Rollercoaster baby

Ok, no rollercoaster of love, but definitely a rollercoaster... of cost.



According to AAA's Fuel Price Finder, gas one year ago today was $2.77/gallon. Their website has this handy dandy little ticker at the top with averages:

Area Average : $3.141

Last Week: $3.544 Last Month: $4.083 6 Months Ago: $3.463 Last Year: $2.779

Average Cost To Fuel A Vehicle With a 15 Gallon Tank: $47.11Last Week: $53.17 Last Month: $61.24 6 Months Ago: $51.94 Last Year: $41.69

Now, today, gas for $2.77 sounds pretty sweet. In the past year, we've gotten accostomed to gas prices being in the $3something range, and recently, $3.99/gal was a deal. Oil barrel costs had gone through the roof, affecting our consumer cost.

Enter Hurricane Ike on 9/13, and welcome the 2008 gas crisis. North Carolina is one of those oh-so lucky places to only be serviced by 2 pipelines (Colonial and Plantation) coming from the coast, and when they're pummelled by a hurricane, supplies are diminished. The highest I paid for a gallon was $4.04, but that was pre-Ike. Thankfully in our area we were able to find a few stations with gas at $3.99. Five cents do add up, but it didn't stress me out too much.

Running out of gas did.

We just so happened to be in Myrtle Beach for a long weekend when Ike hit and the crisis began. The pictures were insane coming from stations all over the Southeast, primarily Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas. People lined up for hours, fights ensued, and it was chaos. We found gas in SC the night before we left, but the truck was sitting in our driveway empty. Slight panic ensued, but luckily C found gas on his way to work Monday morning.

Now that things have been fully restored to pre-Ike situations, we won't see any more pictures like this:

Prices are dipping down, hovering above $3/gallon, but that's a HUGE improvement over $4/gallon. We're already pretty frugal and conservative with gas usage, so it doesn't affect us too much, but it's the bigger picture that is an issue. Higher gas prices drive up the price of everything. Talk about a budget crunch...

101 Things

In the never ending quest to accomplish my to-do list, I figured what's better than creating a long term to-do list? Like I need another list to keep up with, but at least this one is fun. I'm jumping on yet another bandwagon...

The idea started here. I've seen it in several blogs and figured, "Why not?". In the end, at least it helps me put my goals on paper and have an organized way of accomplishing them. It has a start date and an end date, so that's good, but who knew it'd be this difficult to come up with 101 things. At first I thought it'd be a breeze, but now... not so much. This list will be updated as I go along, but here's the first stab at it. My official start date was last week, 10/1/2008, and the official end date is 6/29/2011.

TRAVEL

1. Go to Palm Springs
2. Go to Europe
3. Go to Uwharrie National Forest
4. Go to Hilton Head
5. Visit 5 places in the NC region I’ve never been to before
6. Go to Mexico
7. Go to Door County
8. Visit NC Wine Country
9. Go to Morrow Mountain

PERSONAL/EDUCATION

10. Get a library card
11. Read 101 books
12. Watch a scary movie without hiding
13. Run a 5k in under 28:30 minutes
14. Run a 10k in under 59 minutes
15. Complete a triathalon
16. Register to vote
17. Vote in a local election (not tied with a Presidential election)
18. Vote in a primary election
19. Take a cake decorating class
20. Take a photography class
21. List 101 things that make me happy
22. No TV for 7 days
23. Go see a dermatologist
24. See a nutritionist
25. Make 10 recipes from my cookbook collection
26. Drive the speed limit for 7 days
27. Go to confession 5 times
28. Learn how to knit
29. Start my IDP process
30. Become LEED certified
31. See John Mayer in concert
32. Make espresso at home
33. Call in sick to work and relax for the day
34. Grow my own herbs
35. Make a list of 101 things I’m thankful for
36. Try 5 new foods


30 DAY CHALLENGES

37. Do all of the dishes after each meal
38. Keep all new mail off the kitchen table
39. Put all dirty laundry in the hamper instead of the floor
40. Update food blog after each new meal cooked
41. No eating out
42. Complete the 100 push-up challenge
43. No soda for 30 days
44. Take my vitamins
45. Pray daily
46. Take 10 minutes and read a devotion
47. No alcohol


HOUSEHOLD PROJECTS

48. Finish the master bath
49. Build the vegetable garden fence/raised beds
50. Create a hard edge for all garden beds
51. Finish the basement
52. Plant an herb garden
53. Tile the guest bathroom floor
54. Get our diplomas framed and hang them
55. Paint the kitchen and tile the counter backsplash
56. Replace coffee and end tables

FINANCIAL

57. Create a will
58. Start IRAs for both me and C
59. Pay off the truck
60. Completely fund the emergency fund
61. Pay off credit card debt
62. Pay off student loans
63. Give to a charity once a quarter
64. Meet with a financial planner
65. Buy some stock
66. Start a CD ladder with the e-fund
67. Completely fund a short term e-fund
68. Allow a splurge or spontaneous decision without worrying about the budget
69. Make a list of everything that should be in the safety deposit box and put it all in there

HUSBAND/RELATIONSHIPS

70. Write five snail-mail cards and send to friends/family
71. Have ten date nights
72. Eat at ten local restaurants we’ve never been to before
73. Complete Anna and Lauren’s scrapbooks
74. Go to a Panthers game
75. Save enough money to recreate our wedding cruise and go on it for our 5th anniversary
76. Write four love letters to C
77. Do something out of the ordinary for C four times
78. Make a list 101 things of why C is an excellent husband and makes me happy
79. Go see a play
80. Go to the symphony
81. Make our wedding scrapbook
82. Go for a walk in the park 5 times
83. Take C to a Brewer game
84. Get a gift for C… just because

COMMUNITY

85. Complete 101 hours of community service
86. Coach a Special Olympics swim team
87. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity (can be included in the 101 hours)
88. Give blood five times
89. Go through clothes twice a year and donate to Goodwill
90. Become regularly involved with church
91. Volunteer to teach CPR at the Red Cross (can be included in the 101 hours)
92. Participate in Angel Tree (or other charitable event) each Christmas
93. Write a grant and get it approved for special needs kids at the Y

OTHER

94. For every item completed, put $10 in a savings account
95. For every item not completed, give $25 to a charity
96. Buy an iPod Nano
97. Buy a Nike+ system
98. Buy a DSLR
99. Update my portfolio
100. Get my wedding dress cleaned
101. Learn to shoot a gun

Lt. Dan, ice cream!!

LOVE that movie. Forest Gump is one of those classics that will never get old, and you can't help but love Tom Hanks in that movie.

Anywho.

Although it has been a little over two months since my tonsillectomy, it's still all too fresh in my head. It was one of those necessary evil surgeries; something you never really wanted to do (although who wants to have surgery??), but knew you'd have to suck it up and deal with it. Surgery was Thursday, July 24, and I had to be there by 6:15 am and I was home in my bed by 10am that morning. I really wasn't given all that much information beforehand about it, and honestly didn't think to ask all kinds of detailed questions. I just wanted it over with. It lasted less than 30 minutes and C was surprised when the doctor came out so soon saying I was in recovery. I remember waking up with a dry throat and I was sitting up, which wasn't where I wanted to be since the room was spinning. I wasn't allowed water, only Sprite. Bubbles + fresh wounds is NOT a good idea. Not what I wanted, but another lost battle.

Hydrocodone is not my friend. I couldn't stand the feeling of floating a foot above the bed and the room spinning, so I only took it until Sunday and switched to Tylenol. I was a much happier person. The day after surgery I ate pizza, which probably wasn't the best of choices but I was so hungry I suffered through anything just to be able to have a full stomach. I ate lots of ramen noodles, a bit of jello, and some pasta... anything that would go down without a lot of effort. Although I had gotten ice cream from the store on Friday, I couldn't eat a lot of it. I was SO disappointed when ice cream didn't feel good on the way down; little did I know dairy causes more mucus, which means things are thicker and harder to swallow. UGH. Let me tell you though, the little neck ice pack the doctor gave me was my BFF starting on Tuesday and lasting through the end of the week after surgery. Loved that thing.

The Wednesday and Thursday after surgery were the worst; I felt like there were needles in my throat, constantly poking me and I broke down and cried late Wednesday night. I was frustrated, tired and hungry on top of being in pain. C was great the whole time, he stayed home with me the day after surgery and came home and waited on me hand and foot while he was there. He was amazing.

I only threw up one blood clot on Saturday and that was the end of the bleeding. It hurt to talk for long periods of time, which I'm sure other people enjoyed since I didn't talk as much as I usually do. Too bad for them I'm back to normal!