What's Happening Around Here

We celebrated my birthday two Saturdays ago.........

At a nice Chinese Restaurant connected to a seedy motel.  They had a dark beer from Brazil called Xingu.  It was the closest thing to a Guinness I could find on their menu.  That's my yearly Birthday Beer.

Me checking the giant incense burner, at least I think that's what it is. lol

Then it was off to get my Birthday cake......

Since it's Mardi Gras Season here, do what the natives do, get a King Cake!  This one serves 20-24 people or 10-12 Cajuns according to the information they give out. ;-)

Around these parts this is where you come for the best King Cake around, a Hardware Store that's everything  Mardi Gras too in the Season.

You pose with their Giant Baby(like the ones they bake into a King Cake.

I posed wearing culturally insensitive to some Mardi Gras beads.

Not like these beads were much better.......lolz

Down here, Mardi Gras is not just a day of celebrating before Lent, Mardi Gras is a Season that runs all through January up to Fat Tuesday whenever it falls somewhere near the end of February.  

This hardware store is Mardi Gras Central in this part of Louisiana.  Racks and racks of beads, King Cakes, boxes of miniature Moon Pies, Doubloons, mini footballs, mini frisbees, masks, Hula hoops and everything else the Krewes throw from the parade floats.  Since it was a weekend the place was jammed with people picking up Mardi Gras parade paraphernalia.  Everyone was wishes us a Happy Mardi Gras too.

Here I am in a miniature hat ready for Mardi Gras........

All these years I thought my birthday was in such a depressing Wintery Season.  I was just not living where the "Bon Temps Rollez" until now.

It has rained all week here....the first Sunny day was Friday.  I think Louisiana needs to rethink how they divide up the year.  This place is more like Central America with a dry season and a rainy season.  We are definitely in the rainy season now.

Just take a look at these photos of our yard.........

Yes, those are old boats in the distance.  I told Hubs we need to drag them closer to the house just in case we need to use one to evacuate. lolz

This is our own personal "bayou" in the front yard near the driveway(if you can call it a driveway).....

A couple other "lakes" out on the side yard. 

Even the Wound Care place is all decked out for the Season with purple, green and gold fleur de lises........

It has been a heck of a week this past week but not in a good way.  4 out of 5 days saw me going for medical tests(I passed with flying colors!), wound care(no power washing, hooray!)and a tooth extraction.  I am now moving onto the 2 times a week Wound Clinic where they are increasing the compression on my leg to get this thing healed up  Go Me.

The only thing is all this bandaging on my leg goes down onto my foot and I can't get my shoe on that foot.  I have been reduced to going around in public in slippers.  **face palm**  I never thought I would end up a "Person of Walmart".  What's next?...wearing pajamas in public??! 

Sluggy

Frugal Friday.....the February 3rd Edition on Saturday

 Welcome to Frugal Friday!  Sorry it's a day late but medical and dental stuff took up most of my week here. 
There is one Frugal win this past week......

*   I happened to look in my Ollie's(Good Stuff Cheap!)app and found a 15% off your whole shopping trip coupon there for Valentine's day.  It expires 2/12.  Since we had some time to kill between the wound care appt. and my dental appt.(which was over near the Ollie's)we went in and I found a few food items we needed.......

Have you ever seen Caramel Banana flavored Cheerios?  I haven't and Hubs wanted to try them.  I needed the applesauce, panko, the pretzel crackers were 75% off and boxed stuffing is good to have in the pantry for various things(though it tastes too salty for me unless it's doctored up).  2 cartons of chicken broth didn't make it into the photo either. 
We also found a pair of drapes for the master bedroom(but forgot to get a curtain rod lol).
$10.49 later for the food items we were off to the dentist.

*  I found money!
Nope, nothing this week.  Sluggy got skunked on the four days she left the house to go the medical/dental visits.  Hubs found 6 pennies at Walmart in the self-checkout machine when he went by himself and the rat wouldn't give  me those coins.  sniff sniff

Total Found in last Week.... .00¢
Total Found this Year........15¢

That's about all I've got for this past week.  

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

Sluggy   

This Week on the Dining Table

 The "Don't Get Wedded to Your Meal Plan" Edition.....

Things happen in life.  And that includes things/events that make you have to change up your meal plan.  This was one of those weeks.

I did get that turkey gotten for free at thanksgiving thawed and cooked but with making all the sides too it wore my leg out for the day.  I spent after an early dinner(linner)confined to the recliner with my leg up instead of visiting with daughter and son in-law and the granddog.  Oh well.

Onward to the meal planning!

This is what was planned.......

1. Sunday--Leftovers

2. Monday--Shrimp Scampi w/Fettucine Noodles, Salad

3. Tuesday--Leftovers

4. Wednesday--Salmon, Sweet Potatoes, Green Beans

5. Thursday--Kielbasi, Cabbage

6.  Friday--Leftovers

7. Saturday--Turkey Dinner w/Fixings

And here's what actually happened........

1. Sunday--Leftovers

2. Monday--Shrimp Scampi w/Fettucine Noodles, Salad

3. Tuesday--Leftover Beef Pie

4. Wednesday--Liver and Onions w/Gravy, Brussels Sprouts(lunch out, no dinner)

5. Thursday--Fend for Yourself(I had a pot pie)

6.  Friday--Leftovers or Fend for Yourself(I had some cantaloupe)

7. Saturday--Turkey Dinner w/Fixings

Getting back on my feet to cook a bit with help from Hubs.  I only "cooked" two meals this week as we had many leftovers.

What got put into the freezer last week....

*  Nothing

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

*  1 bag of Shrimp

*  1 pot pie

*  1 whole turkey   

Hubs mostly picked up stuff to the tune of $31.38 last week.  Just little things we needed and medical supplies.

This brings our food/toiletries/paper goods Total to $414.67 for January.  

There is 1 shopping days left in January.

I've earned $87.73 on Ibotta in January.(I used $20 to buy a gift card.)

I've earned $2.82 on Checkout51 in January.

I've earned $16.75 on Coupons dotcom in January.

I've earned 2,499 points from shopping on Fetch in January.

I earned 1,590 points from food shopping on Shop Kick in January.

I've earned 640 SB from food shopping on Swag Bucks in January.

That's $107.30 in rebates(not counting the Shop Kick/Swag Bucks/Fetch)on $414.67

 in grocery spending so in reality it's $307.37 in food spending after the 3 rebate apps I count.

My savings percentage for the last week was 29.96% and the monthly savings total for January comes in at 33.79% so far.  

Leftovers going into this week.....Shrimp Scampi w/Linguine,  Roast Turkey and sides.

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

1. Sunday--I had a Greek Salad

2. Monday--Chicken Parm, leftover turkey sides or salad

3. Tuesday--Kielbasi, Cabbage

4. Wednesday--I'm getting a tooth pulled so applesauce or something similar, Hubs is on his own

5. Thursday--Ditto

6.  Friday--Leftovers or ?

7. Saturday--?

What do I need to buy to fix everything on this menu?  Nothing really but some fruit.

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 deals on food at your stores this week?  

Sluggy 

December To-Do List 2022 Outcome

*  A reminder that I don't publish comments that are unsigned.  If you comment without a Google account at least put your name on the comment.  And if you are a troll then just don't come here because YOUR comments will most definitely NOT be publish. 8-)

Here is how we did with the December To-Do List--

*  Pay Bills--DONE  All bills got paid and on time.

*  Send a few Xmas cards to family--DONE  Between moving, organizing and such there wasn't a lot of time to get Xmas cards out before leaving for the cruise.  We got out about 10 cards total so if you got a card from me, consider yourself lucky. lolz

*  Clean and Organize stuff in House--PASS/IN PROGRESS  With how much needs to be done here(and the fact that I'm about as useful as a one legged woman on a kickboxing match right now).  Our initial timeline has been extended out until the end of 2023(or maybe halfway into 2024.  It has been slow going, partly due to having to replace items and not wanting to spend all willy-nilly(trying to cash flow without having to draw from 401K or non-retirement investments).  Things are still slow going as we figure out where to put stuff we have and what to do with some spaces.

*  Buy Stuff for House--IN PROGRESS  Just going through receipts I still have we've spent $3,418.35 on house purchases since November.  That's everything from a washer and dryer, a desk, a night stand, book shelves and storage shelving, a bed frame, parts the fridge needed to piddling little stuff like tools and hardware and light bulbs.  Again we are going to need to spend much more to get this place whipped into shape but we are proceeding slowly with expenditures.

*  Clean out Inserts/Coupon Envie--DONE  Something I do at least once a month and since I haven't bought one Sunday paper down here(thus not getting paper coupons)there is not much in my envie anymore. 8-(

*  Edit More Photos--IN PROGRESS  Have been working on the photos from our house hunting and a couple of local adventures and the Girls Trip to FL.  Then  we went on a cruise and now I have even MORE photos to edit.  GAH!  It never ends........

*  Post about Old Trips--FAIL  Nope didn't post anything since we weren't online/here from most of the month and when we got back I was hurt so yeah, that didn't happen.

*  Work on Genealogy--FAIL  I put more genealogy stuff on the back burner for December.

*  Drive to Texas--DONE  Hubs drove us to that god forsaken city.  Not a fan of Dallas roads(lack of signs on said roads)and crazy drivers(well, those are in every city).

*  Fly to MD--DONE  The flight to DC wasn't bad.

*  Fly to FL--DONE   We left DC 2 days later at the crack of dark 0'thirty.

*  Celebrate Christmas--DONE  Well due to circumstances not under our control Christmas was an odd duck this year.  We all made the best of it though.

*   Go on Cruise and have an amazing time--DONE  Except for one disappointment in Panama with the cruise excursion folks and the people who ran the excursion in Panama we had a mah-velous time dah-ling!

Sluggy

Frugal Friday....the January 27th Edition

 Welcome to Frugal Friday!  There are a few Frugal wins this past week......

*   We hit Walmart on Monday and I timed it just right as an employee was pricing clearance items that had been pushed to the back of the household shelves and hidden for months.  Aerosol cans of Febreeze(.99¢ for double packs), Airwick warmers with 1 refill($1.50 each), Airwick essential oil warmers with 1 refill($3.50)and Airwick double packs of refills(.75¢ each).

I used 2 different Airwick digital coupons totaling $7.25 on these 2 items plus I had an Ibotta rebate on the Essential Mist unit for $5.50, so I spent $10.22 on all the clearance air freshener items and I got back $12.75 in rebates/coupons, helping to put $2.53 toward paying for groceries. Nice.

*  I found money!

I found a penny in the backseat of Daughter's car on my birthday.

Picking up Rx at Walmart for Hubs on Sunday I found another penny.

After the Medical appointment I found a penny at the Walmart we picked up 5 things in.

Then we had lunch out at a Piccadilly Cafeteria and I found another some what grody penny in the dining area.

Total Found in last Week.... .04¢
Total Found this Year........15¢

*  Staying home and going through tubs and packing boxes here.  Still setting things up, deciding on what we need to purchase and putting things away.

We finish hauling in all the toiletries from the "Bubba" garage and going through things.  Most of what we are keeping to use is put away in the Master Bath and this is my nice neat stack of tubs to sell.  I feel so accomplished now!lol

*  We got a bill from the ER doc from Xmas eve's visit that said it was submitted to insurance and they paid nothing on it so we owed over $2,500.  Well not only did they not submit it to the correct insurance, once insurance pays it we don't owe a red cent, as I had hit my out of pocket mid 2022.  It took DAYS to figure out how they screwed this up but screw it up they did.   Imagine all the elder folks out there getting dunned for bills they actually don't owe because the medical billing department screwed something up, and these elder who either don't stay on top of financial stuff or don't have the capacity to understand all the complexities just pay it to make it go away.  I swear our medical system is so broken even died in the wool conservatives are going to start screaming for National Healthcare, it's that bad.

That's about all I've got for this past week.  

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

Sluggy