This is Why....

This is why I grow salad greens in gutters hanging off of my dog run.....

In case you can't make them out, here is another photo of the critters circled....

3 salad greens eating rabbits of various sizes.
All waiting for my lovely greens to come in so they can get even bigger!

No freaking way this year!
Uh uh!!

Hubs has to get the fruit tree fencing up before we leave for Ohio since they have been eyeing the radish tops already.
And they CAN get to the radishes since they are in the traditional garden in the ground.

Sluggy

Garden is In....Better Late Than Never Edition

We finally got the gardens planted about 10 days before the company started arriving last week. It was STILL May but just barely!
I am pretty worthless when it comes to digging and planting.  It's all I can do to harvest.
#1 Son wasn't here long enough to dig up my gardens this year and Hubs had been laid up with medical issues so we are late getting going this season.

I took this photo about a week ago.....

 It's green beans(vining)in the back row and radishes in the front row.
Hubs says the middle row is collards but I am not sure of that.  It's a 20 foot row and he planted it heavily.  I didn't think I had enough collard seed to have this much sprouting!lol

We'll see later on what he actually planted I guess.

No photo of the front yet but it's tomato plants, yellow squash and colorful bell peppers.

And here is what I've got going on the dog run.....

I've tried to get rid of this eyesore on Craigslist but no one seems to have the cash to take it off our hands right now.  Since the male beagle passed away, the female just doesn't want to be out there in the good weather.  So it sits unused taking up real estate in the backyard.
So I have hung gutters on it.

I'm copying my friend Brenda in Maine.....

These are the salad gutters hanging on her shed from a couple years ago.

I can't nail gutters onto my shed(besides, it doesn't get enough sunshine anyway), so I used the dog run and we wired them on.

And the greens are starting to come up now......

We've got a 3rd gutter piece to hang up yet and plant.  What's great about this is I can harvest without killing my back AND it keeps the resident yard rabbits out of my salad!
At least until they learn to scale chain link fencing....

So now we are keeping the dog run.
Might have to expand this gutter thing and hang some on the back end of the run too.

Sluggy

You Lika Da Pizza?

Dominos has a facebook deal, good until the 17th.
Go HERE.
Like Dominos and follow the instructions.
You'll get 50% off reg. menu price and you have to order your pizza online.

I will be adjusting my Meal Plan this week to include a Pizza night now.

Sluggy

Drips & Drabs & Shopping on a Wet Tuesday

*  I went to check my credit card statement/balance this morning and found a charge from the Apple ITunes Store for over $100 on my account.
Neither Hubs or I download music or games or videos from ITunes...ever!

Great!  Something else to have to deal with....
I am thinking when I made those hotel reservations last weekend online, someone got access to our account #(at the hotels?)and went on a music spree for their iPod/iPad/whatever.
I checked with the kids and it wasn't one of them so it IS fraudulent.
Gosh I HATE technology when it doesn't work the way it's suppose to!!

I don't want to shut down the card though since we are going away and would put our spending on it as a convenience, so we don't have to carry buckets of money on us.

Yah, the modern life works well, except when it doesn't.
****sigh****

*  I noticed yesterday, after Carla posted about her mini goals for the week, that I had NOT updated my Monthly Goals side bar since......wait for it!.......APRIL.
It is almost halfway through June now.
****sigh****
So I went in and deleted stuff and updated the List.  It is current now.....and staring me in the face every time I go online, taunting me..... ;-)

*  While we are on the subject of people who are oblivious......**whistles and looks towards the sky**...I just noticed that I hit 200 Followers.
EEP!  How long ago did THAT happen?!?!
Who's too busy ranting and raving about life or hiding from life to notice that milestone?
Me evidently! 8-))
Now if someone goes an unfollows me, I'll just die, I will.
Don't mind me.....I'll be sitting over here stressing out over getting a couple more OVER 200 Followers, just in case someone comes to their senses and unfollows me and my numbers drop.

To prove I loves each and every one of you, what can I do to make you happy and make you stay?
Do I need to have another giveaway or something?  Input welcomed.....

*  I took #2 Son to his last flute lesson last night, until he returns from camp.  The date is unknown....could be July, could be August.  It all depends on if he gets asked to work at camp after his training weeks are done.  Cross your fingers he gets asked to work! 8-)

While I was over on the other side of the river, I ran two errands.  First to the health food store to restock on 6 lbs. of local honey.  DONE
I also picked up 1 lb. of flax seed and quinoa.  I tried before to choke down flax seeds with little success back when I was trying to be healthier.  I think I had a bad batch of the stuff before as it smelled rancid to me. 
The quinoa is just something I have been meaning to get Hubs to try.  When I am flush with cash the high cost doesn't wig me out too too badly.lol
 $27.77 total out of my pocket

Then it was over to the restaurant supply store to pick up some produce and eggs for cheaper than the grocery store, 6 lbs. of ground beef to bag up and freeze, a 2lb. bag of large(26 per lb.) shrimp for $9.99(cheaper than the grand opening deal at Weis this week!) and a big bag of potstickers(my weakness).
$48.04 poorer I left.

*  As I was riding on fumes and the little gas pump icon was on, I went to the new Weis gas station and filled up the tank.  80 gas points got me a fill-up for $2.549 a gallon.  I saved $12.80 on something I had to buy anyway.

*  This morning I took #2 Son and hit Weis PMITA Markets.  They are having a Grand Opening sale because of the new gas pumps here so we bought this stuff....

3 x Coke 12 packs $1.88 each=$5.64
WYB 3 12-packs, get a FREE 6 pack of $4.99 Vitaminwater

1 x Milk
1 x pkg. Bagels $2.35
2 x Oreos $1.88 each=$3.76
1 x Asparagus $1.03
1 x Celery $1.00
6 x COC $2.99
3 x Bread/Rolls BIG2Free $3.69
3 x Eight o'Clock Coffee B1G2Free $6.19
3 x Middleswarth Chips B1G2Free  $3.99

Reg. Retail...$85.79
Sale Price....$30.66

I used the $4 OM Cat from last week and the $10 Cat for buying $50 in gift cards, so my total OOP was $16.66.  (The teen cashier also gave me the Senior Discount again today! For another $1.07 off my bill I'll play along and be old.lol

I saved 80.59% on my order.
And I got these Cats....

$3.50 OYNO of $45.
$2.00 OYNO
And I still have the $7 CAT for buying Clorox last week, plus the $5 gift card(which I will save for awhile in case the Bounty napkins come in).

And then, since I need to buy #2 Son some clothes this week before camp, I bought this......

 $50 I was going to spend anyway on shorts and swim trunks.
And the $10 OYNO Cat printed out just fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine. ;-)
$10 in free groceries for money I had to spend anyway?
Works for me!lol

To recap.....
I have spent $92.47 on food this week.
I have $27.50 in Catalinas for free food. 

I may go back for more coffee, soda, asparagus and gift cards this week.  I have the cash and it's a great deal so why not?

*  One thing I didn't buy was the Smuckers/Hungry Jack brands deal.  Both grocery stores in town are running a "Buy 7 selected items and get $5 instantly off your total" Deal.  The pancake mix is on sale for $2 a box and one of the items that qualifies.  This is one of the few things #2 Son will cook/fix himself, pancakes.  So having a mix handy for him will encourage him to make himself food during the summer.
7 boxes of pancake mix w/the discount comes to $9, or $1.28 a box.
But I figure pancake mix is just flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
I found a rubbermaid container in the kitchen that wasn't being used.  It has a pour lid and will hold a large quantity of mix.  I can pre-mix this up for him and as long as I tape instructions on the container(like the ratio of milk/egg to mix), he can use this instead.  I've got all the ingredients except for a new bag of flour, which I'll pick up when the next sale on it comes along while he is at camp.  I figure 2 bags of flour and the other ingredients won't even come to half of what I'd spend on 9 boxes of premade pancake mix, even on sale.
He'll be in the pancake making bidness as soon as he gets back!

Well that's about it for me today.  I'm off to dispute this credit card charge, then get directions down for some things we want to see/do on the vacation.
And then to read some blogs.

Sluggy

Food spending JUNE Week 1 & Meal Planning June Week 2

Yes, we survived the "Guess Who's Coming to Stay?" Meal Plan Week here at Chez Sluggy.

***********************
I thank you for all your input and concern over my dinner guests and their, dare I say it?.....bizarre/narrow..... food habits.

I asked for some input from said guests and then just cooked what I wanted anyway.

Because that's how Sluggy rolls....lol

And here is the meal plan that actually happened last week.....

SUNDAY--Chinese Take-Out
MONDAY--BLT sandwiches

(These 2 nights were easy, no guests yet!)
TUESDAY--Ham, boxed mac&cheese, yellow squash
WEDNESDAY--Chicken Fajitas
THURSDAY--Dinner Out
FRIDAY--Salmon with Bourbon Maple Glaze, Green Beans, Sweet Potato Fries

(All gone so Sat. was easy too.)
SATURDAY--Steak, Baked Beans, Spinach Salad, Sweet Potato Fries

Company was here from Tuesday to Friday.

I waited to go shopping for the week until company arrived on Tuesday and then I took them to the store with me. 

For Tuesday I pulled leftover ham slices from Easter out of the freezer.  I knew they'd eat boring, bland ham. Their favorite food in the whole world is boxed Mac&cheese.  

Do you see what I am saying?lol

So I fixed 2 boxes of that with the ham.  It took a few tries in the fresh produce department with them on Tuesday afternoon to find a vegetable that they would eat/that I could fix a way they would eat it, thus we got sauted yellow squash.

Tuesday dinner....check!

I decided to just go with Chicken Fajitas for Wednesday.  1 of the company loves Mexican so at least 1 would eat.  I didn't make it spicy at all so the other company hopefully wouldn't have digestive issues brought about by the dinner. 

Fresh mushrooms and red bell peppers were purchased, as well as onions and I slivered up the leftover squash I didn't cook for Tuesday to put into the Fajita veggie mix.  I spent about $13 on Wed.'s meal including a big bag of onions, container of sour cream, tortillas, all of which I have leftovers of for another meal. (I had chicken and cheese in the freezer already.)

On Thursday we ate out.  Nobody even thinks to offer to pay for their meals when we go out as a group.

The company all thinks we are millionaires.  I guess they don't see the tens of thousands of dollars a year we are paying out for college.  I scrimp and pinch every nickel, do without the niceties of life, and Hubs works a highly stressful job, working hours above and beyond, we consider driving to Columbus, Ohio for a few days a stylin' vacation while his colleagues cruise around Europe, so that we can drop $100 for their plates of meatloaf, taters and gravy at Bob Evans.

But I digress....

On Friday, down to 1 company again, I dug salmon fillets and a bag of sweet potato fries out of the freezer, and the company picked the veggie du jour--a bag of green beans....*yawn*....one of the few green foods they will eat.  The company doesn't "do" accents like sauces, glazes, butter, most any condiment so the bourbon maple glaze was only well received by Hubs and I.  It was FANTASTIC!!

Daughter turned her nose up at dinner when she came through the door after work.

I cooked an expensive piece of salmon for her(her favorite type of fish)and she wouldn't eat it.

So I made a note to stop cooking for her altogether and I ATE that FISH for lunch on Saturday.

Salmon is too pricey and wonderful to let it go to waste!

 

So that is how I survived the Food Week.

The weekly food spending was $116.94 this past week.  Go look HERE if you want to lowdown on what was bought and my rationalization for spending so much.lol

I've given myself $400 for food this month so I have about $283 left.
Once #2 Son goes to camp next week the 2nd half of June's actual food expenses will plummet.  This will leave me tons of cash to restock the pantry, IF some good rock bottom price deals come along.

We shall see if they do.....

************************

This week's menu.....
SUNDAY--Spaghetti with Sausage and Vegetable Pasta
MONDAY--Taco Bell

TUESDAY--Burgers on Roll, COC

WEDNESDAY--Barbecue Chicken, Grilled Squashes
THURSDAY--Hamburger Helper type meal, Tossed Salad
FRIDAY--Baked Potatoes with Toppings, Brussel Sprouts
SATURDAY--Shrimp(maybe with Grits, maybe grilled with Garlic), whatever else is leftover from the week

6 home cooked meals this week and I night of take-out.

Things I need to purchase this week to serve this menu.....Rolls, COC, 1 or 2 Squash(to go with the 1 squash leftover from last week), Ground Beef(I am totally out!), Salad Greens, Shrimp, Potatoes.

The only leftovers going into this week are the fajita mix, tortillas and a slice of ham.  I'll have the fajitas for lunches(2 or 3 tortillas' worth)and probably make a ham garnish for the dogs' dinner with the ham because fresh ham is boring and bland but leftover twice heated ham is akin to ham jerky.

So what is everyone else eating this week?


Sluggy

A Post For 444

I truly believe this man was one of the comic geniuses of the 20th Century.
I was "turned on" to his work when I was about 14.

I am posting this bit of nonsense for felllow blogger 444 but you can all get out your slide rules and enjoy it too!

*If you aren't familiar with operetta, the tune is by Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert & Sullivan fame.*



Sluggy

Spending Money to Make Money

So here's some shopping I did this past week.....

Sis-IL went with me to Weis on Tuesday.  I waited until she got here to make a meal since I didn't know what she would/could eat this time.

I spent $52.78 on....
1 Qt. Yogurt reg. price
4 1lts. Half&Half Soda Mixers on sale
2 Rolls of Breakfast Sausage half price
2 2lts. Diet Coke on sale(only thing SIL drinks)
1 Small jar of Honey  reg. price ouch!
3 lbs. yellow squash on sale
2 bags Sargento shred cheese on sale
4 blocks Weis block cheese on sale
2 bags of Onions BOGO
1/2lb. American cheese on sale
1 container of Strawberries on sale
3 red peppers on sale
1lb. mushrooms on sale
1 box of corn dogs reg. price ouch
5 pkgs. OM lunchmeat *

Total included a $3.50 off $45 order Catalina, 5 x .50/1 Peelies on the OM lunchmeats and a "Senior Discount" of $3.29.  It was Senior day.  This is the first time I've gotten an automatic old people discount at Weis.
Damn that teen boy cashier!  Not everyone over the age of 20 is a senior citizen....

The lunchmeat packages were reg. .99¢ each and each had a .50¢ store discount Q on.  Buying 5 caused a $4 OYNO Catalina Q to spit out at the register, so basically I paid $2.50 and the store gave me back $4.00.
Nice!! 8-))

There was also a Dairy Deal-buy select items, get an instant $3 off your order.
The cheese I bought qualified, though I bought more than I had to because it was working off the shelf price....3 bags of Sargento and 1 block of cheese would have been enough.
oh well....

I saved 40% off of reg. retail price on the order and I got that $4 OM Cat back and saved $3 more on the cheese I bought.

So Saturday Hubs and I went back up to the store......
I wanted to do the P&G Catalina Deal(buy 5 select items, get $5 OYNO Catalina Q)and the Clorox Catalina Deal(buy $20 select items, get $7 OYNO Catalina Q).

I wanted to buy 5 Bounty napkins for the P&G Deal but they were totally out.
So the Manager gave me a raincheck for the $2.50 price for 5 packages and a $5 Weis gift card since I wouldn't get the $5 Catalina next week when the napkins came in.
So I got $5 for buying nothing......
I could really get use to that!lolol

So I am "up" $5 and I haven't bought anything yet. 8-)

I purchased 4 Clorox Clean-up cleaner bottles(necessary for the chihuahua who poops in the house) and 3 jugs of Clorox bleach.  $19.96 + tax OOP and I got a $7 Cat Q back.
Unfortunately there are no Qs out now for these products to bring my OOP down, so $12.96 after Catalina or 7 products for $12.96.

Then I bought "$12" in cheese(based on the reg. shelf price).....3 bags of Sargento shredded and 1 block of cheese for $8 on sale, minus the $3 instant discount=$5.00 for 4 containers of cheese.  This makes them $1.25 each which is rock bottom here for cheese!  (I did this cheese deal 5 times in total.)

I also bought 2 Cantaloupes as they were BOGO and actually smelled like cantaloupe, a box of frozen breakfast biscuits sammies for the teens(on sale for $3.99),as well as a beef tenderloin(6.66 lbs. at $3.99lb)for $26.57. (I got 12 thick steaks out of that tenerloin as well as a bag of stew beef after I broke it down.)
My total OOP this trip, after using my $4 OYNO Cat from the OM lunchmeat from earlier in the week was $56.71.
I got the $7 OYNO Cat for the Clorox stuff(and the $5 gift card).

Then I bought.....
3 more Sargento cheese bags
1 more block of cheese(the $3 discount deal again)
5 pkgs. of the OM lunchmeat at .99¢ w/.50¢ discount stickers on them
2 Store Gift Cards totaling $50

I didn't use my $7 Cat or the $5 gift card and paid $57.45.
Of that amount, $7.45 comes out of my food budget.

I received a $10 OYNO Catalina(for buying $50 in select gift cards)...ok, the Cat didn't print so the CS gave me a $10 voucher on a raincheck form-same thing.  I also got another $4 OYNO Catalina for buying the 5 pkgs. of OM lunchmeat.

All my $26 in free grocery money for next week.....

I am OOP $64.16 today or $116.94 for the whole week from the food budget.
I also have $26 in free Cats/gift cards to spend next week.....so I "spent" $38.16 this past week.
Ok, not really, just in that fuzzy logic way in my head way.lol

And I have 30 more gas points, 10 for each other 3 trips over $50.  My next gas fill up I get .80¢ off per gallon.

Here's a frugal tip.
If you are going to have to spend money on something anyway, buy a gift card that gives you a benefit to pay for that expense.

Last week(and this week at Weis)when you buy $50 total in gift cards, you get a $10 OYNO Catalina Q good on anything in the store(except smokes, lottery tickets, etc.)
I bought the $50 in gift cards because we are going on a trip next week.

And we are going to have to spend money anyway to eat and Hubs wants to eat better than fast food.  So I googled what eateries are out where we will be staying and picked up 2 $25 gift cards. (One of these places we have locally here to, in case we only want to go out one night and not both that we will be in Columbus.  We can use the other at a later date here.)

Why not spend the money on a gift card to a restaurant that is located where we are going and get the free $10 worth of groceries to spend later?
So by purchasing these ahead(and the cost doesn't come out of the food budget) I get $10 in free groceries later.
Works for me! ;-)

Rite-Aid also has a Buy a certain Gift Card good at "Home Improvement" Stores Deal this week.
Buy the $50 gift card and get a $10 +Up Rewards good for $10 worth of stuff at Rite-Aid.
If you are going to spend money anyway at a Home Depot, Lowe's or one of the other stores that qualify, why not buy that gift card ahead and get the free $10 credit in goods at Rite-Aid?

We have home improvement projects coming up so buying these gift cards at Rite-Aid for free shampoo, tp and other stuff is a no brainer for us.  

I might actually go do the Gift Card deal again this week for another free $10 in groceries.
#2 Son needs some clothes before he packs off to camp next Sunday and dropping $50 on clothes won't take much effort, will it?
ugh.
Might as well get some free food to ease the pain in my wallet on that score too. ;-)

Have you done any Catalina Deals lately?
Have you saved money on one category of your spending by taking advantage of a deal in another area of spending?


Sluggy