I’m trying to post more regularly but there are days that I just don’t know what to write about.  A fill-in-the-blank meme seems like a fun idea, though (courtesy of Friday Fill-Ins):

1. If I could be a fly on the wall I would listen to what people are talking about.

2. Jealousy is ugly because it’s a rejection of what you have in the desire to obtain what you don’t have.

3. When I see a shooting star my wish would be that I could get all the sleep I need, every day.

4. I’d rather be fat & pretty than thin & ugly any day!

5. Certain songs when I hear them make me wanna dance.

6. If time were in a bottle I’d never release it.  (?!?)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to having dinner with my mom, tomorrow my plans include getting caught up on things around the house and Sunday, I want to grocery shop and read my Bible study!

Recently, I heard about a phenomenon called “hypermiling” on the news. Hypermiling is a series of driving techniques that help increase — sometimes dramatically — gas mileage. Some people have taken to extreme hypermiling techniques that are dangerous and/or illegal, such as tailgating tractor trailers.

I decided to try out hypermiling (the safe techniques) and see how it worked without getting too obsessive about it (always a challenge for me!). First, I tried utilizing my cruise control every time I drive. Even if I’m only going 30 mph, even if I’m not traveling far. I also use the cruise control to accelerate rather than hitting the gas pedal. The results? My average miles per gallon increased!

The second thing I did was start taking my foot off the gas the minute I see a stop light or stop sign ahead of me. As it was mentioned in one video I watched, if you come to a complete stop, your car is still burning fuel even though you’re not moving — which means you are getting ZERO miles per gallon. If you coast to the stop sign, you’re getting at least some positive number of mph in the time that you could have been sitting there.

In general, I try to use the gas and brake pedals as little as possible, and it seems to be working quite well towards increasing my mileage, if only by a few miles per gallon. As I refine my technique and become more disciplined about using these strategies, I am certain that I will see even more dramatic results. It’s a lot different than the “zoom-zoom” driving I practiced before, but with gas so expensive these days, it’s well worth it to slow down a little.

I often joke about needing “cat therapy,” which pretty much consists of me taking a nap with my cat laying either beside me or on top of me. When Daisy is beside me, I sleep more soundly and feel more at peace. I don’t know why (and I’m aware that it’s a little strange), but it’s true.

Back in my single days, I was a big fan of “retail therapy,” shopping to make the blues go away. Bored? Go to the mall. Depressed? Go to the mall. Angry? Go to the mall. Shopping was the cure-all of my 20s.

And of course, there is “ice cream therapy,” which I won’t even go into except to say there is no bowl required.

I spent yesterday doing “kid therapy,” spending a day of fun activities with my kids and no one else. It’s been a long time since we’ve done this, just me and them. And after all of the headaches and worries that I’ve had the last few weeks, it was exactly what I needed.

Our first stop was a shipwreck museum that was full of treasures found on sunken ships. The owner (and primary excavator) was there, and he let the kids hold a million dollars worth of treasure! How cool is that?

After that, we had lunch at one of my favorite pizza places, then played a game of miniature golf. Sophia’s very first shot was a hole in one, which impressed everyone. A young 20-something man with a mohawk gave her a high five. It was adorable. We laughed a lot during the game, Trevor making fun of my abysmal golfing skills, Sophia teasing Trevor about how she’d gotten a hole in one, and all of us poking fun at the ridiculous dinosaur & caveman theme decorations.

After that, we headed to an arcade, where we played skee ball (my favorite) and other games. We collected 311 prize tickets which Trevor graciously let Sophia redeem for trinkets. She got a really gaudy dolphin statuette, a unicorn figurine, and a pink mermaid.

Then it was on to the candy store where I got a stick of chocolate-covered strawberries and the kids each got a new Webkinz. (This Webkinz thing is taking over my house!) He got a koala bear and she got a cocker spaniel. Normally I wouldn’t have bought the Webkinz, but we were having such a good day and I’m finally starting to feel some financial freedom now that I’m earning a paycheck every week.

After that, we rode the antique merry-go-round. Sophia was so nervous at first, she didn’t want me to leave her side, but once it started moving, she had a blast.

When we finished the carousel ride, we played around with our reflections in the fun house mirrors, then headed home. Trevor had us laughing all the way home, making up koala bear rap songs and throwing his sticky man toy against the car windows.

I didn’t look at the time or talk on the phone once yesterday while we were away from home. There was no TV or computer to distract any of us. It was just my kids and me, with not a care in the world, enjoying each other’s company. And it was exactly what I needed.

• This is when you vote libertarian.
• None of the Above ‘08
• Hitler gave great speeches too.
• I hated Bush way before it was cool.
• When Bush took office, gas was $1.46.
• Nobody died when Clinton lied.
• We’re doomed.  Apathy ‘08

All of these stickers — and many more! — can be found at CafePress.

Comments on last week’s menu: Well, after three weeks of trying, I finally did fix the Baked Ranch Chicken. It was good, and I will probably fix it again. Dan and Trevor took an impromptu trip to New York on Thursday/Friday, and I didn’t feel like fixing big meals for just Sophia and me. Those meals are getting bumped up to this week.

Monday – Crab cakes, oven fries, fresh corn casserole

Tuesday — To Die For Crockpot Pot Roast with Crash Hot Potatoes and mixed vegetables

Wednesday — Trevor’s favorite chicken & rice, served with broccoli.

Thursday – Tater Tot Casserole and mixed vegetables

Friday – Cheddar Baked Chicken with rice and broccoli

Saturday — Monterey Jack Turkey Burgers, macaroni & cheese, calico beans

Sunday – leftovers or snacking

Appetizer: When was the last time you had your hair cut/trimmed?
I decided to give myself bangs yesterday and cut three inches off in front. I’m long overdue for a cut but slightly phobic about it, so I’m sure it will be a while before I get up the courage to do it.

Soup: Name one thing you miss about being a child.
That lovely combination of innocence and ignorance that made me believe that there were no bad people, that I looked beautiful despite the extra pounds, braces and glasses, and that the world was just one big happy place.

Salad: Pick one: butter, margarine, olive oil.
Butter! However, I have been using olive oil more lately.

Main Course: If you could learn another language, which one would you pick, and why?
Italian, because (a) Sophia is half Italian, (b) I love the way it sounds, (c) I figure it can’t be too terribly different from Spanish, which I already speak, and (d) I really would like to go to Italy some day.

Dessert: Finish this sentence: In 5 years I expect to be…
Paying for Trevor’s college tuition and bracing myself for Sophia’s entering puberty. (In other words, going gray!) LOL

Yesterday I made three pans of lasagna — one for us for dinner, and two for new parents at our church.  Putting together three pans of lasagna is a formidable task, and it takes some time.  So I turned on my little kitchen TV to the only channel it can pick up.  Oprah was on, and she was talking about money.  I left it on, hoping to get some good pointers.

A stay-at-home mom to six children with brilliantly white teeth was talking about her spending habits.  The more I heard, the more my idle curiosity turned to horrified shock.  She buys entirely new wardrobes about every two months, and regularly holds yard sales where she sells the $50 shirts she has bought for $1.  She’s spent thousands of dollars on hair extensions, manicures, and tanning, but her children are not getting the medical tests or dental exams that they are supposed to have.  Her home is also a source of big spending — nearly every room has a mural in it, for which she paid between 2 and 4 thousand dollars.  The silk plants she bought to decorate her home cost $5000.  It just went on and on.  (You can read the show’s official summary here.)

Her poor husband shared his hurt over the situation.  He said he feels hurt and disrespected. “You give your wife responsibility to take care of the family with the funds that have been given to her and then she’s spending it frivolously on things that really are meaningless because she’s wanting to make an impression of what she looks like,” he says.

But as bad as it was, I felt positive about it all when the woman acknowledged the nature of what she was doing.  She said, “It’s total selfishness. My kids mean the world to me and I should be putting them first, but I put myself first. … It’s shameful.”  I figured there must be hope for her if she’s realized this much.

Enter Suze Orman, the “expert” who’s going to get everyone straightened out.  I tend to avoid watching Suze Orman on TV because, although she hands out sound financial advice, quite often she muddies the waters with amateur psychoanalysis and new age blather.  Her appearance on the Oprah show was no exception.    So, what does Suze say to the woman who has made such horrible mistakes and is starting to realize the selfishness and disrespectful nature of her actions?

“I personally don’t believe you’re selfish. I think you’re selfless. I think because you don’t have a self, because you don’t know who you are…that is why you’re doing these things that you are doing. You are just simply trying to find yourself,” she says. “You are trying to define yourself by the things that you buy rather than you define the things around you. And you keep buying new and new things because you can’t find the definition of yourself.”

And to the husband?

“Don’t you dare sit here and act like she has been deceiving you because you have been deceiving yourself. You are a father who sees that you have six children. You knew you didn’t have insurance for them,” Suze says. “But you say it’s disappointing because your wife, you’ve given her this responsibility to pay the bills. Where were you in this? Why didn’t you show up knowing what she was doing? Was it easier for you just to stick your head in the mud and blame it all on her? No wonder she doesn’t feel good about herself either. Because her husband wasn’t even reaching out to say to her, ‘Stop it. Stop it,’ and putting your foot down, so you [Felice] just kept doing it. So we have a totally dysfunctional relationship with money, and we have a dysfunctional relationship with each other. But where does it all start from? A dysfunctional relationship with ourselves.”

Now, maybe it’s just me, but I think she totally missed the boat.

FWIW, she did give the couple some good advice — move to a less expensive part of the country, mom needs to get a part time job with health benefits, get a life insurance policy for the breadwinner hubby, and more.  I just think she dished out a generous portion of incorrect psycho-babble with it.

I’m feeling rather opinionated today, so here are my proclamations on the right way (aka my way) of doing certain things.

Toilet Paper should be hung on the roller with the end on the front of the roll.

Silverware should be placed in the dishwasher so that no two pieces are in the same compartment facing in the same direction.  (In other words, if you absolutely MUST put two teaspoons in the same compartment of the silverware basket, one should be up and the other should be down.)

Groceries should be placed on the conveyor belt at check out in the following order:  frozen –> refrigerated –> produce –> fragile items (like bread or potato chips) –> all other food items –> non-food items.

Paper Clips should be separated by size.  The big jumbo size paper clips can’t intermingle with the smaller number ones.

Christmas Tree Lights should be clear.  Period.

I got a new spice rack this week and it is absolutely wonderful! I previously owned a 12-jar spice rack, but found two major problems with it. One, I own more than 12 spices (and as I try new recipes, the number keeps creeping upward). Two, the pretty glass jars that came with that rack hold slightly less than the bottles I buy at the grocery store… which meant that I had a full jar on the spice rack and a mostly-but-not-quite empty jar on the counter next to it.

A couple of months ago, I ran across this spice rack, which I thought might be an answer to my spice rack dilemma. However, I just couldn’t bring myself to spend $30-35 on a plastic box. Then I found some discount codes and a free shipping deal, and I bought it.

It is the most wonderful thing to ever grace my kitchen! This spice rack holds 27 full-size or 54 half-size bottles, yet the entire cabinet is just 8″H x 11″W x 10¾”D. It barely takes up more room than my old rack! Definitely worth every penny!