errands & driving

With gas costing $2.93/gallon, I am trying to be even more careful about where and how often I drive places. Especially since DH drives all over the state for work, and we are 100% responsible for the gas purchases.

This morning, we dropped off netflix movies to the post office, visited the bank, got haircuts for the boys, stopped at the library and picked up McDonald's lunch on the way home. I thought ahead so my route wasn't all over the place, and I think I did a pretty good job of it.

At the library, I started teaching the boys how to use the catalog. A part of me really misses the card catalogs of my youth -- but I can see how much more efficient the computerized catalogs are. I do think it's important to learn the dewey decimal system, but I think the boys are too young for that! It is enough to teach them about searching the catalog, and then how to find the books they want using the numbers from their searches. We looked up books about Pecos Bill and Johnny Appleseed today.

While I love my house and the area we live in, I do regret that we aren't able to walk anywhere! The last house we lived in while in Milwaukee we could walk to a gorgeous park, at least 2 libraries, a dozen restaurants, 2 Catholic churches, the lake, numerous stores, and more! Here, I can walk by the 77 houses in our neighborhood. Nothing is closer than 2-3 miles away. It's something I regret, but I don't see a way to live any differently at this point.