The Morning After

The election day sticker I would have chosen if given this choice. ;-)


First off let me say that I am so proud of the people in my adopted state.
The projection was that 80% or more of registered voters in PA would cast a ballot in this year's election.....that would be over 6 million voters.
Most years you can count on about 53% of voters to actually go to the polls.  We broke records for participation here in PA.

80%....that's got to be a record turn out for here.
It says that when push comes to shove that Americans are still part of the process.
I have NEVER waited 1.5 hours in line to vote before!!!
While it was a damned nuisance I was so glad to see the level of interest among my fellow citizens.
No disgraceful outbursts at my polling place.
We kept it classy here in my county.

My daughter got into line to vote right before 8 pm after she got out of school last night.  In PA if you are in line before the polls close then you are still allowed to vote no matter how long it takes you to mark that ballot.
She got home after 10 pm.....over a 2 hour wait!
I suspect that in our county the percentage of votes cast was closer to 90% of all registered voters.

And who would have thunk my state would become a battleground state and be so close in the vote split?!?
But then again, I am not surprised.

PA is often called liberal on the ends(Pittsburgh and Philly)with Kentucky in the middle.  PA is a red state with islands of blue in urban areas.
This is much like what American looks like politically.....island of blue on both coasts and inside the Beltway and a sea of red in the middle.  I guess my state is more of a microcosm of the country than folks like to recognize.

What I also loved about last night was the media elite with their mouths hanging open as the results rolled over them.
Talk about clueless!
These people claim to have a hand on the pulse of America.
Umm....no.

Now the sore losers online start their mudslinging and name calling on anybody who didn't agree with their choice of candidate.

It's disheartening to see supposed friends of mine call me names like fuckhead, moron and asshole.
Yes because I didn't vote for HRC my "friends" have said this about me personally on their feeds.

I guess in their disappointment and anger it's impossible to remain classy.....or even civil.
My despair is palpable.

But all I have to say to them is this.....
You brought it on yourselves by nominating one of the most openly corrupt, elitist, insider, "bought and paid by corporate American", warmongering candidates.  We were right to reject her.  You were wrong to embrace her. Own it.

Evidently America had a Howard Beale moment yesterday......


And let's move on.

Let the healing begin.
We are the change we want to see in the world.
God Bless America.

Sluggy

October To-Do List.....Update

Well let's see how the To-Do List went for October, shall we?


* Pay Bills  DONE  Well if nothing else gets accomplished in my month paying all the bills is the one I want to do! 8-)))

* Bike Something   DONE   While I didn't do much I did get 15 miles in.  I feel good about this even if it's not a lot.

* Read 2 Books   DONE   I read Daisy and the Miracle Man by Fannie Flagg(Fried Green Tomatoes author) and another book which title escapes me at the moment.  I also read some more of that massive Katherine Anne Porter tome.
"Daisy" is an early work of Flagg's that was re-released(previous title was "Coming Attractions"). It's not as good as FGTs but worth a read if you find it at your library.

* Sew a Shirt  FAIL  Still don't have an sewing mojo going.  Maybe I'll try something simpler in November.

* List Items on eBay  FAIL  Didn't get to this in October and I just don't feel like expending all that time and energy on selling stuff online.  Maybe I'll do the FB local yard sale site instead?

* Shred Papers  FAIL  Didn't get to this yet.  Maybe this week?

* Put Deck Furniture Away  DONE  All got put away into the shed/garage.

* Put Garden to Bed  DONE  But still need to pull up the morning glory vines and put the tomato cages away.

* Go to CB's Concert  DONE  And they sounded marvelous!

* Mail Giveaway Box  DONE  New Giveaway is up too.

* Start another Donation to SA  DONE  Just a couple items that are in the boxes waiting to go to Sallie's.

* Take Daughter to Procedure  CANCELLED  Insurance didn't approve this in time so it's been rescheduled

* Scrub Kitchen Cabinets  FAIL  Well I didn't get to this yet so it goes on November's list

* Go to 3 Dr. Appointments  DONE  Started out as 1 appointment and morphed into 3 as the month went on.  Add in a trip to Urgent Care and 2 x trips to the Emergency Room and it's been a hell of a medical month and NOT in a good way!

* Take CB back to School  A short teachers' strike meant College Boy came home for 4 days.  I got him deposited back at college in time for classes to start back up.  I don't want to have to do THAT again!! ugh.

October was a mixed bag of results for me.  I felt like I was coasting along more than not.  Let's hope I can get more items crossed off my list in November.

How did you do accomplishing items on your To-Do List in October?

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Ready or Not, Christmas is Coming!" Edition--

While in KMart last week picking up free after gift card washcloths and drinks I took a wander through their Christmas aisles to see what new crap was available for the Holidays.
I am all for secular folks celebrating Christmas in a non-religious way, but have we run off the rails with it?  Outside and under tree decorations included hedgehogs, foxes, t-rex dinosaurs! and this cute little flamingo dressed as an elf.  At least there was no pig decoration this year......

Moving on......

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Pork Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw

2. Monday--Crockpot Salisbury Steak with Mushroom/Onion Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Baked Chicken Thighs, Roasted Potatoes and Acorn Squash

5. Thursday--Clam Corn Chowder, TBA

6. Friday--Teriyaki Flank Steak with Stir-Fry Veggies(leftover taters for BF)

7. Saturday--Leftovers

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Pork Barbecue on Rolls, Cole Slaw

2. Monday--Leftover Kielbasa with Pierogies(new)

3. Tuesday--Crockpot Salisbury Steak with Mushroom/Onion Gravy, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans

4. Wednesday--Baked Chicken Thighs, Roasted Potatoes and Acorn Squash

5. Thursday--Leftovers(I had Pork Barbecue)

6. Friday--More Leftovers or Chicken Soup

7. Saturday--Primo Hoagies

6 meals cooked at home, 2-3 of them a night of leftovers, and 1 night of Take-Out.
Alll but 2 meals didn't happen-the Teriyaki steak and the clam chowder.  The daughter bought pierogies on Tuesday so we had those with leftover Kielbasi on Halloween.

Folks were fighting off colds later in the week here so it was leftovers or a big pot of chicken soup for dinners at the end of the week.
By Saturday we could all use a treat so we splurged and got Primo Hoagies(a chain out of Philly).  It was tasty but at $10 for a sub it won't be happening often here!

I roasted 2 of those volunteer acorn squash but no one liked it much.  I'll put the leftover(mashed up)into pancakes or something this week.

I also made Salisbury Steaks in the crockpot last week.  I have never made Salisbury Steak in all my 34 years of housekeeping/cooking.  It wasn't hard really as it's just a glorified hamburger. lolz

As for the grocery spending.....3 trips to Weis and 1 trip to the Shursave market brought my weekly spending to $148.81 and my November food spending Total so far to $148.81.
Hot damn!  I know it's high for so soon in the month but I am trying to get to $200 spent at Shursave before the 12th so I get that gift certificate offer.  I'll spend it anyway this month so spend it sooner rather than later and get the reward.  Plus some of this spent last week will come off my food bill as I picked up items for a Food Bank donation in these 4 trips.

So far, so good in my savings percentages in November at this point.  This week the savings rate average was over the top at 56.87%.

Leftovers going into this week.......pizza, barbecue, chicken thighs, salisbury steak, mashed potatoes.
Some of this will be eaten for lunches and some for dinner on Leftover Days.  Any leftover barbecue after this coming week will be put into the freezer for later.

Here is this week's "food plan".

1. Sunday--Meatloaf, Broccoli, Au Gratin Taters
2. Monday--Chicken Parmesan, Corn Casserole
3. Tuesday--Leftovers
4. Wednesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs, Salad
5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Teriyaki Flank Steak with Stir-Fry Veggies(leftover taters for BF), Rice
7. Saturday--Leftovers

This week will see 4 new meals cooked and 0 nights of Take-Out and 3 nights of Leftovers.

What I need to buy for this menu?  Not a thing.

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 great deals on food at your stores this week?


Sluggy

November Giveaway......With Chocolate!

It's so let's have another Giveaway!

This is the eighth Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2016.
This time it's a blend of toiletries from the stash and Chocolate!

Here is what you can win if your entry is picked.......

1 x Listerine Dental Floss
1 x Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lotion
1 x Dove Daily Moisture Shampoo
1 x Olay Exfoliating Lavender Body Wash
1 x Gillette men's Anti/Deodorant Gel
1 x Crest Toothpaste
1 x Rite-Aid Toothhbrush
1 x Rite-Aid cherry Cough Drops
1 x Bayer 325mg Aspirin
12 x Lindt Pumpkin Spice Truffles
1 x Cover Girl Mascara
2 x Jergens Glow Lotion
2 x Cover Girl Eye Shadow(gray and lavender)
2 x Wet n' Wild Nail Polish(white and clear)
1 x Julie G Nail Polish(light blue)
1 x Scunci Hair Elastics

Closeup shots of the goodies up for grabs......

I'll leave this giveaway open until Sunday, November 20th, at 11:59pm Eastern Time, so that gives everyone a full 2 weeks to enter this one.  On the 20th I'll put all the valid entries into Random dotorg to pick a number and that person's entry wins.

You may get ONE ENTRY EVERY DAY by leaving a comment on this blog post every day until the Giveaway ends.
Tell me in your comment, what here is the thing you most like to serve/eat at Thanksgiving, do you host dinner or show up elsewhere with a dish, does someone in your family get drunk and cause a scene, or tell me whatever you feel like telling me in your comment.  8-)

You can also get 3 BONUS ENTRIES by posting this Giveaway on your own Blog OR if you are a Follower of this blog.  Please leave 3 separate entries for these bonus entries with either a link to your blog post where you talk about the giveaway OR the name/ID you follow under so I can verify you follow the blog for your entries.

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.
I am not the government with unlimited funds to pay postage, sorry.

***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 ahold of you if you win. If your Blogger associated user profile is a GOOGLE one with those Google Circles nonsense I CAN NOT CONTACT YOU as Google Circles doesn't show your contact info.
I again had to disqualify some entrants in the last giveaway because their profile is linked through Google and not Blogger.  Please check your profile!  And if you ARE entering through a Blogger profile PLEASE have contact info(email addy)in that profile.  If I can't access your email addy I can't contact you so email me your email addy privately or add your email address to your User Profile.  If you have sent me your email addy privately for a previous giveaway I still have it on file so no need to resend it for this giveaway.

If I can't contact you then you can't win.  I have had to disqualify more readers than I care to due to this issue and I sure don't want it to happen again.  Thanks!

So let's get this started!

Sluggy

Frugal Friday on Saturday

Here's some of the stuff I did that was Frugal this past week--

* I got a free toothbrush and toothpaste at Rite-Aid by combining sales/coupons/Plenti Points.

* We've been eating Leftovers/Planned Overs the last 3 days(and will continue to eat them over the weekend too)instead of cooking new food and throwing the old stuff out.

* I went to Weis(PMITA)Markets for their "Fabulous Friday" 1 Day Sale Deals this week.  Daughter has been fighting a cold/the crud so I picked up a whole chicken on sale for .85¢ lb. and using various other food ingredients I have already I made a big pot of chicken soup.  I also dug through my OTC/HBA tubs and found her Mucinex, Vitamin C and Zinc cough drops to help her fight this thing off.

* I also found 2 cheap Holiday/Christmas food idea solutions at the "Fab Friday" Sale.
1--We like to have chips and onion dip during the Holidays but I like to cut the sour cream with Greek yogurt(cuts fat and saves calories)but Greek yogurt can be more expensive than sour cream often times here.  Weis has their brand single serve Greek yogurt cups 1/2 off on Friday(.50¢ ea.)and they carry a plain non-flavored one.  There is a $1/10 Greek Weis yogurt cups Q in the Weis Q Book so I bought 10 single cups(1/2 price for $5)and used that Q making the cost $4 for 5.3 oz. cups X 10.  A quart container of plain Greek yogurt runs at least $5.49 here so I saved a bit of coin during this.

2--The bigger win were the 2 whole Eye of Round Roasts I bought.  Hubs likes to have Beef for Christmas and we usually end up buying a Prime Rib Roast for $8 or so a lb.($50-$60 total)to prepare for dinner.  With 2 more to feed this year(7 total)I can't see spending even more for 1 hunk of meat.
The eye round roasts were $2.50 lb!

I got an 8+ lb. roast for $20.40 after discounts.......

This cut is not as fatty as what I usually serve(plus it has no bone)but I am sure I can marinate and roast this baby up to be a tasty Christmas dinner.
This means I'll get the free turkey for Thanksgiving instead of the ham for Xmas at Weis with my points.

I also picked up a second slightly smaller roast to put into the freezer for another time.

* While at Weis I also got this......

There was a mostly drank abandoned Powerade sitting on the curb where I parked my car.  So when it was still there when I left the store to get back into my car, I plucked the cap off and took it home.
Why you may ask?
Because it's worth 3 points in my Coke Rewards Account! lolz  I did put it into a tissue and washed it at home before handling it to reap the code.  ;-)
I have been compiling points all year in wait for the Holiday sale on free 12 packs of Coke products.

* While at Rite-Aid I also bought a bag of Halloween candy for 50%.  This is going into a loved one's Christmas present.  Why pay full price for Christmas decorated bags when you can get it for 50% because it's Halloween decorated?  The candy inside is still the same taste/quality.

* Hubs mentioned that we were running low on wash cloths lately.  So I went to Kmart and bought a pack of 8 cloths on sale for $2.99.......

But no, these didn't cost me anything because I used part of an old gift card I had gotten for transferring prescriptions a couple of years ago.  Need met and no money spent out of pocket.


Now I am off to continue with the cleaning tear I seem to be on today.  I've already cleaned 3 floors, cleaned out my painting tubs, washed 2 walls, cleared off my desk and moved some things out of the living room to a new storage place.
I'd better get back to it before I collapse......

What are y'all up to today?

Sluggy