Gas Miser

In the last few weeks, the price of gas lept up to over $4/gallon! Since then they've hovered around the high $3's, but the writing is on the wall. It now costs over $50 to fill my gas tank.

So lately I've become very stingy about using my car. I'm now cursing that my Girl has TWO soccer practices a week, which are only about 20 miles away. But hey, that's 40 miles round trip!

I went through a drive-through line the other day, and got really impatient that the service wasn't faster. Partly because I could see my order was ready on the counter when I pulled up, but the guy poured some drinks before getting to me. Don't they know that we're burning away money, waiting there in line?

Last weekend K wanted to take his car to the shop, to get his taillights fixed. He wanted me to drive with him, so I could bring him back. Then I'd have to drive him there again, to pick it up. Again, Burbank is only 15-20 miles away, but I told him that was too much gas. So he agreed to take it early on Monday, and just wait until it's finished.

Last week we took our dog to get groomed. Every year this time he seems to get a really itchy butt, so I was hoping a flea bath and a grooming procedure would help him out.
When I dropped him off, they said it would be 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours. Wow! But I didn't want to drive the 10 miles home, only to turn around and come back, so we puttered around and looked at some of the shops in the area. After about an hour, we were done, so I went back to check on the dog.

The dog was alone in a cage when we got back, looking utterly dejected. His head was down on his paws, and he looked sure we were never coming back. Then he heard the Girl and my voices, and he perked up and squinted at us. (I don't think he sees very well.) Then he recognized us, and barked at us to get him out of there.

So I went to the register to see if they knew where all the grooming people were. I guess they were on break, because soon the girl showed up (looking flustered) and said she still needed to clip his nails. After this we took him home.

But his butt still seems as itchy as ever, so I wonder if I didn't hurry the girl so much that she forgot some of the services I'd requested.

So already this gas saving kick is already causing a few problems.

Do you think it will be the end of drive-throughs?