Don't Overlook These Food Sources

When it comes to finding deals on grocery items, don't overlook your local Dollar Store or Restaurant Supply Store.

We have two restaurant supply stores around here but only one of them carries fresh fruits and vegetables.  Often, unless something is a loss leader at the grocery store that particular week, I can get Fruits and Veg cheaper at the restaurant supply store.

I made a trip up last Saturday and got Strawberries, 3 lbs. for $5.

$1.67 a container beat out even the grocery stores which had Florida strawberries as loss leaders for $2.50 a lb.
Regular price on fresh strawberries around here is $3.99 or higher.

I also picked up a 5lb. bag of carrots for $2.49.

Carrots last a long time so no problem using these up.  Carrots are so versatile in savory or sweet dishes.  I usually shred some to put in meatloaves or meatballs too.  I use to shred carrots into my spaghetti sauce when the kids were little and needed more veggie matter in their diets.....they were never the wiser.

The largest bag the local grocers carry around here is a 2lb. or on occasion a 3lb. bag.  Regular price for a 1lb. bag is $1.49.

I bought some yellow squash on this trip too(though I didn't take a picture of it).  It was $1.29 lb.(regular price at the restaurant supply store)but I usually wait until it goes on special for .99¢.  IF I can get yellow squash at the grocery stores here(as they are usually out unless it's July or so)it goes for $2.99 lb.

I also buy my onions in bulk at the restaurant supply store, if the farm stand is not open when I need them.

I got this 25 lb. bag for $13.49.  That's .54¢ a lb. compared to the .83¢ I have to pay for the regular priced  grocery store variety.  I prefer to buy 50lb. sacks of onions as that is the most economical.  I just finished up the last 50lb. sack I got at the farm stand last September.  Since the garage where I keep my makeshift plastic tub/root cellar is too cold now, this sack will live in the corner of the kitchen until the end of March.
Onions can be cheap and a great addition to dishes when you need flavor.

And Spring time means Asparagus Season.  I picked up 4 lbs. of this tasty weed on Saturday at $1.49 lb.  Regular price at the grocery store here is $3.99 lb. and I've only seen it go as low as $1.99 right around Easter time only.
There is nothing better(or better for you)than a plate of "spear points"!  ;-)
We prefer to grill or roast ours, rather than steam them.  The direct fire brings out the sugars in them. Mmmmm......

Another place I will do some food shopping is at our Dollar Store, the ones that have a refrigerated and frozen section.

I love Gyoza or Japanese Pot Sticker Dumplings.
But what I don't love is paying an outrageous price for them.  A reasonable priced brand disappeared off the market shelves here so I checked out the restaurant supply store and found a bag of approx. 50 dumplings went for $16.99.
Yikes!
So one day while checking the Dollar store I spied Gyoza Dumplings, bags of 10-11 for $1.
Sold!!
Same amount of dumplings as the $16.99 bag for $5.00.

I also buy frozen fruit at the Dollar Store for dessert toppings or fillings, smoothies, or to flavor iced tea or for just thawing and eating.

Recently one of the Dollar stores here started carrying frozen seafood.  These salad shrimp are great for shrimp salad sandwiches(1 3oz. package is the perfect size).  I got some scallops as well. 

There is a specific company that I can't recall at the moment that makes a seafood cake....like a crab cake but it has shrimp and scallops in it as well.  It's very tasty but at $9 a box(for 2 cakes), it's quite pricey.  When I can pick up crabmeat on special, these shrimp and scallops will allow me to replicate that seafood cake without spending $30 on the ingredients.
These small shrimp and scallops are also good for adding to dishes like stews or casseroles or stir-frys....dishes were a big nice piece of seafood/fish isn't the star attraction but where you want the flavor of these items to shine through.
I make a fancy pants dish of scallops, mushrooms and asparagus in a cheese sauce inside a puff pastry shell.  It's quite elegant really and decadent.

Ok, I've babbled on enough here.  Just a thought about thinking outside the box when it comes to finding food.

Sluggy

 

I Just Can't Fathom What Some People are Thinking!

I have been on a few local yahoo lists for years now.  One is a local Tag Sale or Yard Sale site where you can sell things.  Another is a local Christmas/Holiday list.  This one started out as a mix of folks who needed help providing Christmas for their kids, for whatever reason, and folks who have a want and the resources to help provide for these families.  It's like a cyber Salvation Army giving tree.  People who need help are spread throughout my state on this list and you can choose to play Santa for those who can't afford to at the Holidays, either folks who are local to you or you can choose to ship to anyone on the list anywhere in the state.

This second group was so successful that the owner/originator decided to start another group list with a similar purpose, but not limit the help to Holiday giving and not to limit it to presents for your kids/loved ones.  Any time of year and any type of help is acceptable to ask for on this list, for the most part.  You can't ask for a car or large sums of money, et cetera.  Physical items of lesser value(money toward paying a bill, used furniture for your apartment) and/or guidance(like legal advise or help contacting appropriate agencies for your needs)and/or personal help(such as rides to doctors, help repairing a roof, babysitting, cooking for someone ill)....that sort of thing.

About 4 years back, the requests on these lists started getting out of hand(parents asking for new gaming systems, computers, new smartphones, asking for gifts for grown children who could get a job and buy their own stuff, etc.)and too many cases of fraud(folks asking for help when they clearly didn't need it, and folks receiving help from multiple people without disclosing this)started happening.  The system in place started to be abused by a certain element of the membership which made those who were giving help decide to either drop out or severely limit what they gave/who they helped.

In January of this year, this email came across the "Year Long Help" List.  It's from a mother of a grown child asking for help for her daughter.
I was floored by what it said.

All the identifying information and names have been removed.
Here it is......


"This is on behalf of my daughter in XXX County who does not have internet access. I've over-extended myself horribly helping her for the past few years and literally can't help her anymore. She is broke and her water is being shut off. The local community action agency (which the XXX agency referred her case to) says they can't help her unless she has a source of income (which she doesn't have).  Welfare was cut off. She is in a rental property but is facing eviction for nonpayment of rent. She says she won't go to a shelter because of her pets (four dogs & 2 cats). Her spouse (also low-income) moved back with his family and took their newborn with him. I have her older child with me. Due to rules in place by county children & youth services, she is not permitted to be with either of her children, so she can't move in with her husband nor can she move in with me. Need advice, suggestions or other options to have her consider.  She has no income and no government benefits now."

Here is the only response this email received.....

"tell her to go live on the streets if she don't want to go to a shelter"

And here is the response from the original note's writer.....

"Hi all, Thanks for the advice. I personally think she needs to look at getting a job or some sort of income. She disagrees and says she's too anxious to ever work. She says that if she has a big family, then the various pieces of the government will help her, by moving her up on section 8 lists, free medical care, food stamps, etc. She plans to go to the various agencies next week, because she just found out she's a few weeks pregnant again and she says that will get her qualified fast for all this aid. I hope she knows what she's doing, because frankly, I don't understand it. I just always worked for whatever I could. Thanks; I guess time will tell whether she is right or wrong."

Now I have no clue what the background, what all went on in these people's lives the years leading up to this plea for help.
Obviously this daughter has some very disturbing ideas about being a grown-up and how one should conduct one's life.  And frankly, I blame her parent(s)for some of this, as it sounds like this mother was a major enabler and helped this daughter to end up at this point, thinking others owed her a life/a living.  Allowing your grown kid to continue to mooch off of you, her parent(s), just reinforced these notions that other people "owed" her something.

I try not to be judgmental, but seriously??
Since when is having another baby going to help your situation if you can not support yourself now?

And something bad which is not spoken of here must have preceded the state banning her from being around/living with her other children.  What makes her think the state won't step in and take a newborn from her too?

And how many other people out there in the society also have this thought process and seriously believe that society OWES them money/housing/transportation when they do nothing to help themselves?  This Entitlement Attitude seems to be growing in a certain segment of our society.

People like this are what gives social agencies(government backed AND privately funded ones too)a bad name and make taxpayers balk at their hard earned dollars being spent in an unwise fashion on social programs.

What are your reactions and thoughts to this email plea on behalf of this woman's daughter?
I am very curious to know.

Sluggy

$24K Savings Challenge....February Update

Every year I keep a close eye on our monthly expenses and our monthly income.
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, health insurance premiums, long term care insurance premiums, investments and retirement savings.  It's automatic so we are never tempted to NOT put it into savings.

Once the automatic savings amounts, plus taxes and medical/dental/vision premiums 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, annual etc.) and our variable bills(like food, eating out, clothing  etc.)  Anything left over once our monthly expenses are paid, I put aside into a Savings Challenge. 

For 2014 I am continuing my Yearly Savings Challenge.  I am raising the Goal amount slightly to $24,000 this year, $4K more than my goal for last year.

On to the February report.....

I have posted my February End of Month $24K $AVING$ 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 $2,000.

I have to report that we finished up February with a nice hunk of cash but not the target amount.
The extra cash amount we ended the month of February with?.......$1,359.15.

Income
We had $856.52 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in February totaled $502.63.  This included interest made on accounts, blog revenue and our son began paying his own portion on the car insurance. 8-))

This brought us to our gain of $1,359.15 for February.
Since we have no debt anymore, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  Water and Phone were the same as January's totals.

*  I spent under $400 for food/toiletries in February.
*  The credit card bill was $1100 less than January's bill.
*  The Cash withdrawals were $98.50 less than in January.
*  The music lessons were $40 less(1 less lesson this month.)
*  No expensive car repairs in February.(Just a small one.)
*  Eldest son started paying his portion of the car insurance bill.

 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The electric bill was $62.09 MORE than January's bill.  March's bill should be less.

*  The semi-annual car insurance was due and paid in February.
*  There are 5 Mondays in March so we need to pay for an extra music lesson this month.
 

 

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

The 2014 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 2 months accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2014 is $1,564.47. 
Far short at this point of the $2,000 I need to put back each month.
February is historically a lean month for savings in our house because of car insurance being due this month.

In other financial news--Hubs received a nice sized bonus this month for his work last year.  I used part of it to finish funding #2 Son's college fund but have not "officially" accounted for the rest of the money yet.....meaning it's part of our Net Worth statement but no decision has been made about whether any of it will be put into this Savings Challenge.  We still have to decide where to put the rest of the funds.  I know some of it will go toward purchasing a car to replace the one Hubs now drives.  Perhaps I'll be able to put what's left toward the Savings Challenge but it's too soon to know.
 

 

Looking ahead for March......

*  I will continue to do this Savings Challenge and report in each month on how it is going.

*  We have yearly municipal taxes due this month. (They aren't actually DUE until 30 June but if I pay them before 30 April we get a discount on the rate.)  I usually pay it in April but I may pay it in March instead, just to get it outta the way.  ;-)

*  I am going on a quick trip to Delaware this month so lodging, gas & food expenses will happen.

*  No extra/3rd paychecks this month so no extra income in March.

*  And the annual Sewage payment is due. It is billed quarterly but if I pay it in full before 31 March I get a 3% discount and this is what I generally do so there's another irregular expense for March.

*  With 2 annual bills being paid in March and no extra paycheck in the month(that won't happen until May and again in October) we won't see much extra savings going toward this Challenge.  Perhaps our savings rate will pick up in April....
 

 

So how was your February financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in February?
Did you stay within your budget or not?
Did you pay off any debts or put extra toward your mortgage principle or into savings in an emergency fund or a retirement account?

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

Net Worth March 1st

Thanks in large part to Hub's bonus, our net worth increased $31,479.11 from February 1st. 
Of course this accounts for a decrease of $1,735.18 from January 1st to February 1st(temporary setback), so really it's an $29,743.93 increase since January 1st.

We don't include the college funds or the value of our home in our net worth calculations, mainly because the college monies aren't going to be spent on our retirement and the home is not a liquid asset since we have to have somewhere to live.

Retirement funds are up $8759.72 since January 1st as well.  Not increasing very much since we moved them out of  riskier/volatile funds, as we are too close to retirement to chance losing money.
Otherwise we'd be seeing better gains here.

With only a few years until retirement we are closing in on the 1 million $ mark proving once again, it pays to not spend all your money on the here and now.
Plus it pays to have a really healthy income as well and a wife who sees value in saving money whenever/wherever possible, even when spending on "life". ;-)

So don't forget to FEED YOUR PIG each and every month.
Don't let her/him waste away from financial malnutrition.

For help and guidance on how to save, check this site out HERE.

 

Sluggy

This Week on the Dining Table

The "When Is Asparagus Too Much Asparagus?!" Edition.......

 

We went to the restaurant supply store on Saturday.  They had asparagus for $1.49 lb. so I loaded up with 4 lbs.  Don't worry NONE of this will go to waste in my house as I am an asparagus addict!

 

The Sunday paper had an ad that the asparagus there was now .99¢ lb.

Figures, right? lolz

 

 

And here is what was planned last week---

 

Sunday--Leftovers(I had a big plate of Asparagus.)
Monday--Chicken Risotto, Asparagus
Tuesday--Birthday Dinner Out
Wednesday--Roast Turkey, Carrots, Potatoes of some sort
Thursday--Dinner Out(last of gift card & coupon)
Friday--Beef Roast and some sort of fresh veggie I buy this week
Saturday--Leftovers

 

And here is what actually happened---

 

Sunday--Leftovers(I had a big plate of Asparagus.)
Monday--Chicken Risotto, Asparagus
Tuesday--Leftovers(I had Rigatoni and Asparagus.)
Wednesday--Roast Turkey, Asparagus, Au Gratin Taters
Thursday--Leftovers of Fend for Yourself(I had a homemade burger and a large salad.)
Friday--#2 Son for free b-day burger Out(I had a chicken sammie.)
Saturday--Official B-day dinner Out(Thai food, mine had chicken in it.)

I finally made the Risotto....boy my arm is sore from all that stirring.lol

Only made 2 meals last week.  We never got to Bob Evans to use that last dinner Q but we still managed to eat out 2 nights.

 

I spent a total of $42.59 on groceries last week, including the .01¢ I spent at Rite-Aid.  

 

I spent $4.09 on head of lettuce($1.49) and a bottle of dressing($2.59) at the local independent grocer-I found a bottle of that same dressing in the stockpile later. ugh

 

I spent $38.49 at Weis(PMITA)Markets on.....a 4+lb. turkey breast, 2 lbs. asparagus, 1/2 gal. milk, 2 jars of Duke mayo(rock bottom price $2.50), cauliflower($2.50), 2 pints grape tomatoes, 2 bags of salad(50% off), 1 pkg. ham lunchmeat(.89¢ after $3 instant discount sticker), 3 lb. ground beef(marked down to $2.99lb.), 1lb. organic stew beef($2.35 after $3 instant discount sticker).

 

Food spending for February totaled $398.42 when all was tallied up last month.
  

We had food waste last week....a handful of grape tomatoes I didn't eat in time.

 

Going into the new week here are the leftovers we have.....everything is gone except for some slices off that turkey breast, which will keep in lunch sandwiches for a few days, and a pint of grape tomatoes, the organic stew beef(in the freezer)and the cauliflower(and the mayo is in the stockpile).

 

 

Here is this week's meal plan----

Sunday--Beef Roast, Yellow Squash Casserole
Monday--Broiled Teriyaki Salmon(freezer), Asparagus, Roasted Potatoes with Onions
Tuesday--Slices off Leftover Roast, Roasted Cauliflower and Carrots
Wednesday--Lasagna(from freezer), Brussel Sprouts
Thursday--Either Roast Beef Hash or French Dip Sammies from leftover Roast, and leftover Veg
Friday--Breakfast for dinner
Saturday--Chicken & Pot Pie Noodles

That makes 4 new meals and 3 leftover, from the freezer or planned over meals.

What I need to purchase for this menu?.......squash, asparagus, beef roast, eggs, rolls, carrots, onions(I am out of the 50lb. bag I got in September at the farm stand).   Most of this I picked up on Saturday(first day of new grocery spending month), so only thing left to buy is rolls.  I might attempt baking my own rolls and not go to the grocery store this week. at. all.

Nothing much in the sales ads I want or need but I do like going on Wednesday to check out the marked downs in produce and meats so I am torn.  What would you do?

 

 What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

 

Sluggy

So Excited!

I got up this morning and was perusing the local Sunday paper when my eye spotted something on the Classifieds/Real Estate section.

You see, I have always had this dream of taking an old building and turning it into a home.
At first, this dream revolved around taking an old barn and restoring it/converting it into a house.

And then, since we live in an area without many old barns, the dream changed into taking an industrial space(old factory, school building, etc.)and turning that into a home.

But old industrial spaces are mostly much too large to do this with and necessitate turning into multiple units of housing, like condos or apartments.  Since I don't have the resources(either financial or construction skills)that idea quickly faded from becoming a reality.
Since the last 10 years or so around here, as the population  has decreased, the Catholic church in this area has been closing and consolidating parishes and church buildings and then putting said real estate up on the market for sale.
So the dream changed to buying an old church property and making it into a home.

This morning the stars may have aligned on this dream.

Hubs and I are within 4 years of his retiring and 4 months within having to remain living in this school district anymore.
We preferably wish to retire to someplace warmer but the place I found may work anyway.

I found a property for sale.
This one.....

It isn't brick but it's smaller and in fairly good shape.
It's in a small community, on the main road and not one of the large cities around here.
But it's accessible to the larger cities.
And even better, this also comes with the church......

It's the old rectory, a 2 story home with a garage behind.  You can see the side of the church building to the right in the photo.  There are mature trees and bushes and a small garden area between the rectory and the church.
The size of the land these buildings sit on  looks to be multiple city lots...3 or 4 lots.

It's the price of this property that had my juices flowing.
It's being offered for $49,000 for all.

The real estate tax information is not available, since this is a religious property and wasn't taxed by the state/municipality but similar homes for sale in this area have estimates of $1,200 a year.  I am figuring double that since this listing contains 2 buildings.

The church obviously will need remodeling/renovating to turn it into a home space.
The rectory house will need extensive renovation as it has been basically gutted from what I read.
While it's not going to be cheap(hell ya I can do this on the frugal side though!lol), it's sort of like getting a "new" house, except that the outside structure is already in place and old.  I can get the kitchen the way I want it and lay out the interior space/rooms as I want in the church.

The initial plan is to remain living here(it's only 11.5 miles away), renovate the church building, then move in and then have the last of the work done here and sell our current home.
Once we move to the church, Hubs can still commute to work from there.  It would add an additional 10-15 minutes on his commute but doable for the 4 years he has left to work.

Once we move and sell, we can work on getting the rectory house livable/renovated.  After that, we can either sell or rent it out.  Since the property is zoned R2, we also have the choice of turning the rectory house into a duplex and renting or selling it as that type of housing situation.
After we sell or rent the rectory house it will help us recoup any money we invested into the reno and help pay the taxes.  Eventually when we recoup the money invested we can have an income stream in retirement from it.  8-)

As for Winters living in this church, once Hubs retires, we will buy a used RV and spend the ugly months of ice, snow and cold in parts South of here, either visiting our children or bopping around to wherever we feel like going.

I am trying not to get all excited but it's hard not to!
I've already contacted the agent and am working on going to have an "in person" look around and ask a billion questions about this property and snap my own photos.
After that and having a discussion with Hubs on this I'll call a construction type person for a consult and some advise on whether this is a plan I can green light or not and proceed to talk money with the realtor.
We would be paying cash for this of course..... ;-)

One step at a time, trying not to get my hopes too high at this point, but thinking this might be the way we need to head on down the road to retirement.


So what do y'all think of this?

Sluggy



 

Food & Toiletries Spending......February Update

Onward to February's food spending report.......

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for FEBRUARY 2014.

I have posted February's totals on the Total Grocery Savings for 2014 Page located HERE and have updated the Yearly Totals there.
I am listing subtotals for each store I purchased from in February.  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 4(3 at home this month)& 1 dog. No kids under 17.
******************

BAKERY OUTLET
OOP  $10.78
Value  $25.74
Savings   58.12%

DOLLAR STORE
OOP  $17.00
Value  $40.16
Savings    57.67%
 

RITE-AID
OOP  $51.23
Qs/Ads/+Ups  $243.44
Value  $294.67
Savings  82.61%
 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $125.98

Qs/Ads  $118.54

Value  $244.52

Savings  48.48%

WALMART
OOP  $23.46
Qs/Ads  $20.32
Value  $43.78
Savings  46.41%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $168.08

Qs/Ads  $115.39

Value  $283.47

Savings  40.70%

*********************
My best 3 Store Savings Totals were Rite-Aid at 82.61%, the Bakery Outlet at 58.12%, and the Dollar Store at 57.67%.  My WORST savings rate was 40.70% at Weis so I think I did exceptionally well in February on the value of what I got!  Obviously I'm not counting the Turkey Hill Convenience store where Hubs picked up a 1/2 gallon of milk and my savings rate was 0%. ;-)
I shopped at 6 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$398.43

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$535.81

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$934.23

TOTAL Savings of...................................57.35%

Even without counting the Rite-Aid shopping, my savings rate would be 45.71%.

This closes out the February food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into February wanting to cut my food/toiletries budget by $100, to $300 budgeted for ALL purchases.  I failed BUT I did stay under my usual $400 Food Budget.
Yay me.  ;-)


LOOKING AHEAD TO MARCH......

I'm going to try to do this $300 food spending budget one more time in March.
If I can't then I'll stop trying.

I tallied up our Eating Out spending for February and it came in at $94.44.
We had Chinese take-out once, Burger King once, I took #2 Son out for his free birthday burger and spent $24.82 on 2 drinks, my chicken burger and the tip, and $35.85 was spent on dinner for Hubs & #2 Son at Perkins on the audition trip to Mansfield. 
Of course we ate at Bob Evans twice too but we used gift cards to cover those meals.


Without the Rite-Aid totals added in, my February Savings Rate is 43%.  Achieving a savings rate in the 40's is what I shoot for, with or without shopping at Rite-Aid.
 

If you have other ideas or guidelines you follow please leave a comment and share yours with us all.

Total spend on food/toiletries so far this year.....$695.80

The average monthly food/toiletries spending this year so far is $347.90.

 

How much did you spend on food/toiletries in February?
Do you track your yearly food spending?
 

Sluggy

No Joy in Mudville Today.....

Well #1 Son continues to have difficulties at his place of employment.  He is trying to find a new position elsewhere, that pays enough for him to justify leaving his current job, and is having no luck.
I can't go into this sad tale but he is fearing for his safety and health(he works with "special populations") and his stress level(as well as our own)is quite high, having to remain in his current job.
So when exactly do you get to stop worrying about your kids....what age?
Obviously it's not when they are 22+ years old.  8-(

Add to that the letter #2 Son received yesterday from Temple, thanking him for his "interest" but regretting to inform him that they will not be availing themselves of his musical talents or his parent's Twenty Eight Thousand Dollars per year.

Yep, he didn't get into their music program. 8((
This upset him deeply, as it was his first choice school, almost to the point of tears and definitely to the point of throwing and hitting inanimate objects, like any self respecting 18 year old boy is want to do.

Then his dejection turned to "I suck and I hate music and maybe I just won't go to college."
This was followed a couple of hours later after a nap by, "Temple can go F**k itself!".

Ah, a chip off the ol' Slugmama block!
I think #2 Son will survive.

Nothing signaling the end of the world here, just having a rough patch as some folks say.
And this wretched cold is NOT making things any cheerier!

I am so ready for Spring, aren't you?

Off to console #2 Son's sorrows with a free Birthday Burger at Red Robin......

Sluggy


 

Throwback Thursday...1961

A girl and her dog......

When I was a wee one, we had a succession of Old English Sheepdogs.
Well a succession of two.

The first one was named Peaches.  I believe this is her pictured above.  She seems to be chewing on my dolly.

I really have no recollections of Peaches but I do remember the OES we had second.
His name was "Shep".
Yes, my parents were right up there with "inventive" names for pets. lolz

Shep was much larger than Peaches and I use to ride on his back.
Shep loved ice cream and in the Summer, on the off chance my father would take us to the ice cream stand, he'd get Shep a cone too, which that hulk of a dog would devour in one bite.
Must have been a very small cone of ice cream.

I don't recall where we got Peaches from, since I don't even have any memories of her, but I remember being told that Shep had starred in commercials(probably for dog food).  Being a retired actor, who was "put out to pasture" when he got too old to work, is why he was living with us as a family pet.

With how little my father made at this time and the amount Shep ate, my father either really REALLY loved this dog or he came with a food stipend from his previous owners.  ;-)

Notice my fabulous pose at almost 3 years old.  What an innate sense of fashion and future stardom I possessed even at this young age.
I suppose I was channeling Tallulah Bankhead daaaahling, in this shot.  I just needed a cigarette in a holder, didn't I?



Sluggy

Rite-Aid This Week

$20 in +Up Rewards were expiring so grabbing last Sunday's Q insert, up I hiked to Rite-Aid on Wednesday.....

2 x GEAR(Irish Spring) items on sale $4 ea(but body wash rang up $3.99-20% disc. price).=$7.99
2 x Soft Soap hand soap pumps on  sale .99¢ ea.=$1.98
2 x Colgate toothpaste on sale $3.50 but 20% disc. less($3.43)=$6.86
2 x Colgate toothbrushes on sale $2.99=$5.98
1 x Palmolive dish soap(Rain check)=$.97
1 x RA plastic wrap w/20% discount=$2.23
Subtotal.....$26.01

Coupons Used
1 x $1/1 Gear bar soap ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Gear body wash/deo item ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/1 Gear item Rite-Aid emailed Q=$1.00
1 x $1/2 Soft Soap soaps ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/2 Colgate toothpaste ManuQ=$1.00
1 x $1/2 Colgate toothbrushes ManuQ=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$6.00

$26.01-$6.00=$20.01

I used 2 x $10 +Ups and was left paying .01¢ OOP.

Niiiiiiice!

I also received back $13 in new +Up Rewards for buying this stuff.
($3 wyb 2 Gear items, 2 x $2 wyb 1 Colgate toothbrush, 2 x $3 wyb 1 Colgate toothpaste)

My Rite-Aid was out of the Mitchum(figures!)which was on sale for $2.99(and there was a $2/1 Q in Sunday's Q inserts so .99¢ after Q), so I got a rain check and next time I go in to use my +Ups I'll get that and use my $2 Q.

Toothpaste, toothbrushes, soaps and body wash go into the toiletries stockpile.
The plastic wrap we were out of so that's in the kitchen now.

I'm only $55 toward the $100 I need to earn a Buy & Earn reward and this ends on Saturday so it looks like Sluggy won't get there in time.  I could go spend $45 on Buy & Earn items we "need" but most of them are not on sale.....that's how they get you in this game....make you pay more than you have to, to get the reward, then "reward" you with a $15 +Up, so in the end it's not a deal.

I'll settle for getting $40.50 worth of items for .01¢ out of pocket and $7 in +Ups(since I spent down that many when I only got $13 in +Ups back when I used my $20 +Ups).

And I don't need to go back until March 12th when these new +Up Rewards expire.

All these deals are good through Saturday evening at Rite-Aid.

Sluggy
 

My Life & My Family.....the 1970's & Onward Part 1

*Ok, this family history will be an eye opener for some of you.  I was reticent to share all this until now.  It's not pretty but it's the facts(or the facts as I interpreted them).  Some may find some value in it but it's more for me to get my thoughts out on digital paper.  And it will provide a glimpse into what makes Sluggy tick.
If any of my family sees this I am sure I'll be getting a phone call or two about it. ;-)
*****************************************

You know the old adage....."Sometimes things are not as they seem.". 

There was lots of "stuff" going on under the surface that I was totally unaware of as a child.
For all intents and purposes our family was "normal" and boring. 
I had a mom and dad. 
Dad worked a lot.
Mom stayed home and took care of us and the house. 
We had a dog. 
I went to school and played outside with the kids in the neighborhood on the weekends. 
We had to go to Church on Sunday. 
On Christmas we got some toys.
On our Birthday we got a cake.
Family visited about once a year or we visited family.
Otherwise it was a familiar routine and boring and not much changed or happened the first 12 or so years of my life.....besides the death of 3 of my grandparents, but we'll go there another time.

When I hit the teen years, my day-to-day life changed.  In the early 1970's my mother ended up in a private psychiatric facility.  I don't recall the exact date or year, though I think it was 1972, but it was when I was still in elementary school(though the school went to grade 8 so it was probably when I was in 7th or 8th grade).  I don't recall the exact explanation for this I was given IF I was given one at all. 
My parents at this time were heavy drinkers(but still functional), so it might have been a way to "dry" mom out.  Or she may have been having anxiety(I don't doubt that married to my father, she had high anxiety levels for years!).  I don't know the diagnosis of her problem at that time. 

Being able to look back on what went on before this time, I have my own theories on what led my mother to this point by the 1970's. 

My parents, Senior Prom Portlock High School 1950.  Dad was a Senior, mom was a Sophmore.

She dropped out at her Junior year of high school, married at 16 in June of 1951, had her first baby in December of that year, at 17.  You do the math. ;-) 
By 25 she had 3 children. 
She never had a career outside the home, only working briefly when we were small, as a secretary for my father in one of his businesses he started.  She did get her GED but other than that and the brief stint working, she was a homemaker. 


Basically she had 4 kids since my father refused to do anything for himself.  As his business grew mom was also expected to entertain clients for my father.  She enjoyed the buying clothes, getting her hair done, the jewelry and the travel.  It was all she had hoped for.

At some point, my mother wasn't enough for my father.  She wasn't bright enough, educated enough, wasn't part of his business world and friends.  She tried hard to feel equal to the people my father chose to hang out with(the social climbers)but she just didn't measure up in his eyes as time went on.  I am sure the fact that she was growing older and not young and attractive anymore played into this.  My father had always been a robust drinker as long as I can recall.  I think in order to "get along" and be part of the crowd my mother began to drink more.....sort of the film, "The Days of Wine & Roses" in real life.

So my mother drank to excess in order to be accepted and keep her husband.  I don't feel that alcoholism was her real problem.  Because once the situation changed, she stopped drinking except for a glass of something on special occasions.  Other than anxiety and some depression(due to losing her parents and her husband berating her)I don't think my mother ever really did have any mental illness.  Nothing heavy at least.

          Mom April 1968.  2 Months after her father passed away.  She was 33.

Then within 6 months of the other, mom lost both her parents by early 1968.  So by 1972 her parents were gone, her husband was slipping away and 2 of her 3 kids had left the nest.  She inherited some property and money when her parents passed and she turned everything over to my father's control, since he handled all the family finances.  Later, when divorce started to be talked about and lawyers got involved it was learned that my father had lost most of the inheritance money in bad business ventures and there was nothing left for my mother to lay claim to for herself if a divorce were to happen.

                   Mom, Easter 1948.  She is on the left.

I have never seen my mother as being a "strong" person.  She was a pampered only child, doted on by her parents.  She went from her mother's arms to her husband's, the only man she ever loved.  That love blinded her to all the faults of my father and she refused to let him go when he decided he no longer loved her.  He WAS her life and when he left she had nothing and spent many years bitter.  It is only after he left that she was able to develop into her own person, someone with a backbone and an independent mind.  I don't know.....she may have had that all along, but I never saw it.


This private psychiatric facility was a place for people with a hodge-podge of medical and mental ailments.  Some of the clientele I saw there when I visited ranged from substance abusers to folks with heavier mental ailments like severe depression, multiple personality, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and on and on.  I don't believe they took those who were "violent"(other than self hurters).  It was also where the local people with the money sent their teens with drug problems to keep them out of jail or "real" mental institutions, so there were many young people locked up in this place. 

Being a private facility you had to be able to afford it to be a client(and/or have Cadillac insurance coverage) and it seemed like a nice resort, an escape from reality, to me.  The meals were great, you got to go on field trips and outings, there were activities and the only things you HAD to do were attend a group meeting once a week, have a session or two with your "shrink" and keep your room clean. 
Hell, if I was a haggard housewife with a husband who never lifted a finger to help around the house or with the kids, this place would be like heaven to me! lolz

         Me and my dog Annie Easter 1971, the year before my world starting going to hell.

Both of my brothers were out of the house(in college)so I was the only child home by the Fall of 1971.  My father worked late every night so by early 1972, I rose in the morning after he left for the day and came home to an empty house(well, the family dog was there)and was expected to take care of myself totally.  My father came home late, sat on the couch eating bags of cookies and falling asleep watching tv.  He didn't know how to cook and would eat out every night and I was left to fend for myself.  On occasion one of my brothers would be home from college on break and help out. I was attending a parochial school to which I walked, and in 1973 when I started high school, with no one to drive me since this school was too far away to walk, I had to learn to take the public bus. 

 
Mom Christmas 1973, looking kind of drugged up. She got a pass to come home for awhile.

1973, our last Christmas in this house.  I was a high school freshman. Notice the glare on my face.


My mother bounced back and forth for a couple years between this psychiatric facility and our house and I never knew when she'd be home, one day to the next.
After we moved to a new house in Virginia Beach, things seemed to settle down for awhile and mom was home for a year or two, before starting that familiar ping ponging between home and the hospital.   I remember, after I got my driver's license that I became the "fetch it" person to bring mom home or back to the hospital and to bring her stuff she wanted.  I got to be a servant because my father couldn't be bothered to do anything related to the family.  When I graduated from high school I remember that mom was checked in again but got a pass to come to the graduation and such. 

Eventually, after I left home for college my mother ended up in the mental ward at a local Hospital, for two stays I believe over the course of the next year.
In 1977, months after I went away to college my mother attempted suicide.  I had to leave school to go home 3 weeks before I was to perform in the main role of my first college production.  I got back to school the week before opening night.  Ironically, my character was an insane person in Elizabethan era England.  I got RAVE reviews for my efforts and many were floored that a person of my age could have pulled off that part so well.  I think my state of mind at that time and having spent so many hours of "people watching" on visits to my mother in mental facilities helped my performance. ;-)

And then mom was committed to Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, VA.  I remember visiting her there one time while I was home from college my freshman or sophmore year.  That place was a snake pit in the late 1970's.  I remember her begging me to get her out on that visit, but I was 19 years old and trying to keep my own self together and had NO clue about how to go about doing what it would have taken, if it was even possible.  Why she wasn't asking my much older brothers for help I don't know and why she was laying all this on me I can't fathom.

You see, my father had had her committed there, involuntarily.  In the state of VA at that time, a spouse could have you committed against your will for more than a 48 hour hold.
I suspect my father did this in retaliation because she won't give him a divorce.  So he had her committed against her will to this vile and dangerous place.  She told me on the one visit I made to her there that she had already been assaulted once(and no one did anything because who was going to believe a crazy person!?)and had had her shoes stolen by another inmate.  It didn't seem like people were segregated by degree of illness in this hell hole.   Everyone was just left to wander loose.

My mother had only ever been to that private fancy pants pseudo facility and then the General Hospital's mental illness floor in Norfolk, VA.  I am sure this place scared the hell out of her.
Shortly after this time was when I found out that either at Williamsburg or some place else during this time frame my mother was given electroconvulsive therapy, also knows as electroshock treatments.  My mother was not a severely mentally ill person so I think these were administered as a punitive measure.  And what's more, my father allowed them to do this is what just blows my mind!

Mom didn't remain in Eastern State for very long.  I suppose she was compliment after a time in there and with her "therapy" treatments and subsequent memory loss, she went home and entertained thoughts of divorce which made my father happy.
In 1979 my mother went home to a big empty house, which my father had moved out of basically in the Winter of 1977.

So my mother got a lawyer, not a very good one, and she spent the next 10 years fighting over anything she could to delay my father from obtaining his divorce from her. 
I think she really dug her heels in when she found out that my father was keeping a mistress and subsequently was openly living with her.  I don't blame my mom really.  I probably would have done the same thing.  ;-)
In a way, my father and "that whore", as mom called her, helped my mother find her voice and her backbone.

Sluggy

This Should Scare You Into Taking Action

I think this piece was done to try to scare the hell out of those in our society who are NOT, for whatever reason, saving for retirement.
And it should scare you if you have made some of the choices these folks have.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/-i-m-never-going-to-be-able-to-retire--134736593.html?vp=1

Go on and watch it and then come back.
Also read some of the volumes of comments after the article.

The maker of this segment throws out these statistics during this film......

1/3 of the workforce is saving nothing for retirement.
40% of 55-65 year olds do not own retirement assets.
15% don't think they will ever be able to retire.
Women outlive men(by about 5 years on average), but save less.

I haven't researched these numbers but I'll take it at face value that they are fairly ballpark.
While these statistics don't shock me, they do give me pause.

I love how the one woman in this article says she just can't save any money for retirement.
I say bull to that.  Unless she's supporting a bevy of folks and flipping burgers for a living, and/or has a medically fragile child and no health insurance for them, she can save something for her old age.  She, like many people, just doesn't want to reduce her standard of living in the now, to afford something more than eating Alpo in her last years.

Now I'm not talking about folks who get very sick in their 50's and 60's and have inadequate insurance coverage and end up losing everything to medical debt.  These seem like fairly healthy older people in this piece.
Do folks not understand that at some point, their health will not ALLOW them to work, if they can even hold/get a job in their 60's?

And the 60 year old woman who had to "reinvent herself", went to college at 60 and is living off of student loans.
WTF?!?!
What idiot loan officer said giving someone this age with no prospects $200K in student loans she can't possible pay off in her lifetime was a prudent financial move?
And that woman admits she'll never pay them back and sits there, grinning like a Cheshire Cat about it?!

Then there's the one who says everyone she knows is struggling to pay their bills and cant' save and they joke about living communally to survive their Golden years.
So why joke about this?  They may joke about it, but banding together with others in a similar situation and living communally is a GREAT financial move!
How the heck do you think families survived generations before when money was tight?
They would live together, many generations of a family cohabitating.
Heck, in Pawtucket RI, where I've visited, there are neighborhoods of HUGE houses built in the 1800's, built for the express purpose of holding multiple generations of a single family(along with cousins, aunts and uncles too sometimes).

This reminds me of a conversation I overheard in an IHOP restaurant at the height of the housing crisis a few years back.  A guy sitting at an adjoining table was chatting with the gregarious waiter, bemoaning the fact that he couldn't pay his mortgage for some reason and he was going to lose the house he loved.  The guy was resigned to this loss.  The waiter, who shared he was in a similar situation, couldn't pay his mortgage fully now that his ARM had adjusted, was waiting tables here, besides holding down his fulltime job to be able to afford his home, as he really didn't want to sell it.  The waiter told the guy additionally that he was renting out bedrooms in his home to bring in more money to pay the mortgage and he should consider doing that as well.
The customer gave him a look like he had just told him he had peed into his coffee cup and went on sputtering how he could NEVER consider that and have strange people in his house while he was living there.  "What a preposterous idea!", he barked.  The waiter shrugged his shoulders and walked away saying, "Hey, you do what you have to...."

The biggest mistake some people make in life is to remain inflexible and not consider solutions they find ghastly like cohabitation.  I guess he thinks it's better to lose the home and live on the streets?

But I digress.....

While I don't know the whole story with most of those presented in this clip,  I'll point out that some of these folks have made some really bad choices in life from the little bit they have said.

Unless you are destitute and have no health left, there are always ways to get out of the hole you've dug for yourself and change your outlook.
It's all about making better choices in your life and everyone has room for improvement there.
If you are so inflexible to not consider changing things that don't lead you toward where you want to be, you might as well dig a hole and go lay down in it now.

The mistake with retirement is that most people don't even think about sitting down before retirement time comes, and doing some math to see how much they will need when they retire compared to how much they have now set aside, if they have anything set aside for their old age.

That's their first mistake when choosing when and if to retire.
Of course, if you are too far out from retirement, it's hard to figure out exactly how much you will need, as that number continues to climb as inflation climbs.
But by the time you are in your late 40's(and still in good health, earlier if your health is questionable), you should get cozy with your asset numbers and start laying out a specific plan and timeline.

Once into your mid 50's sitting down with a financial calculator to project what level of income you'll be able to sustain in your retirement at your current savings levels is necessary so you can adjust how much you are putting away if you are falling short of your goal.
Also, take a real hard look at how much you will need to generate each month in retirement to cover the expenses the lifestyle you are planning will require.
Go into this expecting to need more than you think you will need.

Ok, I am not a financial planner, nor do I play one on the internet, so I'll stop here.

Nobody is going to look out for you in your old age but YOU! 
It will be nice if SS is still around to supplement your savings when you receive your gold watch(do companies even do that anymore when you retire?)and head off into your Golden years.

Stop spending all your wealth in the here and now!
You will need it more when you are old and sick.
Don't expect the government to take care of you then.

Change your spending and savings habits NOW before it's too late!
And don't go and take out massive student loans at age 60 either, if you can find an idiot who will give them to you...... ;-)

Sluggy


 

This Week on the Dining Table

The "My Baby Turned 18 on Saturday" Edition.......

Here he is with his gifts--

 

And here is is with his gifts after I forced him to smile for a change......

 

 

And here is what was planned last week---

 

Sunday--Leftovers
Monday--Dinner Out using gift card
Tuesday--Cheese Steaks w/peppers and onions
Wednesday--Rigatoni w/Meat Sauce, Mushroom Parmesan, Asparagus
Thursday--Fish, Sugar Snaps, Roasted Potatoes
Friday--Chicken Risotto, Salad or Leftover Asparagus
Saturday--Leftovers Again

 

And here is what actually happened---

 

Sunday--Leftovers
Monday--Dinner Out using gift card
Tuesday--Cheese Steaks w/peppers and onions
Wednesday--Fish, Asparagus
Thursday--Rigatoni in Meat Sauce, Sugar Snap Peas
Friday--Pizza(I had Eggplant Parm)*Hubs got 2 med. pizzas free with a gift card.
Saturday--Leftover Eggplant Parm

Everything served as planned except the Risotto because I bought some Eggplant Parm on Friday which was on sale at the store.  The Risotto moves to this week.

 

I spent a total of.......$65.01 on groceries last week, including the $1 I spent at Rite-Aid.  Evidently I didn't try very hard to only spend the $9.28 left in my February food budget.

Food spending for February to this point is $355.83. 
 

We had food waste last week.....a bit of Chicken Fajita filling.

 

Going into the new week here are the leftovers we have.....Rigatoni and Meat Sauce, 1 helping of Fish, 2 slices of pizza.  Fresh produce left are 2 bundles of asparagus.  It was on special last week and I'll eat this every day for lunch until it's gone if nobody wants it for dinner again.  I "heart" asparagus....

I also have a frozen turkey breast(bought on special last week)in the fridge which will be cooked by midweek(after it thaws), giving me 1-2 dinners(it's a real small one), or 1 dinner and meat for lunch sandwiches.

 

Here is this week's meal plan----

Sunday--Leftovers(I had a big plate of Asparagus.)
Monday--Chicken Risotto, Asparagus
Tuesday--Birthday Dinner Out
Wednesday--Roast Turkey, Carrots, Potatoes of some sort
Thursday--Dinner Out(last of gift card & coupon)
Friday--Beef Roast and some sort of fresh veggie I buy this week
Saturday--Leftovers

That makes 3 new meals, 2 meals out and 2 leftover or planned over meal.

What I need to purchase for this menu?.......Beef Roast, a fresh veg, Carrots.  Everything except Sun. and Mon. meals are subject to change this week.  The turkey will be cooked and served but other than that, this is all tentative.

 

 What is getting fixed and served at your house this week?

 

Sluggy

Consider What's Below & Apply to Your Own Life

Thought to be the oldest Holocaust Survivor, Alice Herz-Sommer died on Sunday.
She was 110.

A remarkable woman in so many ways.
She survived the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp in Czechoslovakia by playing in the camp orchestra.
She also kept her young son alive there and he was one of the few children to survive that camp until liberation.

The short documentary, "The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life", about her life, is up for an Academy Award next month.

Here is a short video about her done a year ago.....
 

We could all learn a lot from this woman....

Sluggy

Rite-Aid This Week

I went to Rite-Aid after my dentist appointment this week.
I had $6 in +Up Rewards to use by Saturday.
These deals are good until Saturday night.....

1 x Vaseline Lotion(small bottle on sale but 20% wellness discount lower)=$3.43
1 x Excedrin on sale=$3.99
1 x Bigelow Tea on sale=$2.49
SubTotal...$9.91

Coupons Used
1 x $2/1 Excedrin 24 ct. bottle(Rite-Aid snail mailed me this Q)=$2.00
1 x $1/1 Peelie Q on Excedrin box=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$3.00

$9.91-$3.00=$6.91 + .09¢tax=$7.00

I used my $6 in +Ups and paid $1.00 OOP.

I received back $4 in +Ups($2 Vaseline, $1 Excedrin, $1 Bigelow tea).

My plans for these items.......the lotion is for my sister in-laws(Xmas) and the tea is for my daughter....she prefers Earl Grey but they were out, so I'll take this box back to exchange it when they get that type in again.
The headache pills are for our stockpile.

I have to go figure out how to spend the $20 in +Ups I got for buying some restaurant gift card last week, by next Wednesday when they expire.
Anybody got any good plans for getting things cheaply at Rite-Aid next week?
I'm all ears....lol

Sluggy

Back to the Bacon

So let me ask.....did I have you at "Bacon"?!?
I thought that would get some of you to open up this post. lolz

More genealogy today, but just a quickie.

You may want to go read this old post from 2012 first, located HERE.
In it I talked about my Snead/Sneed ancestor.....the first one to come to Virginia, Samuel Sneed and his son, Henry Sneed who is my 9th great grandfather.
Henry got caught up in the infamous Bacon's Rebellion in 1676.

You can go read up on what this was HERE.
It was one of the first revolts in the Virginia colony that foreshadowed the fight for independence from British rule 100 years later.

See?  I am not going on and on regurgitating history lessons this time and am trying to get to the pertinent meat of things.

Bacon?
Meat?
See what I did there? ;-)

I find that I have yet another ancestor who took part in that Rebellion.

Through my maternal grandfather's mother, I have a 9 x great grandfather named William Hunt.
Some say he was born in France about 1599.
Yes, another Huguenot ancestor fleeing to the British colony in Virginia?
Perhaps.
We do know he was living in England at the time of his immigration to America, arriving in Virginia aboard the Abraham in either 1635 or 1638....there is some disagreement on the year.

Well it seems from what I've read that old Bill aided and abetted Nathaniel Bacon and was known to be a "Baconite".

Though he was elderly by those day's standards(in 1676 he would have been close to 77 years), he sided with those that opposed the Royal Governor of Virginia, William Berkley.

Not sure what kind of "help" he lent but he was a planter and a merchant, shipping goods from England to sell to fellow colonists in Virginia.

For his trouble backing Bacon's allies, he was thrown into jail and died there in November of 1676 before they got around to bringing him to trial and hanging him for his crimes against the British crown.

After William died, his widow, Anne filed a grievance before the King of England, Charles II, for the return of her husband's property.  Seems property that was still onboard a ship from England when William was thrown into the pokey was seized.  Since he was never convicted of a crime, thus he was not actually a criminal, Anne put forth that it's appropriation was illegal and petitioned for it's return to her, the owner's widow.

Taken from Samuel Wiseman's Book of Record: The Official Account of Bacon's Rebellion--here is the actual wording of the petition put forth to the Assembly in 1677......

"By petition of Anne Hunt widow and relict of William Hunt of Charles City County, deceased on behalfe of herselfe and two children.

Complaining that the honorable Governor, being falsely informed that the said Hunt the Petitioners husband had bin actually in the late rebellion did after his death and without any indictment, tryall or conviction seize the estate of the Petitioner and her children, which had bin getting 25 yeares by the onest pains & hard labbour of the decedent and the aged petition and the same removed and caryed to green Springe. (Green Spring was the name of William Berkley's estate so the cargo was confiscated by the Governor and taken to his home.)

That the Better to Color the said doeings the Governor hath caused a Bill of Attainder to pass the last grand Assembly, whereby the Petitioners Estate without soe much as having the Petitioner or any other for her is adjudged forfeited to his Majestie.

Now for as much as the said William Hunt was never in armes against his Majestie or authority nor ever encourgage, aided or abeted the same; and ever a peaceable and good Subject of his Majestie.

And for that by the laws of England a man slaine or otherwise dyinge in open Rebellion before attainder forfeits noe part of his Estate: And the Petitioner beinge informed that this plantation of Virginia cannot or ought not to make any laws repugnant to those of his Majesties Realme of England.

The Poor Petitioner humbly Implores his Majestie would be pleased to putt a stop to or cause the said act of attainder to be taken of as to your Petitioners said Estate, and that his Majestie in his Royall Mercy will be gratiously please to permit her and her children to enjoye the same for their Support and Maintenance and without which they are most Miserable."

Goods William Hunt had brought to Virginia to sell were still aboard Nicholas Prynee's ship the Richard and Elizabeth, at the time of William's death.  Prynne also petitioned that Assembly that the goods in question be returned to Prynne....possibly because they weren't paid for?

The "Grand Assembly",  referred to above in February 1677, that attainted Nathaniel Bacon specifically identified William Hunt as a "principal ayder and abetter of the said Nathaniel Bacon" who, like the rebel, "dyed alsoe before the rebells were reduced to their allegiance to his majestie by which said meanes the said Nathaniell Bacon, junr...and William Hunt have escaped their due and just demerits for their wicked and unheard of treasons and rebellions."

Then Nicholas Prynne petitioned to keep the goods.....

"Settinge forth that Alderman Booth of London and Company beinge owners of the said ship, consigned to one William Hunt their factor in Virginia a cargoe of goods to the value of 265lb sterling to make sale and returne of for their proper account; for which goods the Petitioner Mr. Prynne gave bill of lading and is thereby accountable for the same.

Prayes restitution of the goods and Redress of the wrong and damage."

Nathaniel Bacon died of the Bloody Flux and Lousey Disease(aka typhus, dysentery and body lice)in October 1676 yet the rebellion continued even after his demise.

Before this incident was all over, Jamestown had been burnt to the ground and Governor Berkley had been recalled to England, where he died in 1677.
William Hunt lived a month past Bacon but neither lived long enough to hang for their part in the revolt as 23 other men had.

See?  Just more and more agitators and rebels in my family!

William Hunt was buried at Bachelor's Point on the banks of the James River in Charles Citie County Va near where the Kennon Creek empties into the James.  Today this area lies between Sherwood Forest Plantation and the Chickahominy Wilderness Management Area, off of State Route 5(also known as the John Tyler Memorial Highway).

William Hunt's granddaughter is my 7th Great Grandmother, Mary Hunt Minge Allen Jefferson.
She's the one who was the second wife of Thomas Jefferson's Uncle, Field Jefferson, that I've mentioned before.

I've got lots more notables connected with my Hunt and Allen lines to write about, all in the due course time.


Sluggy

 

Good Health & Money Day!

Today was a good day for a change.

Hubs bonus hit the bank account, as well as his paycheck AND a special $ award he was nominated to receive at work for being awesome.
Hey, I wish someone would pay me for being awesome..... ;-)

Anyway, the bonus was quite large compared to what he's received in the past.  This new boss of his recognizes what an important contribution he makes to their business and it's nice he's being recognized in this way.

The bonus was large enough that I was able to finish funding #2 Son's college account today!
That's the best news in all this. 8-))

Of course, college costs will continue to go up every year but at least now we have the amount we planned to give him toward his education, sitting, accruing interest(not much interest, but it's something).
Hopefully he gets some kind of small scholarship from the school he will be attending, like the other two received, so we won't have to worry about getting him across the finish line with his degree.

And even better--there is some $ leftover from the bonus to put elsewhere, like for a blasted car. Grrrr
And even even better--we no longer have to use Hub's bonus checks(when he gets them)toward college funds, like we have had to do since forever!
Now that extra cash can go toward retirement or wherever else we may need it.

We both celebrated the Bonus check by splurging......he bought two bottles of expensive Scotch(for himself!) and I bought a quart of ice cream and it wasn't even on sale!
I know......what was I thinking? lolz

And on the medical front.....my weight is heading South......very slowly but surely. 
And as soon as this bottle of Warfarin is depleted I have the green light to discontinue it's use.
Yay!!!
No more bloody noses and blood oozing from other places upon my body that I just don't really want to talk about.  ;-)


All my vitals are good, no problems(other than that bleeding thing I just mentioned).
And I just need a tune-up in 6 months, unless something crops up.
At one point back last April, when I had my health crisis, I was on ten medications!
After the Warfarin is gone, I am down to five(and three of those I was on before my health crisis).
and I've gone off the arthritis meds my old, crazy alcoholic and went to jail doctor had me on for years.  I still get a little stiff, like first thing in the morning, but it's nothing I can't handle without high powered drugs.  There is always an Ibuprofen if I need it.
I seriously think the ex-doc was overmedicating me.....

And in even better medical news--there is a light at the end of the tunnel on the DME company and insurance coverage issues, and I don't even think that light is on an oncoming train! lolz
My "order has dropped" DME co. person says and they are coming out on Friday to "hook me up" with goodies.
That just dropped my stress level by 100 points!

I promptly rang up the soon-to-be ex DME co. of incompetents and told them to come get their ever loving shit!
By Monday that deed will be a fait accompli, even if I have to drive their shit back to their warehouse myself.

And you better believe I am taking photos of everything and making the clown who shows up here to haul it off sign my own list of what they are taking back!
I trust them to get this all correct and NOT accuse me of not returning things, as far as I could "clean and jerk" one of their employees.

As Bugs Bunny would say at this juncture.....
"What a bunch of Maroons!"

I really needed a good day about now.

Sluggy