To-Do List....July Update

Let's peek at how July's To-Do List  went, shall we?

* Pay Bills  DONE  Everything got paid and on time.  I just don't want to even SEE August's credit card bill however. lolz

* Pack for Trip!  DONE  I am sure I overpacked but oh well.  Better too many clothes than not enough.

* Go on Trip  IN PROGRESS  Havign a wonderful time, wish y'all were here.  Seriously!  I need someone other than Hubs to talk to. lolz

* Plan CB's Fall Housing/Food  DONE  Housing is set(and much cheaper than the last 3 years)and we've got a plan for the foodstuffs.

* Mail Eldest's Birthday Present  DONE  I mailed it out so that he got it the day before his birthday.  I sent him some craft beer nuts and a Birthday check....plus a bag of Smarties as that was his favorite candy as a kid and I always send him those now.  8-)

* Read 1, 2, 3, 4 Books  PASS  I read 3 books.  Didn't get to the 4th book though as I didn't have enough reading time in the car as I thought I'd have.

This was a quick read.....a short novella of YA fiction.  Interesting.

This novel got finished on the road last week.  Funny and dark.

And I can't for the life of me remember the first book I finished in July way before we left on this road trip.  Being on the road for so long just does things to your brain.  I'll have to wait until we get home and then I can find the book and list it.

* Inventory Freezer  DONE  I pawed through and added to the list I made for Daughter when I went to VA in May(after crossing off what she/they cooked then).  The kids are well stocked plus I gave them cash for what they needed to buy.  It will be interesting to see once I get home what actually got used/spent.  I suspect there will have been many nights of Chinese take-out knowing my Daughter.  ;-)

* Repair LA House  IN PROGRESS  Like everything else in Louisiana, nobody down there does anything with ANY sense of urgency.  So dealing with Lowe's and their installer through our real estate agent is taking FOREVER!!!  Lots of phone tag and nobody but the realtor gets back to us.  Frustrating is an inadequate word for this process. ugh.  But we are working on it as we travel across the country and now back toward home.

* List LA House  DONE  The house is listed and on the market even though there is still work to be done on it.  Anybody seeing the house is told what we plan to fix/update and SOME DAY it might get finished.

* Transfer LA House Utilities  DONE  Again, it took FOREVER and a day to get the utilities in our name.  The water people cashed our check but still no word on whether they actually turns on the water.  Will have the realtor check next trip she makes to the house. ugh.

* Pick Up New Glasses  DONE

Here are my new "readers".  If you can't tell they are purple on the outer edges and clear toward the middle.
And here are my sunglasses.........

Again, purple frames, if you can't tell the color, as it was dark in the car.

Happy with what got done(or started)though it wasn't a very long list in July.
August's list will probably be just as brief.

What did you get accomplished in July?  Any big projects or just "regular life" stuff?
What didn't you get crossed off your list that you wished you had gotten finished?


Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The  "Still Eating on the Road 2.0" Edition--

We stopped in Missoula MT on the way back to Idaho last week and went to one of Kim(sorry she was blurry but she never sits still!lol) and her Hubs' favorite eating places in that town.  That's a chicken fried steak that they shared for dinner.  The thing was HUGE!!! lolz  This should have been a prelude to the burger joint we went to two nights later.  They grow entrees large out here in the West.  ;-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--an Elk Burger w/Fries

2. Monday--Home cooked meal by Kim's sister?

3. Tuesday--Effie Tavern burger(split 4 ways probably-I hear they are massive!)

4. Wednesday--Something on the road-Montana

5. Thursday--Ditto-Wyoming
6. Friday--Ditto-Wyoming
7. Saturday--Ditto-South Dakota

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--an Elk Burger w/Fries

2. Monday--Hamburgers, Corn, Jello w/Fruit Mold

3. Tuesday--1/2 an Effie Tavern burger(Hubs wouldn't share his WHOLE burger.....I still can't believe he ate that whole thing!lol)

4. Wednesday--Salad, Turkey and Dressing, Cranberry Relish(a late Lunch and we didn't have dinner)

5. Thursday--Salad, Pizza
6. Friday--Steak Fingers, French Fries(I ate about half of what I was served)
7. Saturday--Salad, Pizza again

Last week saw 1 nights of home cooked dinners, 0 nights of leftovers and 6 nights of Eating Out and all of it was done while on the road. 2 nights of salad and pizza, a day apart....no pizza for weeks on end at home and bam! Some places we've stayed at on the way back are in very small towns and there are not many choices for meals(Thursday and Friday).  4 days we didn't eat lunch(or ate a late lunch and no dinner)and one day I ate very little lunch(the night we had Effie burgers).

I made 0 trips to the Weis Markets or any other store at home but I did browse through Rite-Aid and Big Lots and Shopko in Idaho and bought drinks and some other foodstuffs to bring home which I will report on after we get home.

My savings percentages last week and for the month so-far?    No clue. 

Leftovers going into this week........again, no clue.  We don't have leftovers while traveling, we just have to dump or leave what we don't finish.  Two slices of pizza got left behind at one motel.

Here is this week's "food plan"....not that I am cooking any of it anyway. lol......

1. Sunday--Huhot 

2. Monday--Home cooked meal at SAM's house?

3. Tuesday--Something at Sonya Ann's house?

4. Wednesday--Ditto or Eating Out

5. Thursday--Ditto or Eating Out
6. Friday--Taking Hubs' sister out to eat
7. Saturday--Something in OH where we are staying

This week will see ? new meal cooked, 0 nights of leftovers and ? nights of Take-Out/Eating-Out.

What I need to buy for this menu?  Daughter will be grocery shopping for the next few weeks so it's not in my hands again this week.

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

2017 Road Trip......Day 20 Ahead

Day 19 of this Summer Road Trip is in the books.  As we begin Day 20 there are 10 days left until we get home.

Yesterday we crossed off another state on our dwindling list of "Never Been To"s......

It was a stressful day between the traffic....South Dakota-who'd a thought that?.....and being alone in a car with Hubs for almost 4 days.  As the pioneers who crossed this land use to say, "today  I saw the elephant".  I snapped and wanted to just get out and walk home at that point.
Well, I didn't though.

One more day of driving and being alone with Hubs and then I get a reprieve as we get to hook up with SAM in Minnesota.
Then it's on to Sonya Ann's house for a few days, plus another 4 meet-ups with Family, Friends and Bloggers mixed in with another four nights in motels too.
I hope I can hold it together for another 10 days.

I don't see how folks who work on the road do it for extended periods of time and stay sane.  This different motel room game every night is tiring.  Between schlepping all your stuff into a motel and out the next day and the never knowing how bad/good the motel will be(it's been quite the wide variety of establishments!)it is unnerving and not conducive to staying calm and getting a good rest each night.
Add in all the time zone changes we've been through too plus some days we don't know what time or DAY it is.
Both Hubs and I are a bit cranky at this point.

Day 20 ahead and we cross off the last "Not Been To" State we are slated to hit this trip from the list and then it's all familiar real estate we've seen before(pretty much).

My poor camera has gotten a work out as well.  I am approaching 4 Thousand photos taken.  I sure will have my work cut out for me once I get home with tons of editing of those.

Ok, I've got to get moving here.  A mystery breakfast awaits once I get dressed.  I wonder what it will consist of?  Such a crap shoot each morning with the vittles.  We've always got our dinner leftovers tucked in the room fridge we can reheat if the offerings are sparse and/or inedible. lolz

I'll try to post again tomorrow or Tuesday if I am still alive/can function/can get online.

Have a great Sunday and pray for me that I don't lose it today on the boring drive East. ;-)

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the August 4th Edition

This one will be short as we are on vacation and my brain is sort of scattered with driving and moving around so much.....and being with the dynamo called KIM for the last 7 of 9 days of this road trip adventure. 8-)
There is no "we stayed home and didn't spend" type frugalness this week, sorry.

* We have been able, while traveling alone and staying in motels, to eat only two meals a day on some days.  We stay in motels that served "breakfast" so the cost of one of those two meals is rolled into the price you pay at the motel.  Although each motel has a different definition of "breakfast" so you never know how good or wretched that meal will be. lolz

* I asked Kim, the night before we left her house, to please print me out a coupon for Shopko(a smallish discount department store in her parts). We stopped before leaving Idaho so I could use it to get a few things.  I saved $10 on my $32 order that way and I now have 3 Christmas presents tucked away(well in the car trunk until we get home).

* Speaking of Kim, she took me up to her Rite-Aid to fill a prescription and we both got free or better-than-free light bulbs using the deal this week on GE products.

* Speaking of Rite-Aid, the ones in Idaho sell wine and beer.  I picked up a 6-pack of beer for my kids(both legal drinking age now)and since it was Rite-Aid I also got 20% off on the purchase.  I figured the 20% Wellness discount wouldn't work on liquor but I was wrong.  Go me!

* At one point traveling from Twin Falls to Ashton Idaho we made a stop for lunch with Kim and her Hubs Joel.  They chose Applebee's.  I brought along a gift card so we paid for all our meals and used that gift card which meant only $22+ OOP.  Woohoo!

* There have been so many souvenir temptations along the way.  Overall I have been pretty good about not overspending on them.  Places like Yellowstone Park and the place we were yesterday were fairly outrageous in their prices so I haven't bought much at the big sites/parks/museums.  My best souvenir scores have been at highway travel plaza stores. lolz  I have a soft spot this trip for t-shirts and books it seems.

* I haven't bought any groceries since I haven't been home and haven't been cooking at all!  I have bought some drinks for using while traveling however but that's a small cost compared to buying groceries at home.  At least I am picking up drinks by the 6 pack or at discount places(Big Lots/Walmart)instead of paying $1.89 or so at gas station convenience stores or even more at motel vending machines.

So what did you do that was frugal this week?

Sluggy

Halfway Done!

Tomorrow we leave Kim's house and start the journey back East to PA.

We are at the halfway mark on this trip and I have to say, I am kinda tired.   And I am not the one doing all the driving(so far)!!

Being on the go-go-go every day(until today)for 2 weeks in this extreme(for me at least)heat has been sapping my energy.  I have tried not to let it make me less than charming company but it has been hard.

I sure wish the gods hadn't decided to make the latter part of July so warm wherever we've gone so far.  And it looks like the first part of August will be just as brutal as far as temperatures go.

It's 102F as I type this here in Idaho and we are "getting out of Dodge", as they say, just in time before it hits 106F later this week.

We've had some good times so far, even in the heat.....along with a near death experience. lolz

We'll mark another state off my "Never Been To" List tomorrow and then head back through Montana, before dropping back down into Wyoming for a couple of days and then off to another "first"-South Dakota.  The day after that North Dakota also gets crossed off that list as well.

In 6 days we'll be in MN to see SAM and the day after that, we'll be at Sonya Ann's place, then in OH 4 days later to see Chris and Rachel and home another 4 days after hitting OH.

I figure when I do finally get home, after doing a mountain of laundry and catching up on all my financial book work, I'll prolly sleep for a week!

Then the real fun beginnings.....editing photographs that will likely number about 2000+.  Gulp.

Then I have to blog about last August's trip before I can recount THIS Summer's crazy adventure.

And yes Anne, I have finally gotten to see the "infamous deck" and have photographic proof to share about it. lolz

Sluggy