CT MOM Update

If you wrote to me about CT MOM's blog and getting an invite and I haven't responded yet please be patient.  This is turning into a massive job and I'm a bit busy myself right now in Real Life.
I've forwarded about 37 emails/name to her and we are working on getting everyone in.  This may take a few days.

Those having problems emailing me, it's..... arcure(at)ptdprolog(dot)net.

thanks,

Sluggy

About CTMOM...Please Read

Ok, so CT Mom at CT on a budget has been having some troll issues lately.
Since Blogger won't let you block a particular user(thanks a lot Blogger!), and being tired of dealing with this stuff, she has decided to take her blog private for awhile.

So if you were a reader of her blog and want access you have to be on her approved reader list so she can invite/approve you.
But she can only send you an invite if she has your email addy and name. 

I've agreed to act as her gate keeper here.  If you want to be invited please email me directly(the email addy is on my sidebar under my "About Me" blurb)with your email addy and name and I will forward the information to CT Mom and she can put you on the invite list.

That's it for now folks.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "The Zucchini that Ate Cleveland" Edition--

It always seems to happen.  There's always one zucchini that you can't find in the garden until it's a mammoth size!  Who decided that zukes had to be a color to blend in so well with it's foliage anyway?   Serious design flaw that!

So this 14.5 inch behemoth weighed in at 69.7 ounces or 4 pounds and 5.7 ounces.
Yikes!!!

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Pork Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw

2. Monday--Chicken Enchiladas, Rice, Beans

3. Tuesday--Cheeseburgers, Mac Salad

4. Wednesday--Pork Ragu over Pasta, Salad

5. Thursday--Fried Zucchini and Leftovers

6. Friday--Squash Casserole and Leftovers
7. Saturday--BLTs or Chicken Salad Sandwiches

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Pork Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw

2. Monday--Chicken Enchiladas, Rice, Beans

3. Tuesday--Fried Zucchini

4. Wednesday--Grilled Asparagus(and Assorted Leftovers)

5. Thursday--Leftovers

6. Friday--Squash Casserole, Hamburgers
7. Saturday--Zucchini and Sausage Rissotto

Last week saw 6 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 night of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 nights of Take-Out or Eating Out. 
The Pork Ragu didn't happen(and the BLTs/Chicken Salad Sammies happened for Lunch not Dinner last week). With so much zucchini coming in fast and furiously I had to punt and come up with more ways to use it up. 
I only made a veggie dish on 2 nights and if that wasn't enough for some they were free to also eat some leftovers.

Trips to Maines, Walmart, Shursave Markets and Weis brought the weekly food spending to $112.02 and the monthly total to $433.75.
I have 1 day left in my shopping month for July(though I am done grocery shopping for the month)and have closed out the budget for this month.  I wanted to do $400 but gave myself another $50 if needed due to company in July so I'll call $433.75 a win. '-)

My savings percentage last week was 48.15%(without Rite-Aid trips)and July's monthly savings total comes to 48.80% so far.

Leftovers going into this week......2 Enchiladas, a little bit of Barbecue Pork, and a LOT of Zucchini Risotto.

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

1. Sunday--Leftovers

2. Monday--Lemon Pepper Chicken and Zuke, Rice

3. Tuesday--Grilled Steak, Grilled Zuke and Squash

4. Wednesday--Beef Pie

5. Thursday--Pork Ragu over Pasta, Salad

6. Friday--Tacos
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 5 new meals cooked, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.

What needs buying for this menu?  Steaks that Shursave market will have on sale this week.
I have everything else here to make these meals.

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

Adventures in Passporting

I've been putting this chore off for a bit.....getting my passport.
I just don't like dealing with bureaucracy and forms.

So first off I had to go find out what I needed in terms of paperwork to apply for a passport.

* Driver's license or some other form of ID.  Check!
* Birth Certificate.  Check!  Wait.....not check.

What they use to give you in the state of Virginia where I was born can't be used now for a birth certificate.  It was fine back in the day for applying for a SS card and getting into school as a child, but no, it's too old and dated and doesn't have a raised seal.

If I was going to VA soon or lived there getting a birth certificate would be a piece of cake.  I could have just gone into any VA DMV office, filled out a form, paid $14 and bingo, bango, gotten a birth certificate on the spot.
Problem is I am not in VA so you have to mail away to the Vital Statistics Dept. in Richmond and wait for them to do the search, print one out and mail it off to you.  Which might take up to 2 months?
And then I still have to apply for the passport and wait for that to get back to me too?  bleh.

So I spent the BIG MONEY and used a service.  They insisted on overnight UPS too. ugh.
So the UPS guy is at my door wanting a signature and then hands this mangled mess of an envelop e to me.......

I won't show you the birth certificate because well, that's personal info.  But I can assure you that even though it was still in one piece it looked as mangled as the envelope it was in.
So we had to press the certificate under a stack of heavy books....luckily we have quite a few of those in Hubs library. ;-)

Back to my list of what's needed.......

* Obtain  a passport photo.
So I had three options here-photo from Rite-Aid, photo from CVS or photo taken at PO where the application had to be turned in.  I went with Rite-Aid as it was the least expensive option after using a coupon and my 20% Wellness discount.
They had a new cashier take it with supervision.  The photo looked a little too big to me but I paid and left with it.

Get to the PO to put my application in and the lady says that photo's too big!  FYI-from the top of your head to your chin can't be any longer than 2".  She had a template of an oval of a head that is the correct size and yep, this photo was waaaay too big!
So I paid another $15 for her to take another photo. sigh

I stopped in at Rite-Aid and let them know their photos don't meet the requirements and showed them the difference between the photos they took and the extra one from the PO that I got to keep.
So I got a refund of the $5.94 I spent.
Photo done.  Check!

*  Fill out the application.
That was easier said than done.  I had to fill the paperwork out THREE TIMES before I got it right.
Left stuff off the first two times and didn't catch it before printing it all out. ugh.
Three times the charm though.  Check!

Made an appointment to put the application in/take the photo.
The process was pretty quick but I had a scare when I handed her my birth certificate.  It's suppose to have a raised official seal on it.  Hubs and I couldn't find a raised seal when we inspected the document when it arrived so I thought maybe VA doesn't do a raised seal on their birth certificates(It does have a watermark though).

The PO lady kept rubbing the certificate feeling for a raised seal(there were several places on it with seals).  I started panicking but then she turned the certificate over and there was a larger seal in the middle on the back that was raised.  Thank the Lord!

I paid $110 to the US State Department and $50 to the USPS.  I am out $210 between those checks and the $50 paid to the service for the birth certificate.

So now we wait......
And when the document arrives this large nosed beast will be able to get back into the country when and if she leaves it.

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......The July 27th Edition

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

* The only grocery shopping so far this week has been a trip to Maine Source last Friday.  I  got some good produce deals-cabbage and bananas .49¢ lb., yellow squash and tomatoes for .99¢ lb., asparagus $1.69 lb. and sweet corn for .33¢ an ear.  I also picked up a 25 lb. bag of onions for $14.99, a 6.73 lb. bag of ground chuck at $2.39 lb. and 2 packs of roast beef deli meat at $7.99 lb.
The store had a $5 off wys $50 coupon so along with the good prices I saved an additional $5 too.

*  I found money!

1¢ in a Rite-Aid parking lot on Saturday.

*  And speaking of Rite-Aid after we hit a brew pub to celebrate Eldest son's birthday I hit two different Rite-Aid on the way home and picked up all this free candy......

8 bags of Jolly Ranges and Twizzlers varieties that double dipped with a Buy2/Get $1 BC weekly Deal and a Buy2/Get $2BC monthly Deal.  So every 4 bags on sale for 2/$3 cost me $6 in BC and gave me back $6 in BC.
I did 4 bags on each of two cards and rolled $6 of BC on each of those cards.
If the kids don't want this, look for it to come to a Giveaway Box near you.  ;-))

*  I baked Eldest son a birthday cake............

Here he is pretending to blow out his candles so I could take a photo. lolz
I could have bought a cake from the local bakery or the Weis Markets bakery department.  I had a cake mix and frosting in the stockpile and made his favorite type of cake(German Chocolate)so no additional $$ spent.

*  Also on Friday I hit the Bread Outlet since we were down to our last loaf of bread;
3 packs of hamburger rolls(for bbq and burgers), 3 loaves of bread and 2 boxes of chocolate donuts later I spend down my WAM by $10 instead of putting it on the c/c which is usually how I pay for groceries(to keep track-c/c charges are paid off monthly).

*  I received a Target mailer/ad with this coupon on it..........

It was a Back To School ad but this coupon can be used on anything in the store, not just typically BTS items.
I can send for a $50 Target gift card using c/c points for free and pair it with this Q making it an even better deal.

*  More garden goodies got picked on Thursday.......

75.8 ounces more of zuke and Summer squash.
There will be more zuke and squash on next week's menu I think.  ;-)

What frugal wins did you have this week?

Tell us all about it.

Sluggy