Don't Rely on Government in Times of Crisis

 Pray for our fellow citizens in Florida.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table.....Oct. 6th to Oct. 13th

Things that make us happy as adults......

I can concur with this list, especially the naps and the shopping cart one(although they call them buggies down here). 8-))

September's Meal Planning turned into a big fat Cluster "You Know What"  so we are starting fresh in October.

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned for last week...........

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

1. Sunday--Chicken Tenders, leftover Yellow Squash & Onions

2. Monday--TV dinner(mine was a piece of chicken & I didn't eat the noodles that came with it)

3. Tuesday--Meatloaf, Grilled Asparagus

4. Wednesday--Caesar Salad, Lasagna, Garlic Bread

5. Thursday--Shrimp, Brussels Sprouts

6. Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--Salmon, Sweet Potato Fries

And here's what actually happened....

1. Sunday--Chicken Tenders, leftover Yellow Squash & Onions

2. Monday--TV dinner(mine was a piece of chicken & I didn't eat the noodles that came with it)

3. Tuesday--Meatloaf, Grilled Asparagus

4. Wednesday--Caesar Salad, Lasagna, Garlic Bread

5. Thursday--Shrimp, Brussels Sprouts

6. Friday--I had a Salad(lunch at Panda 

Express)

7. Saturday--Leftovers(I had Meatloaf and Asparagus

We pretty much stuck to the plan for a change.

What got taken out of the freezer last week....

*  Chicken Strips

*  2 TV Dinners

*  1 lb. Ground Beef

*  1 lb. Ground Turkey

*   2 lb. Mozzarella Cheese

*   2 boxes of Shrimp

*  1 bag Brussels Sprouts

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

*  2 Strip Steaks

*  4 Thin Steaks

                    

Last week we spent $147.13 grocery shopping.  

Total shopping comes to $147.13 for October.   There are 24 shopping days left in October.  

Rebate monies earned this month so far.....

I've earned $56.59 on Ibotta in October.

I've earned $3.00 on Shopmium in October.

I've earned $0.00 on TaDa in October.

I've earned $8.00 on Checkout51 in October.

I've earned $9.29 on Aisle, etc. in October. (Haven't gotten my Nature Valley rebate yet from June.)

I've earned 150 points on Fetch from food shopping in October.

I've earned 1,202 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in October.($)

I've earned 0 Points on My Points in October.(

not sure what the conversion rate it here)

I've earned 0 from food shopping on Swag Bucks in October.($)

That is $76.77 in rebates(not counting Shop Kick/Fetch/MyPoints/Swag Bucks/The Insiders)on $147.13 of grocery spending so in reality it's $70.36 in food spending after the rebate apps I count. I now separate out the Food Bank donations and don't count those in the grocery spending(but I do count any rebates on those items).

My savings percentage for the last week was 41.00% and the monthly savings total for October comes in at 41.00% spent.

Leftovers going into this week....Meatloaf, Lasagna, Garlic Bread.

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

1. Sunday--Salmon, Roasted Brussels Sprouts

2. Monday--Steak, Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Grilled Pineapple

3. Tuesday--Beer Brats(rolls optional), Zero Sugar Baked Beans

4. Wednesday--Chicken Parm, Spinach Soufflé, (Hubs Spaghetti too)

5. Thursday--Subway 1/2 a sub, Salad

6. Friday--Leftover Lasagna, Garlic Bread, Veggie TBD(Salad?)

7. Saturday--Assorted Leftovers

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?

I hit Kroger twice this sale and Dollar General(mostly to glean stuff for the food bank).  

Sluggy

Oreo Coke & Hurricane Helene

 

My curiosity got the best of me when I saw this in Kroger.  Oreo and Coke have combined  forces and put out an Oreo flavored Coke product and Coke flavored Oreo cookies.

I have to say that I liked it better than regular Coke Zero Sugar!  If they ever make this flavor into 12 packs and it goes on sale, I'll buy it.

And to change gears here, it is horrible to here about the devastation from Hurricane Helene.  I remember when I was a child of 10 yrs. growing up in Virginial when Hurricane Camille hit the mountains of Virginia in August of 1969.
It was a similar situation to Helene.  Nobody who doesn't live in hurricane areas and some who do, don't ever think that a hurricane can go so far inland and do such damage and cause this magnitude of death and destruction.  But they do and they CAN.

This YouTube video is quite disturbing in regard to the poor disaster response of many agencies of the Federal Government and our POTUS and VPOTUS.  And the Federal agencies seem to want to control any private organizations and individuals who want to help.  I understand the need for coordination of help but things are not adding up. They also are downplaying the amount of destruction and lives lost.  Just like they did during Covid.

I am not generally a conspiracy theorist but lots of what the Feds are doing doesn't add up.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table...Sept. 28 to Oct. 5

 

I don't know if I shared this photo yet but here is one of many city buses here.  They are wrapped in Medicaid advertising, advising all the many folks here on Medicaid to keep your contact information up to date with the government so you don't lose your coverage.  I guess all the billboards here and the local newspaper and magazine ads and the TV ads plus even those paper placemats at mid-priced restaurants that companies pay to advertise on them aren't enough to remind the folks with limited means who can't afford private insurance(even Obamacare plans)to update their contact information with the government so they don't lose free coverage.  And let me tell you, this is an area with tons of poverty but if I had to rely on the government in this way, one of my first thoughts would be to keep my coverage up to date and I wouldn't need a freaking bus driving by me to remind me.

These are your tax dollars at work folks.....

September's Meal Planning turned into a big fat Cluster "You Know What"  so we are starting fresh in October.

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned for last week...........

1. Sunday--No Clue

2. Monday--No Clue

3. Tuesday--No Clue

4. Wednesday--No Clue

5. Thursday--No Clue

6. Friday--No Clue 

7. Saturday--No Clue  

And here's what actually happened....

1. Sunday--Don't Remember

2. Monday--"                       "

3. Tuesday--"                       "

4. Wednesday--"                   "

5. Thursday--"                       "

6. Friday--"                            "

7. Saturday--"                         "

I know we had yellow squash & onions at some point last week and got catfish dinners(I had green beans as a side)and we had Teriyaki green beans, Roasted Chicken.

What got taken out of the freezer last week....

* Don't Remember

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

*  2 boxes of Shrimp

*  1 Chuck Roast

                    

Last week we spent $221.37 grocery shopping.  

Total shopping comes to $522.64 for September.   There are 0 shopping days left in September.  

Rebate monies earned this month so far.....

I've earned $205.67 on Ibotta in September.

I've earned $3.00 on Shopmium in September.

I've earned $0.00 on Kroger Cash Back in September(I have just given up on every getting my KCB account fixed so I don't use it).

I've earned $12.02 on TaDa in September.

I've earned $14.14 on Checkout51 in September.

I've earned $19.98 on Aisle, etc. in September. (Haven't gotten my Nature Valley rebate yet from June.)

I've earned 8,046 points on Fetch from food shopping in September.

I've earned 3,112 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in September.($)

I've earned 170 Points on My Points in September.(

not sure what the conversion rate it here)

I've earned 1,275 from food shopping on Swag Bucks in September.($12.75)

That is $242.75 in rebates(not counting Shop Kick/Fetch/MyPoints/KCB/Swag Bucks/The Insiders)on $522.64 of grocery spending so in reality it's $279.89 in food spending after the rebate apps I count. I now separate out the Food Bank donations and don't count those in the grocery spending(but I do count any rebates on those items).

My savings percentage for the last week was 41.43% and the monthly savings total for September comes in at 41.46% spent.

Leftovers going into this week....Yellow Squash

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

1. Sunday--Chicken Tenders, leftover Yellow Squash & Onions

2. Monday--TV dinner(mine was a piece of chicken & I didn't eat the noodles that came with it)

3. Tuesday--Meatloaf, Grilled Asparagus

4. Wednesday--Caesar Salad, Lasagna, Garlic Bread

5. Thursday--Shrimp, Brussels Sprouts

6. Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--Salmon, Sweet Potato Fries

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 

Frugal Friday...the September 27th Edition on Monday

 There are very few Frugal wins over the past week.

*  I got this lovely iv in the hospital.....

Which left this even lovelier bruise....

Luckily the bruise is almost gone at this point so I don't look like a dumb illegal IV drug user who doesn't know to inject themselves between their fingers or toes to hide the fact that they use illicit drugs.

*  I did a bit of rebate shopping last week, some via Hubs and then some in person, and some of which that was for the food bank.  Sorry no picture as it's all on it's way to said church food bank in Hub's car.

*  I had five doc and dental appointments last week(one every day).  All the doctor appointments were no cost to me but the two dental ones(I lost a filling)cost dearly as we don't have dental insurance and we self-pay.  I can't believe I had to pay a dentist to just look in my mouth and say, "Yes, you lost a filling" and that cost $128!!
Then I went back two days later to have it actually filled and that was almost $400.  And get this....the practice has multiple locations and they made the initial appointment and when we showed up they had no record of the appointment so they sent us off to another location, with an opening, in another city for that appointment to get my mouth looked at.  Unreal.  How about reducing that $128 fee to defray our time and gas to run all over town?  Not a chance.

I had my PT assessment appointment for my right hip and thigh pain, that was the day after I got the nerve block from the pain management doc(which magically got moved up 2 weeks after they were adamant they had to wait 2 weeks since the Ortho had given me a steroid shot in my hip bursa....so were they lying or just "preferred" to wait 2 weeks?)  I guess not being able to elevate my legs in a bed for a month was causing more harm to me than their protocol of waiting 2 weeks?
Getting the nerve block injection in my back was problematic in itself as it required me to lie flat on my stomach on a metal table(there was much yelling and moaning on my part during this procedure and if you know me, I have a high tolerance for pain, so that was torture.).  

Let's not forget a trip to the Urgent Care and then they sent me to the ER a week ago Saturday as I had backed into the footrest on this wheelchair Hubs bought me while I was in the Rehab Hospital and caused a nickel sized wound on the back of my calf.  We noticed it was bleeding and cleaned it up but still went to Urgent Care just in case as I am on a biologic drug that impedes healing.  At the ER the doc(who we now knew from 2 of our previous ER trips before being admitted for the afore mentioned hip and thigh pain)saw it was now draining clear fluid(which is the body's way of flushing a wound/opening in the skin out)so he gave me a prophylactic antibiotic Rx and sent me home with instructions to keep it clean and open so it could heal.  The pain management doc on Thursday heard I has on an antibiotic and almost refused to do the nerve block because of that.  We laid ourselves prostrate and pleaded with him and he relented only if we promised to make an appointment with their wound care department, which we did on Friday.

When we walked in there, they took one look at the size of my lower legs(they were swollen because of not being able to elevate them and/or lay in a bed since Sunday when I got out of the Rehab Hospital and pronounced I had lymphedema and began to wrap both legs in bandages to such a degree it was impeding circulation and causing me pain to walk.  They hardly even took note of the small wound I was there for!  Of course trying to explain I hadn't been able to elevate my legs since Sunday and I have always had "meaty" calves fell on deaf ears as we aren't trained medical personnel and "they" know it all.

After one night of uninterrupted sleep on Thursday, and Friday, with those painful bandages on, I got very little sleep so by Saturday evening I had Hubs remove the outer wrapping so I could sleep Saturday night and we covered the inner bandages with the  compression socks I wear when flying.  Home health had been ordered for me too so we are awaiting their visit today.

*  This is the best thing that happened for me last week..........

The arrival of my hospital bed so I can bend my body into a "V" and sleep. Hallejuliah!!! 

On the other hand we had to cancel our Alaskan cruise due to all this medical crap and today we should be in the port of Juneau and going on my much anticipated Dog Sled and Husky puppies cuddling adventure.
The cruise line only refunded us 1/4 of what we paid for the cruise and is making us go through the travel insurance we paid for to recoup the rest of the $$$ we shelled out.  So I am in no mood this week.....

*  I found money!

I found a penny going into Walmart last Friday.  This may be the same photo I shared before.  Sorry about that.

I found this dime at the ER on Sat.

I found this quarter in Kroger on Thursday. 

Total Found last week..... .36¢

Grand Total Found this Year.......$8.44 & 5.30 Euros

That's all I got and all I can do right now.

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

Sluggy