This Week on the Dining Table--The Day Late Edition

This is the "Still On Vacation & I'm a Day Late" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

 

Sunday--Chicken and broccoli in garlic sauce,  PLUS fresh broccoli from the garden, coconut rice
Monday--Assorted Leftovers that #2 Son won't eat this week
Tuesday--?
Wednesday--Whatever Sonya Ann fixes....uh oh.....lolz
Thursday--Eat Out
Friday--?
Saturday--Wedding Reception

 

Everything was as planned that WAS planned beforehand.  Sonya's hubs, Den, cooked us a yummy gourmet Asian meal on Wednesday when we arrived and we ate out at a really good, authentic Mexican place on Thursday.  Friday was a steak dinner with the Hubs sister and her fiancée.  I only had to cook 1 day last week so it was an awesome week in my book! 8-))
  

I don't have my food receipt log with me here so I'll update our food spending when I get home.  The eating out is not on the food budget but the entertainment budget so I'll update that spending when I do a post mortem on our trip next Monday.

 

Food waste last week.....no clue.  I told #2 Son to throw any barbecue he didn't eat last week into the freezer.  I'll see what went bad while I was away when I get home.  I didn't leave much there that could go bad so it shouldn't be too awful.

  

Leftovers going into this week?  Not a thing since we aren't home.  I left cash with #2 Son and he is picking up what he needs until we return.  I will have to throw a couple of meals together later this week when we get home but I am pulling a Scarlett O'Hara and thinking about that "anotha day".....

Here's this week's meal plan--such that it is---
 

Sunday--BBQ Chicken, broccoli & cheese casserole, tossed salad, corn on the cob
Monday--raw  veggies, crackers, cheese and sausage(Sonya Ann had packed us some snacks and that was dinner)
Tuesday--Chinese food again!
Wednesday--Eating out
Thursday--Eating Out
Friday--something from my freezer TBA
Saturday--something from my freezer TBA

I have NO shopping list this week.....again!
I'll probably pick up groceries Sunday or next Monday.

 

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table-or rather NOT appearing on the kitchen table-this week here at Chez Sluggy.  Not much of a meal plan again but we'll be back to normal(or what passes for normal)next Monday.
  

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

Sluggy

Summer Road Trip of 2013 Day 8 -It's Family Day

I want to show y'all some relatives of mine.....albeit distant relatives or relatives by marriage.


I have a direct ancestor named Mary Hunt.
Mary Hunt was born 15 May 1695 and died abt. 8 Mar 1763.
Mary is my 7th great grandmother on the maternal side of my family.

By her third marriage after she was widowed twice, she has connected me to a slew of famous and esteemed persons in our country's early history.  She never had any children by her third husband so I am not blood relation to any of these people, but am related through marriage.

Here is the wife of the brother-in-law of my 7th great grandmother......

Here is the brother-in-law of my 7th great grandmother.....

Here is the 3rd great grandfather of the husband of the niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother....

And  this is the 3rd great grandmother of the husband of the niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother.....

This is the nephew of the husband of my 7th great grandmother.....or would it be the step nephew of my 7th great grandmother.....

My 6th great grandmother(Mary Hunt's daughter by her second husband), was also the cousin-in-law(or would it be half cousin or step cousin?) of that man.

This is the 3rd great grand niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother........

And here's the husband of the 3rd great grand niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother.....

 I point all this out because today on our Great Summer Road Trip of 2013, I'll be visiting the childhood home of the 3rd great grand niece of the husband of my 7th great grandmother......

She became somewhat of a controversial women of her time in history.

Sluggy

When In Rome.......aka When In Tennessee

Y'all know the old saying, "When in Rome, do as the Romans.".
I like to follow that advice so when I travel to other states, I eat and shop like the natives.

Yesterday our version of the saying went like....."When in Tennessee, Drink like a Tennessean".

Having spent most of Monday in Tennessee traveling east to Virginia, we made a few stops to shop.......for adult beverages.

Here is what we cracked open this evening back at the hotel room.....

 Hubs had some George Dickel Tennessee sipping Whisky.
Their motto is...."If you know Jack, you don't know Dickel."
One of their mixed drink ideas is called the "STIFF DICKEL".

Don't even GO there people...... ;-)

And my choice was from a bit further north from Tennessee.....
Kentucky made "Cinerator"  hot cinnamon flavored Whiskey.
91.1% proof.

I've had about an ounce so far and it's already taken me 20 minutes to type and retype this post.
Where the heck is spellcheck when I need it??

And my taste buds are on fire.......but in a good way.

I'll be falling into bed shortly if I don't hit the floor first.
I dare you to put a shot of this into your Cranberry and Amaretto concoctions Sonya Ann.

Sluggy-who will sleep soundly tonight!
 

Summer Road Trip 2013-Day 6

Here's another little film of our day yesterday.
I'm sorry if this is getting REALLY boring but there is really nothing to film and talk about when we are sitting in a car all. day. long. driving from location to location.

The best I can do is film these short clips of our lunches or dinners on the road.
Sunday's lunch was in Owensboro, Kentucky.

A feast of fried foods but stuff we don't usually eat at home.....well, at least for moi.
Hubs had chicken but we don't do it up fried anymore at home.

Sunday we stayed in Lebanon, Tennessee with a childhood friend but this morning we are back on the highway heading back north a bit.....and east.
Just a few more days until we make the last leg back home to the armpit of Pennsyltucky and I can recap the full itinerary of adventures we had the last week and a half.
After I edit a million photos(EEK!) and sleep for 4 days straight to catch up on my beauty rest, that is.....






Sluggy

Road Trip Day 5-May I Introduce.....

May I introduce the newly married couple.......

My sister in-law and her new husband(he's on the right wearing the do-rag).

The ceremony was lovely and the reception was great but YouTube won't let me upload any videos today(a reprieve for all of you out there!lolz), and I'm heading out the door very soon so that's all for today.

It's back on the road for us in a few mintues, so come back tomorrow to see where we are/were heading to next.

Sluggy

Day Four "On The Road Again" of the Summer Road Trip of 2013 Teaser

Another real quick post from me today.
Today is a busy one with the wedding happening and all.

So I'll just post another quick video from yesterday.

We stopped en route to our Day Four destination to meet and have lunch with a couple of online friends I've known for 14 years but have never actually met in real life.

After the hugs and giggles upon meeting finally, we settled in to the important stuff.....eating lunch! lol
The waitress told us about the specials, and since it was Friday most if not all of them revolved around seafood.
After she rattled off the list of fish and shellfish goodies available on that day and left, I looked at Hubs and said, "Should we dare even think about having the FISH SANDWICH??!".

Ya see......oh lord, sit down and get a drink, this will be anything BUT brief.....

a few years back when we use to drive our kids to summer camp on Lake Erie, we stopped one year for lunch before the drop-off at a place called KING'S RESTAURANT.  It's a local chain-type family restaurant place with modest prices and home cooking.
My hubs ordered the fish sandwich and when they brought it to the table, it was a regular sized sub roll with a piece of fried fish 3 TIMES the length of the roll.  Honestly, it was like a ginormous filet off of a whole 8 lb. fish!

Not having much of a censor between my brain & what I am thinking and what comes out my mouth, I half yelled, for the whole room to hear, "Holy crap!  That fish is HUGE!"
At that, Hubs, shot me a look that would kill, which just made me bust out laughing.....which in turn, made all 3 of our kids fall into hysterics.....which in turn made Hubs face go red and piss the heck out of him......which in turn made me NOT be able to stop laughing.  Hubs would glare at the kids and they would quiet but then he'd try to take a bite of that sandwich(wrestle with it really!).....and that would make me start up laughing again, which would cause the kids to begin snickering once more.
After about 15 minutes of this, we finally settled down and could eat without going into spasms.

So ever since that day we've had a 'thing' about fish sandwiches and the ordering of them, when we see that item on a menu.

But on Friday, Hubs dared the gods and ordered the fried Walleye fish sandwich at Cindy's Home Cooking Restaurant in Mendota, Illinois.

Sorry for the somewhat lengthy explanation but I needed to share that(if you haven't read about that story on the blog)before you watched this quick video......so you know why I took this video.  ;-)

 

Sluggy

Back to School Giveaway

It's that time of year again......Back to School time.

So I gathered a bunch of freebies or "almost freebies" I had sitting around my house and I'm giving them away to one of my fabulous readers!

So if you have kids heading back to school soon(or have already started back)or grandkids or you yourself can use this stuff, or you know a teacher who would like to have this stuff handy as spares or know a charitable organization that collects school supplies to distribute to the needy, come enter this Giveaway.

Here is what I will be sending the winner.....

1.  2 notebooks
2.  3 book covers
3.  1 box of business sized envelopes
4.  2 packages of pencils
5.  2 packages of ballpoint pens
6.  2 rolls of cellophane tape
7.  1 package of glue sticks
8.  1 bottle of glue
9.  1 pack of highlighters
10.  2 pencil sharpeners
11.  1 big eraser
12.  1 pack of pencil toperasers

Not bad, huh?

This entry time will run from when this spiel is posted until next Friday, August 23rd, at 11:59pm.
That's when I'll draw the winner and post the results on Saturday.

So for this giveaway, you can enter every day.  Just leave a comment about anything you want for an entry each day.
You can also have 2 extra entries each day for being a follower or posting about the giveaway on your blog of on Facebook with a link back to my page.  Just do either or both and leave a comment and the link in your comment on this post. 
If you do all of this each day you can have 3 entries daily X 7 days=21 entries total for this giveaway.

Happy Entering!

Sluggy

Quick Summer Road Trip of 2013 Update

Well we are at the end of Day 3 of the Great Summer Road Trip.

I am so behind on getting anything written up and posted.  It's all I can do to download photos/movies, edit them, upload them to YouTube so I can post them on Blogger(since Blogger doesn't like any movie I try to post over 30 seconds long...ugh).

I'm trying to balance staying "in the moment" and having fun with updating the blog......and obviously the blog is losing out on that deal.

We arrived at Sonya Ann's house yesterday evening.  She promptly hugged me, shoved a biiiig drink in my hand and that's about all I remember from that night.  ;-)

I'll get the full story up on the blog eventually when we are done driving all over creation to see all these folks on this trip.

For now, here's a little boring film I took early on Thursday morning.....sort of my video version of  "snooping in your friend's medicine cabinet".  lol




More later as events develop......


Sluggy

"Film at 11" of Day One of the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013

So tired and not enough time to perform proper hygiene this evening and edit, write and post photos and a report on Day One of the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013-Sluggy Edition.

So I'll just post this short video to whet your appetites for more......or give you a sick feeling in your stomachs, you decide. lol

We are somewhere in the bowels of Ohio this evening and it's  past my bedtime.

Enjoy the film and wish us luck on Day Two's traveling.




Sluggy

And The Winner Is........

Sorry for the delay in getting the winner of the latest Boring Blog Box Giveaway posted.
We've been busy packing and then driving all day today and this is the first chance I've had to blog.

I used Random dotorg to help me pick a winner randomly.
32 valid entries and # 25 was picked which means the winner is......

Judy S.

Congrats to Judy and as soon as I get your complete mailing address and I get home, I'll send your box o' goodies on it's way to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered and if I have a lucid moment later on this week, I'll be posting another Giveaway.

Now I'm off to edit some photos.

Sluggy

You May Want to Cover Your Ears Now.....

Because I'm going to sing.

When Tanner was here last week, she mentioned, in an off-hand manner, that she had just had a birthday.

I told her I should make her a cake, to which she said, "Oh, you don't have to do that." or "I don't need a cake." or something similar.

Well, you KNOW I took that as a challenge. lol

And besides.....
Everybody.
Needs.
Cake.

So before she left on Saturday afternoon, I had Hubs sneak off to the grocery store and buy a little cake at the bakery department.

And after we had our little cook-out, I whipped it out.....er I put the cake on the table and we proceeded to embarrass Tanner by singing to her.

You may want to hit the mute button when you play the short video below.
It's been many many years since anyone has paid money to hear me sing....*snort*

 

Now I want everyone to go over to Tanner's blog and leave her a Birthday message.
And you'd better all do it or I'll....I'll.....I'll sing again!!!


Sluggy

Last Chance to Enter my Giveaway....HURRY!

Just a quick reminder that I am drawing the winner of the Sluggy's Boring Blog Giveaway this evening at 1 minute to midnight.

So you have less than 6 hours from posting this left to enter.

Here's the link to enter HERE.

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

This Week on The Dining Table

This is the "Leaving town so use it up few days" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

 Sunday--Subway sandwiches
Monday--Chicken and Broccoli(from the garden)in Garlic Sauce, Coconut Rice
Tuesday--Pork Chops, Green Beans, Roasted Taters(trying again to get this cooked!)
Wednesday--Barbecue Ribs & Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Coleslaw, Collards
Thursday--?  Will play it by ear
Friday--?  Will play it by ear
Saturday--Probably bunches of leftovers

 

Everything Sunday through Wednesday as planned, with the addition of Squash Casserole for Wednesday's meal.  Thursday we had homemade meat sauce with ravioli and tossed salad(at Tanner's request & I had raviolis and precooked crumbled ground beef for a meat sauce in the freezer) , Friday Tanner & I had a real late lunch at Friendly's so no dinner and Saturday we had a burgers/dogs cook-out for lunch before Tanner left so it was just leftover stuff from the week for dinner that night.
 

Last week,  I spent  $106.43 on  $167.51 worth of groceries at 2 different grocery stores and the farm stand.  That included about $50 in some meat deals and discount bakery goods(for while company was here), a pizza, snacks and PowerAde for #2 Son and $5 in fruit & $3.50 for local tomatoes at the farm stand.   The birthday cake was another $7 and bad planning on my part necessitated a $9.16 ground beef purchase(I had frozen but didn't think to thaw it out beforehand).  This means I spent only about $31 on essential food items that were used last week.

 

Food waste galore last week......4 strips of turkey bacon that just got "old" before it got 'et and a 1/4 of a bag of carrot shreds that again, just got "old".  And 1 of the cantaloupes I bought at the farm stand was too ripe so it went to the great compost in the sky. lol  I should have pureed it and froze it for smoothies but freezer space is still at a premium here and I had company and just didn't feel like standing around pureeing melon with them here.  Yes, I am using company as an excuse for throwing out a melon. 
I have NO  shame.......8-(

  

Leftovers going into this week's plan......where do I begin??lol......squash casserole(2 helpings), collards(1 helping), spare ribs(8), pulled pork, coleslaw, pork chops(2), meat sauce, coconut rice,, chicken w/broccoli(1 helping).  Hubs and I will try to eat on the foods #2 Son & others won't eat while we are gone today(just like we ate leftovers yesterday).

Here's this week's meal plan--such that it is--leftover foods are in bold lettering--
 

Sunday--Chicken and broccoli in garlic sauce,  PLUS fresh broccoli from the garden, coconut rice
Monday--Assorted Leftovers that #2 Son won't eat this week
Tuesday--?
Wednesday--Whatever Sonya Ann fixes....uh oh.....lolz
Thursday--Eat Out
Friday--?
Saturday--Wedding Reception

I have NO shopping list this week.....yah! 
Hubs and I will be eating out 5 nights this week.  1 night at Sonya Ann's house and 1 night at the Wedding dinner.  The other 3 nights are wide open and unknown at this point but will involve restaurants.  I am taking a bottle of no salt Ketchup with me however, if I need it to "doctor" up something that is not quite edible.  Plus I will be trying to make R/S diet friendly choices.  Wish me luck!

Instead of stocking up the fridge and leaving a meal plan for those who will be at home, I'll just give them money and they can decide what to serve/fix/eat.

Meals at my house this week will sort of be like Vegas......what happens at meal time at Sluggy's house STAYS at Sluggy's house. ;-)

 

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.  Not much of a meal plan but next week's post mortem should be "interesting". lol
 

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

Sluggy

Oh, You Poor People.....

Y'all will all eventually rue the day I discovered I can take videos with my new camera.
Yes you will.
It may not be today or next week or next month.
But I promise you eventually......some day.......after y'all get tired of listening to my "nails on a chalkboard" voice yammering on and on about nothing at all, in a stream-of-consciousness style, you WILL regret the day I figured this dang blasted technology on my camera out.

And that's the day that my follower numbers will start declining....RAPIDLY! lol

But until y'all get the good sense to abandon this ship blog, you will be subjected to more of my boring videos.
Oh you lucky, lucky people!!

Today's offering for this weekend.
A brief tour around Sluggy's garden......

 

 

You will need to crane your necks a bit at the end of the video as I went sideways with the camera....oops.....
I guess I started drinking "iced tea" before I shot that bit....wink, wink. ;-)

Sluggy
 

Don't You Wish....

Remember that old song that went something like....."Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend was Hot Like Me"?

Well my post title is a riff on that old song......Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend was Sluggy! lol

I know y'all are all jealous that you aren't up here in Pennsyltucky with me at my house like Tanner is.....was.  8-))

T left about an hour ago but we had some fun earlier today.  We had a little cookout on the back deck before she bugged outta here for home.
Check it out......

 

 

Off to catch up on what everyone else is up to and leave some comments on blogs....

Sluggy

She's Here! She's Here!

Sorry I didn't post anything earlier today.

#2 Son had his wisdom tooth removal appointment this morning at 10:30am.
The oral surgeon's office called here at 7:30am to say they had a last minute opening at 8:30am and if we wanted to, we could come in, in an hour for that time.

Riiiiight!
I am barely awake, not cleaned up or dressed, haven't fed myself breakfast or taken my meds, haven't taken the dogs out yet this morning AND even more important.....I haven't woken the "patient" up yet so he isn't ready to leave.
So how am I going to get all this done PLUS drive a half an hour away to their office in the next 58 minutes.

What are these people thinking??.....or are they? lolz

So we get our morning routine done and I read a few blogs while I shoveled cold cereal into my mouth.

Then it was off to the appointment. 
An hour later I hauled #2 Son home(after a quick stop to pick up his Vicodin)and tried to make him comfortable.
The poor kid......the Vicodin wasn't helping relieve his pain much, so we added some Motrin PM, to help him get to sleep.
It's after 10pm and he just woke up so I guess it did the trick.  ;-)

When we got home,  I commenced cooking.  I smoked a pork shoulder and a mess of spareribs yesterday.  About noon I put them in a low and slow oven(200 degrees)for about 6 hours to finish them off.
I also made yellow squash casserole, collards and coleslaw(for the pulled pork sammies).

At around 3:30pm I heard a car pull up out front and ran out to see that Tanner had arrived.

Here she is in all her glory.....in my kitchen....

The next 3 or 4 hours(see?....I don't even know how long it was!)flew by as we yakked it up.
And here I was worried that we'd run out of things to say........hahaha!!!

We gabbed and I finished cooking, Hubs came home and we ate and #2 son slept through the meal.

After our late dinner we settled down into the den and I subjected Tanner to Honey Boo-Boo.
I don't think she is a fan.....lol

Then I left her in front of the tv for a few episodes of Duck Dynasty while I checked my email, read some blogs and wrote this lame post up.

I'm dog tired and heading to bed early tonight.  But first I need to show Tanner to her room and where to park her stuff.
Tomorrow?
Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Maybe we'll just hang out here or go out to lunch or sightseeing or go rob a bank......
Ok, I'm kidding about the sightseeing. ;-)

Sluggy

Kitchen Magic

Yesterday evening this......

Along with the addition of sliced up chicken breast pieces, honey, rice wine vinegar, crushed red pepper flakes, garlic, soy sauce, ground pepper and cornstarch got turned into this.....

Served over a side of Jasmine Rice made with Coconut Milk.....

Nothing out of a box with preservatives up the wazoo and ingredients I can't pronounce.

Looks almost good enough to eat, doesn't it? 8-)

Sluggy
 

A Headstone for Hildegarde

Here's a heartwarming post I found on Yahoo this morning.
All my buddies who are into genealogy will appreciate it.....
Check it out HERE.

Sluggy


 

Week 4 of the Boring Blog Box Giveaway.....LAST WEEK!

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. 3 Magnetix Nail Polishes

2. 5 Cover Girl Eye Shadows

I know it doesn't look like much, but this shit's expensive! lolz

 

 

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 if you are a Girly Girl or not?
What makes you a Girly Girl?
Is it what you wear or using makeup or what?
Have you always been a Girly Girl?

 

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.

 

This is the last posting/week you can enter this Giveaway.  This is the LAST WEEK to enter!

On Monday, August 12th at 11:59pm I'l close the giveaway to new entries and pull the winner's name of this box of goodies from all valid entries received by the deadline day/time.

To recap, here is everything that is in the box.....

 Any questions?  Just email me.

Happy Entering!! 

Sluggy

This Week on The Dining Table

This is the "Everything is set until company gets here" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

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 Potatoes
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 ?

 

We were good with this plan until Tuesday.
Wednesday we had leftovers again since there were still leftovers.  Friday Hubs took me to a Chinese buffet after we got out of the colonoscopy so we had an early dinner/late lunch.  I think I had some pickles and melon that night when I got hungry again.
Saturday Hubs wanted to eat out since we were running errands(mostly looking at travel trailers)so we went to TGI Friday's.  I had a free appetizer coupon so I got that and a salad, which made that early dinner $8 less than it would have been.
All this early dinner stuff lately makes me think we are turning into one of those old Early Bird Special couples who eat dinner at 2 in the afternoon.  Geez, I didn't think we were THAT old yet. lolz
 

Last week,  I spent  $85.90 on  $121.97 worth of groceries at 3 stores.  I ended up not doing the Catalina Deals at Weis(PMITA)Markets.  This spending includes $11.55 on colonoscopy prep supplies and $16.18 on junk foods for #2 Son for the month and $12.62 for "we're having company" type foods.  So $40.35 of my $85.90 in spending wasn't for regular meal foods.

 

No food waste last week...woohoo!

  

Leftovers, that are still aok, going into this week's plan......1 helping of Chicken & Dumplings.  If I don't eat this for lunch one day, it can be fed to the dogs, with their undying thanks. lol

Company is arriving in time for dinner on Wednesday so I've got a plan in place through Wednesday.
As for Thursday, Friday and Saturday?.....no clue.  We will be winging it.

Here's this week's meal plan--such that it is--
 

Sunday--Subway sandwiches
Monday--Chicken and Broccoli(from the garden)in Garlic Sauce, Coconut Rice
Tuesday--Pork Chops, Green Beans, Roasted Taters(trying again to get this cooked!)
Wednesday--Barbecue Ribs & Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Coleslaw, Collards
Thursday--?  Will play it by ear
Friday--?  Will play it by ear
Saturday--Probably bunches of leftovers

On the shopping list for these meals--turkey deli meat(for my lunches), more foods to have here for company like baked goods, chicken for Monday's dinner, collards and ?

 

 

I'm figuring about $50 for the above.

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy.  Half the week's meals are up in the air still but it will all work out for the best. 8-)

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

Sluggy

Rambles about Gardening, Shopping, Company & Fabric

Last weekend we spent some time at Lowe's......yeah, I am just getting around to talking about that......

We picked up some stones to remake the fire pit in the backyard......we have all those tree limbs now to burn so why not have some fun and sit around a fire at night, right?

I also picked up 2 Hostas to replace the ones Hubs dug up and threw out, thinking they were weeds....grrrrrr.

Because we had a gift card we only spent $8 on everything above.  NC Chic loves gift card shopping too. ;-)

Then I bought that HUGE 12 pack of Coleus plants you see.
If you are Sluggy, you don't go to the garden center in the Spring and pay $2 a pop for a tiny little plant.
You wait until halfway through the growing season, when the garden centers put everything on clearance before all the plants die, and you buy them fully grown at a price of $5 for a 12 pack.
At least that's the Sluggy way.....

Then you put them in your flower beds just in time for company to come visit.......

so they can marvel at what a GREEN THUMB you have! ;-)

Looking around the garden last week we saw.......

 2 Heads of Broccoli coming along......

Our first and biggest cuke......all 4 inches of it........

And this is the second eggplant we had to pick.......

And when I turn it around you can see why we had to pick it......

Some critter got ahold of it and ate a big hunk out of it near the stem.
Figures......
Hubs decides we need to put a fence around the eggplant plants to keep the plethora of rabbits living around our yard away from them and the next 2 days the largest and second largest eggplants are attacked.
They weren't messed with before fence.......sigh

But with a goodly amount of rain last week and then sunny skies the broccolis were approaching picking size.  One of them looked like it was going to head to "flowering" so Hubs picked it on Sunday.....

Last time we attempted broccoli in the garden, we ended up with "special" broccoli....you know, misformed  and tiny heads that bolted to flowers before we could pick some of them.
This year's did much better and will be part of a chicken and broccoli in garlic sauce for Monday's dinner.
Yumo!

I hope Tanner likes broccoli because the other head will be ready for eatin' soon too.

Sunday was spent cleaning.
Yes, one of my most favorite things to do in the world!!! ha

But it was time to do it and of course, we couldn't have Tanner arriving and thinking Sluggy is an awful host and housekeeper(well, one out of two ain't bad....).
We will continue on with the making the house presentable for company on Monday.  I may have to break out the bio-hazard suit when I get to the main bathroom since #2 Son is the sole user of said bathroom.
This won't be pretty and I'll spare y'all the Before pictures of it....lolz

In other news, sort of, I have filled 4 shelves with piece goods from my fabric stash.
It has been photographed, catalogued, measured and folded neatly, all in prep for selling it all on Etsy.
Here's the spare room as I was in process and about halfway to filling the white shelves in the back of the room.....

And here is the room at the moment.....

Shelves filled with 4 more tubs of fabric to sell in front of it, still to be gone through.
And there is more fabric in tubs in the garage.....Eeek!

The bed has been striped and aired out and awaits fresh linens.  A little dusting, run the vacuum over the carpet again and run the air filter/cleaner thingy for a couple of days and this room will be ready for company.....or as ready as it's gonna git.....

I also went through my walk-in closet in the bedroom today.  It's August and I still hadn't unpacked my Summer clothes.
Where does the time go? 8-)

I found a brand new swimsuit in there I had forgotten I had bought on clearance at the end of last Summer's season.  It's a good thing I didn't buy it again last month, because I almost did....the same exact suit.
I wonder about me sometimes.......

I spent 2 solid hours going through clothes and trying things on since my weight has changed and has "moved" so some things fit differently.  When I finished I had a small pile to send to Salvation Army(including a dress I bought at Fashion Bug years ago that is HIDEOUS!  What was I thinking? lol), plus a small pile for the rag bag.

Speaking of clothes, since my summer wardrobe was getting rather thin, I bought 3 dresses and a nightshirt online at Woman Within.  I found 2 coupon codes I could use together to get a great deal.
The regular retail on the 4 items was $204 and change.
With sale prices it all came to $124 and change(with $12 shipping), then my coupon codes took another $44 off, so I ended up paying $80 and change for all.
Not bad.

Between the swimsuit I forgot about and these dresses added to my wardrobe, I am all set for clothes for the road trip.
Packing commences later this week.

What exciting things have been going on at your house lately?

Sluggy

$20K Savings Challenge.....July 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 July report.....

I have posted my July 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?.......$3427.59

Income
We had $3242.23 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Add in a per diem expense reimbursement check, a check from Savings Star(for my coupon savings through them for 2012)and a rebate from the power company for recycling our old freezer and we have another $185.36 not spent this month.  This brought our gain to $3427.59 for July.

 

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 $30 less due to paying a week ahead last month.

*  The food/toiletries bill was approx. $42 less than my budgeted $400 each month.

*  With the credit for the return of the new freezer, the credit card bill was only $200.70 in July.

*  Cash withdrawals were $660 less than last month.

*  No doctor co-pays this month....woohoo!

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The electric bill was $2 higher than last month.
*  An additional $225 camp bill balance was paid in July.

*  The water bill was $27 higher due to more pool leakage.

*  I paid the 3rd quarter garbage bill early this quarter.
*  Annual homeowner's insurance was due and paid in July.

Overall, the Good outweighed the Bad in July.

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

We came in under budget by $42.14 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 7 months behind us, half the year, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $15,999.22.  Only $4,000.78 left to save and 5 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $800.16 per month for the next 5 months to reach the goal.
 

Looking ahead for August......
 

*  #2 Son is having 3 wisdom teeth pulled, so we have a co-pay of $411+ this month.
 

*  The credit card bill will be large again, due to the $500 car repair Hubs put on it and my "hobby" spending for dna tests.  This is in addition to the regular things we put on it, like gas and spending for the house.

*  The semi-annual car insurance is due in August so that's about $1,500.00.

These items combined may make it difficult for us to have $800.16 leftover when August ends.  But we'll see what we can do. ;-)
  

So how was your July financially?  It was a good month for us with the money.
 

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 July?
Did you received any "extra" or unexpected money in July 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

It's Happening!

Well we received the wedding invitation from Hub's sister....

 

So this thing is happening....
Eeeek!

The next 3 weeks are going to be jammed packed with excitement for moi.

At the moment I am desperately trying to get the house in some kind of order because.......

I am having company next week!

After I get home from taking #2 son to have 3 Wisdom teeth out(ouch!) on Wednesday, the one and only Tanner from Working for a Goal is coming to stay at my house for a few days.
Instead of going to Chicagoland, she is going to hang out here in Sluggy's Boring Land.
Gee, I hope we don't disappoint...... ;-)

And if the planets all align correctly on that Friday, Judy from That's Udy with a J will be joining us.

I wonder how much trouble us 3 Musketeers can get into in 24 hours?
Wanna lay some bets?  8-P

Then a couple days after they all leave, Hubs and I are setting off on our Summer Road Trip of 2013.

During the course of the trip we are going to stop outside of Chicago to visit with a friend I've never met in person.  We are/were on a private email list of beanie collectors formed 15 years ago, back in 1998.  She use to live in Southern California but moved back to the Chicago area about 6 years ago.

Then it's onward to visit with Sonya Ann over at A Mom, Money, and More.
Nelly bar the door.....
I am going to Sonya Ann's prepared for anything.
Yes, bail money will be packed.....

Then it's down to the Sister in-law's wedding, but on the way we'll be stopping to visit and have lunch with 2 other online friends I've never met.  These two are sisters and are from another collector's email list from the late 1990's I was on.  This email list was a spin-off list from a Ty brand Attic Treasures collectors list....it was another toy line the beanie baby folks put out but was discontinued years ago. 

After that, we proceed to another location in Illinois and the wedding festivities....

If anyone has ever seen "Trick My Truck" on the CMT cable channel, you may have seen this wedding company's mobile Wedding Chapel, which was created on an episode of that show.

Sis in-laws wedding will be at the big brick church, not the truck church.....
Then it's reception time and back to our motel, before we hit the road again.

Then it's off to visit a gal I grew up with in South Norfolk, Virginia.  South Norfolk no longer exists by the way....it's now part of Chesapeake, Virginia.
Anyway, we were both born when our parents lived in the Portlock section of that city, in houses right next door to each other.
We've known each other since birth basically, but we went our separate ways in our teens and then the years rolled by, though our mother's remained in touch all those years.
We recently got back in touch so we are detouring down to Tennessee to pay a visit.  I haven't seen her or her sisters since my mother's funeral in August of 2000.  It will be nice to get reacquainted.

Then it's off to South Central Virginia to do some in person genealogical research at a couple of counties' historical societies, visit some cemeteries where some of my maternal ancestors are buried and maybe hit a few museums and/or tourist attractions down that way. 

Then it's back to Pennsyltucky and home.
And any burglars out there, don't even think of robbing our house.  There are vicious dogs and extended family living here while we are gone.
Do you seriously think I'd leave a 17 year old teen home alone? lol

Plus I don't own anything worth stealing that's kept here.
No ginormous tvs or electronics(hey! I use a flip phone...lol) and the laptop is coming with me. 8-)

So excuse me while I go try to pack up some more dishes because when we get back the handyman is coming to start work and I need to clear out the dining room before we leave too.

I haven't even packed and I am tired just thinking about it all.....

Sluggy







 

Well It's Over.......Yah!

* WARNING*
This post contains talk about a medical procedure and the subject of poop.  If this is offensive to you, please stop reading now and move on. 
Thank you-The Managment

I survived my colonoscopy.
Or rather.....I survived my colonoscopy Prep.....oh, and the procedure too. lol

After a fitful night's sleep, where I only got about 4 hours of shut eye, I was up bright and early at 7:30am Friday so I could drink my second bottle of PowerAde with a full week's worth of laxative in it.

This hour wasn't nearly as bad as the first bottle at 6pm on Thursday evening which also had 7 days worth of Miralax in it.
By 6:30pm, when I was halfway through the first bottle of deliciousness on Thursday, things started gurgling and happening in my nether region.
Let's just say a combination of FOUR ducolax(which I was required to swallow at 3pm that afternoon), and 7 day's worth of Miralax at 6pm in a PowerAde solution gave rise to an Assplosion.

Yes, if you used the term "explosive diarrhea" here, you wouldn't be too far off........

It was NOT pretty y'all and y'all would have been correct to look at me with sorrow in your eyes and exclaim, "Well, bless her heart". ;-)

The rest of the evening involved much time in the "small room" sitting on my throne.
By comparison, Friday morning's bottle of fun was a piece. of. cake.

Mmmmm.......cake.
Poor choice of words for someone who hasn't eaten since Wednesday evening......

I was worried because the literature they had me read about this procedure mentioned that if you weren't "cleaned out enough" for it, and the doctor couldn't see your innards well enough, then you'd have to go through this again in the near future.
I so didn't want to have to experience this thrill again anytime soon, but I figured since it's me.....who has to do everything the hard way.....my prep wouldn't be adequate so the doc could get the job done the first time!
Especially since I was still, how shall we phrase this?......"leaking" all the way to the hospital.
!!!
I carried a Ziploc bag with 2, count 'em 2, pairs of fresh underwear with me, plus a couple of feminine pads(things I haven't needed to use for years now!), because I just knew I'd cough or stand up too fast or something and would soil myself.

But my fears didn't come to fruition thankfully.
The nurses and doctors were professional and prompt and it was one of the better medical interventions/experiences of my life.



Oh, and the drugs were awesome.......

I don't remember a thing but I came out of sedation quickly, while I was still in the operating room actually.  No dizziness(other than my usual hehehe)and no grogginess.
But I sure looked like hell......but nothing new there.....lol



Sluggy giving the thumbs up sign....notice my fancy jewelry bracelets......they might not be purty but they sure is expensive!

 

And after the doctor said everything looked good and I didn't have to come back for another 5 years....

Damn, I need to tough up my roots again.
And yes, I am that crazy woman who brings a camera to a colonoscopy and takes photos of herself.  8-)

So everything went well as can be expected and Hubs took me to a Chinese Buffet for a late lunch/early dinner afterwards.  I haven't been to a buffet restaurant since Christmas of 2012 actually as that sort of eating situation and that sort of food is basically off my L/S diet.
But this was a special occasion.
Thankfully I didn't pull a Homer Simpson and restrained myself.
 

But goodness!
I had two whole plates of food and I don't think I'll need to eat again for a couple of days.....
Well, maybe until lunch on Saturday. lolol

And I had a nice long nap when I got home so now I'll be up until the wee hours of the morning again.....sigh.

So if you are of a "certain age" and you've been putting this off, just go. do. it.
It's not as bad as you've built it up to be in your mind, once you get past the prep stuff.

And they have really awesome drugs........

Sluggy

JULY 2013 Budget Results.....Food & Toiletries Spending

 

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for JULY 2013.

I have posted July's totals on the right side bar under Total Grocery Savings for 2013 and updated the Yearly Totals.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in July.  If you aren't interested in that much detail, just skip to the bottom for the Totals Summary.

My spending includes Food, Toiletries/HBA, Pet Supplies, Cleaning Products, Paper Goods & tax where applicable. We are a family of 5(3-4+ at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 17.
******************

BIG LOTS
OOP  $16.72
Value  $28.63
Savings  41.60%

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $10.00
Value  $33.43
Savings  70.08%

MAINE SOURCE(restaurant supply)

OOP  $35.20

Value  $61.22

Savings  26.02 %

PRODUCE STAND
OOP  $10.00
Value  $12.00
Savings  16.66%
 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $72.48

Qs/Ads  $42.51

Value  $114.99

Savings  36.96%

SURPLUS OUTLET
OOP  $66.72
Value  $133.62
Savings  50.07%

WEGMAN'S
OOP  $46.47
Qs/Ads  $19.40
Value  $65.87
Savings  29.45%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $100.27

Qs/Ads  $75.06

Value  $175.33

Savings  42.81%

I am no longer adding my rebates received into my food budget directly. I will use them on food on occasion and will note that when used.  I will keep track of rebates/gift cards/certs received here as before however.

REBATE CHECKS RECEIVED IN July.....$35.00

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES....$0

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$35.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Zero

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bread Outlet 70.08%, Surplus Outlet at 50.07%, Weis at 42.81%.  I food/toiletries shopped at 8 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$357.86

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$267.23

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$625.09

TOTAL Savings of...................................42.75%

This closes out the July food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into July with $400 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month.  Ended the month $42.14 leftover.  It's a good thing I reconsidered lowering the food budget to $300 in July, huh?  Otherwise I would have been in the red.  ;-)

While I didn't stock up on any meats(other than some chicken)or frozen items, due to not having a big freezer at the moment(let's NOT get into all that again right now tho!lol), I did do some stocking up on shelf stable items like no salt ketchup, canned tomatoes, etc.

I did NO Rite-Aid shopping last month again.  We are still good on the whole range of toiletry items.
The garbage bag supply is dwindling so I did pick up a couple boxes of those in June at the Surplus Outlet as they were a good price.

 

Looking ahead to August---We are going to have company at the house, which will necessitate a little more food purchasing.  Then we have our road trip later this month which means about 10 days of eating will go onto the Entertainment/Vacation budget instead of the Food budget.  With all that in mind, I am going to reduce the Food budget to $300 for August and shift the last $100 of the $400 I usually spend into the Entertainment budget.  This will give us a little extra money cushion for the Road Trip of Summer 2013 and who doesn't want a little extra spending money on vacation? 8-))

 

And here is the run down of my Food & Toiletries Spending for 2013 so far--
 

2013 Total Saved $1,830.11

2013 Yearly Total Value of Items  $4,395.53

2013 Yearly Total Spent $2,565.42

2013 Yearly Savings Total of  41.63%

 

In July, total savings percentage for the year has gone UP .18% over June's total of 41.45%.  So we saw a slight increase in our savings rate on food/toiletries spending for the year.
We are holding steady in the 40%s.
Works for me! 8-)

 

How much did you spend on food in July?
 

Sluggy