How to kick gas prices in the butt

I'm sure everyone is tired of the gas prices lately. Someone posted this and thought I would share...

-Only buy or fill up your car or truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not exactly a gallon. In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum products plays an important role. A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature compensation at the pumps

-When you're filling up do not squeeze the trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger has three (3) stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the fast rate, some of the liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting less worth for your money.

-One of the most important tips is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL.. The reason for this is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space. Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an internal floating roof. This roof serves as zero clearance between the gas and the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every gallon is actually the exact amount

-Another reminder, if there is a gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as the gas is being delivered, and you might pick up some of the dirt that normally settles on the bottom.

Me: Do you want to make $5?

Ashton: No. I already have plenty of money.

Brad: How much money do you have?

Ashton: I have a dump-load of money.

Brad: How much money is that?

Ashton: I found a dime the other day, and I put it in my piggy bank.

Brad: Well you cant buy anything with a dime.

Ashton: Yeah, but I put it in my piggy bank with my other money, and now I have a dump-load.

For the record....Ashton has 6 dollars and some change.

Mr. Drama strikes again

Can I send back my 16 year old for a 5 year old?? I was just informed by Ashton that I was ruining his life. If only he understood that him not playing wii for one afternoon is not the demise of his existence.

He knows my name!

I was sitting at the computer today. Ashton was at school. Talan was playing on the floor. I wasnt paying much attention to Talan since we babyproofed he can do pretty much what he wants. All the sudden I felt a little hand on my foot. I looked down at sweet little Talan climbing up my leg and he said "ma-ma-ma-ma"

He knows who I am. I've decided that the reason babies don't say mama first is because then it would be less special. Talan has been saying dada for a few months now and I am pretty sure the chair is dada, the table is dada, the bread is dada, etc. I waited for a long time for the mama and it was worth the wait!

Belly Laughs

Talan likes Ashton best when he's looking for some laughter. No one can make him laugh like Ashton can. Must be a special brother bond.

Trouble

He crawls!!! Talan made his way across the living room yesterday. He crawled to a pen which happens to be his new favorite toy (see post titled No!!!!!) A little wobbly but he did it!!! We're babyproofing this week.

teeth!

I finally was able to snap a picture of Talan's 2 new teeth. You can just barely see them.

No!!!!!

Talan found a pen somewhere on the floor Its time to babyproof. Its a little hard to see in this picture but he has pen above his eye on the right, his lip and cheek.

These are a few of my favorite things....

I'd like to let you all in on a little secret of mine because this is what I'm thinking about at the moment and I have nothing else to do but blog.

Just like I always knew I belonged on the east coast I have also always felt like I should have been a flower child in the 70's and have a bit of hippie in me.

My favorite place to shop is goodwill. I love things that people have thrown away. Up until 2 years ago I was the proud owner of a disco ball. When I was in high school I acquired a bright orange shag fur comforter that my mom had in the 70's. It was the most georgeous blanket I had ever seen and I am sad I dont have it anymore. I once wanted to put enough of those furballs with sticky feet and googly eyes to cover my entire dashboard. I actually searched for them, but sadly, my search was unsuccessful. Eversince I was about 13 my dream car has been either a 1971 vw bug convertible or a 1969 vw bus. I grew up in California where most everyone had one of these cars. I once saw someone with a vw bus that had grown about 3 inches of grass on the roof of the bus. That was the coolest thing I've seen even to this day. Now they are either really expensive because they are antiques or they are really cheap but rusted and junky. I'm a little embarrassed to say though that if I had piles of money sitting around, I'd have a hard time deciding which of those to buy first.

There you have it. My life in one paragraph. Yikes.