This Week on the Dining Table

The "WTF?" Edition--

Last Spring, before College Boy came home from college I found these in his room when I was digging out the garbage........

A couple of miniature lunch boxes I put a couple of his Xmas presents in a couple of Christmas' ago.
What I found inside was another story..........

They were filled with homemade cookies a friend of his made for him Christmas of 2015!  
Yum.....um, no! lolz
They looked good except for being 1.5 years old.  8-P

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Leftover Chicken Enchiladas

2. Monday--Tuna Subs

3. Tuesday--Pizza

4. Wednesday--Chinese Take-Out

5. Thursday--Turkey Dinner w/all the bells and whistles
6. Friday--Turkey Dinner leftovers
7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Leftover Chicken Enchiladas

2. Monday--Tuna Subs

3. Tuesday--Teriyaki Chicken Thighs, Cornbread, Cabbage

4. Wednesday--Chinese Take-out

5. Thursday--Turkey Dinner w/all the bells and whistles
6. Friday--Turkey Dinner leftovers
7. Saturday--Ditto

College Boy came home Tuesday afternoon rather than Wednesday morning so I dug some chicken thighs out of the freeze and made a proper dinner instead of getting pizza that night.

Last week saw 3 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself and 1 nights of take-out. 

Last week's grocery spending included Weis, Shursave Market, the Bread Outlet and Maines Restaurant Supply and came to $101.21.  That brings November's food spending to $381.72.  There are 3 more days in my shopping month but I don't know if I'll do any more food shopping this month.
I wanted to stay under $300 for November so I have blown my budget already for the month. sigh.

My savings percentages last week was 51.77% and the monthly savings so far ends up at 48.51%(without Rite-Aid trips added in).

Leftovers going into this week.......Thanksgiving side dishes(Green Bean Casserole, Mashed Taters, Stuffing, Rolls, Carrots), Chicken Thighs and Cornbread.  I also had 3 containers of fresh mushrooms that didn't go into the stuffing to use.

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

1. Sunday--Beef/Broccoli/Mushroom Stir-Fry, Jasmine Rice

2. Monday--Leftover Chicken Thighs, leftover Thanksgiving sides, Stuffed Mushrooms

3. Tuesday--French Bread Pizza, Salad

4. Wednesday--Chinese Take-out

5. Thursday--?
6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--?

This week will see 2 new meals cooked, 1 nights of leftovers, 1 night of Take-out and 3 nights of ?.  Hubs is off circumnavigating the country this week so meals will be mostly fend for yourself or leftovers or take-outsince it's just Daughter and myself for meals.  We are traveling this weekend to go see College Boy's recital so no clue on what meals will consist of the end of the week.

The only thing I need to buy to make these meals is some salad greens.

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

Thanksgiving & The "Fun" Week Ahead

Another Thanksgiving is done and in the books as they say.

I arose at the ass crack of dawn to shove the bird into the oven. 

Then it was off to Rite-Aid for all this......and I got Plenti Points back and more for it so free!

Then back home to punch down the dough and forms the rolls to proof, switch on the crock pots of stuffing and rutabaga, bake the potatoes for mashed taters, get the carrots ready and put together the green bean casserole.  I was going to nuke green beans and add almonds but College Boy was practically in tears at the thought of no GB Casserole.....so what the hell!

The company arrived and we ate.
We watched some parade in the morning and then some dog show between dinner and pie......and then the company went home.

The only photo I managed to squeeze off was this one......since somebody was a tad busy cooking. ;-)

This was after dinner and pie time.  My tipsy daughter on the den floor letting Chester chew on her.  The dog got a hold of her hair at one point and then it wasn't so fun, was it? lolz

I didn't even get a group shot so here's last year's Thanksgiving photo.  Just put your thumb over Daughter's BF's face as he wasn't here this year.  Other than that it's the same crew and table(though College Boy's beard is more into the ZZ Top territory now).

Black Friday was cleaning the house mostly, dragging down tubs of Christmas stuff and eating leftovers.  I did manage to squeeze in a trip to Rite-Aid for more freebies and some gift cards.
Plus I picked up these to go toward a food bank donation.............

The Rite-Aid brand of toothbrushes were Buy 1/Get 2 Free so $1 for each set of 3 toothbrushes or .33¢ each.  I used $2 in Plenti Points to pay.
I hope to get a few more things together and have a good sized donation to take up before Christmas gets here.

Saturday Hubs took College Boy back to school......

He came home with a raging sinus infection and cold.  He spent the whole 5 days snorting and hacking up stuff.  By Saturday he was sounding less on death's door and we were 5 rolls of tp and 3 boxes of facial tissue lighter.  ;-)

Today I had to run Hubs up to U-Haul so he could pick up a cargo van and you know there is a story behind that, don't ya?

This coming week Hubs is driving out to IL to load his sister and her stuff into said van and driving her across country to SC so she can live with their oldest brother.
Said sister has made a series of bad decisions in her life(not living within her means ever, a car repo, an ill-considered marriage to a alcoholic felon a few years back, a bankruptcy, a divorce from said felon, quitting a good job, another car repo)and now is one step away from being homeless and destitute.  I feel bad for her and her situation but we saw it coming down the pike years ago.  I am not happy that we are having to shell out thousands of $$s to "rescue" her but Hubs feels he should do this as none of his other siblings are in a position to(either financially or physically or both).
I hope things turn around for her(but as she continues to not make the best decisions it's doubtful). 
We are shelling out for the van rental, the gas, the 2,200 in mileage, meals, hotels, tolls and the wear and tear on Hubs and his time.

While the money will put a crimp in our stash, we can spare it.....but this is IT from here on out.
We have enough on our plates and our own family to prop up.  Grown ass adults need to take care of themselves and not expect others to bail them out of their messes especially when they didn't lift a finger to help Hubs take care of their mother the last 7 years of her life when she suffered from Alzheimer's. 
Sorry if I sound pissy about all this, but at the moment, I am. ;-)

So I get to hold down the fort here for this week and take care of all the normal stuff.  I am looking forward to the quiet of having the house to myself while Daughter is in classes, except I have a energetic puppy to potty train by myself, chores, errands and appointments.  And I really need to get more stuff up on eBay before it's too late. ugh.

We all have our crosses to bear, don't we?

The day after Hubs returns we get to drive to see College Boy's senior recital, which will be nice even if it means more driving.  Two weeks after that we rent another cargo van and move College Boy home from school. 
I will be glad when the first half of December is over and we are all home with no expectations put upon us by others.

I don't know how much time I'll have to blog in the coming days so if I am MIA it's just that I'm super busy with life right now.
I am warm, well fed, solvent and trying to stay positive. 8-)

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the November 24th Edition

Let's see what frugal wins we had this past week.

* Hubs wanted to go out to lunch earlier this week when we had to go run errands so we went to the newish Chinese buffet at the mall but I used a coupon so it wasn't as expensive as it might have been.

* I sold some more items on eBay, netting another $15.44 after fees.  I sold a pair of tubes of shampoo and conditioner I got at Rite-Aid for Plenti Points so some free money after fees.  Who knew someone would pay $18 + shipping for 2 tubes of shampoo/conditioner?

* Since I got to 50 points at Weis I got a free turkey for Thanksgiving.  The closest to 20 lb. turkey I could find was 21.16 lbs.  I had to pay for the 1.16 lbs. over 20 lbs., so it cost me $1.17.  I send for a .25¢ rebate on Checkout51 so my turkey was .92¢ when all is said and done.

* I also did a Catalina Deal at Weis this week a few times by buying 2 cartons of stock/broth, 4 cans of Campbell's cream soup and a bag of Pepperidge Farms stuffing cubes for $10.08 total.  I used $2 in Qs each time and received an instant $2 off for spending $10 on select items so each set of 7 items cost me $6.08 OOP.

* Of course I hit Rite-Aid for all the Black Friday freebies..........

This is the plunder I brought home using three different Wellness/Plenti cards/accounts.  I didn't max out the Max Freeze, the earbuds or the Planters nut packs.  I used coupons that I could gather on toothpaste/tooth brushes/max freeze/nuts/dental floss. Buying 4 candy bars on one card made a Catalina for $1/wyb6 bars print out, so I got 6 bars the last round instead of 4 as the Catalina also made all 6 free after sale/Cat/PPs.  I also had a $5/wyspend $50 Cat that spit out earlier in the week when I bought some rxs so I did better than free on one order using that CatQ.  The Nuts weren't free put with the $5 Cat and the other Qs I used, even with having to pay tax I came out $8+ under free=$8.74 moneymaker for all.
Total Plenti Points used....$179.26
Total Plenti Points earned back....$188.00

*Had to amend this as I just received a $2 cash rebate on one of the light bulb purchases(had to be an LED bulb)in my Ibotta account. I can now cash out that account next month as I have over $20 in there. ;-)

I'll go back today for some water cases, tp and paper towels(not free but I'll use PPs to pay)plus some gift card deals.  I pay full price for the gift cards-using monies from other categories(eating out/home maintenance/etc.) but generate Plenti Points on the Wellness cards/accounts,  which I can use to cover items I buy at Rite-Aid.

* I don't otherwise "do" Black Friday, as in brave the hoard of shoppers in the stores.  I'll be picking up a few items from my computer today-Monday and I am done Holiday shopping.  I do need to go to the PO today to mail the giveaway box and buy stamps but otherwise I'll be cleaning up Thanksgiving doings and dragging out Christmas paraphernalia.

If you "do" Black Friday, feel free to tell us all about what you got!

Sluggy

A Little History With Your Bird-Happy Thanksgiving!

*Here's a rerun of a post I did 7 years ago(7 YEARS?!?!).  It's a little history to have with your turkey and pie(or whatever your food of choice).

Enjoy and go get that turkey in the oven! ;-)

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers,

Sluggy

A Short History of Thanksgiving in the New World....

Every school child learns at a young age that the Pilgrims held the 1st Thanksgiving Meal that we celebrate to this day.
But actually, the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony were NOT the first European settlers in the New World to hold a Thanksgiving.

There were FOUR earlier Thanksgiving celebrations on this new continent....one was held in what was to become North Carolina and three in what was to become Virginia.

#1 Took place in 1586 on Roanoke Island, NC. near present day Manteo.   This was the contingency brought to the New World by Sir Walter Raleigh to found a settlement.  These 100 men lasted about a year and after holding their meal of Thanksgiving they folded up shop and sailed home.

#2  Took place in 1609, at Jamestown, Virginia at the Jamestown Settlement.  This is the First Thanksgiving held by European immigrants at the 1st permanent settlement in the New World.  (Since the Roanoke Colony was abandoned, that earlier celebration is often discounted.)  This Thanksgiving was held after a year of near starvation.  They were thankful that they had survived the lack of food and disease and that a relief supply ship was soon to arrive.

#3  The same Jamestown Settlement held another document-able celebration in 1612, when the Colony's Governor returned with a shipload of women destined to be wives for many lucky settlers. 

#4  Another document-able Thanksgiving dinner was held in 1619 at nearby Berkley Plantation, also along the James River near Jamestown in VA.

#5  The Thanksgiving celebration at Plimouth Plantation wasn't until 1621, a full 35 yrs. after Roanoke Colony's and 12 yrs after the first Jamestown celebration.

And then there is the contingent that sees the 1st American Thanksgiving as being celebrated in St. Augustine Florida in 1565 by the Spanish explorers, long before the Pilgrims or Sir Walter Raleigh's crew or the Jamestown Colony gang.

I often think that historians pegged the Massachusetts Thanksgiving as the genesis of the Holiday due to the fact that the colony was founded by Europeans fleeing religious persecution.  And once they got here the Pilgrims began exhibiting discrimination toward anyone who wanted to practice different religious beliefs from theirs, but that's another lesson in intolerance for another time. ;-)

The VA Colony founders were farmers and merchants who took part in settling the New World for economic freedom and opportunities.   The religion stuff was not the issue for them.

Having grown up in the South, I often felt that the earlier VA based Thanksgivings were not given their due.  The way it comes off, since none of those school books I ever read as a child mentioned any of the other earlier Thanksgiving celebrations, is that only people who are religiously oppressed are worthy of being considered the 1st to give thanks.

Nope.

Having grown up and sought knowledge beyond those inaccurate textbooks I have learned a more accurate history of the Holiday.

And that's without getting into the whole "There were indigenous people here long before the Europeans arrived" issue, so yah, the Holiday is way older than whatever anyone claims!

But I can safely say that the cutest first Thanksgiving celebration was this one from my youth....

No matter which date you observe as the "first" Thanksgiving Day, here's hoping your day to Give Thanks is peaceful, you have people around you that you truly care about and who care about you, and you are aware of the many awesome blessings you have and something good to eat.

I'm off to count mine....one by one.
Then some more food prep and to check on my proofing roll dough.

Sluggy

Giveaway Winner!

All the valid entries(86 of them)were numbered in the order they were received and Random dotorg  selected comment/entry #66.

So this Giveaway's winner is.............

mgaltier!

AnonymousNovember 19, 2017 at 10:11 AM

I love the pumpkin flavored everything.
mgaltier(at)yahoo(dotcom)

ReplyDelete

Congratulations mgaltier.  Please email me(my address is on the right side bar)from the email address you supplied within the next 48 hours from when this post goes live with your complete name and mailing address and I'll get this prize box mailed out to you asap.

Thanks as always to everyone who plays along with these giveaways and thanks for reading the blog.
There may be another giveaway coming up in a week or so.  Keep watching for it!

Sluggy