Barely One Step Ahead of the Blues

I don't know about you all but I'm feeling more than a pinch at the pump. It's more like a chokehold. If you're in the oil refinery business, chances are you don't feel it. But if you're at the other end of the petro food chain, operating a gas station, chances are you're about to shut your doors.

And if you're somewhere in between, like just an ordinary single mom at the grocery store, you're definitely thinking about everything that goes in your basket. And everything at the store costs more because it takes more to get it to the store. Hormone-free milk for $3.39 a gallon, or organic milk $3 for a half gallon? Or, regular, RGH-packed mllk for a sale price of $2.25? How badly do I want my daughter to look like a normal 13 year old in seven years?

Last night it cost me $35 to fill up my tank. If I'm lucky and very careful, that will last me almost a week. But that's if I don't add extra trips. My last fill up was Sunday, but I had to fill up again tonight because of a couple extra trips to Cleveland. I was actually ON "e" when I rolled into my local BP (stands for Big Pinch) station.

Living simply is sort of my norm, but in the last few months I've tried to take it more seriously, and not because of gas prices. My life is easier when I ramp down and realize just how little I need. I try to run the dishwasher just once a week, and do just two loads of laundry a week, and I make all the loads as large as I can. I hate putting laundry away, so why do it any more than I have to! And unless there is something critical, I limit my own time on the computer in the evening, and keep the damn thing off otherwise while I practice, walk, read, or hang out with friends. The side effect of this has been good. Last month, we sheared our electric bill down to a mere $26. But air conditioning season is around the corner. It's unlikely that our new windows, to replace the 25 year old originals that are practically falling out of the frames, will suppress all our energy costs. But it will help some, which helps overall.

And hey, I'm lucky! I'm buying new windows! What about the folks who have NO OPTIONS. Hell, how about people who have NO WINDOWS? I feel the pinch. It's real. But it's way more real for some, especially for folks at the poverty line who have no access to public transportation routes to get them to their jobs, and have to pay per gallon nearly what they get paid per hour. This is a huge problem in Cleveland, and no matter how many studies are done, no one has fixed it yet.

There's been a lot of back and forth this week with some good friends about the state of things and why Americans are burying their heads over the war and this and that. A lot of it really does have to do with being overwhelmed with day to day survival. Even though I try to do what I can, I'm always looking over my shoulder or watching the sky for the other shoe. For most of us everyday, we're just One Step Ahead of the Blues.

And that's the name of this Rhonda Vincent tune I love to sing. It's from the Ragin Live cd released a couple of years ago. If I play my cards right and eat cereal a few nights a week for dinner -- with regular milk -- we'll be able to catch Rhonda at the Musicians Against Childhood Cancer (www.bluegrassclassic.com) concert in Columbus, OH July 27 and 28. We can write off 90% of the ticket on our taxes (and so can you!), and I'll be closer to Rhonda's size 2! Now there's a win-win all around.

Sometimes, a pinch can be a good motivator. ;-)

One Step Ahead of the Blues