eh...

gas is triple the price in Europe (GB, Fr, etc). I remember being in France and the girl I was with only put a little gas in her family's car - just enough to make it where she needed to go - *most* of the time she rode the rails. Groceries were more expensive too. The only place where the cost of living is still cheaper (and the standard of living in cities is above dirt poor) is China. So take your pick - cheap Communist regime or more expensive free country....

So as bad as it seems here, it's still better than most other places. Depressing, but true. It helps me get perspective on how lucky we are.

No doubt, PC.  No matter how bad it gets, America is still second to none in my book.  A little chauvinism there, but what the heck.  I still think cost of living is getting out of control.  I'm so happy to live in a country where I can freely b*tch about it though. 

And, speaking of perspective......yeah.....I need to do a little blessing count.  I truly do have a lot to be grateful for.

Well, milk is only $9 per 2 half-gals. for organic milk at my nearby grocery store.  If I want to drive almost an hour, I can get organic milk for $5.55 a gal elsewhere.  Unless I have a really long shopping list it doesn't make sen$e to drive that much to pay less for milk - I'd probably burn that much in extra gas used!  We usually try to wait until the list is really long and then make a once a week or once every other week trip into "town" to stock up at the cheaper prices.


Thanks PC!  I needed a good kick in the ___!  Contentment is a virtue. 


True, true, Carol.  America is still the best place to live, and call me naive but I have this tiny grain of hope that someday it can return to what it's founders intended it to be (freedom, true democracy, and a government where the people are way more involved than nowdays).  I have a feeling though that it may never really happen, or it will be only once we've handed so much power to 'the man', and they start abusing that power, and also after they stop padding and protecting us from the truth (we aren't really feeling the effects of this so-called recession or it would be Great Depression II, and the truth about tons of other stuff) that we wake up and decide that even though it takes a few more hours out of our month, that we do want to be a government of, for, and by the people.  I will bite my tongue and quit talking politics now...
I do have to be thankful.  If I got caught talking like this about the government in Russia they may sick the KGB on me!

That is so cool! I want a garden....

I don't know about an outdoor garden now that we have a dog....I am worried he would tear it up.

But I did see something really neat on TV. It was a home compost machine that you put your leftover or trash food in, and seal it closed, and there is no smell, and it makes compost for your garden with your own trash! I don't know how much it is, but it was neat.

Chocolate milk over $4 / gal    It's son's fav, so I'll continue to get it for him (he doesn't drink white).  Anybody got a chocolate cow for sale? 

Gas today at the Tesoro station: $3.48 - $3.79.  Meh.  I suppose I should walk more. 

Hey, shush you!  It still sucks.  I'll sure fill up before driving through Ontario then, that's for sure!  No Canuck gas for me!
Well Sassy your gas prices take the cake!    My vehicle (not a truck though) only costs about $55 to fill, but I think even that is ridiculous when a year or two ago it was only $35.  Lol, we live pretty far out too but we have a sm. grocery store, gas stations, and the kids school w/in 30 - 45 min walking distance, ur, that's 1 way though.  Maybe on a leisurely summer day, but not that far at 10 degrees F! 
My DH started riding his bike in the fall and he works 15 miles away, but that lasted less than a week!   

In answer to your woodstove question earlier, Sassy, we were looking at these soapstone woodstoves we found b/c even if the fire dies out (at night, or while we're not home) the soapstone retains the heat for a good 4-6 hrs.  The brand was called Hearthstone and I'm pretty sure their website it just hearthstone.com.  We have also looked at Vermont Castings ones (LOVE the bright cranberry red ones!) and Blaze Kings.  A friend of ours got a Blaze King and they really like it.  Most newer stoves have the option of a catalytic converter to capture and burn the soot/exhaust particles or something - their more efficient and put out way less gunk into the air (outside) than our parents' woodstoves.  I was told that those converters can go kaput w/in 5 yrs. though, so I was just looking for regular clean-burning models w/o one.  When we do get one I would love to get a Vermont Castings just cuz I like the colors (prissy, I know).  I've seen some for $600 USD at ACE Hardware that are just a metal box stove.  There's also make-it-yourself kits available to make one out of huge 55-gal or 100-gal metal drums, or at least they did in the 70's when my dad made his.  I don't think I'll attempt such a feat or I may end up standing amidst a pile of ash where my house once was.