Random Stuff About My Week

Hubs took off from work this week....he's got tons of vacation time as he never gets a chance with his work load to take time off, but he bit the bullet and took some off anyway.

We haven't spent this week doing any great and amazing things however.  He's done a few things around the house but basically he's just been kicking back when I haven't been bitching at him about something or other.   Yes, I do bitch.......imagine that?! lol

So let's see what's been going on around here......let me think.....

Oh yes!!
The big news is the crew showed up, bright and early(at least for ME!)at 8am on Monday to install our nifty new a/c and heating system.
After last week's mugginess I was more than READY for some conditioned air!

We were warned by the home office, that it might take up to 2.5 Days to get this job completed, so they might be here all of Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday.
But the guy, Mike, and his crew stayed a little past "quitting time" on Monday and got the job finished....completed.....done in one day!

And here are 2 of the units working away, one in the living room/dining room and 1 in the kitchen/den.....

There is another one in our bedroom upstairs that is just as lovely.

Yesterday I was out on the side of the house pulling weeds, where they installed the compressor unit on Monday.  One of the crew had pulled up some of the weeds where they put the compressor.  When I went over there on Monday to check out their work,  I was so embarrassed as the weeds were taller than me in some cases!  I just hadn't gone around to that side of the house since early Spring so I had no idea how bad it looked over there now.
And of course, Hubs and #2 Son, if they had seen the "forest" lately had just ignored it.
I can report that the "forest" is gone now.  I'll have #2 Son dig up the matts of grass that are so thick and tough you can't tame it with a weed wacker any longer and cart off the broken bricks hidden in there to the garbage sometime next week.

Speaking of #2 Son, he is currently in the wilds of PA, hopefully happily blowing on his flute.  We took the boy to flute camp on Wednesday.  Once we got off the Interstate, the drive wasn't as bad or as long as we had thought it might be.

Not much to look at, other than mountains and trees along the way, plus a few little towns.
Here's a wind farm I tried to get a picture of when we made a pit stop for "facilities"......

We feared the local road for half the journey was a little 2 lane divided highway  but  most of it turned out to be a limited access 4 lane job......

And I had Hubs pull over so I could get this shot of a local tourist attraction we passed, that I had ABSOLUTELY NO interest in checking out up close and personal......lol......

We found the college where the flute camp was being held easily since the college is about as big as the teeny tiny town it's located in. lol

I should say the "music camp", as opposed to flute campe, since they had other types of musical instrument camps going on jointly here, like brass and percussion.  There is a big old concert the last morning of the camp before the kids are slated to leave which should be nice.

#2 Son was a bit nervous as he didn't know anyone there and he had to audition as soon as he arrived so they knew what level of players to put him in with.  He was practicing his piece quietly in the car before we got there.
Here is where he is living for the next few days.....

It's the newest residence hall at this university.  And there was full on construction going on with what looked like 2 or 3 more fancy pants dorms going up nearby.
That residence hall was very posh inside with laundry facilities, lounges, conference rooms and practice spaces(music or dance, I couldn't tell)plus elevators that required swipe cards to be able to access the upper floors where the dorm rooms were located.  Plus #2 needed an actual room key to get into the double suite dorm room.  He had better not lose the card or the key because they charge big money to replace those. 8-(

These dorm rooms were a whole lot nicer than anything his dad or I lived in back in the '70s when we were in college!  His suite is 3 rooms.....2 bedrooms with a bed, a desk and chair, a dresser and hanging space for clothes.  Then there is the common area which had a small fridge, a microwave, a table and 2 dining chairs.  There was enough room in that space for a couple of easy chairs or a loveseat, if you wanted to haul some of that in.  There was a sink/mirror in the common room plus a bathroom(toilet and shower)located off of it.  And the whole shebang had central air and heat.

Anyway, here is #2 Son before we left him.....

I think he was pretty glad to be able to get out of our small town for a while as he's been  having a rough time with an ex-girlfriend and all their friends who seem to run hot and cold toward him since they are not an "item" any longer.
He's had such a rough time lately that he actual brought up the idea of doing cyber schooling in the Fall instead of returning to his high school for his Senior year.  There are other reasons why going on here, but I'm not getting into them now on here.
I think he was pretty jazzed, though you'd never be able to tell from his demeanor, to be with all these other music geeks, especially since it seemed like the girl/boy ratio was 4/1. ;-)

On the way home from dropping the boy off, we stopped for dinner as it was after 5pm.
It was a little hole in the wall pizza joint with high prices called Santino's.
Hubs got one of the dinner specials, cannelloni.....

And I got a Veal Parmigiana sub which was too big to eat it all, so I took half home.....

Every time I hear the name Santino all I can think of is this guy.....

I half expected him to come out of the back while I was munching on my sub and do a Tim Gunn impersonation.....




Then yesterday we took a big step to move forward with "The Great House Fix-Up & Purge of 2013". 
As I have said previously, my Plan A-having the guys who do home improvements for us we have used in the past do a bunch of house projects this year-didn't pan out, as these guys have a 6 month waiting list of customers.  So I proceeded to Plan B, which consisted of using one of those licensed franchise Mr. Handyman services.

Well Plan B was a bust when I found out that the Mr. Handyman franchise closed up in these area for whatever reason.
So I proceeded to Plan C-calling another handyman service, which also happens to be a franchise, called "House Doctors".  Actually, I contacted both House Doctors and a local independent handyman guy in a neighboring town.
Local independent handyman guy never returned my call but the House Doctors guy did.

So yesterday we had the HD guy come out to show him the projects we want completed.  He didn't immediately turn and run after hearing/seeing the list of jobs so we took that as a good sign. ;-)
He is off now, getting an estimate ready for us and hopefully we don't need to sit down before he presents it.  (I would insert an LOL here, except that the price could very well be one so high we will fall down upon seeing it.....and falling down is not anything to laugh about.)

So now we are in "waiting mode"....awaiting the estimate on having all this work done.  The estimate doesn't include either the paint we need for the painting jobs or the flooring we need for the flooring job.  Those costs are separate and we have to add to the price of getting them done.

Today, let's see what we did today other than sit on my fat ass and surf the web.

The big thing was I shoveled out #2 Son's room while he is away for a few days, then vacuumed it, then swept all the hairballs up that the vacuum didn't remove and then I stain treated the carpet and then I shampooed it.
That all took over 2.5 hours.  The a/c is running in there now to lower the relative humidity so the carpet can dry out.

Late tonight, I'll go pick off the remaining hairballs that the shampooer formed(when the spinning heads rotate on the carpeting)and then put the mobile furniture pieces back in the room.
#2 Son will get the honor of clearing and cleaning off all the piles of crap that I put on his bed to get it off the floor and out of the chair.

I don't know why we gave him a dresser since he obviously either hasn't a CLUE that your clothes are suppose to go in it or he just doesn't want to bother to put them in there when the chair is so much more a convenient place to toss them.  Maybe we should add a second chair in his room and remove the dresser, then he can have a chair for the clean clothes and one to put the dirty ones so they aren't all mixed up together.
Or am I just being too picky now? ;-)

And the child wonders why I won't let him move into the much large room vacated by his sister......

I also treated both the sink and the tub drains in the bathroom that #2 Son uses over the past 2 days multiple times.  I used up the entire gallon of Hubs supposed "heavy duty" drain cleaner/unclogger.
It did nothing......
So we'll pick up a better/different agent later this weekend and try some more.
I told Hubs I think we could stand to call out a "drain cleaning/clearing expert" service while we are spending $ on the house, as I feel all the plumbing pipes could use some attention.  That's something I don't think we've really spent on since we moved here 13 years ago.

So other than making hotel reservations, rescheduling a dental appointment, clearing out one of the freezer compartments, going through and tossing more crap in the garage, going grocery shopping at 2 store, balancing my checkbook, paying bills, sending for a liquor rebate, putting books on Amazon to sell, fussing at dogs, playing bubble land on F/B and making meals, that is what my week has been like.

What's up with you this week?

Sluggy

My Firstborn Declutters

While Firstborn child was home last week, he went through the closet of the spare room where all the detritus of his life is stored.
"Like mother, like son" I know you are thinking.
But Oh!....you would be wrong.

You know what detritus is, don't you?.....all the stuff your kid leaves behind when he/she moves out for good.
Every parent who has grown kids  has a house full of this at some point in the life cycle.  Depending on your kid, the amount and how long it sits in your house can vary greatly.

Firstborn did a great job with this decluttering and now only has a couple of articles of clothing, a couple of framed things from wrestling and high school and 2 boxes of "mementoes" stored in that closet.  He emptied the dresser and left a huge box of books and movies to take to Salvation Army or pitch.  I checked on Amazon about listing some of these things and selling back the textbooks to them.  The textbooks are not current editions so worthless basically and I'll be throwing those out(or using them for fire starters out back in the camp fire ring).  I know.....I am committing a sacrilege burning books.....lol

Only 3 items were worth the time/effort to list on Amazon so I've done that and the rest I'll send off to SA(a few I'll read first however).

Firstborn also left a bag of "garbage" in the spare room for us to add to our supply on Garbage Night.
But first, I went through the "garbage".
I did that because Firstborn has a penchant for throwing out perfectly useful and good items.......grrrrr

Of the items we found in that bag of "garbage" were.....
* 2 partial rolls of duct tape(Hubs about had a hissy fit over this! lol)
* a pair of hiking boot leather shoelaces still in the packaging
* an armband for a Zune mp3 player(hey, somebody else can use this)
* a Birthday badge for a 21 yr. old(with a spinner to see what you should buy them to drink at the bar)
* a brand new t-shirt I had bought him for Christmas with the tags still on it!

There were a few other things he deemed "garbage" too.....

 

A set of keys.  One key was from the totaled Toyota but I emailed  him to check on the other keys and they are safe to throw out.
With his mindset of throwing out perfectly good stuff, I thought I'd better ask...

A gargoyle and a bobblehead bassett hound figurine.  These were birthday gifts at some point and are acceptable to send to SA.

The Lord of the Rings Hallmark ornament(unused and still in the box!)was a gift again from me at Christmas.  I have an entire cardboard box of Xmas ornaments I have collected for each of my children tucked away for when they set up their own households.  Makes me rethink collecting these ornies for them when I see him toss one away like this.
My firstborn doesn't seem to have one sentimental bone in his body.
More's the pity....

And then I came across this......

Obviously a handmade/handpainted gift one of his friends made for him.  Now tell me, how could one just trash something like this with such a heartfelt, personal sentiment on it??  ;-)

Thanks to Firstborn's efforts, I am one baby step closer now to getting this house cleared out.
I think I am going to need a shovel & a roll off container though when it comes time to get the youngest child's crap outta here!

Sluggy

The Boring Blog Giveaway WEEK 4....Last Week to Enter!

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.....stuff for the girly girls......

 

 

 

1.  2 x  NYC Lip Stain

2.  2 x Magnetix Nail Poish
3.  1 x Maybelline Mascara

 

THE BOX IS NOW FULL!  THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO ENTER.

 

Let's recap everything in this box, shall we?

 

 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 ONLY until I close the giveaway on July 15, Monday at 11:59pm.  This gives y'all just under 1 week to get all those last minute entries in.  Somebody is going to win this box of goodies and the entries are fairly low at this point in time so get your bad self in on this!

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 garden(if you have one)and what you are planning on cooking/making with all the produce you are growing.  If you don't have a garden, tell me about your trips to the farmer's market or trips to actual farms to get produce or your CSA box.  What veggies are you loving now and what can't you wait to get later in the Season?

 

Personally, I can't wait until the local homegrown maters come in.  WoooBoy! Mmmmmm......

We'll be subsisting on sandwiches and salads when those babies start ripening!!! 8-))

 

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

The Firstborn Comes Home for a Visit

We had a nice visit from our oldest son last week.
If not a too short visit.

I remembered this time to give him his important papers and his savings bonds.

On Wednesday we had planned to have a day together where we would visit the National "War of Northern Aggression" Museum in Harrisburg and then drop in on my blogger buddy MARK for a little visit and a box of wine.

But oldest wanted to see his friends from high school and Wednesday was the only day 2 of them were available last week so we didn't get to fit that trip in.   Sigh

On Thursday we had family over and the weather cooperated long enough to have a 4th of July Cook-out.

I didn't go wild on the amount of food, so we just grilled corn, dogs and burgers.  I had canned beans for those who could have them too.
And this puppy stood sentinel duty under the table waiting to capture any fallen morsels of goodness.....

And for dessert I served an Entenmann cake(that cost me $1 at the bakery outlet)and this....

 Fresh fruit salad with cantaloupe, strawberries, blueberries and bananas.

And watermelon for us Southern gals.

My buddy,  Sonya Ann, has a good idea for those watermelon leftovers today HERE.
Not that I have EVER heard of such a thing as leftover watermelon personally......lol

On Friday Hubs and Oldest had a day out together. 
Here they are before the start of their adventure....

They went to Pottsville and took the Yuengling Brewery Tour.
It was a MADHOUSE from what they told me!  The tour gal said she had never seen so many people as they had hosted that day for the tour in the 5 years she has been working there.
Wall to wall people in an un-air conditioned building in high heat for HOURS!
I am so glad they decided to leave me home.....

That evening we took Oldest out to his choice of restaurants for his birthday--Red Robin.  It's a fancy pants burger joint with overpriced hunks of hamburger.

It use to be pretty good but the prices over the last 6 years have risen so high there and the quality has taken a bit of a nosedive such that I don't really enjoy going there anymore.

And on this visit the wait staff screwed things up such that it was NOT a good experience.  And that's all I'm going to say unless someone really wants to hear me rant about it....lol

But Oldest is a member of their Birthday Club so he gets a free burger on his birthday and a free dinky little sundae.

And I MADE the wait staff sing to him.  What better way to top of your firstborn's birthday than by embarrassing him.....please notice the red cheeks......lol......

So after that he gave me his patented "unpleasant" face.....

He was only funnin' me, here's a normal face....who can stay mad at their mommy when you are full of burger, fries and ice cream.....

We hadn't been to Red Robin in awhile so I was surprised to find this on the table.....

A "Ziosk".
You can order appetizers, bar drink refills, play games or music and pay your check right from your table.

This new "innovation" doesn't thrill me.

First, it's yet another "thing" cluttering up your dining table.  They already have all kinds of crap on the table when you sit down so there is barely enough room once your food and drinks come.
Plus the screen scrolls continuously and if it's in your field of vision, it's VERY annoying while you are trying to sit and converse with your dining companions.

I had to have Hubs turn it around so the screen was facing away from me it was so distracting.

While the games features could keep a bored child occupied, they cost money. 
And in my humble opinion as the mother of 3 almost grown kids, if your kid isn't adequately amused by the fact of being able to go out someplace to eat, he/she is either too young to be there or hasn't been trained well enough to behave themselves or you obviously take them out and spend money on them too TOO often. ;-)

The music feature.....let's talk about that for a bit.  It also costs money to use and it's limited to the songs in the RR muzak system...which you can't even hear half the time anyway because of the noise of the guests AND the volume settings of the 100 television sets, positioned overhead throughout the restaurant, all set to different stations.  It's just ridiculous!

And then there is the fact that this "Ziosk" takes the place of wait person for some of their functions. 
You can order appetizers and bar drink refills without having to wait for your wait person and if you don't want to have to wait to flag down your person to pay, you can use a c/c on this machine for a quick getaway.  While these functions could be a plus to your dining experience(especially if the restaurant doesn't have adequate wait staff or they are extremely busy), it also takes away from the human contact that is part of dining out.  And since you don't feel as connected to your wait person, you as a paying customer might be tempted to not tip or reduce your tip, seeing as you are doing some of the wait person's job yourself.
Anyway, I give the old "Ziosk" a big thumbs down....

Oldest left on Saturday morning and we were sad to see him go.
He had to get back as he is still trying to find a job plus a place to live in Pittsburgh by the Fall, when the GF has to start classes there.  It's a rough time for these newly minted college graduates to be looking for well paying work.

We spent a bit of time in the pool the rest of the Holiday weekend as the temperatures remained high and the rains held off for the most part and the air conditioning system wasn't being installed until Monday.

So how did y'all spend your 4th of July weekend?

Sluggy

Well I'll Be....

The more I dig into my family's past the stranger my reality becomes.
Take this for instance......

It seems the genealogical discoveries are coming fast and furiously for me this Summer.
I just found out this is my 7th cousin 1x removed....

And the Bush twins are my 8th cousins.
Yah I have to break the news to my 22 yr. old son that he's related to Jenna and Barbara......

One is still available and he isn't so closely related that he can't date her, right? ;-)


And to top it all off, this guy is also my 7th cousin.....

Yah....not so thrilled with that one.....lol

So what do y'all think?  Should I ring up cousin John and Laura and see if they want to hang out with me?
Do you think they'd come over my place for a cook-out this Summer?

I bet I could get John out of a suit and into a Hawaiian shirt and some Bermuda shorts.
Come on cuz....loosen up!

Let's hope Laura brings George too.....now I hear he's the life of a party....well, not so much anymore.....

Sluggy

This Week on The Dining Table

 Let's get to it.....

 

Here's what was planned last week--

Sunday--Beef Stroganoff over Rice, Salad
Monday--Chinese takeout as Hubs is out of town(comes out of entertainment budget, not food)
Tuesday--Chicken Enchiladas(using pepper strips and chicken from freezer)
Wednesday--Not sure, 2 of us might be out of town for the day..Hubs will make pasta or have leftovers.....if we don't go, Quiche(using up half & half)most probably will be served and squash.
Thursday--Cook-Out(if the weather cooperates)-not sure what yet beyond dogs and burgers.
Friday--Red Robin(#1 Son's birthday meal he requested)(entertainment budget, not food)
Saturday--Beef Stroganoff over Rice of Chicken Enchiladas leftovers, Brussel Sprouts

 

Everything was served as planned except for Wednesday #1 Son and I didn't have an adventure so I made Squash Casserole and Quiche(which was the backup plan).

 

It was a big spend grocery week here.  I spent $91.67 on $160.52 worth of groceries at 3 stores last week.  

This means I have $308.33 left in my food budget for the rest of July.

 

Going into this week the leftovers that remain are--2/3 of a quiche, at least 2 servings of Stroganoff, 1 Enchilada, half a crockpot of chili, hot dog and burger rolls, chicken breast(I didn't use all of it to make the Enchiladas last week)and some boxes of previously frozen veggies(had to be put in the fridge when the freezer died, so they need to be used this week).

 

(I've made bold the leftover items I've used in the menu below.)

 Here's this week's meal plan--
 

Sunday--Leftovers(Quiche or Enchiladas)
Monday--Hot Dogs(on leftover buns)w/Chili or Burritos w/Chili
Tuesday--Chicken Salad Sandwiches, boxed veggie
Wednesday--Eating out after taking #2 to camp
Thursday--Mushroom Parmesan, Salad
Friday--Probably more leftovers
Saturday--Salmon, Coleslaw, boxed veggie

I don't have room in the freezer to throw any leftovers so we have to use them up this week, so the order of what's eaten when may change(except for Wed.'s meal) or some dish made new this week may be superseded by a leftover.

On the shopping list so far--Portabella Mushroom caps, Salad Greens, Cabbage(for coleslaw), potatoes, peaches, orange juice, turkey breast lunchmeat, tomatoes, maybe bread.  I might also pick up some canned tomatoes this week as they are on sale for $1 can.  Canned tomatoes, potatoes and OJ not needed this week but at a stock up price.

 

I'm figuring about $38 with the canned tomatoes for groceries this week.

That's 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

That Hamilton Woman!

 

No, this isn't a review of that old classic movie about the life of Emma Hamilton, starring Vivian Leigh and Laurence Olivier.

It's a post about Genealogy....of course it is! lol
My family genealogy specifically and a document I found recently.

I am working on my mother's side of things presently.....my old long Southern roots.....my mother's, mother's, mother's, father's parents and grandparents to be precise.
Back about there is where the census information gets spotty and piecing together who's who and where they did what, becomes difficult to follow and keep the continuity of the trail.

Like for instance, my 3x Great Grandparents, Richard W. Baker and Sarah "Sallie" P. Hamilton.  We don't know exactly when they were born.  From the ages on census records you can deduce a range of a few years but no birth records have been found yet.  And the chance exists that I may never find any records to confirm their birthdates due to the records that were destroyed when the Yankees violated Old Virginny.

The possibility of hitting the genealogical Brick Wall at any point once you get this far back is always there, even if you are white.
But by finding various documents in their paper trail you can start to piece together where, when  and how they lived.

I was happy to discover a document that helped me authenticate this part of the family line.
It's a part of the special collections dept. at the University of VA library.....part of the "A Guide to the Valuation of Confederate Slaves from 1864".  I would have to travel to Charlottesville, VA to see that actual document but this digital summary gives me an idea about what it contains.
The documents were purchased in 1990 from a NJ auction dealer.

It's a court decree from February of 1864 concerning the dividing of a group of slaves among the heirs of one Mrs. Frances Flippen Hamilton, the widow of John Hamilton of VA(Prince Edward county to be exact).
Frances and John Hamilton were my 4x Great Grandparents.
Their daughter, Sarah "Sallie" was my 3x Great Grandmother.

Though it's not a "happy" document, being in reference to slaves and holding them, it is a thrill to see my direct ancestors mentioned if only electronically.

The person who wrote the content summary added that they were not sure if the court from which this proceeding were held was in Virginia or not because they could not find Frances or John Hamilton enumerated in the VA. state Censuses of 1850 and/or 1860(which preceded this court event in 1864).
Obviously, the person who wrote out the summary hadn't undertaken the amount of genealogy digging necessary to find Frances and John that I had. lol
It is widely held that John Hamilton died before the end of 1840, and at the time of this court proceeding Frances had been widowed for approx. 24 years.

I did think it strange since this was a court proceeding where it was determined how to divide up Frances Hamilton's, the widow of John Hamilton, slave property among her heirs, took place in Feb. of 1864.   Frances did not die until 1874.

Hmmm.
Distributing an estate ten years before the owner of said estate died?
A true head scratcher this.

Then my Hubs, ever the clever thinker, put out there that perhaps Frances was incompetent by 1864....meaning she was unable to take care of herself and of sound enough mind to direct how her property was to be handled.  Nowadays, someone deemed incompetent makes out(before they become incapacitated) or a court gives someone else a Power of Attorney over someone who is incapacitated so they can be their ward and handle all financial and legal affairs for the person.
I'm not sure if POA's were a regular part of the legal system in 1860's Virginia or if one existed for Frances, but this sounds very plausible a situation.

So if she was judged to be legally incapable of handling her own legal affairs, her estate may have been distributed at that point to her heirs instead of wanting until she passed on.
Especially since this "property" were living human beings and thus had needs to be met on a daily basis.  You couldn't just tuck slaves in a trunk somewhere like someone's good silverware or fine china until the owner died and the folks in the will came into control and possession of the property.
Slaves were people who had to be fed and housed and their physical needs met.

The particulars of the court decree were concerning 26 slaves in the possession of Frances Hamilton.
The total value of these 26 slaves, in 1864 dollars was $37,750.  In 2013 dollars that's equal to $563,432.84.  That ain't pocket change....lol
The slaves were divided up into 7 lots to be distributed to the 7 living heirs of Mrs. Hamilton; Richard W. & Sally Hamilton Baker(my direct ancestors), James & Anne Hamilton Ireson, William A. Hamilton, John F. Hamilton,  ? C. Hamilton(this was probably Joseph but not definite), Robert P. Hamilton and Martha Hamilton Leffew.
While this document with her children's names helped substantiate some of them, it also caused more questions for me about others.  For example, other genealogists have Robert Hamilton dying in 1849, 15 years before this court proceeding, but he is one of the inheriting heirs(and his children and/or spouse are not mentioned instead)?
But I digress.....

Each slave lot was worth $5,392.85 but separate from the slaves was a sixty-two year-old female slave named Betsy "nearly blind and Valueless".  The other 6 heirs were to pay $500 to William Hamilton, who took possession of Betsy, "for the keeping for life the said slave."   I truly hope my ancestors followed this court directive willingly and supported Betsy for the rest of her natural days.

The summary doesn't give the names of all the slaves concerned but it does indicate that 3 separate family groups(each a mother and her two young children)were worth $3,500 per family group.
My natural curiosity wants to know the names of all of these slaves and which ones my 3x Great Grandparents inherited.  Slaves who were no doubt released the following year if not sooner.
Having this information and putting it out into the electronic world, may also help someone of African American slave descent to connect the dots with a long lost ancestor of theirs as well.

I hope to someday get to Charlottesville again(I lived there for a year back in 1982-83....wish this document had been there back then and I had knowledge of it too)and get a chance to view the information contained within personally.

Sluggy

 

Toiletry Porn & Decluttering....Don't Stop Me Now!

I just wanted to explain to all my readers who come here to see what I get from Rite-Aid(for free or almost free)why you haven't seen me shop there since something like January or February of this year.

Yah see, I really don't need to buy any toiletries right now.
And I probably won't need any for a few months more.

The last week or so I have been making trips to my storage locker and have gotten the last of my tubs of spare toiletries I was keeping in there.
Yes, I am down to my last 5 tubs of toiletries stockpile items.....well, if you don't count all the toilet tissue. ;-)

And I finished clearing/cleaning out the Daughter's bedroom.  Got a box of items to ship off to Salvation Army, paired down what it stored in the closet and got both dressers cleaned out.
The dressers are now filled with toiletries.....

That's part of it.
There are 5 more drawers I didn't pull out to photograph.

There are also 2 tubs in the hall linen closet which I think I can combine into 1 tub now as some items have been used up in those.

And on tonight's agenda is reorganizing and going through the hall linen closet.

On the Decluttering Front--
We sent a broken inflatable bed(had to be re-inflated every 4 hours!lol)and an old lumpy futon mattress to the garbage last week. 
Then #1 Son took my oak Queen Anne leg, butler-style coffee table back with him when he left this morning(pardon the dog hair tumbleweed in the photo)......

He and his GF can use one and this one is small so it will fit better in the apartment they will most probably rent.  Hubs kept his mother's coffee and end tables when she died(which have been living in a bedroom upstairs)so we'll use that coffee table in the den now.
I have another smallish Asian style coffee table which may or may not go in the redone living room. but I am not ready to part with it yet, just in case.

I am not a big fan of coffee tables anyway, because we are "horizontally surface challenged".....meaning-we see a flat surface and we can't help ourselves but pile it with crap.  8-)

This morning, since I was on a "roll" in the getting rid of stuff department, I also boxed up a set of 8 Christmas themed drinking glasses and a Wizard and Dragon Votive candleholder from the kitchen and the dining room hutch, respectively.  Now Hubs has room to put his beer glasses in the kitchen cupboard and I don't have to have them sitting out on the counter 24/7.  I swear, some days with the barware and the empty bottles, my counters look like they need an intervention by the Bar Rescue Guy.....

I have decided to make the curtains for the living room out of that lime green bolt of fabric I have.  Hey!, they may end up being loud compared to the other colors in the room, but I'll like them. ;-)

And I'm taking all those drapes/curtains I bought back to BB&B for a credit on my card.  That's $150 back in the wallet to spend on something we need/want more.


So what has everyone else been up to in their copious free time this past week/weekend?


Sluggy

$20K Savings Challenge.....June Update

In our family we save money. It is important to us to put money aside for "rainy days".  You know.....those unexpected days when things happen in your life that you can't plan on, but that DO happen and they cost you money you didn't know you'd need to pay out.

Our income is mainly the salary my Hubs draws from his job.  We have money taken off each paycheck from the top to put into savings, before we even get our hands on it.  This money that's taken goes into various pots....life insurance, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.
Once the automatic savings, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision payments are taken out, it leaves what we get to "live on".  From this amount we budget for bills, both monthly and irregular bills(semi-annual, etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2013 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am going to keep the Goal amount at $20,000 again this year.

On to the June report.....

I have posted my June End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the side bar to your right for the specific numbers.

I have 2 goals each month.....
The 1st is to actually finish each month in the black and not the red.
The 2nd is to hit the targeted savings amount of $1,666.67.

I have to report that we finished up June in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of June with?.......$844.79

Income
We had $629.95 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted. 

Add in 2 per diem expense reimbursement check, 2 stock dividend checks, a tow reimbursement and a refund on our car insurance(from removing daughter from the policy)and we have another $214.84 not spent this month.  This brought our gain to $844.79 for June.

 

Frankly, I am shocked that we had this much leftover from June's income because it seemed we experienced way higher than normal outgo.  But looking over the Good/Bad bullet points, besides the credit card bill, everything else wasn't so bad compared to last month.

Outgo

As for the expenses this June, here are the good and the bad side of things....

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Music lesson bill was half of it's usual amount due to teacher being away for half the month.

*  The electric bill was almost $56 less.
*  The food/toiletries bill was less than my budgeted $400 each month.

*  The cost of our prescriptions was half of what it was in May.

*  Cash withdrawals were $20 less than last month.

*  The doctor bill co-pays were under $80 this month.(Last month was over $1500.)

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  Quarterly garbage bill due.
*  The phone bill was up by $2+.

*  The water bill doubled, as predicted in last month's report.  This was mainly due to the repair and refilling the pool and is expected every May or June.

*  The credit card bill....OH!, the credit card bill....lol  It was $1857+ MORE than last month.  This will be going down to $1409.21 more than last month when the freezer gets returned.  Still too high. 8-(

The Food Budget costs for June are in another post, which is located HERE.

We came in under budget by $119.26 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 6 month behind us, half the year, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $12,571.63.  Only $7,438.37 left to save and 6 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $1,238.06 per month for the next 6 months to reach the goal.

Looking ahead for July......

*  Still waiting for medical bills to come in.  I don't know what the hold up is, but since we switched doctors to our insurance/health provider affiliated doctors, we haven't had to pay any co-pays at visits.  This is something new for us. 
 

*  I suspect once we get the new a/c system installed this month and the heat ratchets up the electric bill will increase moderately.

*  Last July we had a $1500 car repair bill.  Hubs car needs some maintenance work so it will go in for that this July.  I hope the bill is not anywhere near last July's total though.
  

*  The annual homeowner's insurance is due in July.  Last year it was $596.  Will be curious to see  how much it goes up this year.  Between that bill and the semi-annual car insurance bill which comes due in August, we need to stay as frugal as possible(outside of the planned home renovations/repairs we are paying for in July/August)with the bills.

So how was your June financially?  It was pretty much a wash for us in terms of getting ahead.
 

Did you put ordinary living expenses on a credit card last month and not pay it off in full when due?
Did you spend less than the income you had in June?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in June like a tax refund, a dividend or bonus at work, and what did you do with those funds?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle?

If you posted your financial progress on your own blog, leave a link in the comments so we can go check you out your progress too and celebrate with you!

Sluggy

Freedom......Not So Much Anymore in America

* Please excuse another serious rant on the important stuff in life today.  I'll get back to posting lighter fare and nonsense soon.

In light of yesterday being the 4th of July and our country celebrating the founding of our great country, I want to talk about freedom.
Seems apropos to do so now, right?

We puff out our chests every year at this time and congratulate ourselves on being Americans and being the "Land of the Free".

But how free are you really?

Let's look at your economic freedom, shall we?

Brought to you by the fine folks at Bankrupting American.....

See a large view HERE.

When will the endless appetite for redundant and stifling legislation at both the state and federal level stop?
When they have driven all businesses(except the megamillion ones)out and more than half of Americans can no longer find jobs?

Here's a great little site to poke around at.  I caution you though, as what you may find there may challenge your concept of freedom and how free you, as an American citizen, really are, compared to other Americans.

There was a fairly comprehensive study done at George Mason University comparing each states' level of freedom in many categories.  The states were then ranked #1-50 on each point, as well as given a ranking for their overall Level of Freedom for each citizen wherein.

Go have a look at the data HERE.
You can click on each category that was measured and see how you, as a resident of whichever state, rank in our country's Freedom index.

Here in Pennsylvania, we got an overall ranking of 31st out of 50.  We got a better score than all of our neighbors except for Delaware.  But considering that we border some of the most unfree states in American(New York, New Jersey, Connecticut & Maryland)THAT isn't saying much!

The least free states in America are, in order from 50th to 46th....New York, California, New Jersey, Hawaii and Rhode Island.

The most free states overall are, in order from 1st to 5th......North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, New Hampshire and Oklahoma.

Of course this study is using data from 2011, but it does show a general trend of how the states compare to each other at present.

So how does your state rank?
Are you surprised by it's ranking on any of the categories measured?
Do you still feel "free" after reading this?

Sluggy
 

Independence Day Trivia Quiz Answers

1.  What is the correct date of our declaring independence from England?  Hint-it's not July 4th.

* The written resolution for independence was adopted at a vote on July 2nd, so that is the actual date of the document.  The Continental Congress spent the next 2 days amending the wording before finally deciding they were done "running their quill pens through it".
John Adams believed July 2nd would be celebrated by generations to come with much gaiety, pomp and celebrating, as he wrote to his wife Abigail in MA, in one of his well-known letters home to her.

Here are his actual words with misspellings from that letter.....
"But the Day is past. The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America.
I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more."

2.  Philadelphia is where the Declaration of Independence was voted upon and signed in 1776.  What was the most widely spoken language by residents of Philadelphia in 1776?

* While the obvious answer is English that is not quite right.  This area of PA was settled heavily by German immigrants and at the time of the revolution, it was more common to hear German being spoken and see business signs of local shops written in German.

3.  Which 3 American Presidents have died on July 4th? 

*2 of these are fairly easy....Thomas Jefferson and John Adams died within hours of each other on the 4th in 1826, the one thinking the other one still survived.  The 3rd President was James Monroe who followed them to the grave in 1831 on the 4th.

4.  Who were the "Committee of Five"....the group of 2nd Continental Congress members selected by that body to come up with a document of independence?

* The committee was made up of delegates John Adams of MA, Thomas Jefferson of VA, Benjamin Franklin of PA, Roger Sherman of CT and Robert Livingston of NY.

5.  Who designed the current version of the US Flag?

* A teenager Robert G. Heft living in Lancaster Ohio with his grandparents at that time, in 1958.  Designing a new flag when Alaska and Hawaii were poised to become the 49th and 50th states, Robert "Bob" Heft was a high school student.  As part of a school project, he designed a new flag and received a b- for his work from his teacher.  After his design was chosen from over 1500 ones sent to then President Eisenhower, his teacher upgraded Bob's grade to an A, as he had promised Bob.
Robert Heft spent his career as a teacher and died at the age of 68 in 2009.

6.  What bird did Benjamin Franklin propose be the emblem/seal for our country?

*Franklin believed the North American Turkey was the best choice.  He believed the turkey to be a noble bird.
Adams wanted the eagle but Franklin objected to this, as it was a long held emblem of many European countries, which they were trying to break free from. 

Franklin wrote:
"I wish that the bald eagle had not been chosen as the representative of our country, he is a bird of bad moral character, he does not get his living honestly, you may have seen him perched on some dead tree, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the labor of the fishing-hawk, and when that diligent bird has at length taken a fish, and is bearing it to its nest for the support of his mate and young ones, the bald eagle pursues him and takes it from him.... Besides he is a rank coward; the little kingbird, not bigger than a sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest. . . of America.. . . For a truth, the turkey is in comparison a much more respectable bird, and withal a true original native of America . . . a bird of courage, and would not hesitate to attack a grenadier of the British guards, who should presume to invade his farmyard with a red coat on."

7.  It is well known that Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner, our nation's anthem.  And that he wrote in his journal, what was to become the lyrics for the song, while onboard a ship in Baltimore Harbor, while British forces bombarded Fort McHenry in 1812.  But do you know why he was onboard a ship in Baltimore Harbor?

* Key was having dinner on board a British ship at the invite of 3 British naval officers on the night of 13 Sept, 1814.  He was there with the American Prisoner Exchange Agent to negotiate the exchange of American prisoners being held.  Key was a lawyer who's client, Dr. William Beanes of MD, was among those being held.
Key was unsuccessful at releasing his client but he got a really well known song out of the deal.
The Star Spangled Banner did not become our official anthem until 1916 under Woodrow Wilson and then by a congressional resolution in 1931 under Herbert Hoover.

8.  How many versions of the American flag have there been since 1776?

* There have been 28 official versions of the American flag, sort of.
The flag as we know it, red and white alternating stripes with a field of blue and stars, has undergone 26 modified versions, so 27 versions of that design.  The first officially recognized flag, adopted in December 1775, had alternation red and white stripes but instead of a blue field and stars, there was a St. George's Cross/Union Jack in the upper left corner.

 

 

 

The 13 Colonies Flag of June, 1777

9.  The original Declaration of Independence was printed on parchment, but the original copies, to be distributed among the citizens in the 13 colonies were printed on paper. Who printed the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and where?

* Though Franklin would be the obvious answer, because he was, among other things, a printer by trade, the original paper copies of the Declaration were printed in Philadelphia by a printer & book seller named John Dunlap.  He was an immigrant from Ireland,  a successful printer in the city and secured a contract with the 2nd Continental Congress supplying for their printing needs.
The type of sheet he printed the Declaration on was called a "broadside" in the printing trade.  It was typically a large sheet, printed on one side.  It was similar to today's poster.
(As an aside, by July 9th someone had translated and published the Declaration into German in Philadelphia so the bulk of the citizens in that city could read it.)


10.  How many copies of the original Declaration of Independence printed in 1776 are known to exist today?

* There are 26 copies known to exist today.  Approx. 200 were printed up in 1776.  One was discovered in 1989 by an amateur collector at a PA flea market hidden behind a framed painting he paid $4 for.  He later sold his discovery at auction for $8.14 million.
In 2009 the latest discovered copy was found in The National Archives in Britain among some papers that had been intercepted by the British in the 18th century, during the revolution.  This brings the number of original copies in the hands of the British Archives to 3.


11.  How many members of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776?

* The original, original declaration was printed on paper and only John Hancock signed this one.
The official declaration was printed on parchment(the wording was engrossed into that material, not just lying on top of the surface, so it would be better preserved)and was not signed until August 2nd of 1776.  Eventually 56 delegates signed the document.  There is debate on when certain people had signed.  It is widely held that most of the delegates signed on Aug. 2nd, but there were some who were not present(weren't even elected to Congress until after that date)who have signed.  When it was all over with, 56 signatures were affixed to the parchment.
By the way--The oldest signer was Benjamin Franklin of PA at 80 and the youngest was Edward Rutledge of SC at 26.

12.  Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence how many also signed the U.S. Constitution?

* Only 6 Declaration signers also signed the Constitution; Benjamin Franklin of PA, George Read of DE, Roger Sherman of CT, Robert Morris of PA, George Clymer of PA and James Wilson of PA.
By the way-Roger Sherman, the cobbler from CT, was the only member of Congress who signed all 4 of the documents important to the founding of the USA.  He signed the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Articles of Association and the Articles of Confederation.


I hope you've learned something from this little trivia quiz.  I know I did. ;-)

Sluggy

The Man & The Myth

Interesting short film on George Washington.

Enjoy!



Sluggy

Independence Day Trivia Quiz...Happy 4th of July!

In honor of our country's liberation from the tyranny of King George III of England in 1776, here is a little Trivia Quiz about our National celebration and assorted things having to do with this holiday.
See how much you actually know about these little known facts about our history.

1.  What is the correct date of our declaring independence from England?  Hint-it's not July 4th.

2.  Philadelphia is where the Declaration of Independence was voted upon and signed in 1776.  What was the most widely spoken language by residents of Philadelphia in 1776?

3.  Which 3 American Presidents have died on July 4th? 

4.  Who were the "Committee of Five"....the group of Continental Congress members selected by that body to come up with a document of independence?

5.  Who designed the current version of the US Flag?

6.  What bird did Benjamin Franklin propose be the emblem for our country?

7.  It is well known that Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the Star Spangled Banner, our nation's anthem.  And that he wrote in his journal, what was to become the lyrics for the song, while onboard a ship in Baltimore Harbor, while British forces bombarded Fort McHenry in 1812.  But do you know why he was onboard a ship in Baltimore Harbor?

8.  How many versions of the American flag have there been since 1776?

9.  The original Declaration of Independence was printed on parchment, but the original copies, to be distributed among the citizens in the 13 colonies were printed on paper. Who printed the original copies of the Declaration of Independence and where?

10.  How many copies of the original Declaration of Independence printed in 1776 are known to exist today?

11.  How many members of the Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776?

12.  Of the signers of the Declaration of Independence how many also signed the U.S. Constitution?

 Answers will follow tomorrow, if anyone is sober enough by then to read them(and didn't shoot off their hands). ;-)



Sluggy

In Memorian--My Ancestor & Our Country

Of the 32 ancestors who participated in the American War of Northern Aggression, I have uncovered in my research, today is the 150th Anniversary of the death of one of them, during the Battle of Gettysburg.

John Lee Holt was a father of 2 and husband from Campbell County, VA.  He had been a school master in civilian life and a part time tobacco farmer on the side.  And no, he did not own any slaves.
(Only about 6% of households in the South pre-war were wealthy enough to be part of the Planter Class and own slaves. Add in the free-black and native American households who owned slaves and the % is higher.)

John Lee Holt mustered into service as a private, for the Confederate States of America on 18 July 1861 in neighboring Charlotte County, VA, in the 56th Regiment of the Virginia Infantry, known as the Charlotte Grays, which fought in General Lee's Army of Northern Virginia.  He was 32 years old and left a pregnant wife and 16 month old baby son the day he went off to defend the South.  He was only able to get a furlough one time during his 2 years of service.  He only met his daughter on that one occasion.

He was present at the battle of Fort Donelson, was captured and exchanged with his unit in February of 1862. After this, his regiment was assigned to General Pickett's Brigade.

He reported sick to the Empire Hospital of Atlanta, GA in March of 1862.  He fought at the Battle of Boonsboro, MD(South Mountain), which was the first battle fought on Northern soil, then the Seven Days Battles, 2nd Manassas and Sharpsburg.  At the Seven Days Battles of the 466 combatants in this unit, 100 casualties were reported.  Only 40 men from this unit were at Sharpsburg with 8 being wounded during that skirmish.

Then he accompanied his wounded brother, Meredith, to the Old School Presbyterian Church & Market House Hospitals in Winchester, VA on 20 September 1862.  He was employed as a nurse there until 1 November 1862, while he brother recuperated. 

He was admitted to Richmond Hospital in November of 1862  but returned to duty in time for the Battle of Fredericksburg.

He may or may not have been at the Siege of Suffolk and by the time surrender at Appomattox occurred only 3 officers and 26 men were left of this regiment.
Unfortunately, John didn't  make it to Appomattox in April of 1865.

As part of Longstreet's Corps, Pickett's Division, Garnett's Brigade, on July 3 1863 at about 2pm, John along with 12,500 fellow Southerners, started the descent down Seminary Ridge, across the cornfield toward the Emmittsburg Road and the Yankee lines beyond.  He was between two of his brothers when a mini ball hit him and he fell.  John waved his brothers forward indicating that he'd be ok.
Federal records in his service record reported that he was being held as a captured POW from 24 October 1863 to 19 January 1864, but we now know that John Lee Holt succumbed to his wounds and died on the battlefield that July day in 1863 in a cornfield by the Emmittsburg Rd.

Of the 286 members of the 56th Regiment participating at Gettysburg, more than 65% were "disabled"(and/or killed).

The family did not know his fate until 1865, as a death claim was filed in March of that year, a month before the War of Northern Aggression officially ended.

Today I mourn our sad bloody past and the wars(this one in particular)that didn't necessarily have to be fought, that make up our history.  We would be a much better nation and peoples if not for the tyranny of our government.

Deo Vindice John, Deo Vindice....

Sluggy