Frugal Friday....the Jan. 24th Edition

If you don't like my blog and what I write about then don't come here, leaving your nastiness in my comments which no longer will be published.  I speak truths that some people don't want to hear or can't accept so don't come here spewing your hate and telling me that my children are correct to stab me in the back and keep my granddaughter from me because of my political views and/or because I am a bad person.  My bad mood isn't due to medications but due to awful adult children who have stolen from me. I am tired of you haters so just go away and torture someone else.

S.

Here are our frugal wins for this past week....

*  I love finding marked down foods at Kroger(this really doesn't happen at Walmart). I found some salads this past week and a tub of tuna salad. I did a little Ibotta shopping for the food bank too. 8-)

I find it inconvenient that you have to submit your whole receipt from Kroger to Ibotta and not just the barcode like you can at Walmart.  I spent way too much of my time this week trying to get my receipt corrected from Kroger.  Turns out Ibotta rejected my 1/17/25 receipt 3 TIMES before correcting their error and shorted me on numerous rebates plus the Weekend $5 Bonus. Argh.

I'm rethinking just doing Ibotta at Walmart and not doing Ibotta deals at Kroger.  Nobody needs this sort of stress.

*  We also had no food waste last week.   We ate lots of leftovers this past week.

*  I cashed out a total of $83.70 from Ibotta.

*  We turn down the thermostat 2 degrees as night.  Being under blankets we don't need it as warm when we are in bed. ;-)

*  Entertainment last week was free tv, doing genealogy or reading.

*  I found money! 

I thought I was going to get skunked this week but I found a penny on my birthday in Walmart.

Found Money This Week.... .01¢

Grand Total Found this Year....... .22¢

That's all I got.

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

Sluggy   

Blood on Your Hands

Face the facts folks.....Joe Biden was a third rate Senator from Delaware who spent decades lying and plagiarizing other politicians work.  He would have disappeared long ago but for Obama having plucked him out of obscurity to make him the first D.E.I. hire(if a white man can be classified as a D.E.I.)as his VP.  He showed his true colors by going back on his word by preemptively pardoning the entire Biden Crime Syndicate along with that criminal Anthony Faucci, Liz Cheney and Mark Milley among others.  It's been said if you accept a preemptive pardon you are accepting guilt as well so if they don't think they did anything wrong, don't take the pardon.

Just another stain on one of the worst, if not THE worst POTUS in American's history.  There will be a special place in hell for this man.

I am also mad as hell at every legacy media person, bureaucrat or elected official that saw Biden's non compos mentis state and never said anything or moved to invoke the 25th Amendment during his 4 year Reign of Terror and have him removed from office.  You are all complicit in the cover up and I hope you can live with yourselves and answer for your actions(or inactions)when you meet your maker.

Sluggy

Happy Birthday to ME!!!

 

Well I made it another revolution around the sun.  And I have now outlived both my oldest brother and my mother(she died 4 days before her 66th birthday)so unless a bus mows me down today I'll be around for awhile longer to annoy idiots and morons. ;-)

That's all I have to say.

Go forth and party!

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table Jan. 20th to 26th

The "Soup Smelling Candles?" Edition........

I saw these candles advertised the end of 2024.

Campbells Soup smells of Side Season?

I don't know if this is a gag or real but who wants a Cream of Mushroom or Cheddar Cheese Soup scented candle??

No thanks.

Onward to the meal planning!

Here is what was planned for the last week.....

1. Sunday--Cheeseburgers(bun optional), sautè yellow Squash

2. Monday--Stir-Fry Veggies w/Pork, Rice(optional)

3. Tuesday--Leftover Ravioli, Salad

4. Wednesday--TV dinners

5. Thursday--Salmon, Baked Sweet Potato Fries

6. Friday--Pasta w/Meatballs, Salad

7. Saturday--Chicken & Dumplings(if I can find a marked down rotisserie chicken at Walmart)

And here's what actually happened....

1. Sunday--Cheeseburgers(bun optional), sautè yellow Squash

2. Monday--Stir-Fry Veggies w/Pork

3. Tuesday--Leftover Ravioli, Salad

4. Wednesday--Leftover Meatloaf & Green Beans

5. Thursday--Leftover Pork Loin, Spinach Soufflè

6. Friday--Salad, Pizza

7. Saturday--Leftover Pork Stir-Fry

We had so many leftovers that half the meals didn't get made last week.

Got a bogo deal on pizza at Kroger on Friday so that got added to the meal plan too.

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

* Ground Beef

* Pork Loin

* Spinach Soufflè

* Pizza

Last week we spent $132.37 on groceries(proving that eating healthier is more expensive)and the savings rate came in at 37.43%. Spending for the month is $291.37 and the savings rate so far is 34.31%.

Leftovers going into next week...1 slice of Meatloaf and 2 helpings of Green Beans.

Here is what was planned for this week.....

1. Sunday--Chicken and Dumplings

2. Monday--Beef Pie

3. Tuesday--Lemon Pepper Chicken w/Zuke

4. Wednesday--Soup and Cornbread

5. Thursday--Leftovers

6. Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--Salmon, Sweet Potato Fries

Just trying to eat down what is here when I'm not getting great deals.  Got some reduced chicken thighs(hard to find them with skin on here but my recipe above requires that)as well as a marked down 3 lbs. of Ground Beef.  I made 3 hamburger patties and browned the rest.  Ate one pattie for lunch and the other two will become lunch this coming week for Hubs, while the browned beef will go into the Beef Pie and the other half will go into the freezer for a later meal.

I found a marked down Rotisserie Chicken on Friday and that became Sunday's Chicken and Dumplings.

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? 

Sluggy 

Stuff Going On in LIfe Lately

 We have a well loved Christmas cactus that dances and sings, "Feliz Navidad".  Well it use to dance.  I pulled it out this season and it's got a hitch in it's giddy-up.  Meaning it no longer dances, it just twitches slightly.  So bizarre but then again, everything around here is bizarre.

While we were away we had the PO hold our mail.  That worked fine until it didn't.

We came home to see a very soggy box sitting on our front steps. ???  The carrier couldn't be bothered to come 2 more steps up and put this package on the covered porch?  Or better yet, leave the box under our very ample car port where they ALWAYS leave boxes??  So 2 of the 3 items got ruined as this box, from our guestimate, sat out in the elements from Dec. 23rd until Dec. 30th and got heavily rained on for at least two of those days.  So now we are fighting with the USPS to reimburse us for this loss, especially since supposedly we had a HOLD on our MAIL during this time!  We were informed at the main branch that two different carriers handle the route we are on and there is no telling which one it will be.  I guess one of them didn't get the HOLD MAIL MEMO?  The Cajun Pony Express strikes again!

We went to World Market to check out their Christmas clearance.  I splurged on this tiny wool flamingo wrapped in Christmas lights with a gold star on it's head.  It was 75% off.

It's kind of homely but I like it.  We have taken down all the Christmas decorations so this is a fun thing to have on my desk seeing as my birthday is Tuesday.

I received a birthday card this past week from cousin Sonya.  It will probably be the only card I get besides from Hubby.  Thank you for being my friend. 8-)

 My son is obsessed with sloths.  I found this calendar in World Market too but he already has a sloth calendar for 2025 so left it behind.

Anybody here old enough to remember who Larry Flint was?  They still have a Larry Flint Hustler Club downtown here. Well at least they still have a prominent sign for it still up.

I have two different credit cards hacked in December.  The only common denominator is I had one attached to an auction site I used and after that one got hacked and I got send a new card, I attached the other c/c to my account there and the same think happened. ugh.  One card had two online charges I didn't make but the other card was to a physical/brick and mortar business in Owings Mills MD(some place I have never been)and evidently I bought 3 sessions of puppy socialization classes and paid for a cat cafe experience there!  Um, NO!! lol

I contacted the people running that selling platform and they don't seem to give a flip so I'll not be buying anything there anymore.  That makes me sad as now I can't support a business that sells there.  I guess the number of complaints like this has to reach a critical mass before this selling platform takes any action.

I got another $5 "come buy something" credit at Kohl's.  The Kohl's here is crap(doesn't have anything good and is a very small store)so I guess I'll go in and "buy" another Godiva dark chocolate bar.

My hair. oh, my hair.  It is finally growing back in and I look less like a cancer patient.  I did look for a time like a character from "Orange is the New Black".  Remember the mental patient named Lolly, who stomped a guard to death and buried him in the greenhouse?

Before I dyed my hair before our trip my hair looked something like hers.

Now it's grown bit more and I have the "French Collaborator" look going on.

French women who collaborated with the Nazis during WWII were publicly shorn of their hair to make an example of them and to identify them.  Many had people holding them down and just had others hacking off their hair in chunks with scissors, which is not a good look.

Either that or I have the "Alfalfa" of Little Rascals fame "gone wrong" going on.  I have clumps of hair and cowlicks popping up all over my head.

Picture Alfalfa with 10 cowlicks.  Neither is a good look, especially on a woman.  I am hopeful that my hair gets to a "normal length" at some point.  The dermatologist told me to get some Rogaine and put it on my scalp but the hair is too long now and there is no earthly way to part it to get to my scalp.  I may have to resort to those vitamins with minoxidil in them.

Here's the last photo I took of me with "real hair" before they shaved my head for surgery in July....

My hair wasn't in great shape at that point after my 2 older children decided to stab us in the back and it was falling out in clumps from the stress they caused me.  At least it is growing back in evenly if not quick enough.

My neurologist is still playing with my tremor medications-trying to find the right balance.
The first two tries haven't worked and now she had me change my blood pressure meds to something different that has the added possibility of helping with tremors too.  I now have to take my bp 2 x a day as this new Rx is stronger and it could cause my bp to go too low and there is the real possibility of me passing out. Oh goody!  Needless to say I haven't been driving until we know how my body will react to this new med.

I did get an offer to take out a student loan from a local bank.  I think they are 44 years too late though. 8-)

We saw an Ugly  Christmas Sweater with a sloth on it but alas it was about a 10 year old Girl's size so wouldn't work for my almost 29 year old son. Did I mention that he is crazy for sloths? lol

I saw these in Kroger.  It's a brand of wontons with "Squid Game" images on the bags.  Why would that creepy show entice someone to buy their product?  Marketing......It's beyond me.

And of course the obligatory discarded dental picks we saw on our trip....

That one was in South Carolina and I'll spare you from all the others we encountered in GA, AL. MS, NC and VA(and of course LA).  I now have so many photos of these nasty things I could fill a book with them.  For the love of god, please stop throwing these things on the ground and find a trash can people!  It's really not that difficult a task.

Last Friday on our outing to Kroger, we stopped at Aldi while in that city.  While I waited in the car while Hubby ran in to pick something up, I noticed snow falling sporadically.  It didn't amount to anything and by the time we drove out of their parking lot, it had changed over to rain.  And this new front moving in has shifted well South of us so no more snow here, just bitter cold.  Well bitter for people who have never lived in the North. ;-)

Sluggy