Thursday, April 20, 2017

Random Stuff Around Chez Sluggy

Just some random stuff going on around here.


* The Daughter brought this injector thing and a bottle of marinade from Louisiana last Summer for ham.  It's a sweet praline sauce.  She wanted me to use it on my Easter ham.


I read the ingredients and the marinade was just HFCS basically with some pecan flavoring thrown in.
Ugh.
But I tried to play Dr. Frankenstein with the ham.
The instructions said to use 2 ounces of marinade per pound of ham....which would have been 3 ounces more than what was in the bottle.  I used about half the bottle and it was all running out anyway.

Like a ham isn't sweet enough? lolz

* When I brush the dog I always do it outside.  This dog is part Husky and not only does she shed All. Year. Long. but she "blows" her coat twice a year.
yay!
Anyway there is a LOT of fur coming off her right now.  I leave what I take off her and throw it into the back yard in hopes the birds now building nests will use the material.
I was looking out the master bathroom window into that white flowering tree when a bird lit on a branch there with a gigantic wad of the dog's fur in it's beak.  At least I am helping out some birdie parents-to-be while trying to keep the level of dog bunnies down in my house. (It's a losing battle.)

The potted Hyacinth Hubs bought me for Easter.  I just wish you had "Smell-o-vision".

* The ginormous medical bills(which amounted to half our high medical deductible)finally arrived and were paid.  I'm glad I had set that chunk of cash aside to cover all but $500+/- out of the regular paychecks.  Now we are fighting with the ambulance company and the insurer.  Insurer says they are paying $X but ambulance company wants $XX and we are stuck in the middle of them.  Insurer says we don't have to pay anything above what they paid already but the ambulance company is threatening legal action.  8-(

* A trip to Weis(PMITA)Markets on Wednesday cost me $34.28 OOP.  Saved 45%.  The only thing worth talking about was this Deal......



These were all part of the "Buy 6/Get $3 Off Instantly".  Regular retail of $14.14, sale prices were $12.92.  $3 off Instantly plus $3 in Qs meant I paid $6.92 for all or $1.15+ for each.
Not bad if it's stuff you'll use.
The mayo wasn't part of that deal but was on sale for $2.47 and I had a $1/1Q so $1.47 for the jar.  Decent price if I can't get to the Grocery Surplus Store and get it for dirt cheap there.

* The brother in-law and nephew came over for Easter dinner last Sunday.  I sent them home with quantities of canned Progresso soup and boxes of Cheerios.  They passed on the laundry detergent and facial tissues.  This was easier than lugging stuff up to the food bank.


* I found these Weis Coupon Books at the store last Friday and again today.  So far I have wrangled 8 of them.  8-)  Be sure and look for them at your Weis(PMITA)Markets.  You can stack these WeisQs with Manufacturer Qs(both internet printed and the ones found in Sunday inserts).  Wait for a good sale and get stuff for real cheap!

* I had to go get semi-annual blood work done this week.
Go me.  It's already back(1 day!)and everything is good to excellent.  Nothing flagged as higher than it should be so I am good to go for another 6 months.
Yay!

* If you like 8 O'Clock Coffee and shop at Weis, go print the $2.50/2 Qs on coupons dotcom quick(if they are still up).  That brand is BOGO this week and you can use a Q even on the one you get free at Weis.  $5.49 for two bags-$2.50/2Q=$2.99 for two bags or $1.50 per bag.  Can't get name brand coffee for much cheaper than that, can you?  ;-)

That's about all from here.
What's going on in your world?

Sluggy

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Idaho or Bust.....Planning a Road Trip!

I've got a mega-Road Trip in the works for this Summer.
Yay, Sluggy's loose in the USA again!!! ;-)

We are going to Idaho via road trip this year.


We are still in the planning stages for this but if you are up for spending time with Sluggy and Hubs sometime in late July or early August this year, shoot me an email with details on what town you are in and your availability.
We are up for a visit, a meal, a trip to Rite-Aid or the grocery store or an overnight stay(if you think you can stand us that long!).

We've got a lot of territory to cover and our routes(both there and back)are pretty flexible at this point so let me know if you want to spend time with this awesome couple.......



Ok, so the one on the left is a bit weird but I'll try to keep it together.  ;-)

Sluggy


Monday, April 17, 2017

This Week on the Dining Table

The "Great Weather Ahead" Edition--

Well yesterday, Easter Sunday, we hit 83*F here.
What???


The flowering tree has started blooming.  I still can't figure out what variety of tree it is.
We aren't suppose to leave the 60's this week.  It's about time! ;-)


Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

Here's what was planned last week--

1. Sunday--Cheeseburgers, Macaroni Salad
2. Monday--Chicken, Broccoli, Cheese, Rice Casserole(using up grilled chicken)
3. Tuesday--Leftovers
4. Wednesday--Leftovers
5. Thursday--Fish, Veggie Stir-Fry
6. Friday--?
7. Saturday--?

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Cheeseburgers, Macaroni Salad
2. Monday--Chicken, Broccoli, Cheese, Rice Casserole(using up grilled chicken)
3. Tuesday--Leftovers
4. Wednesday--Chinese Take-Out
5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Frozen Pizza(sort of-it tasted off so we threw it out), then leftovers
7. Saturday--Salmon, Stir-Fry Veggies

5 meals cooked at home, 3 of them a night of leftovers or Fend For Yourself, and 1 night of eating-out/take-out.

As for the grocery spending.....2 trips to Weis and 1 trip to Target brought the food spending last week to $0.00.  Well the total should have been $119.54 but I used free gift cards.  This brought my April food spending total to $172.27.  There are 13 days left in the month.

My savings percentages last week was 100%. 8-)))

Leftovers going into this week....... Fajita filling for 2 tortillas, Beef Pie(enough for 2 helpings), Macaroni Salad, Roast Chicken slices, Chicken/Broccoli Cheese Casserole.

Here is this week's "food plan"....
* Denotes "complicated" meals

1. Sunday--Ham, Beans, Rolls, Deviled Eggs
2. Monday--Tacos
3. Tuesday--Leftovers
4. Wednesday--Kielbasa on Rolls, Onions, Beans or leftover Mac Salad
5. Thursday--Leftovers
6. Friday--Chicken Cordon Blue, Mixed Veggies
7. Saturday--maybe Take-Out Subs?

This week will see 4 new meals cooked, 1 night of Take-Out/Eating-Out and 2 nights of Leftovers.

What I need to buy for this menu?  Maybe salad greens and fruit(but the fruit isn't on the menu).

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

Sunday, April 16, 2017

From Figs to Catholic School to the Titanic

Ok, if this post title has you scratching your head, just keep reading and it will all make sense eventually.

About 2 weeks ago or so Hubs, Daughter and I were sitting in the den watching TV and talking.  I don't know how the subject came up but I told Hubs and Daughter about this funny Fig Newton cookie Song I knew from the early 1970's and then I sang it for them.
They couldn't believe it was a TV commercial and accused me of making this up.

Then Daugther found this video HERE on Youtube and I was vindicated.

Can't remember if I was in 5th or 6th grade when this commercial came out. 
A school friend and I called each other Mama Fig and Baby Fig and we performed this dance/song at recess on the playground for our own enjoyment.

So of course my brain, being how it is, I got to thinking about the kids I knew back in grade school.
Besides 1 friend from that time in my life I haven't seen any of them since I left Virginia to go away to college, and most of them well before that event in my life.

So I dug out my 8th grade yearbook the following week and using my records access on Ancestry attempted to look up whatever became of some of the folks who I graduated from Christ the King School with.

Here's my photo from the yearbook........



You can't tell in the photo but I had a mouth full of braces which just added to the awkward 13 year old angst of hormones and changing bodies. lolz
The lovely crocheted vest I am sporting in the pic I made myself.

Here is a photo of my friend, the infamous "Mama Fig"......name withheld to protect the guilty...


Seems Mama Fig has been married three times and divorced twice(unless husband #2 died-He was 13 years old than her).
Anyway she is on husband #3 and I hope she is happy.  Evidently she is not on Facebook because a search there turned up nada.

A funny fact I turned up is that Mama Fig's older brother ended up marrying a mutual classmate/friend we both had in 8th grade.  They are still married as far as I can tell from the records I could find..

Anyway, seems many of my 8th grade classmates have been married and divorced over the past 44 years.  A couple have died, one in her 20's due to drugs.  She was married, divorced, remarried and dead all by the time she was 25.  Many of the girls I can't trace as they had common maiden surnames and what with marrying and moving it's difficult to trace those.


Then I got to thinking about the actor who played the Big Fig Newton on this series of tv commercials.
A search quickly turned up his name and some acting credits.  Most notably he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for best featured actor in a musical for a really inane Broadway Revival in 1975-76 of "Very Good Eddie", a show originally from 1915.
But the work I found most interesting is a small part in an underground NY scene film from 1971 called "The Telephone Book".  It's about a sex craved hippie girl who is on the hunt to find the best obscene phone caller she ever heard.
I wonder what Nabisco would have thought about hiring Jimmy as the Big Fig Newton a couple of years later if they had known about this acting gig he had. ;-)

The actor's name was James Rhodes Harder.  But no mere hoofer was James.  No, he was a graduate of exclusive prep schools in Manhattan and Southborough, Massachusetts with a degree from Princeton University.

He is also the son of George Achilles Harder.......


George Harder went down into history when he took his new bride Dorothy Annan Harder on a 3 month honeymoon to Europe in January 1912.
They got on the RMS Titanic in Cherbourg France for the trip home to New York.

We all know what happened the evening of April 14th and the early morning hours of April 15th to that ship.
George and Dorothy, 1st class passengers, boarded lifeboat #5 and survived the disaster.
George gave a first-hand account of his experience on the Titanic after they were rescued by the RMS Carpathia.


A well known photo of George and Dorothy Harder speaking with another survivor of the Titanic sinking.

George Harder was often asked to lecture/speak on his experience aboard the Titanic through the years but he declined to ever do so.  The stigma of having survived(now known as survivor's guilt)made it something he wanted to forget.
Dorothy and George went on the travel the oceans again(in 1916 to Asia)and have two daughters.
Dorothy suffered from kidney problems and died young in 1926 at the age of 36.
George remarried in 1928 to Elizabeth Peebles Rhodes.
In 1930 they had a son, named George Achilles Jr, and in 1931 another son, James Dickinson Rhodes Harder, named after Elizabeth's father and a younger brother, who died at 1 years old of meningitis.

George Achilles Harder's Find A Grave memorial HERE.

James Dickinson Rhodes Harder died in 2009.  His obituary from the NYT is HERE.
I found his wife, Dorothy's obituary online HERE.  She died in 2015.



And while I was writing this blog post for the last three days, we celebrated the 105th Anniversary of the sinking of RMS Titanic.

Now how is that for tying up a bunch of flotsam and jetsam?

Sluggy




Saturday, April 15, 2017

Giveaway Winner

71 valid entries and random dotorg picked #12 so the winner is.............

Rhitter94

Sluggy - posted about this.. here is the link!!

http://planetdebtfree.blogspot.com/2017/04/on-sluggys-giveaway.html

Congratulations Rhitter94!
Please email me your full name and mailing address and I'll get this out on Monday to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered and played along.  I'll be back next month with another box of goodies to give away.

Sluggy