The Sluggy Midwest Road Trip 2.0

Well she is at it again.
I'm going on another road trip in a few days.

Heading out to the Midwest again.
This time I am going solo.

On the itinerary are stops in western PA, northern IL, northern WI, northern and central IA and central IL.

Going to see 5-6 blogging and/or folks I otherwise met online in the last 5-17 years.
2 fellow Bloggers.
2 fellow beanie collectors(tho I don't do that anymore)
2 fellow teddy bear collectors(tho I don't do that either anymore)

And as long as I don't drive through the middle of Chicago like we did last year it should all go well.

I've got quite the To-Do List before I leave in 2 DAYS. Did I just type 2 days?? eek!

1-Pack clothes
2-Pack toiletries and sunblock
3-Pack gifties
4-Pack drinks, water, cooler
5-Go buy a new camera
6-Go to bank for $$
7-Write up all my MapQuest directions
8-Gather emergency supplies
9-Get meds in order
10-Finish my sewing project
11-Print up all contact information
12-Finish list of what to do/see on trip
13-Call cc company to ltk what states I will be using my card in
14-Gas up car
15-Fit everything into my car  LOLZ....really, my car is tiny!

I am still working on a list of "Things To Do In the Midwest" besides drive a long way on flat and boring roads. ;-)

Plus still working on nailing down the last 2 legs of the trip, hopefully BEFORE I leave here in 2 days.

This trip is over 2600 miles.
That is without getting lost or going on any excursions off my mapped out route and you know at least one of these will happen, if not both.  8-)

Ok, I gotta get going and work on all this.
No rest for the wicked as they say.......

While I am occupied, send me your ideas for things I just can't miss seeing/doing in IL, WI, MN, IA that I just have to put on this trip itinerary if I can fit them in.

Sluggy







 

This Week on the Dining Table

The  "July 4th weekend is made for drinking and fire" Edition.......

 

 

 Hubs and I sat and have a fire Friday night while  #2 Son and his friends sat on our front porch to watch the town's fireworks.  We are up high so you can see them over the treetops from our house.

 

Here is my list of planned meals last week----

1.  Fish, Coleslaw, Rutabaga
2.  Pork Chops, Squash Casserole
3.  BLT Sandwiches or Cheesesteaks-Diner's Choice
4.  Tacos
5.  Lasagna, Salad
6.  Leftovers
7.  Leftovers

And here is what we ate last week that was on this list.......

1.  Fish, leftover Coleslaw, Rutabaga
2. Tacos (with ground chicken and beef)
3.  Chicken from the grocery store, Brussels sprouts
4.  Leftovers
5.  Hamburgers(use leftover package of ground beef), COC
6.  Squash Casserole
7.  Lasagna, Salad

Leftovers only 1 night instead of 2 and no chops w/the squash casserole and no BLT or Cheesesteak sammies.
I bought  store-made Chicken I didn't need because it was too hot that day to run the kitchen machinery.

I spent $120.85 on $191.32 worth of groceries last week at 3 stores.
$14 of that was buying drinks for my trip(tea and G2 Gatorade).
Hubs picked up corn and cheese on the 4th and didn't give me the receipt yet, so I'll add that trip into my total sometime later this month.


Going into this week, in leftovers we have.........Fajitas filling(for 1 or 2 tortillas), store bought Chicken(3 pieces), squash casserole and a shit ton of Lasagna.

Here is the plan for this week......

1.  Leftovers
2.  Chicken thighs with Zucchini in tomatoes, Rice
3.  Leftovers
4.  ?
5.  ?
6.  ?
7.  ?

I have zuke, I bought last week, to use up before I leave town so I'll defrost thighs and make my Lena's Chicken recipe.  That should give Hubs more leftovers to munch on after I skip town too.

I have no clue what the family will be eating after Wednesday.  Hubs doesn't want me to lay in supplies for him to cook, which can only mean he's planning on getting a lot of take-out and frozen pizzas, plus eating any leftovers we still have.  lolz
I'll put a portion of the leftover lasagna in the freezer before I go, since they won't want to eat the whole massive pan that's left before it goes South.
 

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 that week?

Any great deals on food at your stores this week?

 

Sluggy

Well So Much for That!

Never mind about my camera healing itself.
It started acting up again.

There is no factory reset button.
I've tried taking the battery out and putting it back in.
I've tried taking the memory card out and putting it back in.
I've tightened a couple of screws holding the camera together.

I took this shot......

 

Then I turned it off and on again, and it behaved for this shot......

And then it was back to this.....

Nice shade of green , right?

Either it's possessed, bi polar and just giving up the ghost slowly.

Sigh....I guess I'll be going out to buy a camera in the next couple of days.

So if you know camera stuff, let me know what you'd recommend in the $100-$200 range for a point and shoot camera with at least 10X optical zoom.
Bonus points if the camera is purple......8-)))

Sluggy
 

Fabric Porn

Thanks for the concern and advise about my camera.
It seems to have recovered from whatever was ailing it last night.
Yay!

Some good news for a change.

If the camera starts that crap again while I am on my trip I might throw it into the Mississippi and buy a new one.

Anybody out there have a cheapy digital camera that they think it a good deal?
Please share your thooughts.

In other news, today I am having a sewing day.
I dug out some items I had cut out in years past and am going to try to get something finished in the next day or two.
I guess finally finishing the living room curtains.....yes, I hemmed them yesterday......has me inspired to get some more sewing completed.

I'll be back in a couple of days with something made out of this fabric.
It's got two of my moistest favorite colors in it and it's a fun print.....

Here's a shot with the flash on......

Every foot or so there is one fish, swimming upside down.  Every other fish's bubbles go up and this one's bubbles go down.

This is how I feel most days.
Swimming against the current and upside down like this little fellow.....ever the misfit.

The fabric is called "Fish Tales".  They also made another one in this series with sea shells on it.

I guess it's discontinued now and the only place I can find it is on Etsy and they want $7 a yard.
Ouch!

Have you got a crafty or sewing project going at your house?


Sluggy

Argh!

I went to use my camera this evening to shoot some fireworks and there are lines across my viewer screen.
It's so bad I can't even see the thing I am trying to film for the lines.
Tried Googling the problem and all that comes back are problems with the camera feature on a Samsung Phone.
bleh.

Of course this is the camera that just went off of warranty in May.
double bleh.

I guess I'll be buying a new camera soon.
triple bleh.

Anybody have any ideas on what is wrong and if it can be fixed by a techno-phobe?

It's a cheapy Samsung WB30F with 10x zoom.

Sluggy