Let's Help a Gal Out! Important READ THIS!

My, or should I say our friend Judy has had a rough year so far because of the sudden death of her husband, Will.
And I wanted to do something for her so about a month or two ago I talked with her and she gave me the green light to get something rolling.

But then my Road Trip and Family Reunion Trip intervened......and then the health problem took hold of me so this all got delayed for a while.  And then coordinating with Judy during this trying time of her life put us behind schedule some as well because frankly, she's got more important stuff to deal with lately than me! ;-)
So forgive me for being a bit late in getting this all finished and ready to launch.

As her regular readers and followers know already, Judy over at That's udy with a J had her husband Will pass away earlier this year suddenly and unexpectedly.

 

Not only did it leave her and the family reeling emotionally, but it left them in dire straights financially.
You see, Will brought in 75% of their income.  With his death that income is no more and they are trying to live on the 25% that is still coming in from Judy's job.
Plus the life insurance Will had from his employment, which Judy thought was in place to get them over this stretch was not anywhere NEAR the amount that was needed.  So not only does she have to manage going forward on 1/4 of their old income, she didn't have that financial cushion of life insurance to see her to a point where they could get through the first 6 months or so monetarily, so she has been behind the 8 Ball ever since Will was taken.

Anyway, here's the deal.
I've set up a page on the Go Fund Me site to raise cash for Judy and her family to get specifically her car payments caught up.
Please go visit it HERE.

Excuse my lame video but it's the best one of 5 I tried to make and at least I didn't break down into sobs on it.
Sally Struthers I'll never be....lol

Please, if you can afford it, consider donating something....anything.  Even a few dollars would go a long way in helping Judy get caught up and continue to be able to get to her job.
I know many of us out here in cyper space are struggling with the finances but if everyone just gave $3, it could add up fast.

Now let me also say that this Go Fund Me thing does charge a total of 7.99% in fees from all monies collected to use their service.

So if anyone would prefer to use Paypal to send a donation that is also ok.  Paypal only charges about 3% in fees.  If you prefer to Paypal over some cash, just email that to my account which is under arcure@ptdprolog.net  Be sure to clip a note to any Paypal sent donation so I know it's for Judy because I also receive eBay payments at that account.

And if you don't want Paypal taking a cut, there is the option of snail mailing me a money order(money orders can be purchases for about $1 at many stores).  If you prefer to send a MO email me privately and I'll provide the mailing address/full name for you to send it off to.
I don't want to take personal checksd(or have Judy receive them directly) at this point as that opens me or Judy(depending on whom you make it out to)up to possible "bad checks" and having to pay hefty bank processing fees on them.  I know no one would send a bad check on purpose but if you don't have overdraft protection on your checking account and you have an OOPS!, it could happen inadvertently and cost one of us $30 or $40 in fines. 8-)

Now, no matter if you are in a place financially that you can or can't donate to Judy's cause, if you could SHARE THIS POST AND A LINK TO THE FUNDRAISING SITE that would help immensely to spread the word across the web!

You can also share the link to the Fundraising page via FACEBOOK and TWITTER.   If you have a large following/friend pool on either/both, Please share the link on those sites!  It amazes me sometimes how far things can travel on the net.

And if you have a blog, PLEASE be so kind as to blog about this effort to help Judy on your blog(with a link to the Fundraising site page please), or at least post something on your blog linking back to my blog post.

I have already had one of Judy's loyal readers email me privately with a nice sized donation for her.
I'd like to say THANK YOU to this individual(you KNOW who you are!)and tell you that she approached me privately before she even knew about what we were working on behind the scenes here.  This person has a good heart...... 8-)
And thanks for being the kick in the butt to finally get this finished..... 8-P

So that's it folks.
The gauntlet has been thrown down and the challenge started.
Let's get Judy a little pile of money love together, shall we?

I am sure I'll be bringing this all up again to nag everyone in the near future.

Again here is the link to the Fundraising Page..... http://www.gofundme.com/3u67fw


If you have any questions, thoughts or comments of your own, feel free to email me privately or leave a comment on this post.

Thank you for reading!

I know bloggers and blog readers are awesome people......don't prove me wrong now, ok?
8-)))

Sluggy

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

Here are my FOOD BUDGET spending totals for SEPTEMBER 2013.

I have posted September'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 September.  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.
******************

FARM STAND

OOP  $22.40

Value  $64.45

Savings  65.24%

FOOD LION
OOP  $22.54
Value  $30.31
Savings  25.63%
 

SHURSAVE STORES(small local independent affiliated stores)
OOP  $90.31

Qs/Ads  $111.71

Value  $202.02

Savings  55.30%

WALMART
OOP  $79.77
Qs/Ads  $37.03
Value  $116.80
Savings  31.70%

WEIS MARKETS

OOP  $71.55

Qs/Ads  $47.44

Value  $118.99

Savings  39.87%

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 September.....$0.00

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  at  the Farm Stand 65.24%,  at  the Shursave Market at 55.30% and at the Weis Markets  at 39.87%.  I food/toiletries shopped at 5 different stores this past month.

TOTAL Out of Pocket........$316.01

TOTAL Coupons & Store Sales Savings...$216.56

TOTAL Value of Items Purchased............$532.57

TOTAL Savings of...................................40.66%

This closes out the September food/toiletries spending.

THOUGHTS & COMMENTS for this month.....

I went into September with my usual $400 budgeted for food/toiletries purchases.
I stayed under budget by about $80.  It might have been by a wider margin had I not had a problem with my foot.  Having to send Hubs out for groceries was both good and bad.....good in that, I was more apt to use stuff we already had at home and bad in that, when something was needed he didn't care to shop around for the best price or buy it when it was on sale. sigh.....
We did end up taking food to the Reunion and we spend more on eating out while on the trip, but the eating out $ comes out of Entertainment not the grocery kitty.
 

I did NO Rite-Aid shopping last month again.  As we approach the holidays I will be going back to Rite-Aid a bit for their awesome Holiday specials, if they appear this season.  Though I don't need any toothpaste, soap or shampoo for at least another year, I'll take some home if it's free or drastically discounted when I am there.  8-)

 

Looking ahead to October---We have our annual Ocean City October Get-Away coming up.  #2 Son and whoever stays here with him will have to be fed so while a few days most of us won't be here to eat groceries will still need to be provided.  I also have a couple of restaurant discount/freebie coupons that expire this month so Hubs and I will be going out to eat at least twice in October besides the OC trip.  I really want to keep the OC trip food purchases low but that's a post for another day. ;-)

There are no birthdays or other activities going on in October that should make our food purchases rise above our $400 allotment.
I am going to work on using up some freezer goods this month to get ready to restock it with fresh meats.
 

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

2013 Total Saved $2,249.36

2013 Yearly Total Value of Items  $5,522.65

2013 Yearly Total Spent $3,273.29

2013 Yearly Savings Total of  40.73%

 

In September, total savings percentage for the year has gone DOWN .01% over August's year-to-date total of 40.74%, to 40.73%.  So we saw a VERY 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 September?
 

Sluggy

Whats on the Dining Table This Week

The "Almost Well but Still Not Up to Real Grocery Shopping" Edition......

 

 

A shot of a tree across the street from my house that's really starting to show it's fall colors.  Happy October everyone!

 Here's what was planned last week--

Sunday--Pork Chops(freezer), Green Beans(garden), leftover Stuffing, Applesauce(from stockpile)
Monday--Dinner at TGIFridays(I had an appetizer and water, Hubs had a burger and iced tea.)
Tuesday--Roast Chicken(freezer), Brussel Sprouts(freezer), leftover Applesauce
Wednesday--Halushki(noodles from stockpile, cabbage from farm stand) with Bacon(freezer)
Thursday--Rigatoni w/Meat Sauce(meat from freezer/pasta from stockpile/sauce made from stockpile ingredients), some veggie from the freezer OR Fend for Yourself-not sure which yet
Friday--No plan yet, eating out
Saturday--My brother will probably want to eat at a pizza joint so not sure what I'll get there.

And here's what actually got eaten--

Sunday--Pork Chops(freezer), Green Beans(garden), leftover Stuffing, Applesauce(from stockpile)
Monday--Dinner at TGIFridays(I had an appetizer and water, Hubs had a burger and iced tea.)
Tuesday--Roast Chicken(freezer), Brussel Sprouts(freezer), leftover Applesauce
Wednesday--Hubs was away on business, son at work, so I had a grilled cheese sandwich
Thursday--Halushki(nnodles from stockpile, cabbage from farm stand)with Bacon(freezer)
Friday--I had Seafood platter at motel restaurant(ate about half of it), Hubs had BBQ platter
Saturday--Italian restaurant near motel, I had eggplant parm, Hubs had seafood ravioli

Everything as planned the first part of the week, except I just made a grilled cheese sammie on Wed since no one else was home.  2 dinners out while away from home for the Reunion.

 

As for food spending last week.....I spent $109.68 on $157.64 worth of groceries at 3 stores.  We spent under $8 for the week and then spent over $100 total at Walmart on Friday on the way down and at Food Lion Sunday on the way home from the Reunion.  Some of that $ was for party supplies but most of it was for soda and wine stock ups for home so it's coming out of the food budget.

As for food waste, nothing last week. 8-))

Leftovers going into this week--still picking tomatoes and there is leftover Halushki from last Thursday.

Here's this week's meal plan---
 

Sunday--Hubs had leftover Halushki, I didn't eat anything
Monday--Leftover barbecue pork and coleslaw from our lunch stop on the way home Sunday
Tuesday--Spaghetti and Meatballs(balls in the freezer/pasta in the stockpile), Italian Green Beans(freezer)
Wednesday--Leftover Halushki, Quiche(freezer), Salad(using garden tomatoes)
Thursday--BLT sandwiches(tomatoes from garden), Fried Apples
Friday--Baked Fish and Crabcakes(freezer), Veggie Medley(freezer)
Saturday--Leftovers or something from the freezer

On the shopping list......some turkey lunchmeat for me, some salad greens, milk, oj, cantaloupe, yogurt, burritos(for #2 son) and some specials like sugar, bread, celery, etc.
I'll try to keep it under $50 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

I'm Back from The Middle of Nowhere!

I am finally back folks.
I know you all missed me terribly. 8-))

The trip went well and a good time was had by all.
I wish we had more time there since 2 of the 3 days was an all-day drive.
The fun part in the middle went by much too quickly.

The weather was great all 3 days.....sunny and warm-ish but not too hot.
Which is a good thing since the Reunion is held outside on the house grounds.

And my foot/leg suddenly felt much better by Saturday.  We stopped a few times on the way down Friday to break up the car ride, and for awhile I sat on the back bench seat with my leg elevated.  I walked through Walmart on Friday as we needed to pick up a few things and I felt the foot was better then(though it wore me out for the day)but by Saturday morning the foot was feeling 80% well.  My brother and sister in-law had brought a wheelchair they have for me to use on Saturday but it turned out I did aok without it.  Besides the small cement patio area they would have had a hard time pushing me around on the grass as it's not exactly flat there, so it's a good thing I was able to walk some.  I navigated ok with my cane and the folding chairs were fine for me to use plus they had the 5 large wooden rocking(and a small table I could put my foot up on)that are usually on the back porch out for folks to use and I parked myself in one of those for awhile.
Heck, I even walked up to the second floor to take a peek around at the work that they've done upstairs in the house(and the rooms that still need work).  I hadn't been inside the house since my great grandmother moved out of there in the mid 1960's. 

The Reunion day went way too fast.  I connected with a few folks but there were so many more there that I didn't even get a chance to introduce myself to.  Many of them left after only a couple of hours so the die-hards(us and a few of my mother's cousins)sat until about 4:30pm just visiting.
I didn't get nearly as many photos has I had wanted to at the Reunion or of the entire trip.  sigh.
And I didn't take a single horrendous video either.....I know, some of you out there are relieved about that one. lolz

I didn't get as many photos taken as I wanted to overall.
My brother took my camera with him when he went off on Saturday afternoon to my mom's property to get some photos there for me.  It's a long walk from the road and heavily forested so there was no way I was going to be able to get back there myself by foot(and nobody would have been able to wheelchair me back there either).  So I gave him the camera which meant I didn't have it to take photos from about 2pm on.

We had dinner after the Reunion with my mother's cousin and her husband from her Harper/Tucker side of the family at the pizza/Italian joint down the road from the motel.  That was a good visit too, plus mom's cousin helped me ID those mystery people in the photos I have which I had posted about in August of 2012 HERE.
This information also helped me break down a brick wall this morning on my Tucker ancestral line.

I'll post more about my trip later this week.  #2 Son has my camera cord so I can't even download my photos until I get that back from him.

Gary the workman is here from the handyman company and working on the baseboard and the crown mouldings.  I am hoping he can finish this up today so we can get moving on these rooms to get them inhabitable asap.

I'm off to go work on the end of the month budget/bills accounting now.  September will NOT be pretty...... 8-(

Sluggy


 

Saturay Night Party!

Here's something fun for a Saturday night.

So who do you think won the lip sync off?

We're partying our a$$es off here in Keysville, VA tonight!
Woohoo......

Sluggy

Week 4 of the Boring Blog Box Giveaway.....Last Week to Enter!

Here's how it works if you are new here.......

 

I put things in the box(mostly what I have gotten for free or almost free)each week and when the box is filled we draw a winner from all the entries received.

Here is what went into the Box today............something for your pitts, your hair, your nails,  your tummy & your décor......

 

 

1.  1 small Dove Deodorant stick

2.  1 bottle of Magnetix nail polish

3.  1 small bottole of Pantene conditioner

4.  1 bag of Brach's Fall Harvest Mix(candy corn and such)
5.  1 winged Gargoyle figurine for your Halloween decorating

 

 

 

If this is your first time, please go read all the rules for these Giveaways HERE.  *As always, if you are located outside the US, you CAN enter and win but weight restrictions/shipping costs may mean your prize box will contain less items.*

***Time to enter.....You can enter on this Giveaway post until I close this post to entries.
This is the last post for this Giveaway.  You have until Friday, October 4th, at 11:59pm to enter.  The Giveaway will be closed at that time and a winner selected from all the valid entries received by that date/time.

1 entry per person per day on THIS POST.
Leave your name/email address and a COMMENT on this post.  

This week I want to hear about if/how you celebrate Halloween.  Do you dress up on Oct. 31st whether or not you are going to a party?
And if you give out candy/treats on Halloween, what do you like to give?

I use to get those full sized candy bars for a good price at the restaurant supply store so my house use to be very popular for Trick or Treaters.  This year I think we'll scale back but I am not sure what we will give out yet.....I still have a few weeks to work that out.
 

 

You can come directly to this blog post or find it through the link on the right side bar to leave 1 comment per day.  The current Giveaway Post will be linked right at the top of the side bar.

Please NOTE--You MUST be a follower to enter the Giveaway.  If you aren't one, just click on the "Follow" button on the right hand side of my blog to become a follower.

There are 2 ways to get 2 EXTRA entries on this and each new Giveaway Post besides the daily comment.......

1. Put my blog on your blog's Blogroll.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST with the URL of your blog so I can go check it out. **If I'm already on your Blogroll, say so in an extra entry comment once each week of this giveaway.

2.  Blog about this Giveaway on your blog with a link to this post.  Leave an extra comment for this entry on THIS POST with a link to your blog post so I can go view it.  You can do this extra entry once each week of this giveaway.

 

Two more weeks/posts after this and the box will be full and ready to pick a winner.

Any questions?  Just email me.

Happy Entering!! 

Sluggy

Going Back to the Old Home Place

It hasn't been the best of days here lately.
Nothing earth shattering just the blasted foot not healing.  Actually on Wednesday it was worse again so I was scared of having to go back to the hospital so I babied it extra and Thursday it was better.
But I am still nowhere near being able to do anything I use to do.

Hubs was out of town for 2 days so even less got done around here.  And little things were blowing up while he was gone and I just couldn't physically take care of things.
Sigh.

And now the Chihuahua is sick.  I noticed her eye was closed today and a bit swollen and then pus started coming out of it.
And we are going to the reunion tomorrow so she's going to have to wait until Monday to go to the vet.  If it gets worse while we are gone, #2 Son can take her to the ER vet down the road but still, that's another worry on my mind.

We had trouble booking a motel room for this reunion.
The location is so off the beaten path that there is not a chain motel/hotel for 50 miles in any direction.  The only motel is an old family run one in the next town over which has been there from before I was on this Earth.  If they had a listing, words like "old" and "dumpy" would be the highlights for it. lol

With my foot condition I put off making a reservation until last week as I still wasn't convinced we'd be going.
In between the time I first found their website and 800-number and last week, they stopped paying for the website and it disappeared.  And the 800-number was disconnected.
Great.

But we found the local number and yes, they are still in business so if I don't get back online(of course there is no WI-FI there!)by next Monday, someone please come looking for me in Keysville, VA.  Hopefully the motel clerk is not a chap named Norman with a penchant for bird taxidermy.....

I am thinking I'll need a wheelchair at the reunion since it's outside and I can't stand for long periods of time and they'll probably just have folding chairs strewn about the place. 

Trying to find a loan or rental of a wheelchair has proven difficult.  The place that loans them out for free for short periods of time never returned the message I left(figures)and the one place that rents them is all the way on the other side of Wilkes-Barre and while I could have driven myself there, I couldn't have gotten myself from the car into the store and back again.

But luckily, my sister in-law has one for her mother, who won't be needing it this weekend, so they are bringing it for me to use on Saturday.  Bless there little old hearts......

I also had to make a dish to bring to this shindig.  Having to stay over on Friday night meant I had to make something today that would keep with possibly not being refrigerated the full time beforehand.
So I settled on my mother's Pineapple Salsa recipe and Tortilla Chips.  The salsa will stay cold enough for the ride down in a small cooler and if there is no dorm sized fridge in the motel room, we can pack ice from the motel into the cooler and keep it chilled overnight.  Hubs can run into a local grocery store on the way down tomorrow or Saturday morning for the tortilla chips and I can take a big plastic bowl to put them in.
This dish got selected also because it was something I could make while seated at the kitchen table after I had Hubs gather all the ingredients.

Now I just have to pack and get to bed.  Tomorrow I'll attempt a shower as I don't want to offend Hubs on the ride down.

I'm nervous as hell because besides my brother and his wife, I am not going to know a soul at this thing.  I had hoped to bring the computer and be able to get online to access my Ancestry files and tree while there so I can engage whomever is interested in the family genealogy, but I doubt that they have broadband or dial-up at the plantation house and I don't have satellite internet.

So I am bringing a photo album of pictures and I'll take my camera, a pen and a notebook and hopefully will make some meaningful family connections.

I am nervous and sort of depressed at the moment so I have to try to get my spirits up before we get to this party so I am not a downer when I arrive......I am sure there will be plenty of time to BECOME a downer once the festivities get going. lolz

At least I have my painkillers and I'll take a little bit of "adult beverage" since if I remember correctly this county is semi-dry(meaning restaurants can sell liquor by the drink, but not stores by the bottle)and so, so backwards and still dwelling in the early 1900's.
I hope my Time Machine begins me back to 2013 by Monday.....

Wish me luck!

Sluggy