Wednesday, August 30, 2017

The Past 10 Days or So at Chez Sluggy

Well the "Great American Eclipse" came and went a week ago Monday.
Here in my part of PA we only got 72% totality.......


This photo was taken at our peak(2:41 pm).  Instead of looking like 2:41 in the afternoon it sort of looked like 4:41 in the afternoon. lolz

Daughter's dog in her usual spot chilling under my desk on Tuesday.


On Wednesday it was time to load College Boy up and take him back to school.  He had an audition on Thursday so he needed to be back and unpacked on Wednesday.

This semester he is sharing an apartment that two friends of his(sisters)rent.
He will only be there for 1 semester so this was the best situation for both him and me(me financially).  It is soooo much cheaper than being in a dorm! 8-)))
Since it is a 2 bedroom apartment he is getting the living room for his bedroom.
Before his crap......

After his crap......
He had it all organized and set up before going to bed that night.

Hubs took a couple more pics of the apartment........
Actually it's a nice little apartment with a cute kitchen.
Just wait until College Boy starts banging around in there....it won't be so clean and neat. lolz


You can tell a couple of "20 something" gals live here and not guys.  They even had a little garden out back. ;-)


On Friday last week Hubs and I ran errands.  I wanted to see if I was in time to get and can tomatoes this year from the local farm.


I drug out my canning jars and I had 32 quart size ones to use.


Smile calf!
Seems tomatoes are ripening slower than usual here this Summer so we were a couple of weeks early.

 We'll go back after Labor Day, calling first, to pick maters.  We got some corn and zukes while we were there so as not to waste the trip out.

Then we circled back to the town South of here to hit the Weis Fantastic Friday deals there.

The best deal was 4 bags of coffee for .72¢ a bag that I already blogged about.

On the way to the other side of town there I saw this massive furniture store that has been having a "going out of business" sale since before we moved to this area 17 years ago......


And they actually WENT OUT OF BUSINESS finally!!! lolz


It only took what?.....20 years!?!


Then we hit Aldi for a few things.  I gladly left these deep fried Twinkies in the store though.
ick.

Saturday I kept tabs on Hurricane Harvey down in the Gulf as it made landfall in Texas.  Historic levels of rainfall there and flooding!  Surprisingly the death toll has been low considering the size and scope of the flooding and people seem to be pulling together in this crisis.  Next month, when we have some free income I'll consider how best/where to send a check to help.

The rain is slated to crawl up the coast and inland into Louisiana including where our house there is located.
I'll have to reach out to our realtor there to keep tabs on things for us.


Last Sunday I picked the first ripe tomato out of our garden.
Yah!

Hubs also sat down with me lasts Sunday to go over our money situation.  Since the dust had settled on all the retirement things that were up in the air it was time to see where our $ was sitting and see what needing to be moved and where.
We threw a big chunk of the regular savings we have which were in some higher yield(ha! higher!!)online accounts into a CD.  This will earn us double what they'd been earning...almost double of NOTHING but still, it's a little more.  8-(
We still need to keep quite a bit liquid however because A-we have to pay for work on the house in LA still and B-we need to pay for our healthcare premiums(OUCH!)OOP and be reimbursed from our Retiree Medical Savings Account(RMSA).  Hubs still hasn't started the paperwork for that so no clue yet on how long they take to reimburse this expense.  bleh.

On Monday the mail brought this great offer........for a retirement home/senior assisted living.
Not even a free lunch which was offered to tour the facility would get me to go look at it. lololz

I guess if you retire, even if you retire YOUNG, that triggers a slew of old age services to be offered to you via mail and phone.
Oh yes, we are getting phone solicitations too for stuff like this.
I don't think Hubs nor I are decrepit enough yet to need assisted living. 8-(

Also on Monday Hubs and I celebrated our 35th Wedding Anniversary........

We were low key about it, and just went out to Chili's for lunch(using a free gift card we have had for AGES).
Then Hubs snuck out that evening and bought me some flowers and a card at Weis.
35 years.
Now I do feel old enough for the Assisted Living place. lolz

We did some weeding in the yard on Tuesday.

Here is what the flowers out front looked like mid June after the critters stopped nibbling on them.



And they have made a nice recovery by late August.


And I picked some more veggies from the garden-more tomatoes and our only Summer squash.


Now we've started a big project--dealing with the rotting wood under and around our French doors to our deck.
Oy vay!  What a mess!!

Actually Hubs isn't handy and isn't anywhere near qualified to redo this stuff so we are cleaning it out and cobbling something together to keep the elements out for this Fall/Winter and will have to hire someone to do the "real work" on it come Spring as it will be expensive.
Since it will mean replacing some sub flooring in the den too we'll probably go ahead and have the laminate flooring in that room replaced at that time since it needs to be done before we put this house on the market anyway.(There are holes in the flooring, etc.)
If I get ambitious this Winter I'll think about repainting the room as well, since it needs that also.

I always love to when you start to deal with house problems it's always like opening a can of worms and leads to more problems and money that needs to be spent.
Sigh.

I've got to get going here now.....it's Weis(PMITA)Markets Day and a trip to Rite-Aid for an Rx is also in order while I am out.

What's been going on in your world lately?

Sluggy


Tuesday, August 29, 2017

Last July's Trip to Virginia

*   Due to Hubs accident last December I got behind, among other things, on blogging about the trips we took in 2016.  I need to get these finished up before I can start on the May 2017 Trip to VA and the 2017 Road Trip report,  so you'll be seeing 3 separate trip reports from 2016 in the coming weeks.


Last Summer, between quitting her job at what Daughter called the "Shit Show" business and starting her new part time job cooking at Cracker Barrel, we took a quick trip to Virginia to see my brother and sister in-law, plus my eldest son.

We left on July 15th(Friday)and headed down the PA turnpike toward Philly.
Made a stop just over the Delaware line to the big liquor store(huge variety at that place and no sales tax in DE!)


We did pretty good filling up our cart as you can see........


Stopped in Salisbury MD on the Eastern Shore for lunch at Evolution Brew Pub


We each had a beer and some nibbles to soak up the alcohol before heading back down Route 13.
Crab dip and crackers?
Yes please!

On Saturday we went out and did some more beer shopping.


Or you can watch the video............


Of course beer shopping is thirsty work so a stop at 7/11 for Slurpees happened too.....

This was the first time I'd ever had a banana flavored Slurpee and I grew up where 7/11 stores were on every corner practically! lol


There was a trip to Jake's BBQ Saturday evening too. Mmmmmm!

On the Sunday before we left we went down to "The Narrows".  It's a hidden away part of First Landing State Park on the Bay side.  Hidden from the tourists but usually loaded with locals.



And loaded it was that hot, muggy day.
We crashed a wedding party......


After walking in the heat we set down on the beach and the Daughter headed down to the shore.


She saw a dog so had to go see that. lolz


Up in the shade my brother had a hitchhiker on his hat.......


Hello there Mr. Dragonfly!


The Police boat was busy that day keeping the boats passing on the channel near the beach from speeding through.




There was also a trip on a fishing charter boat into the Chesapeake Bay for the Daughter and my brother on Monday.


It was just too hot that day for me so my brother went with her.


He is not a fishing person but he did and had fun with his niece.


The Daughter showing off one of her catches.


Old mom here had to show her how to gut/clean/fillet the fish she caught.


It's a good thing she isn't a "girly girl" and not afraid to get her hands icky. lolz



On Tuesday, Daughter and I set off to see my Eldest son in Fredericksburg.


But first a couple of photos....


We took the back route to Fredericksburg.  Instead of taking the interstate to the Peninsula, we took Rte 17 to Smithfield and then Rte 10 to Surry and then Rte 31 to the Ferry......


This is the Jamestown-Scotland Ferry.  It runs from Scotland Virginia to Jamestown Virginia across the James River(and vice versa).


It's a free ferry and runs year round.  I hadn't been on it though since high school.


One of the many seagulls that escorted us across the river.


I got out of the car and stood on the deck at the railing.  There was an upper deck you could view from but the crossing time is short and I wasn't feeling like climbing all those stairs.


Seagulls on some pylons we cruised past(between the cars).



Calm seas that day.  I thought I had done a bit of video while on the ferry but I can't for the life of me find it now.
Oh well......

We avoided the Hampton Roads traffic(so much traffic!)going this route, then got on the interstate near Williamsburg and were in Fredericksburg in 2 hours time.
We hung out the rest of the day with Eldest.

The next day since Eldest son is a teacher and was off for the Summer the three of us took a trip to the local distillery.....


Me at the Abraham Smith Bowman Distillery.  A Bowman visited a Bowman.


Hubs and I had been here but we didn't do the tour so the kids and I did the tour this time.


The warehouse were the barrels are stored and aged.  It smelled so good!


Sluggy sitting in a barrel.....barrel chair that is.  This was after the "sampling" so I was feeling no pain either. lolz


My two eldest kids posed for a photo together.



We spent two days with Eldest son and his fiancée, then Daughter and I headed home on Thursday so she could start her new job.

A short trip but filled with fun.

Sluggy


Monday, August 28, 2017

Moneymaker Facial Tissue

If you have a Rite-Aid nearby and use Checkout51 cash rebate app go do this.........


Go buy a box of the variety of Puffs tissue that's on sale for .99¢ this week.
Pay .99¢ plus tax if applicable in your state(Here it was $1.05 total.).
Do NOT use a coupon, no matter how tempting it is.

Submit your receipt to Checkout51 and claim the $1.25 cash back rebate for the Puffs before they are all claimed. (You can not claim this rebate if you used a coupon on the Puffs.)

Results-Free box of facial tissue and a .20¢(for me at least, with our tax rate)moneymaker.
Get paid to bring facial tissue home.
A nice way to start a Monday.....
8)))

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The  "Yikes!  Who'd Eat That?!?" Edition--

Hubs and I took a rare trip to Aldi on Friday while we were out, where I spied this lovely product for sale.  Now you can have the taste delights of State Fairs in the comfort of your home.  I may try one of these at a fair but a pack of 7 for my home for $5?  No thanks.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Chicken Marsala, Noodles, Salad
2. Monday--Marinated Steak, Mac and Cheese, Veggie of some kind
3. Tuesday--Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Cole Slaw
4. Wednesday--Take-Out Pizza
5. Thursday--Chicken Salad Sandwiches
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--BLT Sandwiches

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Chicken Marsala, Noodles, Salad
2. Monday--Marinated Steak, Mac and Cheese, Spinach Souffle
3. Tuesday--Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Cole Slaw
4. Wednesday--Take-Out Pizza
5. Thursday--Leftovers(I had a pbj sandwich-not feeling it)
6. Friday--Beef Brats w/Chili, Corn on Cob
7. Saturday--Baked Flounder, Stir-Fried Green Beans, leftover Mac and Cheese(Daughter cooked)

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 nights of leftovers and 1 nights of Eating-Out.  Mostly the menu was served as planned(we had BLTs for a lunch instead of dinner and Daughter cooked). 

I made 2 trips to Weis Markets and a trip each to the Shursave Market, Aldi's and Dollar Tree.  $81.20 was spent in total last week, bringing food spending in August to $295.64 for the month.
There are 3 days left in this month so I am sure I'll make my under $420 goal for August now. 8-)

My savings percentages last week and for the month to-date?   Last week's percentage is 54.42% and the monthly so far stands at 50.76%(without Rite-Aid trips added in-which will make the rate rise a bit).

Leftovers going into this week........1 helping of Chicken Marsala, Noodles, Pulled Pork, a bit of Cole Slaw, a few slices of Pizza.

Here is this week's "food plan".....

1. Sunday--Chicken Pot Pie(Daughter cooking)
2. Monday--Leftovers or Fend for Yourself
3. Tuesday--Leftovers or ?
4. Wednesday--Steak, Corn on Cob, Salad
5. Thursday--Breakfast for Dinner
6. Friday--No Clue
7. Saturday--No Clue

This week will see 3-? new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers and ? night of Take-Out/Eating-Out.

I am just not into meal planning right now.  We'll use up what is here or fend for ourselves or have BLTs for a few nights and then I'll dig around in the chest freezer and see what needs to be used.  I suppose if I force Hubs to "cook" one night we'll have something Pasta this week. That's a given if he has to cook. lolz

What I need to buy for this menu? No clue again.  I stocked up on some frozen veggies(Brussels sprouts and sugar snap peas-things you rarely get fresh in season around here)and a couple bags of ravioli. I've got steaks in the freezer I will use one night and buy some corn on the cob for that meal.  We are getting low on bread and Daughter has started back to school so I'll probably get bread this week too.

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