The Most Expensive Nap. Ever.

My gas light came on the other day. Not a huge surprise. Jerry and I routinely fill up when, and only when, the gas light comes on.

I know some of you are cringing. My father-in-law is probably not only cringing, but about to pick up the phone to call me. I will hear a list of scenarios about why I should fill up way before the light comes on...like he does. I'm pretty sure he fills up when it gets down to 1/2 a tank. That should pretty much cover EVERY scenario...except the issue of driving to the gas station way too often.

So, back to my gas light. It came on a little too soon. Hadn't I just filled up? I can usually make it a full week before having to stuff 4 twenties into the minivan's tank. But it had only been a couple of days...where had all the gas gone?

Then I remembered. The most expensive nap. Ever.

You see, my Lily used to be such a good napper...until about three months ago. She currently only naps once or twice...each MONTH. She is actually handling it pretty well. Me? Not so well. I say she is handling it pretty well...that is until around 5PM. That's when our princess transforms from Cinderella into one of the step-sisters, or even worse, the wicked step-mother.

On those days, about 29 of them each month, she goes down around 7:30 without a fight and wakes up 12 hours later with her crown on again.

On many of those days, I will purposefully run errands late in the afternoon and hope she catches a little rest in the car.

I didn't drain the tank running errands in this instance though.

We had some special visitors coming in town and I knew it was going to be a late night. I hoped, crossed fingers, said a prayer and did a dance thinking that Lily would nap that afternoon. Going to bed at dusk wasn't going to be an option this evening and I surely didn't want do be dealing with Anastasia all night.

I put her down for "rest/quiet/nap" time as usual, but when her "talking" got so loud that it might wake Jade, I decided to get her up.

I had a trip planned to Wal-Mart, so I loaded her in the minivan and off we went. She was snoozing before I even reached the end of our street. I was elated. I must have forgotten that gas was $4.00/gal and that driving in the heat of the day with the A/C on full blast really drains the tank.

I decided to go out to the highway and drive back and forth, back and forth, back and forth...carefully planning for the exits that had "texas turn-arounds" (does everyone call them that?) where I wouldn't get stopped at any lights.

It worked. She had a glorious 40-45 minute nap. Good thing too, because she played in the fountains with her cousin until 10:30 that night. And Drizella didn't even make an appearance.

Not so good on the gas bill, but money well spent as far as I'm concerned.

It wouldn't have been a big deal back in 2006, when the gas price was almost 1/2 as much. I just found this old receipt when thumbing through a book I had sold on Amazon.

Back then I would have had to name this post The Longest Car Ride to Wal-Mart. Ever.