Jump on These Weis Markets Deals!

This week Weis(PMITA)Markets has extended their "Fabulous Friday" one day sale from Friday to today, Monday.  4 Days of some great deals made even better if you have the Weis Fall/Winter Coupon Book that was available in their stores.

I also picked up a few deals in their regular sales ad too below.
The regular sale you can do through Wednesday evening but the Fab Friday Deals you need to get done today.
That's why I am posting this today.

Let's take a look at what Sluggy snagged for a great price........

They are doing the "Mix & Match" 6 items/Get Instant $3 Off" Deal again this week.  Every week the items that qualify change.

* In the photo above I bought for this Deal--
1 Hungry Jack Pancake Mix(on sale for $1.99)
1 Hungry Jack Syrup(on sale for $1.99)
2 Pepperidge Farms Swirl Bread(on sale for $2.99)
1 Price's Pimento Spread(on sale for $4.50)
1 Country Crock margarine(on sale for $2.99)
SubTotal for sale prices=$17.45

Coupons I had that apply to these items.........
1 x $1.25/2 IPQ wyb both HJ mix and syrup=$1.25
2 x $2.50/2 IPQ wyb both 8 O'Clock Coffee and PF Swirl Bread=$5.00
1 x $1/1 IPQ Country Crock 45 oz size=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$7.25

$17.45-$7.25=$10.20-Instant $3 off=$7.20 for these 6 items

* Also bought were 6 bags of 8 O'Clock Coffee on sale for BOGO this week.
6 bags @ $5.49=$32.94-BOGO=$16.47

Besides the $2.50/wyb this coffee and BF swirl bread Qs, I had 4 x $1/1 8 O'Clock Coffee Qs.
At Weis even when an item is on sale as a BOGO you can use a Q on the item that you are getting for free!
So 6 bags(even though I only paid for 3 of them)could use 6 Qs.

$16.47-$4 off in 8 O'Clock Coffee IPQs=$12.47 OOP for all 6 bags.

* I bought 2 jars of Pace Salsa(the large jars-24 oz?)on sale this week for $3 each making 2 jars $6.00 on sale.
I combined a Weis Q Book coupon for $1/2 Pace Salsa(24 oz. size)with 2 x .50¢/1 IPQ(which each double at Weis to $1 off).  This gave me $3 off the salsa so it was $1.50 a jar or half price.

* I also bought 3 bottles of Weis brand ketchup which was .73¢ off per bottle on sale($.77)=$2.31

Total OOP so far is $24.98 for all.

* This Seviroli brand Ravioli is part of the 4 Day Fab Friday sale and 1/2 off through today, so $1.50 per bag=$12 reg. price-$6=$6.00 or $1.50 per bag on sale.

There is a Q in the Weis Q Book for $1/2 Seviroli Ravioli or Tortellini.
Since there is a limit of 1 of each Weis Q Book Q per transaction I had Hubs(since he was already with me)buy 2 of the bags and use a Q too.
$6.00-$2.00 in Qs=$4.00 OOP Total or $1 per bag.

* Another Fab Friday item are 12 packs of Lipton Iced Tea for half price or $5.99 for 2(reg. price $5.99 each).
There is also a Q in the Weis Q Book for $2/2 packs of this item!
So for every 2 packs you buy your cost after sale is $5.99 and after $2/2 Q it's $3.99 for 2 packs, so $2.00 per 12-pack.
Again, only 1 of this Q can be used per transaction so either bring someone along to buy 2 more packs or go to the self-checkout so you can separate your transactions.


Add this additional $12(tea)and $4(ravioli)OOP to the $24.98 above and my grand total for everything pictured in this post was $40.98 OOP.
Regular retail on all this was $91.25.
That's a 55% savings rate for all.

Now excuse me while I hike back up to get more cheap iced tea(the diet peach is awesome!)and more coffee(since I found more coffee IPQs I can print!)

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "I Broke Down and Bought Halloween Candy for the Trick or Treaters" Edition--

After telling Hubs over and over that "No, we are not giving out candy this Halloween", I broke down and bought candy.
Went to Weis(PMITA)Markets on Friday and they had all their H'ween candy 50% off already.
Not only that, 2 of the bags had $2 off Peelie Qs on them so I paid LESS than 1/2 price for all this.  300 pieces total(giving out 2 pieces per kid)should see us through until we switch the lights off at 9pm.
I got a mix of chocolate and non-chocolate types.  Anything left over can get put into my Christmas stash for stocking fillers.....that is, if the family members don't pilfer the leftovers before I get them spirited away.  ;-)

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Cheese Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Shrimp Scampi w/Fettucine, Green Beans

4. Wednesday--Kielbasa on Rolls, Roasted Potatoes and Acorn Squash

5. Thursday--Chicken something, TBD

6. Friday--Pork Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Cheese Lasagna, Salad

2. Monday--Leftovers

3. Tuesday--Kielbasa on Rolls, Potato Salad

4. Wednesday--Shrimp Scampi with Linguine, Spinach Salad

5. Thursday--Leftovers(I had some Lasagna and Cucumbers in Vinegar)

6. Friday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches, Spinach Salad, Au Gratin Taters

7. Saturday--Pizza, Caesar Salad

7 meals cooked at home, 2 of them a night of leftovers, and 0 nights of Take-Out.
Alll but 2 meals didn't happen, the Barbecue and the Chicken Something.  Pork Tenderloin Sammies and Pizza happened instead.  The Roasted Veggies w/the Kielbasa morphed into Potato Salad instead and Roasted Veggies move to this week. Bags of Spinach were on sale BOGO so that meant 2 Spinach Salads last week(can you tell Daughter and I LOVE Spinach Salad?lol).

As for the grocery spending.....2 trips to Weis and 2 trips to the Shursave market and a forgotten trip to the Bread Outlet from last week, brought my weekly spending to $134.76 and my October food spending Grand Total to $516.39.

My try at a $400-$500 month total didn't happen.
Oh well.  Got deals that will mean less spending on some future date.

I have been doing well however in my savings percentages in October.  This week the savings rate was "only" 42%, a bit lower than expected but still good.

Leftovers going into this week........ 1 crab cake, chili, cornbread, kielbasa, pizza, lasagna,1 pork tenderloin piece, and a small amount of au gratin taters.
Some of this will be eaten for lunches and some for dinner on Leftover Days.

Here is this week's "food plan".

1. Sunday--Pork Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw
2. Monday--Crockpot Salisbury Steak with Mushroom/Onion Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
3. Tuesday--Leftovers
4. Wednesday--Baked Chicken Thighs, Roasted Potatoes and Acorn Squash
5. Thursday--Clam Corn Chowder, TBA
6. Friday--Teriyaki Flank Steak with Stir-Fry Veggies(leftover taters for BF)
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 5 new meals cooked and 0 nights of Take-Out and 2 nights of Leftovers.

What I need to buy for this menu? Nothing as I have all the ingredients already.

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 last week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?


Sluggy

I Made it Through Saturday! Onward to Sunday....

I made it through Saturday without going to the ER.
Go me!
I am contantly checking my neck and arms now waiting for hives to come back and that's about as annoying as having them actually appear! lol

If it ain't one thing it's another, am I right?  ;-)

Here's my current theme song.......


I've got a smoked pork butt in the crockpot and a roof over my head today so despite everything else, life is good.

Sluggy

My Day as Angelina Jolie & The Saga Continues *UPDATE*

Well my life seems to roll along like a misshapen lumpy rock.
*bump*bump*bump*stop*

Last week I had a flare up of my HS with an abscess in my left armpit.  I'll spare you and won't go into details or share lovely, color photographs here. ;-)

A week ago Thursday I was at the doctor's office having said abscess drained, cultured and dressed. Nothing unusual was found and I was sent on my way with an Rx for a course of Bactrim anitbiotic.

On Tuesday I went back to this doc for a follow-up on the abscess.  Everything seemed progressing in the right direction and she told me to finish out the course of Bactrim and no need to return for this issue.

Fast forward to this past Wednesday evening and after taking my evening dose of Bactrim I got a horrendous itch "down there" that led me to believe I may be developing a yeast infection.(I am also on another maintenance drug that can cause yeast infections so this wasn't a strange thing to consider.)
I took an oatmeal treatment bath in the tub which seemed to calm the itch and I went to bed.

Thursday morning I took my a.m. dose of Bactrim followed by my usual cadre of routine pills.
About an hour later my scalp started itching like a mutha and then my neck started and my left arm had what looked like a mosquito bite welt on it.
A short time later I went to pluck my eyebrows and saw that my neck was covered in red welts. WTF?

After reading a few blogs I noticed a tingling in my lower lip and saw that the middle of my lower lip was swollen.  As I sat looking into my magnifying mirror the swelling started spreading and by 10 am my entire lower lip was swollen by about double it's normal size.

I dug out some Benadryl and took a dose and waited for the swelling and welts to go down.
I also messaged the doc I had seen for the abscess and who had prescribed the antibiotic that I was possibly having a drug reaction.(Bactrim can cause hives and swelling though it's not usual.)

By 1 p.m and I hadn't heard back from the doc I made the decision to go to the local Urgent Care to be seen.

This is what my lip looked like before I left the house for the Urgent Care......

Again, WTF?!?
You can see a bit the welts on my neck in this shot too.

Up to the Doc-in-a-Box and after waiting an hour there the PA prescribed me a course of steroids.
Could be a reaction to the Bactrim so stop taking that now.  As long as my tongue and airway wasn't swelling and my vitals were normal there wasn't much more to be done there but wait and see if the Prednisone helped.

I went to Burger King to grab a small burger to eat in the car and wait for R-A to fill the Rx.
I resembled the Elephant Man trying to eat my burger.  It hurt to bite it and then finding it's way inside my mouth and then not letting food dribble out of the indentation that was the middle of my lip took real effort.

I finished the burger but R-A was taking forever to fill this script so I had to sit in the pharmacy for 15 minutes and wait with my hand over my mouth.
On the way out of the story I walked past a woman with a small child who saw my face and yelled in fright.
I felt like John Merrick from the movie in this scene......

I took the first pill of the script with some iced tea when I got home after 3 p.m.  Most of the tea ended up down my face and on my shirt but I kept enough in my mouth to swallow the pill.
I laid down to nap before 4 and waited for the drug to work.

When Hubs got home around 6 p.m. I got up, and if anything, the swelling had gotten worse 3 hours after taking the steroid.
Plus the tingling and swelling was now moving down my chin, up my cheeks and to the edges of my upper lip.
I took off my shirt to see that I had red welts all over my chest, my breasts and my stomach area. In addition, the back of my thighs and hands were now itching like a SOB!

Hubs threw me into his car and headed straight to the emergency room.
Finally got back into the ER and after asking me a bazillion + 1 questions the learned professionals "think" it is a reaction to either the Bactrim or the blood pressure med I am on, or a combination of the both.

My BP med is an ACE Enhibitor which can cause angioedema and hives in rare cases.  ACE Enhibitors can kill you if you develop a reaction to them and you continue to take them.
I guess I am one of the "lucky people" to be allergic to them. lol

ER doc can't be sure this is what caused my episode so I was referred to an allergist for testing in the future to see if the Bactrim or ACE Enhibitor caused this, or both.  For now I am off the BP med and the Bactrim.

Nurse in the ER gave me a Benadryl cocktail into my IV......well, after two tries to find a vein by two different nurses.(I am a hard stick as they say.)
Mega doses of Benadryl cocktails don't like me either it seems, as my eyes rolled back in my head and I nearly passed out on the gurney.  After laying there for about an hour I felt like my lips were improving and was well enough to get up and go home.  The IV was suppose to make me sleepy as well but I was up another 2+ hours after we got home before I could sleep. sigh.

Here's a shot of me around 11 p.m. Thursday night.  The bottom lip is almost normal size but the upper lip is still puffy.  I look like I had my lips botoxed, don't I? lolz

I don't think the Angelina Jolie look is for me......

I'd probably still scare a small child with this face.........

Obviously I'll never be mistaken for Angelina Jolie and I sure hope not to be mistaken for the Elephant Man either ever again.

As of Friday morning my lips are normal and all the welts are gone.  rah.
Awhile ago though I got another welt on the crook of my right arm and my thighs started up itching again.
Sigh.

*Update as of 5 am Saturday morning*

About 8pm Friday evening I started in with the intense itching and by 9pm everything besides the lip swelling started again.  I took another dose of Benadryl but it did nothing so we spent from 9:30pm to 1am back at the ER getting another IV of benadryl and prednisone(administered at 11:30pm)and the hives started disappating so I was discharged at 1am.  Got a script for Pepcid but no pharmacies open to fill it so we went home.

PA at ER said this could go on for 5 days or so if it's what they say it is.  We are on Day 3 now.

Got home and took another dose of Benadryl and went to bed by 2am.
Woke up at 4 am with crazy mad itching and can't sleep because of  it. Hives are getting worse and spreading again....now on all previous areas and going into my armpits and back of arms too.

Daughter woke Hubs up at 5am before she left for work. Hubs is heading out now to find the 24 hour pharmacy in Dallas PA to fill the Pepcid script.

And I am sitting here trying to type between scratching.
I am so tired I can hardly see straight.

I am seeing a third trip to the ER in as many days in my near future, though they'll probably just give me more Benadryl and send me home. Sigh

Can this end now.....please?
So. over. it.

I'll check-in later today or tonight. Ugh

Sluggy

**Saturday 1 PM Update**

Hubs brought home the meds from the 24 hour pharmacy.  With a metropolitan sized region we live in, I find it strange that there is only ONE 24 Pharmacy around here(next one is an hour away or father if you live north or east of here), especially since hospitals no longer house 24 hour pharmacies on site.

Rx taken at 7:30 am along with another dose of Benadryl plus most of my other morning meds* and by 8:30 am I was itch-free (mostly) and heading off to bed to nap.
I did sleep until 12 pm and awoke still mostly itch-free and the welts have disappeared(mostly).
Took another dose of Benadryl at a 4 hour interval and so far, so good at an hour past taking this dosage.

The IV cocktail they gave me the first night at the ER was a combination of mega dose of Benadryl and a dose of Pepcid.  While Pepcid is usually given to treat stomach aliments(acid relief, ulcers, GERD, etc.)it is also a Histamine-2 blocker.  Hives and angioedema to some extent are caused by allergic reactions and are helped by blocking histamine releases in your body(Antihistamines).
Benadryl and other similar medications are histamine level-1 blockers.  So a combo of both blockers are often used in cases where hives just won't go away. (Of course you can also be allergic to Pepcid or the other meds labeled as histamine-2 blockers so this Pepcid may have made the problem worse, but luckily I am not, and it did not.)

I spent this morning between scratching myself and waiting on Hubs to return with the script googling Hives(Urticaria)in all it's forms.  Yikes.  If it doesn't go away it could become a chronic case lasting for basically the rest of my life....so I had to stop looking!  No information can be a bad thing but a little information can be dangerous.
I'll take this one 4 hour segment at a time for now.

* While googling Hives however, I did read that a maintenance drug the specialist put me on in late August after my referral "has been documented to induce allergic Urticaria".
At my follow-up appt. with this specialist this past Monday it was discussed taking me off of this one med I started in late August since it was only a minimal dosage(1 mg)and the condition I was prescribed it for seems to be improving and he doesn't feel I "need" to be on it and said I'd probably be taken off of that soon.

So I made the executive decision(along with my gut feeling)to stop that script as of this morning.
I'll contact this doctor and explain what I am doing and why, especially if the combination of taking the 2 different histamine blockers along with discontinuing three drugs now(Bactrim, the BP med and this new drug in my regime)keeps me hive and angioedema free and doesn't cause me even worse symptons, until I hear back from his office.

It's possible that the first outbreak on Thursday was both angioedema and hives but when the swelling of tissues(lips)didn't come back on Friday, that could just be hives(or not).  Which drugs caused what could be complicated or changing, but I will not take them for now until we get definitive proof which one(s)are the culprit.

I will be making an appointment asap with my primary doctor too to go over all this and get his input, as well as push for an allergist appointment on three drugs that seem to be the likely candidates for causing these outbreaks.  If none of the 3 medications come up as the culprits we go back to square one in looking for a medicinal cause with the allergist.  At which point, this could take a very long time to discover what the trigger(s) were and this will be my new medical hell.

So we still don't know why this is happening other than I am allergic to something.  Between the various docs and PAs I've seen since Thursday and knowing my own body and environment at home, we have ruled out environmental causes(not due to laundry detergent used on clothing, a difference in my surroundings in the last week), animal or bug infection/bites, a food allergy, cold-induced, warmth-induced, solar-induced, so we are left with drug-induced Allergic Urticaria or Idiopathic Urticaria caused by stress which leads to a break down of the Autoimmune system, and can result in developing autoimmune thyroiditis, celiac disease(in which case food will be involved), rheumatoid arthritis, Sjorgren's syndrome or systemic lupus erythematosus. (Type 1 diabetes is also among the outcomes but I can't develop that at this time in my life.)
Yikes!

So that's it from here for now.  I see many oatmeal treatment baths in my near future and luckily for me I have A LOT of rolled oats on hand to pulverize into oatmeal dust for it(and I got it really cheap by buying it at rock bottom price.....see what I just did there?....worked in a frugality thing in this medical update? ;-) ).
Fingers crossing I can get through today without another outbreak and trip to my regular gurney up to the ER. I have to, merely for the fact that they have run out of good veins to use to put an IV into because due to my disappearing veins and their crookedness I am a very "hard stick".

Though there was some excitement last night when 6 cops showed up with a belligerent man in handcuffs to get his blood drawn for a DUI charge I'd rather stay home and find other entertainment.

The bright side of all this?

I am still alive(knock on wood)and our healthcare insurance is "good"(not great but at least good)and we have now maxed out on our Maximum Deductibles OOP we are required to pay/co-pay for(all medical treatment accept RXs).  Umm, I think we hit the ceiling for out of pocket medical sometime between the Urgent Care and the 1st ER trip.  Everything medical from then until Dec. 31st will be no OOP so I'll want to get this allergy consult, etc. on the books before Jan.1st.  If this saga drags on into 2017 we'll probably max out our OOP next year too, given that 3 of the 4 people under our policy are frequent flyers now due to various health conditions. bleh.

I'm off to find something to eat now.
Thanks for all the well wishers in the comments.  It does help a bit getting some positive vibes(or dare I say blog love?). 8-P

Sluggy

A Few Deal Cheapies At Weis & Building an Emergency Pantry

I got a few things at Weis(PMITA)Markets on Tuesday........

4 x DaVinci pasta on sale $1 each, used 4 x .50¢/1 IPQ which double to $1 making these free.
3 x RedPack tomatoes on sale $1 each, used $1/3 ManuQ which made these .67¢ a can.
8 x Hanover canned beans on sale for 1/2 price(.59¢), no Qs used.

The beans were a surprise find and they had the rare reduced sodium varieties on most.  I should have bought more than 2 of each at this price but the larder is pretty full right now.  Besides the "best" price I find Hanover beans on sale for around here otherwise is $1 a can.  A couple of pots of chili, a pot of pinto beans and rice and some hummus making and these will disappear fast! lol

This is how you build a larder/pantry/stockpile.
Pick up staples when they go rock bottom price(even better if they are free after Qs!)a little at a time.
This was $6.72 well spent in my estimation.  And that small amount doesn't take much out of your food budget, not such that you will miss it.

                    A neat stockpile-not mine! lolz

Preppers and some religious groups get a bad rap about "hoarding" food supplies as does anyone who goes to extremes like those "oddballs" on some reality tv shows(unless you are of the mind that our civilization as we know it is nearing an end).

But having a decent sized emergency supply of food is NEVER a bad idea.  I don't care if you live alone or you are a family of 15.  Having extra food is the only way to operate in this world.

Does it snow or does your area get hurricanes or tornadoes?  Have you seen what the daily food supply chain system is like with the approach of a weather related event?  Have you seen store shelves cleared of bread, milk, eggs, water, etc. after bad weather is predicted to hit in any area?

                Part of my stockpile taken August 2015

Most grocery stores operate on a 3 day supply of food, meaning most supplies are restocked every 3 days on average with new deliveries.
When a weather emergency or natural disaster interrupts the transportation system from getting your food from the growing source to a processor to a warehouse to a wholesaler to a method of delivery(planes/trucks)to your actual market a store can run out within 3-7 days if that chain remains broken.

So unless you want to be at the mercy of this short food supply chain it only makes sense to have a stash of self-stable items in your home for emergency situations.  And if you would experience power outages during an emergency don't rely on stockpiling items that need refrigeration or a freezer.  You could experience financial losses when you have to throw out a mass of spoiled items and then rebuild that stash.

If you are interested in building a stockpile/pantry(even a modest one)here's a plan----
* Make a list of items you use often that are shelf-stable and decide how many you need to keep in your pantry on a regular basis
* Put $5 out of your weekly grocery budget/spending aside in an envelope(if you use cash)or mentally put it aside on a paper to keep track(if you charge your food purchases).
* Every week when you peruse the grocery ads, if you see an item you wish to stockpile, put it onto your buying list and purchase it at the store.
* Keep track of what you bought/didn't buy yet on your pantry list by marking off or changing the quantity still needed on that list AND pay with cash from that pantry stock-up envelope and move that cash used physically to your wallet or another location(like a savings envelope)OR once items are put on credit card/debit card make a note on your list of available cash for stockpiling how much to deduct from your running total.

Easy Peasy.
And if you don't find any stockpilable items one week, roll that $5 over into the following week.
This system will only take $20 a month out of your normal food budget but by thinking this way it may help you build you a very inexpensive stockpile without any distress to your budget.

                  Donation from 2015

If you don't need to build a pantry/stockpile you can utilize this same method to put together a Food Bank/Pantry donation.

             Another donation from 2015

Direct $5 a week while grocery shopping to pick up inexpensive but nutritious items your local Food Bank always needs; items like peanut butter, tuna fish, soups, pasta, canned tomatoes, pasta sauce, canned veggies, condiments, etc., especially if you find an item(s) on rock bottom price and/or you have access to good coupons on said items.  And don't forget to also look for deals on toiletry items this way at the grocery and/or drug stores.  People on Snap benefits can NOT purchase paper goods, OTC medicines or personal care toiletries with government food benefits.  Most Food Banks will be more than happy to take your toilet paper, laundry detergent, deodorant, shampoo and toothpaste donations to hand out to their clients.

The beginning of the Great Gravy Caper Donation of November 2011

At the end of the month doing this will give you a right decent amount of food to donate or keep for your own emergency pantry.


Any questions on how to build an emergency pantry?   Leave a comment.
Sluggy