Goings On Around Chez Sluggy Lately

Oh, where to start.

My drug regime shake up has had some positive results on me.....well, after my angioedema/hives episode happened.
First off I had ENERGY last week!  That's something I've had none of most of this year.
I am actually getting things accomplished that I've wanted to do for months.
Go me.

Last week I........
* Cleaned out my painting supplies(plus washed the tubs I keep these in).
* Cleaned out the pantry
* Cleaned out the cabinet to the left of the stove
* Did some reorganizing in the garage/stockpile
* Cleaned the bookcase next to my desk
* Got together a Food Bank Donation
* Got a Salvation Army Donation ready to go
* Went through some files and purged a bunch of paper
* Cleaned and vacuumed my car(This is something I NEVER do!)

All this was in addition to my usual routine of cooking/laundry/shopping/blogging/etc.

And all this moving around has had me losing weight too, 8 lbs. so far.  I suspect one of the meds I was on that I am now off of was hindering me dropping weight.  Has to be a combo on exercise and off the drug as my food type/intake has not changed at all.

And then Daughter got sick and shared her grunge with me.
Ugh.
This week has been spent in a brain fog and 1 activity.....just trying to be able to breath out of my nose. ;-)
I suspect if this thing doesn't loosen it's grasp on me by Monday I'll be sitting in the Urgent Care early next week.

Another thing I got done last week was to prepare a whole slew of Giveaway boxes......

The open box is for December's Giveaway and the stack contains goodies for 6 Giveaways for 2017.
As long as the blogging ad revenue continues to come in(in drips and drabs)and I can cover the postage to mail these boxes with that tiny income stream(and I get stuff for Free to use as prizes)the Giveaways will continue!
Rah.

So barring catastrophes I am well ahead of the game for at least half of next year on this score.
I just need to figure out where to store these boxes in the house until needed. First world blogger problems, eh? lolz

Putting these boxes together came out of cleaning the dining room.  I had a large box of toiletries in there that needed to be moved out before Thanksgiving as we'll need that room then.  This box was overflow from the toiletries stash in tubs up in Hub's man cave room.  So instead of shoving them goodness knows where in the house and then trying to dig it all out to make up prize boxes for Giveaways I just "got 'er done" now and that potential job is off my plate.  I can just photograph the contents and write up each Giveaway post as needed next year.  I think I have room under the daybed that the dog spends her days napping on in the living room to tuck these away until needed.  This hiding place will be easy to access too.

Here is the Food Bank donation I gathered so far......

Assorted foodstuffs and 10 bottles of shampoo

I'll probably add to the food component before I take this all in next week, as I will be reorganizing the stockpile in the garage some more and will most probably find more "goodies".

And speaking of the garage, next week once I am feeling like myself again I need to concentrate on going through stuff in the garage to donate to charity.  Between the stockpile, Daughter and BF's stuff and all my old eBay selling days stuff out there it's just too, too much in there and I am ready to let go of more crap!

I want to do at least another 4 Salvation Army donations before the end of the year(not counting the one ready to go this weekend).  I've still got lots of new/unused toys and gift wear and this is the time of year that sort of stuff is highly sought after for gifting in the charity stores.
I'd rather donate and take the tax write-off(if we hit the threshold this year-last year we didn't)than spend lots of time and energy on eBay attempting to sell it.
There are a few items if I get the "umph" that I will try to sell....mostly items I know I can get a good price for(to make the hassle worthwhile).

Ok, I am off to breath and maybe get some more cleaning/organizing done today.
Oh, and a trip to Rite-Aid too if I can sustain some energy long enough to do that. 8-)))

What are y'all up to today?

Sluggy

Food Spending Plan for Nov & Dec

Since I've spent most of my food $ for November already in my head(buying this week and next to get a reward certificate),I went through all my free chits for food I have left to spend to see what I have in future purchases.

These include free gift cards I have for various stores and reward certificates I've earned this month. Gift cards total $70 between two different grocery stores, as well as $14+ change on a prepaid Visa card that can be used anywhere that takes Visa.
In addition, I have a $20 certificate to redeem for food items at Shursave Markets by Nov. 30th.  And I have a free turkey to redeem from Weis Markets for Thanksgiving.

I also have almost $100 in cash rebate money in my SavingStar account, $31.10 in my Checkout51 account and $7 in my Ibotta account(though I can't cash out of Ibotta until I hit $20 there).  That makes $131+ or so in cash I can apply to any food spending that happens in December.

And if push comes to shove and I need to use it, I have $87.50 in rolled coins saved up so far in 2016.

Gift Cards.....$84+
Reward Certs....$20
Cash Rebates...$131+
Free Turkey
Coins....$87.50(if needed)

My plan is to basically not spend anything other than these gift cards/rebates/rewards/coins on food in December.  No out of pocket spending on food in December.

Other than fresh produce and milk we are well stocked(overstocked maybe?)on a lot of foods we normally eat plus I have all Holiday foods bought or covered.  Fridge, freezer and pantries are all overflowing so this is highly doable.

If I can stick to this plan I'll end up with $4,600+/- spent on food/toiletries/HBA/OTC/paper goods for all of 2016.  My goal was to stay under $5K on these categories for the year.

If successful this plan would keep me under $400 OOP per month on food/toiletries/paper goods/HBA/OTC goods for 2016.
I'd be exceedingly happy with that outcome.

Sluggy

US Savings Bonds Reminder

While doing my monthly recalculations in October I noticed that we had two US Savings Bonds that had matured earlier in the year.

I hightailed it up to the bank to cash them out.  Since they had reached their last maturity date it made no point to keep them "invested" as they'd earn nothing more.

I had hoped to apply these to College Boy's next tuition bill in January so that the interest they have earned would not be taxed.
Unfortunately per the rules for these things, only US Savings Bonds purchased after 1989 can be used in this way without a tax penalty.
These bonds were purchased in 1986.
Darn it!

When Hubs first started at his career his employer offered among other perks an automatic payroll deduction to buy US Savings Bonds.  Of course we signed up for that along with all the other savings plans they offered.  Somewhere in 2006 the employer discontinued this Saving Bond purchase plan, but along the way we ended up with 51 Savings Bonds.

I have our Bonds saved in a spreadsheet online that I can update values every month from the Us Treasury website database.

We have another Bond maturing Dec 1st and will also cash that one out before the end of the year.
We are debating cashing in some of these bonds early(before full maturity)as the rate is 1.3% or 1.4% and these are dated such that can be used for education tax-free.  Is it better to use them now for education expenses or hang onto them to cash in after Hubs retires and our income is lower.
It probably doesn't matter much to our bottom line since the amount of money is comparably small potatoes.

I just can't believe that we've had these things for 30 years!
Suddenly I feel so old...... ;-)

Sluggy

The Morning After

The election day sticker I would have chosen if given this choice. ;-)


First off let me say that I am so proud of the people in my adopted state.
The projection was that 80% or more of registered voters in PA would cast a ballot in this year's election.....that would be over 6 million voters.
Most years you can count on about 53% of voters to actually go to the polls.  We broke records for participation here in PA.

80%....that's got to be a record turn out for here.
It says that when push comes to shove that Americans are still part of the process.
I have NEVER waited 1.5 hours in line to vote before!!!
While it was a damned nuisance I was so glad to see the level of interest among my fellow citizens.
No disgraceful outbursts at my polling place.
We kept it classy here in my county.

My daughter got into line to vote right before 8 pm after she got out of school last night.  In PA if you are in line before the polls close then you are still allowed to vote no matter how long it takes you to mark that ballot.
She got home after 10 pm.....over a 2 hour wait!
I suspect that in our county the percentage of votes cast was closer to 90% of all registered voters.

And who would have thunk my state would become a battleground state and be so close in the vote split?!?
But then again, I am not surprised.

PA is often called liberal on the ends(Pittsburgh and Philly)with Kentucky in the middle.  PA is a red state with islands of blue in urban areas.
This is much like what American looks like politically.....island of blue on both coasts and inside the Beltway and a sea of red in the middle.  I guess my state is more of a microcosm of the country than folks like to recognize.

What I also loved about last night was the media elite with their mouths hanging open as the results rolled over them.
Talk about clueless!
These people claim to have a hand on the pulse of America.
Umm....no.

Now the sore losers online start their mudslinging and name calling on anybody who didn't agree with their choice of candidate.

It's disheartening to see supposed friends of mine call me names like fuckhead, moron and asshole.
Yes because I didn't vote for HRC my "friends" have said this about me personally on their feeds.

I guess in their disappointment and anger it's impossible to remain classy.....or even civil.
My despair is palpable.

But all I have to say to them is this.....
You brought it on yourselves by nominating one of the most openly corrupt, elitist, insider, "bought and paid by corporate American", warmongering candidates.  We were right to reject her.  You were wrong to embrace her. Own it.

Evidently America had a Howard Beale moment yesterday......


And let's move on.

Let the healing begin.
We are the change we want to see in the world.
God Bless America.

Sluggy

October To-Do List.....Update

Well let's see how the To-Do List went for October, shall we?


* Pay Bills  DONE  Well if nothing else gets accomplished in my month paying all the bills is the one I want to do! 8-)))

* Bike Something   DONE   While I didn't do much I did get 15 miles in.  I feel good about this even if it's not a lot.

* Read 2 Books   DONE   I read Daisy and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg(Fried Green Tomatoes author) and another book which title escapes me at the moment.  I also read some more of that massive Katherine Anne Porter tome.
"Daisy" is an early work of Flagg's that was re-released(previous title was "Coming Attractions"). It's not as good as FGTs but worth a read if you find it at your library.

* Sew a Shirt  FAIL  Still don't have an sewing mojo going.  Maybe I'll try something simpler in November.

* List Items on eBay  FAIL  Didn't get to this in October and I just don't feel like expending all that time and energy on selling stuff online.  Maybe I'll do the FB local yard sale site instead?

* Shred Papers  FAIL  Didn't get to this yet.  Maybe this week?

* Put Deck Furniture Away  DONE  All got put away into the shed/garage.

* Put Garden to Bed  DONE  But still need to pull up the morning glory vines and put the tomato cages away.

* Go to CB's Concert  DONE  And they sounded marvelous!

* Mail Giveaway Box  DONE  New Giveaway is up too.

* Start another Donation to SA  DONE  Just a couple items that are in the boxes waiting to go to Sallie's.

* Take Daughter to Procedure  CANCELLED  Insurance didn't approve this in time so it's been rescheduled

* Scrub Kitchen Cabinets  FAIL  Well I didn't get to this yet so it goes on November's list

* Go to 3 Dr. Appointments  DONE  Started out as 1 appointment and morphed into 3 as the month went on.  Add in a trip to Urgent Care and 2 x trips to the Emergency Room and it's been a hell of a medical month and NOT in a good way!

* Take CB back to School  A short teachers' strike meant College Boy came home for 4 days.  I got him deposited back at college in time for classes to start back up.  I don't want to have to do THAT again!! ugh.

October was a mixed bag of results for me.  I felt like I was coasting along more than not.  Let's hope I can get more items crossed off my list in November.

How did you do accomplishing items on your To-Do List in October?

Sluggy