Ouch!

[bluesilverkdg]

Yesterday I filled up my tank at $3.67 a gallon. Today when I went out, it was up to $3.89. That is beyond ridiculous. I guess we're determined to reach that $4 mark in all parts of the country, eh? (Yes, I know some of you are already there, and I feel for you.)

I hope to make that tank of gas last for as long as humanly possible. Working mostly from home is helping this, but I've become much more aware of my travel patterns and try to only go where I need to, not where I want to, and that really, really sucks, because I love driving and going places. Bah. I was just remembering the good old days, when gas was less than a dollar a gallon. Ahh, nostalgia.

So, how much are you being gouged at the pump?

In other (happier) news, my mother had given me a rice cooker for a housewarming present when I moved. I'd never gotten around to trying it out until tonight. I made a lovely curried rice dish with slivered almonds and veggies for dinner. Mmmmmmmmmm! I'm contemplating some homemade rice pudding now. Such a domesticated little thing, she is. And hey, at least rice is still (relatively) cheap, although I hear that's likely to change. I've stocked up, for future use, just in case.

In not so happy news, I fear the onset of a migraine. I just realized, since I've moved the frequency and severity of my migraines have decreased significantly. My sleepwalking has also not been nearly as bad (which is good, as my bedroom is just steps away from the staircase.) But I do feel that nasty creeping headachiness that is moving to the left side of my head, so I'll be sedating myself shortly in hopes of nipping it in the bud (as Barney Fife would say.) After I make some rice pudding, that is.

Comments

[theldara.livejournal.com]

WTF with the gas. Geebus. Dave's on his way to Sam's right now with my V. Goodness knows what they've got gas up to. At this rate, you may save money with a Sam's membership, in gas purchases alone! (Kara would point out here - AND CHEESE!)

I remember 98c/gal gas. I was in my first semester of college, and it rocked.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

I used to have a Sam's membership when I had Dexter. I could get those pig's ear treats at an insane discount (they were half the price you'd pay anywhere else.) That alone paid for my membership.
Mom and dad have a Sam's card now, so whenever we're together, I'll usually fill up my tank.

When I was in high school and college in the '80s, gas was around a dollar a gallon. Then I remember in 1998, it being insanely cheap. That was the last time. :-/ I don't know that I've ever been so aware of gas prices. Well, I don't guess anyone really has.

Hah...I've had some of Kara's Sam's CHEESE! She had some sort of Mexican cheese that was really good.

[albinohognose.livejournal.com]

regular @ sam the shams is 3.79

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

That's the same as regular old Walmart. Sam's is usually cheaper. Meh.

[theldara.livejournal.com]

Blah. They were $3.51 last Saturday. It's insane that its going up so fast.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Yes it is. And I heard on the news tonight that it's likely to not get any better before next YEAR. Fantastic.

[nonspecific.livejournal.com]

Yeah, at some point in college... when I was working at Sagebrush, in the winter of... 1999? it got down to 88 cents a gallon in Bristol. I used to budget my paycheck for bills, the dollars for food and other, and the loose change for gas...

[i-beckygardens.livejournal.com]

I love my rice cooker. My kids and I use it often, maybe 4 or more times a week.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Yes! I plan to use mine a lot now that I've finally broken it in. I'd had it for over a month, and just never had bothered to try it. So glad she got it for me. My rice pudding is on as we speak. Have you ventured out and tried other recipes in yours?

[i-beckygardens.livejournal.com]

Not really, we eat tons of stirfry so I use steamed a lot

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

My rice pudding is cooking now and it smells divine. The scent is driving me crazy. My sedative is beginning to kick in and I need to go to bed, but I want to sample it before I go to bed!

I'm gonna do some stirfry soon, I think. I was impressed with the texture I got from the cooker.

[dda.livejournal.com]

I just filled my tank (which I do about once a week). Mr. Benz requires premium and it was...$4.06/gal. I spent $60! Last Saturday, it was $3.86, I think.

I'm very old so I remember my mother driving us to places and gas was...33¢; she bitched at the attendant (remember full service?) when it jumped from 32¢ to 33¢...

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Geeez. It was about $35 for mine, but I can do just regular gas, and it's not a terribly big tank. I used to be able to fill up easily for about $14.

I was not aware at all of gas prices when I was a kid (although I do remember sitting in line to get gas in the mid-'70s, in my mother's Pinto.) But I do remember full service. By the time I started driving, that had pretty much gone by the wayside though.

33 cents. Wow. What a dream. :-/

[theldara.livejournal.com]

You can still get full service in all of New Jersey. Customers aren't allowed to pump their own gas there.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Yes! So I've been told. (Long story...I'll tell you about it tomorrow night.)

[headbanger118.livejournal.com]

We're being gouged to the tune of $3.90/gallon. YIKES. I LOVED watching congress grill the big oil tycoons in hearings today. It's rare when I agree with a Dem congresswoman from CA.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's pretty much the same as here. Usually it's higher in NC, so I guess it could be "worse?"

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is just absolutely insane. I have a feeling we're not far behind you though.

[angelsmom.livejournal.com]

Nasty creeping headachiness...that's one thing I remember from the one migraine I had. It was a long sucker (3 days) and it just couldn't seem to find a comfortable place in my head. It was like the headache nomad...traveling from place to place until it found just right spot to get comfy and knock me right on my ass. And knock me on my ass it did. :-P

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Mine usually start out as a "normal" headache, which I had through most of yesterday. Then I feel it start to move to my left side. If I start feeling queasy, I know for sure it's a migraine. Fortunately, the one last night wasn't too bad and I was able to knock it out before it knocked ME out.

I wonder what caused you to have just one? Was there something that precipitated it?

[angelsmom.livejournal.com]

I still don't know. Wasn't on medication, nothing all that stressful was going on, and it did start out as just a bad headache. Tried Tylenol, Advil, resorted to Tylenol3, nothing worked. And all I wanted to do was lay in a dark room and mope. Didn't know that migraines made one throw up until then either. That's what make me realize just what it was.

[samuraigrrrl.livejournal.com]

it's really evil of me, i am sure, but i love nothing more than watching the soccer moms who drive the big ford excursion things when they are filling up their tanks. boo hoo. you have a wee little car. and my volvo gets at least 28 mpg, better usually. i know it hurts a bit, but really, we shouldn't be driving so much anyway.

i JUST bought myself an electric steamer. i haven't cooked a thing in it, but cannot wait to use it for fresh from the garden veggies. i also bought the cookbook, "cooking with steam" by stephanie lyness to go with it. i mean, i am sure that it makes some mean rice, but with recipes for things like "kasha-stuffed turkey cutlets with zucchini"... who wants rice?! :P

sending no migraine mojo your way.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Oh, it's not evil at all! Hello...who buys a car that gets three miles to the gallon when gas is so insane? And it's not like it's a recent development...it's been creeping up for years!

The Saturn gets about 35ish mpg on the interstate. Less in town, of course, but it still does pretty well. And you are correct, even though it does hurt a bit, cutting down on driving everywhere is a good thing to correct. I'm very lucky where I live here, I can walk to the bank, the grocery store, even to several restaurants. In Knoxville, I could walk easily to the post office and library, and often did. I would've never thought to do that a few years ago!

I can't wait to have fresh garden veggies for my steamer! Yummmm.
OK, what is kasha? I am not familiar.


The migraine was blessedly not so bad. Whew! Maybe your mojo worked. ;-P

[samuraigrrrl.livejournal.com]

i wasn't familiar either. it is a recipe in the book and it just sounded so wonderful. what it actually is does not sound so amazing. apparently it is barley groat. groat?! see, not so appealing, right? now i should find out what the heck groat actually is! ;)

glad the migraine wasn't bad.

[samuraigrrrl.livejournal.com]

oops. kasha is specifically buckwheat groats, not barley. though the term groats can refer to the hulled and crushed grains of various cereals, such as oats, wheat, barley or buckwheat. hmm.

[darcyzero.livejournal.com]

yay... it's time for me to get a migraine as well. I know that the way I've felt the last week or so it'll be a bad one. I also have an insane craving for mexican food which I know will make me so sick. ugh..... Hope this isn't a really bad one for you.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

This wasn't even my normal one. I was just fortunate enough to get a random one. Yay.

I told you how I'll crave foods that I normally wouldn't eat, and then immediately go throw them up? I'm craving BBQ sauce today like nobody's business. Not actual barbecue mind you...just the sauce. Bleh.

Hope you get through it unscathed. :-/

[darcyzero.livejournal.com]

yuck. :(

I'm craving mexican food.

I think tomorrow is gonna be a bad day for me. I'm going to party tonight, probably drink too much, and eat tons of horrible mad food that will just make me sick. Oh well, I know what I'm getting into!

Don't give in to the craving, unless you want to get sick! bleh... :(

[seraaalicious.livejournal.com]

When I filled up on Sunday, it was $3.69 in Plano, TX.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

That's about what it was here over the weekend. It's jumped like 20-30 cents in the past few days. Ridiculous.

[tnrkitect.livejournal.com]

You know my opinion on gas. Get used to it.

(If you need a refresher, check out the energy posts I link to in my profile)

FYI, I have 'net access from the new house. I am posting right now sitting on the floor in the hall way. :-)

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes...I know. :-/

Do you have legal 'net access? :-P Hah...I can picture you sitting there in the floor, like Snoopy! So, how's the move coming? Let me know when you get the housewarming date set for sure, and I hope to come! I will be back in Knoxville around the beginning of June, so I will try to stop by and see what progress you've made. :-)

[tnrkitect.livejournal.com]

Yes, it is legal. In fact, it is twice the speed for less money. :-) AT&T wanted to keep me as a customer, so they offered to let me double the speed on my DSL to 1.5M for $38/mo. and not be required to have a voice line.

We are almost finished painting the kitchen, (having already completed the bedroom and dressing room to the point we want for now - ie. primered and ready for the final color) at which point we will be able to move the last of our stuff over and be here full time. We hope to accomplish the painting by this evening, and maybe even the moving of stuff.
But realistically, we will most likely move the last of the stuff tomorrow.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

I have heard of those. Willie Nelson's wife drives one! I heard a segment on NPR about it. I just wonder though, would you smell like French fries all the time after you'd been driving?

[angline.livejournal.com]

I hope your "Rice Cooker" is one of the easy clean ones like mine. Just wipe it out, then wash. I Love mine!! Have a great week end, even if we can not afford to go anywhere!! Gas ($4.09 here)

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

It is actually not that easy to clean, unfortunately. The material is sort of thin, and it sticks like crazy. I had to let it soak overnight after I made the pudding. Ah well. It tasted good.

I plan to have an awesome weekend. Having some friends over for dinner and games tomorrow night, then family stuff for the rest of the holiday. You do the same!

[easybeef.livejournal.com]

$3.99 here. It's horrible. I try to make a tank stretch between trips to Roanoke, because it's the only place I really *travel* to out of necessity and gas is always 30 cents cheaper there. Luckilly, I work 1.5 miles from my house so a tank can stretch 3 weeks usually.

My mom works from home and has planned her trips like you describe for a long time now. Before it was just efficiency but with gas like it is ya can't afford not to.

I'm so sorry about the migraine *hugs*

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

It wasn't too bad, thankfully. Perhaps everyones' good wishes kept it away. ;-)

How close do you live to Roanoake? I've been BY it so many times, but I don't think I've ever actually stopped. Used to be, when I'd plan trips to Erwin, I'd fill up there, because it was cheaper, but now it's about the same everywhere in east TN.

[simplylaura.livejournal.com]

$3.89 here, too, unless that changed overnight. Which is entirely possible ><.

[pfy.livejournal.com]

It's not gouging. It's getting expensive because there's simply not enough oil to go around any more. The amount of new oil discovered has been falling for decades, and I honestly can't see things getting better until we stop using so much of the stuff. Given that our whole society has been built on the assumption that there will always be plenty of oil for essential stuff like transport, plastics, chemicals, construction, and so on, that is going to be one hell of a painful transition. I'm expecting prices - not just fuel prices, prices in general - to go a lot, LOT higher before this is over.

Converted to $ per US gallon, the price here is $8.50. There are people calling for our government to cut taxes on fuel. I fear they might just be stupid and self-serving enough to do it.