My Packer Love Story-A Tale of Bastardy, Landed Gentry, Quakers & Irish Civil War

I haven't done a good, long, rambling genealogy post in forever so let's do one today, shall we?
I hear you asking, "What does bastardy, landed gentry, Quakerism and the Irish Civil War all have to do with each other?"
Well pull up a chair and let me weave my ancestral tale......

I briefly posted before about my 10th great grandparents, Phillip Packer and Sarah Isgar Packer.

This blood line comes to me by way of my maternal great grandmother, Lucy Ellen Baker Vassar.
One of the Packers of PA married into a Baker line and great grandma was born a Baker 5 generations later in the piedmont of Virginia.
But let's concentrate on the beginning of this story and line.

Phillip Packer was the son of John Packer(1572-1649)and Philippa or Philippi Mylles or Mills Packer(1590-?).  This family line lived in the areas around London England during the late 1500's.

                                Thought to be a portrait of John Packer.

Phillip's father, John, was Clerk of the Privy Seal which meant he was a high official of the state who handled the charters, pardons and other important legal documents/matters of the King's court under Kings James the 1st and Charles the 1st.

    Portrait of Phillip Packer by a follower of Sir Peter Lely, undated.

Phillip was born in 1618 in Spedhurst, Kent, England at Groombridge Estate.
Phillip's father bought Groombridge in 1618 from Sir Richard Sackville, the 3rd Earl of Dorset.  The Earl had large gambling debts to pay.
Phillip who had an interest and some education in architecture, built the Manor House, which stands to this day, called Groombridge Place in 1662 with the help of famed architect and friend, Christopher Wren.

         A current photo of Groombridge Manor House .

Phillip Packer was educated at Oxford and studied law at the Middle Temple and was called to the bar in 1647.  Yep, he was a lawyer.

He was friends with Christopher Wren and an acquaintance of Samuel Pepys and one of the original fellows in the Royal Society of London.

         Portrait of Isabella Berkeley Packer, attributed to Robert Walker, date unknown.

In 1653 Phillip Packer married for money and position to the heiress Isabella Berkeley, the daughter of Sir Robert Berkeley and Elizabeth Conyers Berkeley.

Phillip brought his new bride to live at Groombridge Estate and together they are thought to have produced 7 offspring, 2 sons and 5 daughters:  eldest Robert, John Phillip, Catherine, Isabella, Elizabeth, Katherine and Temperance.

       Portrait of son, John Phillip Packer by John Clostermann, date unknown.

    Portrait of Packer daughters Isabella, Katherine, Elizabeth and Temperance by John Michael Wright, date unknown.

This match was the "proper" marriage Phillip's parents pushed him to make.  His family held position in London society of that time, yet lacked financial resources so he found a marriageable young woman of good breeding and from a wealthy family, Isabella Berkeley.  Obviously the marriage was "fruitful".

We don't know if Phillip met Sarah Isgar before meeting Isabella Berkely or before his actual marriage to Isabella.

      Portrait of Sarah Isgar by John Greenhill, date unknown.

What we do know is that Phillip also was in love with and later took as his mistress. my 10th great grandmother, Sarah Isgar, born 1625/26 in West Lavington, Wiltshire, England.
I suspect he and Sarah were in love long before he was pushed to marry into the aristocratic Berkeley family.  Sarah's family from all information available was not wealthy, therein lies the difficulty.

Throughout his marriage to Isabella, Phillip kept Sarah, first somewhere in London(we know that as of 1654 she was living in Chelsea in the home of Sir Charles Danvers), and sometime after the birth of their first child and the death of Phillip's father in 1649, on an estate in Ireland, that Phillip inherited from his father John.
After inheriting property in Ireland from his father's estate, Phillip made regular trips to the Emerald Isle on business and to see his other family, which grew to include 3 sons, Phillip, James and William.  Being illegitimate, these 3 sons of Phillip Packer were raised outside of London society and were not entitled to any of their father's property once he died, though they seemed to have been raised in relative comfort and privilege.

    This is thought to be a portrait of Phillip Packer, son of Phillip Packer and Sarah Isgar by Charles Beale.

It is not known exactly when my ancestor, Phillip Packer(who we'll refer to as the émigré from this point) was born. It is believed that he was the eldest of the 3 brothers born to Sarah Isgar.  As he was thought to have been born in London and Phillip Sr. didn't inherit the Ireland land until after 1649, at which point he moved Sarah and any of her children there, he may have been born before 1649 but most put his birth date at about 1656/57.
Phillip Jr was followed by the birth of James around 1659 and William at about 1662.

Some amateur genealogists put Phillip Jr's birth at 1664 as that date coincides with the death date of Isabella Berkeley Packer.  They then go on to list Phillip Jr. as the offspring of Phillip Sr. and Isabella and make it appear that Isabella died as a result of giving birth to Phillip Jr.  This is incorrect as Phillip Jr. was NOT the issue of Isabella, rather the issue of Sarah Isgar.

Being the illegitimate issue of someone highly placed in English society at this time, the sons of Sarah Isgar and Phillip Packer would most probably have gone by their mother's surname of Isgar instead of Packer, at least until the death of Phillip's wife Isabella.  They were also caught in a world where they could not inherit from their father's estate upon his death.  So while they were well taken care of, their prospects as adults in English society was not promising.  Being bastards at that time, they would not have been admitted to any prestigious schools or been received into society.

At any rate, around 1664 Isabella Berkeley died, leaving Phillip free to then marry Sarah Isgar.
And that is what he did.  He moved Sarah to his estate Groombridge and wed her on 20 December 1666.  Their 3 sons did not move with their mother to London however, as their half siblings by Phillip's 1st wife Isabella resented their existence.

Philip and Sarah remained married until Sarah's death in 1677.  Philip followed her to the grave on Christmas Eve in 1686, passing away quietly while reading in his secret garden at Groombridge.
Sarah Isgar Packer is buried under the floor at the foot of the altar, of the St. John's Chapel on the Groombridge Estate with a stone inscribed--"Under this stone lie the remains of Sara Packer, beloved second wife of Philip Packer Esq., who died 17th September A.D. 1677".

But what was to become of Philip and Sarah's 3 sons?
We know that both James and William stayed in Ireland and fought and died in the Battle of Boyne in 1690, a well known conflict between the Jacobite Catholic forces of King James and the Williamite Protestant forces of King William for control of the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland.

Phillip however escaped that fate by leaving Ireland in 1683.  Being a young man, probably about 25 years old, and having no opportunities in English society and knowing that remaining in Ireland at this time was highly dangerous what with a civil war raging, Philip indentured himself to a Dublin merchant and Irish Quaker, Joseph Fisher.  Joseph Fisher, his wife Elizabeth, their children and servants, including my Phillip Packer, came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania aboard the "Lion of Liverpool" 14 August 1683. 

William Penn had been granted a large quantity of land in the Americas by King Charles II to satisfy a debt he owed to Penn's father in 1681.  William Penn was America's first great land speculator and real estate developer and these lands given to him encompassed large parts of modern day Pennsylvania and Delaware.  (Before being granted these lands he had gone in with other Quakers on buying large amounts of land that encompass most of present day New Jersey.)  He spent the next 40 years luring like minded Quakers in England and Ireland, as well as other persecuted religious minorities in England to the American shore to settle and populate his religiously tolerant community.

Only 2 years after Penn's land grants were secured, Philip Packer the émigré was heading to the New World.

Here's the wording from the "Certificate of Removal" from the Dublin, Ireland Quaker Meeting records.....

Dublin The 10th day of ye second month 1683. Whereas Joseph Fisher a member of ye meeting of us the people of ye Lord (Scornefully) called Quakers in ye City of Dublin and Kingdom of Ireland hath laid before our said meeting his Intentions of Transporting him self, his wife Isabel & family into America.

These are therefore to Certifie all whom it may concern that ye Said Joseph Fisher and his wife have
Demeaned themselves honorably as far as we doe understand, and we have nothing to lay to their charge to obstruct their Said Intended voyage and removal. As witness our hands y So with ye Salutation of our Dear love to all those faithful friends to whom these lines may come and with
your loving Brethren in ye Truth, (signed all members present).

And here is the list of those departing in the Fisher party for America--(the number after a name means that person is an indentured servant and the number is the amount of years required to work to pay off the indenture)--

Joseph Fisher & Elizabeth Fisher his wife, late of Stillorgin near Dublin, in Ireland, yeoman, borne in Elton in Cheshire, came in ditto ship: children Moses, Joseph, Mary, Martha Fisher: servants, Edward Lancastr, 4 yrs, Wm Robertson, 4, Ed: Doyle, 4, Ben: Clift, 4, Tho: Tearewood, 4, Rob. Kilearth, 8, Petr Long, 2, Phill: Packer, 4, Wm Conduit, 4, Mary Toole, 4, Eliz Johnson, 4.


After serving Mr. Fisher for 4 years, Phillip the émigré  received his freedom and 50 acres of land in Philadelphia County.  2 years after arriving in the colony of Pennsylvania, Phillip married Hannah Sessions in the house of his master, Joseph Fisher.  Hannah and her family were Quakers also who had come to Pennsylvania at the behest of William Penn and his "great religious experiment settlement".
It is not known whether Phillip Packer the émigré was a Quaker before becoming indentured to Joseph Fisher & left for America or not(as his father & the Packer family had been members of the Church of England-Anglican Protestant), but upon marrying Hannah he cemented his relationship within the Quaker religious community. 

My theory about Philip and his Quakerism--After experiencing firsthand in his home of Ireland, the death and destruction wrought upon all by the warring Catholic and mainstream Protestants factions, I believe that Philip was very welcoming of a religious philosophy that did not believe in force and violence in which to get it's point across.
But that's just me.  ;-)

As for Philip.....
Philip the émigré and Hannah had a son, Philip Packer Jr., born in 1686 in Pennsauken, Camden County New Jersey.  Philip Packer, Jr. is my 9th Great Grandfather.
Not only do I have a lawyer as an ancestor, I also have an ancestor that was born in New Jersey, much to my chagrin and much to the perverse delight of my Hubs. 8-P

Hannah Sessions Packer died around 1689/90, when Philip Jr was 3 years old.  Philip the émigré remarried quickly to Rebecca Jones in 1690.  Philip and Rebecca went on to have 11 children.  Evidently the Jones/Parker clan was a close-knit one as many in the succeeding generations didn't realize that the oldest child, Philip Jr. wasn't Rebecca's natural born son.

Philip the émigré and his family lived around the Princeton NJ area, moving to near present day Elkton MD for a short time and then back to the Chester County PA area around Philadelphia and Trenton NJ, near the Delaware River.  Phillip built and owned a sawmill in the Yellow Springs area of Chester County, PA.  He was injured at some point in an accident at the mill and spent his later years disabled and required two staves to walk about.  Phillip died in that area of Chester County in either 1739 or 1740 a very old man for that time.

Quite the story, no?

I'll leave off here for now as this has grown quite wordy.

Sluggy

How My Savings Challenge Works & Why We Save This $

Today I'm going to revisit my Savings Challenge and how I put money away each month for this.

I talked, in detail, specifically about this, way back in June of 2011.  If you'd prefer to read that again, go HERE.
So I'll go over this for everyone who hasn't been reading since that time.

Every year, since 2009, I have tried to keep a close eye on both the monies coming in and where the monies is going out.  You really can't have an accurate accounting of the finances if you don't know how much comes in AND how much goes out and where it goes.  Not keeping an eye on one or the other end of things is like only doing half the job.

I am old school.  I don't use a software program to track my income and spending. 
I could use one but I just find having to plug numbers into a program tedious.  I know it would save me having to calculate everything in my head but I enjoy using my brain where the math is concerned.  And being a woman of a certain age, my brain can use a little more exercise anyway. 8-)

I use a sheet of paper each month instead.

I make 2 columns on the paper.....
On the left side I list all the categories of spending for the month--water bill, electric bill, cable bill, credit card bill, music lessons bill, phone bill, medical bills, prescription costs and cash withdrawals are my usual items.  Months were I have those items that don't occur every month like car insurance, taxes, house insurance, garbage and sewage bills, I just add those to the list if needed.
On the right side I list all the categories of income for the month--paychecks, rebates, stock dividends, tax refunds, per diem reimbursements, side hustle monies(like selling something or blog revenue), etc.  Of course paychecks are listed each month and the other categories are listed as needed on the income side of things each month.

I don't have a food bill category since I use cash for groceries, so the grocery expenses are in the cash withdrawals(and on rare occasions in the credit card charges bill).  I do detail & track the grocery/toiletries spending separately in my notebook so I know how much of my cash withdrawals go toward groceries.

Back to the monthly tracking of income and outgo......
Once all the bills/expense items are paid and marked on the sheet I add them up.
Then I add up all the income for the month and subtract the total expenses, which gives me either a positive or negative amount, meaning I have either some excess money at the end of the month or I am in the red at month's end.

As for our paycheck amounts--Hubs has insurance premiums(health, dental, life and long term care), all taxes, withholding and retirement funding taken out of his pay automatically.  It's easier that way.  So whatever shows up in the bank account in the paycheck direct deposit is ALL fair game for me to spend or not to spend however I/we see fit.  I know those categories are taken out and put where they need to be before I even get my hands on the pay.  It helps me sleep at night.  8-)

So we just pay the bills as they come in each month and then if we have money left over at month's end, I sweep it into an ING(now Capital One)fund called Savings Challenge.  If we have a bad financial month where we need more funds than the paycheck provides to pay everything off that month, I can transfer a portion of what has been saved for the year back into the checking account.

Besides the paychecks coming in, we do keep a small cushion of money in that checking account for peace of mind and as a first line of defense against surprise expenses and so that the bank doesn't charge us a fee to have a checking account.

So I try to save what I can each year out of the incoming cash.
At the end of the year I throw that amount saved for the year into an account to sit.
The following year, if we have expenses that our regular income each month can't cover, we take money from the previous year's surplus to cover that.
When that year is over, and we are done having to possibly cover extra expenses incurred, then that amount saved in the previous year gets moved into a permanent savings vehicle or account.

Does that make sense to anyone? ;-)

For example--
In 2009 we saved $23,865.36.
That amount got thrown into the ING account over the course of 2009.
In 2010 we incurred some "above the usual" expenses that the regular paychecks didn't cover......a car purchase at $10,600, a new fridge purchase at $773.81 and 3 trips for a total of $2087.00.  We used $13,460.81 of that $23,865.36 we saved in 2009 to cover these 2010 incurred expenses.
This meant that at the end of 2010, when all expenses were paid out for that year that we still had $10,404.55 of what we saved in 2009 to now throw into a permanent savings fund.

While we were paying for these irregular/unusual expenses in 2010 with the 2009 savings, we were still saving a piece of our income from 2010 and putting that into a new Savings Challenge fund.

In 2010 we saved a whooping $34,019.88 from all our income sources.
In 2011, while we were saving money each month, we also used $427.81 of what we had saved in 2010 to pay on irregular/unusual expenses in 2011.
So at the end of 2011, when we were ready to throw whatever was left of the monies saved in 2010 into a permanent savings fund, we had $31,834.15 left of that initial $34,019.88.

In 2011 we saved $34,461.31 from all our income sources.
In 2012, while we were saving money each month, we also used $2,627.16 of what we had saved in 2011 to pay on irregular/unusual expenses in 2012.
So at the end of 2012, when we were ready to throw whatever was left on the monies saved in 2011 into a permanent savings fund, we had $31, 834.15 left of that initial $34,461.31.

In 2012 we saved $28,907.08 from all our income sources.
In 2013(so far), while we were saving money each month, we also used $25,574.22 of what we had saved in 2012 to pay on irregular/unusual expenses in 2013.
At this point we will only have $3,332.86 left of what we saved in 2012 to throw into a permanent savings fund come the end of 2013.
2013 has been a very expensive year at Chez Sluggy, but having put all this money away year after year, we've had enough to cover all our spending.

I know I could just dip into the current year's savings challenge amount instead of raiding the previous year's account when unusual expenses come up, but I like being able to see the pile of money get higher and higher without dipping into it.  There is a sort of "snowballing" effect when you aren't making withdrawals.....it makes it easier to not spend money emotionally when you see the cash adding up sitting in an account and not being tapped.
Or maybe that's just me.  ;-)

At this point in the journey of all the money we have "permanently" saved from 2009 until 2011(since I don't touch the savings amounts once the following year's spending is over)comes to $75,830.77.

Yes, we could have just upped our lifestyle over the last few years and spent what I've managed to tuck away into this fund.  Not buying used cars instead of new, going on expensive vacations, spending more on all those variable categories in our budget could have raised our lifestyle but I doubt that it would have discernibly made us happier as people.

The fact is the percentage of Hubs salary we actually live on each year is fine by us.  We are happy in our life as it is, and don't hunger after more, better or newer things.  More things and more money after a certain point doesn't make your life any better.  It just brings with it a whole other set of problems.

Being responsible type folks at our core(see "old fuddy duddies"), we thought it was a better plan to put this money away for when the day comes that we can't generate income.

This savings challenge fund is only to be touched in dire emergencies(like a job loss), as it's planned to be additional retirement savings for Hubs and I.

It is above and beyond what we are saving automatically from each paycheck for retirement income.
Once we retire (and Social Security kicks in), we'll have SS, our Cash Balance account(or something similar to a CBP), our Personal Employee Savings Plan account(like a 401K), any cash on hand or in checking accounts as well as this Savings Challenge fund to draw from until the day we kick the proverbial bucket.
This Savings Challenge money is the 4th leg of our retirement stool.  I figure a 4 legged stool is a mite better than a 3 legged stool any day. ;-)

Sluggy

 

$20K Savings Challenge.....August 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 August report.....

I have posted my August End of Month $20K $AVING$ CHALLENGE Totals.
Check out the Savings Challenge page tab at the top of the blog 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 August in the black!
The extra cash amount we ended the month of August with?.......$263.62

Income
We had $182.41 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in August was some bank account interest totaling $81.21.  This brought our gain to $263.62 for August.

 

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The water bill went down by almost HALF because we shut down the pool.

*  The food/toiletries bill was approx. $8 less than my budgeted $400 each month.

*  Electricity bill was about $20 lower than July's bill.

*  No quarterly garbage bill this month.

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

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The cash withdrawals were $340 higher due to vacation spending.
*  The music lessons bill was $30 higher.

*  Semi-annual car insurance bill was due.

*  School photos for #2 Son paid for.
*  Wisdom teeth removal bill.

*  Wedding present check to sister in-law came out of monthly income.

*  Credit card bill was $1300 higher than last month's bill.

 

Credit card had a $500 car repair on it from July plus $350 in dna testing costs(3 tests for 3 different people) plus my yearly subscription to Ancestry dotcom was due(ouch).  I spent $80 on some new clothing which is also on that month's bill.  The other $400 or so was usual gas and eating out spending.

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

We came in under budget by $8.14 last month.

The 2013 TOTAL so far.....
With 8 months behind us, our Savings Grand Total for 2013 stands at $16,262.84.  Only $3,818.37 left to save and 4 months left to accomplish this.

That comes out to $934.29 per month for the next 4 months to reach the goal.
 

Looking ahead for September......
 

*  The credit card bill will be large again, due to miscellaneous vacation spending.  The gas/tolls/car rental/meals/lodging costs will be paid for out of savings from our vacation fund.  But the other spending/shopping will be coming out of regular income from this month. 

*  Now that the semi-annual car insurance is paid, September has me paying the yearly school taxes bill.  I pay it early to get the 2% discount.  It's not much of a savings but it's something.
  

*  The weekly music lessons are going up as we are going from a 45 min. lesson to a 1 hour lesson this month.  This adds $10 per lesson onto that bill, so most months it will increase that bill from $120 to $160 per month.  This bill will continue for another year, until #2 Son leaves for college.

 

*  Hopefully the temperatures in September will be moderate so we won't need to run the a/c(WHEN it gets fixed!argh) or the heat, bringing our electricity costs down for the month.

 

*  We have another long weekend trip the end of September, so whatever we pay cash for, those costs will come out of Sept's. pay.  If we put charges on the credit card instead, the October spending will be higher.   It's either pay the charges with September's money or pay it later with October's income.

Decisions, decisions....lol  In the end, as long as we have the cash to cover the costs(and we do), it's all good.

 

So how was your August financially?  It wasn't a great month for us.  While we had enough income in August to cover all our costs, we spent ALOT of money(for us)and ended up with only a couple hundred dollars leftover after paying all the bills.
  

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

Happy Lobster, er....Labor Day!

Some special eats were to be had at our house today......




Of course I got them on sale for a low price. ;-)

Oh and I named my lobster "Maxine" before I took her apart and put her succulent morsels in my belly.
8-))

PS.
The neighbors grandkids did leave this afternoon so I didn't need to take a "nerve" pill......

Sluggy

This Week on The Dining Table

This Week on The Dining Table

Here's what was planned last week--
Sunday--Broccoli/Chicken Quiche
Monday--Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Fresh Baked Bread
Tuesday--BLT Sandwiches(garden tomatoes)
Wednesday--Eggplant prepared some way?, Tossed Salad
Thursday--Broccoli Casserole, Caprese Salad(garden toms)
Friday--Green Beans, Leftover Quiche
Saturday--Leftovers

We didn't get around to the Eggplant, Caprese salad or Broccoli Casserole.  We had burgers one night and ate green beans another night as well as Friday and had an Asian Salad.  We also got Chinese take-out one evening.  Items we didn't eat are getting moved to this week's menu.

  

As for food spending last week.....as reported a couple days ago in the August Food Spending report I spent $125.05 on groceries.  Most of that was for stuff to eat this week.
 

No food waste this week thank goodness.

  

Leftovers going into this week?  1 quiche which is getting cut in half and wrapped and put in the freezer for another time.  We only need half of one to feed us all for 1 meal.  The second London broil I got on the BOGO sale that we aren't cooking today is also getting cut in half and wrapped for the freezer.  Again, we'll only need half of it per meal/week.  I still have eggplant, cukes and green beans from the garden to cook this week.  The only cooked/served last week food here still is 1 loaf of the bread I made.

Here's this week's meal plan---
 

Sunday--Hot Dogs on rolls(leftover), homemade Pickles
Monday--London Broil sandwiches with mushrooms and onions, Salad
Tuesday--BLT Sandwiches(garden tomatoes)
Wednesday--Leftover London Broil & Green Bean stirfry
Thursday--Eggplant Parmesan, Caprese Salad
Friday--Tacos, Corn
Saturday--leftovers or Fend for Yourself Night

On the shopping list......We splurged on lobsters at $6.99lb. for lunch on Monday so I've spent $30.54 already this week.  Still needed for this menu is fresh mozzarella, salad greens, turkey deli meat and nothing else that I can think of at the moment.
I'm figuring about $25 more for food spending this week, not counting any good stocking up deals.

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy. 
  

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

Sluggy

Labor Day Weekend Paint Deal

We hit our local True Value hardware store this past Saturday for paint.
They were having a killer sale of their private label brand paint, Buy One Get One Free, limit of 10 gallons. 
Their $23.99 a gallon paint was 2 gallons for $23.99.
And we needed paint to do the living, dining rooms and the stairway walls and ceilings.

So we got 6 gallons of wall paint and 4 gallons of ceiling paint.
Any leftover we can keep to use this winter in the upstairs hallway(and buy some more to finish that job later)when we are ready to have that space painted.

We got an even better price by having Hubs apply and get a True Value Discover card at the store.  Instant approval meant we could put this transaction on that card(and pay it off with the first billing statement so no interest), which also meant we got a bonus $25 off of a $75 purchase.....the paint came to $119.95 before tax so $94.95 with the discount.
After sales tax the $254.29 worth of paint cost us $100.65.

Nice. 8-)

Though our local True Value is closed today, this sale is still going on through today, Labor Day.

Now we just have to wait for the handyman guy to repair the walls and ceilings and get outta my way so I can paint! ;-)

Sluggy


 

The Weekend

I think I've finally gotten over my after vacation funk/blues.  So glad to be past that.  I love getting away but always crash big time when we get home.
Next time I plan to just drink more the first week home from vacation.  At least that way I won't notice I'm depressed. lol

I've gotten past it just in time for workmen to arrive tomorrow at the ass crack of dawn to start banging hammers and making noise.....along with improvements to Chez Sluggy. ;-)

We got the dining/living room cleared out today and I'll run the vacuum in there tonight so the clouds of dust don't rise up and choke the guys working in the rooms.

It's been muggy as a $20 cup of coffee here(yah, that was a pretty lame simile, wasn't it?)all weekend.
And the expensive a/c system we just had put in is still not taking any moisture out of the air nor is it conditioning/cooling the air.
Hubs put in a complaint to Sears on Friday so hopefully they'll come and fix/replace whatever is keeping the blasted machine from working.....probably just in time for the Fall weather to kick in, right? LOLZ

I've been trying to stay cool, get a few things worked on(mostly Etsy/eBay  or blog related)and pick green beans.  I'm picking every day now to stay ahead of the crop.  The problem is I have no room in the two little fridge freezers to put them so we are eating a lot of green beans lately.  I'm hoping to make some rom soon(if #2 Son will just eat that ice cream and all those frozen chicken strips!lol)to freeze some of this crop.

We are also now getting tomatoes in.....sorry no photos of those yet.   7 so far and a ton more out still on the plants.  I'll need to can some later this week if the weather cools off a bit.  We are putting tomato on everything and have had BLTs twice in the last week....which I don't mind as I need no excuse to eat bacon.  lol

Oh, I sent a little package to my Aunt, whom I just reconnected with before we went on the Road Trip.
Taking all the good advise to heart, I bought a nice frame and put my latest pic of my 3 kids they had done for me at Christmas in the frame(since she's never seen my kids).  I then took a set of 8 nice notecards I had--with assorted Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker--and stamped and addressed 4 of them to me and just stamped the other 4 so she can write and send those to whomever she wishes.
The cards were sent tied with a white ribbon....

It was all packed up with a nice Happy 80th Birthday card and sent out via Priority mail.  I see it arrived 2 days later, in time for her actual birthdate(Aug. 9th)but I have yet to hear back from her about the package.

I have almost finished editing all the photos I took(including tons during the wedding ceremony)from our road trip.  Having to upload the videos to YouTube is proving to be VERY time consuming.....can you say slow as molasses uploads? 8-(

I promise I will get around to posting in excruciating detail about the Road Trip and Tanner's visit earlier in August hopefully this coming week.

Except for my colonoscopy and #2 Son's wisdom teeth removal, August was a very FUN month for me.
Yes, it was also very EXPENSIVE but what the heck!.....that's what money is for, right? 8-))

But with this heat/humidity I am SO ready for Fall weather to kick in so I can feel like being more active physically.
And I have a TON of things to get done this Fall too.

So that's what's happening around here this weekend.
What's up at your house?

Sluggy

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for AUGUST 2013.

I have posted August's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2013 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in August.  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+ at home this month)& 2 dogs. No kids under 17.
******************

BREAD OUTLET
OOP  $4.00
Value  $11.67
Savings  65.72%

BERGER'S FARM MARKET
OOP  $9.00
Value  $15.00
Savings  40%

DOLLAR GENERAL
OOP  $32.86
Qs/Ads  $7.70
Value  $40.56
Savings  19%

MAINE SOURCE(restaurant supply)

OOP  $28.57

Value  $44.81

Savings  36.24 %

OLLIE'S
OOP  $24.47
Value  $36.60
Savings  33.15%
 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $27.48

Qs/Ads  $33.07

Value  $5.59

Savings  16.90%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $225.48

Qs/Ads  $147.36

Value  $372.84

Savings  39.52%

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 August.....$0.00 (Last month's $35 rebate received was given to #2 Son to use for groceries while we were away.)

GIFT CARDS and CERTIFICATES....$0

TOTAL Value of Cash/Store Checks/Gift Card Rebates Received...$0.00

COUPONS and FREEBIES

Zero

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were the Bread Outlet at  65.72%, Berger's Farmstand at 40%, Weis PMITA Markets at 39.52%.  I food/toiletries shopped at 7 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$391.86

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$202.69

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$594.55

TOTAL Savings of...................................34.10%

This closes out the August food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into August with $300 budgeted for food/toiletries for the month and was going to shift the last $100 into the Vacation budget for extra spending money.  Well that would have worked out fine, except I spend $108.48 on the 29th, after we got home, at the grocery store.  Ugh.  I could have waited 3 days and spent that $ on the September food budget but no, I had to go and screw that all up.

So instead of taking $100 less out of savings to cover the miscellaneous spending on vacation, the whole thing comes out of savings.  I am not too concerned by this, since we have the extra money in savings to cover whatever we spent.  It would have been nice though to finish out August with $100 less in food spending. 8-(

So going back to my $400 food budget, I ended the month with $8.14 leftover.  And that includes $40 in cash given to #2 Son to use for food while we were on vacation(plus the $35 from the rebate check we received last month).
 

I did NO Rite-Aid shopping last month again.  In fact, I gave away about 3 bags of toiletries while on vacation plus another box of toiletries/HBA in July for a blog giveaway.

While spending $400 in August on food/toiletries is good, considering we ate out for 11 days of the 31, that puts our daily food spending a bit higher than I like to see.  30 days for $400 comes to about $13.33 a day, while 20 days for $400 comes to $20 a day for food.
 

Looking ahead to September---We don't have any parties or special meals going on this month except for a Family Reunion at the end of the month and we aren't bringing/making any food for that.  We will need to eat-out a few meals.  The Labor day cook-out/sort of,  I already have the food bought and paid for that.   We are going to try to stay out of restaurants/fast food/take-out meals in September and eat home cooked only.  I need to drop these 3 pounds I picked up last month by eating restaurant food on vacation.  Meals this month will be back to reduced sodium and fresh seasonal veggies and cheap.

 

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

2013 Total Saved $2,032.80

2013 Yearly Total Value of Items  $4,990.08

2013 Yearly Total Spent $2,957.28

2013 Yearly Savings Total of  40.74%

 

In August, total savings percentage for the year has gone DOWN .89% over July's total of 41.63% to 40.74%.  So we saw a slight decrease 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 August?
 

Sluggy

Saturday Night Party

It's Saturday night on a Labor Day Weekend.

I feel like dancing....how about you?

Let's kick it old school circa 2000's....

 

If I was 25 years younger I'd be out gettin' stooped like this...... Instead I'm an old lady sitting home chair dancing. lol

Sluggy Peas

Taking Greta Garbo's Famous Saying to An Extreme

Say the name of the great actress Greta Garbo and one well known phrase immediately springs to mind...... "I vant to be alone."





Back in the Spring of this year a longstanding mystery in the state of Maine was solved.

                          Maine State Police Photograph

For the last 26 some odd years residents with cottages on the banks of the North Pond near Rome Maine have had their houses broken into and items stolen.  The thefts were long believed to be the work of a hermit living in the woods nearby but no one had ever been caught.

Until this Spring when Christopher Knight was discovered on a surveillance camera tape robbing a nearby Summer Camp.

He claims to have walked out of his life and into the Maine Woods in 1986 and has survived that many winters in Maine living in a tent.  He hasn't purchased anything since 1986, held a job, contacted his family or had any human contact(save for 1 person in 27 years), and has survived by stealing from homes and businesses near this seasonal lake which is part of the Belgrade Lakes system.

Reaction seems to be all over the place to this guy and what he has done....from some folks wanting to lock him up for life to others who admire him and have sent him money for bail and written songs about him.

What do you think?
If given the choice, could you or would you even consider making a lifestyle choice like this?
Could you walk away from your life and all the people in it never to return?

Or do you think he has a screw loose?

And what penalties should the man suffer for his actions?
While he never harmed anyone physically, he did break the law, and wreak havoc on the area's citizens' emotional and mental states as they never knew when he would hit and who's house would be robbed.

Personally I think he deserves a medal(or a straight jacket-your choice)for living 27 winters in a tent in Maine. lolz

Link to an article HERE.





Sluggy

Glad This Week is Almost Over....My Bitchfest

I think I have a manic-depressive aspect to my personality....ok, I see some of you who know me out there rolling your eyes, saying "Duh!" and just plain snickering......so cut it out! ;-)

Anyway, most everyone on the planet feels a sense of letdown after going on vacation, right?
What comes over me when I get back from vacation is a whole other level of letdown......I liken it to depression.
I get sad....sad that the good times are over.....real sad, like want to cry all day sad.....and then reality bites me in the ass and laundry needs doing, meals need cooking, the house needs cleaning, the dogs need looking after and I am here again, alone and having to do all these chores.....with leaky eyes.

And then I sink lower and just don't want to do anything but sit, or sleep, or wander the interwebs......making the chores pile up higher.....which leads me to get more depressed.

And this goes on until I finally snap out of it and get back to living life.
If I'm lucky, I'm only caught up in this cycle of blah for a week or so but it has been known to stretch out to almost a month before.

I tell y'all this to explain why I haven't been very chatty lately and god help me....perky!......ok.....more like "as-perky-as-I-get perky"(which isn't very).

I don't do perky.
Must be my dna or something.

I spent most of this past week sighing deeply and wandering around the house trying to ignore the chores.

I'd start to feel better and then I'd sit down and try to edit the many photos I took while on our Road Trip or upload those lame videos I made and I'd just feel even sadder......because I miss being on that trip and seeing/meeting everyone/doing fun things.

Plus I would also be sad about Tanner not being here.  I didn't get a chance to have a letdown after she left because we left on the Road Trip 4 days after she went home, so we were busy preparing for the Road Trip during that time.
I guess I am doubly sad, mourning the end of 2 fun times of my life.

Yeah, I am a big old emotional mess inside a hard snail's shell......

Then while I was going through my sad/letdown cycle,  annoying and bad shit started happening the middle of this week.
First the very expensive a/c system we had installed in July?  Yah, we come home and turn it on and it's not throwing off cool air.
WTF?!?
We had a heat spell the last couple of days here and by tonight I had it jacked all the way down to 65 degrees and it was cooler outside and no where NEAR 65 degrees in here and didn't even cut the humidity in the air.
Again...WTF?!?!
So now we get to call Sears and bitch about this and want to slap people around over it because I just paid that bill and now I wish I hadn't.
Plus I'm having flashbacks to earlier this year when the 3 week old freezer shit the bed.
PTSD anyone??!

Then the 4 month old tv remote died tonight which sent Hubs over the edge because he couldn't watch his baseball.
Forget that!....what about Project Runway?!?!lolz
So he went and wasted $15 on a universal remote(those things NEVER work!)before ordering a new remote from the tv manufacturer for $40 + shipping a few minutes ago.
Good times......

Shall I add that the mail brought 2 headaches today....
1-the Local tax company has no record of us filing our local taxes.  We don't owe them anything as it's taken out automatically by the employer and it always lines up as accurate but the tax collecting company needs their recordkeeping to be correct.  So Hubs has to take care of that.  It's a hassle but nothing outrageous.  Oh, and Daughter got a notice from them too about her local taxes so having to deal with her form will be a PITA since we have to mail everything to Louisiana to get her signature and then mail it back to them.
More good times.....
2-Got the EOB for our dental plan and the wisdom tooth dentist overcharged us on our copay by about $100 so now I get to go nag his office about a refund.  Oh goody!  I get to call someone on the phone.....one of my FAVORITE things!lol  I bet if I didn't contact them they'd keep my money too. 8-(

Plus I am having problems with my durable medical supplies supplier about my BIpap machine.  Their customer service sucks donkey's ass and I just found out today that we should have been getting bills from them(with co-pays owed)for the last oh.....5 months....but we have yet to see one bill.  Because we weren't getting EOBs or bills I assumed our insurance paid 100% on this stuff.
I am a donkey's ass for thinking this, right? 8-)
The sleep disorders clinic no longer has them as an approved supplier for their patients but once you sign up with one(might be a PA state thing)you are locked into keeping them for your needs for 3 months.  But this shouldn't apply to me since I've used them for 5 months now so I should be able to "fire" them.
But if I do, the 3 months credit toward my 10 month then I don't pay for the BIpap rental until I give it back goes away, and I would end up paying more in rental monies if I switch suppliers now.
Sigh.

Let's see, what else can I bitch about? ;-)

*  I finished paying all the bills for August this week and now I get to add up the damage.  I am HOPING we come out in the black and not the red for this month.  It's anybody's call which way August will have played out with the spending.  The semi-annual car insurance bill hits in August plus we had some unplanned medical bills(wisdom teeth co-pays)and a big check we wrote as our present to the Hub's sister's wedding.  "IF" there is anything leftover this month for the $20K Savings Challenge it is going to be tiny. 8-(

* How about the fact that I gained 12 POUNDS while on vacation?
Yikes!
Not so bad because I already lost 9 of it.  I chalk that part of it up to eating restaurant food(over salted/high sodium content=retain water)for 11 days(except for 2 meals of home cooking).
Let's chalk the last 3 lbs. up to too much alcohol and fried foods and I am on the way to losing that piece of it.

*  And the last part of this week was hot and humid, thus making my feet swell and feel like crap so it's been hard to get much walking in.

On the good side of things.....

I did go to a medical appointment today and I finally went grocery shopping, the 1st trip since we got back a week ago.  I figured the store would be cooler than the house today so why not loiter a bit in there. 8-)
I got some good deals(a few coupons the store sent me in the mail, and some instant discounts on bakery and meats).  All totaled I spend $108.48 on $191.82 worth of groceries, for a 43% savings rate.
Weis PMITA Markets had London Broils Bogo this week plus I had a snail mailed Q $2/$10 meat purchase so I got 5.65 lbs. of beef for $14.17 or about $2.50 lb.
They also had party size Lay's snacks BOGO($4.99)and I had a snail mailed Q $1/1 item so I got 2 mega-sized bags for $3.99.  If we have company Labor Day weekend or if #2 Son needs snacks I am set now.
Arnold breads were BOGO as well($4.29)and I had a $1/1 Q so 2 loaves of good bread cost me $3.29.  I also picked up some preformed burgers for cheaper than just plain old ground beef after Instant Meat discount Qs.  The flyer had some Qs as well so I got a hunk of cream cheese for free, another bag of chips for .99¢ and a case of Poland Spring water for $1.99.  Potatoes were BOGO and Jamestown bacon was 3/$9($3 each....not bad but not great but we need it for BLTs to use up all these tomatoes here).
I did splurge today and buy a pint of gelato for myself....it was on sale for $3.99.
Bad Sluggy bad!
Bananas, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, bagels 50% off, muffins 50% off, chuck steak $1 off, shrimp burgers $3 off, 2 1lb. bags of shredded cheese, sour cream, 2 bags of frozen French fries(for #2 son), a second cream cheese hunk, some deli turkey meat, a hunk of green leaf lettuce, a bag o' salad 50% off and a big box of greens 50% off round out the groceries procured today.

That trip and the unloading and putting it all away in the heat just about did me in though.

Can I just go back on vacation now??? lolz

Ok, I'll shut up now and go start adding up the receipts from the road trip and see how far off the tracks we went with the spending there.
Oy!

Sluggy




 

This Was Too Good Not to Share

It would be hilarious if it wasn't so close to the truth.
I feel for all those Millennials out there in the coming years.....

 

Sluggy

31 Years Ago Today.....

....I married my best friend.

 

 

We met in college. He went to Johns Hopkins University and me at Goucher College.
We met at "The Rat" on Disco Night.  He asked my girlfriend to dance and she declined.  Then he got it right and asked me to dance.

By the Spring of my freshman year, we were inseparable.....

Our relationship survived being separated during the Summers while in college.  He worked in Baltimore while I worked all over New England in Summer Stock theater those 3 years.....

 

 

After graduation I moved back to Virginia Beach to live with my mother and work as a waitress and also pick up theater jobs when they became available.  He moved to Charlottesville to go to graduate school.
Guess what I did on my days off?  If you said, "drive to Charlottesville" you would be correct.
Somebody had to go balance his checkbook, right?

1 week after we married, in the Fall of his second year in Grad school I moved to North Carolina and started and then dropped out of Grad school.  A week later I moved in with my new husband in Charlottesville to his bachelor pad.  That 1st year of marriage was spent living with the hubs and his 2 roommates.   It was my version of "2 and a half men".....

Hubs finished his Masters and we relocated down to Virginia Beach in my mother's townhouse until we got established and found our own place.

 

Unfortunately things didn't work out quite the way we wanted in Virginia so after New Year's Day in 1983 we loaded what little we owned and hauled it up to Northeastern New Jersey to move into the basement of Hub's parent's house.
After finding work and 8 months in the basement, we rented out the other half of Hub's oldest brother's 2 family home in West Orange, NJ.

 

Hubs career took off(and I worked various jobs plus did some self employed type things to make ends meet)and after 2 years we thought we were ready to buy a house and in 1986 we moved to Dingman Township PA, outside of Milford in the Poconos.

That is where we learned the meaning of WINTER as that area averaged 100 inches of snow per Winter.
We also learned how expensive electric heat could be and the joys of losing Power in the dead of Winter on a regular basis. 

Unfortunately, money was real tight there(who knew house expenses were so much!?!)so I got a job or two while Hubs commuted to NJ 5 days a week for his job.

We got pregnant a few years later but I suffered a miscarriage when I developed appendicitis.  Some fertility treatments followed but with no luck.  We became foster parents and I quit my job to stay home.
While fostering a year or so later, we finally became pregnant again.

Our oldest son was born in 1991, our daughter followed quickly after in 1992 and our youngest son in 1996.

 

The years passed.
We survived congenital defects with 2 of our kids and the sleepless baby years.
We barely got through the potty training. 
We lost a beloved pet and had to pass another pet on to another family.
Vacations happened, schooling happened and we lived life.

Our house seemed to grow smaller as the kids grew and the days went by until our 1000 sq. ft. house just wouldn't do any longer.
In 2000 we moved further west into PA into a bigger town(and a bigger house) for the opportunities it would afford our kids.

More years passed as the kids grew some more and we entered the dreaded Teen years.
We survived teaching them to drive and the high school drama.
We survived more pets(4 dogs anyone?)and saw 2 of them go over the Rainbow bridge.
And then the kids started moving away from home for college and beyond and the house sighed in relief and then started growing ever so larger. 
And Hub's career prospered some more and we were busy living life.

The next thing you know, I turn around and it's 31 years since we said, "I do." and I wonder where the heck the time went?


Which brings us to today, 31 years into this journey.

I can't wait to see where life takes us next! 8-)

Sluggy

WTF is Up With the USPS?!?

I'll tell y'all I am real upset right now with my local US Postal Service.

I had 2 giveaway boxes to mail off when I returned home from the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013.
One to Judy for winning the Boring Blog Box Giveaway and one to Linda for winning the School Supplies Giveaway.
So I packed everything up, printed out shipping labels and scheduled a Mail Carrier pickup for Monday, August 26th.
And Hubs put the boxes out on the front porch that morning at 7am.

And come 7pm at night, those boxes were still sitting on my front porch.
I checked at 3pm and the mail carrier had been by and left mail in the mailbox and had not taken the packages.  I left them out for 4 more hours after that, since if it's a heavy mail day, my regular carrier will circle back around to get packages after she finishes her route.

Still no pick-up by 7pm so I brought the boxes in and figured it was a substitute carrier that day.  This has happened before with subs.....they either forget to pick-up packages or they don't get the paperwork for it for some reason.

So I went back online to reschedule the carrier pick-up for Tuesday, Aug. 27th.

I get up this morning and check my email and this is what was in my inbox from the fine folks at the USPS......I have blacked out my name/address.   Click on it to embiggen.

Yes, it's an email confirmation that the USPS picked up my 2 packages on Aug. 26th, received in my inbox at 4:12 am.

But guess what is still sitting out on my front porch??

Click on the second photo to embiggen and read the note I left.....

I also emailed the USPS and complained about the slack service and downright lying to their customers.

It's no wonder I hate dealing with large corporations......

Sluggy

Bread & Soup is What's for Dinner

When the broccoli from the garden needs picking and you have a cool-ish day, why not make Broccoli Cheddar Soup?

That's just what I did today......I only needed 1/3rd of a brick of Velveeta from the store(cost under $2 for that much).  I had all the other ingredients at home.

And I cut my French bread recipe in half and made 2 loaves of nice crusty bread.  The recipe makes 4 loaves but with only 3 of us at home now, that is way too much bread.

No bread machine needed......just my two hands and a little elbow grease......

A simple and filling dinner and pretty darn cheap too. 8-))

And there are plenty of leftovers for later this week.

Tomorrow we eat some on the tomato crop coming in now......

Sluggy

This Week on The Dining Table

This is the "Gotta Use Up Stuff From the Garden" Week.

 

Here's what was planned last week--

 

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

 

Everything above was eaten as was written.  The days where a specific food was not mentioned went like this....
Wednesday--Local Restaurant in AltaVista, VA
Thursday--Truck Stop Diner outside of Harrisburg, PA
Friday--Burgers, Steamed Broccoli(from garden)
Saturday--Leftover Meat Sauce over Rigatoni, Tossed Salad(w/garden cukes and toms)
  

As for food spending last week.....We didn't do ANY grocery shopping while on the trip(some alcohol procurement did happen but that's from the entertainment budget).  We left #2 Son $40 cash(plus $35 from a rebate check we finally cashed, so $40 out of my August food budget) and $10 in McDonald's bucks(the cost of which was accounted for last year).

Then we hit the grocery store on Friday after we got back from the trip and spent $34.48 on $48.11 of regular retail foods.
So my food budget spending from 8/11 to 8/23 was $74.48.
This means I am at $266.81 spent so far in August.  I have $133.19 left in the budget for the next 6 days.

 

Food waste last week.....bad.....real bad!  #2 Son didn't eat ANYTHING that was here that needed to be eaten.  Luckily I did remember to remind him to put some of it into the freezer(the garden tomatoes and the smoked pork I made).  I had to throw out melon, spareribs, a small amount of coleslaw and rice when I got home.  We tried to eat down what was in the fridge before we left but I thought #2 Son would at least eat the ribs.  *sigh*

  

Leftovers going into this week?  Some rigatoni, and lots and lots of BROCCOLI from the garden!
We also have green beans, cukes, eggplant and more tomatoes coming in, so the order of the meals below will depend on what is harvested and when.

Here's this week's meal plan---
 

Sunday--Broccoli/Chicken Quiche
Monday--Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Fresh Baked Bread
Tuesday--BLT Sandwiches(garden tomatoes)
Wednesday--Eggplant prepared some way?, Tossed Salad
Thursday--Broccoli Casserole, Caprese Salad(garden toms)
Friday--Green Bean Stirfry, Roasted Potatoes, Leftover Quiche
Saturday--Leftovers

On the shopping list......hubs picked up half & half and swiss cheese on Sunday morning already, but I still need a small hunk of Velveeta, sandwich bread(at the bakery outlet), fresh mozzarella, potatoes and more salad greens.
There is a sale on bacon this week as well which I'll end up taking advantage of. ;-)
I'm figuring about $50 food spending this week.

That's what's appearing on the kitchen table this week here at Chez Sluggy. 
  

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

Sluggy

When Life Gives You Broccoli.......

....Cook it!

We came home from the Great Summer Road Trip of 2013 to find that our son had NOT even LOOKED at the Garden, let alone gone out into it and picked what had ripened.
In addition, our 4 little Broccoli plants had gone into production overdrive!
How nice......

If you watched my little garden tour video from Friday you saw all the broccoli that is coming in fast and furiously.

So Hubs took a really big knife and went out to hack off heads of broccoli Friday afternoon.  I came into the kitchen and found this camouflaging sitting on the stove......

3 large heads of broccoli.

Ok, genius Hubs, now that you've picked it, "I" have to come up with some ways to use this up before it goes bad.
Thanks babe!

And freezing it is not an option, with the little freezer space I still have since the new upright freezer died before I had it a month.....but let's not go there right now, ok?

So Friday night, along with the burgers we had steamed broccoli.

Saturday night we took a break from broccoli and used up the meat sauce I still had in the fridge from when Tanner was here, I had made to go with the ravioli.  We had tossed salad with garden cukes and toms with the rigatoni and meat sauce.

Today, Sunday, I took a package of rolled pie crusts that has been sitting in the fridge since July 4th week(Oldest had been sent to the store to buy 2 crusts and bought 2 PACKAGES instead)which needed to be used up.  I defrosted 1 full chicken breast as well.  Hubs went out this morning and bought me some Swiss cheese and half & half so I could make a couple of quiches.

I finely chopped an onion and sautéd it and 3 cups of broccoli in a pan with olive oil.....

Beat 8 eggs together.....

Sautéd the chicken breast in a little more olive oil, then sliced/chopped it up....

Put 4 cups of milk(or half & half) into a pot.  Added a double pinch each of sugar, cayenne pepper, and nutmeg. Then add 1/4 tsp. of pepper. 
Heated the milk mixture on medium low and slowly beat in the eggs, continuing to stir so it didn't  scald and stick to the bottom of the pot.

I grated Swiss Cheese(I also used a bit of Cheddar Cheese).....

Unrolled the pie crusts into pie pans and crimped the edges....

Added the broccoli/onion mixture....

Added the cooked chicken pieces.....

Arranged the cheese(s) ever so artfully in the pie pan.....

Ladled the egg/milk mixture into each pie pan until full and popped them into a 325 degree oven for 50 minutes.
I always use a cookie sheet or pizza pan under my quiche in case the liquid spills out so it doesn't coat the bottom of my oven and make my smoke detectors go off.....trust me, I know this......

Then when it's firm and done, I removed the quiches from the oven, cool and slice up and eat it.
If you let it sit a couple hours(or refrigerate it after cooling and then slice and reheat it)it will hold together better than if you try to cut it and serve it right out of the oven.
Trust me, I know this too......

I still have a mountain of Broccoli to use after 2 broccoli meals.
Monday I'll be making a Broccoli Cheddar Soup.

After that?
I'm thinking more steamed Broccoli, some raw Broccoli and dip and then I need to get my friend Marsha's Broccoli/Cheese Casserole recipe.

Because I looked out in the garden this afternoon and there are 6 MORE heads coming to a table near me soon!

Broccoli here has become what the Zucchini usually is.....the vegetable that just won't stop giving!

Do you have any awesome recipes using Broccoli?
Please share.....NOW!!! ;-)

Sluggy

 

And the Digging Out Begins.....

Oh, how I love the end of a Summer vacation!.....she said, dripping with sarcasm.......


We've had one day back to decompress and now the mountain of laundry, the mess in the fridge and kitchen, and the jungle that sprouted up in the yard while we were gone ALL gets tackled over the weekend.

We also have to get ready for the Home Repairs/Renos to commence and I have 4 medical appointments coming up the week after next while the handymen will be here working on various projects.

Add in that I have to get Salvation Army to come get the dining room set before the work starts on the dining/living room AND get the Etsy store opened so it looks like I'll have more than enough chores to keep me busy over the next 3 or so weeks.

Sort of makes me want to just leave home again....lol

We returned the rental car yesterday and then went to Lowe's to order the rest of the flooring for the living and dining rooms.  I also got some paint swatches so I can decide on a wall color for those rooms.  It looks like I'll have 3 days(Friday to Sunday of the week after next)to get the ceiling and walls painted in the living/dining rooms between the time the handymen repair the walls/ceilings and come back to install the flooring in there.
At any rate, all the work should be completed by September 11th.  Hmmm, I hope that's not a bad sign......9/11....... '-)


While I go pack more dishware up I took out of the hutch, here's a quick trip through the garden I took yesterday morning to see what grew while we were gone for those 10 days.  I didn't take any film of the front flowerbed where our tomato plants are but we did pick our first two tomatoes yesterday.  One got used on the burgers we grilled to eat for dinner(along with a mountain of  broccoli I steamed).  We'll have more coming in fast and furiously once they all start ripening.  I plan on an Insalata Caprese (Caprese Salad)and multiple nights of BLT sandwiches later this week for dinners.
Plus Broccoli Quiche and Broccoli Cheddar Soup on other nights.

What has everyone else been picking from their garden lately?




Sluggy 

School Supplies Giveaway Winner Revealed

And the winner of the School Supplies is........

Linda!

LindaAugust 21, 2013 at 12:12 PM

You are still on my blog roll.

 

Congratulations to you Linda and please email me your mailing address and I'll get this box of goodies out to you on Monday.

 

More Giveaways coming up later next week so stay tuned!

 

Sluggy

Giveaway Ending TONIGHT.....Hurry and Enter!

Just a quickie to remind y'all that the School Supplies Giveaway is ending tonight at 11:59 EDST(eastern daylight savings time).

So get those entries in during the next few hours!!

Use this link HERE or click on the link at the top of the sidebar under "Current Giveaways".

Sluggy

I Am DOG Tired!

Well it's time to head home this morning from our Summer Road Trip of 2013.
I have come to the conclusion that despite having a real nice time out on the road for 10 days and traveling over 2,100 miles, I am dog tired and worn out and ready to get home and sleep in my own bed.

I guess that means I have turned into an old stick-in-the-mud at the ripe old age of 54.
I ache from sitting for hours in a car some days and ache from walking until I could drop other days.
After 10 days I yearn for my normal routine and food that doesn't come out of a restaurant.
Yah I know that means I have to COOK again but I am ready to ease back into the kitchen.....I think. ;-)

And I know Sonya Ann will fall outta her chair but I am ready to not drink for awhile.  I just am not cut out to be an alcoholic...... lol

I didn't take any videos Wednesday(yes, some of you have had your prayers answered!)so I have nothing new to post from yesterday.  I did however take 280, count 'em 280! still photos yesterday.  Mostly those shots are of headstones or pages from genealogy books so of no interest to but a few who read this blog.

So I'll leave you with a short film I took on Tuesday in Wytheville, VA from where we stopped for a late, quick lunch before blowing that town.

This will be my last post for a day or so as we head home and then I dig out from a mammoth pile of dirty laundry once we get to the old homestead.

Talk to y'all next week, if not a bit sooner over the weekend,

Sluggy

 

Where's Waldo, Er....Sluggy?

Can you spot the Sluggy in this photo?

More later......

Sluggy