Garden Update....Meh

 If anyone is interested here is how my garden is doing.

These photos were taken on June 12th....

Green Beans plants on the left, baby  Bok Choy on the right.

The barrel of lettuce going gangbusters.

12 Tomato plants about halfway up their cages.

And 4 Collard plants hanging on.

And the same plants on June 21st.....

The Green Bean plants now have buds and blossoms.  The Bok Choy bigger and needs thinning out.

The seeds planted on the other side of this bed never germinated but there are a few volunteer Morning Glories up over there.

The tomato plants are now about at the top of their cages and there are many blossoms hidden among all the greenery.

The Collards are much bigger and starting to flourish.  One Green Bean seed sprouted in this bed but none of the Yellow Squash germinated.  There are also 3 volunteer tomato plants coming up now in there.

I didn't photograph the lettuce barrel this time.  It's doing well and I harvested my first crop of lettuces this past weekend for dinner one night.

In the front bed a nefarious chipmunk is digging plants up.  So far he/she has taken out a Celosia plant, a Pansy plant and 1 of the Sunflower plants we grew from seed.  The only things it's leaving alone are the Coleus plants.  I read that chipmunks will eat Coleus.  Weird.  I guess this one doesn't have a taste for them. ;-)

I scaled back our gardening efforts this year due to no enthusiasm for it lately and focusing on getting the house ready to sell instead.  If the house sells before the harvests come in we've done all this work for nothing so that's sort of squelched my desire for gardening.

Are you growing anything?  How is your garden doing?

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

 The "Disappointed" Edition....

We were suppose to have company this past weekend but shit happened and Sissie couldn't come visit. 8-(((  And as a result I had little motivation to cook or do anything.  It could also be the fact that our a/c was out of order all week too and the heat index was high. bleh.

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned.....

1. Sunday--Chicken Marsala leftovers, Green Beans

2. Monday--Subway Subs

3. Tuesday--Salmon, Carrots, Green Beans

4. Wednesday--Grilled Steak, Salad

5. Thursday--Lobster, Corn on Cob

6.  Friday--? Maybe eating out?

7. Saturday--?

And here's what actually happened........

1. Sunday--Chicken Marsala leftovers, Green Beans

2. Monday--Subway Subs

3. Tuesday--Salmon, Carrots, Green Beans

4. Wednesday--Fend for Yourself

5. Thursday--Chinese Take-out

6.  Friday--leftover Take-out

7. Saturday--Lobster, Corn on Cob

Weis had a 3 day weekend special featuring $7.99 lb. lobster so we got lobster on the weekend instead of Thursday.  I saved the steak for Father's Day since Sissie couldn't come last week so that's on this week's menu.

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

*  4 bags of Chicken Strips

What got taken out of the freezer and used...

*   2 x Salmon tv dinners

*  2 Pie Crusts(I made Hubs a Mincemeat pie-his fav-on Sat. for Father's Day)   

                                                   

I spent $50.73 on food/toiletries/HBA this last week at Weis and Ollie's.  Over half of that total was for 2 lobsters. ;-)

This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $112.73 for June.  

There are 10 shopping days left in June.

I've earned $18.60 on Ibotta in June.

I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in June.

I've earned $5.00 on Coupons dotcom in June.

I've earned 11,453 points from shopping on Fetch in June.

I earned 5,702 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in June. 

I've earned $5.38 from food shopping on Swag Bucks in June.

That's $23.60 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $112.73 in grocery spending so in reality it's $89.13 spent after the 3 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 42.76% (without "regular" Rite-Aid trips)and the monthly savings total for June comes in at 45.78% so far(w/out R-A).  

Leftovers going into this week....2 Corn on Cob.  Funny how when you don't cook there aren't any  leftovers. 8-)

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

1. Sunday--Teriyaki Steak, Salad, Baked Potato

2. Monday--Chili Dogs, leftover COC

3. Tuesday--Fend For Yourself

4. Wednesday--(leftover)Steak Sandwiches, Veggie TBD

5. Thursday--Beef Pie

6.  Friday--Breakfast for Dinner

7. Saturday--Leftovers or ?

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Nothing that I can think of.  I went rooting around in the house fridge/freezer and came out with this.

I do want to pick up bread, some lunchmeat and a watermelon this week as well.

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 deals on food at your stores this week?  

Sluggy

June's Giveaway is OPEN!

 Who's ready for the Another Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2022?!?

June is well underway.  This month's box is a hodge-podge of randomness to win.

Let's take a look at what is in the Giveaway Box this month........

1 x Lady Speed Stick deodorant

1 x Garnier Fructis Color Shield shampoo

1 x Arm and Hammer Advance White toothpaste

1 x Oral-B toothbrush

1 x Neutrogena Make-up Remover wipes

1 x Vaseline lip balm

1 x Candy Cane Almonds

8 x Sally Hansen nail polish(New Atti-Hue, Like a Girl 2 x Here to Stay, Just Getting Started, She-Ro, Rule the World, Take the Reigns)

1 x Revlon Matte Lipcolor(Dark Pink)

1 x Vital Performance Protein Bar(Salty Chocolate Peanut)

2 x Health Warrior Pumpkin Seed Bar(Dark Chocolate Peanut)

1 x Nature Valley Sweet and Salty Almond Bar

1 x Clorox on the go Wipes

1 x Campho-Phenique cold sore treatment

1 x Rimmel Mascara

2 x Almay cream shadow(blue, brown)

Close up shots of the goodies.........

Depending on where you shop, the winnings have a reg. retail value of approximately $50

Here's how this is going to work.....

* The giveaway is open to ALL readers, previous winners or not.

* There is a limit of ONE ENTRY PER PERSON PER DAY.  Come back each day to enter again.

* Only VALID entries will be posted.  A Valid entry is a limit of one per day and I MUST HAVE VALID CONTACT INFORMATION FOR YOU(either you are on the Giveaway Contact List which I maintain, your comment is connected to a Google/Blogger profile which links to your email address or you email me directly(my email is in the side bar on the Blog)your email address.

IF YOU ENTER THE GIVEAWAY AND DON'T SEE YOUR COMMENT within a few days it's because I don't have your contact/email info.

From all the VALID entries I receive I'll pick a winner at random and the winner has 48 hours from when the post goes live to contact me with their full mailing address.

In your entries I'd like to hear anything you want to say. 8-)

If you are on my Giveaway emails list just leave a comment and your name(with last name initial please)to enter. If you aren't on the Giveaway emails list make sure you leave your email in your comment OR email me your email privately after you leave a comment(my email is in the side bar area under "About Me").
I'll leave this giveaway open until June 27, Monday at 11:59 pm Eastern  Daylight Savings Time(EDST).  I'll  pick and post the winner on June 28th, Tuesday.

*Please note these rules*
I'll post the name/ID of the winners on this blog on  and those persons have 48 hours from the time stamp on that post to contact me privately via email(my email addy is listed on my "About Me" page, as well as on my side bar).

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.  As the cost of postage to foreign countries has gotten too high I am sorry to say I can no longer afford to mail boxes outside the US.  These giveaways are not sponsored by any companies.  I pay for it all(the cost of items given away and the postage to mail it all)out of my own pocket.

***PLEASE NOTE***

Please make sure there is a way for me to contact you in your comment.

If you're not a registered Blogger User with YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION on your User page, please put your email addy in your comment or email me your email addy privately when you leave a comment so I can get a hold of you. If your Blogger associated user profile is a GOOGLE one make sure your email info is linked to your profile.

So let's get this Giveaway started. Good luck to everyone!!!

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....the June 17th Edition

So here are a few frugal things that happened here at Chez Sluggy this past week.......

*  Not really frugal but a win nonetheless.....

I culled more items from the house to send off to charity.  

More stuff out of our lives that we can't/don't use. 

Here's the tote I cleared out from the kitchen pantry.  I only kept 1 item that was in there-my immersion blender.  This is the 4th tote I've emptied this year. ;-)

*  I had a free $5 in Kohl's script that was expiring so I went last Sunday and found 2 small stocking stuffers for Daughter(not showing them in case she is reading).  After my 30% discount and $5 script I paid $1.06 on my Kohl's card.

*  The only eating out this past week was on Tuesday.  I picked up Subway since the kitchen was not fully operational while Hubs is painting.  Used a gift card to pay.

*   Again, another not strictly frugal item--I went through all my paper recipes.  They were either cut out from publications or printed from online or handwritten.

Here's the stack of recipes I threw out.  It's stuff I'll either never make or recipes I did make and we didn't care for so why have all this clutter laying around for no reason?

*  I did some Ibotta deals at Rite-Aid which I already recounted....

More stuff for free.  Some to keep, some to sell and some to give away.

*  On my Monday post I said I was doing Lobster this week.  I found out Weis(PMITA)Markets was going to have Lobster on sale for $2 less per lb. than the place I usually get them.  Even though it's a splurge I'll say when I can by paying less for the product than I was planning on.

*   I found money this past week!  

When I was out on Tuesday I found a penny by the Rite-Aid waste basket.  Whoopee..... ;-)

Total Found in last Week.... .01¢
Total Found This Year.....$13.04

That's about all I've got for this past week.  

Any frugal wins in your neck of the woods?  Let's hear all about them!

And have a good weekend!  

Sluggy  

Working on Genealogy for Someone Else & Finding Surprises!

It's interesting what I find myself involved in sometimes when working on genealogy.  You just never know whom you will interact with and why.

I am a member of the Find A Grave community.  This is a website that catalogs cemeteries and records whom is buried where.

There are many older cemeteries up in my neck of the woods and I've documented quite a few people in a cemetery in Saint Johns, PA.  Including this one........

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/112278362/harry-p-balliet

Harry P. Balliet, someone who died as an infant in 1892.(He's listed on the left hand bottom of this headstone(right side on the photo).

Back in January I received an email.  Here is how it began....

"Bom dia, Denise.

 

Tudo bem?

 

Prazer, me chamo Bruno da Silva Smith Filho e sou Brasileiro do Rio de Janeiro."

So I started reading(or trying to read)the email. WTF? It looked sort of like Spanish but not quite.  Then I saw "Rio de Janeiro" and realized it was written in Portuguese and was from Brazil!

I went to good old Google translate to decipher the message.

It seems this gentleman, Bruno da Silva Smith Filho, is Brazilian and he is looking for information on the Smith family.  Harry Balliet, the infant, had an older sister, Florence Balliet, who married Arthur Ray Smith, a veterinarian who worked in this area of PA.  Florence and Arthur had a son, Arthur Balliet Smith, who died in 1970.

Florence and Arthur are Bruno's 2 x GGrands and Arthur B. is his Great Grandfather.  After WWII Arthur B. had immigrated to Brazil so that's how Bruno's Smith line came to be in Brazil.  Florence and Arthur R. also had a daughter, Bette Lorraine Smith.  

Bette married in 1944, in Palm Beach FL to Kenneth Shergold, an Australian resident and 11 days later they flew to Australia to settle and raise their family.  I found an obit for Kenneth that listed additional relatives of his in Australia, including a daughter(who had also passed away), 6 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren(who most probably are all still living).

Bruno wanted to find any lost branches of his family who he assumed were in the USA.  He didn't know there was only one branch beside his own left and it was in Australia!  I supplied him with whatever little information I could from here about his Australian relations but tracking down his living relatives there would be on him as I had little access to information on living folks in Australia other than information I could find in an obituary.

He also wanted to find his great grandfather's birth certificate from the US.  I had to let him know the image for it was not online, just the data from it but he'd have to contact the state where Arthur B. was born, Nebraska, for assistance and I gave him the website link.

Not knowing if Nebraska officials would mail the records to Brazil for Bruno or not, I offered to have them mail it to me, within the US and I'd forward it to him via USPS Priority mail.

We had a couple of back and forth emails but he stopped replying to me a few months ago.  I guess I'll email him once more to see if I can lend any more assistance with obtaining the birth certificate.

I just think it's amazing how I got up one morning and found an email out of the blue, from Brazil, written in Portuguese from a complete stranger related to a long dead infant who I catalogued the gravesite for on a website of cemeteries.  Every family has twists and turns in their ancestry, some more than others.

Who'd a thunk it! ;-)

Sluggy