TD - 700 miles to the gallon and you put in $150 a week! DANG!!!Between my husband's car and my SUV we probably spend about $300 a month if not less. I get 300-375 a tank and husband gets about the same, but doesn't drive his car often at all. Your husband doesn't get a gas allowance or anything for work? Ick.
Have fun on your bike ride. Alex and I have been looking to buy bikes for quite some time, but it just hasn't worked out budget-wise. My dad is giving us two bikes in August when we drive to Minneapolis, so that will be nice. Now all we need are some nice bike trails around here.
Schmoodle - I have a couple homemade detergent recipes if you are in need :
The first one is a green version: 1 part borax, 1 part baking soda - if you have really soft water, leave the baking soda out. I've had problems with a white film on some of the dishes, but it just wipes off....
Second: 2 parts baking soda to 1 part liquid dish soap (Joy, Dawn, etc.). The baking soda prevents the dish soap from foaming too much. Just mix it into a paste and add it to the detergent dispenser.
Hope they help! I remember what it was like to not have a dishwasher.....I would be lost without it these days
zeff, thanks for the recipes. I did actually think of a recipe for dishwasher soap that I have and pulled it out a while ago to see if I had everything to make it but I don't. It's more complicated than yours. I think I'll try one of yours and see how it goes. Clean dishes would definitely make me feel better. We are out of forks and almost out of glasses.
Here's the one I have (won't call it mine because I think I copied it from somewhere on this site):
Dishwasher soap-
In a plastic container with a lid add:
1 cup 7 Mule Team Borax
1 cup Baking Soda
1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup Pure Lemon powder or 2 packets of unsweetened lemon koolaide
30 drops of essentail oils (Citrus work well for this, as does tea tree or eucalyptus)
Place lid on tightly, shake until well mixed. Run an empty dishwasher with it first so that you don't get grime on your dishes. This stuff seems to clean out the dishwasher of old gunk. Just put a tablespoon in each cup. If your water is really hard and your dishes come out with any film on them, add 1 cup of white vinegar into the rinse cycle.
Zeff: we also put nearly 1000 miles a week on our car... we drive for a living. We have 2 cars. One is in the garage... its a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (400 horsepower...) 20mpg (at best...when I drive it LOL) And then the TDI... The EVO takes 93 octane or better... TDI takes Diesel.. We go far with the TDI and we love both cars. We are looking at getting a different car and getting rid of the EVO (DH HATES working on an all wheel drive car)..he's doing a clutch rebuild on it. When we sell that we're probably gonna get another VW most likely a 6-cylinder car... DH LOVES cars...and I don't mind, they can be a lot of fun. But gas prices SUCK!!! The 6-cylinder would get about 26-30mpg so better than the EVO and still pretty fun..
Ugh. I hate gas prices right now. I want to leave the house!! Alex had an RX-8 last year, and sold it....which we are so glad he did. The thing got like 10 miles to the gallon. It was cute though.
VW's are great. I used to have a GTI when I was in college.
Anyway, I need to vent. Hubs went to pay a safespeed ticket for me today (safespeed is a camera mounted to certain intersections. It takes pictures of speeders and then mails tickets...rather like a red light camera, only more annoying.) He went to the Consolidated Government building (the people who issued the ticket) and they gave him the runaround.....no, you don't go here....you go here...no no no, you go to this different place....FINALLY, after being there for a half hour, he calls me and asks me to pull the info online and tell him where to go. The building was across town I can't believe nobody knew where he needed to go, and someone actually told him that Laf. Consolidated Govt. had nothing to do with the SafeSpeed program......when the ticket was ISSUED by Laf. Consol. Govt.!!!! Ugh. Bureaucracy. *end rant*
DH and I are SOOO lucky. We only spend $75 a month on gas and he drives an F-350 pick-up. I'm about to up the budget to $100 a month for the rise in gas prices, but I'm fairly certain that will be excessive.
Good afternoon everyone! Maggie is just fine, but she did have a slight concussion and stayed home from school today. Her grandfather stayed with her until I was finished at the hairdresser's, so I got to keep my appointment. Do you want to know how she bumped her head? While I was busy making their supper, she and Audrey got the bright idea that it would be fun to ride their sleeping bags down the stairs. I don't think they'll try that trick again!
I'm home early today! I picked up Audrey from school and dropped the girls off at Richard's office. The girls don't know it, but they're all going to the doctor's to get their innoculations for their trip to Botswana this summer. I'm glad I didn't have to take them for their shots!
I don't have time to reply to each of you, but Nessa, I do love your new "do", and Schmoodle, I hope your day got a little brighter! to you all.
Last edited by cottagebythesea; 04-29-2008 at 03:55 PM.
Cottage-My mom used to let us ride down the steps on one of those sleeping bag mattresses. It was slick plastic on one side...so fast and so fun! None of us ever got a concussion, but I'm sure we had lots of bruises. Come to think of it, I'm not sure mom so much LET us, as tolerated us doing that.
zeff: in NY its illegal to have the cameras..I'm sure that'll change over time... But that run around STINKS!!! I had a GTI for about 3 weeks... I totalled it... Great part: I bought it for 1700 and got 4500 from insurance on it.. LOL.. Yeah, we're prolly gonna go with a GTI, or GLI maybe a 1.8T or something like that.
Manual or auto?
Lafayette is making a killing on these dang cameras. In March alone there were 20,000 citations issued. It's ridiculous. What really pisses me off is that they don't take into consideration traffic conditions at all. I got the ticket at 1 a.m. on a road that had hardly any traffic. It wasn't like I was drag racing, either. I apparently was going 48 in a 40. Maybe the city should concentrate on drag racers....considering there has been like 18 deaths in the past two years due to it. Can you tell I'm not a fan of the city government? In Minneapolis, they had the speed and red light cameras, but they were removed and all citations were refunded. It was deemed unconstitutional.
Kim, how on earth do you get away with $75 in gas a month. Doesn't it cost just about that to fill up DH's truck?
Zeffryn: Actually, it's about $120 to fill up his truck, but it's because our town is so small and he rarely fills up...$50 gets him through 5 weeks and $25 gets me through 5 weeks. His work is about 2 miles from the house and mine is about 3 miles from the house. I walk to the grocery store on my lunch break so there isn't an extra trip and check the mail at the post office on my way home (it's en route). Then it's church on Sunday morning and Sunday night, class for me on Tuesday mornings and evenings and Thursday mornings (1 mile from my office which is where I come and go from). Every once in a while we'll go to visit friends in neighboring towns, but my vehicle gets 35 mpg, so I'm usually fine until the next month. DH has actually gone 3 months before having to refill his truck.
Last edited by Kim_Star060404; 04-29-2008 at 05:40 PM.
Zeff: that does stink about the citations. I know they have them on the highway in AZ..but they only ticket after 10mph over the speed limit..
You go girl on the manual!! LOL I learned manual on the GTI and then DH (at the time my boy friend) found me an Acura Integra GSR..Manual.. We got rid of that when we got married in August (i missed VW) We got the TDI at that point..
I made the salsa chicken bake but changed it:
I used 4 chix breasts and cutt them up into smaller pieces.. More salsa. Added green bell pepper, mushrooms. Chili powder, crushed red pepper, some chili paste(HOT!!) some Liquid smoke, cottage and ricotta cheeses... And then grated LF cheese on top... I think it's going to be yummy!! I'll let everyone know.. oh and upped the temp to 400..
I can't believe nobody knew where he needed to go, and someone actually told him that Laf. Consolidated Govt. had nothing to do with the SafeSpeed program......when the ticket was ISSUED by Laf. Consol. Govt.!!!! Ugh. Bureaucracy. *end rant*
I don't think they'll try that trick again! 
to you all.
