I'm Still Here, Just Hiding From October

I'm here but I've got nothing for anyone today.
Not much going on here.  We are just bopping along for the most part.

Hubs and I went grocery shopping.....well I went and he just tagged along and got in the way while in the store. lol  I tired to show him how I food shop.  Does the phrase, "In one ear and out the other" ring a bell?  ;-)

I'm not having a good week so far.  Was at the doctor's yesterday for an HS flare up. Ugh.  Painkillers and antibiotics and I am better today just not up to being productive.  I'll be napping as soon as I get this posted.
And the weather is still so muggy and today it is raining as well(which we need though).

I love Fall weather but the Fall of the year causes me sinus/allergy issues(I am allergic to trees)plus some seasonal depression too.  October has also always been a challenge health wise(remember last year I had a bad reaction to an ACE inhibitor when my face swelled up until I looked like the Elephant Man?and a few years before that I developed a blood clot in my ankle?....those both happened in October).  So I am always cautious about my health and not demanding much of myself  during October except for some walking or exercise each day.

At least there are new tv shows/episodes on again.  I've been binge watching all the "Call the Midwife" episodes too.  And I'm loving this new Jeopardy champion.  At least he has some personality not a weird geek like many of them are.  Well he IS a weird geek since he's a Jeopardy Champ.  lolz

I need to finish revamping the Blog Roll too.  I've removed a couple and added a couple.  If you have any suggestions for blogs I don't have on there that you enjoy, leave a comment or send me an email.  I think all the links there work now but we can always use more interesting blogs to check out.

I may be back on Friday with some new material other than rambling thoughts.  8-)

Sluggy

October Giveaway......Come Enter!

This is the seventh Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for the year.
Come on and enter.
Somebody has to win and it might just be YOU!

Here is what you can win if your entry is picked.  Some "girly girl" type stuff, some practical stuff and chocolate......

1 x GE LED bright stik light bulbs 40W(2 pack)
1 x Simple moisturizing facial wash
1 x Dove shampoo
1 x Similisan Arnica Active skin spray
1 x Centrum vitamints
1 x Physician's Formula lash boosting mascara
1 x Cover Girl  aqua smooth powdered make-up(spf 15/natural ivory/#715)
1 x Oral-B toothbrush
1 x Colgate Enamel Health Toothpaste
1 x Eucerin skin calming lotion(sample size)
1 x Wet n' Wild nail color(clear)
1 x Wet n' Wild nail color(yo soy)
1 x Revlon lip stick(plum)
1 x Julie nail color(super villian)
1 x Nutra Nail instant nail strengthener
1 x 10 ct. #2 pencils
1 x pack of Glide dental picks
12 x Cadbury Chocolates(5 x Dark Choc. w/Sea Salt & Caramel/7 x Milk Choc. w/Raisins & Almonds)

Over $60 in regular retail of goodies.

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

I'll leave this giveaway open until Wedsday, October 25th, at 11:59pm Eastern Time, so that gives everyone a full 2 weeks to enter this one.  On October 26th 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 if you decorate for Halloween, if you like to travel in the Fall or any favorite Fall foods you enjoy at this time of the year.

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 "Eeeek! in the Garden" Edition--

Before Hubs could prepare the deck for staining/sealing we had to dismantle the garden bed.  My poor garden was severely neglected this season what with us gone for a big chunk of the Summer.
After we got home, whenever I put the dog out back she kept going to the deck railing at a specific part of the garden and was intently sniffing something.
Turns out it was a dead snake.  The snake got entangled in the netting/fencing and expired from hunger after a time.
Hubs sure let out a big scream when he pulled up the part of the netting with Mr. snake in it as he didn't know it was dead. lolz  We measured said snake before burying it-24 inches!  Good thing it was a garter snake.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Meatloaf, Butternut Squash, leftover Mac and Cheese

2. Monday--BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Cole Slaw

3. Tuesday--Fish, Squash Casserole, Cole Slaw

4. Wednesday--Lemon Pepper Chicken w/Zuke, Rice

5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Lasagna, Salad, Garlic Bread
7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Meatloaf, Butternut Squash, leftover Mac and Cheese

2. Monday--Chinese Take-Out

3. Tuesday--BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Cole Slaw

4. Wednesday--Fish, Squash Casserole

5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Tuna Subs
7. Saturday--Steak, leftover Cauliflower w/Cheese Sauce

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 night of leftovers and 1 night of take-out.  
I started cleaning out the kitchen freezer over the fridge and found 3 different steaks so we had that Sat. with some leftovers.  I was feeling out of sorts on Monday plus it's been Summer humid weather here(!)since last Monday so we got take-out that night.  Everything cooked last week was with an eye to not heating up the kitchen-bbq pork in the crock pot and the sauce on the stove top, steaks on the grill outside and for the subs we ran the broiler briefly.  Wednesday was a tad cooler so I ran the oven that night and hubs cooked Sunday's dinner using the oven as the weather wasn't hot last Sunday either.

Last week's grocery spending at Ollies, Big Lots(stocking up at both of those), Weis and the Shursave Market came to $100.34.  $78+change was the stocking up stores and the regular groceries only ran $22+. That brings October's food spending to $180.27.

My savings percentages last week was unusually low at 36.28% and the monthly savings ends up at 44.46%(without Rite-Aid trips added in).

Leftovers going into this week.......bbq, cole slaw.  That's about it since all the other leftovers were eaten for lunches this past week.

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

1. Sunday--Primo Subs take-out

2. Monday--Leftover BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Cole Slaw

3. Tuesday--Lemon Pepper Chicken w/Zuke, Rice

4. Wednesday--Lasagna, Caesar Salad, Garlic Bread

5. Thursday--Chicken Parm, Salad
6. Friday--Leftovers
7. Saturday--?

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating-Out.
The weather is suppose to cool off a bit on Tuesday so I'll not run the oven until then(or later if it cools down later in the week).

What I need to buy for this menu?  Salad Greens.  Tues. and Wed.'s meals are carryover from the previous week and I have everything for those meals.  I don't have a clue about next Saturday's menu yet.

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

Our Trip to Maine August 2016......Part 1

We took a vacation to Maine Summer of 2016 and here I am finally getting around to blogging about that trip.
Sluggy once again is really on the ball, huh? lolz

We left on July 30th actually.  While traveling through New York state we stopped to do a bit of genealogy business.

My 3x Great Grandparents as well as their children(among them my 2x Great Grandfather)are all buried together in upstate NY.
So we stopped at the Walkill Cemetery outside of Middletown NY where I thought they were buried.

Two hours later we find they are buried at a different Walkill Cemetery(same cemetery name, differnt town name)so we go there and found the massive headstone.

Information recorded and photos taken we jumped back into the car and head East to Massachusetts.

I had recently, back then, gotten in touch with my cousin, Mel.  Other than across the tent at our grandmother's funeral back in 1981, we really hadn't seen/talked to each other since we were little, around 1969 or so, when my family had stopped at her house on a camping vacation to New England.

I had told her we were heading to Maine and I'd love to stop by to see her and her DH on the way and she invited us to stay the night.  Mel also told her mom(my aunt), her siblings and various of all their kids we were visiting and quite a few of them showed up for what became a nice family gathering.

Me and my only Aunt(my father's sister).

Me and my cousin Mel.

Me and my cousin Tim.

Mel, Me, Aunt Marilyn and Tim's daughter, also Mel(for Melanie).

Me and Mel spokesmodeling her latest painting creation.

It was a great visit!

Sunday morning we said our goodbyes and headed out in the rain for Maine.  Bur first we got turned around on the local roads while trying to gas up the car and fuel up our tummies.  After some head scratching we got on the highway and 45 min. later we were in New Hampshire......

And 25 minutes after that we were crossing into Maine.

An hour after that milestone, we were at our first destination of the day, the Cape Elizabeth Lighthouse.

Actual there are two lighthouses at Cape Elizabeth.  The second one isn't really on the water and only the top part is visible from the road unless you drive up another private street.

You also can't get to the lighthouse from here(you have to wind your way down a different street)but here is a photo I snapped of Hubs with it in the background.

A shot of some interesting rock formations.

Me with the lighthouse.

Rocks and vegetation.

More rocks jutting out into the water.

There were about  200 foreigners(mostly Asian) walking on the rocks the day we were there.   Just seemed strange to encounter so many tourists there on that crappy weather day.  I didn't think this was a big touristy place to go and it was certainly NOT what I'd call spectacular scenery here.  It's just an ordinary ocean view like thousands of other's along the rocky New England coastline.  I guess it's one the first you come to by car traveling north into Maine from the NH/MA area so that might explain the crowds.

We stopped at the Lobster Shack at Two Lights for a quick snack as it was after noon.
I had a cup of Lobster Stew.  It was very runny so I dumped all the oyster crackers in the packet into it.  OK flavor but nothing great.  I can't remember what Hubs had and neither can he so it was likewise not a memorable dish. lolz

A nice shot of the lighthouse and the water.....

The rain held off as we drove up to Portland to one of the many craft breweries in that area called Bissell Brothers.

This place was so crowded and noisy!  I guess everyone in Portland goes to drink craft beer when it's a rainy, dreary Sunday.

Their website is HERE.  According to what I read there, I guess they are always crowded as the day we stopped in.

There seem to be a LOT of young children in the tap room.  I guess this is a "thing" with the younger folks, they bring their infants, toddlers and young children with them to drink beer?  I just wish these parents would also bring their parenting skills with them and actually WATCH THEIR FREAKING KIDS! while in a public space.
Geez!!!

Hubs wasn't blown away by their offerings and they were out of some types.  Not an auspicious start to our time in Maine.

A while later we drove North, passing this iconic food place, the beloved "Fat Boy" drive-in  on the way to our first motel stop.
Unfortunately we didn't stop here to eat this trip.  Our timing just wasn't right and we weren't in the mood for fast food stuff.

The first motel we stayed at was this one............

Cook's Island View Motel on Bailey Island in Casco Bay.
These environs are my old Maine stomping grounds from my Summers working Summer stock theater in 1980 and 1981 but I've never stayed on the island before.
It's a small old motel with about 12 rooms to let from Memorial Day to Columbus Day.  There is a small outdoor pool as well.

Each room has a couple of Adirondack chairs on a wooden "porch" with pots of flowers interspersed about the decking.  It's cute and not too pricey for the area but there is no breakfast provided really, just juice and coffee each morning.

They started out putting us into the wrong room.  It only had 1 bed(full sized) and I had booked a 2 bed room.  So we lugged all our stuff halfway down the length of the building near the office into this room, with the beautimous "art" work on the wall......

Ummmm.....yeah!
So we get to unpacking and then went out to Captain Mike's Restaurant a local seafood place in Brunswick, Maine for dinner.
When on vacation eat local!

They even had their own private label root beer which I gave a try.

We went back to the motel to settle in for the night but other guests had other ideas.  Seems the manager put us in the room next to the room they used as a lounge for guests and there was a rather large group that wanted to party for a few hours.  And this is when we found out that the on-site manager leaves at 8 pm. and can't be reached to enforce rules.
I'll just say that the walls in this place are paper thin and we weren't happy about being kept awake past quiet hours. ugh. 

Not an auspicious start to our Maine stay but things improved greatly the next day.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....October 6th Edition

Here's a few things I did that were frugal this past week...........

*  Most of my frugal wins were in the shopping area this week.

I went to Aldi's and found these brats on clearance for .99¢ a pack........

Uncured, no nitrites.

I picked up my e-coupon freebie at the Shursave market too........

A jar of spaghetti sauce for free.

Remember that $3 OYNO Catalina from buying 3 boxes of tea 2 weeks ago?
I used it to get 2 packages of shredded cheese.......

$5.98 reg. retail worth of cheese on sale for $2 each meant I spent $1 OOP for all this cheese($4-$3Cat=$1).

I hit Big Lots on Sunday for their last 20% off Sale for the year(they never do one close to Christmas).
Three things I broke down and bought where toilet paper, paper towels and pasta.
I know I said these were off the "to buy" list at least until 2018 but I caved.  I did however only buy 2 large packs of each paper product.
Plus I miscalculated on the pasta.  After double checking our stock it seems we were fresh out of shells and elbows but good on spaghetti, rigatoni and fettuccine.

So I found 2 lb. bags of shells and elbows for $1.60 each, marked down to $1.28 each for the 20% off Sale.  That comes out to .64¢ per lb. which is lower than any sale at the grocery stores I can find.

I also picked up canned tuna(.68¢), minced garlic(.80¢), canned clams for chowder($1), a big bag of Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats($3.60), 2 lbs. brown rice($1.12), canned corn(.52¢), black olives(.80¢).
I also picked up a Xmas stocking stuffer for $2.

*  Hubs wanted fast food for lunch one day so I gave him a "paid for last year" gift card to Wendy's to use.

*  Sold another thing that was heading for Sallie's.........

A portable dvd player Hubs was getting rid of.  He only used it a few times(except for the headphones which he used a lot and broke).
$20 to add to the envelope and one more thing we don't use gone.

*  And another trunk load of stuff went off to Sallie's this week.

That's about it for this past week.
Did you have any frugal wins lately?

Sluggy