This Week on the Dining Table

The "Well I WAS Feeling Better" Edition--

Then I had my slip and fall.  Too bad I can't sue the idiots who shoveled my backyard. lolz  Well I could but that would be counterproductive.
I can actually use my left arm again so I'm getting back to normal....whatever normal happens to be for me.  8-)

Or maybe I should milk this for another week or so if it gets me out of cooking meals?  Hmmmm
Hubs volunteered to make dinner one night and I am taking him up on it. 8-)

Moving On....

Onward to the meal planning!

1. Sunday--Fend for Yourself/Leftovers

1. Sunday--Lemon Pepper chicken and zucchini, rice

2. Monday--Beef Teriyaki stir-fry w/Broccoli, rice

3. Tuesday--chicken Parmesan, Pear Gorgonzola Salad(Spaghetti too for Hubs)

4. Wednesday--Leftovers

5. Thursday--Beef Stroganoff, rice, mixed Veggies

6. Friday--Fend for Yourself 

7. Saturday--Corned Beef, Cabbage, Carrots

And this is what actually happened--

1. Sunday--Leftovers or FFY

1. Sunday--Lemon Pepper chicken and zucchini, brown rice

2. Monday--Beef Teriyaki stir-fry w/Broccoli Water Chestnuts and Bamboo Shoots, rice

3. Tuesday--Chicken Parmesan, Pear Gorgonzola Salad

4. Wednesday--Beef Stroganoff, leftover rice, Brussels Sprouts

5. Thursday--Fend for Yourself/Leftovers

6. Friday--Fend for Yourself 

7. Saturday--Chinese Take-Out

Last week saw 4 nights of home cooked dinners, 2 nights of leftovers/fend for yourself, 1 night of take-out and 0 nights of Eating out. After hurting my shoulder on Thursday morning, St. Pat's Day meal didn't happen and moves to this week.

2 trips to Weis brought the shopping last week to $172.33.  A little shop and a big old whopper of a shop last week.  That brings March's food spending total to $244.63.  There are 12 days left in my shopping month.  

I am now over $200 spent on groceries for March.  We'll see if I can keep it under $300 for the month now(though it's not looking good). 8-(

My savings percentages last week was 52.64% and the monthly savings so far ends up at 51.12%(without Rite-Aid trips added in).

Leftovers going into this week.......some Lemon Pepper Chicken and Zucchini, Beef Stroganoff, Broccoli Beef Stir-Fry, assorted Rice.  Not much of each of these is left so will most probably be lunches or could be dinners since Daughter is away this week at a conference and College Boy isn't home for dinner most evenings.  If we do some "FFY" nights we can finish of these bits and bobs.

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

1. Sunday--Corned Beef, Carrots, Cabbage, Potatoes

2. Monday--FFY

3. Tuesday--maybe Lunch Out so Dinner will be whatever(if hungry)

4. Wednesday--BBQ Pork Sandwiches

5. Thursday--Nachos

6. Friday--Salmon, Veggie(who knows, Hubs is cooking this!)

7. Saturday--Leftovers or ?

This week will see 4 new meals cooked, 3 nights of leftovers/FFY and 0 night of Take-out/Eat-Out.
I need to buy nothing to make this menu so maybe I'll stay outta the grocery stores this week.
Fingers crossed(and I highly doubt it).......

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

The Good, Bad & Ugly Lately at Chez Sluggy

It's been a real mix of things here lately at Chez Sluggy.
Here's a rundown of the past few weeks.

* UGLY  Hubs had to go down to Louisiana and was gone 8 days.  Even though he stayed in the house while there it meant 2 nights of motel charges(1 on each of the way down and the way back), plus lots of money spent on gas and meals.  I did have a few fast food/casual dining gift cards he used and he made breakfast and some coffee at the house so it could have been worse than the $1100+/- it cost OOP for this trip.

* GOOD and BAD The reason for Hubs trip was to access the condition of the house there, clean a bit, fire our old realtor and interview for a new realtor and field some independent offers we got on the property, so that was good.
None of the independent offers turned up a sale so we signed a new contract once he got home and we got an offer with the new agent on the house last week.  Unfortunately, the financing for the people wanting the house fell through so we didn't sell the house. 8-(  But we have gotten a lot more traffic with this new realtor and that paired with a lower(more realistic)price may eventually get us a sale.  Sooner rather than later is my preference. ;-)

*  UGLY We have had 2 snowstorms in 2 weeks since Hubs has come back(plus 1  that arrived while he was gone), so I am blaming them all on him. lolz  And another Nor'Eastern is slated to hit mid week this week, which makes #4 though we aren't suppose to see much accumulation on that one, but still, it's the end of March for gosh sakes.....enough is ENOUGH!
March 2nd.....

I took Chester out before storm #2 hit(4 days after #1 hit and there was melt)and saw that we had had some deer activity in the yard.................

These tracks are much too large to be Chester's.
Then I spied at the top of the middle of this shot a strangely squared shaped track set apart from the other tracks.

A playing card buried in the snow. 
I guess our resident deer enjoy a game of Black Jack every now and again while traipsing through our development.  ;-)

March 7th.....

Hubs came home between the storms and was in charge of taking Chester out again......

* GOOD On March 8th we finally were all well enough to go out to celebrate College Boy's birthday.

My kids insist on going out to expensive restaurants for their birthdays so this time we went at lunch time and paid lunch menu prices for the expensive Hibachi meal.

This is Daughter's idea of "celebrating".....a punch bowl full of liquor!  It came with 2 straws but she wasn't sharing it!lolz  5 types of liquor and gosh only knows what else was in that drink.  She let me take a sip and all I could taste was alcohol so it was light on the fruit juice.

I passed on the sushi roll made with tuna, salmon and red snapple.....lolol

This hibachi master wasn't as crazy as the one we had back in 2011 for my Daughter's Birthday meal but this chef did have a special water bottle to put out the onion rings volcano........

We mentioned that is was CB's birthday so they thoroughly embarrassed him by banging a gong at the table and we all sang "Happy Birthday" and he blew out his candle on his dish or ice cream........

He finally got his Bday card and his check....

Then he posed for a photo with me before he left in a separate car to go to his internship.

Can you tell from my face I'd had a bit of sake by this time?

* GOOD and UGLY
I already blogged about my Rite-Aid trips............

I hit Weis a week ago Friday for some deals and a Friday Freebie which I talked about already.....

Then  I went back for a few deals on Wednesday and ended up doing a big shop.........

 Among the best deals was 4 more bottle of this organic OS juice for free(sale $2 using $2/1 Qs), 2 boxes of Puffs with lotion for .50¢ box after sale/doubled Qs, 2 more Well Yes! soup for .67¢ each after sale/doubled Qs, a can of coffee for $1.99 after sale/Q.............

4 bags of shredded cheese for $1.37 each after sale/Qs.......

 And I hit a bacon deal.  5 packs of John F Martin bacon(the local good stuff!)for $3 a pack after $3 off Instant Stickers on each.  These will go into the freezer for Summertime BLTs.  8-)))

I also bought a fair number of frozen entrees, ice cream(the kids are going through it at a rapid clip!), some Progresso soups for Daughter's lunch, soda 12 packs(stock-up price), devil dogs, pizza bagels, Power-ade, buffalo chicken bites and breaded mushrooms and chips for snacking for the kids, 2 cans of diamonds for snacking for me, some doggie treats for Chester, 2 packs of discounted meat, 2 boxes of muffin mix that was .50¢ after sale/doubled Qs, cole slaw cabbage mix and 2 bags of salad kits.  I also bought reg. milk, a full price container of sour cream(needed that night for our stroganoff dinner).
When that trip was said and done $241.85 if I had paid full reg. retail for all cost me $115.70 after sales and Qs(most doubled).
I spent a lot more than I planned(can I blame the discounted bacon??lol)but this week's shop should be a lot less.
Oh and since it was PI(e) Day on Wednesday I bought a pie............

Lemon meringue for half price. lolz

* BAD And then I had my slip and fall Thursday which has curtailed any going out and spending $ up to this point. 
Good think I got those frozen & prepared foods since I haven't been up to making meals since Thursday(though I am putting a corned beef into the crock pot today-a day later than planned).
I doubt I'll go to Rite-Aid this week other than for any Rxs as the deals are thin now and for next week too as far as I can tell.  I do need to get to Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)in the next week or so as I have a 10% off discount card that is expiring the end of the month.

And let's end with something good.........

* GOOD  I was contacted out of the blue this past week by a 1st cousin 1 x removed on Ancestry.
Her mother and my paternal grandfather were siblings(making her my father's 1st cousin).  I had no inkling she existed because I never met that Great Aunt and didn't know she and her husband had had any kids!!  I don't think she knew I existed either until she saw the same people on my tree that are on hers. lol  We are emailing back and forth now and are sharing info, stories and photos(though she has a lot more photos of that part of the family than I do).

This is a photo of a photo she sent me of  my father with his parents(the baby in my grandfather's arms)I am guessing was taken in 1932 in upstate New York.  This is the oldest photo I have of my grandparents(as well as of my dad).
I'm looking forward to more photos and stories from my newly found cousin. 8-)))

That's about all to report in lately from Chez Sluggy.

What's been going on lately in your world?


Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the March 16th Edition

Let's see what frugal wins we had last week.........

*

Last Friday I picked up a Friday Freebie at Weis-a roll of paper towels. 
I also got 2 more cans of crushed tomatoes for free using doubled coupons and the sale price. 
The Ocean-Spray organic juice was also free-on sale for $2 at Weis and I had a $2/1 IPQ(I printed off more of those Ocean-Spray Qs and went back for more free bottles.). 
The OJ was almost free-on sale for $2 and I had an electronic Q attached to my Weis card for $1.59 off this type of OJ so it cost me .41¢ only.
The Coleman uncured hot dogs were reg. price of $3.50 a pack and I had $1.50/1 IPQs plus they also had peelieQs on the packs for $1.25 off.  The cashier put through both the IPQs and the peelie Qs on each pack so they ended up costing me .75¢ per package. 
So some frees and some almost frees.  ;-)

*  After an arduous day grocery shopping on Wednesday which stretched out to 2 pm I stopped next door at Mickey D's for a Shamrock shake and a small burger.  I found an old book of $1 McDonald's gift certificates in my stash of gift cards pouch that morning so I used that to pay and only had .29 OOP to cover. 
Due to unforeseen circumstances(see the next bullet point)I'll have to blog about any more frugal wins on that Wednesday trip next week.

*  And this is as far as I got yesterday before the "Ides of March" befell me.  I went flying, slipping on ice(invisible ice where Hubs had shoveled over the grass, what was left melted and frozen overnight and was not visible above the grass)while taking Chester outside yesterday morning.  I can attest that the ground here is still VERY frozen. ouch
Anyway, I sort of rolled to my side so dirtied up my left knee, left a wonderful bloody scrape on my left elbow.........

and jolted my shoulder, which did something to my left collar bone which has made my left arm mostly inoperable.  You don't realize how many muscles have to work together when you do anything with your left arm until you hurt something. sigh.

So yesterday after the incident I spent most of the rest of the day/evening in the recliner, icing my collar bone and taking pain killers(leftovers from Hubs broken leg adventure).
Thankfully I was able to find a position that allowed me to sleep without pain(w/a pain killer too)last night.
Nothing is bruised or broken thankfully and I am a little better today but have to type with one hand still.
So that's as far as Frugal Friday will go this week.

It's always something in life, right?

I hope you had a better "Eyes of March". ;-)

And keep on staying frugal out there!

Sluggy

More Rite-Aid.....Free Cosmetics Anyone?

So a $6/2 Cover Girl Q popped up on the coupons dotcom earlier this week along.

There was also a Dentyne .75¢ cash rebate off on Checkout51(rebate expired Wednesday night but it's back for this week too)that paired nicely with a Dentyne sale at Rite-Aid.

Plus all those high value Hershey Qs I have from the Olympics Promo are expiring in 11 days so I needed to get them used up!

And I realized that those Schick razors I bought on Sunday?....you can only have one Wellness card attached to your Ibotta account and I bought them on one of the other two cards NOT attached to Ibotta......so I needed to rebuy them on the card that is attached.  I'll just keep the other two razor packs since they "cost" me $1 each in PPs so I can live with that.  8-)  I also ended up doing the Schick razors on the third card too because $1 for razors is awesome, right?  ;-)

All this meant I bought a few things *cough cough* when I went up to Rite-Aid to get an Rx on Wednesday.

First was this lot..........

2 x CG mascara BOGO50%=$11.53
2 x CG eye shadow BOGO50%=$9.43
3 x Dentyne gum on sale=$3.00
2 x Hershey candy bars on sale=$1.38
2 x Schick razors on sale=$12.00
SubTotal.....$37.34

Coupons Used
2 x $6/2 CoverGirl IPQ=$12.00
2 x $1.50/1 Hershey bars IPQ=$3.00
2 x $3/1 Schick razors IPQ=$6.00
Coupon Total.......$21.00

$37.34-$21.00=$16.34

Except a $3/1 CG Load2CardQ also came off(didn't expect this)so $37.34-$24.00=$13.34+.28¢tax=$13.62
$2 in BC came off leaving me a total of $11.62, which I paid for with Plenti Points.

I earned back $15 in new Bonus Cash(2 x $5 wyb $10 CoverGirl, 2 x $2 Schick razors, $1 wyb3 Dentyne gum).
I submitted for a $2.25 Dentyne cash rebate on Checkout51(.75¢ x 3 offers-limit is 5 offers)and it's been credited to my account there.
I'll also earn $2 for buying 2 Schick razors now since I used the correct Wellness card finally on Ibotta.

So $13.62 paid in BC and PPs and $19.25 earned back in cash and BC.

Then I bought more CG on my card...........

1 x CG lip stick=$8.79
1 x CG eye shadow kit=$6.29
1 x CG pencil 50%=$3.24
1 x CG brow pencils 50%=$2.39
4 x Hershey bars on sale=$2.76
SubTotal.....$23.47

Coupons Used
2 x $6/2 CoverGirl IPQ=$12.00
4 x $1.50/1 Hershey bars IPQ=$6.00
Coupon Total.....$18.00

But again, a $3/1 CG Load2CardQ came off so $21 in Qs.

$23.47-$21.00=$2.47
A $2 Bonus Cash came off so I paid .47¢ on my Rite-Aid gift card.
I earned back $10 in BC(2 x $5 Cover Girl)on this transaction.

Then on my Daughter's card I bought this......

1 x CG face powder=$9.29
1 x CG mascara=$6.29
1 x CG eye shadow kit 50%=3.14
1 x CG mascara 50%=$3.14
2 x Schick razors=$12.00
5 x Hershey bars on sale=$3.45
Subtotal......$37.31

Coupons Used
2 x $6/2 CoverGirl IPQ=$12.00
2 x $3/1 Schick razor IPQ=$6.00
4 x up to $1.50/1 Hershey IPQ(took off $1.15each)=$4.60*
1 x $1.50/1 Hershey IPQ=$150
Coupon Total....$24.10

$37.31-$24.10=$13.21

But another $3/1 CG Load2CardQ and a .50¢/2 Hershey's L2CQ came off so $27.60 in Qs leaving me with $9.71 + .17¢tax=$9.88,
A $7 Bonus Cash came off leaving me $2.88 OOP which I paid with PPs.

I earned back $14 in new BC(2 x $5 CG, 2 x $2 Schick).

* 4 of my Hershey Qs were "up to $1.50 off 1" and not a straight $1.50 off 1(they changed the wording near the end of the Olympic Promo-giving away too much maybe?).  I had the cashier scan my Wellness card AFTER she put all the coupons through in this transaction so instead of taking .69¢ off those 4 bars the register took off the full retail price of $1.15 each giving me overage to apply to other items in the transaction just like the $1.50/1 Qs did.

Grand Total Spent in PPs/BC/gift card.......$25.97
Grand Total Earned in BC and cash rebates....$43.25($39 BC/$4.25 cash)

This makes all the above 3 transactions a $17.28 moneymaker.

Since the Checkout51 Dentyne rebate is back this week, you can buy 3 packs, pay $3 and earn $1 back in BC and submit your receipt to Checkout51 and get $2.25 cash back in that account making this a .25¢ moneymaker, no coupons needed.

Hurry and print that Cover Girl Q(2 prints per computer)as well.  Keep your 4 CG items below $22 but over $20 before Qs and BC earned and this will get you some free make-up which is pretty sweet.
My lot of cosmetics will be heading for future Giveaway boxes. 8-)))



Sluggy

March Giveaway.....Come Enter!

March means it's time for the third Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway for 2018.
I can't believe it's the middle of March already so let's get this giveaway going.
This box includes toiletries, some Winter Cold/Flu Season goodies(vitamins/sanitizer/OTC medicine)as well as the always popular-chocolate!
Come on and enter.
Somebody has to win and it might just be YOU!

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

1 x Purell hand sanitizer
1 x Remfresh sleep aid
1 x Simple cleansing face scrub
1 x Robitussin cough + chest congestion medicine
1 x Suave Vitamin Infusion shampoo
1 x Centrum vitamins(2 pack)
1 x Right Guard men's deodorant
1 x Sally Hansen nail gloss(lavender)
1 x Crest Pro-Health toothpaste(mint)
1 x Doan's pain reliever pills
1 x Oral-B toothbrush
1 x Gillette Mach3 razor
1 x Scunci hair bands
1 x Magnavox ear buds
1 x Maybelline eye studio 3 color palette
1 x Cover Girl brow pencils
10 x Lindt chocolate Truffles(assorted flavors)
2 x Butterfinger cups chocolate candy

Over $70 in regular retail of goodies.
Closeup shots of the goodies up for grabs......

I'll leave this giveaway open until Monday, March 26th at 11:59pm Eastern Time, so that gives everyone 12+ days to enter this one.  On March 27th  I'll mark all the valid entries and use Random dotorg to pick a number and that corresponding person's entry wins.

*Please note the rules*
I'll post the name/Id of the winner on this blog and that person has 48 hours from then to contact me privately via email(my email addy is listed on my "About Me" page).
If I am not contacted via email I'll attempt to contact the winner via the email they supply with their entry and if that email is not responded to within another 48 hours I'll pick another winner.

There are three ways to enter--1 Daily and 2 One-Time Only........

1. Leave a comment every day.

2. Be a follower of this Blog(Hit the "Follow" button on the right hand side bar.) Let me know if your comment for this entry the name you follow under to verify.  You can do this entry once.

3. Post on your own blog(or on your Facebook page)about the Giveaway and leave a link in your comment/entry to where I can find it.  You can do this entry once.
In your Daily Entry tell me in your comment......something like what here is the thing you most want to win, if you like the cold, if you like to do Winter sports, how cold is it usually where you live....stuff like that.

Disclaimer--This giveaway is open to those with mailing addresses within the US only.
As the cost of postage to foreign countries has gotten to high I am sorry to say I can no longer afford to mail boxes outside the US.  These giveaways are not sponsored by any companies, I pay for it all(cost of items given away and the postage to mail it all)out of my own pocket.

***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 a hold of you. 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.

If I can't contact you then you can't win.  I am still having to disqualify entries due to this issue and I sure don't like doing that.  Thanks!

So let's get this started!

Sluggy