This Week on the Dining Table

The "Making Progress" Edition--

This weekend was all about going through stuff and reorganizing the dining room and the garage.  I am sore from all the physical activity and bending and toting.  Today will be a low key sit on my butt kind of day......well as much sitting on my butt as I can do with a puppy underfoot. '-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Fend for Yourself

2. Monday--Asian Chicken Salad

3. Tuesday--Olive Garden Gnocchi Chicken Soup

4. Wednesday--Rigatoni w/Meat and Mushroom Sauce, Salad

5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Calzone or Stromboli(homemade)
7. Saturday--maybe Eggplant Parm in the freezer?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Fend for Yourself(Don't recall what I had)

2. Monday--Eggplant Parm

3. Tuesday--BK Hamburgers, Fries
4. Wednesday--Tortellini Soup(sort of)

5. Thursday--Calzone and Stromboli(homemade)
6. Friday--Rigatoni w/Mushroom Sauce, Meatballs
7. Saturday--Leftovers(I had soup)

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself and  1 night of take-out.  I discovered I was out of gnocchi too late to thaw anything else so the Whoppers happened on Tues instead.  I found tortellini on sale on Wednesday so I changed the soup up and substituted that for the gnocchi and left out the leftover roast chicken too as the tortellini had meat in it and it was very good, different but good!  We got 2 lumps of pizza dough out of the freezer on Thursday and I helped Hubs make the calzone/stromboli.  We also used up that opened ricotta from last week when Hubs made lasagna in the calzone/stromboli so it's a win/win.

Last week's grocery spending was large as I hit quite a few stores but surprisingly I stayed out of Weis(PMITA)Markets! lol  I hit the Shursave Markets, Big Lots, Dollar Tree, Ollies and Maines Restaurant Supply and everything came to a whopping $154.94.  That brings November's food spending to $210.35.  There are 17 more days in my shopping month.

My savings percentages last week was 47.64% and the monthly savings so far ends up at 47.73%(without Rite-Aid trips added in).

Leftovers going into this week.......roast chicken, calzone, tortellini soup, rigatoni and sauce.

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

1. Sunday--Chicken Enchiladas, Spanish rice and beans

2. Monday--Italian Sausage Patties w/Onions, Sauteed Cabbage

3. Tuesday--Beef Stew, Rolls

4. Wednesday--Leftover Rigatoni w/Sauce, Salad

5. Thursday--Fish, Cole Slaw, Sweet Potato Fries
6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--?

This week will see 4 new meals cooked, 1 night of leftovers and 2 nights of "I haven't got a clue".
Leftovers carried forward into this week will be lunches for Hubs except the roast chicken and the rigatoni.

The only thing I need to buy to make these meals is salad greens.  And we need milk 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

November Giveaway......Come Win Some Stuff!

This is the eighth Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for the year.
Fall is definitely here now(we had snow even the other day!!)and Winter is right around the corner.
The Holidays are bearing down on us so take a few minutes to do something for yourself by entering this giveaway!
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 guy stuff and chocolate......

2 x Neutrogena facial soap bars
1 x Jergens Wet Skin lotion
1 x Schwarzkopf shampoo-Repair & Moisture(it's from before the restyling of the packaging)
1 x Dove dry spray deodorant
1 x Edge shave gel
1 x Neosporin lotion
1 x Sally Hansen nail color(Retro Grey)
1 x Scotch tape dispenser(because everybody needs tape at the Holidays!)
1 x Glide dental floss
1 x Oral-B toothbrush
1 x Gillette Mach3 disposable razors 3 pack
1 x Colgate Optic White toothpaste
1 x Revlon emery boards
1 x Physician's Formula eye shadow palette(green/hazel eyes colors)
16 x Lindt chocolate truffles(assorted flavors including pumpkin spice)

Over $80 in regular retail of goodies.

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

I'll leave this giveaway open until Tuesday, November 21st, at 11:59pm Eastern Time, so that gives everyone 11 days to enter this one.  On November 21st  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 in the box you most would like to win, what food is a MUST to have on Thanksgiving, how you feel about the explosion of pumpkin flavored everything in the Fall(yeah or nay) and/or how big your thanksgiving gathering is if you have one.

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 am still having to disqualify entries due to this issue and I sure don't like doing that.  Thanks!

So let's get this started!

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....November 10th Edition

In terms of making $$ it was a good frugal week here at Chez Sluggy.

* I received two liquor rebate checks in the mail this week.  Actually receiving liquor rebates you send away for in PA is hit or miss on whether you actually get them.  I bought some booze in Wisconsin while visiting cousin Sonya Ann this Summer that had rebate hang tags so I sent away for the rebates and I actually finally received two of the three sent away for.  (The other one was received in September.)

* I listed some Box Tops for Education points on eBay and they sold within 3 days!  I listed them as a Buy It Now item but I also received Best Offers.  I got a Best Offer the first day of HALF the price I listed the items for, which I declined.  Then I got a 60% of my price Best Offer and considered it.  Then I looked and found that the person offering me this deal was also selling BTFE points on eBay for the same price I was selling my lot for!  My first thought was that they wanted my listing gone(and they'd turn around and resell my lot for a teeny tiny profit).
So I declined that offer as well.  A few hours later someone bought the lot for full price. Yay!
Thanks to fellow blogger Belinda for her advice and help with this as I've never sold this sort of thing on eBay.   8-)

*  Remember those TRU gift cards I got for free?  Well instead of trading 2 of them for Amazon gift cards I went ahead on a different gift card exchange site and sold them for cash.  The price to sell them immediately to the site was $18.75 but I could list them on the site at the price I set(I chose $21 each)and wait for a buyer.  Since there were no TRU gift cards listed at that time on the site I had no competition and within 1 hour of listing them I had sold both.  I'll get a check for $42 in about a week as the website has mailed the check this week.  So now I can maybe purchase the coffee grinder elsewhere if I find a lower price or I'll have more cash than I thought and can purchase it on Amazon as planned.  Gotta keep those options open, right?

*  I got a set of coupons for Kohl's in the mail.....an $8 off any priced purchase(so $8 free)and a $10 off a $25 purchase good on Nov. 10th only.  I'll probably take my daughter Friday evening to Kohl's to see if we can find her something to wear for right around $25.  I also have a 20% Q when I use my Kohl's card to pay so we'll be able to reduce the price of whatever she finds a better deal.
Of course this frugal thing means spending $ but by using all the possible tricks to not spend as much it helps me feel better about having to spend.

*  Hubs and I went out for lunch to our usual spot, Bob Evans, on Thursday since we were out running errands.  The waitress was a bit unorganized and forgot to get our drinks so after bringing this to the attention of management we got our drinks for free and I didn't have to pay for the upgrade to substitute a salad for a side dish.  I also used a 20% Q for the meal.

What frugal things did you attempt this past week?

Sluggy

More Famous Cousins!

Since the CMAs were last night I thought I'd share this genealogy stuff today.

I finally got around to doing the charting and I found this guy hanging on a branch of my family tree..........

Blake and his music really wasn't on my radar until he started appearing as a judge on "The Voice" TV show.

I do like this song he did......



Blake and I share 8 x Great Grandparents, Abraham Soblet and Susanne Briant, French Huguenots who arrived in 1700 to Virginia on the ship "Mary and Ann".
This makes us straight on 9th cousins.  I am descended from Abraham and Susanne's son, Pierre Louis, who married Marte Martin/Martain, and Blake is descended from their daughter, Anne, who married Pierre Chastain.  This also means we are both related to actress Jessica Chastain and Women's 1999 World Cup soccer player Brandi Chastain, as well as Hollywood icon Joan Crawford(aka Lucille LeSueur) as most every Chastain surnamed person in America(unless they are modern day immigrants)are descended from Pierre and Anne Soblet Chastain.

So this means if Blake and Gwen Stafani ever have a baby I'll be it's 9th cousin 1 x removed. ;-)

While working on the Blake Shelton connection I also turned up another country singer among the twigs of my tree.

William Kenneth Alphin

If you are "into" country music you know him as Big Kenny, the taller half of the country duo "Big & Rich".

Here's a neat music video for one of Big & Rich's songs that like a mini-movie......(Kenny plays the drunk)



Kenny's also quite the prolific songwriter for other country artists.......

Like Tim McGraw.........



And Gretchen Wilson.........



I haven't nailed down the best relationship to Big Kenny yet since there are mutliple lines I can persue that we'll share a kinship on.

I've been a fan of Big & Rich for years going back to their "Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy" days.  Here's one of my favorite numbers of theirs....incidentally this video was filmed in Deadwood, SC, a place near and dear to Kenny and John's hearts and a place I was in on my trip this past Summer.....


Big Kenny's mother was born a Tinsley in Culpeper Virginia.  Her great grandparents were Joshua Tinsley and Elizabeth Hudson.  Elizabeth Hudson's parents were Abner Hudson and Elizabeth Mason.  I have many Tinsley, Hudson and Mason ancestors in Virginia going back to the 1600's on my maternal lines.  Multiple maternal lines are lousy with Hudsons and Masons so I know there is a relationship closer than through marriage(which is the first one I found) somewhere in the macrame I call a family tree.

You can read more about Kenny HERE.  He is quite the philanthropist too.

So now I am up to three famous country singers in my family tree....Blake(9th cousin), Big Kenny(closest relationship still TBD)and Phil Vassaar(my 3rd cousin).

Let's close with one of cousin Phil's hits.......



Sluggy

A Little Rite-Aid Shopping

I went into Rite-Aid on Tuesday and got a few little things by spending down my points by $1.55 in total......

On my card I bought a jug of Purex laundry detergent and 4 Jesse's Girl brand lip and eye liner pencils.
After my $2/1 Purex Load2CardQ, the sale price of $2.99 on the Purex and my 20% Wellness discount on the cosmetics this lot came to $7.35 + .45¢ tax=$7.80.  I used Plenti Points to pay for all.
I earned back $7 in new PPs($1 Purex-I had a snail mailed Plenti Points offer, 2 x $3 Jesse's Girl wyb in lots of 2 products)so I spent down my PPs by .80¢.  I now have a jug of Purex to take to the food bank and 4 liner pencils to tuck into future Giveaway boxes. 8-)

Then I bought this lot on my son's card.......

4 x Lip Smacker lip balm reg. $1.99 were $1.59 each w/20% Wellness discount=$6.36 + .39¢ tax=$6.75.  I used Plenti Points to pay for all.  I earned back $6 in new PPs(2 x $3 Lip Smackers wyb in lots of 2 products)so I spent down my PPs by .75¢.  Another 4 items to tuck into future Giveaway boxes. 8-)

The Jesse's Girl and Lip Smackers are part of the same deal(also includes the Julie G's nail polish but nothing in that line was as inexpensive)so you can only do it twice per card/account.  The single tubes of Lip Smackers and the Jesse's Girl pencils are both $1.99 reg. price so if you have the 20% Gold Wellness discount on your Rite-Aid loyalty card you can get these items for pennies after discount and Plenti Points.
Get on down to your Rite-Aid before this sale/deal ends on Saturday evening.

Sluggy