This Week on the Dining Table

The  "Cook Once, Eat Three Times" Edition.......

 

A photo from something bizarre I saw this past weekend.
At first they had their backs to us waiting at the traffic light and then he turned around.
Hubs thought they were aliens.
I had to inform him that they were "Sweet Frog" mascots.
I love the look on the face of that guy in the black car as he was making the turn.....lolz


Here is what was planned last week--

Sunday--Leftovers
Monday--Bratwursts on rolls, baked beans, leftover potato salad
Tuesday--leftover Fajitas
Wednesday--Pork Chop(freezer), Sautee Cabbage, fried apples
Thursday--Leftover Lasagna, Green Beans
Friday--Tacos
Saturday--Leftovers or Fish

And here is what got cooked last week---

Sunday--Leftovers
Monday--Bratwursts on rolls, baked beans, leftover potato salad
Tuesday--leftover Fajitas
Wednesday--Pork Chop(freezer), Sautee Cabbage, fried apples
Thursday--Leftover Lasagna, Green Beans
Friday--Tacos
Saturday--Leftovers or FFY(Fend For Yourself)

Finally got to the Pork Chops and we finished up most of the leftover.
I only cooked the Brats(if you can call brats cooking!lol)and the pork chop meal last week.
The taco beef was already browned and onion-ed, and Hubs added the seasonings and threw together that meal so I can't even claim that as a meal I cooked.

Ya know, I could get use to not cooking so much!

 

As for the food spending update.....I spent a total of $19.84 on $34.83 reg. retail on groceries last week at the local independent grocer. 
 

 

Going into the new week, here are the leftovers we have.....some taco filling and some fajita fixings.

 

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

Sunday--Take-out
Monday--leftover Taco(salad) and Fajitas
Tuesday--Chicken Fried Steak, Veggie, Mashed Potatoes and Gravy(I'll have leftover Pork Chop and Cabbage.)
Wednesday--Burgers on Pretzel Rolls(freezer-Hubs not home for dinner)
Thursday--Duck Breast(freezer), Risotto, Veggie(from freezer)
Friday--Sausage Sandwiches, Veggie(from freezer)
Saturday--Pasta w/Meatballs, Salad

Most everything I am pulling out of the freezer this week....duck breast, cubed steak, burgers, sausage, meatballs plus all the veggies.  I'm defrosting a roaster chicken now too in the fridge so it should be ready to cook on Sunday.

Time to clean the freezer out.
 

 

For snacks I'm buying 2 watermelons and there are Baked Lay's Chips here.

What I need to purchase for this menu?.......basically just salad greens and a few staples and fruit.
It's a skimpy food shopping week for me.  When I run out of lunchmeat for myself I'll make due with tuna fish, BLTs or a big salad for lunches this week.

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

 

Sluggy

This is Getting Fun!

You may have read about my car shopping adventure on Saturday HERE.

And the salesman gave us the hard pressure sell on Sonic the Hedgehog here.....

 I spent the rest of the weekend doing some research and reading reviews of the car I wanted to buy, the Chevy Spark.

And while it is a good car it turns out it isn't the car I should buy.
I want to take a lot of long distance trips in this and it's just not cut out for long haul high speed interstate jaunts about the country.....unless I want to invest in a race car drivers kidney belt and really good earplugs. lolz

So goodbye to this Grape Ice little beauty......

Which means I am now focusing on buying a Sonic, the next size Chevy car up.

And if I get one, of course, I'd prefer it be Deep Magenta, the Limited Edition color for Spring 2014.

Like Sonic the Hedgehog pictured above.

I had put feelers out with Chevy dealers within a 75 mile radius last Thursday.
So one particular dealer has been leaving me emails and phone messages since then.
They seem hot to make some money.

So I went to their website and lo and behold they have the exact same Sonic in the exact same color and option package as the one the guy in Wilkes-Barre wants to sell me.

So now I am going to play ball with these two dealers.
A little game of "I have a price of $X from the other guy, so can you beat him out for my business?"

I wasn't totally happy with the price the WB dealer gave me for a bottom line so let's see if I can get this price down by buying the car from the other dealer OR if WB dealer will match or beat the other dealer's price.

I see on CarGurus that this car has been sitting for almost a year on their lot so that gives me some edge.

Let's see how far under $18K I can get them.
I've got some leverage since I am NOT emotionally invested in throwing this kind of money on a car and I can totally just walk away.
And I will.

This gal can play with the big boys....
I may not have a penis but boy, do I have balls!

Sluggy

 

Is It Time Yet?

Not only is #2 Son anxious to bug out of this hellhole town we live in(hellhole according to him....I much prefer to call it provincial on my better days), but I may be a wee bit anxious to get him out of the house too.

I started writing out my hard copy of the "College List" last Friday.
You know.....The master list of "what every college kid might ever need when they leave home" List that Sonya Ann and friends came up with before her oldest went off to college 4 years ago.

So I started gathering supplies for #2 Son that I have already.......

The boy does like to do ALOT of laundry.
I got these Purex Complete 3 in 1 laundry sheets back when they were new on the market and when Couponing was in it's Salad Days-when there were awesome coupons and sales and few limits and you could get shit free or almost free.
You know, the good old days.

I have enough sheets here sitting in the linen closet for #2 Son to do 224 loads of laundry.
I hope it will last him all 4 years.

I just discovered that the dorms where he will be living have free laundry!  He won't even need quarters.
Sweet.
A quick calculation and I figure with the water and electricity he alone will be using to do laundry nonstop on their dime vs. on our dime, the housing costs we have to pay are a win for US!!!

So he is covered on detergent.
And also covered on toiletries-deodorant, shampoo, soap/bodywash, toothpaste, toothbrushes.
He has an electric razor so the hairy face stuff is taken care of too.

While we were on vacation in April and then when we got home a week or so ago, I hit the Winter clothing clearance sales at Kmart.  We just happened to be in a KMart in Shreveport and found men's winter clothing for $2.99 a piece.  Then the next week when we were home I went into the local KMart here and the clothing was down to $1.99 a piece.
So of course I picked up some clothes for #2 Son to take to college with him.

It doesn't look like much since I just heaped it up on the spare bed for these photos.

Everything was either $2.99 or $1.99, except for the black coat which was $7.99 marked down from $60.
Score!
I got him long sleeved knit shirts, fleece PJ pants, longish Joe Boxer boxers, 3 casual dress shirts, a minky lined flannel jacket(original price of $24.99) and 2 pair of thermal underwear.
It's even colder than here in the Winter where he's going to school.  8-)
They also had 6 packs of men's boxer briefs on sale for $5.99 in his size.  Somebody must have mis-ordered because they had hundreds of this size in this style/brand of undies.

I had picked up at Ollies(Good Stuff Cheap!)a multipack of the socks he likes over the Winter for $2.99.
Between the Kmart score, the undies and sox, he is all set for going away to college clothing...unless of course, he wears out/grows out of his pants.

I wrote this and then went and read Sonya Ann's Post today.  Go read toward the middle of hers.
We really do think alike and lead lives in a parallel universe, don't we?  ;-)

We finally have a date now for when #2 Son will go sailing off into the sunset.
Freshman Check-In is August 21st.

I am synchronizing my watch as I type.

100 days and counting!!!
The countdown has begun.

Sluggy

 

Celebrate Your Mom Bad Self

I woke up to this today.......

A breakfast of French Toast and Bacon that I didn't have to make for a change!

 

And this.....

My oldest son called me on the phone and my youngest son gave me a card.
My daughter sent this and it arrived a few days ago.....

A Box!!!

Inside was.......

A miniature Gardenia Bush.
She remembered that Gardenias are one of my favorite flowers.

And the enclosed card read.....

This is a family joke.
You can read about it in this post HERE if you are interested.

Happy Mother's Day to all my women friends, and those guys too who've had to be the mother in their kids' lives.

Sluggy




 

I Need a Shower

Why?
Because we went car shopping today.
And I feel dirty. lolz

I may not have mentioned this but I HATE shopping for cars.

We went to see if I could fit my fat ass in drive a Chevy Spark.
I haven't driven a compact car in years!

My timeline of cars Hubs and I have owner so far in our lives......

Chevette(new), Dodge Omni(new), Ford Escort(used), Chevy Caprice(used), Chevy Lumina APV(new), Ford Tempo(used), Kia Spectra(used), Dodge Caravan(new), Chevy Malibu(used), Toyota Corolla(used), Buick Century(used), Hyundai Elantra(used).

My cars have been the Chevette(1981), Caprice(1991), Lumina APV(1995) and the Caravan(2003).
I haven't driven/owned a compact car since 1990.

So we hiked over to a local dealer.

The Good news-I can fit in the Spark and can reach the pedals and everything.
Rah.
The Bad news-they only have 2.....a pale yellow one with a manual tranny and a black one with a automatic tranny.
I am not doing manual tranny here in the mountains and I don't want a black car so both of those are out.

We found out that no, you can't order one in a different color(a color they make it in)and no, they don't do dealer trades(find a car at a different dealer and they trade it to your dealer for something else that dealer needs for a customer).

Now I don't know if he was handing us a line or if this is how they do things in 2014.
We haven't bought a new car since 2003 so we are unfamiliar with standard practices nowadays at dealerships.

So I can't get my "Grape Ice" Spark, at least not from them.

But this dealer does have the next car up(in size), a Chevy Sonic in stock in a limited release color of Magenta.
It's no Lavender but it's close to Purple but on the pink side.

So we look at that one.
A bit roomier inside(not much)but there are lots more features to adjust the driver's seat and steering column.  There is more room in the backseat and the hatchback trunk area.
Same size engine, same number of cylinders and the gas mileage is marginally less than the Spark.

I could drive this one too.
But it does have a sun roof, which I don't like.
Those are just another electronic thing to break and somewhere the car can leak(and with my luck, it WILL! lolz)

I crinkle my nose at the salesman as he goes on and on about the sunroof.
Get a clue guy....you are losing me the more you go on about this "feature".

Here is the Sonic in question.....I think I would have to name it "Hedgehog" even though it's not royal blue.....lol

Then they started the ol' hard sell back in the office.
2 trips out to "confer" with the manager and we get a bottom line price of $18,445 cash out the door with tax and tags.

We walked out of there without a new car.
I just wasn't sold on this one.
He kept saying it's the only one and they don't make this color anymore trying to get me to take the deal NOW.

Nope.

So we get home and I go on the dealers website and guess what I see?

A Grape Ice(lavender) Spark for $14,445(before t&t).

Either they lied about not having the car in the color I wanted or they seriously need to update their website.
It was too late to call them on it since they were closed for the day by the time we got home.

So I went on the Chevy dealers website in a city 45 minutes from here and they are showing a Grape Ice Spark for an internet special price of $14,070(before t&t-which should add another $1300 or so).

I'll be calling them tomorrow morning to see if this car is actually on their lot.
If so, we'll be riding down there to see what we can get it for.

Or I could just buy this little number I found in the model showroom at the local dealer.......

This Camaro Convertible just screams ME, doesn't it?
Not a very frugal price though at $36K+ and with horrible gas mileage........ouch.
But oh, wouldn't I look HAWT driving this thing?

Did I mention how I HATE buying cars yet?

Sluggy

 

I Broke Down & Went to the Store

After I said I'd get through this week without going to the grocery store at all I went and broke down today.
I spent $19.84.
We were out of bread and tomatoes and meat for my lunch sammies.
We needed a bag of cheese for the dinner I'm making tonight(tacos).
A bottle of Fresca, 2 new "energy" drinks(all together came to $3), and 2 bags of tortillas chips & a bag of frozen fries(BOGO sale on the chips, $2 for the cold spuds- for #2Son)somehow jumped into my cart when I wasn't looking.
$9.26 of wants(mostly for the kid)and $10.58 of needs.

I've only cooked 2 times so far this week and tonight makes 3 times.
When your 18 year old son decides NOT to eat what you cook and eat fast food on his own dime, it sure cuts down on your food bill(and the number of days you need to cook as well).

Tomorrow is leftovers and Who Knows what Mother's Day will be.
I don't like going out on the "artificial holidays" as I use to have to work them so I get kinda PTSD about those. lol
And I am NOT cooking this Sunday.
Hubs hasn't even thought about it I am sure......we'll probably end up getting Chinese take-out, which would be fine by me.

Speaking of Mother's Day, I shared this on Facebook the other day.
Truer words were never spoken......hehehe

Hope all you Mothers out there have a peaceful day and  receive the adulation you all so deserve!

Sluggy

Purple Car Talk

Well I have to say, if you want comments to fly on your blog, post something about cars. lolz

The car color is called "Grape Ice".
It's sort of lavender...ish.
But I will call it purple.

No automaker is doing a true purple car right now other than this one.
As far as used cars, the Chevy SSR came in true purple in 2004......

It's sort of like an El Camino but with rounder lines.  I call El Caminos the Mullets of the auto world.....car in front, truck in back. lolz

The PT Cruise was made in purple up to 2005 and the closest one to here for sale now is in Michigan.....

It's a 2002 and manual tranny with 60K miles on it and they are asking $6K.

I'd much rather have this one.....

It's a 2005, manual tranny with 53K miles on it for $9K and it's in California.
And it's a convertible!

Honda made the Fit in 2009/2010 in Blackberry Pear......

Sweet color but can't find one for sale in that color.

GMC also made the Sierra 150 SLT Truck in Purple, it was a custom color.....

Of course, if I could find this car and it wasn't a bazillion dollars I'd want it too.....

A 1970 Dodge Challenger muscle car.

Bad on gas mileage but if you were driving this bad boy, who cares!?!

I have located a Grape Ice 2014 Spark for $14K an hour's drive from my house.

Of course, if I could live with a lime green one(which I could)and didn't mind having a manual tranny(not when you live on a mountain! lol), I could get that one for just under $12K.

You would think that because I have the cash to just write a check and drive it home, I'd in a position power with negotiating for this one.
Unfortunately, the dealers WANT YOU to finance.
In truth, that is where they make their money on a new car......the nickels and dimes they get off of you in the in-house financing.
They make very little on folks who buy outright with cash.

So paying cash(and paying less)don't really go together in this situation.

I really detest this whole dickering process with car buying.
A car should have a price and that's what you pay.
No bargaining crap.

Bring back Saturn dealerships! lolz

This is one of the good things about buying used cars from used car lots.
Besides being less expensive than a new car, the price they ask is what you pay.
Sure we've bargained down a couple times on used cars if we turned up something mechanical but they don't give you the smarmy lines and lie to you like the new car dealerships do.
Bunch of jack wagons......

Sluggy