Thursday Ramblings

So what has Sluggy been up to today you ask?

Well......I finally got all that food I can no longer eat on FreeCycle earlier this week on Monday.
I had 7 people respond by Wednesday. 
Of those 7,  I emailed back the 3 who weren't demanding or belligerent to offer the food to them.
Yes, even when you are giving away things for free people get nasty with you.  Don't ask me why they feel that someone would give them something if they coped an attitude with the giver.

Only 1of the 3 has responded as of late last night.
If the other two don't respond before she comes tomorrow morning to pick the items up, she will get it all.  Trust me, it's 6 boxes and 3 plastic bags of food, enough for 3 different families.  But she will hit the jackpot and take it all as things look now. ;-)

I got up later than usual and did a load of white clothes.  I had to take a pain pill last night, as my legs were bothering me(they do that sometimes)plus I couldn't sleep due to some "things" going on here, which I'll get into tomorrow in my next blog post.

Then I took #2 Son with me and I spent the early afternoon looking for dead people.....

Found most of them.
Go me!
In the last couple weeks I've added 152 new memorials to this cemetery on F.A.G. plus another couple dozen photos onto memorials already posted by other members.  I've had a few members contact me to thank me for posting photos of their relative headstones even though they hadn't requested a volunteer take a photo for the memorial.  I also fulfilled about 10 of the 30+ photo requests for this cemetery.
I've got another 100 or so photos from today's batch to edit and post, among them some photo requests.  I also transferred the ownership of 8 memorials I created into the care of a family member who wished to have them.  I love when a relative asks for their peeps and gladly surrender them.  Family should be with family....
It amazes me what bad manners some of these people asking for ownership have though.  Not a please or a thank you.  I have started a list of these ill-mannered folks and should they ask for anyone else I maintain, they'll get a cold shoulder from me until they learn some decent etiquette. 8-(

After I stopped at Wendy's and bought #2 Son lunch as thanks for helping me at the cemetery, I came home so I could meet a lady who bought some packs of diapers off of me.   These have been sitting around in my garage and were part of the stuff I got for FREE at Rite-Aid over the last couple of years.
The lady took this clutter out of my life and handed me this.
Say hello to my little friend, Mr. Hamilton!

What a handsome fella.....though a tad 2 dimensional as far as personality goes.....lol

Then I started dinner.....

The pan of asparagus is ready for the oven(once I put a little lemon pepper Mrs. Dash's on it).
The Portabella caps are awaiting some pan sautéing, leftover homemade spaghetti sauce and mozzarella/provolone cheese and then popping it into the oven for 20 mins.

But eating dinner will have to wait a bit, as we have a guy coming within the hour from Sears home improvements to check our house out for the feasibility of installing one of these.....

A mini-split a/c unit or a/c and heating unit.
Too bad hubs and I don't look like the couple in the picture, huh?
Nah, I'd look dreadful with blonde hair......but I wouldn't mind if Hubs looked like that guy..... ;-)

We are going with Sears(probably)because if we buy the unit(s) through our daughter who sells appliances at Sears, she gets a nice little commission.
Sorry Sears guy....

After dinner I get to finish the laundry and download and start editing the 100+ photos I took today.
Then play a little Bubble Land and read blogs before turning in for the night.

So how's your day been?
Anything exciting on tonight's agenda??

Sluggy

 

More Money Running Through Our Hands

Ok.
I lied the other day when I said we hadn't eaten out/gotten take-out all week.
Mea culpa.

It's  heck getting old and not being able to remember stuff.....
Hubs & I did go out for lunch on Saturday after viewing the "shit hole" property and taking some headstone photos at the cemetery nearby.

I took him out for Father's Day to Friendly's in a town south of here.  They are usually crowded big time on weekends as they are across from the town's mall, but not last Saturday they were not.
It was a lovely meal.  I blew my sodium restrictions but not by much and I took half my sandwich home to eat for dinner.
And then we had ice cream.
And we spent $30 with a $5+ tip.
Yeah, I was bad...... ;-)

We went down to this town after our earlier adventures to possibly buy a pressure washer.  Kmart had one on sale last week and we need to pressure washer our house and the deck.   I figured if this one was heavy duty enough for these needs it would pay for itself(vs. the cost of a rental)in a few years plus it was almost Father's Day and what guy doesn't appreciate a new "toy" in his work shed?
But Hubs didn't seem too thrilled with a PW for a gift(go figure!lol)plus though buying a new PW would be the frugal thing in the long run vs. renting each time we wanted to PW something, who needs more crap in the garage or work shed taking up space?  For something that would get so little use, it makes more sense for us at this point to rent or borrow one from someone we know, when we need one.

So quick on my feet(or should that be brain?), I told Hubs I would take him to Boscov's(the regional/local hoity toity dept. store)across the street and buy him some new work clothes.  I knew he wanted to pick up a few summer type shirts as his were getting ratty.  They also had a great sale on nice belts(of which Hubs could use a couple)for $3.99 and a killer deal on dress socks(.99¢ a pr.).
Hubs hardly ever buys new clothes so it was nice to help him pick out some things.
We left with an armload full and a new bill of $118 + change charged to the c/c bill(which will be paid off this month).

Hubs and I hardly ever go shopping together anymore.  That use to be one of our main entertainments(well, sort of entertainments)when we were younger.....and usually we had kids along with us so not so enjoyable and Hubs wasn't the one enjoying the experience anyway back then, because he's a guy and isn't "in to" shopping.  The only shopping I use to enjoy was buying other family members stuff or going discount store or clearance sale shopping.  Give me a rathole store with low prices or a sea of clearance racks and I am in my element.
But that all went by the wayside about 7-8 years ago when I joined The Compact. (It helped to that my kids had gotten older and didn't need as much in the way of clothing/weren't outgrowing stuff as quickly/had gotten part time jobs to pay for their own "wants".......)

So there.....
I feel better having come clean on all my non-grocery spending (about $150)last week. 

It would make the spending we will be doing on the house coming up this summer not seem as bad.
8-))

So did you get any presents or do something special for your Hubs/Father/SO last week?

Sluggy

Like Water Pouring Through Our Hands

That's what the money has been like lately.
First off, #2 Son needs a better flute.
He's at the point where he has a serious commitment to his music and plans to make a career in the music field.
He needs an upgrade in the instrument department and this is the one his teacher recommended.....ain't it purty and shiny?

There was an identical used one for $200 less but his teacher tested both and the difference was more than $200 in quality, as the used one hadn't been taken care of.  It would have cost more than $200 to get it back up to new quality, so we bit the bullet and bought the new one.
This brand is a gem among flutes, Di Zhao.  The only brand that handcuts the head joints on flutes at this level of instrument.  Hand cut parts are only seen otherwise in custom made flutes and/or the highest end pro models these days, which are out of our ballpark in price.
Professional flutes start at around $7K and go into the $20K & Up range.

The teacher says this upgraded flute should see him through his 1st two years of college, at which point his professors will start pushing him to trade up to a better instrument.  We have told him, the next upgrade is on your dime so start putting away that summer job money for when that day comes.

As with cars, luxury watches and some electronics, you don't pay the "list price" for a quality musical instrument.  There is haggling and/or discounts.  We paid $1000 out of pocket for this flute.
The cash is coming out of his college fund so I don't have to dig into our regular savings for this. 8-)
We are however paying OOP for his flute camp next month.  It's just 3 days so not that large an outlay of cash.

We may have to give our oldest child a loan later this year.  He graduated in May and is now job hunting but his SO needs to finish up 1 more year at a school in Pittsburg, so they need to locate there for at least until next May.
So they need to move and find an apt. before August & the beginning of classes for the Fall.  But it's very hard to find an apt. if you have no job in the area and aren't independently wealthy enough to afford to pay rent.  Besides, landlords run your credit score and they want an employer on your application.  And it's hard to find a job if you don't live in the area, so it's a vicious cycle.

Hubs wanted to hand the kid a check for $ to make trips down to P'burg to find a job.  I told him this won't work because the type of jobs the kid will be interviewing for will most probably be the kind where they want you to start right away, and then they'll need to logistically make the move, still need money for an apt.(1st/lasts/security + moving expenses), so why not just co-sign the lease for 1 year(or 10 months if they can get one of those)?  Then when they get on their feet, they can take over the payments and then pay us back when they are in a position to financially.
Right now they are living with the SO's grandparents but they have no family in P'burg to stay with while they get jobs/find an apt./etc.

So we will be loaning them a heap of money(around $10K all totaled if a job never materializes there).  Knowing this kid, there is no way in hell(short of death)that he will NOT repay it....it just might take awhile.  We have the money to lend and it won't leave us short.  I also told the kid that if he doesn't repay us, his little brother can't go to college(not really). ;-)  The guilt of THAT will eat at him.....lol

I made the mistake of mentioning to the Hubs after this conversation that if we had NOT had 3 kids, he'd probably be retired by now and we'd be swimming in cash.
Kids are damned expensive to raise to adulthood, even if you are frugal and careful with the money, ya know?   They are a pricey hobby......

Just for fun, I went HERE and used their child cost calculator to figure what our youngest will cost to get to adulthood.  He is 17 now.
The answer was $518,000.
Gulp.
Really??  It's that much?!

Figuring his 2 siblings were about that(maybe a little less due to inflation and they are older), it means we'll have shelled out $1,500,000.00 in child related costs.
Woweeeee!
I've seen a figure to raise a child to 18 as low as $235,000(not including college).  Under $7000,000 total for 3 kids sounds a mite better......say $800,000 better. lol

I'd say including college, our 3 might be at a total of approx. $900,000 with college.

Hey, no wonder the couple across the street(who are about our age)who have no children and live in a house identical to ours, seem to take a lot of trips and have a fancy pants sports car for a third vehicle.  lol 

C'est la vie......

Then we got the credit card bill yesterday in the mail.
$2,800+ statement for June.
$658.70 in charges related solely to the kids.
See what I just said?!

Have I mentioned how expensive kids are?? ;-)

Ok....to be fair there were $1000+ in charges for NON-Needs from Hubs and I.
* A new desk, a new computer chair & a DNA test kit for me.
* A new computer and a yr. of internet chess club for Hubs.
Hubs was MORE expensive than me though in June.
That's my story and I'ma stickin' to it!



Sluggy


 

What is Wrong With People?

I just saw the local news report below and I am sick to my stomach.
What the hell is wrong with people today?

News Report

Doing something like this to your brother or your own child?
Not caring for someone who can't care for themselves and not taking him to a facility where he can get adequate care because you don't want to lose his Social Security check each month?

Where are the people who should be overseeing caretakers?  Just because they are family doesn't mean some agency shouldn't be monitoring his care!  They hadn't taken him to a dr. in almost 4 YEARS.  If a social worker had seen the man sometime in the past 4 years and recognized his deteriorating state(he didn't dwindle down to 60 lbs. in a couple of months afterall-this took years!), they would have yanked him out and gotten him adequate protection from these monster who profess to be his family.

Now I am getting mad......

Sluggy

Ear-Brain-Mouth Disconnect

Sonya Ann  posted a video of misheard song lyrics today.

We all have been guilty of getting song lyric wrong, haven't we?

Here is my high class contribution to the mangled song lyrics theme.....

Enjoy!



Sluggy

Want To Win Stuff? Lookie Here!

It's Summer.  Things slow down this time of year in the Bloggiverse.
I think it's time for a return of.........

Sluggy's BORING BLOG BOX GIVEAWAY!

 

Here's how it works if you are new here.......

 

I put things in the box(mostly what I have gotten for free or almost free)each week and when the box is filled we draw a winner from all the entries received.

Here is what went into the Box today.....

 

 

 

1.  A box of Calgon Bath Beads

2.  A Glade Air Freshener Dispenser
3.  A book called "Poetry of Home"

If this is your first time, please go read all the rules for these Giveaways HERE.  *As always, if you are located outside the US, you CAN enter and win but weight restrictions/shipping costs may mean your prize box will contain less items.*

***Time to enter.....You can enter on this Giveaway post until I close this post to entries.

1 entry per person per day on THIS POST.
Leave your name/email addy and a COMMENT on this post.  

This week I want to hear about your Suumer plans....

Are you going on a vacation? 

Do you have something you regularly do, activity to do or place to go in the Summer? 

If you could take a vacation anywhere in the world during the Summer and money was no object, where would you go?

You can come directly to this blog post or find it through the link on the right side bar to leave 1 comment per day.  The current Giveaway Post will be linked right at the top of the side bar.

Please NOTE--You MUST be a follower to enter the Giveaway.  If you aren't one, just click on the "Follow" button on the right hand side of my blog to become a follower.

There are 2 ways to get 2 EXTRA entries on this and each new Giveaway Post.......

1. Put my blog on your blog's Blogroll.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST with the URL of your blog so I can go check it out. **If I'm already on your Blogroll, say so in an extra entry comment once each week of this giveaway.

2.  Blog about this Giveaway on your blog with a link to this post.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST with a link to your blog post so I can go view it.  You can do this extra entry once each week of this giveaway.

 

These giveaways run about 4 weeks, depending on how often I get a blog post done.  The winner will be drawn from all valid entries received before the closing date of the giveaway.


 Any questions?  Just email me.

Happy Entering!! 

Sluggy

This Week On the Dining Table

I hope that sandwich has lots of BACON on it!!!

 

Here's what was planned last week--

Sunday--Grilled Pork Chop, Summer Squash Sauté, Macaroni Salad
Monday--Tacos, Corn
Tuesday--Ravioli, Salad, Garlic Bread
Wednesday--Sloppy Joes on Buns, Brussel Sprouts
Thursday--Quiche, Salad
Friday--No Clue
Saturday--No Clue

 We had the pork chop meal, the tacos meal, the quiche meal.  Sloppy joes and ravioli are on this week's menu. I made empanadas using up the previous week's fajita filling and we had leftovers or Fend For Yourself 2 nights.  I don't recall the 7th night what we had but we got NO take-out last week.

Go us!!

 I spent $92.54 on $148.26 worth of groceries at 2 different stores last week.  $60.17 spent was for items we ate last week so about $30 was stocking up and/or staples we were out of.  Most of the spending was for fresh produce, meats and a little dairy.

2 Weeks down in June and I still have $307.46 left in my food budget.

Going into this week the leftovers that remain are--1 whole quiche, kaiser rolls, half a container of half & half,  half a bag of carrots that need using. (I've made bold the leftover items I've used in the menu below.)

 Here's this week's meal plan--
 

Sunday--Ravioli with homemade Sauce, Salad, Garlic Bread
Monday--Salmon, Corn OTC, Roasted Potatoes & Onions
Tuesday--Sloppy Joes on Kaiser Rolls, Roasted Asparagus
Wednesday--Quiche, Salad
Thursday--Roast Chicken, Baked Sweet Potato, Green Beans
Friday--Mushroom Parmesan, Ginger Carrots, leftover side dishes
Saturday--Leftovers

 

Again this week, no Take-Out. 8-)

As for the leftover half&half, it will keep another week....

 

The night I run the oven for the roasted chicken is the night I do the sweet potatoes and I'll bake something chocolate at the same time in there.

 On the shopping list so far--corn OTC, asparagus, more salad greens, roasting chicken, portabella mushroom caps and lunchmeat for me.  Throw in seasonal fruits and the junk foods I didn't pick up last week for #2 Son because I didn't find them at a good/reasonable price.

 

So that's where the food money stands now and what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.

 What's getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy

Ramshackle vs. Shit Hole...You Decide!

While I was out last week at the cemetery taking photos of headstones, I happened to notice a house for sale on the road along the way.
I took note of the real estate company on the sign and went onto their website.  I located the property listing and contacted the listing agent after asking Hubs if he'd be interested in seeing it over the weekend.

So we made a date with the agent to go see the property.
It was listed for a very cheap amount and the listing noted the house was in poor shape and was being sold "as is".  We figured for the size of the lot(almost 2 acres), the location and the low price, it was worth checking out to see if it was a project we'd like to take on.
Mine you, Hubs is not in the least handy, so by "taking it on as a project", I mean we will buy it and have someone else do the bulk of the real work.  We can paint, make curtains and buy furniture and appliances. ;-)

Going in knowing the house was in poor shape didn't even begin to prepare me mentally for what we found.
Hubs referred to ever so kindly, as ramshackle.
I think it is a shit hole but I'll let YOU decide which is more accurate.

Think a cross between a house from "Hoarders" and a crack den......

Skip past these photos if you have a faint heart or a weak stomach.
The listing says it was built around 1930....this would be the main part of the house as the addition was built on much later.  The kitchen cabinets date from the '50's or early '60s.
Here is the entrance shot, coming up the driveway......

 The door leads into a cement block screened in porch on a concrete slab.

Here is another shot from the property listing taken from behind the house, standing up on the hillside's retaining wall looking down onto the house....

The screened in porch is on the left, the 1 car garage is in the middle and the door and window to the right are a quite large workshop.
In this shot you can see how the house is laid out.  There are 2 main sections to the house, what we think was the original cottage, which is 24 x 32.  The peaked roof behind and to the side of the main house section is an addition, which is 22 x 28. The screened porch, garage and workshop were all added on at various points in time.  The roof lines are a mess visually.  All different pitches and angles.  The roof needs replacing asap and there is serious ceiling damage inside and critters are getting in.
Oh, and there is no key so you can't lock the place up.  Nice, huh?
There is no backdoor....or rather the screened porch entrance IS what was the backdoor.  There is no front door.  We think there was a front door at one time which led into the living room.  There is a cement walkway down the yard and stairs leading to the road, which also leads us to believe that there was a front door at this location.  But at some point they closed up the door and the entryway/mudroom/vestibule area and made it into a small room(nursery/small bedroom/study/hobby room/whatever).
Here is the side of the house, which I refer to as the front of the house, as it faces the road....

The open doorway is the entrance to the basement.  Between the window on the left and the double thin windows next to the doorway is where the entrance use to be.

Here is another shot of this side of the house....

This is the chimney to the fireplace in the living room and where the addition to the house is joined to the main part of the house.  Here's the addition.....

Now here is a shot of the retaining wall that runs along the hillside along side the house to the back of the property.  It's about 3.5-4 ft. tall.....

The retaining wall also runs down the side of the driveway for a piece.  We think the wall needs redoing or structural support.
There is also a retaining wall at the front of the property where it meets the road.  The yard/property drops off(as in a cliff)to the road.  There is a retaining wall there which looks like it will need attention very soon.  Since it abuts the road, Penndot will need to be called in/advised and the road partly blocked off when this wall gets repaired/redone.  Anything involving the state govt. will be licensed and permitted to death and get very expensive....that's a given.
Now prepare yourself for the interior shots.....this ain't pretty.

The screened in porch, complete with bags of garbage........

This is upon entering the house....

A built in coat closet, peg hooks and lovely knotty pine paneling.
Next to the closet is this.....

It's wooden, built into the wall and old.  My thinking is it's a telephone bench thingy.  Desk phone would go on the upper shelf and you sit on the lower shelf and chat in years gone by.  Also a good place to remove/change shoes/boots when coming in/going out the kitchen door.

So this door leads you into the kitchen.....

The kitchen is 14 x 23 and opens up into the living room.  The cabinets you see are all there are.  There are a set of double windows looking out onto the screened porch.  The appliances still in there are all trash.  There is a formica paneling thing on 2 of the walls.  That black pipe sticking up by the arched doorway is a washing machine drain pipe.  They had the washer and dryer in the kitchen against that back wall.

Here is the view of the living room from the kitchen doorway.

There is a window next to the fireplace and another one on the wall to the left in the room.  The hallway to the right in the photo leads to the addition, which is the master bedroom.  You can also see the hint of a doorway on the right side of the hallway....this is the 2nd bedroom.
Here's a shot, looking left into the living room.....

Now, what you can't see is off to the left off the living room, tucked behind the side wall in the kitchen is where the front door use to be located and where they've closed it off to make a small room.  This entryway probably opened into the living room, if you turned left and into the kitchen, if you went straight.  There is a elevation change down(by a couple of inches) when you step from the living room into this small room.  I couldn't tell if the whole floor was "off" in the living room or if this elevation change was deliberate.  There may be foundation issues here but it's not evident unless we have a professional go over the foundation.  The living room also has the knotty pine paneling throughout.

Off to the right of the living room was the garage door.....

The garage is cinderblock wall.
It's a generous 1 car size.  Good amount of room to walk around when a vehicle is parked inside and a set of built-in wooden shelves along the near wall.

The next door off of the living room is the full bathroom.  It currently only has one bathroom.....

It's quite large.  The sink is in the corner of the room...you can see it peeking out form behind the tub wall.  The counter runs 2 full wall lengths.  Of course all the fixtures/counters/flooring will need to be replaced in here.
All the plumbing pipes most probably will need to be replaced.

Here is the 2nd bedroom......

We didn't measure it as it's hard to get an accurate reading if you have to climb up on piles of trash. 8-(
This bedroom is on the backside of the house, where the retaining wall comes up about 4" high, so the window is just that little basement type window you see.  All the ceilings in the house were drop ceilings and you could see, where the water and critters had gotten in and caused damaged, the roof trusses and sheathing of the roof, amidst the hanging insulation.  The ceilings seemed low and could use a good dose of sheetrock in the bath and bedrooms, or exposing and making cathedral ceiling heights in the living room.

Coming out of the bedroom and making a right, the hallway leads you to the addition, the master bedroom.....

This is the shot from the doorway looking straight ahead.  More ceiling/roof damage and a pile of shit.  One nice window on the front of the house and another one of those little basement type windows on the other wall.
To the right after entering the bedroom, there is a nice sized closet.  It's so big, they have a dresser sitting in it.
And here is the center of the room shot.....

You can see that doorway at the back of the room, which we'll call a closet....

Here's a shot looking down this closet from the doorway.  It runs the entire length of the addition-28".
We figured it was a closet or storage area, but if you look to the left into the room, from the doorway.....

There is a counter with a bathroom sink under that crap.  They were probably doing to put in an en suite bathroom(either a half or 3/4 bath)at one time but never got it finished.  We don't know if the sink is even plumbed.

And that concludes the house tour.

Oh, there is the workshop next to the garage.....

This runs along the length of the house and must be 30 ft. deep at least.  It's on a concrete slab but there is no insulation or heat source.  There is a vent in here.  The realtor said the owner use to tinker with cars as a hobby so he must have had to vent exhaust fumes in here. The wall is block construction about 4 ft. up and then wood framing on the right side of the building.  The left wall is block all the way up(as it's the shared wall with the garage).  The retaining wall is just on the other side of the wall on the right.  We checked that the retaining wall is not up against the building and the wooden framing is nowhere near the dirt level of the hillside, so other than age and/or pests there should be no rot from contact with the ground.

So that's about it.

The good things......It sits on almost 2 acres of land.  Taxes are low and we would challenge the county assessment anyway.  Though in the listing it states the house is over 2,100 sq. ft., that includes the garage and workshop and screened porch.  The actual house is just under 1,400 sq ft.  This is a very adequate size for what we want in a retirement home.  It's hard to find a retirement home on a sizeable piece of land anymore that isn't on the small side.  Somehow builders think that if you want a chunk of land between you and your neighbor that you also want a McMansion sized house. bleh! 
The home is on a public sewage system, not a septic, so we can add a 2nd bathroom without having to worry if the septic field perks for the additional bathroom.
It's very close, as in across the street from a stream.  You might be able to see it in winter(when the leaves drop), but you can hear it and it's so soothing.  But this property is up about 20 ft. from the level of the stream so even with it flooding it would take a majorly major flood to get to the elevation of the house.  Though we don't know about the foundation yet, the subfloor inside(except for that one spot transitioning from the living room to the small room)seems firm with no soft spots and no joists movement or noise when you walk around.  I am sure that once someone removes all the garbage from the shit hole that the support beams will sigh a little in relief. lol
And the best good thing--it's going for cheap.  Cheap as in, "we can go to the bank and withdraw cash and hand if over and not be left without any emergency fund money cheap".
Especially if we can talk them down.

The bad things..... It needs all new wiring and electrical updating, as well as plumbing.  Yes, someone has stolen all the copper piping and wiring since the house is not secured.  There is no water heater and the heat source was oil or gas.  Not sure on whether there still was a furnace but it would need replacing anyway.  The foundation may have issues.  Retaining walls need attention.  There are no appliances, The kitchen needs reconfiguring and all new cabinets.  The windows need replacing as well as the flooring and ceilings.  All new bathroom fixtures and laundry.  Locks for the door.lol  Another door.  Insulation and a new roof.
The only thing that could possibly wait for later is grading and asphalting the driveway and having some trees taken down to open the property up to more sunshine.
Excavation and retaining walls(not little decorative landscaping ones but major keep the hillside from sliding down ones)can be very expensive to do.  Plus we'd need to have some drainage work done in conjunction with the wall.

And the worse for our budget bad thing is we can't do much of the work ourselves.  I'm a little handy but not without help and Hubs wants no part in putting a house together construction-type stuff.  So we'd  have to pay to have everything done by someone else.....and I don't trust most of the construction type folks around here.

I got on my financial hat and did some guesstimates of what all the projects this house needs done would run.
Everything--windows, insulation, roof, new plumbing, wiring, appliances, kitchen cabinets, ceilings, flooring, garage door, siding on the house, retaining walls, driveway plus the demolition and clean-out would run $60,000.
This doesn't include anything we find behind the walls, new sheetrock for the walls, foundation structural issues or replacing roof trusses or if all the roof sheathing needs replacing.  It also doesn't include if the well is bad.

They are asking $39,000 "as is".  We would feel comfortable paying $20,000 due to the deplorable condition it's in and all the work it needs.  It's worth $20K just for the land and IF the foundation is sound.

Our other possibility here is to demolish the house/garage/workshop.  We could park an RV trailer and use it for a vacation property for the short term....I'd  have to check the zoning regulations first in this area to see if that is feasible.  This would cost whatever we can get a used RV camper for.
Then we could sell the camper and build a new house when we were ready to move forward with that.

This could be a big mistake/money pitt or it could be a diamond shat out in a pile of dog turds.
I've watched all those flipping real estate shows to know that once you start tearing things off or out of a house, you will, without a doubt, find things hidden from sight that will cost you additional money in replacement or repairs.
For some reason, after going through this horror of a house and taking a good long shower once I got home and burning what I was wearing, I can't seem to just say this isn't worth even considering!
I don't know.....maybe my brain cells disintegrated from all the molds spores floating in the air in that house and I'm not thinking straight.

Help me out here, will ya?
What do you think of this place?
Potential or Hell NO?!

Sluggy

A Different Kind of Father's Day Post

It's that time of year again.
Time for Father's Day.
I have always thought that Father's Day, if we want to be accurate about it, should come 9 months before we celebrate Mother's Day. ;-)

I don't get into celebrating Father's Day really.
The holiday has not much meaning to me.
Yeah, I had a father but he wasn't what I'd call a good father overall.

He had some good points but really, as far as being a dad to me, he fell real short of the mark.
As my brother likes to remind me, don't judge him too harshly, after all, he had no role model for how to be a good dad.
Partly true, as my father's father up and left when my dad was about 11 years old.
No one knows why really other than his family cramped his style.

My dad then got a stepfather a few years later.  I really don't know what the relationship was between them, but I do know that my step grandfather didn't particularly like children(but he adored me as I've written about him before).  With my father being a teenager at the time my step grandfather entered my dad's life, I am sure there was animosity on both sides in that relationship because teens are just not pleasant people to be around most of the time. ;-)

My dad had a rough time from the age of 11 but it wasn't a horrible home life.  Nobody was beating on him or abusing him.  He did well in school, played the trumpet and was on the school's championship basketball team.
He married my mother the year after he graduated high school.  He was 19 yrs. old.  My mother was 16 yrs. old.

My mother adored him.  And he expected that kind of attention from all of us later on.

He worked his way up as an office manager and eventually becoming an accountant.  I was told he worked many low paying jobs just to support his little family and when the money was there, he went to night school to get his college degree.  He was 37 when he finished college.

He got that degree, sat for his CPA license, had his own firms for many years and became a partner in a prestigious accounting firm in Virginia by the end of his working life.

He was determined to make something out of himself.  I'd call him driven really.  I don't think, looking back at his life now, that he achieved the level of success professionally that he did because he wanted to provide to his family the trappings of success.  I think his motivation was more about him wanting to prove to the world that he was important and we all were just along for the ride.  What the outside world(colleagues, friends & those of a higher social status)thought of him was very very important to him.  More important than what he thought.

He loved babies.  But as soon as they got old enough to talk and to defy his wishes, he lost interest.
He had to control everyone and everything around him.  He had a black belt in manipulation and was the master of broken promises.   He knew everything and you had to do as he said, not as he did.  Later on in life, if you wanted to be in his life, it was always on his terms.  He was the most important person in the universe and if he did something that hurt you, too bad.  As long as he was happy, the means justified the ends.  By the time he died, he was estranged from many of his family members, including me.
Somehow my mother was able to find it in her heart to forgive him for the significant damage he had done to her.  10 years after his death, I am still grappling with forgiving him for the hurt he inflicted on my life.  I guess I'm a lot like him, in that I am slow to forgive. ;-)

On the lighter side, my dad has become the butt of a running joke in our family.  If someone is being an ass, or overbearing, or controlling, or exhibiting a myriad of mean and nasty behaviors, we tell them that they are being a *insert my father's name*.
I know it sounds mean but this is how we cope with being dealt a bad "dad hand" in life.
He had a few good points when he chose to exhibit those.  But they were few and far between and usually he was being his narcissistic self.  Being in my father's world was not a happy place for me.

I am thankful that I at least had a dad in my life, during the times that he chose to be around.
I am thankful for the monetary support he gave me.   Well give isn't quite the right word really.  The money he bribed me with.  It was more of a payment for putting up with him.  That sounds really mean, doesn't it?  We didn't have a deep emotionally fulfilling relationship, my dad and me, if you haven't guessed by now.  It was more of a financial transaction.  I behaved myself and he furnished a house, food, clothing, a bike, some toys.  I tried to live up to his impossible expectations but I was always made to feel like nothing I did was good enough.

And later on he paid for college and bought me a small car when I graduated, sort of as a pay off.....because he had to put me somewhere as I had nowhere to go as his dependent and he needed to keep his secret life hidden from us all.  I know this may sound ungrateful, after all he paid for college and bought me a car when I graduated.  But you have to understand that these things were given for the purpose of using them to control my life as a young adult and to force me out of some sense of duty to do his bidding.

My brother likes to say that I had it better because I was born later in my parent's marriage, later when they were better off financially.  That may be true but money is no substitute for love or being positively involved in your life.

I guess he loved me in his way.....a truly strange way that I will never fully understand.  I'll never stop trying to understand him however.

I believe that it's the Hindu religion that believes that you are in the people's lives you are in now, because you have issues to work out with them from a past life.  If you don't resolve the issues in your relationship before death, you will come back/reincarnate with that person in your life again, but in a different relationship. I know that in my next life, my father will be in it.  He won't be my father but someone else in my life and we'll keep coming back until we fix things between us.  I'm hoping if I am the dominant figure in our relationship next time I can deal more successfully with his spirit.

Happy Father's Day dad. I hope you found the acceptance from the Universe that you were looking for your whole life. 
And let's hope we get it "right" the next go round. 8-)

Sluggy

I'm a Grandma!

No really....I am!

Meet my first grandchild.

Ok, so my first grandchild is a Granddog!

My daughter adopted this cute girl a few weeks ago.
Her name is Cinnamon.
And like us she is something of a mutt.

Do you like her moon eye?  She reminds me of the first dog my Hubs and I had, Pirate.
He was a moon eyed Shepherd/Husky mix.

Cinnamon is part husky, the poor thing.  I don't know how she'll handle the summers in Louisiana....

I skyped with Cinnamon the other night.
Now how sad is that.....skyping with a dog......

And like any good dog mommy, my daughter had her spayed this week.
Shall I break into my Bob Barker "Spay and Neuter your pets" PSA now? ;-)

Sluggy
 

Where My Health Stands Today

Besides the "best" efforts of my previous PCP(aka Primary Care Physican)to do me in, here is where my health stands today.

My Right Heart Catheterization Procedure showed normal pressure levels in my heart, which is excellent news.
The cardiologist took me off of the oxygen 24/7.  He still wants me for now to be on oxygen support while sleeping, but instead of 3 litres, I am on 1 litre, the lowest you can go.
I got my BiPAP(bi-level Positive Air Pressure)Machine 2 weeks ago this coming Monday and have been using it nightly during sleep.  I meant to show y'all my new toy but it's upstairs and I kept forgetting to take the camera up at night to snap a photo.  It's black, sleek and yes sexy, since it helps me get the rest I need, so I can get better. ;-)

I've been taken off some meds, gone on others, but overall the amount has decreased.

The weight has plateaued....sigh....partly due to changed meds and they took me off of the one that was helping me lose weight.  I haven't been able to get the exercise program going yet, which I need to do to get the metabolism kicked up a notch.  It's hard to exercise beyond a slow pace when your lungs don't allow you to get enough oxygen saturation.
I had a lung function test a couple of weeks ago and it shows decreased functioning and I have some permanent lung issues.  I'm breathing better but not up to snuff.

The cardiologist wants me to consider bariatric surgery.  He feels that is the only way I am going to get enough weight off in the time frame I need to have it gone.  He says I am lucky that the heart cath shows normal heart function because if it had come back abnormal, along with my breathing problems, that no surgeon would have considered doing general anesthesia surgery on me.

The PCP is of both minds on this bariatric surgery subject....mostly due to it's extreme nature.  I have so many other problems that surgery and the changes this surgery will entail will be difficult to balance with all the other meds and conditions.
Of course, if I have the surgery and get the weight off, some of these conditions will go away or lessen to a great extent.
I went down this bariatric surgery road once before in 2006 or so.  I got to the psychological evaluation process after 6 months of appts. with this surgeon's nutritionist/caseworker(which insurance did NOT pay a penny for)when this doctor decided to stop performing bariatric procedures totally.  He decided that it was NOT a permanent solution for weight reduction, as all his patients were regaining the weight 5 years out or so.  So instead of committing to do surgery on the patients still in the process, he just walked away without even a "Sorry folks".....
So basically I was left paying OOP a goodly sum and was at the end of the line.  I would have had to start from the beginning again with a new doctor which we could have done financially but psychologically and emotionally I was not prepared to do.

Hubs and I are mulling over whether to go down this road again.  I know techniques have improved so I am not as reticent due to the possibility of a botched procedure that could affect my life for whatever is left of it.  Maybe the lap band procedure(which is not as extreme and fully reversible)may be my compromise.  I just don't know what to do at this point.

I am currently having all those routine female tests done and they want me to schedule the big "You are over 50 now, let's dig around in your colon" Test. 
The Nurse Practitioner ordered the test because she did a sample and it came back positive for blood.  I think it was due to my hemorrhoids but better to be safe than sorry.
Yes, Sluggy has hemorrhoids.
TMI for sure..... ;-)

My blood pressure is good.
My blood sugars are good.
My cholesterol is a little high.
My sleep apnea is MUCH improved.

So I am still here and kicking and look to be here for the foreseeable future.
I am going with the program and taking the tests and pills as ordered, sticking to my low sodium diet and trying though it seems lately in vain, to get some weight off.
And this is all in my spare time.....LOLOL
Not really, it pretty much has taken over and has become my life.

So I should be around to bother the crap out of everyone for a long time still.
Aren't you glad? 8-)

Sluggy



 

Another Reason Not to Shop at Walmart

Well, you should stay out of my local Walmart.....

 

Sluggy

Organizing Work...Boring but Necessary

Nothing much exciting to talk about today.

I took a ride out to visit "Joshua" at the cemetery in St. Johns PA yesterday.
Actually, I went to snap some photos of headstones, both photo requests on F.A.G. and just random stones to put up memorials for on F.A.G.
And Joshua snubbed me....humph!  He must have been up late partying the night before.

I found at least 9 headstones for requests(I may have found more but I need to go through and edit my photos first).  I also found some relatives of the requests who didn't have memorials up on F.A.G. yet, which may make the people who requested photos happier still, as they be long lost relations.

A few of the headstones were very worn and all the details aren't readily readable.  I found this video of a guy who uses flour to bring out the etching in old unreadable headstones....

 

If you read the lengthy list of comments on that video you'll see the flour method has pros and cons and it's use is not widely recommended.  I may have to get a blacklight or laser flashlight to keep in the car as those doesn't seem to harm the headstones and can aid in reading the markers.  It doesn't help that my eyes are old and getting weaker too.

Anyway, today I'm editing photos and uploading them to F.A.G.

I also found an interesting real estate property on the road to the cemetery that is for sale.
Check it out HERE.  It needs gutting basically but it's a nice piece of property in a low tax area and it's right across the road from a creek and it's going for pennies.....mostly because it needs a whole house redo.
But we could buy it for cash and work on it at our leisure.  Of course that would mean retiring up here in the snowbelt but then there is always RV living out-of-state for the winter months.
It's a moot point unless I can get an agent to SHOW us the house!....which no one seems to want to do.  You would think with the housing/real estate market depressed as it is, agents would be returning my calls without haste to get me inside this house, huh?
Not so.
I guess the commission on a $40K property just isn't worth their effort.....

I also cleaned out my Yahoo mailbox earlier this week.  1500+ emails gone!
I unsubbed from many email firms there and dumped a bunch of spam and unwanted mails.
Then I set up some new folders and moved about 300 emails worth keeping.
I am left with 10 emails to deal with in the old inbox.
Go me! lol

I don't access my Yahoo mail much anymore.  I don't remember what led me over there to my inbox but I'm glad I went because I found out something interesting.

Yah see, when I got this new computer with Windows 8(STILL hate W8!), the Hubs couldn't sent up my email server into the Windows program so that my incoming mail goes into my inbox.  He had to sent up a folder in the email program for my server addy and all my incoming mail from my server comes into that folder, not my inbox. (We have a "pop" email account and W8 doesn't support that any longer?)  It's too confusing for me to explain better or even to understand.....I just know that it "ain't right".

Over the last couple of months, since being on this new machine, I've sent out emails to folks.  Now there is still a feature on this machine, through Windows 8, that hooks to my yahoo email account.  I just discovered, by going into my yahoo inbox, I have replies to emails I sent out that I never got responses to in my reg. email server account I use...which is where I thought I had sent these emails from.  Somehow, it seems, when I sent emails on this machine to these persons, the computer used my yahoo email account, thus the replied to the yahoo email.

One such person I never got a response from was Tanner....well she DID respond but I never saw the response as it went to my Yahoo inbox.
Evidently, I hit something on my computer and instead of sending some emails out through my regular server it brought up a blank email form through the yahoo account.
So I apologize if I never responded to your response to me, especially to Tanner.
I'll be emailing you later Tanner about what we were corresponding about....I haven't forgotten you! ;-)

It truly sucks being a technology halfwit and have I told y'all how much I detest Windows 8 yet?? 8-))

Speaking of Yahoo, some day I'll have to tell y'all the story about my Siamese twin Asian email sister on Yahoo.
It's a hoot of a story.

Oh!!!
One more thing to say.......
I got my testing kit yesterday in the mail.

 

I'll be brushing the inside of my cheeks today and sending off my dna to be analyzed tomorrow.
I'm so excited to see what comes up as far as matches(if any)and what it says about my ancestry.
Knowing my luck, it will tell me I am descended from Nordic ancestors and Monkeys, none of which is correct......that I know of.......!

Has anyone else out there taken the first step into the Wide World of Genetic Testing for Ancestry?

Sluggy

The "Good" Doctor

In the continuing saga of my ex-primary doctor.......

Well the week of April 29th-May 3rd was a great week for my ex-doctor.
He was such the popular fellow that there was an article in the local newspaper about him and his tale of woe every day that week.
Impressive!

The Times Leader site won't let me pull up the article from April 29th but here are the others from the competing newspaper.....

APRIL 30th
MAY 1st
MAY 2nd
MAY 3rd

Plus I found this tidbits on the Times Leader online site....

The state Board of Osteopathic Medicine reports that:
• Mark Gonsky, of Luzerne County, was ordered to attend a course in prescribing controlled substances in 2012, institute contracts for the management of any chronic pain patients and engage a professional office management company to review his documentation practices and then re-evaluate the documentation practices six months later because he failed to maintain complete records for his patient.

Things have been kind of low key in the news media for him lately.  THIS is the latest article I could find on him this morning.

I do feel some compassion for the man but I am still very very angry.....

Sluggy

I'm A Cheap Dinner Date

Here's what I did with the leftover Fajita filling I had.
I took a page out of Alex M.'s playbook.
I whipped up a pie crust dough and made quasi Tex/Mex Empanadas.
The weather was rainy and cool enough to consider running the oven today.

Circle of dough, put filling on half, sprinkle some cheddar cheeses on top, fold over and seal/crimp with a fork.
Then I placed on a spray oil coated foiled cookie sheet and sprayed more oil on top of each.  Bake at 400 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

The burnt stuff is filling that leaked out and stayed on the foil.  the fajita filling was juicy enough that it didn't need a sauce put inside these.

Each was really too big for one meal, so I cut mine in half and the other piece will be lunch or dinner tomorrow.

some leftover corn and a big dollop of sour cream finished off my plate.

Hubs preferred his with hot sauce and a can of chili.....

Of course he dumped all the chili on it before realizing he couldn't eat the whole thing in one sitting.
Well, he could of eaten the whole thing in one sitting but he thought that wouldn't be wise....lol

The costs of this leftover meal?
.33¢ for the box of Jif pie crust mix and $1.00 for the can of chili(both bought ahead on sale) and pennies(let's say 5¢) for my dollop of sour cream.
$1.38 plus we have enough left for another meal.

I spent $61.95 at the grocery store yesterday and it really wasn't a lot of food.  $19.49 of that was for #2 Son's requested foods that I won't be eating, so $42.46 for fruit, juice, meat, lettuce, tomato sauce, onion rolls.  $92.74 worth of food all totaled.
I still need to get more fruit, salad greens, milk and half & half tomorrow and I am done spending this week.
If the weather cooperates tomorrow, I'll bake off 2 quiches(1 for the freezer)and make spaghetti sauce and the bulk of cooking for week will be complete.

Sluggy

 

The Past Weekend and Coming Attractions....Boring of Course!

I was all productive last weekend.....well, productive for me! 8-)

Hubs was in the midst of getting the pool ready for the season and had some patching to do on the liner.  The bear of the job though was repairing the rusted holes in the steel skin, the outer metal part of the pool.  Fixing these areas required him to remove the top supports/the edges on the pool and peel back the plastic liner to get behind the skin.
Everything was good until it came time to attach the liner back into the channeled rigid rimmy parts(technical term)so the liner didn't fall off the metal enclosure which is your pool.
So Sluggy, the mechanical, logical genius to the rescue to reconstruct how he had taken the whole shebang apart and put it back together again.....much like all the King's horse and men attempted to do with Humpty Dumpty after his plummet off a wall.
But unlike Humpty's friends, I was successful. ;-)
Oh and Hubs helped too......lol

We got the garden bed planted and I got the salad green gutters done earlier in the week.  I just hope the gutters are more successful this year, since all I grew last year was a crop of bumpkiss!  I also planted some old seeds I had here in the oak barrels in the backyard.  I didn't buy any new seeds this year and just used up what I had leftover from the previous years.  I won't be surprised if nothing actually comes up. lol

We got the front bed mulched.....ignore that square brick sitting in front.  It was there as a boundary marker for the mulch.  We still need to put some kind of a border up.

I got my little garden bed "doo-dads" put in as well.  Little snail items(I AM Slugmama after all....hello!  lol)
The snail stepping stone didn't come off very well in the shot....

 

This week, since #2 Son is finished with school until August and has time to help out around here, we'll be working on the back/side flower bed.
It needs serious work!!!  We don't call that area the jungle for nothing. ;-)

On a sad note, we discovered my little lemon magnolia tree died.  This was the tree Hubs bought me for Mother's Day 3 years ago(?).   Last year it took a turn for the worse after we experienced some rather wacky weather patterns and this past winter must have been too rough for it and it gave up the tree ghost.  We went to prune it back to try to save it this weekend and the trunk nearly snapped right off at the base.  It's that little stump in the upper center of the yard.....

This gives credence to the legend that I can't keep anything alive.....
R.I.P. little tree.
I'll have #2 Son dig up the stump this week and we can level and sow some grass seed there.

I also did a slew of baking/cooking this past weekend.....I made a coffee cake, a dozen muffins, a pan of brownies and a big bowl of macaroni salad.  If I was running the oven, why not get a lot of things cooked, right?
Sorry, I forgot to take pictures and most of it is gone thanks to #2 Son.
I did some of this in prep for a visit from Udy with a "J".  She was suppose to drop by on her way to family(either on the way or coming back from)sometime during the weekend.  I also had some adult beverages chilled waiting for her arrival, but alas, she never arrived.
Sluggy makes a sad face......

I guess warning her about the nasty dirty house was just too much for her delicate constitution.
Either that or she thought I'd hand her a broom and some cleaning products and put her to work.... ;-)

So I did some work in the garage in my free time this past weekend too.  Hubs inflated an air mattress we had out there(a leaving from the Daughter)to see if it would stay inflated.  It did so it's gotten a big dose of Lysol and will be deflated and stored in it's case and we can pick out the expensive air mattress with the built in electric inflator that we paid good money for put never held air enough to get a body through the night without pitching them on the floor at 3 am.
One more thing I can say goodbye too in this house....yay me!

Then I cleaned out the old freezer to get it ready for being picked up by the recycling company which is coming next week.  That will be another big item out of the garage and my life......go me again!!

This week I need to get all these boxes of cans/bottles/etc. of food I can't eat out of the living room to freecycle.  I was keeping them around to see if Judy wanted some of it when she came but I just have to get it gone now.
It's blocking my mental energy, ya know?

I am off in a little while for another dr. appointment.  This one is with my new primary doctor, my FIRST appointment with him.  He has officially been my primary for over 2 Months now and I have yet to see him, though I've had appts. with just about every other dr. in the area during this time. 8-P

So what's up with you in the next few days?
Did you do anything exciting over the weekend??


Sluggy

 

You Know You Are Getting Old....

.....When more and more the hit Musicals on Broadway are shows that you remember being brand new on the stage when you were young.

Sunday night's Tony Winner for Revival of a Musical is one such example for me.

PIPPIN

It debuted on Broadway in October of 1972 and ran until June of 1977, meaning it ran the entirety of my teenage years and closed the month I graduated high school.
I bought the album sometime in 1973 when I was 14 years old.

Though I was never in a production of it, I bought the original cast album(remember those....albums?)the day it hit the record store shelves and I about wore it out singing along and memorizing numbers to use as audition pieces.

On Sunday, Pippin also received 3 individual awards for acting to Patina Miller(the Leading Player role) and Andrea Martin(Grandma Bertha)and the Direction of a Musical statuette went to Diane Paulus.
Bravo ladies.....

I so wish I had seen the Great  Irene Ryan in the Berthe role(Irene Ryan =Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies).
Here's a clip of one of Granny's replacements in the video production done in 1981.   A Classic comedienne of the 1940's, Martha Raye took her turn at the role.
She's ok but I picture Granny as better.
It's kind of long this clip so I don't blame you if you don't watch it all.....




Here's the incomparable Ben Vereen as the Leading Player(he was the originator of the role) from that film made of the show in 1981. 
I content that when he was at the top of his game, few interpreted Bob Fosse's dance vision better.
Take a look.   The dance number begins at 3:58....



Now watch this clip from Letterman's show of part of that dance number with the current cast members(it's at the beginning of the clip).  They go on to do another number, but watch the first number of the original Fosse moves.



I know that with Revivals of shows it's a balancing act between recreating the original numbers and the "look" of the show, with a new, fresh interpretation. 
With a revival coming so many years after the original production(40 years!), more people seeing it will have little if any recollection of the original production(unless they are OLD enough to remember the original version). 

For the record, I don't care for this production as much as the original version.
Some of it is more appropriate in a production of "Carnival" than "Pippin".
Yes, it's a slicker more polished version(with modern cirque du soleil type circus acts, instead of a blend of medieval morality plays and commedia dell'arte type moves and characters)of the show.
And you have to agree film technology has certainly come a long way since the early '80's!
Granted the revivals clips aren't filmed on the regular stage the show is presented on, but still....
I guess it's a no brainer to model it on a Cirque show......they sell out and run forever everywhere they play.  They sell tickets and put butts in the seats so why not steal that formula for the Pippin revival.

But it's lost it's dark, seedy and sinister foreboding undertones that the original production had for the sake of keeping audiences....current younger theater goers with shorter attention spans who need flashy and sparkle and can't focus on something for any amount of time without checking their smartphones or something.
The revival has got too much Shinola and not enough shit as it were. ;-)


And here's the opening number from the 1981 film with Ben Vereen.  Near the end of it notice the actress in the mask who says a very sarcastic, "Fantastic".  That's the legend Chita Rivera.





And from the new production,  a clip from Sunday night's Tony Awards show, a montage of numbers from Pippin.





Sluggy

This Week On the Dining Table

I am right on schedule with this post this week....will wonders never cease?!

 

Here's what was planned last week--

Sunday--Hot Dogs, leftover beans, corn and 'new pickles'
Monday--Fend for Yourself night as Hubs was late from an out-of-town meeting
Tuesday--Chicken Fajitas
Wednesday--Chicken Parm, Sumer Squash Casserole
Thursday--Tacos
Friday--Fajitas Redux
Saturday--WTHK---> Who The Heck Knows!

 

We stuck to the list fairly well though not on the days I had planned.  I got Chinese take-out on Thurs. so we didn't do the Tacos, and Hubs wasn't up to a big meal the last 2 days so it was leftover Fajitas for moi only.

I spent $46.02 on $73.93 worth of groceries last week.  Mostly on produce, eggs and crabmeat.


Here's this week's meal plan--
Sunday--Grilled Pork Chop, Summer Squash Sauté, Macaroni Salad
Monday--Tacos, Corn
Tuesday--Ravioli, Salad, Garlic Bread
Wednesday--Sloppy Joes on Buns, Brussel Sprouts
Thursday--Quiche, Salad
Friday--No Clue
Saturday--No Clue

#2 Son is home for dinner 3 nights this week so I asked him for 2 dinner suggestions.  He said he'd eat Tacos(of course!lol), Ravioli and Quiche and I should make other things the nights he's working.
Thus he avoided giving me 2 dinner suggestions....the boy is a genius I tell ya! ;-)

So I am taking suggestions from my readers for what to serve 2 nights this week.  Something for 2 people, that is low sodium but tasty and hopefully I have most of the ingredients to make already here.
A bonus if one meal uses the Fajitas filling(chicken, peppers, onions and mushrooms)I have leftover.
Good luck! 8-))

On the shopping list so far--

fruit, orange juice, produce, salad greens, turkey breast meat, cheese, half and half and "junk" for Noah(ramen noodles, hash browns, burritos, etc.)

So that's where the food money stands now and what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.
What's getting fixed and served at your house this week?

Sluggy