April Louisiana Road Trip.....Day 9....A Boring Day of Driving

Tuesday morning, after I took a quick dip in the pool and we had our free breakfast, we hit the road heading north.

First a word about breakfast.  We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express here in Fairhope Alabama.  It was the most expensive room we took on this trip but the breakfast was superb.

Ok, not Eggs Benedict superb but for a continental "included with the room cost" Breakfast it was great!  Lots of options, everything was either hot or cold(depending on what it was suppose to be)and the cinnamon rolls......let me just wax poetic for a bit about their cinnamon rolls.
O.M.G.

I tried desperately to figure out how to fit a tray of these into my purse but to no avail....sigh
These were the best cinnamon rolls I've ever tasted in my 55 years on this planet.
Not too sweet, not too dry and a butt load of cinnamon.  I am drooling just thinking about them.

So we hit the road, but not before stopping in at the Rite-Aid in Fairhope because I had +Ups and coupons expiring that day so I forced Hubs to go there. ;-)

The applesauce was free after +Ups and the dish soap was .50¢ a bottle after rain check and coupons.

Then we hit the highway until we came to Spanish Fort about 11 miles away. lol
Saw a World Market and had to check it out.

More "Slap Ya Mama" products......

And it was difficult but I resisted buying this Chocolate Bacon Caramel Corn.....

And this location had the Downton Abbey teas but at $11.99 a small tin, I left them on the shelf....

The bulk of the day was spent driving through Alabama.  I never realized how long that state was.

Up past Bay Minette and then onto I-65 and up to Montgomery and then onward to Birmingham, then east on I-59 to Chattanooga TN.

Yet another Casino we passed in Alabama that I didn't stop at.
Ssssh, don't tell Sonya Ann.....

We did stop at this touristy trap along the interstate however.

Priester's has been selling pecans since 1935, like the sign says.
We hit the free tasting samples and I bought some bags of pecan pieces for cheap....they'll be great in pies or pecan sandies.
The whole nuts were outrageously priced so I passed on those.

I did see these awesome decorative measuring scoops with chickens on them and thought of you Linda. 
But at $40(plus tax)they stayed in the store. lolz

Not much scenery along this looooong stretch of interstate driving, except for a Hyundai plant.

The most exciting thing along this route was this sign for Selma.  Yes, this is boring when a highway sign is the most exciting thing to look at and post about.
We didn't go to Selma this trip.


I may have dozed off in the car for awhile....I blame it on cinnamon rolls. ;-)
We ate so much breakfast(and with all those free pecan samples at Priester's)we didn't even stop for lunch anywhere.

We got into Chattanooga around 8 and it was after dark.  It took all day to drive from the bottom to the top of Alabama and then into Tennessee.

We found a motel room right off the interstate and by the time we unloaded our bags and settled into the room it was 9pm.
Seeing as most of the food options near the motel for dinner were fast food, we ended up at Waffle House which was one of the few places nearby that was still open and not burgers.  At that hour a little light "breakfast for dinner" hit the spot.
Then back to the room for some shut eye.

I do hate long driving days but now it was behind us and we could do some fun stuff on Day 10 and 11 before getting home on Day 12....or so I thought.

Sluggy

 

How's It Working?

My new meal planning, that is.
The answer is--just fine, thanks!

Here's what I've cooked/we've eaten so far this week.

Sunday--Barbecue Chicken thighs, Potato Salad
Monday--Sloppy Joes on Rolls, Sugar Snap Peas(used part of beef to make taco filling for #2 Son)
Tuesday--Chicken Parmesan, Spaghetti, Brussel Sprouts
Wednesday--leftover Garlic Ginger Shrimp stir fry, Rice(used this all up)

3 days cooking, 1 day not.

Here are the leftovers so far.....
4 Chicken thighs
3 helpings Potato Salad
2 Sloppy Joes filling
1-2 Taco filling for tacos
1 helping Sugar Snap Peas
4  Chicken Parms 2 Chicken Parms(#2 Son had a snack)lol
2 side servings of Spaghetti

I think we'll do leftovers again tonight and then I'll cook on Friday.
#2 Son will probably finish the taco meat today after school and then he goes out with his buddies for "Wing Night" on Thursday.

Saturday we'll probably do leftovers as well, and Sunday will be a new meal cooked, Broiled Salmon, Coleslaw and another Veggie(TBD) since I bought a bag of coleslaw mix at the grocery store yesterday.
(Went shopping and got everything I needed for the list of meals from Monday's post except the Parmigiana Cheese and the Pastry Shells.  Got extra stuff-sale meat, cheap red wine vinegar, cheese with a dairy instant $ back deal and soda for the graduation bash mostly-and spent $42.60 total.  I'll pick up the parm cheese and pastry shells on next week's trip.)

Sunday I'll evaluate where we are and decide on what to cook for the following 3 days from items that are already in the house and/or leftovers. 

At that point is when the relatives descend on us Wed. and Thurs. and we go into "survival/get through the week and don't blow the whole food budget" mode.  8-)))

I am offline now for the day.
Need to go buy a power washer and then go have a little fun and go to the movies by myself.
Afterwards, it's an Italian Ice and home to fix leftovers and start cleaning this filthy house.
bleh.

How is your week going?

Sluggy
 

Blog Housekeeping

I've put up a page on the blog for my blog roll and am adding new blogs there that I have been neglectful in adding for many months.

The amount of blogs I have linked is getting ridiculously long to have it posted to the side bar I feel.

What do y'all think?
Keep the blogroll on the Home page, keep it to it's own page(linked at the top tab of the home page)or have them in both locations?
Cast your vote now. 8-)

I have also been deleting a few blogs.....ones that seem to have been abandoned and no one has posted new material for more than 6 months as well as some that have ended, like Judy's(where the heck did she go?  she isn't answering my email!?).  Morrison's has been taken down as well.  Precious left her second Frugal Makes Cents the beginning of the year but then last month she posted about another blog called Grandma's Frugal Days that she is enjoying.  Call me crazy but I swear this new blog is Precious too. 8-)

If you have a blog and I don't have you on the roll, please feel free to email me and ask to be added.
I am always happy to promote other bloggers' work.

Sluggy
 

April Louisiana Road Trip...Day 8

Monday, Day 8 of our Road Trip, we left Shreveport and headed back east on the interstate.

The original plan had been to go South through Alexandria, then through Baton Rouge to the Southern half of Louisiana, where we were going to make 2 stops--first at the Abita Brew Pub in Abita Springs, LA and second over the river into Mississippi at the Lazy Magnolia Brewing Company in Kiln, MS.

But as luck would have it, both are closed on Mondays and we happened to be going that way on Monday.
Sigh.

So with part of our plan for the day thwarted, we left a little later in the morning and headed back east on I-20.

Before we left the area though, we stopped so I could get a "Roadside America" style photo-op....

                          
Me and the World's Largest Cowboy

This place was right behind our hotel so why not?


Before you knew it....ok, about an hour and a half after getting on the road, we were back in Mississippi.
I love how this sign is located right underneath a grand old Magnolia tree.  If there is one thing I miss about living in Virginia, it's Magnolia trees....

 

We crossed the Mississippi River again at Vicksburg.....

The Mississippi Welcome Center at Vicksburg is a bitch to park at, but out back of the building they have a right nice veranda overlooking the river....

While I was there a local high school senior was having his class photo done with the river as a backdrop.

Once we got to Jackson we veered off the interstate and went Southeast down to Hattiesburg.  About halfway from Jackson to Hattiesburg we stopped for lunch in the little town of Magee.

Now tell me......how was I about to resist a sign with a catfish on it?!

You just never know what you're going to stumble into once you leave the interstate and chain-type restaurants.

These "trees" with faux flowers greeted us in the lobby.

And here is a shot of the dinning hall after the lunch rush was over.....

This was a Fried Catfish and American buffet type place with a "Down Home Country" feel.
Notice our iced tea came in tin measuring cups.....

Fried Catfish, fried Okra, Hush Puppies(those are fried too), Mustard Greens(not fried)and some Mac and Cheese to round out my cholesterol Feast....and I am not even going to show you the dessert I ate. lolz

And I got brave and took a pickled okra off the salad bar.
I grew up in the South eating southern foods but I have never until that day tasted a pickled okra.
Of all the ways you can prepare/eat okra, pickling one had never occurred to me.

I took one bite and discovered that pickled okra is nasty!  Pickled slimy furry vegetables are not my thang evidently....

Incidentally, this was the second time I saw pickled okra on a salad bar on this trip.  The country kitchen place across from our motel in Louisiana where we ate a few times also had them.

And lunch was not the end of the interesting things we saw in Magee at the Catfish House.....

They were offering for sale these books at the front desk/check-out counter.

Now if you actually go read up on this book it sounds interesting and might be a good read.
But the title?.....it sure made my head snap around when I passed it and had to go back for a photo. lolz

And that wasn't the end of interesting sights at Berry's.
Check out the 10 Commandments in front of the restaurant......

I guess I've been living up North too long now because I was surprised by this...but I shouldn't have been. lolz

After a quick stop in Hattiesburg to pick up a surprise for someone, we soon crossed another state line into Alabama and hit traffic in downtown Mobile.

 

After we got through the tunnel....what a mess!......we have some scenic driving right next to Mobile Bay....

Another half hour or so and we were arrived at our destination for the evening-- Fairhope, Alabama.
We found a nice Holiday Inn Express for the night, unloaded the car and before I knew it I was talking to Lorraine from We are: clamco and arranging to meet her family for dinner at this place in town.....

Chicken buffet rules posted by the front door.

 We went inside to wait and before you know it, in walked the Clamco clan: Megan, Lorraine and Chris.
Hugs happened and we just started talking like we'd been old friends forever.

While waiting for our chicken, Lorraine and I got our picture took and of course I hammed it up because yah, that's what I do......

And I told Lorraine that I absolutely loved her......because she is an awesome person.....but also because she is shorter than me!!
And I never meet anybody who is shorter than me.  ;-)

After gorging on chicken, biscuits, slaw and fries, the Clamcos invited us back to their Clamco Cottage for coffee, tea and dessert.
Hubs, Lorraine and I took a walk down on the Fairhope pier first.  I didn't think to take any pictures of the waterfront but then again, it was dark by then.

Chris also showed us his convention display and wares which he had set up in the garage.  He's got a great set-up and I knew he'd do well at his Mobicon show in May.

And even better, Chris made me a present.......one of the Steampunk items he makes to sell.....

It's a cool tube light on a base.  Press the button and the tube lights up in a changing array of colors.
Thanks Chris!

Check out more of Chris's creations at Black Flame Creations.

Here is the clamco couple again.
They are both such nice folks and made us feel very welcomed.

The only negative thing I can say is that we didn't get to meet sooner back when they lived here in PA not 20 minutes away from us!
All those years we lived so close and wasted that opportunity.....*sad face*

The evening passed all too quickly and we headed back to the motel for some shut eye.
It was a lovely end to our day.

Sluggy

June Net Worth

This is the last financial numbers post for awhile, I promise. 8-)

The retirement accounts are up $5,544.25 from last month.
Unfortunately the liquid assets are down $12,250.68 from last month, mostly because of the car purchase.

Overall, we are down $6,706.43 in our financial net worth for June.

Stupid car..... 8-)

Sluggy

$24K Challenge.....May 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 May report.....

I have posted my May 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 May with a greater than needed amount.
The extra amount we ended the month of  May with?.......$3,299.61.

Income
We had $3217.59 left over from our income after our monthly expenses were deducted.
 

Other monies received in May totaled $78.52.  This included interest made on accounts and a per diem from Hub's work.

This brought us to our gain of $3299.61.
Since we have no debt anymore, this goes into savings.

Outgo

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

HERE are the GOOD THINGS

 

*  The electric bill went down $ 151.72, almost half of what it was in April.
*  The water bill went down $4 and change.
*  The cash withdrawals were $900 less than last month.
*  Private music lessons were $40 less in May(fewer lessons).
*  May was an extra paycheck month which helped our bottom line greatly!
 

HERE are the BAD THINGS

 

*  The c/c bill was $1886.33 more than April's bill.  Most of this was vacation spending from April
*  The food bill went up $54.06 from April's food spending and April's spending was too high.

 

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

The 2014 GRAND TOTAL.....
With 5 months accounted for, our Savings Grand Total for 2014 is $9,370.21
That's only $629.79 short at this point of the $10,000.00 I should have put aside after 5 months.
The extra paycheck in May almost got me caught up on where I need to be at this point and I am less behind than I was last month.

Yay!
  

 

Looking ahead for June......

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

*  The furniture purchases in May and accompanying Hubs to his conference in DC expenses will be due on the credit card bill in June.

*  Back to 2 paychecks this month.

*  The graduation party for #2 Son and #1 Son is visiting in June so expenses will be going up.
 

*  The food budget will be full blown out of control this month with all the family coming and the party.  I'll keep all my receipts and when it's all over I'll tally it up.  I'm not going to torture myself and look at them until the month is over. lolz
  

 

So how was your May financially?
  

Did you spend less than the income you had in May?
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

April Louisiana Road Trip.....Day 6 & 7.....a Quick One

Saturday of our trip to Louisiana started off with a trip to the grocery store, since we were supplying breakfast for Daughter, her BF and ourselves at BF's parent's house.

               I don't think we are in PA anymore.....

Once inside the grocery store I saw many freestanding shelving units like this.....

Filled with Louisiana sauces and mixes and crawfish boil concoctions and hot pickles and peppers, etc.
"Slap Yo Mama" brand seems to be a popular one down here....lolz

Daughter fixed breakfast and then Hubs, Daughter, her BF and I were off to see that new foreclosure listing with Realtor #1.

And the kids fell head over heels for it.
We did go to the property that Hubs and I had picked out, out of all the ones we had seen so far afterwards, but Daughter had made up her mind and the new foreclosure was to be "the one" to buy.

So we got all the information about how to submit the offer and Daughter made plans to go to the real estate office on Monday to "do the deed".

Then we four went off to the brewery in Shreveport......

Great Raft Brewing
They opened last October and it's the first brewery in Shreveport since Prohibition.

They named their brewery for a natural phenomenon, a huge logjam or "raft" that occurred in Louisiana on the Red and Atchafalaya Rivers.

 By the 1830's it extended 160 miles and impeded travel, business as well as settlement west of the city that became known as Shreveport.

Henry Mille Shreve, a steamboat builder and river boat captain, made it his job to start clearing the raft and by 1838 the Red River was navigable in large part due to his efforts.  The town of Shreveport was named after him in thanks.

See?  I bet you didn't know you'd actually learn something reading this blog! 8-)

 Daughter and Hubs having a pint.  I had a small glass of the "Reasonably Corrupt".

 

Daughter and her BF

 

 

If you are ever in the Shreveport area stop by this place on a Weekend for a glass, a free tour, or a growler fill.

After some adult beverages it was time for a late lunch.  Daughter took us to a Shreveport landmark--Strawn's Eat Shop.
They've been around since 1944 and are known far and wide for their "ice box pies".

Of course, I neglected to get a picture of a pie...lolz.....but I did take a shot of my lunch.....

 A Spinach, Feta Cheese and fresh Strawberry Salad.
Mmmmmmm!

 Here's Hubs double cheeseburger and "fries".  Looks more like large hash brownie-type potatoes to me.

And a shot of Daughter stuffing her face.  Oh, she'll love me for posting this one....lolz

Of course I had pie too.  I had to settle for a piece of Butterscotch with real homemade whipped cream since they were out of  the Strawberry, which they are known for.  It was mighty good even if it wasn't Strawberry.


On Sunday we all assembled at the BF's parent's house and the Daughter cooked Easter dinner with a little assistance from her mom, me.  ;-)

She invited some people from her work who otherwise would have been alone that day and it was a jolly good time.
After the work friends left we sat down and went over financial stuff and how this buying the house deal was going to work.
Ah numbers and personal finances.....I was in my element. lolz

We got back to the motel late into the evening and packed up.
Monday morning we were heading back home to Pennsylvania, by way of Alabama first.

Sluggy