Sickening Or Inspirational? You Decide.

Don't forget Try It Tuesday will begin next Tuesday - write your post today!

As I write this, sitting here at the computer in my sleeping pants and bare feet (the only thing that could possibly make me sound any LAZIER is if I was eating some chocolate and had not showered. I am clean, but mmmmm....chocolate), I can hear my husband RUNNING ON THE TREADMILL downstairs. RUNNING. RRRRUUUUNNNNIIIINNNNGGG. Can you stand it?

He decided he needed to lose some weight so he cut back on his eating and started walking on our treadmill again. Simple. The other night I heard him down there (I was not sitting in my recliner watching "Steel Magnolias" and eating some ice cream. OK. I was.) and it actually sounded like he was running instead of walking. So I asked him when he came upstairs in his gym shorts and t-shirt drenched in sweat. And yep. He was RUNNING. On the treadmill.

Let me just share with you that I HAVE WALKED on the treadmill this summer. Yes I have. Once. One time. And now that I think about it, that's actually quite a bit more embarrassing than not walking on it at all. Because one time sounds. Pretty darn lame.

I think I need some chocolate. Or possibly some ice cream.

Or both.

Check out my Herald-Leader post this morning: On The Patio At Merrick Inn

No, I Did Not Get That Cake In A Bakery. But I'm SO GLAD You Think So.

I had a little soiree the other night and I said I would provide the dessert so I started thinking about what I could make that would totally WOW everyone.

And I had a vision. A culinary vision, if you will. Although culinary is not really a word we throw around much at our house. At our house, it's mostly like "What's for dinner?".
"Uh. Something with chicken."
And my husband will TOTALLY recognize that conversation.

But I had a vision. A vision that included a lemon cake with homemade butter cream frosting and some sort of cherry/lemon slices flowers on the top. Once it was made (and photographed, duh), I looked at it and thought how truly fabulous it was and I wondered if anyone at the party would think I had bought it instead of making it myself.

Dude.

Half the party guests thought I bought it.

Well. Look at it. Is that not TRULY FABULOUS?

I thought so.

Just in case you would like to duplicate the fabulousness, buy a lemon cake mix and frost it with this:

Butter Cream Frosting Recipe

1 lb. confectionery sugar
1/4 lb. (1/2 Cup) butter
1/8 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
3-4 T. milk
Cream 1/3 of the sugar with the butter and salt in a large bowl. Blend vanilla, 2 T. milk and remaining sugar into mixture. Gradually stir remaining milk into mixture until spreadable.
(I substituted lemon juice for some of the milk to make the icing taste like lemon.)

Dear Tom, (Again)

Well, I kind of forgot to remind you about Try It Tuesday yesterday (first day back to work) and I don't actually have a graphic yet, so let's plan on that for next Tuesday, OK? Do you have your post written yet on something new and fabulous you have discovered? Then you are good to sign up for Mr. Linky next Tuesday. See you then.

Oh, my dear. Have you not learned that when you SCREW UP, it's going to end up the World Wide Interweb?

Readers. Don't you agree that the person who uses the LAST Q-TIP should probably throw the box away and tell someone? Instead of leaving the empty box in the linen closet?

I knew you would agree.



Check my new Herald-Leader post today: Next I'm Going To Fix A Mess Of Collard Greens

I Really Don't Know If You Can Stand How COOL I Truly Am

You might think you are pretty cool. And that you are a PRETTY COOL blogger. But your coolness PALES in comparison to mine. You are like one of those teeny, tiny dorm refrigerators compared to my huge, large, put-it-in-the-garage it is so big freezer coolness. You are like...OK, I guess you get it.

Look up at my url address way up there at the top of the screen. Do you see that little shoe? Do you? That is my blogicon. And I am so very pleased with it. (it may take a minute or so to pop up)

I knew I had to have one the first time I saw one over at The Secret Is In The Sauce so I went to visit Rock Starr Mom and she made me one! Just like that! No time at all! And only $10. I think she is my new best friend.

If you want to attempt to attain my level of coolness, go visit her. And you will have one too. But you will never be as cool as me. Because. Well. That's just NOT POSSIBLE.

For Fun Friday - July 25, 2008

How fast can you type the alphabet? About 8 seconds was as fast as I could get.

http://playfreeonlinegames.eu/playonline/typethealphabet.html

Here's a video site, like youtube, only for teachers. There are some great teaching tools here.

http://www.teachertube.com/

If this is accurate, I wonder what cell phones are doing to your brain.

http://www.koreus.com/video/telephone-portable-mais-popcorn.html

And just something to brighten your day.

Don’t kiss your honey

When your nose is runny

You may think it’s funny…

…but it’s snot.

I Went To The Pool For The First Time This Summer

I can't believe last week was the first time I have been to the pool this summer. I gave up my YMCA membership last year when I realized I was paying about $45 a month to basically drive by it every now and then and think about how I should be exercising, so I didn't have access to a pool unless I went to the public pool. Which I just never got around to doing.

I finally made plans with my son to swim at his apartment pool for the afternoon last week. It was very, very hot and the water was blue and clear and cool and lovely. There is nothing quite as wonderful as jumping into the crisp, clean water of a pool when you are really hot. When I jumped in, I realized it was the first time all summer. And as I floated on my back with the sun creating a reddish haze on my closed eyelids and the sound of my breathing echoing in my ears under the water, I wondered why I had waited so long. Life got in the way, I guess.

I won't let that happen again.

Check my Herald-Leader blog post today at: On The Patio At The Regatta

My Carbon Footprint Is WAY Too Large

That's my CARBON footprint, not my regular footprint because my feet are really very nice and pretty and dainty, thank you very much. Hence the shoe obsession. Which is not the same at all as a shoe fetish. One is simply stylish while the other is. Well. Weird.

So, my carbon footprint. I am guilty of leaving a larger one than I should. We keep our house cool in the summer and warm in the winter. I have been known to drive somewhere just FOR FUN. And I used plastic grocery bags. I say USED because look!

I bought these the other day. I bought two to see how I liked them, thinking I would buy more later and I TOTALLY need to go buy a dozen more because I LOVE THEM. LOVE THEM. Not only do they easily hold more groceries, they don't tear at an inopportune moment and I don't end up with dozens and dozens of plastic bags which can take up to 1,000 YEARS to break down in a landfill. Which makes me feel a little guilty about my great-great-great - OK, insert about ten greats here - grandchildren.

When I first got home with them, my container of watermelon pieces had tipped and spilled watermelon juice in the bag and I was horrified - my new grocery store tote bags! My fabulous, help heal the hole in the ozone layer, tote bags! But then I found that the bottom piece of the bag comes right out, I rinsed it off and we were good go.

When I went to the grocery the other day, I tried to buy more but they only had some black ones from a different company, which would TOTALLY not match my blue Kroger ones, so of course I had to wait until I could get to a store with more blue ones. Because, even though I am all about saving the planet and all, I do have an image to uphold as a fashionista and that image does not include grocery tote bags that DO NOT MATCH. I shudder at the thought.

You also get a rebate when you use these bags. It's only 5 cents, but it's better than those plastic shopping bags which are reproducing in my pantry as we speak. Seriously. Every time I open that door, I swear there are more of them.

So, grocery store tote bags. That's what works for me. Now I just have to remember to take them with me when I go to the grocery. And I will remember to put them in my truck just as soon as I remember where I left the keys.

Go to this site to see how many plastic bags your family uses in a year. It's scary.

Pop-Tarts On The Patio. With Butter. Of Course.

I went outside this morning to take a bag of recyclables and realized it was quite cool and lovely out there. And I was getting ready to make some Pop-Tarts for breakfast. With a cold Diet Mountain Dew.

Because that is, of course, a TOTALLY healthy breakfast.

So I decided to eat it out here. And it was lovely. Quite, quite lovely.

I love summer.

Check out my Herald-Leader blog post this morning: I Have A Lump In My Breast

Mrs. Who's White Elephant Giveaway Heads For The Elephant Graveyard

Yes, the White Elephant Giveaway has died. It died a peaceful, quiet death and absolutely no tusks were extracted for their ivory.

When I started the Giveaway, it was because I was always finding cute, interesting and cheap things at Goodwill for which I wanted to find a good home. And, not incidentally, I hoped it would bring in some new readers.

But, just recently, when I was in Goodwill holding a truly hideous green ceramic frog and actually contemplating buying it because I had nothing in the house for the Giveaway even though it was (did I mention?) truly hideous, I realized the White Elephant Giveaway had become an onerous chore instead of a fun excuse to shop and it was at that point that it died a quick and painless death.

I still wanted to do something fun each week, something that would be quick and easy, bring in tons of new readers and for which someone would pay me a substantial amount of money.

As soon as you figure out what that is, would you email me?

In the meantime, I have come up with "Try It Tuesday".

This was a no-brainer. I like to shop, I like to try new stuff and I like to write about it. So, I thought I would sponsor a weekly blog carnival where other bloggers can also write about the cool stuff they have found, sign up with Mr. Linky and share our bounteous shopping experiences. What could be better? Well. Possibly if we could TRY ON the new shoes you bought, that would be better. But this will have to do.

So. Start thinking about what you have bought recently - clothes, shoes, cleaning products, food items, cosmetics, whatever. Write a blog post about it. And be ready to sign up, hopefully, next Tuesday. I'll put more specific information up next Monday, so you can be ready. If you don't have a blog, you can check back for great ideas to try. On Tuesday. See the alliteration?

I have my resident graphic artist extraordinaire working on a graphic for me and I have high hopes that she will generate her usual fabulous design. And there will be much oohing and aahing. And life will be good.

Sorry about the elephant.

Check back for the new stuff posts.

Because I KNOW you like to shop. Or you wouldn't be reading this blog. And you KNOW you have always wanted to sign up with Mr. Linky.

For Fun Friday July 18, 2008

I REALLY didn't want to list this site since my sister-in-law said her age was 19 and mine was...a little older. But she has a good memory and I have, well. None. When you go to the site, it will count down 1,2,3, then you have to remember the numbers that come up, in the correct order. Let me know how you do.

http://flashfabrica.com/f_learning/brain/brain.html

How much caffeine does it take to kill you? Glad to hear I could eat over 3,000 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups before I kicked the big one.

http://www.energyfiend.com/death-by-caffeine

This just goes to show that nothing is every forgotten on the Internet. This site will show you old web sites.

http://web.archive.org/collections/web.html And what is really funny? Look at the original Google. If we had only invested in Google stock back then... http://web.archive.org/web/19981111183552/google.stanford.edu/

One Word Meme

Hey I'm a guest blogger! Check it out.

Here's a Meme for you. And it's not as easy as you might think. Answer each question with a one word answer. Thanks to SAHMmy Says for this one. If you are reading and have a blog, you are tagged.


1. Where is your cell phone? Purse

2. Where is your significant other? Treadmill

3. Your hair? Wet

4. Your mother? Tired

5. Your father? Gone

6. Your favorite thing? Books

7. Your dream last night? Beach

8. Your dream/goal? Freelancer

9. The room you're in? Office

10. Your fear? Sharks

11. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Cruising

12. Where were you last night? TV

13. What you're not? Slim

14. Muffins? Chocolate

15. One of your wish list items? Slim

16. Where you grew up? Everywhere

17. The last thing you did? Bath

18. What are you wearing? Jammies

19. Your TV? Off

20. Your pet? None

21. Your computer? Dell

22 Your life? Perfect

23. Your mood? Relaxed

24. Missing someone? No

25. Your car? Hybrid

26. Something you're not wearing? Bra

27. Your summer? Fabulous

28. Your favorite color? Blue

29. When is the last time you laughed? Today

30. Last time you cried? Months

31. Who will resend this? Anyone!


Check out my Lexington Herald-Leader post today: Hall's On The River

The Greatest Invention Since. Well. Sliced Bread, I Guess.

Do you like clothes and shoes and make-up and jewelry? No? Then what are you doing reading this blog? Wait. That's a little rude. It's OK if you don't like that stuff. But you might not get terribly excited about this post. Although. I guess you can pretty much shop for anything at Wal-Mart, so, yeah, disregard that. And keep reading.

I have discovered the MOST fabulous new thing. You know I found that Wal-Mart has some really cute tops and darling shoes but I have stumbled on something even better. When I went to the Wal-Mart web site to see if they had just one more of the darling striped sweaters I wanted and needed with every beat of my heart, once I put the sweater in my online cart (they only had one color in my size - oh, the pain) it popped up with a message that said the item qualified for free shipping with "Site to Store". Well, I am all about the free shipping, so I read the fine print and, apparently, they just ship all your stuff to your local store and you stroll on down there and pick it up.

Huh. Well, that sounded pretty easy and pretty cool, so I clicked on it, sat back and waited for an email from them. Once I received my notification, I went to the store, stood in line at Customer Service for 10 minutes because I had not actually READ the email which said to go to the "Site to Store" desk, went to the correct location and PICKED UP MY PACKAGE. Well. That is just pretty fabulous.

Of course, I got home and some stuff did not work for one reason or another (the striped sweater was perfect) and all I had to do was TAKE IT BACK TO THE STORE. I didn't have to fill out a return slip, pack it back up, pay shipping, then wait for my refund. I went to Customer Service (yes, you go there for a return) and got my money back. Instantly. So supremely cool.

When I told my mom about this, she said "Oh, so it's kind of like ordering from the Penney's catalog and picking it up at the store?" Like people have been doing since 1963.

Oh. Well. Yeah, I guess. But this is, like, TOTALLY DIFFERENT. OK, not really. But sort of. I actually went to the Penney's site to check and, although they do ship, they don't offer to ship to the store. But they ship to your house. Which is TECHNICALLY even more convenient. But does not reinforce the theme of this post, so disregard that.

The advantage to shipping to your home is the convenience of walking out to your mailbox to get your new items but, as far as I'm concerned, that is outweighed by the advantage of being able to return things to the store because I invariably order something that does not work for one reason or another. And then I have to package it up, pay to mail it and send it back. Now, I can just take it to the store.

So, check it out and let me know what you think.

Can You BELIEVE It?

So, I went to Pensacola last week. It was fabulous. Fabulous, fabulous, fabulous. But I just can't believe how INCONVENIENT everything was.

I actually had to STEP OUT the door of my bedroom to really see the view. I could see it through the door. But I had to step out to really experience it. Can you believe it? STEP OUT. A whole step. What an inconvenience.

Then I actually had to WALK DOWN THE STAIRS to get to the beach. No elevator. No cabana boys to carry me as I reclined, sipping a frozen drink. Geez. SO. MUCH. WORK.

I had to cross a few yards of sand to get to the beach. A few yards. Can you believe it?

And I could actually see some people sharing our beach. I could SEE them sitting right near us. Well. Sort of near us. OK. They were not that close, but they were IN SIGHT. The nerve!

Sigh.

I managed to persevere. And it was all worth it. TOTALLY worth it. Just to see HIM play in the sand and dance in the waves.

I would have walked miles and miles and miles for that.

Maybe it wasn't QUITE so inconvenient after all.

Check out my Herald-Leader blog post today: Special Grandparent Books and sign up to win a free book!

Mrs. Who's White Elephant Blog Giveaway July 14, 2008

quitecontrary97 won the little green purse from last week. I'll be in contact.

Mrs. Who's White Elephant Blog Giveaway

White Elephant: Something of dubious or limited value (value being in the eye of the beholder)

For details about the FREE (Yes, FREE. No strings attached. Well. Except you do have to visit my blog.) White Elephant Blog Giveaway, just click here. Now, make a comment. You know you want to.

Remember those bright colored metal glasses that everyone used to drink out of? That got so cold and made the drink so delicious? Well, here are four little dessert cups made out that same metal in bright colors. How great would these be for ice cream? If you like them and want them, make a comment.

For Fun Friday - July 11, 2008

This is a supremely cool site where you can create a kaleidoscope. Just read the directions - I keep putting the pieces in the wrong place.

http://www.zefrank.com/byokal/kal2.html

Don't worry about zombies. There is something else you should fear much more. "Clever girl." (And what movie is that from?)

http://www.velociraptors.info/#

Great site for definitions - just type and the definition appears.

http://www.dictionary.hm/

Analyze your handwriting here.

http://tul.com/

Man, She Is GOING TO HIT THAT CAR...

I was driving home the other day and saw a wreck. Saw it actually happen right in front of my eyes. It wasn't bad. Nobody seemed to be hurt. But when something like that happens, it always reminds me of how FAST wrecks happen. In the blink of an eye.



I was pulling up to the intersection and the light was green and couple of car lengths ahead of me, two cars were just coming up to the intersection and a van made the turn right across the intersection in front of them. It happened fast but in my brain I was thinking "Oh, wow, that van should not have turned right then those cars are really close to the intersection Man I would not have turned in front of those cars I don't think they have time to get all the way across Oh." BAM.

They didn't have time to get all the way across. One of the cars made it but the other one slammed into the back of the van, spinning it completely around. The guy beside me and I were the next ones to arrive at the intersection and he pulled over and I pulled up and whipped out my cell phone but he beat me to it and I saw him walking to the vehicles, talking on his cell phone.

I hesitated but others were pulling around and the people were getting out of their van and everyone seemed OK, so I put my phone away and drove off also. An older woman and little girl got out of the van and the helpful guy was leaning in the car, talking to the driver. It seemed OK. I drove on, shaking my head at the woman who was not paying attention and caused the accident.

And then I thought two things. First, the woman in the van was an older woman with gray hair. The little girl had to be her granddaughter. And, second. I just realized that I was the NEXT VEHICLE AT THE INTERSECTION. The car in front of me was the one that hit her. If the person in the car in front of me had been driving slightly faster and I had been slightly closer to her, I would have been the one to hit the van. I had just dropped my grandson off at daycare. He could easily have been with me.

I was saved from hitting that van by about 20 seconds. 20 seconds. How your life can change so drastically, so terrifyingly in 20 seconds. Scary, isn't it?

This Takes As Much Commitment As My Marriage

My friend Maquel is a great cook. Well. Several of my friends are great cooks. But Maquel is the one who, when we went to her house for lunch one time, took some salad plates OUT OF THE REFRIGERATOR to put the salad on before she served it. She had chilled the salad plates. And I knew in that moment I was in the presence of a truly great cook. Because, y'all.

I have NEVER ONCE chilled the salad plates at my house. It takes all my energy to dump that salad out of the bag onto a plate straight out of the cupboard.

The last time I was at her house, she presented me with some friendship bread starter. It was in a big plastic bag and she handed it to me with a page-long list of instructions. I skimmed over it. Huh. Looked like I just had to kinda smush this bag of liquid ingredients once a day for a few days, then add some more stuff and make bread from it. How hard could this be?

I casually smushed the bag every day as the ingredients grew and fermented and then, when I took the paper down from the fridge to see how to make the bread, I realized I had screwed up. I was supposed to FEED this stuff on one of the days. Gah. I had not fed my starter! Just what kind of a cook was I? Well. A lazy one, obviously. This stuff was requiring quite a commitment. Even more than my marriage. Well. That's not PRECISELY true. I often have to do more than smush Tom once a day.

Now, I had to smush this bag every day AND take care of my husband. This was really taking up a lot of my time. But I managed. I fed the starter, smushed the bag AND took care of my husband. Who managed to contract some kind of virulent virus from our daughter and was laid up in bed for a few days. Smush the starter, take care of my husband. While trying to get ready to leave for Florida. Running errands, packing, doing laundry, getting my truck washed because I was the designated driver for the trip, smush the starter, take care of my husband.

In hindsight, I realize I could have just pitched the starter in the trash can. But then when Maquel asked how my bread was, I would have to tell her I had to give up and throw it way. Oh, the shame! The shame. I just couldn't face the pitying look she would have given me. The shaking of the head. The sighing.

So, I took care of that frakin' starter every single day.

Every. Single. Day.

And the I had to go to Florida and let it die. Because there is no way Tom was going to smush and feed that starter for me.

The shame.

13 Is NOT An Unlucky Number

Well, we are at "Da beech" as my grandson calls it and it is pretty darn fabulous. I would show you, but my camera and my laptop had a disagreement and the laptop won. It spurned the advances of the camera and refused to allow any penetration whatsoever.

Get your mind out of the gutter.


We have two beach houses right on the Gulf of Mexico on Santa Rosa Island at Pensacola and the sand is sugar-white, the water is pale green and navy blue, the sky is a hard, bright azure and all is right with the world.

There are 13 of us here in the two beach houses. One house is light blue and one is pink. We are making frequent treks the few feet between the two houses to visit, eat and share the wi-fi connection. Last night, we had a big cookout and had wonderful steaks cooked on the grill and played a board game together after dinner.

As we played, I looked around at my mom, who was born in Pensacola and has been bringing us to the beach since I was a baby, and my sister and brother and all the kids and my little blonde grandson whose hair is turning blonder every day in the hot sun and thought "13 is not an unlucky number. It's a lucky number. The luckiest number IN THE WORLD."

Mrs. Who's White Elephant Blog Giveaway July 7, 2008

Vicki won the little angel from last week.

Mrs. Who's White Elephant Blog Giveaway

White Elephant: Something of dubious or limited value (value being in the eye of the beholder)

For details about the FREE (Yes, FREE. No strings attached. Well. Except you do have to visit my blog.) White Elephant Blog Giveaway, just click here. Now, make a comment. You know you want to.

This is a really cute, absolutely new little pale green dressy purse for that fancy evening out you have planned. And, in a totally unrelated bit of news, didn't the shoulder strap/rope form some sort of creature picture on the table? Anyway. If you want it, make a comment.

For Fun Friday - July 4, 2008

Happy 4th of July! At this moment, I could not be happier because I am on my way to the beach. A beach house RIGHT ON THE BEACH where I can see the dolphins cavorting in the waves. And I may be doing some cavorting myself. Or possibly some lounging. Or both.

Have some fun with these links and I'll update you about my beach expedition AS IT HAPPENS. Is technology fabulous or what?

If you ever wondered how your blog looks in different browsers, wonder no more my friend. Just type your blog url here and it will show you.

http://browsershots.org/

Don't click here unless you have some time to play. Because it is SERIOUSLY addicting. Thanks again to Heather for this one.

http://www.planarity.net/

I have never seen a puzzle that is moving as you put it together. Really neat.

http://www.brl.ntt.co.jp/people/hara/fly.swf

I Spent My Weekend With A Gorgeous Blonde Guy At A Place By The Water. What About You?

Dahling. What a quite simply FABULOUS weekend I have had! I spent the entire weekend with this lovely, young blonde fellow. He was just marvelous company. We spent a great deal of time out by the water. We had THE most wonderful, refreshing drinks.

And the local wildlife was quite exotic.

We had the loveliest time splashing about.

But, my dear, the paparazzi! So intrusive!

We finally had to completely vacate the water.

So annoying! I know JUST how Brad and Angelina feel!

Check my Herald-Leader post today at: On The Patio At Azure

Easiest Appetizer IN THE WORLD

Works for Me Wednesday this week has the theme of "Recipes with Five Ingredients Or Less". This is a theme that resounds ringingly with me because, as far as I am concerned, the less ingredients the better.

Actually, the ideal meal is one ingredient - take-out. But I do have one easy peasy recipe to share with you. If you are a friend or family member, I'm sure you have had this at my house.

Ingredients: spreadable cream cheese, bottle of cocktail sauce, can of baby shrimp, Ritz crackers

Directions: Spread the cream cheese in the bottom of a pretty pie plate, mix the cocktail sauce and shrimp together in a bowl and spread on the cream cheese. Dump the crackers in a pretty basket and set it by the bowl. Get a pretty spreader and wait for your guests to scarf it up.

And, now that I reread this, you may have to go to the store to buy some pretty stuff. Unless you already have some. If so, you are set to party. Like it's 2008. Or whenever.

Now go to Works For Me Wednesday for more great recipes. Or go out to eat. That's what I would do.

Full Of Gas. No, Not THAT Kind!

Now that the price of gas is hovering close to $4.00 a gallon around here and over that in other locations, I have actually started paying attention to how many miles per gallon I am getting. Two years ago, we bought a cute, little, red Ford Escape Hybrid. We started looking because I wanted a small, red SUV and we narrowed it down to the Ford Escape or a Jeep Liberty. The Jeep had a really cheap looking dashboard, and when I found out I could get the Escape in a Hybrid, I was hooked. I would save the environment! I would decrease our dependence on foreign oil!

Here's a picture of my little truck. I went kayaking last week. OK, I'm lying but you were impressed for a minute, now weren't you? (disclaimer - that's not actually my truck. In case you didn't know that already.)

The first few times I drove it, it was rather disconcerting when it went to electric power and the engine went completely silent. I would think "Oh, my truck has died...wait that's the electric power." And then the next time it happened "Oh, my truck has died..wait that's the electric power." After this happened approximately 4,291 times, I would remember that it was going to electric power.

I didn't fully understand that the electric power would only engage when you were going about 25-30 mph and, once I realized this, I thought it was not saving me much gas. I quit paying attention to it and assumed I was getting roughly the same mileage I got with my Ford Contour.

Until this week. I, like most women, drive until the gas tank has approximately two teaspoons of gas in it because why should I waste time pumping gas when I could be doing something much more worthwhile like shopping for shoes?

So, I was keeping an eye on it and knew that I could go exactly 25 more miles until I ran out. Plenty of time! When I filled it up, the gauge was still on, so I knew that I could go for about 47o miles now. And I just happened to be watching the gas pump so I knew exactly how much gas went in - a little over 13 gallons. Although the stats for the Escape say it has a 15 gallon gas tank, most people agree it is closer to 13 or 14.

So, I thought huh. 13 gallons. 470 miles. Now, those of you who know me that I am not a mathematical genius. I am just slightly less than genius mode in math. OK, I am a math moron. I admit it. But I can do 10%. So, I thought, wow if that was 10 gallons I would be getting 47 miles per gallon. Hmmm. Get out the calculator. 470/13 is 36 miles per gallon. I am getting MUCH better mileage than I realized. I didn't keep track of my gas mileage with my Ford Contour because gas was so much cheaper but, after doing some research, it was about 20-30 mpg.

And, according to my friend Google, I can get even better gas mileage. It should apparently be running in electric mode even more and I can force it to do this with a few tricks. I will definitely be trying some of the ideas on this site: http://www.hybridcars.com/gas-saving-tips/maximizing-mileage-ford-escape-hybrid.html

I am also going to think about altering the routes I drive so I can drive slower and at a continuous speed. This gas situation is making all of us rethink our lifestyles a little, isn't it?

Here's a few web sites that might help you conserve even more:

http://lifehacker.com/395538/easy-ways-to-save-money-on-gas

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/106842/article.html

Find out where to get the cheapest gas in town.

http://www.gasbuddy.com/

http://www.gaspricewatch.com/new/default_V3.asp

So, what are you doing to conserve gas? Does anyone else have a hybrid? Anyone think of buying one?

Check out my Herald-Leader blog post today: Hit The Road!