As most of you know, I have a PT Cruiser. I went from a high-top van (great for family, but horrible on gas) to my little PT. We bought this knowing that our days of hauling kids around to dance lessons or camp were behind us. I have never, ever looked backward and wished I had the old van back.
When I go to the gas station, a $20.00 bill will generally be enough gas to take me around for about a week. If I have to go downtown or somewhere off my beaten path, then I have to ante up a bit more.
I was really low on gas and was going to dinner and then downtown to see a show, so I knew I was going to have to stop to get gas. Bob was home when I was leaving and asked why I was leaving so early. When I told him I had to stop for gas, he very generously gave me $40.00 and told me to fill up. My momma didn't raise no fool, I took his cash, knowing full well that my little car would only hold $30.00 worth of gas, and kissed him on his pointed little head.
I pulled into the station and went inside to pay. I paid for $30.00 and then I then came out and began pumping my gas.
All was well until the pump kicked off at $28.00. I didn't want to go back inside and argue with them to get my 2 bucks back and I am too cheap to let them keep my 2 bucks, so I put my knee on the back bumper of my car and began rocking my car. Now, this is a trick that I have known about forever. It simply allows any bubbles to pop from the gas and/or allows the gas to fill every nook and cranny of the gas tank. Bottom line is that you can get more gas into your tank. As I was rocking and squeezing off pennies of gas, I noticed a car had pulled up behind me. This rocking process takes a minute or two, so the car behind me got tired of waiting and pulled into the bay next to me. The car was a fairly new PT cruiser. The driver got out and looked at me for a moment. I thought, "Holy crap, she is gonna go off on me for taking so long!!" She walked up to me and said "Excuse me, I just got my PT Cruiser today and was watching you fill your car with gas. Why are you jumping up and down on the bumper?" My first thought was, "Wait a darned minute, I was not jumping up and down on the bumper like some monkey, are you really that old of a lady that you don't know the difference between jumping and rocking?" Then I noticed that she was about my age, so I amended my thought to "This sweet young thing has led a sheltered life and does not know the difference between jumping and gently rocking." Anyway, I launch into my answer..."Well, you see, my sweet husband gave me money for gas and I want to get every penny of gas I can from his money." She looked at me like I was crazy so I felt the need to expound on the answer..." You know when it is your money, when the pump stops, no big deal, but when your hubby gives you money for gas, you want to get the most bang for his buck, get it?" She had a strange look on her face but said "OH,I thought it was something that the dealer had forgotten to tell me about the mechanics of the car. Thank You".
I felt so good knowing that I had helped out a fellow woman...that is until I was driving down the road, replaying the whole conversation, and realized that the entire time she was responding to me, she was slowly backing up to the safety of her car. You sure meet some strange people these days...I meant her....NOT me!
By the way, I was able to squeeze off almost all of the $30.00 pre-pay. I donated less than 10 cents and because Bob gave me $40.00 for gas, I made 10 bucks off the whole deal. I would say that it was a pretty profitable day.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Just some seepage
I normally don't just blog without some sort of event to talk about..but there is always a first time.
Here are some things that have been rambling around in my head that I feel the need to share.
A. June 3rd, we had a valve stick on our washer and flooded our home. Now mind you, not all of the house was flooded (thank goodness), but half of our house was. The office, guest room, hall, laundry room, guest bath, the other guest room and part of the main hall was under water.
We had a water extraction/carpet cleaning company come out and spend over 3 hours sucking out the water, cutting out the wet padding and setting up fans under the carpet to dry them out. It is now June 17th and we are no closer to getting our home back in order than we were on the 3rd. While insurance is great, sometimes they are awfully slow.
B. Bob broke a tooth yesterday and has a temp crown. He has to go back in one month to get it fixed permanently.
C. Since I work at a school, summer is the time for me to relax, take care of things that are too hard to do during the school year. However, so far this summer, I have accomplished absolutely nothing.
So.....Here is a list of things that I want to do this summer.
1--Get our home back in order.
2--Get the garage back to being a garage.
3--Finish at least half of my sewing projects.
4--Get Bob to finish all of the sewing projects I have planned for him.
5--Lose 100 pounds (ok, maybe that is a stretch, but at least lose some weight)
6--Get all of those "have to" doctor appointments out of the way
7--Learn how to make single serving Wine-a-Ritas.
8--Go on a trip with Bob.
9--Get my flag pole rehung
10--Relax and get ready for the 10-11 school year.
If any of you feel the urge to help me complete some of the above items, let me know. :-) But I will keep all of you up to date on the progress that I make.
Cindy
Here are some things that have been rambling around in my head that I feel the need to share.
A. June 3rd, we had a valve stick on our washer and flooded our home. Now mind you, not all of the house was flooded (thank goodness), but half of our house was. The office, guest room, hall, laundry room, guest bath, the other guest room and part of the main hall was under water.
We had a water extraction/carpet cleaning company come out and spend over 3 hours sucking out the water, cutting out the wet padding and setting up fans under the carpet to dry them out. It is now June 17th and we are no closer to getting our home back in order than we were on the 3rd. While insurance is great, sometimes they are awfully slow.
B. Bob broke a tooth yesterday and has a temp crown. He has to go back in one month to get it fixed permanently.
C. Since I work at a school, summer is the time for me to relax, take care of things that are too hard to do during the school year. However, so far this summer, I have accomplished absolutely nothing.
So.....Here is a list of things that I want to do this summer.
1--Get our home back in order.
2--Get the garage back to being a garage.
3--Finish at least half of my sewing projects.
4--Get Bob to finish all of the sewing projects I have planned for him.
5--Lose 100 pounds (ok, maybe that is a stretch, but at least lose some weight)
6--Get all of those "have to" doctor appointments out of the way
7--Learn how to make single serving Wine-a-Ritas.
8--Go on a trip with Bob.
9--Get my flag pole rehung
10--Relax and get ready for the 10-11 school year.
If any of you feel the urge to help me complete some of the above items, let me know. :-) But I will keep all of you up to date on the progress that I make.
Cindy
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Oklahoma Wine Fest
On Saturday, June 12th, 2010, we loaded up in our car and headed off to two of Oklahoma's Wine Fests. The first was held in Stroud, Oklahoma.
We lucked out on the weather as it was overcast and windy. When the wind stopped blowing it, was hotter than a firecracker, but in the wind it was fairly comfortable. Stroud had the majority of their main street blocked off with vendors running smack dab down the middle of the street. Each of us had to pay $10.00 to participate in the tastings. You got a wine glass also. There were about 6 wine booths and several arts and craft booths. Sparks winery is one of our very favorites and we were thrilled to find them there. We sampled their new peach wine and bought all of the famous blackberry wine that he had. They were also sampling their new margarita wine-a-rita's made with wine. Oh My Goodness, they were awesome! Have you ever heard of chocolate wine? It is pretty good too. I will most certainly attend this wine fest next year. It was their first year running it and it was so well done, that next year will be great. Don't get me wrong, it was well worth the trip this time.
We ate lunch there and Bob and I had Cajun fried fish. DJ and Jeff had Pizza. We left Stroud and ventured to Chandler, where we heard they were having trading days. When we arrived in Chandler, we discovered they were having a carnival and since we had no small children with us (and we were on the wine hunt), we proceeded to Drumright for their wine fest.
Drumright was a huge disappointment in that they only have 5 wine booths and about the same number of craft places. The cost of this festival was $12.00, again a wine glass was included. As the fest was set up in a park, there was no electricity available, thus there were no wine-a-rita machines running. We didn't stay there long, but decided to go to Tidal School winery in search of a chocolate wine that was brandy based. We were told it was great.
This is a picture of Tidal School Winery in Drumright. It is an old school that has been converted into a winery/special event center. While it is certainly worth the trip to go one time, it is not the most friendly place in the world. They charge $5.00 for a taste of their wine. By the way, the Chocolate wine was nasty and I was trying to find water to wash my mouth out. They have vineyards behind the winery that are really pretty.
We ate at a place directly across the street from the winery...Josephs. It is very similar to Jamils or Eddies in OKC. Let me tell you something, this was the highlight of the entire day. The service, food and atmosphere was unreal. Bob and Jeff had the Big Filet's, DJ had the grilled shrimp and I had the beef kabob. All of us had salads, tabbouleh, hummus, bologna and bar-b-que ribs. The steaks were cooked to perfection, nice and tender. The tabbouleh was fresh and firm. The hummus was great. The waitstaff was attentive and joined in our joking and having a good time. The guys had a fresh pot of iced tea and never ran short of drinks. We got to laughing so hard, at one point, that I had tears running down my face. This place was worth the drive and we will be making a return trip.
It was a great day with great friends. Can't wait until our next adventure.
We lucked out on the weather as it was overcast and windy. When the wind stopped blowing it, was hotter than a firecracker, but in the wind it was fairly comfortable. Stroud had the majority of their main street blocked off with vendors running smack dab down the middle of the street. Each of us had to pay $10.00 to participate in the tastings. You got a wine glass also. There were about 6 wine booths and several arts and craft booths. Sparks winery is one of our very favorites and we were thrilled to find them there. We sampled their new peach wine and bought all of the famous blackberry wine that he had. They were also sampling their new margarita wine-a-rita's made with wine. Oh My Goodness, they were awesome! Have you ever heard of chocolate wine? It is pretty good too. I will most certainly attend this wine fest next year. It was their first year running it and it was so well done, that next year will be great. Don't get me wrong, it was well worth the trip this time.
We ate lunch there and Bob and I had Cajun fried fish. DJ and Jeff had Pizza. We left Stroud and ventured to Chandler, where we heard they were having trading days. When we arrived in Chandler, we discovered they were having a carnival and since we had no small children with us (and we were on the wine hunt), we proceeded to Drumright for their wine fest.
Drumright was a huge disappointment in that they only have 5 wine booths and about the same number of craft places. The cost of this festival was $12.00, again a wine glass was included. As the fest was set up in a park, there was no electricity available, thus there were no wine-a-rita machines running. We didn't stay there long, but decided to go to Tidal School winery in search of a chocolate wine that was brandy based. We were told it was great.
This is a picture of Tidal School Winery in Drumright. It is an old school that has been converted into a winery/special event center. While it is certainly worth the trip to go one time, it is not the most friendly place in the world. They charge $5.00 for a taste of their wine. By the way, the Chocolate wine was nasty and I was trying to find water to wash my mouth out. They have vineyards behind the winery that are really pretty.
We ate at a place directly across the street from the winery...Josephs. It is very similar to Jamils or Eddies in OKC. Let me tell you something, this was the highlight of the entire day. The service, food and atmosphere was unreal. Bob and Jeff had the Big Filet's, DJ had the grilled shrimp and I had the beef kabob. All of us had salads, tabbouleh, hummus, bologna and bar-b-que ribs. The steaks were cooked to perfection, nice and tender. The tabbouleh was fresh and firm. The hummus was great. The waitstaff was attentive and joined in our joking and having a good time. The guys had a fresh pot of iced tea and never ran short of drinks. We got to laughing so hard, at one point, that I had tears running down my face. This place was worth the drive and we will be making a return trip.
It was a great day with great friends. Can't wait until our next adventure.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Rain, A tribute to the Beatles Review
Tuesday night, a friend and I attended opening night of Rain, A Tribute to the Beatles. I knew very little about this show, but as it was part of Celebrity Attractions Broadway season, I anticipated that it was going to be a campy and cheesy. Probably just a group of guys attempting to sing Beatle songs.
Boy, was I every wrong.
Before the show even started, we were sitting in our seats playing Beatle trivia on 2 huge screen TVs on either side of the stage.
Then the Civic Center went dark, and the screens became black and white TV's with a Ed Sullivan impersonator introducing the Beatles to his stage. The curtain opened and there were 4 guys dressed as the Beatles singing. I need to tell you that while they are dressed to look like the Beatles and they sound like the Beatles, don't kid yourself...Paul is not standing on that stage. (sigh) The big screens constantly showed images of news reels of the crowds waiting for the Beatles to come off airplanes or at Shea Stadium. However, no pictures of the real Beatles were ever shown. All to the posters, photos etc were of the Rain performers. Rain had the audience standing and singing during the first half of the show more than once.
While the crowd never got to the level of a true Beatle concert, the atmosphere changed after intermission. The audience participation was greater and we stood most of the 2nd half. We sang out loud, clapped and swayed to the music.
This was a great show/concert and one that I would see again in a heartbeat. I forgot how much I enjoyed the Beatles when I was growing up and have found myself searching for Beatle songs to listen to since the show.
If you get a chance, run...don't walk...to get tickets to see Rain.
Boy, was I every wrong.
Before the show even started, we were sitting in our seats playing Beatle trivia on 2 huge screen TVs on either side of the stage.
Then the Civic Center went dark, and the screens became black and white TV's with a Ed Sullivan impersonator introducing the Beatles to his stage. The curtain opened and there were 4 guys dressed as the Beatles singing. I need to tell you that while they are dressed to look like the Beatles and they sound like the Beatles, don't kid yourself...Paul is not standing on that stage. (sigh) The big screens constantly showed images of news reels of the crowds waiting for the Beatles to come off airplanes or at Shea Stadium. However, no pictures of the real Beatles were ever shown. All to the posters, photos etc were of the Rain performers. Rain had the audience standing and singing during the first half of the show more than once.
While the crowd never got to the level of a true Beatle concert, the atmosphere changed after intermission. The audience participation was greater and we stood most of the 2nd half. We sang out loud, clapped and swayed to the music.
This was a great show/concert and one that I would see again in a heartbeat. I forgot how much I enjoyed the Beatles when I was growing up and have found myself searching for Beatle songs to listen to since the show.
If you get a chance, run...don't walk...to get tickets to see Rain.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
I pray for you
I was listening to CMT last week and they played a video/song that I have fallen in love with. I feel compelled to share this with you. It was written by Jaron Lowenstein and Joel Brentlinger. It is sung by Jaron Lowenstein. Read thru the whole thing and I will give you my take on it at the end of the blog.
I haven't been to church since I don't remember when
Things were going great til they fell apart again
So I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do
He said you can't go hatin' others who have done wrong to you
Sometimes we get angry but we must not condemn
I pray your brakes go out runnin' down a hill
I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill
and knocks you in the head like I'd like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you're flyin high when your engine fails
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are, honey, I pray for you.
I'm really glad I found my way to church
Cause I'm already feeling better and I thank God for the words
Yeah, I'm gonna take the high road and do what the preacher told me to
You keep messsin up, and I'll deep prayin' for you
I'm prayin' your tire goes out at 110
I pray you pass out drunk with your best friend
and wake up with his and her tatoos
I pray your brakes go out runnin' down a hill
I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill
and knocks you in the head likd I'd like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you're flyin' high when your engine fails
I pray all your dreams near come true
Just know wherever you are, near or far
In your house or in your car
Wherever you are, honey, I pray for you
I pray for you
OK, I nearly fell off the sofa laughing so hard at the video. I used the DVR to go back and forth to watch and listen several times. Then I got to thinking...each and every one of us have thought, basically, these very same thoughts. But, almost instantly, we have felt bad and just gone on. Wouldn't it be more healthy for us, if we just learned this little song and sang it in our heads? I don't know a bout you, but I am going to memorize this little ditty.
I haven't been to church since I don't remember when
Things were going great til they fell apart again
So I listened to the preacher as he told me what to do
He said you can't go hatin' others who have done wrong to you
Sometimes we get angry but we must not condemn
I pray your brakes go out runnin' down a hill
I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill
and knocks you in the head like I'd like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you're flyin high when your engine fails
I pray all your dreams never come true
Just know wherever you are, honey, I pray for you.
I'm really glad I found my way to church
Cause I'm already feeling better and I thank God for the words
Yeah, I'm gonna take the high road and do what the preacher told me to
You keep messsin up, and I'll deep prayin' for you
I'm prayin' your tire goes out at 110
I pray you pass out drunk with your best friend
and wake up with his and her tatoos
I pray your brakes go out runnin' down a hill
I pray a flower pot falls from a window sill
and knocks you in the head likd I'd like to
I pray your birthday comes and nobody calls
I pray you're flyin' high when your engine fails
I pray all your dreams near come true
Just know wherever you are, near or far
In your house or in your car
Wherever you are, honey, I pray for you
I pray for you
OK, I nearly fell off the sofa laughing so hard at the video. I used the DVR to go back and forth to watch and listen several times. Then I got to thinking...each and every one of us have thought, basically, these very same thoughts. But, almost instantly, we have felt bad and just gone on. Wouldn't it be more healthy for us, if we just learned this little song and sang it in our heads? I don't know a bout you, but I am going to memorize this little ditty.
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