Our January Trip to Louisiana.....Part 5

Part 1 of our trip is HERE.
Part 2 of our trip is HERE.
Part 3 of our trip is HERE.
Part 4 of our trip is HERE.

The wedding was set for 7 pm on the 4th so we had some time to kill before evening.
After a very nice breakfast buffet at the hotel in town we drove over to the Fiancé's parents house late morning where Fiancé and our Daughter were living.
I brought a bag of dog treats for Cinnamon, daughter's dog.
We hadn't seen Cinnamon since last May when daughter packed up after graduating and moved back to Louisiana and I didn't know if Cinnamon would remember us.
I figured she's growl at Hubs since that's what she always did at first whenever we hadn't seen her in awhile.
But Doog(her nickname) remembered me right away and ran over to me for pets.

But after 15 seconds she was done............

But then she saw the bag of Beggin' Strips in my hand and she got even happier. lolz

After I finished giving her treats and she said hello to Hubs she wandered off.  We call her our special grand dog because if she was a human she'd be on the spectrum.  I had a few minutes with Daughter as they were busy with last minute stuff and I gave her her grandmother's pearls which mom wanted her to have once she married and I had a pin the put into daughter's bouquet.
The bouquet was artificial tulips tied at the stems with pearls woven through and we couldn't get the pin fastened into the stems since they were plastic.

The pin was my idea to use.  It was my mom's.  It is her first name's initial with a small angel sitting on it.  Mom and daughter had a special connection and she died when daughter was 7.5 years old.  I know mom would have wanted to be at her wedding in person but at least she would be there in spirit.

So I wore the pin on my dress for the wedding, over my heart.

There was so much to take to the wedding venue that we were enlisted to carry  boxes of flowers and vases and other things in our car to set-up at the venue later that evening.

We left and stopped at a Walmart near were the trailer we used to own is and walked around to kill some time.  There was still Xmas clearance so I found a few things on 75% clearance to cart home there along with some Blue Plate mayo. 

A Xmas cat blazer and matching tie, anyone? lolz

Back to the hotel to lay down for a bit and then get dressed and go to the wedding venue.

They got married in the local aquarium.

It was a very small wedding and reception.  Just family(3 from our side and 4 from the groom's side)and 3 longtime friends of the groom.  My brother was suppose to fly out but he damaged his foot back in October, delayed getting it looked at and developed 4 blood clots in his leg so he had surgery in December and couldn't fly due to the blood clots and undergoing physical therapy at that time.  I know he was disappointed that he couldn't go.  And none of Hubs' siblings or the nephew expressed any interest in going but I won't go into a screed over that here. ;-)
The officiant was a cousin of the groom's mother too so including her there were 11 people besides the bride and groom.

They put us in the touch tank room at the aquarium which was filled with skates and some other fish I don't remember what type.

You can see the chafing dishes in the first photo on the other side of the fish tank.

This little guy kept coming up out of the water trying to get my attention. lolz

Every thing got set up around that tank which dominated the center of the room.  There was a glass lined tunnel which led off into another room and that is where they set up the bridal arch they stood under to exchange their vows.  

Being the mother of the bride it fell to me to get daughter ready so we went off into what turned out to be a storage area and the aquarium staff's break room to prepare her for her walk down the aisle/fish tank.  Mostly daughter did her own make-up(which she had FINALLY learned how to do in the last 6 months-she had always been a nerdy tomboy and not into girlie things).

Daughter's future mother in-law helped with the hair......and yes, Daughter dyed it purple. 8-)

Then it was time to get all those wedding garments on.........

And that's where I came in handy, though those four bazillion hook and eyes were a challenge. lolz

Then we were off to the races after a quick photo of the bride with her soon to be mother in-law.........

We all scurried to our places so the ceremony can begin.  But one quick shot of the radiant bride first.

The groom and officiant waiting expectantly........

And the bride enters the room to music from "The Princess Bride"(McVal will love that! lol).........

I tried to video the ceremony but it was too noisy in there to hear anything because well, the fish tanks need oxygen and it's not quiet machinery.

The ceremony beings........

They exchange rings and vows........

And the kiss to seal the deal.........

And it's done.......

 No take backsies........

A photo of the happy couple with his parents...

A photo of the happy couple with her parents(plus her older brother)...

Let's see what's under that bridal gown......

A purple petticoat and purple Converse sneakers. lol

And the bride's brother caught the bouquet.
(There were no unmarried women at the wedding. lol)

Artistic wedding photos of rings, the bouquet and crossed hands.......

 The "kids" table........

And the "parents" table.....

The decor inside this room of the aquarium was very outdoorsy Louisiana.  The drink station set up in the little bait shack in the room.

Yes, I can now tease my daughter that she got married next to a Bait Shack.......

There was various tables set up too.....a place to sign the guest book with a photo of J proposing to H(the one on the left).  He proposed in Gatlinburg and you'll notice their dog is there too. lol

There was a gift table.....

The cake table..........

 With the wedding cake..........

Notice the gaming cake topper.  It says, "Achievement Unlocked-Got Married". lolz

And instead of a Groom's cake there were Groom's cookies.  As you can tell he is a BIG soccer fan, Liverpool FC to be exact..........

Cutting the cake...........

Smashing cake Putting cake into each other's mouths..........

And since their  dog wasn't allowed in the building there were special napkins for her.......

Then the marriage license had to be signed.....

and witnessed. J's mom and I acted as witnesses and I got a photo of her signing the certificate.

And it's official now.

There was a table for everyone to make up a goody bag of candy too...........

Most candies were fish themed; gummy fish, sour fish and some other things plus Jordan Almonds(daughter's favorite).

They also had two party favors-- Bomboniere, which are the Italian sugared almonds that are wrapped in tulle and given as a gift at weddings to recognize the Bride's Italian heritage and Stroopwafel cookies in a baggie to recognize the Groom's Dutch heritage.

I made Ex-College Boy a bag of candy to bring home to him since he wasn't able to come with us.

I love these photos J's mom and I got of them in the glass tunnel with a shark above them.........

And of course there were also other fish that couldn't care less about what was going on.......

Lazy sharks and others.....lol

But my favorite photo I got that day was this one..........

My daughter playing in the touch tank as things wound down.  As a child she was all about animals and every trip to her grandmother's in Virginia had to include a visit to the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center.
And she was always a tactile child which is a nice way of saying she had to touch EVERYTHING(and sometimes she had to also put them in her mouth). lolz
She's always been my inquisitive, science-y child.  I guess that's why she ended up with a degree in Chemistry. ;-)

But this photo I got is a classic.........."What have I done?!?" lolz

And to end this episode I have to tell y'all that I found a penny at the wedding........

Right in front of the Bait Shack when I went to get a drink! lol

As I waited outside for Hubs to get the car to go back to the hotel I noticed the lights on the fountain by the Aquarium were purple.

Now that's got to be a good sign, right?

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the April 17th Edition

Still no Friday freebies at Weis or Fantastic Friday Deals there but let's still see what frugal wins we can pull out of our asses hats from this past week.

* On Sunday I was making lasagna for Easter but was low on mozzarella cheese.  Going through my meat/cheese drawer in the fridge I found these.......

String cheese sticks I had gotten in Feb. 50% off on clearance AND an Ibotta cash rebate on.  Since they were mozzarella I cut them into small coins and mixed with my reg. shredded cheese to put into the lasagna.  Win/win!

*  I had Hubs pick up my Easter freebie last Friday with my Weis points.  I had him get one of these boneless dinner hams.

I had used the one from the freezer for his birthday dinner(instead of Easter)and Ex-College Boy really liked it so we got another to put into the freezer for future dinners.

*  I found money!

I had to drive Hubs to his eye shot appointment on Wednesday but they wouldn't let any one in besides the patients so it was either sit in the car for up to an hour or go to Maines restaurant supply nearby.  I found this penny walking up to the door to Maines.

* And speaking of Maines.......I got a few good deals in there though most were in restaurant quantities.

10 lbs. of flour wasn't a "great" buy but still less for Gold Medal at Weis(PMITA)Markets.
If you can't find baking supplies try your local restaurant supply store if they let the public in.  With many restaurants closed or doing less business since they are restricted to take-out/carry out meals the restaurant supply stores should be stocked with anything you need.

I also got these cans of pineapple juice there for .99¢ each with use by dates to the end of 2022.  Theses run $2.50 or more at the grocery stores around here.  I now make my own Sweet and Sour Sauce and this is an ingredient.  And if not for that, for Summer cocktails(Pina Coladas anyone?).

While we were out on this side of town I hit up P and R Discount Outlet while Hubs went to Lowe's and found Ex-College Boy's favorite coffee for cheap.  They also had a new flavor called "Florida" which is a caramel flan so I picked one of those up.

Then the other day I realized we were on our last bottle of yellow mustard when I made deviled eggs so I picked up  another bottle for cheap there as well.

*  By the time we were done with Hubs' eye doc and the my food errands it was lunch time so we used a discount code Hubs got on his account and got lunch here...

Primo Hoagies are a Philly based business but we have a couple of franchises here so we did our part to help a small business by getting lunch to take home.

*  I had Hubs call our car insurance provider since I heard many were giving discounts/reductions/credits on future bills due to the pandemic and folks just aren't driving or driving as much.
State Farm is giving a 25% discount from mid-March to the end of May on your car insurance bill.
Of course we received our renewal bill that day so we won't actually see a discount until the bill that comes in November. lolz

But that $109.45 discount will be welcomed when it does arrive.

*  We decided to put Chester and Dixie on the dog food Chester and Cinnamon use to eat when the grand dog lived here.  The best deal on this variety is the 41 lb. bag.  For some reason the Chewy site kept crashing so I bought it on Amazon.  I also put it on Subscribe and Save so saved 5% this order.

I also ordered 4 types of dog treats too(the ones in the blue bag are Chester's absolute favorite and I can't find large bags of them here anymore).  All these qualify for the Subscribe and Save program on Amazon so we'll get various % off every order.

The best part is I used credit card points to pay for it all so nothing OOP. yay

And that's about all I have that's frugal this week.

Be safe, stay home if you can and tell us about your frugal wins lately.

Sluggy

About Those Stimulus Checks

As the Government Stimulus Checks start hitting people's accounts it's important to do the right things with this money.
The "right thing" though will be very personal and vary from person to person, depending on your life circumstances.

Remember if you have family members(adult kids, extended relatives)who will have issues with paying their bills due to losing work and will ask you for money, you need to make sure YOU are ok first before extending help to them.  And if you do loan money to anyone, remember to, at least in your own mind, think of it as a gift rather than as a loan you will expect to be repaid, because in all probability they won't repay it.  Don't let money come between you and your loved ones.

I made this simple little flowchart that may help folks see how they may want to handle their Stimulus Check.
I don't play a financial planner on the internet or in real life.  This is just something to get y'all to do some critical thinking.

As for anyone who lost their job--
If you qualify for unemployment please apply for it as soon as you can.  I know each state is different on how much/how long they will take so do that as soon as possible.

And in the mean time if you can reduce any expenses do so...
* Ask your landlord if you rent or your lender if you have a mortgage, your car lender, your credit card provider/lender about any forebearances they can provide you on your debts.
* Some car insurance companies are issuing partial refunds or adjustments on your premiums. Pick up the phone as ask them for a reduction if you are no longer commuting to work in your car.
* Ditto for your utility companies.  I know they can't shut your heat off during this pandemic but find out about any programs they have that might help you and see if they will reduce or forgive any interest on late payments you will have due to this crisis.
* Go to a food bank even if you don't think you need to.  The less you spend on things you can get help with means your money will go further to keep your head above water.

Does anyone have any other thoughts on how to get through this financial crises if you are experiencing a job loss?
If you are lucky and don't rely on a job for your financial well being, what will you do with your stimulus check if you are due one?

Sluggy

Still Looking for The Giveaway Winner!

I still need Little Penpen to contact me with her full mailing address.
Time is running out!

Please don't make me pick another name.
You have until 11:12 am ET tomorrow morning to get in touch with me.

Thanks,

Sluggy

To-Do List.....March Update

Let's see how March's To-Do List turned out.........

* Pay Bills  DONE  Everything paid early or on time and money leftover this month. yay

* Read 1,2,3,4 Books  DONE  Even before we got the stay home order in PA I was on fire reading.  Ok, one of the books was a lightweight but still....

I read this one...

"Loving Frank" by Nancy Horan
This is a novel, a partially historical novel about Mamah Bosworth Cheney, the mistress of Frank Loyd Wright and their life together.  It was well done and reminded me of "Twain's End" and "Hanging Mary", two other historical fiction books I've read.  5 thumbs up.

Then I read this.....

"It's All Relative:Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree" by A.J. Jacobs
This is a genealogy related book so someone into this subject will find some of it interesting.
I found it a very quick read and a little too lightweight and full of general knowledge with a humorous tone.  2 thumbs up.

Third was this one......

"Papillon" by Henri Charrière
This is the autobiography book from 1969, that was made into a major film in 1973 with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman and was remade in 2017 starring Rami Malek and Charlie Hunnam.
It's about a safe cracker from Paris who was wrongly convicted of killing a pimp in 1931 and sentenced to life in the French Guiana penal colony (called "Devil's Island" in English)through 1945 and his numerous attempts to escape.
It's an amazing book, especially since the writer was not a writer per se.  It will keep you interested and you won't be able to put it down, especially if you haven't seen either movie.
I now need to see these movies to see if they live up to this man's book.  5 thumbs up!!!

Fourth was this.......

"The Birth of Loud:Leo Fender, Les Paul and the Guitar Pioneering Rivalry That Shaped Rock N' Roll" by Ian S. Port

I picked this up on a whim at Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)and thought at least Ex-College Boy being the family musician may enjoy it but I gave it a read first.  I was never a guitar gal but I did grow up during the revolutionary period of 1960's rock n' roll so it intrigued me.  It filled in some history about this era in music and I learned a lot about Leo Fender and Les Paul(and Mary Ford too).  4 thumbs up.


* Manage Money (CD)  DONE  We had a CD mature the beginning of March.  If we left it at the financial institution it was with they had a 13 month CD that gave an extra .05% in interest(not that the current rates are anywhere what they were when we set this CD up in 2019).  Plus if we kept the money with this bank we got an extra .05% in interest at maturity making the bonus .10% extra. whoopee 

* Hold Giveaway  DONE

* Mail Giveaway  DONE  and received.

* Make Face Masks  DONE 
I made myself a mask and one each for my 2 sons.

I also made this one with some "Night of the Walking Dead" fabric I had bought to make shorts to match a t-shirt I bought Ex-College Boy(but he isn't into NOTWD anymore).....

* Bathe Dogs  DONE  Both pups got bathes in March(Dixie got more than one as she is stinkier).lolz

* Take Load to Food Bank  PASS  Ok, I didn't get the food to the Food Bank in March.  I called twice and left messages and they never got back to me in March.  I am not sure if they are accepting food donations with the pandemic or just money.

* List Items on eBay  FAIL  Thought I did sell 1 item in early March I just haven't been motivated to list anything else.  Now with money being tight with so many losing jobs temporarily I just don't feel right selling non-essentials even if someone is nuts enough to buy them.  I don't make my living off of eBay so I'd rather not put anything for sale on there now.  I can wait.  ;-)

* Cash Savings Bond  DONE  I had Hubs cash the bond before our bank closed it's lobby for the duration(now it's only drive-thru tellers).  I've added the proceeds to all the other cashed/matured Savings Bonds.  We really need to dump this stash into a CD or something but with rates in the toilet right now, we'll wait a bit longer.  It's not life-changing to not have this $$ invested right now.

* Hem Hubs' Shirts  PASS  I did work on this sewing project but I didn't have Hubs full cooperation in March so nothing much gone accomplished.  I needed him to try every. last. shirt. on. to mark them all. ugh

* Plan/Goals for 2020  FAIL  A big Fat Fail on planning anything for 2020.  I had some ideas but everything/all the world is on hold right now so we are at a standstill on plans for 2020.
I'll mention what I need to do once it's safe to resume life as normal......
*Go to VA to work on legal stuff with brother(and visit eldest son too)
*Go somewhere on vacation(it's looking like Fall now)
*Get painting in house done(have to wait to hire someone)

So that's where we are at going into April.
How was your March?
Did you get anything accomplished?

Sluggy