Monday, February 24, 2020

This Week on the Dining Table

**NOTE**
Today is the last day to enter the February Giveaway.  Go to the link on the sidebar under "Current Giveaway" to place an entry.
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The "Just Not Feeling It Still" Edition................

This sinus/ear thing still has me not feeling like eating anything the fam wants to eat.  My taste buds are still off so it's been more soup, noodles, fruit, hot tea and Jello for me mostly.  I ate one piece of pizza last week, Hubs pork chop meal, the pork tenderloin and some rigatoni.  Besides dairy(cheese)I've been trying to stay away from anything with tomatoes in it as it seems to be an HS trigger food for me.  This makes me very sad as I love tomatoes... 8-(

Moving On....
Onward to the meal planning-

This is what was planned for last week.......
1. Sunday--Frozen Pizza(Hubs/Ex-CB, soup for me)
2. Monday--Chicken Broccoli Cheese Rice Casserole(using leftover roast chicken)
3. Tuesday--Pork Chops, Veg TBD, Noodles or Rice of some kind(Hubs is cooking this)
4. Wednesday--Leftover Beef Pie
5. Thursday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Veg TBD
6. Friday--Leftovers?
7. Saturday--Leftovers?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Frozen Pizza(Hubs/Ex-CB, soup for me)
2. Monday--Chicken Broccoli Cheese Rice Casserole(using leftover roast chicken)but I had something without cheese
3. Tuesday--Pork Chops, Brussels Sprouts, Mashed Taters(Hubs cooked this)
4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs(I had soup)
5. Thursday--Pork Tenderloin Sammiches, Sweet Potato Fries
6. Friday--Rigatoni w/Meat Sauce, Salad
7. Saturday--Leftovers(I had Beef Pie)

Last week saw 5 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/FFY or TV dinners, and 0 night of Eating Out/Take-Out.
Mostly what was planned happened except I got cheap discount sticker panko-ed pork cutlets at Weis so we had those instead of Spaghetti on Thursday because the Spaghetti got moved to Wednesday.  My remaining sweet potatoes went bad so we had to sub reg. french fries that night too.

That was the extent of the food waste-those 2 sweet potatoes.

What got put into the freezer last week....
* Nothing

What got taken out of the freezer and used.....
* 1 bag of Meatballs
* 1 frozen Pizza
* 1 bag of Broccoli(from our garden)
* 1 bag of Brussels Sprouts

3 small trips to Weis(PMITA)Markets this past week in the amount of $45.82 brings my February Grand Total spending on food to $367.58 so far.
I've earned $88.37 in Ibotta rebates too in February so far.

My savings percentage last week was 55.41%(without Rite-Aid trips)and February's monthly savings total comes in at 49.27%(w/out R-A).  

I have 5 more food shopping/spending days in February.  I "plan" on getting some canned tomatoes(sale at Weis and I have Qs that will double to $1.60)and cup o' noodles that will be .01¢ OOP after Ibotta rebate but that's it for this week.

Leftovers going into this week.....Beef Pie(2 helpings), Chicken Broccoli Casserole(1 helping), Spaghetti and Rigatoni(lots), Meatballs and Meat Sauce(lots), some Brussels Sprouts and 2 Pork Chops.

Here is this week's "food plan".....
1. Sunday--Stuffed Jumbo Shells, Salad
2. Monday--Ex-CB birthday meal out
3. Tuesday--Chinese dinners(from freezer)
4. Wednesday--Leftovers
5. Thursday--Chicken Parm, Salad
6. Friday--Pork Teriyaki Stir Fry(and rice for some)
7. Saturday--Leftovers of FFY

What needs buying for this menu? Maybe some Mozzarella for the Chicken Parm is I use what I have on the Stuffed Shells.
The spaghetti and rigatoni from last week's menu? I can always count on Hubs to finish up any pasta dishes for lunches. lolz

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, February 22, 2020

More Rite-Aid This Week

When do I ever just go to Rite-Aid once in a week? lolz

So the Nature's Truth $2 rebate came back into my Ibotta gallery so I went and bought two more Vit. E sticks on son's card/account.
And I didn't take a photo of those, just look at them in this photo from earlier in the week and ignore the razors. lol


Spent $1.99 in Bonus Cash and have $1.01 BC left on that card.
The Vitamin E sticks counted toward the Spend $45/Get $15 BC Deal.

Then I realized another deal.  My store put out a ton of clearance Almay/Revlon make-up.  I had tons of Qs for those things from the 2/9 inserts(I was gifted 3 copies of those inserts so I had 4 copies including my own copy).

I bought 1 clearance lipstick to test if these clearance items count toward the Spend $45/Get $15 BC Deal in this week's ad.....................


1 x Revlon lipstick=$2.49
1 x PayDay bar on sale=.59¢
SubTotal........$3.08

I used a $3/1 Revlon lip ManuQ=$3.00
So I had to buy the candy bar to absorb the overage on that Q.

$3.08-$3=.08¢ which I paid in CASH! *horror!*

And yes, the clearance Revlon counted toward the Spend $45/Get $15 BC Deal.
Yay!
I now had $5.07 counting toward this deal so then I bought all this out of the clearance make-up table.......

Actually there was 1 more of those Almay Glow things(the boxes at the upper center)that I bought.
I gifted one to the cashier after I bought them as she "oohed" at that and she was the person who gifted me the extra ManuQ inserts where all the Qs I used came from, so really, she had "earned" that much. ;-)

2 x Revlon lip color things $2.62=$5.24
1 x Revlon lip stick=$2.37
3 x Almay Duo Stick Glow $3.49=$10.47
2 x Revlon concealer $3.12=$6.24
2 x Almay lip gloss $2.57=$5.14
1 x Almay smart shade face=$3.82
2 x Revlon  insta-sculpt kit $3.87=$7.74
SubTotal..........$41.02

Coupons Used
3 x $3/1 Revlon lip item=$9.00
4 x $3/1 Almay face item=$12.00
4 x $3/1 Revlon face item=$12.00
2 x $1/1 Almay lip item=$2.00
Coupon Total.........$35.00

$41.02-$35.00=$6.02+.37¢ sales tax=$6.39 paid for with Bonus Cash
$41.02+$5.07 earned in the previous transactions put me at $46.09 spent so I earned a new $15 BC back.

$6.39 spent and $15 earned back made this a $8.61 moneymaker.

I then bought this to finish spending down that $1.01 on my son's card as it was expiring today and not on Sunday as I had thought.........

2 x Reese's on sale .59¢=$1.18
I used $1.01 in BC to pay and spent .17¢ OOP in CASH. *thud!*

I ended up spending a whole quarter in real money today at Rite-Aid.  This totally wrecks my 100% savings rate for Feb. at R-A because I didn't use my free gift card to pay that bit.
Oh well....everyone makes mistakes sometimes, even ol' Sluggy. 8-)))

If your store has Almay and Revlon on the clearance table or area and you have the 2/9 Qs but you won't be going to R-A today, there are two separate Almay and Revlon offers next week-Spend $15/Get $3 on the Almay and Spend $12/Get $3 on the Revlon.  Not sure until someone reports back if the clearance items work on those Deals so YMMV until then.  This week's Spend $45/Get $15 Deal seemed better though(more back in BC but next week you only need to spend $17 total to earn $6 BC back)and at my store by Sunday and the new ad week the clearance table will be bare so best to do this week's deal.

Sluggy



Friday, February 21, 2020

Frugal Friday......the February 21st Edition

Checking in on the frugal stuff from last week and here we go!


* I got the Weis freebie last Friday.........

A can of tuna.
But the freebie Q didn't come off.  And I had even taken this can and another can(which was probably the freebie one after all, even though it was a more expensive variety)up to the Customer Service desk to ask which one it was and the employee told me this cheaper one, so that's the one I bought.


So I got to trot back to the CS desk after it didn't come off my bill and I got handed .69¢.
I'd prefer a refund on my c/c but change it a ok by me and this money is now in my store refund/post Q envelope.

*  I made $43.45 in Ibotta rebates since last Friday. See a previous post on that.  8-)))

* I bought stuff at Rite-Aid and Weis..........


Total spent at Rite-Aid so far this week.........$10.55 in Bonus Cash.
Total earned back in BC/Ibotta........$8.00

The best deals frond at Weis(PMITA)Markets so far this week...........


$4.67 paid OOP, $5 earned on Ibotta.


$9.39 paid OOP, $9.92 earned on Ibotta.

* I found money!


2 pennies at Weis(PMITA)Markets last Friday.  One penny was next to the self-checkout machine and the other was under the candy rack between this machine and another self-checkout.  After I strained to reach that one, when I stood back up the employee manning/overseeing those machines had been standing and watching me, wonder what in heck I was doing!?.  I showed her the penny and she laughed and said, "That was a lot of work for a penny!".  I smiled and said, "Hey! It's money and free money is never too much work for me."  8-)))


On Sunday after picking up my Rxs at R-A I spied this penny in front of the register counter and it came home with me.


This penny was found in Rite-Aid as well by the pharmacy counter on Wednesday.


And this dime was behind the counter that same trip to R-A.  Two employees and I were talking about how I find change a lot and the new employee said there was a dime under the counter that had been there for weeks so she picked it up and handed it to me.  I just need to "train" all the other R-A folks to find change and give it to me! lolz
Total Found Money this week...... .14¢
Total Found Money this year.......$42.76


*  I filled my car tank with discounted Weis gas.  Points expired last Friday so I drove my car until it was on fumes and filled it up last Friday. .30¢ a gallon discount is nothing to sneeze at but at times like this I just wish my gas tank was larger. ;-)


* Last Friday was Valentine's Day and we kept it as low key as ever!  I had found a Hickory Farms meat/cheese gift box set at the Weis in the town South of here last week clearance priced from Xmas.
$12.99 reg. price for $4.00.  It didn't have a use/sell by date until March so I paid for it with some WAM.  Nothing says love like a box of food to my Hubs. lolz  I also had a Vday card for Hubs from Dollar Tree I got back in 2019 that I had forgotten to give him last year, oops!  So no money spent this year on a card.
I also cooked him Shrimp Scampi using ingredients I already had on hand(and the shrimp had been bought on clearance too).  No meal out at some overpriced venue(and crowded)specializing in Valentine's Day meals.

* I had a 30% off discount for Kohl's that was expiring on the 17th so we hit the local Kohl's and then on Sunday I hit another Kohl's south of here to see what clearance stuff I could find to pair with that discount.
I got Ex-CB some clothes for next Xmas(3 pieces I can't show it here), 2 tops for me(I didn't try them on so they might go back)and all this..........

5 x $9.99 priced candles in glass jars.  They were marked down to $1.99 so they were $1.40 each after 30% off.
The 'Tis the Season scented ones smell very good, the Frosted Pine ones were ok.  I didn't buy a Mulling Spices scented one because that smell just didn't appeal to me.
So I am all "candled up" for the Christmas Holidays 2020.

And I got a Xmas ornie for Dixie Belle of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel doggy.


We had looked at this ornie before Xmas but it was $18 or something ridiculous like that.  Even when Kohl's had them 50% off right before Xmas I was not tempted to spend $8+ on it.
But for $2.23 on clearance and with my 30% off discount?
Why not?! lolz
You never see Cavalier's in her variety(the Ruby coloration)....it's usually the Blenheim(white and ginger markings)variety.
Now Dixie has an ornie just like Chester does to hang on our tree this year. ;-)

That's about it for me this past week...........


Any frugal wins in your world this past week?

Sluggy


Thursday, February 20, 2020

Rite-Aid & Weis Deals With Ibotta

So a Midweek Bonus came up on my Ibotta gallery on Tuesday which said Redeem 5 Offers and Get $5 Bonus back which expires today(Thursday).

A "sort of" deal popped into my head for Rite-Aid on Tuesday which I combined with an Ibotta offer which led to me getting this stuff there.............


1 x Gillette men's razor 20% Wellness discount=$7.03
1 x Venus women's razor 20% Wellness discount=$7.99
2 x Nature's Truth Vitamin E stick BOGOFree=$1.99
SubTotal=$17.01

I used 2 L2CQs......
1 x $4/1 Gillette men's razor
1 x $4/1 Venus women's razor
Coupons Used.......$8.00

$17.01-$8.00=$9.01+ .42¢ sales tax=$9.43 paid for with Bonus Cash.
I earned back $6 BC for buying 2 Gillette/Venus razors(you can buy either or both)and I earned $2.00 back on Ibotta for buying the Nature's Truth Vit. E sticks.

$9.43 spent and $8 earned back in a combination of BC and Ibotta.
The razors were higher at my store than other stores but I didn't want to leave town to do the deal.  If I had it would have been closer to free after BC and Ibotta.

If you have the Nature's Truth $2 Ibotta rebate buy 2 and make a penny. (Pay $1.99/Get $2 back).
That offer is back in my Ibotta gallery so I'll do it again before the sale ad is over Saturday night at R-A.  Converting BC into actual cash via Ibotta is always a good thing to do. ;-)

And that Vit. E put me at 1 Offer redeemed out of 5 on Ibotta toward the Midweek Bonus.

So I bought this at Weis on Wednesday when I went looking for discount sticker meats.........


3 x Cup o Noodles Stir-Fry variety $1=$3.00
1 x Propel protein water on sale=$1.00
1 x Kodiak pancake cup on sale=$1.67
2 x Keller's Philly mustard on clearance .59¢=$1.18
2 x Oral-B toothbrushes on clearance $1.99=$3.98
1 x Kind granola bar=$1.50
SubTotal.......$12.33

I used 1 x $3/2 Oral-B/Crest items Weis digitalQ=$3.00

$12.33-$3=$9.33 +.06¢ tax=$9.39 OOP

I earned back $4.92 on the noodles, pancake cup, Propel H2O and the Kind bar($2.97 Noodle cups/.50¢ each on the pancake cup/water drink and granola bar + another .25¢ wyb any granola bar and .20¢ wyb anything offers)+ I now had 5 offers redeemed and got the Midweek $5 Bonus so a total of $9.92 earned back on my $9.39 purchase at Weis.

The Oral-B toothbrush offer had expired on Tuesday so they didn't qualify for Ibotta but on clearance and with $3/2 was still a good deal so I included them anyway.  And after Ibotta rebates on other items in the order they were still free in the end. ;-)

I also found 2 packages of panko crusted pork tenderloins($4.04 pack/$4.19 pack)with $2 instant discount stickers on them so I spent an additional $4.23 on meat this trip.  Ex-College Boy is off from work today so we'll have these as pork sammiches tonight for dinner with baked sweet potato fries.
Nom nom nom

Sluggy





Wednesday, February 19, 2020

A Survivor's Story.........Part Five, The Destruction of the Randolphs

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
Read Part 4 of this story here PART FOUR


So Nancy Randolph became Nancy Randolph Morris, had a son with Gouverneur Morris, became a wealthy widow in 1816 and lived out her life in comfort on her Morrisania Estate.

Gouverneur Morris Jr. went on to have an illustrious career in railroading.  He was Vice President of the New York and Harlem River Railroad and was instrumental in building the railroad line that runs along Park Avenue in Manhattan today. He went on the serve and retire as President of the Vermont Valley Railroad.
Morris was also an active entrepreneur, involved with development in the 19th century of what is today the Bronx.
Not a powerhouse of politics like his father, nonetheless Gouverneur was a founding member of the Republican Party and attended it's first convention back in 1854.

Gouverneur Jr. married Martha Jefferson Cary, his first cousin, the daughter of his mother's older sister, Virginia Randolph Cary.  Virginia also had married a cousin(not sure of the degree of cousin with them yet), Wilson Jefferson Cary, and became a published author after her husband's death.

Meanwhile, back in Virginia......
Judith Randolph, her sons and brother in-law John Randolph's lives were spinning out of control.

Being of the landed gentry class meant Judith, the widow of Richard Randolph had the weight of the plantation and it's business upon her shoulders.  Woman weren't taught but the womanly arts back in that time and thus Judith had no skills in the business arena so she relied on her brother's only surviving sibling, John Randolph, to keep their lives afloat. 

John Randolph of Roanoke was by far the most famous and accomplished member on this branch of the Randolph tree in the late 1700's/early 1800's. 


He was a Virginia planter, served in the House of Representatives as well as the Senate.  He was spokesman for his cousin, Thomas Jefferson, when Jefferson served as POTUS.  John also served as Minister to Russia under President Andrew Jackson.
He served on/chaired important committees while in Congress and was known for his wit and oratory abilities.

John had a falling out with Jefferson over what he perceived as a veering of the President from traditional Jeffersonian principles and growing nationalism, John also resented how he was treated as prosecutor during the impeachment of Salmon P. Chase.  John Randolph was vehemently against the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the War of 1812.  All this drove a wedge between John and cousin Thomas.
John was of two minds about the issue of slavery....as a Virginia planter his livelihood depended on owning slaves but he believed in the gradual abolition of the peculiar institution and was one of the founding members of the American Colonization Society of 1816.

Despite all he accomplished in his career he was a political outsider.  He did not suffer fools gladly, was a man of his own mind, had a flamboyant personality and clashed with many of his fellow Congressmen. Henry Clay challenged John Randolph to a duel(at least twice)and John had physical altercations with Rep. Willis Alston of NC.  Once they brawled in a Washington DC boarding house and on another occasion they came to blows in a Congressional stairwell with Randolph beating Alston bloody with his cane.

John Randolph never married as it's thought that due to what we call Klinefelter's Syndrome today, Randolph never went through puberty.  It's thought that the latent pulmonary tuberculosis in his body(his oldest brother and his nephew both died from TB)caused his body too never change and develop.  Later in life the TB manifested itself and he ended up relying on opium and alcohol to soothe his extreme pain.  Randolph lived alone in a near hermit like state in his small cabin on his Roanoke estate in Charlotte Courthouse County, VA when he wasn't away on congressional business.  John Randolph died in 1833 in Philadelphia, PA while serving in the 23rd Congress.


John Randolph of Roanoke was reburied in 1879 in the Hollywood Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

Judith and Richard Randolph's older son, St. George Tucker Randolph known as "St. John" to the family was born deaf.  He was sent to Braidwood Academy in London in 1805 when he was 14.  Founded by Thomas Braidwood, a Scottish educator in 1783, it was the first school for the deaf in England.  "St. John" later attended Sicard's Deaf School in Paris, traveling there in 1807, escorted to school by James Monroe(yes that James Monroe). Monroe was a Senator at that time and had to travel to Paris on business.
St. John came home to Virginia and lived a quiet life near his family, dying between the ages of 65 and 66 in 1857 and was buried in the Village Church Cemetery in Charlotte Courthouse, Virginia, near where my great grandparents lived at "Roxabel".



Judith and Richard's second son, Theodorick Tudor Randolph had gone to Harvard to study in 1814 but came down with consumption while there and slowly withered and died before accomplishing anything in life.  He was about 20 years old at his death and his burial place is unknown.

The plantation house at Bizarre burned down in 1813 and Judith had to relocate.  The present day town of Farmville, Virginia is on part of what was the "Bizarre" plantation.  Judith was dealt another blow 2 years later when Theodorick Tudor Randolph died from consumption.


Judith lasted another year, until March of 1816, dying in Richmond Virginia at the age of 43.  She is buried at Tuckahoe Plantation where she was born and raised.  Married at 17 to her cousin, the scandal/trial of her husband and sister in 1792,  made a widow at the age of 24, the fire that consumed the family home in 1813 and the death of her son Theodorick Tudor Randolph in 1815  I suppose was the last blow of many for Judith.

So this ends my tale of Anne Cary "Nancy" Randolph Morris.

But this is just the beginning of another part of the Randolph saga.

Sluggy