Random Things Lately

Here's a post about my thoughts on random ideas floating around in my head and comments on photos on my camera roll.
There might be a gem or two among them all or not, you decide.  ;-)

* Janie asked about Gouverneer Morris and the use of a whalebone as a catheter--if that was a common homemade remedy at that time.
Though I am no expert on Colonial era medicine(such that it was)I suspect that among learned circles at that time, this may have been a known possible course to clear a blocked urethra in a man.  To me, the thought of inserting a hollow bone(no matter how slim)into my penis just makes me shudder and I'd say it would also affect most men in the same way too.  But in the days before surgical cures for internal distress this might have been looked upon as a last resort of treatment.  Maybe.....

But, I suspect that there was a lot of DYI surgery and medical treatments going on during Morris' era.  Firstly, just finding a "doctor" in America may have been difficult depending on your location.  Morris may have had access to one being as he was in a settled area but if you were beyond the coastal regions in what would be termed a "wilderness" area you were on your own.

And if you know anything about the history of the practice of applied medicine you know that "modern" medicine only dates back to barely a couple of centuries beyond our current time.  The practice of medicine is barely out of it's infancy in many ways in 2019.  The book I read on The Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919 was eye opening in this regard.  Also my visit to the Apothecary Shop of Dr. Hugh Mercer who practiced his craft in the mid 1700's in Fredericksburg Virginia pre-Revolutionary War was enlightening.
Remember that back in these American Colonial times doctors were treating people with leeches and bleeding as a way to restore the four humors in the body and a doctor was responsible for killing George Washington in this way.

* I took this photo of the box one of my pieces of luggage I recently purchased came in............

It reads, "CAUTION: DO NOT WITH SHARP INSTRUMENT".
My reply, "I CAN'T EVEN!"

*  Here's an item I noticed in Rite-Aid last month when I got paid to take all those ELF brushes home...........

Clear Mascara.
I had never even heard of clear mascara before seeing this.  Why would anyone other than someone who was an Albino use clear mascara?? lolz  Well I googled it and there are uses for it, though making your lashes appear longer, the obvious use for mascara, isn't one of them.
Just proves you can learn something new every day.

*  And speaking of drugstores............
I've been having to peruse the CVS ads seeing as I still have ECBs to use.  I hate CVS ads!  It's so difficult to figure out a scenario to do a deal using their weekly ads because nothing is organized in a way to make sense.  My brain spins like a loading internet page that refuses to complete looking at their ads.
And this makes me insane too.........

When they have a Deal where you have to buy 3 items to get the ECBs but the sale is a BOGO50% off.  I can handle this at Rite-Aid since on the third item I'd get a 20% Wellness discount but not at CVS.  I'd have to buy 4 to get 50% off 2 of the items but pay full price for the other 2 and I am buying ONE MORE THAN I NEED TO TO DO THIS DEAL which means I am spending WAAAAY too much money on this!
It just makes me gnash my teeth.

*  And speaking of CVS I started watching this Vlogger as she does a CVS deals rundown since I still have ECBs to use.  I noticed that she looks and sounds like someone I've met!

At least to me, the "Savvy Coupon Shopper" is pretty much a doppelganger for SAM the blogger. lolz

*  I thought this was cute.  It was the paper on the sample size ice cream cones DQ gave out for free back in March while we were on vacation...........

"I am a Coneacopia of Happiness."


*  The Rhododendron bush is finally in bloom.  Too bad it waited until after Daughter's graduation to blossom fully.

*  I am so OVER selling locally on the FaceBook sites here.  Ok, let me rephrase that...I am so over dealing with the people who also use that selling sites to buy.

Can someone please just tell me one thing..........What is wrong with people???

My ads are very brief  and to the point, but include all the pertinent information needed.
I have been selling diapers and pull-ups of which I have various sizes.  I state what I have, what sizes, how many I have, the price and where I will meet.  I also say I update the post as soon as something is PENDING or SOLD and remove it if sold.

Invariably someone will message me and ask, "Is this available?"  That's it.  Well, I can't tell you if "IT" is available if I don't know what "IT" you are interested in buying! lolz  Let me just state for the record that this is maddening!!!

I also had someone ask me, "Until when is the size XX pending".  I said, "Until they pay me."  Right?  This bitch flipped out on me and called me a few choice words such that I had to block her. lol

Then I had the one who messaged me in SPANISH?!  What do I do with that?  OMG, I don't speak Spanish. lolz
Someone writes an ad in English please reply to it in English.....this is NE PA not San Diego CA.  If you read it(in English)you must understand some English so respond in English even if it's broke and I can work with you.  That's just common courtesy.

But the best one is the one who was going to meet me just off the interstate exit, 5 miles from my house, as they were passing by on the interstate down to go camping south of here on Friday and gave me a window of between 4 and 4:30 pm.  So I asked her to text when it got close to the time whether she was going to be there closer to 4 or 4:30 as I didn't want to be sitting for 30+ waiting on her, which was agreeable to her.

So I load up the car with her pull-ups, turned on the car and at 3:45 I sent her a text asking if she was going to be there at 4 or later before I actually drove to the meet-up spt.

I get this reply, "Wont be that way til tomorrow".

No "I'm sorry", no details on when tomorrow or anything else, etc.
And would she have even texted me she wasn't coming today if I hadn't asked first?!?  So rude.

So I replied, "If you want them tomorrow you'll have to come to my house.  It's 5 miles off the exit. LMK".
Of course I didn't hear back from her, not that I'd have responded if she had. lolz

And to piss me off worse, her Avatar or whatever you call her photo on Facebook is a selfie with mouse ears on it.
Grow up people!


*  Hubs and I went to the Amish Grocery Outlet recently.  It's fun to poke around in there as you find interesting food items sometimes.

I had to pose with this pickle item because well, I AM a Hot Mama. teehee

And Hubs found this can of brains.....pork brains to be specific and with milk gravy.
Um, no thank you.
My mother would have been all over this item putting it into a plate of scrambled eggs.  She actually did this on one occasion without letting us know of the "secret ingredient".  meh.

*  The POD people came and took away Daughter's pod.............

When we dug out the boxes in the closet in her bedroom we found this though and it doesn't belong to us............

A box of electronics that belong to the Fiancé.  So we told them what was in there and they want some of it and want me to ship it to them.  I am uncomfortable shipping electronics not in their original boxes(I have used shipping companies for years as an eBay seller and I know the horrors. lol).  I figure we can just bring it with us when we go there in January for the wedding, right?  The financé lived without this stuff for 2.5 years(how long ago he left here)he can wait another few months for it.


*  I was out relaxing on the deck and was looking at this pine tree in the yard.........

This massive pine tree was just a twig(I was taller than it)when we moved in almost 19 years ago.  Just guesstimating now it's got to be 30 foot tall and the branches make it 20 foot wide.
I was just staring at it this past weekend and noticed that it was "giving me the finger".

All these new shoots growing on the ends of the branches look like middle finger salutes!
Am I crazy or do y'all see it too?? lolz

Anything interesting going on in your life lately?


Sluggy

A Homemade Cake Mix Recipe

I wanted to make something dessert-like for dinner last night(I don't usually make desserts but it was a Holiday Weekend).

I had 4 cans of peach slices I got very inexpensively at a Rite-Aid back in March down South.  Regular price was $1 per can, .80¢ per can with my Wellness store discount and they had .50¢ off stickers on them so .30¢ per can.
(I had to buy them at that price, right?)

So I decided to make a dump cake peach cobbler.

But I didn't have a cake mix(as I don't keep these around anymore)so I turned to a recipe to make your own dry cake mix.
It's just flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.....easy-peasy and items most everyone has on hand anyway.

Cake Mix Recipe

2 1/4 Cup flour
1 1/2 Cup sugar
3 1/2 Teaspoon baking powder
1 Teaspoon salt

I sprayed a baking dish and set the oven to 350F.
Mix the ingredients above, add 1 stick of butter(1/2 Cup, melted),1 Cup of milk and 1 Tablespoon of vanilla and stir it all up.
Pour batter into the baking dish.
Open 2 cans of peaches(15 oz. each), reserve liquid.  Spoons peaches into batter, spreading evenly.
Add 1 Teaspoon of ground cinnamon and 1/4 Teaspoon of ground nutmeg into reserved peach liquid and whisk, then pour it over the peaches.
* I also sprinkled roasted almond halves on top since I had some and it sounded yummy.
Bake for 55-60 minutes.
Cool and serve with vanilla ice cream or plain.

Not a great photo and I forgot to take one before it got dug into so not so pretty either. lolz
It tasted good though and cost under $1.50 to make including the fruit(more with the ice cream). ;-)

Costing out the ingredients to make my own boxed cake mix using normal regular shelf prices for this area came to .66¢ which is less than buying boxed cake mix, even on sale here.(Clearance prices it might be less to buy a boxed mix but really, this was quick to throw together from ingredients in my pantry so you can do this instead of waiting for a boxed cake mix to go on sale.

Now if you want to make a regular yellow cake from this dry mix recipe, just add these wet ingredients too--1 1/4 C. milk, 1/8 C. veg. oil, 1 stick of butter(melted), 1 TB vanilla and 3 eggs.  Blend the wet ingredients then add the dry cake mix ones.  Bake at 350F for 20 minutes.


Sluggy

Don't Forget to Enter the Giveaway!!

All you readers who are non-winners of a giveaway yet, be sure and enter the Giveaway!  I only have 4 valid entries so far and the Giveaway ends this Friday.  Enter today, enter every day until Friday.

The Link is HERE.

Maybe more to post later.......

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Goodbye To Food" Edition....

Tuesday we splurged on lobsters as it was the night before I went on my Elimination Diet.

This is what my plate has looked like the first three days.  I am down 9 lbs.(probably mostly water loss)but I am so over potatoes....lolz

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned--

1. Sunday--T-Bone Steaks, Corn on cob, leftover sides(beans, salad, rolls), Cukes in Vinegar

2. Monday--Shrimp Stir-Fry w/Noodles

3. Tuesday--Lobster, Corn on cob, leftover sweet potato wedges

4. Wednesday--Chicken Alfredo Fettuccine

5. Thursday--leftovers or FFY

6. Friday--leftovers or FFY
7. Saturday--what ever Hubs cooks

And this is what actually happened--(everyone else here not me after Tuesday)

1. Sunday--T-Bone Steaks, Corn on cob, leftover sides(beans, salad, rolls), Cukes in Vinegar

2. Monday--Shrimp Stir-Fry w/Noodles

3. Tuesday--Lobster, corn on cob, leftover sweet potato wedges

4. Wednesday--leftovers or FFY

5. Thursday--leftovers or FFY

6. Friday--leftovers of FFY
7. Saturday--Salmon, grilled asparagus

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 3 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 0 nights of Eating Out/Take-Out. 

Here's what my Wed.-Sat. looked like.......

4. Wednesday--potatoes

5. Thursday--potatoes

6. Friday--potatoes
7. Saturday--cucumber, tuna, potatoes

There were so many leftovers that I didn't make the Chicken Alfredo Fettuccine again so it moves to this week again.

What got put into the freezer last week.....

* 2 portions of Salmon

What got taken out of the freezer and used last week.....
* 1 portion of salmon

* 1 bag of Stir-fry meal
* 1 pack of raw shrimp
* 5 T-Bone steaks

A trip to Weis, a trip to Price Chopper and a trip to Wegman's brought the food/toiletries spending last week to $103.89 and my May total to $407.72.

Over budget.....that's what happens when you buy live lobsters(even on special)and specialty potatoes at Wegman's at full price. ugh.

I have closed out the May food spending so anything bought in the next 4 days will go onto June's tab.

My savings percentage last week was an abysmal  25.31%(without Rite-Aid trips)and May's monthly savings total came to 46.34%(w/out R-A). 

I have 0 more food shopping/spending days in May(4 days left but I am finished shopping).

Leftovers going into this week.....corn casserole, that's it!

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

1. Sunday--Brats w/Onions, Corn on Cob, Cukes in Vinegar, Potato Salad, Peach Cobbler

2. Monday--Steak, Grilled Asparagus, leftover Potato Salad

3. Tuesday--Fettuccine Alfredo w/Chicken(I'll have Chicken on Salad)

4. Wednesday--Corned Beef, Cabbage, Potatoes

5. Thursday--Sourdough Grilled Sandwiches, leftover sides

6. Friday--Roasted Turkey Breast, Stuffing or Potatoes, Green Veggie TBD
7. Saturday--?

This week will see 6 new meals cooked(if I feel like it), 0 nights of leftovers/FFY, and 0 nights of Take-Out/Eating Out and 1 night of ?.

What needs buying for this menu? corn on cob, salad greens, cabbage, slicing cheese and sandwich meats(maybe on that one).  We are out of fresh veg so I'll go Tuesday and hit the restaurant supply store.

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  

A Survivor's Story....Part Four, Nancy Has a Happy Ending

Read Part 1 of this story here PART ONE
Read Part 2 of this story here PART TWO
Read Part 3 of this story here PART THREE

So Nancy Randolph, pariah of Virginia Colonial Society, set out from her homeland.
Nancy left on foot and went to her childhood home of Tuckahoe Plantation. By 1800 Tuckahoe was an abandoned relic of it's former glory.  Years later Nancy said she slept at Tuckahoe among the ruins for awhile before walking from one to another plantation in the area seeking shelter and food. She was taken in briefly at these stops before walking elsewhere.  She ended up at Monticello being cared for by her brother and his wife, Thomas Mann and Martha Jefferson Randolph, who lived there with Martha's father, Thomas Jefferson.

By 1808, wearing out her welcome at Monticello, she found a little money from somewhere.  Perhaps her sisters Virginia or Mary got their husbands to bankroll Nancy on this journey or her brother Thomas Mann Jr.  We will never know from whom but Nancy obtained the price of pass and traveled North, to New York City in 1808.

She was staying at a boarding house in Greenwich village when she ran into someone from her past.
That someone, who had been a friend of her long dead father, Thomas Mann Randolph Sr., was Gouverneur Morris.

Born into a prestigious New York family he was the son of Lewis Morris Jr. and his second wife, Sarah Gouverneur.

He studied law at what would become Columbia University and then served in the provincial NY Congress.
His family's loyalties were divided once the revolution started.  He and his half-brother, Lewis Morris were for the rebels yet another half-brother, Staats Lewis Morris was a loyalist and a Major General in the British army.  After the Battle of Long Island the British seized New York City and Gouverneur's' mother, Sarah Morris, an ardent loyalist, gave the family estate over to the British for military use during the war.

Gouverneur Morris was appointed to the NY delegation of the Continental Congress in 1778.  He was on a committee to reform the the American military forces with George Washington.  He pushed for reforms to the financing and the training of the troops after witnessing conditions of the military during their Winter encampment at Valley Forge.  He signed the Articles of Confederation in 1778 and went on to serve on the committee that drafted the Constitution(and was a signer of that document as well).  He is thought to have drafted the the Preamble to the Constitution himself and is often called "the Penman of the Constitution".  He also helped draft the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War.
Afterwards he was an emissary to England then later to France, replacing Thomas Jefferson in that role.  He was in France during the French Revolution and kept a diary of that historical time and his first hand accounts of it.  Gouverneur criticized that revolution and the execution of Marie Antoinette.
Upon his return to America in 1798 he won a seat in the US Congress and served there until 1803.

Gouverneur Morris was a man of 55 who had never married when he had his chance meeting with Nancy Randolph in NYC.  Gouverneur is known to have had many affairs and liaisons, over the years, the most notably with a French writer, Adelaide-Emilie Filleul, marquise de Souza-Botelho(who's mother had been a mistress of King Louis XV)and an Early American Boston novelist Sarah Wentworth Apthrop Morton(whom he was sleeping with as late as 1804).

Gouverneur, one of the leaders of the American Revolution, remembered Nancy Randolph as a child(he was 22 years older than her)at Tuckahoe plantation riding her pony, shadowing her father and a grown-up Thomas Jefferson when he visited the family. They began a correspondence even after Nancy left New York to travel to Rhode Island, and then to Connecticut and found menial work there.

Gouverneur wanted to help Nancy in a real way other than friendship.  At that time Gouverneur had a hard time keeping a housekeeper(he thought them all lowly born and crude plus they couldn't get along with the chef and coachman he brought back from Paris with him)so he offered Nancy the job.  It was strictly an employer/employee friendship situation when Morris went to fetch Nancy from Armrstrong's Tavern in April of 1809.

But love seemed to bloom between them and Gouverneur didn't hold Nancy's checkered past against her, and 6 month after the employment arrangement Gouverneur Morris sent for a preacher on Christmas Day of 1809 and married Nancy Randolph on at Morris' estate, "Morrisania" located in what it today Bronx, NY, in front of confused and shocked Christmas day dinner guests there.

Evidently it was a good marriage for the both of them.  Gouverneur wrote in his diary upon returning from a trip to Albany, "Dear quiet, happy home."  Two years after wedding Gouverneur, Nancy gave birth to a son, Gouverneur Morris, Jr. in February of 1813.
Nancy Randolph Morris has landed in a soft, safe place and have the love and life she never thought possible.

Their happy home was shattered in 1816 when Gouverneur Morris, mostly retired from politics, died after accidentally causing internal injuries to himself(which led to infection), attempting to use a piece of whalebone as a catheter to clear of urinary blockage at the age of 64.

He was buried in the cemetery of St. Ann's Episcopal Church, the oldest church located in present day Bronx, the same chapel that was built on the family Morrisania land in 1841.  The Morris family crypt holds many Morris family members, including his father, Lewis Morris, a leader in the American Revolution and Governeur's half-brother Lewis Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Ann Cary "Nancy" Randolph Morris raised her son, Gouverneur Morris Jr., as the widow of a much revered American statesman, and reigned over Morrisania until her own death in 1837.

But there is more to tell of this story next time in Part Five.


Sluggy