Sticker Shock At The Pumps

I am counting my blessings.  The last time I put gasoline in my car it was $2.87 per gallon.  No, I did not stop driving years ago.  This was just three short weeks ago.  Working from home has given me an advantage.  I am no longer driving 52 miles roundtrip daily. I do not sit in traffic on a two lane highway for one and one half hours to complete what should be a twenty minute drive. The supermarket is approximately one mile away from me, and I consolidate my trips to the store.  While I am out, I get everything I need. 

 My knock-about 2002 VW Jetta with the four cylinder engine is a goddess right now.  I am horrified as SUV addicts pull into the convenience store and rack up charges of $90.00 or better.  To make matters worse, seeing $4.00 per gallon on a gas pump is worse than the “sticker shock” of a new vehicle.  When I began driving in 1978, gasoline was 52 cents per gallon. Any sensible person would be trading in that SUV for a small, fuel efficient vehicle more quickly than they could butter a slice of bread.  A friend of mine made this sensible decision three months ago.  In addition to saving money on her fill-ups, she is saving $200.00 monthly on her car payment.  Smart cookie!

Perhaps most interesting are the reasons I’ve heard as to why normally reasonable people are fuelish and continue to drive these trucks and SUVs.

“Well everyone one else is driving them and if you drive a car you don’t stand a chance in an accident” tops the list.  If everyone got smart and traded the gargantuan gas guzzlers in for a more efficient vehicle, we could disqualify that argument in a heartbeat.  The most fascinating aspect of this group is that these are the “green” citizens that demand we only use one piece of toilet paper and blame cows for all evils of the world.

“I really need it” is second in line.  Why in heaven’s name does an n unmarried young adult with no children “need” an SUV?  Granted there are some people out there with five children who truly do need a larger vehicle but somehow, I can’t help recalling a trip we took through the New England States at the age of twelve.  There was no television or DVD player in the back of the car to keep us entertained. My two brothers and I spent 3 weeks sitting in the back of an Oldsmobile as my mother created games to entertain us and did her best to keep us from whining and fighting.  Somehow, I made it to adulthood in one piece.   I am not suffering from post traumatic stress disorder as a result of not being able to play Nintendo in the car during the ten minute drive to the local supermarket.

As a whole, we can deal a devastating blow to those nations that believe they will be rich because Americans require bigger and better possessions to gain status in society.  We can scrap all the vehicles and go back to using horses and wagons. 

At the very least, it would take the spotlight off those evil cows for a while.

If You Can’t Cure What Ails You….Try Google….

Laughter is the best medicine.  Millions of dollars have been spent on research of terminally ill patients who watched episodes of Abbott & Costello or the Three Stooges.The outcome is something our elders knew generations before.  The patients who laughed most often showed better response to treatment, and lived longer than those who did not. 

 Approaching life with a sense of humor is a must.  Learning to laugh at yourself is one of the best life skills you can develop. 

 Somewhere in your mid-40’s it happens.  You are in the midst of doing laundry.  You fold a load of towels and are going to put them away.  Suddenly, you see your child’s sneakers in the middle of the floor and go to put them into his or her room.  Once inside the room you discover a total disaster that you start working on.  When you are done, you go to the kitchen, then to the shower.  Suddenly you are looking into your linen closet knowing that you just washed a load of towels, and wondering intensely just what the heck you did with them.    Looking at the situation you can react with anger and get yourself into a tizzy over it….or you can laugh.  Laughter is the best choice.

The internet is definitely a great source for comedic relief.  There have been times that I’ve been chatting with a friend on IM and laughing so hard that I was certain that anyone who walked into the room and saw me laughing so hard that tears were running down my face would promptly call the men in the white jackets to come take me away. Last night was one of those times.  Now…while it may not be polite to laugh at the illness of another person, I received an e-mail from my mom that sent decorum flying out the nearest window and prompted my daughter to come running to see what had caused the hysterics.  The e-mail read:

No matter how bad you feel, it’s always good to get a laugh, today my right middle finger is locking in a curled toward the palm position.  It is excruciatingly painful to straighten it so I went on the computer and put in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome/Locking Finger.  I was so happy to see that E-Bay and Biz-Rite sites have bargain rates on carpal tunnel syndrome locking fingers.  Wonder what I can get for mine. I thought you would get a chuckle out of computer land.T

It is obvious where my sense of humor comes from, and amazing that my mother sent that just when I needed that break.

The conclusion….if you are faced with a medical problem, forget the expensive doctor bills…just Google it, the laughter will cure you. 

Look What They’ve Done to My Childhood – 60′s Edition

Growing up in the 1960′s and 1970′s was definitely an experience.  This is just a sample of how things have changed and what exactly is missing.

First, Sister Seton, who was a mean little nun, would never survive today’s standards.  No longer would she be able to throw erasers at students heads, smack them with rulers or …and this is from personal experience …make them write the word gum in 1/4 inch high letters on both sides of a piece of posterboard because he or she forgot to spit gum out after lunch period.

Spelling Words…my favorite…antidisestablishmenterianism, which I learned to spell in the first grade.  The nuns were our spellcheck.

Girls attending Catholic School did not have a “gym” class.  Boys did.  Girls listened to records, went for walks, sat in class and crocheted or completed art projects.

Sister Mildred, who many fondly remember now, was a force to be reckoned with back in the day.  She would grab you by the little hairs above your ear and drag you all the way to the principals office for having the wrong look on your face at any given time.

Plaid Stamps, which we dilligently saved and redeemed for the coolest stuff at the catalog store.  Months would seem like years, as my brother and I split them each time they were attained with a purchase.

Rock School – an actual outdoor game played with nothing but a rock, a bunch of friends and the front steps to your home.

Nursery Rhymes…very few people know them anymore.

Literature…some of the changes – Just Like Mommy/Just Like Daddy….MIA – how it read – one side contained sentences like “I sweep the floor…Just like Mommy”….flip it over and “I fix the car just like Daddy”  Little Black Sambo was another one…thank heaven those two books have been stricken from the world of children’s literature.

Penny Candy.  Wow!  This was awesome.  We’d save our coke bottles and once a month we were permitted to go to the corner shop and redeem them.  With 10 coke bottles each, redeemed at a nickel a piece we wound up with enough candy to last until the next visit.  Little wafer “flying saucers”, jelly rings, bazooka gum and tootsie pops could all be obtained for a penny.

Coney Island.  I spent many a Sunday with my grandfather, who believed it wasn’t Sunday unless there was an excursion of extravagant proportions and fresh loaves of Italian Bread and “Buns” for breakfast.  The bakery is now closed and sadly, Coney Island and the “Cyclone” that entertained millions for generations is being torn down. 

Pallisades Park – The amusement venue made famous in a song of the same name…DOA.

John Lennon and George Harrison…Two of four who helped to shape modern society.  Often controversial, always respected and revered.  May they rest in peace.  Read Anthology…the history will amaze you.

Kimba the White Lion, Bozo the Clown, Howdy Doody, The Wizard of Oz in black in White…Ditto for Rudolph, The Ed Sullivan Show, Firing Line, Andy Williams, Sonny and Cher, ….Flip Wilson – Here Comes da Judge – Geraldine – Flip’s most beloved characters, The Andy Griffith Show, The Partridge Family, Wild Kingdom…Presentd by Mutual of  Omaha…Leave it to Beaver, Gilligan’s Island, …and a house with ONE television in it.  Marlo Thomas, Mary Tyler Moore, H.R. Puffenstuff, The Brady Bunch, ….the list goes on.

Catching lightening bugs…blocking the entire street with “snow forts” and not having a single neighbor complain…a street where no one double parks.  Men giving up seats on the bus to pregnant women.  Stock Car Races, tossing rocks into the water “just because we could”. 

Big hair, dungarees…(at least the word), platform shoes, “marshmallow” shoes, bell bottoms, Easter Hats, rabbit fur coats, Real winter coats (woolen dressy ones”, leisure suits, pants suits, hair “laquer”, gloves, patent leather maryjanes, which are now a very rare.  Children who dressed modestly.  No pants for girls in school.  It could be 10 degrees with 8 inches of snow on the ground…if you walked, you wore pants under your dress and they were removed the second you entered the building. 

Being able to just hang out outside of school, high school kids (they have now become “posers” rockers, emo kids, ghetto kids, punk kids, ….the division never ends). 

The novelty of a first moonwalk, John F. Kennedy, Bobby Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, Watergate, Harry Truman, Support for Soldiers in a time of war, Peaceful Protests, decorum, manners, consideration and patience.  Family dinners EVERY night, kids who went to bed at a reasonable hour, parents who weren’t running 24 hours a day 7 days a week, then showering kids with gifts to compensate for lost time.

Need I say more?

I will wait patiently.  Perhaps we will hear from a wiser one…one who grew up in the 30′s and 40′s or 40′s and 50′s.

Things change.  They change drastically, and I hope for the sake of my child and her children, that they begin to change for the better.