors IPQ=$9.00

$13.58-$9.00=$4.58 + .28¢ tax=$4.86 paid with my Plenti points.
I earned $13.59 toward spending $25 for the $8 in points.

Rinse and repeat, pay $4.86 with your Plenti points and received $8 in new Plenti points.
Total spend down on points=$9.72.
Total earned in points=$8.00

"Cost" for all in your points=$1.72 for 16 razors.
You can do this deal 2 x on each Plenti/Wellness card if your store has enough of the cheaper disposable Gillette razors.

Ho Ho Ho!!!

Sluggy