The Last Day of July in Sluggyland

So here is how I ended July yesterday.

Besides buying my test prep supplies.....

I was reading the Miralax instructions on the bottle and it's 2 WEEKS worth of preparation.
And they want me to take the ENTIRE BOTTLE over the course of 13.5 hours?
No Wonder I'll be in the bathroom all night tonight....geez!

I bought my prep supplies at Dollar General because they had the lowest prices.....and I used $1 Q on both the Miralax and the Dulcolax.
But even so, that Miralax stuff was $9 for a big bottle!!!

Being majorly constipated is expensive it seems......

I hit the Bread Outlet since my last trip was nearly a month ago and we were on the last dregs of the last loaf of bread.  I also got donuts for $1 a box for a treat for Hubs.

I also bought this stuff.....

A new shower curtain for the main bathroom's tub(because company is coming!) and a couple of dvds and a coffee mug.
Yes, on July 31st I began my Christmas Shopping!

These are stocking stuffers for family.  Since 2 of my kids are now living away from home and I don't know if they will make it here for Christmas, I am trying to keep anything I buy them small, just in case it has to be mailed out.  I "heart" flat rate Priority mail boxes..... ;-)

And at least still having my Christmas/Winter tablecloth on the kitchen table where I photograph stuff(hey! Don't judge me) works for this bunch of things I bought. lol

Then I went over to Ollie's Bargain Outlet(Good Things Cheap!)to just look around.
And you know I can't go in there without finding something that has to come home with me......
That is where I picked up the dvds and coffee mug above.

I ended up buying some food items....mostly junk foods for #2 Son, as he requested a quantity of crap and we've been out for ages.
I've been real good about staying away from foods I shouldn't eat the last few months but I had a moment of weakness and bought a bag of hot dog flavored potato chips.

I went home later and made myself a big hamburger and ate some of those chips.
After about 3 chips I had to stop though as they were sooooo salty to me.
Good but so salty I couldn't STAND it!

The dreaded low salt diet strikes again....it has ruined salty snacks for me.....sigh.
But that's a good thing so maybe I won't crave them so much anymore when I remember this unpleasant experience.
Or I'll just start craving unsalted or lightly salted chips and crap....lol

I also just wandered around in Ollie's Bargain Outlet(Good Stuff Cheap!)and looked at the toys.

Ollie's use to be a great source for me for old toys to sell on eBay, back when I did that.  They get in their Christmas toy stock in August/September for the Holiday season and toys are everywhere in their stores come Fall.
I use to write down information on toys and go home and check eBay if they were at a price worth buying and reselling.
But I had my new camera with me so I just took some pictures of toys on the down low instead.

Model kits of historical guns.
Of course this is in the store, after all, this is Pennsylvania where we cling to our guns and religion. ;-)

Some cool jigsaw puzzles featuring the art of Don Roth.

Something I found that my Daughter would have loved.....if they had made it oh, 18 years ago.....
I use to have to read that book to her multiple times a day/night when she was little.   The words are still locked into my long term memory banks....
"....Goodnight comb, and goodnight brush, goodnight nobody, goodnight mush....."

 Hey!
How about more guns?!

I thought this trivia game was cool.  It's for adults and went for $50 suggested retail.  But it's not worth selling on eBay....
I might buy one though and bring it on my road trip in a couple of weeks anyway.

 

 More stuff not worth bothering with to resell.....

Yes, the last thing I need to do is get into buying stuff to resell on eBay again and I resisted.
Go me!

I did pick up a Birthday card for my Aunt.
I reconnected with her this week, when she returned my phone call I made to her last week.
My brother had gotten a call from her at Christmas time last and he gave me her phone number and address.  I had an address for her but turns out she hasn't lived at that place for years now, so whoever lives there now was not having my cards returned and just throwing them away, so I never knew my mail was NOT reaching her! ugh.

Well that's all in the past now and hopefully we can have some sort of relationship going forward, and I can get back in touch with my only cousins, whom I haven't seen since I was about 10 years old.
My Aunt will be 80 in just over a week from now.
I am thinking about putting a small package together to send to her for her birthday but I have no clue what she likes.  I don't know what foods she can eat and I don't know if she likes flowers either.

So if you had an 80 yr. old relative who you didn't know anything about to gift, what would you send?

Sluggy

 

Guess What I Am Doing Today?

I'll give you a big hint.
I ran some errands yesterday.

Look at what I bought......

If you are a woman or man "of a certain age" you KNOW what I am doing today!
It's become a "rite of passage" as it where at my age. lol

To all the rest of you out there who can't figure this out.....just wait until you turn 50 and get to join this exclusive club.......you'll find out.......

So besides that I'll probably be posting a lot today/tonight since I have to be near a bathroom and can't GO anywhere else...so to speak.  ;-)

Sluggy-not having a fun day

The Estimate Redux & Bamboo Floors

After thinking of these estimates and looking at everyone's comments.....thanks for those everyone, it's nice to get some other perspectives on this!......I have decided to just have the Handyman do Jobs 1, 3 & 5.

The sheetrock repair and spackle, install crown molding, fix/rehang the closet door, replace the garage trim, shutters and attic vents.

We'll get either Lowe's or the old handyman guy(if I can wait until Jan.)to do the living/dining room flooring and we'll do the painting of the living/dining room ourselves.

At some point, maybe during the winter, we'll contract to have the hallway upstairs and the stairwell/ceiling done then.  This is the painting I can't do because of location.  (This part of the painting isn't urgent and can wait until contractors are begging for the work in the bad weather, so we might get a break on the price then too.)


This brings out Grand Total estimate to $3,145 + however much of that $300 disposal of materials fee he is charging us for the debris generated by those 3 jobs.

The painting job will cost us whatever the paint/supplies will be.
And the flooring will run us approx. $700 because we already have 3 boxes from the last floor we had done....of course it won't "cost" $700 because I have about $300 in Home Improvement Store Gift Cards to redeem.  8-)

So after forking over $3,145(+$300)and $400 for the flooring, we'll owe Lowe's $1,650 OR the other Handyman approx. $ 800-$1K(I am guesstimating)for installing the flooring.
High end estimate now is under $7K for all with us doing most of the painting.

Almost $7K is MUCH BETTER than almost $10K.....
I'm liking that number a lot better! lol


Some of you commented/asked about bamboo flooring.
We had our master bedroom done in bamboo back in 2007 or so and then they did the upstairs hallway and stairs in the same materials.

Here's a photo from back in 2007.....

and here's a shot from Feb. 2012....pardon my junk....lol......

It still looks great.
Of course, we don't wear shoes upstairs in our house and the bedroom is not a high traffic room.

The bamboo stairs on the other hand have taken a beating.  Between getting marked up when they hauled the washing machine and dryer up the stairs and the pounding the stairs took from the kids over the last 4 years, they aren't looking very good.  I think if we replace the sections(mostly the edge pieces)on the stairs that have taken the brunt of the wear, the rest of the flooring on it should be ok.
The upstairs hallway, which is large enough to put a computer desk and chair in, is also done in the bamboo, but there is a large area rug over the central parts of it which has protected it from wear.

Once we get ready to sell the house, I'll probably have to replace that hallway area rug so the hallway looks better.

We are putting the same flooring materials down in the living/dining combo room.  I'm not worried about wear, even though it's a more high traffic area because I already have an area rug to put down in the living room part and will get a rug for under the dining table set later.

We have 2 dogs but they are not allowed in the dining/living room since the little one likes to use it as her bathroom. 8-(  So we put up baby gates when we first got dogs at this house back in 2003(I think)so they didn't get the run of the house.  The baby gates also keep the dogs from roaming upstairs.

In the downstairs hallway and kitchen we have porcelain tile on the floor, the den off the kitchen has a Pergo laminate and the powder room has a vinyl floor.  These are the rooms the dogs are allowed to wander through.

The idiots who installed that laminate did a half-assed job so we'll be replacing that floor right before the house goes on the market.

Bamboo seems to show blemishes more than traditional hardwoods if you get the lighter colored stuff.

Sluggy
 

The Estimate or Selling Our Firstborn

We finally got the estimate for the work on the house last Saturday.

The handyman guy called here about Thursday wondering why we hadn't gotten in touch with him.
HUH?

Come to find out..... at least he says this is the issue....he had a problem with his email.....he's send out emails with estimates to prospective clients but the emails never got sent.  He's had this issue with a number of clients.

Don't know if it was an issue with his mail program, his employee or "him".  But that was the story why we hadn't heard from him for 3 weeks or so after coming here to look over the jobs.

So I open up the attachment/estimate and the floor about fell outta my ass.

Seriously?
The total was over $9,600 for the work we need/want done.

In my mind I had a figure of around $6K for all this.  That is what we were willing to spend to get this stuff done.
Not anything near almost $10K!

Here are a list of the jobs, broken down into 5 projects, we wanted priced out.

1.
 Repair and patch ceilings and walls-One spot in kitchen, 3 spots in dining room, a few seams in living room.
Skim coat of spackle 1 ft. wide section of walls around living/dining rooms.
Redo 4 corner beads over exposed metal edging.
Labor and materials.
Estimate-$1,140.00

2.
Paint downstairs walls and ceilings, approx. 1000 sq. ft. plus stairwell and upstairs hallway walls plus 2 interior doors.
Customer supplies the paint, handyman supplies the primer.
Estimate-$3,185.00

3.
Cut and install bifold door on front closet.  Customer will supply door and hardware.

Install crown molding in living room and dining room matching existing.
Labor and cost of crown molding.
Estimate-$675.00

4.
Remove carpeting in dining/living room.
Install approx. 400 sq. ft. of bamboo flooring(to be nailed down).
Customer supplies flooring and underlayment(if needed).
Estimate-$3,010.00

5.
Wrap garage trim in aluminum, 6" on jamb and brick molding.
Replace 3 sets of shutters on front of house.
Replace 2-23" hexagon gable vents on front of house.

Estimate-$1,330.00
 

An additional fee of $300.00 to cover material disposal.

 

Total Estimate-$9,640.00

 

The ones I thought  that came in high were Jobs 2 & 4.

Job 2 we are supplying all the paint(except the primer)so I really thought this one was high as it's basically just labor.  Painting isn't necessarily difficult work but it is time consuming.

 

So we decided to modify the painting job and make it smaller.  We will only have them paint the living/dining rooms and the stairwell and upstairs hallway and ceilings instead of the whole downstairs and upstairs hallway.

We can live with the kitchen/den as it is and when/if it needs painting, we can do that because we did it the last time.  We would also do the living/dining room ourselves but with the timing element of spackle repair, painting before the flooring gets done, it's easier to just let them paint those rooms.

The one place I can't paint is the stairway/hallway upstairs as I can't reach some of the stairwell walls and the ceiling.

Would like to get this down to $2K.

 

But I am also thinking I can paint the living/dining rooms so just have them do the stairwell and upstairs hallway.  I will go back and see what they would charge just for this paint job.  I think if I have a day or two between the time he spackles/repairs the living/dining room and throws up the moldings, I can do the painting in there, especially since we have the a/c now. ;-)

 

and Job 4.....Laying the bamboo flooring.  I really though this one was high!

We had our old handyman/contractor guy replace our master bedroom with bamboo in 2007.  He charged $550 and we furnished/bought the flooring, plus we removed the old carpeting.

Now I know the living/dining room is a tad larger than the master bedroom was(by only 10' x8') and prices have risen since 2007 but to go from $550 to $3,010??

 

So we went up to Lowe's, since that is where we bought/buy our flooring, and got a cost estimate for having the crew from Lowe's install that floor.

The Lowe's guy gave us a quote of $2,800 including the cost of the flooring and the cost of carpet removal, or $2,500 if we take up the carpet ourselves.

And the price of the flooring would be $850 of that cost.....so labor of $1950 or $1,650 to install.

So we have a difference of $1,060 for a complete labor only install(w/carpet removal)between Lowe's and the Handyman guy estimate.

Wow.....

 

Me thinks the handyman guy will NOT be laying our bamboo flooring......

 

I'd love to call up the old handyman and get put on his schedule for him to put in that floor because I know he'd be even less than the Lowe's quote but I don't really want to wait until JANUARY 2014 to be able to buy furniture and use the living/dining rooms.

Sigh.

 

So if we decrease the painting job and remove the flooring job, the handyman will cost us $5,630.00 plus another $2,500 to Lowe's for the floor job, for a grand total spent of $8,130.

We already have 3 boxes of bamboo flooring leftover from our bedroom floor we can use but we need to buy paint, so that basically evens out, so we need to spend $8,130 for these projects....or  if he'll accept $1K to just down the stairwell and upstairs hallway we can get all this done for $4,445.00(handyman) + $2,500(Lowe's)=$6,945.00

 

Still more than I planned on spending but it looks like the least we can get away with paying and still have a good outcome.

 

 

Sluggy

 

 

 

 

Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway.....Week 3 Enter Now!

It's time for another 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.

 

This time the Box of Goodies is ALL ABOUT THE LADIES with things for your Girly side.

No shaving cream or manly stuff in this box folks!

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

 

 

 

1. Cover Girl Mascara

2. Jesse's Girl Eye shadow Palette

3. Jesse's Girl Keychain Nail File(shaped like a surfboard!)

4. Jesse's Girl Blush Brush

5. Jesse's Girl Eye Liner Pencil(grape something)

6. Jesse's Girl  Lip Gloss(peach)

7. NYC liquid Face Makeup

8. Cover Girl Nail Polish(purple something)

 

 

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 address and a COMMENT on this post.  

This week I want to hear about whether you have ever met in person someone who have known online? 

Was that person(s) anything like you thought they'd be?

Did it change your relationship and for the worse or for the better?

If you haven't met an online friend yet, would you want to?

 

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

Goddag På Dig!

So to continue on with my DNA test.
I had what is called the "Family Finder" or Autosomal test.
Both males and females can take this one.
It tests your SNPs or Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms.
Try saying that 10 times really fast!

This Family Finder kit tests along the 22 autosomal pairs of  your chromosomes.
It is helpful for finding recent relatives and your geographic origins.

With this genetic information they put your results next to the results for everybody else who has been tested, and see where and how much of your DNA matches to the same positions on your chain to everyone else's DNA combinations in their database.

This test can be useful in finding your genetic cousins going back 5-6 generations.....meaning you could match other's DNA going back to a shared common ancestor of your 4x Great Grandparents generation.

The drawback to this test though is that while it tells you who shares enough DNA combinations with you to be related to you, it doesn't tell you if that match is from your paternal or maternal side.
So basically it gives you a clue but brings along even more questions.

Or as I like to put it, someone hands you a jigsaw puzzle piece from the center of a puzzle and then dumps the other 9,999 pieces on the table and walks away. 8-)

My Match Results turned up 6 pages of "Distant Cousins"(who could be anywhere from 2nd to 5th cousins) and 35 pages of "Speculative Cousins"(who could be anywhere from 4th to Remote cousins), and 40 pages of possible matches over the entire database.

I wasn't counting on any close matches since my mother was an only child and my father had/has 1 sister and none of that generation was ever tested nor has my 1 remaining sibling been tested.
The closest match possible would be a second cousin if any of my grandparents siblings' grandchildren have/had been tested.
More on this later......

I have already shared my Population Finder conclusion.  Most, if not all, of my genetic material tested came back as originating in Western Europe.

Besides my nice totally blue pie chart, I also got a map graphic of the world, indicating where my ancestors originated from.
Wanna see it?

Look closely and try to find the dark blue specs of color.  The variation is so small you might need a microscope.  Not only am a very very white, I may be inbred.....lol

My DNA indicates that my ancestors mostly(if not all), came from Western Europe.
There are 7 Continental Groups you can be placed into.......Africa, Americans, Europe, East Asia, Middle Eastern, Oceania and South Asia.
Within these groups you can belong to a subgroup genetic population.

And within these subgroups are smaller subgroups of nationalities.
Here's Europe's group, subgroup and nationality breakdowns.....

Europe
	Northeast European
		Finnish
		Russian
	Southeast European
		Romanian
	Southern European
		Italian
		Sardinian
		Tuscan
	Western European
		Basque
		French
		Orcadian (Orkney Islands)
		Spanish

Using this organizational chart, since my findings came back as Europe/Western European, I could have shown Basque, French, Orcadian, Spanish or any combination of these in my results.
Like 43% French and 10% Basque and 47% Basque, etc.

Mine came back with a 100% makeup of Orcadian population.  This refers to the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland(which are part of modern day Scotland).

If you look at a map and do a little digging into the history of who and how different populations of peoples moved around in Europe the last 4,000 years, you'll see that Orkney is a group of 70 islands where the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea meet.
Neighboring countries/populations are Scotland(of course), the other British Isles of England, Wales, Ireland and the Isle of Mann, the Faroe Islands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden to the northwest, the seabound shores of France, Belgium and the Netherlands(plus part of northern Germany), plus Iceland out there northwest of the Faroes.

This Orcadian designations doesn't mean my ancestors were necessarily from the Orkney Islands but it means that the dna tested indicates that my ancestors were among the groups/tribes that mixed it up together in this area of the world......Scots, Picts, Vikings and Normans mostly.  This area of the world changed hands many times and countries were ruled by these groups.
People who test to be among the Orcadian population can also be found to have French ancestry I have read.  And there is definite direct French/Norman ancestry in my paper trail.

Orkney's first residents were Mesolithic hunters.  Then the savage warriors known as the Picts ruled over the area(throw in some Roman invasions)and then the even more savage Norse, along with the Danes, the Celts and the Norman invaders from the south.
You can go read a history book for more details but this gives you an idea of the groups swirling around this area of the world, swapping DNA long, long ago.

This idea that I could have Scandinavian/Norse ancestors if you go back far enough took me by surprise at first.  Not that you could prove via paper trail if I had a Scandinavian ancestor since there wouldn't have been any paper trail to follow that far back......

So while I was shaking my head at the thought of an ancestor named Ingrid or Bjorn, I saw this person listed as a possible 5th cousin-distant relative on my matches....
Rune NXXXXD
When you test your DNA you have the option of listing any known surnames in your family tree, so that you can see if you have any surnames in common with people you genetically match up with.  It gives you a place to start looking for the specific person who you are linked through.
Here is a partial list of Rune's family surnames.......       

• ¢demyr,
• ¢vregard,
• Andersbakken,
• Andersdatter Bredevangen,
• Andersdatter Fauchalskogen,
• Andersdatter Gjefseneie,
• Andersdatter Nigard Røsêasen,
• Anstensen N²rstelia,
• Bentsen Nigarden R²sêasen,
• Bentsen R²sêasen,
• Berdonsen Lille-Goplum,
• Bönick,
• Christiansen Skartseterbakken,
• Eiriksson Valbj²r,
• Endresdatter Fr²ysland,
• Engebretsdatter Odde,
• Engeskog,
• Eriksen Fr²ysland,
• Evensdatter Skartseterbakken,
• Fodstadkvennumen,
• Fr²ysland,
• Fremstad,
• Gr²te,
• Gr²thaug,
• Grimsrud,
• Gudbrandsdatter Krok,
• Gudbrandsen Gjefseneie,
• Gudmundsdatter ¢verbyeie,
• Gudmundsdatter Skinnerlia,
• Gulbrandsdatter,
• Guttormsdatter Gaarden,
• Haagensdatter Odde,

I can't even begin to spell these let alone find them in my family tree! lolz
And Rune lives in Sweden by the way.

The guide to this Autosomal testing does say it can pick up genetic dna matches going back further than 5-6 generations(or make mistakes evidently).
If there is a link here with old Rune, I know it has to be much deeper than 4x Great Grands ago.....



But on the other hand, when I gave that report on Wagner operas in a college music class and wore that Brunhilde Viking horned helmet for the presentation it felt oddly familiar and right to me.

                                   (photo from mudcat.org)

And dare I show you all this painting I did back in college?

It's entitled "Self-Portrait"........excuse the glare of the flash and  that it makes the painting look like I don't have a nose.....

 

Of course this Autosomal DNA test is also in it's BETA testing phase plus it only extracts/looks at about 40% of your chromosomal material so if they compared other places on your chains/strands you might come out with a slightly different continental grouping or subgrouping AND the same test might match you with people in their database that you weren't matched with for the markers/material they did test.
Which means, I may or may not actually have a genetic match with any one of these people they matched me with AND I may have ancestry in my DNA from other parts of the world, but it just wasn't found/tested for or it's too small of a dilution to be conclusive.
Yep.....that just makes this whole thing much clearer.....clear as mud...... ;-)

Who knows?
I might just have an "inner Viking".....



Sluggy

My Tests Came Back

Not my medical tests, though I have been having to take those recently(and everything came out good), but my DNA test I had done about 6 weeks ago.

Not to get too deeply into things in this post(yes, I am teasing and taunting all of you!), I can safely say that genetically.........

I am one of the whitest people you will ever meet!

When you get your DNA tested they give you a pie chart break down of your ethnicity so you can see graphically how much of what race/group is present in your genetic makeup.

Here is my pie chart.......

That's a solid blue Western European DNA result.

98.86% Whitey.

It can't be 100% because there is a 1.44+/- margin of error.
Or maybe there is a teeny tweeny tiny sliver of some other ethnicity in there.
Can't tell really yet.

My maternal lines(so far on paper)have all sprung from the Island countries off of the coast of mainland Europe.
My paternal lines(so far on paper)have all sprung from one particular island off of the coast of mainland Europe....you may have heard of it?.....Ireland.

It's no wonder I had red hair until I was 4 yrs. old and I can't even think about the sun without slathering on sun block.
I should learn to play the bagpipes, train to become the Lord of the Dance(since we can't do any other kind of dancing well), spend time walking on the Moors and eat nothing but Haggis and Po-TA-toes....

So there will be no ancestral trips to Africa, South America or China for me...... 8-((

More on my results in the course of time.

Sluggy-the whitest woman alive
 

This Week On The Dining Table

This is the "Not Doing Much Cooking" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

Sunday--Potato Crusted Flounder, Roasted Potatoes and Onions, Brussel Sprouts
Monday--Tacos, Corn
Tuesday--Lasagna, Garlic Bread, Salad
Wednesday--Chicken medallions, Spinach, Squash or Zucchini
Thursday--Pork Chops, Green Beans(from last Summer's garden), Mashed taters, Applesauce
Friday--homemade Pizza-maybe barbeque chicken pizza(using more of that mozzarella cheese & cooked chicken), Green Salad
Saturday--Leftovers

 

We were good with this plan until Wednesday.

Thursday and Saturday we had Sausage Sandwiches(one night w/Coleslaw, the other night w/Corn on the Cob).  The local market had a new brand from NJ on special for $1.99 lb. so I picked up a few packages.  Making those was quick and easy and didn't involve the oven and I jammed 2 pkgs. in the freezer for later.  Friday I took the rest of the chicken breast meat from that 8.5lbs. I got for less than .99¢ lb.(After using some for fresh chicken sandwiches for lunches....), and made chicken and dumplings.  I threw in baby carrots that were getting old that needed using up.

 So Pork Chops and Pizza are moving to this week's menu....again. lolz

 

 I spent more anticipated last week because of the sausage patties on sale, the son wanted a frozen pizza and I hit the produce stand in town on Saturday morning and spend an additional $10 on fresh produce.  So last week,  I spent  $56.36 on  $83.78 worth of groceries at 1 store & 1 produce stand.

If I don't buy any more groceries until Thursday, August 1st, I will have spent $357.86 for food in July.

 

**We did have some food waste this week.......Sluggy hangs her head in shame.......

We hardly ever have food waster anymore here so I'm not too broken up over this happening.  I just don't want it to become a regular thing, ya know?

A small portion of Coleslaw and a bigger portion(2 maybe?)of Fajita filling mix went to Food Waste Heaven last week.
  

Leftovers, that are still aok, going into this week's plan......1 portion of Lasagna, 2 sausage patties, 3 helping of Chicken & Dumplings.

 

This week is Band Camp so #2 Son won't be here for dinner all week.

I can't eat Thursday, due to Colonoscopy prep(yuck!)so I am not cooking and Hubs is on his own.

(I told him to get fast food because I don't even want to smell food cooking that day. lol)

 

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

 Here's this week's meal plan--
 

Sunday--Leftovers or Whatever you can Find in the Fridge
Monday--Leftover Lasagna for me, Sausage Sammies for Hubs
Tuesday--Chicken & Dumplings
Wednesday--Pork Chops, Green Beans, Roasted Taters
Thursday--Fend for Yourself night, I can't eat. eek!
Friday--Probably Chinese Take-Out as I won't feel like cooking but will be ravenous lol
Saturday--No Clue yet....maybe that grilled Pizza I never made ?

On the shopping list for these meals--turkey deli meat(for my lunches), bread and possibly more fruit.

There are a few Catalina deals at Weis PMITA Markets this week I might be tempted to do(Unilever and Purina)but I'm not sure yet if I will.  I might hit up the bread outlet this week as we are low on all bread products.

 

I'm figuring about $20 for the list above.....more if I do the Catalina deals.

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.  Not much cooking or shopping going into August.

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

Sluggy

July's Decluttering Porn

More stuff left the house this past weekend.....

Just one of a few things I got accomplished lately.
Go me! 8-)

Back later with the Menu Plan for the week and Grocery spending.....

Sluggy

She's Baaaaaaaaack......

My bloggin' Buddy JUDY is back!!!

Go check her new blog out HERE.

Sluggy
 

Teen Brain

You would think that after 2 older kids I'd be use to dealing with the dreaded teen brain syndrome.

You know what I mean, right?
Teens have so many hormones and things swirling around in their noggins that it makes listening, thinking and following directions very difficult, if not impossible.

I have told #2 Son at least 4 times now this week about a small chore I want him to do.
I left it up to him when to attempt this job and here it is Saturday morning and it's still undone.

On this point, we had a "go 'round" about the chore in question on Wednesday.
He came downstairs and I once again reminded him(reminder #2 or 3, I don't recall)about doing said chore and doing it on that day, since he seemed not to have any mojo to get it done asap on his own.

He looked at me like I was an alien(shut up....I see you thinking something about me out there!lol)and said that I hadn't EVER in my life said anything before today about doing this chore.
Really??!

Do I need to start filming video of me telling him so I can play it back when he denies I ever told him something or other?

He continued to deny I ever told him to do this chore.
I know the child is suffering from an advanced case of teen brain and I explained to him what I meant.

Again, he looked at me like I had hot lava oozing out of a vent in my neck.
He shook his head in a way that says, "Poor mom, she's lost her mind." and left the room.

A bit later, as if to punctuate the point I was making, #2 Son returned downstairs to the kitchen to fix himself something to eat.
He took the second little French bread pizza out of the freezer(from the box of Stouffer's I got him the other day)and got busy in there heating it up.

I didn't pay attention to him really and got absorbed into whatever I was doing online.
About half an hour later I looked up from the computer as my nose was smelling something burning.
I yelled up to him and he flew down the stairs to the kitchen and started banged around all disgusted.
I looked up and he had a pizza pan in his hand with this on it.....

That slightly incinerated item was a pizza at one time.
It actually looks better in the photo than it did in real life.....
Ever the optimist(ha!)and trying to save the situation, I told him that charcoal is good for your teeth.

I could have sworn I saw daggers protruding from his eyeballs toward me at that moment.
;-)

Teen stood there clueless about how this had happened.....the pizza burning.
He said he had followed the directions on the box.

So I dug the box outta the trash and started reading them.
And it became apparent that what he did was combine 2 sets of directions-one for cooking it with a microwave and one for cooking it in a traditional oven.

One instruction said to bake at 350 for 30 minutes in a regular oven.

The other instruction said to bake for 2 minutes in a microwave and then place in a preheated 475 degree regular oven for 5 mintues.

So what does the teen brain afflicted youth do?
He preheated the regular oven to 475 degrees and baked it for 30 minutes.

*Thud*

And there you have it folks.
The argument that I HAVE told him about that chore I wanted done multiple times and he just hasn't processed the information correctly in his teen brain.

The old mom doesn't have Alzheimer's yet......
It's him and NOT me.
And hopefully I get this kid grown and out of the house before I do sink into the Alzheimer soup.

Sluggy



 

Perfecting My Wave

When I get silly I like to refer to myself in the third person when conversing.
You know......like when I disapprove of something and am talking to someone, I'll say, "We are not amused".

That sort of thing.
I'm just that silly.

Well come to find out, wanting to talk in the third person might be imbedded somewhere deep in my dna.

A few months ago I traced, via paper trail,(sources range from excellent to dubious though), my maternal genealogy back to European royalty.
Most of the connections are NOT sourced by me but taken from other trees of people I appear to be related to.

That gentleman in Erie, PA who I found I am related to via a maternal Great Grandfather's line(my mother's mother's father's line)and corresponded with about 5 years ago, is part of the Vassar/Vasser family of VA.  This line stretches back to the first immigrant to the New World, John Vasser who arrived at Jamestown in 1635.  Old John V. happens to be one of my 9th Great Grandfathers.
That's all well documented and many ancestors are right proud of that lineage.

But I turned my attention to John Vasser's wife awhile ago, Elizabeth Dowe(other spelling variations are Dow and Dew).
She also came to VA in 1635.
Her parents were Christopher Dowe and Elizabeth Franklin from England.
I traced Elizabeth's maternal line back 3 generations to an Ann Hare.
She was the daughter of Thomas Popy Hare.
I traced Thomas' paternal line back 4 more generations to a John Hare.
He married Jane or Joan de Neville, who was the daughter of Ralph de Neville and Joan de Beaufort, the Countess of Westmorland.
Joan de Beaufort was the daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duck of Lancaster, of the Plantagenet house of England.
Yes, my ancestor was one of the bastard children of John of Gaunt and his mistress Kathryn Swynford(who he eventually married).
This line leads me back through the Plantagenet rulers of England all the way back to William the Conqueror(born 1024), who appears to be one of my 29th Great Grandfathers.
So even that line of my ancestry leads back to France.
I tell you I am finding all kinds of ancestors going back to France once I started rooting around deep enough in my tree branches.

My direct ancestor rulers are William(the Man), Henry I, Henry II, John I, Henry III, Edward I II and III,  and then I drop off into the minor nobility after John of Gaunt and upper classes of English society, before hopping a boat to America.
But being descended from the Plantagenet line means I am remotely related to all the rulers of England down through Liz II.
Do you think I can use my "connection" to the House of Windsor to get a peek "up close and personal" of the new royal baby? 8-)

Whoop dee doo I hear you say about all those stuffy royalty folks......
Yah, that's sort of my reaction as well.

But it still doesn't keep me from enjoying this cute little song from a BBC series called "Horrible Histories" that I found episodes for on You Tube.

Can't we all use a silly little tune to remember the Rulers of England by? lolz
Enjoy!





 Sluggy
H.N.S.R.M (Her Not So Royal Majesty)

Blathering On A Blah Day

Just lots of dull going on today here at Chez Sluggy.
My.....since I AM the Queen of Boring anyway, how boring is a dull day for me?

Pretty darn boring I'd say.

Just the usual suspects today......washing dishes, cooking, a little vacuuming, waiting on dogs hand and foot.....or would that be paw and hoof?.....some blog reading/writing, email answering and bubble land playing.
Oh yes, and writing a big check to the Daughter for her rent, health insurance and books the upcoming semester of college.
Writing big checks are no fun.
Receiving big checks on the other hand, are lots of fun. 8-)  But there is none of that going on here today, though the Hubs paycheck hits the bank account later today....just in time for me to pay the last of the July bills.
Oh joy.....yes, the excitement never ends around here.

Tonight is Project Runway viewing.  I hope Timothy(Mr. "I Don't Use Sewing Machines Because They Use Electricity" Faux Environmentalist)gets the axe tonight.  Such a phony.....
But then again it would be fun to have him around making trouble and giving the other Designers reasons to roll their eyes.

The "big" project I am currently working on is going through my fabric stash.  I am separating out what I am keeping to use and the rest is getting photographed, measured and put into my Etsy store later this Summer.

I'll post about this project later next month.

As for bringing in some extra cash, I put about 10 books up on Amazon last week and actually sold 2 already.
Go me!

The weather the past 2 days has been WONDERFUL!  It's been cooler & less humid and I haven't had to run the a/c at all.
And last night it was downright chilly.  Somewhere in the 50's and I needed a blanket on the bed.

And my post last week about Germany's fascination with me and David Hasselhoff?  Well it looks like I jinxed my stats with it, because shortly afterwards that 1 person in Germany who kept visiting my blog daily about 20,000 times seems to have stopped visiting here.
Yes, my audience numbers have fallen dramatically and audience geographical locations percentages are now normal-ish.
It was fun while it lasted......

I hope you feel better soon Linda.
And I was just thinking about missing "Udy with a J" and Jane's blogs.  Jane is probably off in the wilds of P.E.I. right about now, enjoying her summer with Michael.  I know she doesn't have internet service out there at her cottage so if you are in P.E.I. tell Jane I said "hi".


Ok, off to do other things now.

Sluggy
 

The View Outside & A Frugal Cool Treat

We had a busy weekend here at Chez Sluggy.

On Sunday we tackled "the jungle".
That's how we refer to the west side of the house.
There is a tree over there next to the house, along with 4 overgrown shrubs.
I don't think we did any yard work over on that side of the house the last couple of years, except for mowing the grass that's over there.

It's a nice shady spot, due to the assorted trees shielding that area from the road, which runs along it(we live on a corner lot).  I had plans to put a nice garden bench over there and have a shady cool spot to sit out in the yard.
But before I get the bench, we needed to tackle "the jungle" that had grown up over there next to the house.

And here is how the side of the house looked after 5 hours of hacking and chopping and sawing.....

There is still work to be done on the left side of the photo.  There are "suckers" from the tree that need digging up and those 2 shrubs need trimming back.

We decided to chop down one of the shrubs....the one closest to the front of the house.  It had just grown so tall and pruning it back just made it look nastier and smaller. lol  I have never liked that bush.
So we chopped it up and all that needs to be done is to dig the roots up.....

When Hubs was starting to take the chainsaw to all the branches of it, I said it was too bad we didn't have a redneck with a pick-up truck and a big chain handy to make quick work of that shrub.
We just don't have the right friends sometimes......

And after we got most of the branches and all the debris taken out of there, I looked up and noticed that there are decorative shutters on that bedroom window......

I hadn't seen that window, let alone those shutters in 6 or more years!
That little purple red tree was about 7 feet tall when we moved into this house.  It hadn't even reached the bottom of that 2nd floor window yet.
In the Fall, when we take that window a/c out of the window, we'll trim more from that tree so it isn't brushing against the house.
Who the heck plants a tree that grows this tall or taller right next to a house and a window too boot?! lol

Now I like shrubs and things near the base of your house(but not too near).  But I like shrubs that are A-full and nice looking when they grow and B-don't traditionally grow too large/tall for the space.
Whomever planted the stuff on this side of the house hadn't a CLUE about how big these things get when full grown.

I told Hubs I would like to make a flower bed over here bordering the house.  Put up a nice little border and fill the thing with mulch or stones.  I'll probably angle it out into a semicircular affair so I can include the base of that tree in it.  I'll probably finish digging up the 3 shrubberies left and replace them with miniature type shrubs and some partial shade perennials.
Maybe some Lily of the Valley and Hostas?

Hostas to replace the ones Hubs dug up in the side flower bed.
My stonewalled side flower bed with the humungous Rhododendron in it.....

Behind that bush were 3 lovely Hostas in that bed.  I had #2 Son weed that bed back there(and to the right of the Rhodo) and then lay down landscaping fabric with red bark mulch over it.
Hubs wanting to "help" went over and dug up my Hostas in tiny pieces and threw them out.....thinking that #2 Son hadn't finished weeding the bed and that those were weeds.
Ugh.
I am still giving him grief over that. 8-((

But I digress.....

Anyway, we had a HUGE brush pile of branches after all the cutting and hacking was finished for the day.  A pile much too big to add to the already large brush pile heaped over behind the shed in the backyard.
I told Hubs not to put this new pile of brush on the old pile, as the old stuff was dry and about ready to burn in the fire pit Daughter made in the backyard.
So what to do with all that fresh brush.......

Genius solution was found!

Fill up the dog run which we don't use anymore! lol

As we burn the old pile of brush, we can move the new stuff over behind the shed to finish drying out.

While I was out helping with the shrub/tree hacking and brush removal and gathering up dead sticks for kindling in the fire pit, I also did some weeding in the garden out back and took some pictures of the plants.

The bean vines are starting to cover the deck fencing and if the Japanese beetles leave enough leaves for the vines to live, we may see some actual green beans.

The broccoli plants are of epic proportions.....

The cucumber plants in the barrel have tiny cukes ....

And we have baby eggplants now.....

I tired growing white variety eggplant this year.  By next week we'll be able to harvest smallish eggplants and prepare some sort of eggplant dish. 8-)
They are suppose to be less bitter than the purple eggplant but they can have more seeds and need to be peeled as the skin is tough.

In other news, I've been trying to kickstart the weight loss here as I've plateaued after my initial 49 lbs. loss.  So I've been trying to eat 2 main meals a day instead of 3.  I also eat a few small snacks along the way each day.  I tend to stay up late and rise late morning due to the heat.  So I'll have my main meal-my turkey sandwich lunch-when I get up in the morning or about an hour afterwards.
Then I eat a small snack(yogurt or fruit or both)in the late afternoon and a small dinner portion around 6-7pm.
The other day it was coming up on 4 pm and I got hungry so instead of fruit/yogurt I took some blueberries Hubs couldn't finish that were going to go bad soon, a couple hand fulls of frozen peach slices, a handful of ice and about a 1/2 cup of 100% Peach/Mango juice blend #2 Son had just opened(and hadn't guzzled the whole thing down yet!lol).
Take all that and whirr it up in the blender which gave me this......

A sorbet/slurpee frozen treat.
All natural, no added sugars or flavorings.
A cool fun thing to eat on a hot day and frugal too.

So what have you been up to at your house?

Sluggy

Sluggy's Boring Blog Box Giveaway......Week 2 Enter Now!

Time to enter Week 2 of the giveaway.
Win this box of awesomeness.

 

Well the answer to that is.....Yes, yes she is!

It's another 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.

 

This time the Box of Goodies is ALL ABOUT THE LADIES with things for your Girly side.

No shaving cream or manly stuff in this box folks!

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

 

 

 

 

1.  a Dove Deodorant Stick

2.  a box of Crest Toothpaste

3.  a box of Aquafresh Toothpaste

4.  a small bottle of hair Conditioner

5.  a box of Eye Drops

6.  an Oral-B Pulsar Toothbrush

7.  a set of Plastic Nails(black with peace signs)

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 address and a COMMENT on this post.  

This week I want to hear about the home projects you have going on.  Do you enjoy doing DIY home projects or do you let the pros handle it all?

Are they massive and costly or small and cheapy projects? 

Or do you wish you had the funds/time/ability to do some home projects? 

If you are in the midst of project(s), are you ready for them to be over yet?....I sure wish that was me. lol

 

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