Monday, January 28, 2019

This Week on the Dining Table

The "It's Slowing Going Down!" Edition.........

Last Monday......

   
This morning..........



A bit more left the freezer last week.  I did spend a LOT at the grocery store last week but mostly refrigerated or pantry goods.
I still need to make room to shove a ham in there that's in the fridge. ugh.

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--Catfish Piccata, Asiago Rice, Tossed Salad
2. Monday--Daughter is cooking since it's my Birthday day
3. Tuesday--Leftovers
4. Wednesday--Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Veggie TBD
5. Thursday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad
6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Catfish Piccata, Asiago Rice, Tossed Salad
2. Monday--Hamburgers, Carrot and Potato fries
3. Tuesday--Leftovers
4. Wednesday--Chicken Fried Steak, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Brussels Sprouts(I don't eat CFS and gravy.)
5. Thursday--just can't remember what we had but I cooked
6. Friday--Spaghetti and Meatballs
7. Saturday--Pork Tenderloin Sandwiches, Roasted Rainbow Carrots

Last week saw 6 nights of home cooked dinners, 1 night of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out.  

What got put into the freezer last week.....
*  4 pints of ice cream(daughter's)

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.......
*  2 lbs. of Catfish fillets
*  1/2 a bag of Chicken Fried Steak
*  4 hamburgers
*  2 packages of meatballs
*  Brussels Sprouts
*  2 packs of pork

 A couple of grocery trips.....3 trips to Weis($39.35/$63.99/$78.75)and 4 things bought at Ollie's that were food($4.40)brought the weekly food spending to $186.49 and brought the January monthly total to $385.09 so far.
I have 3 days left in my shopping month for January.  So much for my low spending groceries in Jan.....

My savings percentage last week was 50.74%(without Rite-Aid trips)and January's monthly savings total so far comes to 50.24%(w/out R-A).  

Leftovers going into this week.... zuke, chicken and dumplings, Lemon chicken w/Barley spinach and carrots.

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

1. Sunday--Chicken Piccata, Zuke and reg. noodles
2. Monday--Beef Pie
3. Tuesday--Meatball Subs
4. Wednesday--Pot Roast, Carrots, Taters and Onions
5. Thursday--Fend For Yourself
6. Friday--homemade Pizza, Salad
7. Saturday--something Mexican(TBD)

This week will see 6 new meals cooked, 1 night of leftovers/FFY, 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out.

What needs buying for this menu? I might need more carrots.....we've been on a carrot jag lately.

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  

Saturday, January 26, 2019

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!!


Sorry I am a day late in drawing the winners for these three giveaways.
I was just too busy to get to it yesterday.

I've done the deed and here are the results...........



Giveaway #1......

 The winner is Barbara!

Looks like we both are going to have snow and cold for our birthdays! I'm glad I'm not working this week! Hope your day has been great.


Congratulations Barbara!
Please email me your full name and mailing address Barbara so I can send you better photos of the necklace sets for you to pick which one you want as well as the bag set.

Giveaway #2.......

The winner is ladybug!


Still hoping to retire early but if I don't I have 5 years to get it all together!

Congratulations ladybug!  
Please email me your full name and mailing address and I'll get this out on Monday to you



Giveaway #3........


The winner is Jill!

My daughter brought home Lindt chocolate for us when she was in Switzerland. Yum!



Congratulations Jill!
Please email me your full name and mailing address and whether you prefer the reg. peppermint bark w/milk chocolate base of dark chocolate base and I'll get all this in the mail to you.


As always the winners have 48 hours from the time stamp on when this post goes live to contact me to claim their prizes.
If I don't hear from a winner I'll draw another name from those who entered that particular giveaway to choose a new winner.


Thanks to everyone who played along during my Birthday month.  It seems chocolate though is the hands down most popular item y'all want to win. lolz
Going forward maybe I'll put more chocolate in the prize boxes(except during the Summer months).
Who thinks that is a good idea?

Sluggy

Friday, January 25, 2019

Frugal Friday......the January 25th Edition



Another week, a few more frugal things.
Here's the skinny on what went down last week.........

*  I found .02¢ last Friday at Weis(PMITA)Markets.



Then I got too much  change at Mickey D's on Saturday when Kim had to make a Diet Coke run. 

My change should have been .15¢ but the gal gave me .20¢ back.  I had shoved it into my coat pocket and didn't look at it under we got home so I am counting that extra nickel as found money! 8-)

I made another trip to Weis on Tuesday and found more money!

A dime under the bubble gum machines.  Luckily I had my cane with me to retrieve the coin and didn't have to resort to crawling under the machines. lolz
That makes .17¢ for the week. ;-)


*  I got the Friday Freebie at Weis.......


a container of oatmeal.  I consider this a good freebie.  And it actually rung up correctly too for a change.

*  I used my free Purina dog food coupon they sent me........


*  I spent A LOT of money on groceries at Weis this past week.  We're talking $200 worth. Ouch. But I'd rather pay $200 and get good deals we'll use than wait and pay $300 later buying this stuff at regular price.

Last Friday's trip was a mangled mess though.  4 of my Qs wouldn't scan so the cashier manually put them in.....and didn't double them.

So I had to go over to CS and get $3 back.  I wanted her to put a credit on my c/c but she gave me cash before I could say something.


Then I went over my receipt and found the organic pear halves on clearance rang up full price.  So I had to go back in with the pears and receipt, take a photo of the shelf tag and get a refund from CS.
One can was free($1.97 back)and the other can I got the .99¢ I overpaid back so $2.96 went back on my c/c this time.

*  I had a free lunch on Thursday.


I have a Red Robin loyalty club thing so I get a free burger during my birthday month.  I had water w/lemon to drink so my meal was totally FREE(except for leaving the tip-I used some of my WAM for that).  I had an old Red Robin gift card so paid for Hubs meal with that.

*  I paid the garbage bill last week.  If it's paid in full before January is over you get a free month of service.  Hey!, $28 saved is $28 saved.  8-)))



What frugal wins did y'all have this past week?
Let us know how you stay frugal......


Sluggy

Thursday, January 24, 2019

That Was the Weekend That....What?!?! Part Two

So I was surprised on Friday night by Kim and her Sissie coming to PA for my Birthday Dinner.

Hubs and Kim hatched this little plot unbeknownst to me......the rats! lolz

So bright and early on Saturday morning I gave Kim a call.  The forecast was looking bad so she said to come down to Wilkes-Barre to meet them for breakfast at the Perkins.

By the time I got there Kim had obviously had a Diet Coke otherwise there would have been blood on the sand.
They had been waiting 40 minutes for a table at Perkins.  Only 2 waitresses had shown up for the morning shift that day and no hostess so Sissie had given their name to one of the waitresses but evidently it was the wrong waitress because the other waitress was "running the show" and the waitress they gave their name to never told the other waitress.....meaning while I was there for another 20 minutes waiting everybody supposedly behind us in line got seated and we still were waiting.   Kim grabbed a job application sitting out by the register and started filing it in.

On the question about have you ever been convicted of a crime, she put, "No.......but I am about to commit murder if we don't get the next table.".
Her other answers where just as wacky......


Here we are after getting waited on, a beverage of choice and a tummy full of pancakes.


It was about check-out time when we finished eating.  The forecast had changed a bit so they had to decide whether to stay another night and leave early Sunday or try to out run the storm Saturday.
The snow wasn't suppose to start until 2pm so I said they should check-out and stay at our house so we could have a pajama party that night and then they could leave on Sunday.

After a brief consultation they agreed so I drove up to the motel and waited on them to check out and load their car.
I then scooped them up into the purple Sonic and we took off to go do some girl-time shopping.

But not just any shopping.  Sissie had never been to Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)and Kim was ready to go back after I took her there in October.

So Ollie's it was.  Better still I had a 15% off Coupon for Ollie's that they had mailed to me so we filled up two carts of goodies, used the coupon and my c/c and divvied up who owed what later that night.

Then I took them to see something I had wanted to take Kim to the last time she was here.  Better still Sissie was a professional/opera singer in her youth so the excursion seemed even more apropos now.

Don't let it ever be said that Sluggy doesn't know how to treat company.
No sirree!

I took them to the cemetery......


But not just any cemetery!
Sluggy knows all the happening places. lolz

The Hollenback Cemetery in Wilkes-Barre PA.


An interesting memorial to Dr. John T. Doyle and both his wives.

The front gates were locked however, but as we drove by Sissie spied a driveway in on the side so I turned around and we went in that way. 

This entrance was to a different section or as Sissie said, "It might be unhallowed ground."  There was an old iron barred fence separating the two graveyards and the roads in this one were barely deer paths and the old dead weeds were overgrown and tall, like this section wasn't kept up.  We saw that one section of the iron fence had been torn open so we parked the car right there and walked into the nicely kept up graveyard with asphalted roads.


Lots of Bowmans here......might be related?!?

And just whom did we climb through gopher holes and climb up the face of a cliff to see?
This lady..........



Narcissa Florence Foster


Known to the world as Florence Foster Jenkins dubbed the "World's Worst Opera Singer".



She was portrayed in film a couple of years ago by Meryl Streep..........



Florence Foster Jenkins was born and raised and then buried in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

Her life is the tragic tale of a musical child prodigy(Florence was a pianist who performed at the White House for Rutherford B. Hayes),from a prominent Wilkes-Barre family, who's father forbade her from becoming a performer, so she ran away at age 17, married a "doctor" in Philadelphia who gave her syphilis on her wedding night.  She supported herself by giving piano lessons until her father died in 1909.


Florence and her mother, coming into a lot of money at Charles Dorrance Foster's death moved together to Manhattan to live the life of wealthy socialites and pursue her dream of a career in music.


Florence founded a society music lovers club, The Verdi Club, which gave recitals and performances, of which Florence would often cast herself in the primary role.

She met and fell in love with St. Clair Bayfield, an Englishman who fancied himself a high brow actor, and he managed her performances and financial affairs.
Florence died in 1944 within a month of a benefit performance at Carnegie Hall for US servicemen.



It is debated whether Florence had no musical ability or if the syphilis and the treatment for it(mercury and arsenic)led to physical problems so she couldn't hear how badly she was off-pitch, etc.


I stole this shot off of F.A.G. since the mausoleum was locked and I couldn't get a clear shot at the marble marker.
I left 3 stones on the pillar next to the mausoleum to let Florence know we had been there.


I need to do a little more research but I am pretty sure the Florence's mother, Mary Jane Hoagland Foster might be related to Kim's Hubbie!! lolz  Maybe Joe's bum ear is hereditary Kim...... ;-)

After that since nothing was happening with the weather the girls wanted to hit up the Salvation Army store for some silver to use at the reception for Kim's daughter's wedding this Summer.  No luck there but Sissie and I found a couple of things.  ;-)

Still nothing on the weather front so I took them across the road to Gabe's which isn't quite an Ollie's but a store in that ilk.  They were game so we wandered around that store for awhile and everybody found a couple of treasures.


I did leave this lovely faux lavender alligator purse at the store though........



I found these signs that really were appropriate to the person holding them.....*snort*


As we headed out of Gabe's the snow had just started falling so we headed up the mountain to home.
A quick stop for gas(and Kim's Diet Coke for later),and once in my tiny town another stop at Curry Donuts(where Kim found some change while she distracted me and Sissie!)and yet another stop at Mickey D's(for 'fresh' Diet Coke), then a brain fart when I tried to get home via a closed bridge road LOL and we finally got to the house.

After gorging on donuts and dinner(well, some of us had dinner!)everyone snuggled up in the den to watch a little tv.
The local PBS station shows Lawrence Welk at 7 pm and then a show called "The Pennsylvania Polka"at 8.  That show is basically a bunch of old people at the PBS studio at the local casino polka-ing to a live polka band.  A solid hour of watching senior citizens try to polka.


Chester made himself at home in Sissie's lap....well, she was in his chair after all. lolz

Last time here, Kim was mesmerized by that show and she drew her Sissie into it's evil web too on Saturday.  I told her had it not been snowing and treacherous outside I could have driven them up to the casino to be on the show themselves. lolz

Sissie got the bed pallets sorted out in the living room and turned in early.  Kim and I talked a little then she hit the hay as well.

Before I knew it Kim was popping her head into the bedroom to wake me up the next morning.  They wanted to get an early start before the rain turned into something worse.  I was hoping we'd all be snowed in for another day as I so much fun with those two! *sad face*

Hugs goodbye and they were off like the wind and I worried until I got the text that they got in aok to Sissie's house.

What an unexpected surprise for my birthday.....so fun!!!
Thanks ladies!




Sluggy

Wednesday, January 23, 2019

That Was The Weekend That......What?!?!? Part One

Friday started out like any other Friday............a trip to Rite-Aid and a trip to Weis.

Since we were expecting up to a foot of snow over the weekend I went up to Rite-Aid to do my deals on Friday since I figured I wouldn't be going anywhere on Saturday.

I got this one my son's card.........

5 Kimberley-Clark brand paper products.  I had $1/1 Qs for each plus a $5 Catalina from buying Huggies the week before to use.
I paid $24.95 OOP using Bonus Cash.
I earned another $5 Cat and $10 in BC for spending $30+ on K-C products meaning all 5 "cost" me $9.95 spending down the BC.

Then I bought all this coffee on a different card.........


4 x Folger's 1850 coffee on sale for $5.99 each plus a box of candy for $1 to get over $24 threshold=$24.96
4 x $1.50/1 IPQs made this all $17.96 to spend down all the BC on that card/account.
I earned back $6 in new BC(2 x $3BC wyspend $12 on select food/drink items)making all this cost me $11.96(no tax).  Not a bad price-$2.99 per container and a bonus box of candy.  8-)

Then I went to Weis(PMITA)Markets for the Friday Freebie and a few deals which I'll talk about this Friday.
The cashier f**ked up the order so I had to go back to the customer service desk twice!(She manually put in 4 Qs and didn't double them.........)


And then I noticed the 2 cans of organic pear halves rang up reg. price of $1.97 and not the clearance price of .98¢ the shelf tag indicated..........



So I got 1 for free and .99¢ back on what I paid for the second can(and had her put it as a credit on the cc this time).

Things were looking up and then I spied .02¢ on the ground as I left the store..........


We were slated to go out for my Birthday meal on Friday night.  I suspected something was going on at this point since we make it a habit NEVER to go out to eat here on the weekends.

People here are NUTS for going out to eat and everything is so crowded and the place I wanted to eat out-Texas Roadhouse doesn't take reservations per se so I knew it would be a clusterf**k of a night.

But Hubs said we had to do it on Friday because ex-college boy's last night off was Friday and otherwise we'd have to wait until next Wednesday to go.
Ok, sounded reasonable, right?

So I get dressed and we head down the mountain to the steakhouse.  Our daughter met us there as she had just come from school/work.
We go in at 4:30 pm and it's already jammed full.

We walked and walked and walked to the very back of the dining areas and then I saw purple balloons at a table.
And two people wearing masks sitting there.
It took me a minute to connect the dots but then I recognized one of these masked marauders from her hair and her pallid skin tone framing that mask....another one of the whitest white women on the planet like me!
Kim!!!
And the matching masked bookend was Kim's twin, Sissie!!!

               Kim, Sluggy, Sissie


I tell ya, you could have knocked me over with a herring!  Kim had flown to her sister's house out East(she did go to Spokane-to get a flight AND her teeth cleaned)and they drove up to PA to surprise me for my birthday.

Just gobsmacked, I was!

My eyes are closed in this photo because I had had a VERY large alcoholic drink....that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I love that Kim has a halo above her head....yah, riiiight!

So the 6 of us had dinner and a great many laughs.
Kim's sister brought me gifts too.....

A purple kitchen glove, a purple fancy pie plate and a sheet of funny fortune cookie magnets.

This one is now the header of my Facebook page.........

I laughed until the tears rolled down my legs at this one. lolz

After dinner Kim dropped her Sissie at the motel and then came to the house for cake...........


                     My half price birthday cake!

So I blew out the candles after everybody sang and Hubs didn't catch the "moment" so I had to pose and pretend to blow them out and Chester helped.   That's why it looks like I am trying to not laugh while blowing.........lolz



Kim visited for a bit then headed back to the motel for the night. (I won't mention that she got lost going back and saw a bit of Wilkes-Barre that night before finally making it back to the motel.)
A big snowstorm was predicted for Saturday(followed by an ice storm on Sunday)so we weren't sure if they'd be able to hang out on Saturday before heading back.

Part Two tomorrow..........


Sluggy