Wednesday, April 19, 2023

To-Do List....Outcome for March


Let's see how I did with the To-Do List in March........

*  Pay Bills  DONE  Everything was paid off on time or early as usual.

*  Go to many Dr. Appointments  DONE  My last wound care appointment was March 22nd and those were weekly.  I also had biweekly home health care nursing every week until March 24th.

*  Do Taxes 3  2 Out Of  3 DONE  Since Hubs retired he's been handling doing the taxes but I do help with downloading and printing out forms, etc.  He got the Federal and the PA state finished and submitted.  We owed on both of those to the tune of approx. $400 total. Boo!  The LA state taxes aren't due until sometime in May so Hubs waited on those for now as we will owe them as well. 8-(((  Between moving expenses and taxes 2022 has been an expensive year!

*  Clean and Organize stuff in House  PASS  While I was still not able to walk around much most of the month I did as much as I could when I could.  While not able to finish much I did spend time thinking about what needs doing and writing a list to prioritize what needs doing.

*  Buy Stuff for House  PASS  While we aren't done purchasing stuff we have got some items acquired.  But as we get around to different rooms I know more purchases will pop up and decisions will have to be made.

*  Clean out Insert//Coupon Envie  DONE  As the months go on this is becoming more and more a non-chore.  I don't buy coupon inserts, we can't find a local paper that carries inserts that we don't have to drive a distance to get and I don't print many coupons any more.  I use mostly digital Qs now as that is the way the coupon world is headed.

*  Edit more Photos  PASS While this seems a never ending task I don't make as much progress as I want.  I suppose if I were to just STOP TAKING PHOTOS I'd catch up faster.  sigh

*  Post About Old Trips  PASS  While I haven't  posted much in the way of trips I have been working on editing photos, uploading video and working on posts but in March no posts got finished and to the point of posting them.  It's a process people.....

*  Work on Genealogy  DONE  Well this activity is always on going and will never be finished but I do work on it, at times it seems incessantly! lol  So many ancestors and so little time.

*  Go to Dentist x 1  DONE  So in March I had an appointment to have the first of two permanent crowns installed and they piggybacked another filling onto that visit and the work on the second crown.  More Novacaine, yippee!  At least this time due to the location of the tooth that needed drilling my nose didn't go numb and I didn't spew water or other beverage afterwards when I had a drink of something.  No more Hannibal Lecter impersonations. 8-))

*  Organize Clothes  FAIL  Didn't get around to working on closet organization in March.  The only progress was purchasing another box of hangers and moving a few items of clothing into the sewing room as they need altering.

*  Find a New Bank  FAIL  Well I only had a week in March at the end of that month to get out to do anything besides wound care visits so this didn't get accomplished.  We did phone or go online to research where to put the money and have decided on a local credit union so are ready to get this checked off the To-Do List in April.

*  Cash Savings Bond  FAIL  Again a big fat fail.  See item above as to why since our current bank will NOT cash or let us deposit US savings bonds, which I find so weird.

I'm giving myself a thumbs up for March due to circumstances out of my control(or rather stools out of my control). ;-)
I'm trying to get more things under control here but it's a long uphill road.

How was your March?  Did you make any progress on your "What I Want to Do" list?

Sluggy

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Tuesday, April 18, 2023

The Pinkerton Line in America & My Ancestry Intersect

 If you are a student of American History you will recognize the surname of Pinkerton.

Allan J Pinkerton, born in 1819 in Glasgow, Scotland, was a cooper by trade who left Scotland for America in 1842.  The timing of his departure from Scotland may or may not have had anything to do with his participation in the Chartist Movement in the United Kingdom at that time as he was a young man during it's heyday.

Pinkerton was a rather sloppy detective, playing spy among his ring of undercover information gatherers for the North during the War Between the States.  He went on after the war to form what would become known as the Pinkerton Agency and was working on a centralized criminal database at the time of his death that the FBI maintains to this day.  It is said that he died of gangrene having fallen on the pavement/sidewalk and thus nearly biting his tongue off, which became infected, leading to his  demise.  May be true or not(others feel a stroke did him in)but he died nonetheless.

As I've talked about before, I am related to Ellen Lewis "Nell" Herndon.


Post about her HERE.  Ellen was married to Chester Alan Arthur, the 21st POTUS but she died before he was the 20th VP under James Garfield and ascended to the Presidency when Garfield was assassinated.  However Ellen did give birth to three children before passing away-William Lewis Arthur, born 1860 who passed away from convulsions at age 2.5 years, Chester Alan Arthur II who lived 1864-1937(my chihuahua is named after Chester II's son Chester Alan Arthur III)and Ellen "Nelllie" Hansbrough Herndon Arthur who lived 1871-1915.  "Nelllie" Arthur is my 7th cousin 3 x removed........


To bring this back around not quite full circle, "Nellie" married a man in 1907 named Charles Downing Pinkerton(1871-1974).

"Nellie" Arthur Pinkerton died at age 44, leaving no heirs.  Charles remarried to Sarah Hunter Harrison in 1918 in Bel Air, Maryland.  First off  this second wife of Pinkerton is also my cousin as was his first wife, 
"Nellie" Arthur...

This second wife and Charles Pinkerton's were 2nd cousins(haven't found the exact pathway yet there)and his second wife Sarah Harrison was also a cousin to Benjamin Harrison the 23rd POTUS(again, I don't have the exact pathway mapped out for their cousinry).

Here's a much younger portrait of old Ben Harrison.  Currently my line to his is showing up as thus.........
As I have a metric ton of FFV(First Families of Virginia)Harrisons in my maternal lines I am sure there is a more direct pathway from Ben Harrison POTUS to me but this is what I have right now.

But I digress.......
Back to the Pinkertons.  I have done pretty thorough research and the conclusion is that the Pinkerton that married my Arthur and my Harrison cousins is NOT the same line of Pinkertons that Alan Pinkerton is from.
Charles Downing Pinkerton's surname line goes back to Ireland, not Scotland.

But in a twist of fate(irony perhaps?)there is a connection between Alan J Pinkerton and my ancestry.
One of Pinkerton's greatest failures which haunted him through his last years was his inability to track down and kill one of my other ancestral cousins, Jesse Woodson James, after Jesse shot and killed one of the Pinkerton agents.  Pinkerton had what seemed like a personal vendetta against Jesse James since when the company that was paying him to pursue Jesse stopped paying him for his services he continued to chase him at his own financial expense.  Talk about holding a grudge! lol


But Jesse James, my 5th cousin 4 x removed, is another story for another time.

Sluggy
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Monday, April 17, 2023

What's on the Dining Table

The "Creepy Ambulance Chaser" Edition.....



This is a large billboard for that local attorney in those awful tv commercials "Get Gordon, and Get It Done!" etc.
On Hubs and mine weekly lunch out we went to a local seafood/burger  shop that has multiple locations in this area of LA.  This one happens to be next to a roadside casino, a pawn shop, a bbq joint, a ball bearing factory, etc.....you know the city's best kind of area.  Anyway, as I was eating my fish lunch I glanced out the picture window we were sitting next to and noticed this billboard that stood at the far end of this parking lot.
"Looking Out For You" was more like "Staring at You With my Squinty Little Litigious Eyes While You Try to Eat Lunch".  It creeped me out!!!

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned.......
1. Sunday--Ham, Asparagus, rolls in freezer leftover from Xmas, Deviled Eggs, Mac and Cheese
2. Monday--might get Burgers at Trivia
3. Tuesday--Fish and Squash Casserole
4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad
5. Thursday--leftover Easter foods
6.  Friday--Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Chicken Strips
7. Saturday--who knows?   Whatever is leftover

And here's what actually happened........
1. Sunday--Ham, Asparagus, rolls in freezer leftover from Xmas, Deviled Eggs, Mac and Cheese
2. Monday--Burgers at Trivia
3. Tuesday--Fish and Squash Casserole
4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad
5. Thursday--Chicken Marsala, Garlic Mash, Asst. Veggies
6.  Friday--Catfish, Cole Slaw, Green Bean Dinner out
7. Saturday--Leftovers

What got put into the freezer last week....
*  4 boxd Parms
*  1 bag Chicken Teriyaki
*  1 half gallon Ice Cream

What got taken out of the freezer and used...
*  Ham
*  leftovers Rolls
*  Breaded Fish
*  Meatballs
*  a massive Chicken Breast
*  a box of mixed Veggies

Last week we spent $27.30 on 1 shop. 
This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $294.59 for April so far and not $401.70 as I had put down here when I was working on this.  You see, my April grocery spreadsheet is all cattywampus as I didn't line up my column correctly and I had some stores Value column askew in the OOP column.
So when I reported last week's monthly todate spend at 374.40 it was suppose to be $267.29.  BIG difference, right?  OOP last week was $205.13 and value of  $541.12.(All those loss leaders before Easter.)  I discovered my mess when I went to add in this past week's spending thankfully.
Now we are back on track.....at least in this regard. lol

There are 13 shopping days left in April.

I've earned $67.50 on Ibotta in April.
I've earned $0 on Checkout51 in April.
I've earned $13.00 on Coupons dotcom in April.
I've earned $17.50 on Kroger Cash Back in April.
I've earned 358 points from food shopping on Fetch.
I've earned 8,400 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in April.
I've earned 356 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in March.

That's $98.00 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $294.54 of grocery spending so in reality it's $196.54 in food spending after the 4 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 29.15% and the monthly savings total for April comes in at 53.41% so far.  (Last week's percentages should have been 62.09% for the week and 57.04% for the month to-date.

Leftovers going into this week... taco shells and Halushki, Mac and Cheese, Rolls, Squash Casserole, 1 Chicken Marsala piece plus lots of gravy and mushrooms.

Here is this week's "food plan".....
1. Sunday--Leftovers
2. Monday--Burgers at Trivia
3. Tuesday--Chicken Teriyaki w/Veggies Stir-fry
4. Wednesday--Fish, Baked Sweet Potato Fries, a Green Veggie TBD
5. Thursday--Leftovers or FFY
6.  Friday--Leftovers 
7. Saturday--Veal Parmesan, Brussels Sprouts

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Not a thing.  I got some deals at Kroger on Sunday so I really don't need to darken a store's door this coming week.

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?  It's Easter deals at more store this week so get those loss leaders you need.

And if you actually read all this, does anyone read this shit?  Does anyone care about stuff like this?


Sluggy 

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Saturday, April 15, 2023

Dogs Sure Do Make You Laugh!


Our doggie somehow found his way into the massive bathtub in our Master Bath earlier this week.
I heard a thud and then couldn't find him but Dixie Belle sniffed out his whereabouts.

Still scratching my head on how he managed to get into that particular pickle. lol

Sluggy
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Friday, April 14, 2023

Frugal Friday....the April 14th Edition

Welcome to Frugal Friday!   I thank everyone who gave me info and input on what to do in London earlier this week.  It was all very helpful. 8-)

There are a few Frugal wins this past week......

*  I've found a good physical therapist on YouTube who shows what exercises you can do and which ones to avoid for arthritic knees.  Free PT info which I am hoping will help me get through this trip/cruise without much pain.


*  We went to Trivia on Monday and met our daughter there and missed 1st place by one point. sigh  Not bad as 2nd place is a $50 gift card.  Plus we used our last 2nd place finish gift card to pay for our meal that night so free burgers! woop

*  Various stores have gift card deals right before Easter.  So I picked up at a discount Lowe's, Subway, Applebee's and Wendy's gift cards last Saturday.  Spending the $$ now but I can combine deals/coupons later when I use them.

*  Did some grocery shopping and cherry picked some deals.......

We went to Walmart last week and I got these Olay and Old Spice body washes.  Shop Kick was giving a large amount of points on these items, plus 2 of them had Ibotta rebates worth $2.50 total.  After SK and IB I spent $2.15 OOP on all 5 of these bottles.

I also got a bottle of Colace that cost .48¢ after Q and rebates, a 1 liter bottle of Dr. Pepper for free on SK, a better than free travel size bottle of Febreeze and an Air Wick warmer two pack on IB and a free jar of pepper puree on an app called Sampoll.........

I got the cayenne pepper variety. Here's a link to the offer, it's good at Walmart and Weis(Pound me in the Ass)Markets.  https://www.sampoll.co/offer?cid=632

*  We got no take-out nor did no eating out on our dime.  Daughter did take us out for lunch last Friday for her dad's birthday.  He wanted Mexican so that's where we went.  Not my fav but I found something on the menu that didn't contain cilantro(soap).

*  I found money!  

I found a penny by the pharmacy counter floor and another penny at the self-checkout.

 

I found a penny at the Family Dollar on the floor in front of the register counter.

And I hit the jackpot(lol)at the Dollar General-a penny next to the car when I got out of it in the parking lot, then a penny and a dime near the register counter on the floor. 

This was all on Saturday, my big day out.

Total Found in last Week.... .15¢
Total Found this Year.......$1.17

That's all for this past week.

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

Sluggy   


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