More Shopping on Vacation

So here are some more things I bought while in Virginia........

Boiled Peanuts for $1 a can.

When I picked up groceries at Walmart for me to eat I found they had my fav mayo there and it was on rollback so I bought 2 jars.......

The second week I went to Aldi's as they sell beer and wine at the ones in VA, not so here in draconian PA........

I picked up a total of 7 6-packs of house brand beer between Aldis and Trader Joe's and another 2 6-packs at Total Wine & More store(though that craft beer was name brands Bell's and Sierra Nevada).

Also at Aldi's I picked up their private label mayo w/olive oil.......

For $1.98(more than $1 less than the name brands)it just seemed like the proper thing to do.
Anybody ever tried Aldi's mayo and how did you like it(or not)?



Then at another Walmart I found huge cans of cherry pie filling on clearance for $2 each so some of those came home with me........

I make a Cherry Cheesecake Pie in the Summer(usually for July 4th)and 1 can of this will do for the topping on two of those pies.

I also picked up a case of wine at Trader Joe's, that being my big outlay of cash......

3 Buck Chuck($3.29 to be exact), 4 bottles each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot and 2 bottles each of Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio.
I use this for cooking purposes like in pasta sauce, beef stew, french onion soup, etc.  I also bought 2 bottles of Marsala wine in Fredericksburg at the Total Wine store.

On the way home after the Fredericksburg stop I always stop in at the Food Lion just North of town on Route 17.  Well with Weis Markets buying out some Food Lion stores in that region my favorite Food Lion to hunt marked down meats was now a Weis. Ugh.

So I stopped at the next Food Lion I passed going up 17 and got a couple of small hunks of brisket on markdown......

I also bought 4 rolls of Gwaltney pork sausage while there, as we can't get it up here anymore, and the Bob Evans and Jimmy Dean brands available here are at least $1 more a roll, and that's when it's on sale!

Of course, all groceries bought while on vacation are counted into my food budget(the beer-for drinking-doesn't, it's another line item in the spending).

Sluggy

Eating Out Spending.....May Update

Considering I was on a 2 week trip in May, we didn't do too badly with the Eating Out/Take-Out spending in May.
I have updated the Spending Totals for 2017 on the Eating Out Page located HERE.

May
Regular Eating Out/Take-Out  $84.79
* This constituted a trip to Taco Bell for Hubs and I(using what was left on a gift card + $8.37 in cash), a trip to the nice Chinese Buffet for lunch(Daughter & I)for $17.45 and the family got Whopper meals at BK while I was gone one night for $20.86 total and Hubs got Chinese the night I got home from my trip for $38.11.

Birthday Eating Out  $0
* No birthday's this month and I was not here for Mother's Day so there was no spending in this category this month.

Trip Eating Out  $99.54
* Seeing as it was a 2 week trip I didn't spend very much really.  The trip down I spent $2.32 at Mickey D's for breakfast and $10.47 at Arby's in MD for lunch.
While in VA I got myself a Chick fil-A meal for $7.75 one day, took a friend out to lunch at Applebee's for $17.79 and took my eldest son and fiancee out for dinner one night for $61.21.
At Eldest son's I used Texas Roadhouse gift cards(bought last year)to pay for a meal out for us and Eldest paid anything over that, and Eldest took me out to lunch one day.  I only ate half the sandwich so had the other half for breakfast before I left to come home.  The trip home I didn't stop to eat anywhere and ate when I got home.

TOTAL Spent......$184.33

Year-To-Date Spending....$642.70
Average of $128.54 per month

Looking ahead to June--
This month should be fairly low as we aren't going anywhere.
Maybe 1 or 2 nights of Take-Out this month but otherwise no plans.

Once July hits and A-Hubs is retired and home 24/7, B-We leave on the Mega Road Trip of 2017™, all bets are off. lolz

How much did you spend on Eating Out/Take-Out last month?

Sluggy

June Giveaway is Busting Out All Over! Come Enter

This is the fifth Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for the year.
Come on and enter.
Somebody has to win and it might just be YOU!
I'm tempting fate and am putting chocolate into this box too.

Since we will be traveling this Summer and Hubs is retiring at the end of this month, and our income game plan is uncertain for the immediate future, this will be the last Giveaway for awhile.

Here is what you can win if your entry is picked.......

1 x Jergen's Sun Glow Lotion
1 x Wet n' Wild Lipstick(Just Garnet)
1 x Degree women's Dry Spray Deodorant
1 x Dove Color Care Shampoo
1 x Herbal Essence Conditioner
1 x Centrum Vitamints(Raspberry flavor)
1 x L'Oreal Infallible Lip Gloss(Fiery)
2 x Sally Hansen Hard As Nail Color(Sweet Pea, Merlot)
1 x Simply Venus disposable women's Razors
1 x Colgate toothpaste
1 x Reach toothbrush
2 x Cover Girl Eye Shadow(Purple Pop, Tapestry Taupe)
1 x Nail Brush
1 x Facial Brush
1 x Foot File
1 x Dove Shampoo sample(heat treated)
1 x NYC Lip Gloss(Watermelon)
1 x Revlon Nail Clippers
11 x Hershey and Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares(Dark w/Cranberries/Blueberries/Almonds, Milk w/Caramel, 60% Cacao, Dark w/Sea Salt, Dark w/Cabernet Matinee) *Be sure and put the chocolate in the fridge or freezer upon arrival.*


Over $60 in regular retail of goodies.

Closeup shots of the goodies up for grabs......

I'll leave this giveaway open until Wednesday, June 21st, at 11:59pm Eastern Time, so that gives everyone a full 2 weeks to enter this one.  On June 22nd I'll mark all the valid entries and use Random dotorg to pick a number and that corresponding person's entry wins.

*Please note the rules*
I'll post the name/Id of the winner on this blog and that person has 48 hours from then to contact me privately via email(my email addy is listed on my "About Me" page).
If I am not contacted via email I'll attempt to contact the winner via the email they supply with their entry and if that email is not responded to within another 48 hours I'll pick another winner.

There are three ways to enter--1 Daily and 2 One-Time Only........

1. Leave a comment every day.

2. Be a follower of this Blog(Hit the "Follow" button on the right hand side bar.) Let me know if your comment for this entry the name you follow under to verify.  You can do this entry once.

3. Post on your own blog(or on your Facebook page)about the Giveaway and leave a link in your comment/entry to where I can find it.  You can do this entry once.
In your Daily Entry tell me in your comment......something like what here is the thing here you most would like to win, or what your Summer plans are, will you be vacationing and where, what thing/place you'd most like to see in your life or just tell us something about yourself.

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.
As the cost of postage to foreign countries has gotten to high I am sorry to say I can no longer afford to mail boxes outside the US.  These giveaways are not sponsored by any companies, I pay for it all(cost of items given away and the postage to mail it all)out of my own pocket.

***PLEASE NOTE***

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.

If you're not a registered Blogger User with your contact information on your User page, please put your email addy in your comment or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment so I can get a hold of you. If your Blogger associated user profile is a GOOGLE one with those Google Circles nonsense I CAN NOT CONTACT YOU as Google Circles doesn't show your contact info.

If I can't contact you then you can't win.  I have had to disqualify more readers than I care to due to this issue and I sure don't want it to happen again.  Thanks!

So let's get this started!

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The  "Getting Back Into A Groove" Edition--

I snapped this photo of the huge Rhododendron in our backyard last week when I got home from Virginia.  It was in glorious full on blooming mode.

I've been back a full week and I need to get back into the swing of life here.  I've been slow getting back to normal but then again, I've got nothing pressing that needs doing asap so it's all good.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--I wasn't home all week so this wasn't my plan. ;-)

1. Sunday--Chinese Take-out

2. Monday--Burgers and Dogs, COC, Beans(Hubs is cooking)

3. Tuesday--Leftovers, Spinach Salad

4. Wednesday--Rigatoni w/Meat Sauce, Garlic Bread, Salad

5. Thursday--Steak, Baked Potato, Caesar Salad
6. Friday--Fried Cod, Cole Slaw, Steak Fries
7. Saturday--Meatloaf, Veggies TBD

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Chinese Take-out

2. Monday--Burgers and Dogs, COC, Beans(Hubs is cooking)

3. Tuesday--Fried Cod, Cole Slaw, Onion Rings

4. Wednesday--Leftovers

5. Thursday--Meatloaf, Au Gratin Potatoes, Spinach Salad
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--Steak, Baked Potato, Salad

Last week saw 6 nights of home cooked dinners....2 nights of Leftovers and 4 nights of  new meals plus 1 night of Take-Out.
Daughter had leftover cheese/bechamel sauce from when she made mac and cheese while I was gone, so I sliced up potatoes thinly on a mandolin and used the sauce to make au gratin potatoes to go with the meatloaf.

I made 3 trips to the Weis Markets totaling $95.08 OOP.  This brings my June food spending total to $95.08.  There are 26 days left in the month. 

$49.51 of that spending was for t-bone steaks I stocked up on at $5.88 lb. last week, so less than half of the spending was everything else I bought last week.

My savings percentages last week was 74.72% which brings the month's percentage to 74.72%. 

Leftovers going into this week.......meat sauce(from daughter's weeks of cooking), meatloaf and au gratin potatoes.

Here is this week's "food plan"....
* Denotes "complicated" meals

1. Sunday--Pork Chops, Sitr-Fry Veggies, leftover Au Gratin Potatoes

2. Monday--Chicken and Dumplings w/Carrots

3. Tuesday--Country Fried Steak, Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Veggie TBD

4. Wednesday--Leftovers

5. Thursday--Pasta w/Meat Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread
6. Friday--Salmon, Mushroom Risotto
7. Saturday-Leftovers

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

What I need to buy for this menu? Carrots and Mushrooms so far.

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

To-Do List......May Update

Let's take a look at how we did on our To-Do List for May.

* Pay Bills DONE  Everything paid and on time, no interest or fees paid.

* Read 1, 2, 3 Books DONE  With the trip to VA I read 3 whole books this month(plus read a little more in the two books I was reading in April).

The Revenant
Ragtime

The All-Girl Filling Station's Last Reunion

All three were good reads and I'd recommend them all.

Incidentally, "Ragtime" was made into a Broadway Musical back in 1998 and ran for 2 years. The actor who played the role of Father is someone I worked with in Summer Stock back in 1980 and 1981, Mark Jacoby.
Here's the opening number as the cast appeared on an episode of the Rosie O'Donnell Show back in 1998.....





* Go to Dr. Appointment DONE  All my tests are good and my weight is down another 15 lbs. from my last visit with my Primary doc in November.

* Hold Giveaway DONE

* Mail Giveaway DONE  Reader Chris won the goodies and has received them.

* 1st Load to Salvation Army for 2017 FAIL  I've got a load to go but we just didn't get them taken up yet.

* Pack for trip to VA DONE  

* Gather Gifts to take to VA DONE  I took 3 canvas bags plus a cardboard box of toiletries plus detergent to gift to various folks including my brother, my sister in-law's daughter, my eldest son and a childhood friend.

* Contact Folks for meet-up in VA DONE  I wanted to get together with 2 friends who live down near my brother but only got to meet up with one of them and that took some doing to work out and about wore me out. ;-)

* Go on VA trip DONE  I went and have returned home mostly intact. lolz

* Visit Eldest Son DONE  I stopped over for 2 nights and stayed with my eldest son on the journey home.  It was a low key visit but good.

* Come Home DONE  Yep, made it in 5 hours from Fredericksburg VA to home.

Not a very strenuous list last month but got all but 1 item ticked off.

How did you do on your To-Do List in May?

Sluggy