Dear Cuisinart:

I’m a coffee snob.  I don’t go a day without my coffee, it is my favorite treat.  I like my coffee strong and fresh.  So you can imagine how excited I was to get your new fancy coffeepot, the Grind and Brew!  Is there a better way to do coffee?  My days of sneaking my Texas-bought coffee into stores so I can “borrow” their grinder are over!  Now I can dump my beans into this little grinder and it will make me a fresh cup of coffee every day!  And so easy!!  All I have to do (every day) is take apart the grinder, scrape out the 4 or so teaspoons of ground coffee that got stuck and didn’t make it to brew and scrub it out with that handy little brush you gave me (seems like a little baby shovel would’ve been more handy, but no biggie).  Then all I have to do is clean out the little chute that sends the coffee down to the filter.  Then I simply have to take apart the filter and clean it because there is coffee EVERYWHERE in there and it also requires 2 pieces to be cleaned.  Then I just have to let it dry all night or carefully hand dry it so even more coffee doesn’t stick in places it shouldn’t next time I grind it.  Once dry, I simply have to fill the grinder as packed as I can, and make barely enough coffee for Stu and I to each have 1/2 a cup, because with all the coffee that gets wasted when it doesn’t make it down the chute, we can’t seem to get a cup of coffee strong enough to rival a nice cup of tea.

So why should I care that I spend a good 20 minutes on my coffee-experience everyday?  I try not to think about the fact that in that amount of time I could have run over to Starbucks for my morning jolt, and after all of the coffee I scrape out of the grinder and wash down the sink every day, I probably am paying about the same amount too!  But hey, the excitement of hearing what could be an airplane taking off in my kitchen makes the whole experience worthwhile!  Thanks Cuisinart, for your super easy, user friendly Grind and Brew Coffee Pot.

Old Man Winter

Go  AWAY!

I really am trying to reign in complaining in my life.  So I’m going to cheat and call this, “getting something off my chest”.  I am ALL DONE with winter.  I have always despised being cold, but now, being shut in with a toddler is too much.  I know it doesn’t help that as a rule, I do not wear coats (I have actually had to break that rule 4 times this winter, POO!), but a coat almost makes me just as miserable as being cold does.  Our furnace is slowly dying so our electricity bills are soaring (just too keep the house at a comfy 58-60 degrees), and we need new windows.  Yikes.  So I’m just pushing for spring so that we can forget about all those pesky problems.  Annoyingly though, in Maryland, winter tends to linger well into April.  It’s not that it feels all that cold, it’s just that April makes you think spring, so the fact that you are still freezing makes one grumpier.  AND (last complaint-promise) it’s all frosty, but we haven’t gotten a decent snow all winter!  I think it’s only fair that if we’re freezing our hineys off, we should at least have a nice view and a couple days off work for Stu.  Incidentally, I’m fully aware that life is not fair. So I guess it’s time to hike up my breeches and put on a coat.

And move to Texas.

Where I can complain about summer.

🙂

“Kathy? Where are you?”

In answer to Christopher’s question, I shall blog.

On Monday afternoon (like, 5 days ago) I started to feel a little bit sick.  My chest was tight like when you are about to have some congestion and coughing.  Great.   I called Stu around 3pm to complain that I was getting sick.  My biggest concern was that Blake was getting tubes put in on Thursday and I was scared he would catch something that would cause us to have to postpone the surgery.  By 6pm I was crawling around on the the floor (literally) trying to find something for Blake to eat and praying that Stu would be home soon.  My entire body had begun to ache, the chills were in full effect, and the annoying pain in my chest from earlier was now crushing me.  I knew I had the flu.  Not a flu “bug”, which lots of people simply call the flu and say, “oh yeah, I had that for a couple days”.  This was actual influenza.  I had never had it before, but I couldn’t imagine what other illness could debilitate me this fast.  Going to the doctor the next day confirmed it and so began the sickest week of my life (thus far).

Now I’m about to list, for you, some of my epiphanies this week.  Some of these things may already be painfully obvious to the wiser minds of the world.  My brain, however, is very dense and I tend to not really  comprehend things unless they bang me over the head.

Epiphanies:

1.  I’ve never (in my recollection) had a real fever.  My mom can’t recall a time either.  I’ve been sick, but neither us can remember a temperature.  That whole chills and achiness is really miserable.  I had no idea!!

2.  My job offers no sick time.  No matter how great and willing my husband might be (and he is working hard), he is still stepping in to do my job and he’s having to take his own sick time to do so.  I had visions all week of what life was like when Stu and I were DINKS (double income no kids) and I would get sick.  I would call in sick and lounge in bed with the tv and books and Stu would bring me Gatorade and soup and all was right with the world.  I have worked so much harder this week than I even imagined I would be capable of.  There is something that just ignites in your brain when you become a mommy.  Motherhood makes women superhuman.

3.  You can live off of Nyquil, Gatorade, and chicken noodle soup for about 3 days until your stomach revolts.

4.  We have really, really great people in our lives.  At her own risk, Kelli came to my house to babysit Blake so I could go to the doctor.  Many other friends have offered as well, but I just couldn’t live with myself if they came here and caught this.

5.  They probably would not catch this because we appear to be the only idiots in Maryland who did not get a flu shot.  See, if you’ve never had the flu, then the shot doesn’t seem like such a big deal.  In fact, people who don’t get the shot say things like,”Well, I’ve never had the flu before“.  (Russell).  Really, is that an argument?  In my defense, I didn’t purposely refuse the shot.  But I did forget to get it.  And I forgot to make Stuart get it (which is the only way he would’ve gotten it).  Praise God Blake got it.  So read my next epiphany and see if doesn’t inspire you.

6.  Did you know that the flu can last up to 2 weeks!???  And it hurts!  And after that, most people experience muscle soreness and weakness for about 3 weeks.  WHAT?!  When I indignantly told my doctor that information like this should be public, he told me that it is.   Hm.

7.  Stuart has miracuously not caught the flu yet.  I truly believe that God has mercifully spared us the trauma of having both of us sick with a toddler.  I am grateful.

8.  My husband would actually starve to death in his own house without me.  It’s good to feel needed.

So, that’s where I’ve been.  I am so sick of being sick, but it appears I have to be sick a bit longer.

Now go get your flu shot Russell!

Like Sands through the Hourglass…

…so go my thoughts.

I’m a tad bit of a scattered person (Stuart-seriously, keep it to yourself), and today is one of those days where a million little things are pinging around in my brain and I decided to let them out here!!  YAY for you!  I did this before in number formation, but may lead you to believe I’m more organized that I am.  Feel free to advise on any of these things.

I’m trying to buy a treadmill on craigslist.  I do not a need a gym-quality treadmill, I ran on Kelli’s 20 year old treadmill and it suited me just fine.  But now that I see all of them, typically, I want the newest shiniest one.  My frugal nature will outweigh my desire for something shiny, but it still complicates things.  I have been reading about treadmills for a week and have many lists and much information about the different brands and motor speeds and cushioning in my head.  Which is probably why it’s so crowded in there.  I’m in a contest with myself to buy the most super amazing treadmill for almost nothing.  I feel very competitive.  This is why I love shopping.  My favorite kind of shopping is car-shopping.  There is nothing like haggling with those people at the end of a sales month.

Today, we made a sporadic purchase.  gasp.  We took the plunge and bought the Cuisinart Grind and Brew Coffeepot.  Do not buy this coffeepot anywhere but Costco if you want one.  It is $69 there and ranges from $129-$199 everywhere else.  What the heck?  This research probably would lead you to believe that this purchase was not completely spontaneous, but I promise, it’s about as spontaneous as we get with that sort of thing (Sara can vouch for that).  We finally broke down and bought it because I have been using the grocery store’s coffee grinder in order to grind this coffee that we buy in whole beans from Texas and I’m afraid someone is going to think I’m shop-lifting as I shove the bag of ground coffee back in my diaper bag.  That would be embarrassing.  We were just going to buy a grinder, but our coffee pot has started leaking a lot too.  We use the auto-brew feature because we like to come downstairs in the morning to fresh coffee.  Lately we have been coming downstairs in the mornings to a giant mess.  I am realizing that I spend a great deal of time focusing on coffee.  I will probably always do this.

I just borrowed “Deceptively Delicious” by Jessica Seinfeld and am finding that I already do a lot of the things she talks about (as far as getting vegetables in our food).  I am encouraged!  Those purees that can be frozen will also keep me from ever wasting anymore bulk vegetables from Costco again!

Blake is getting tubes put in his ears on Thursday due to the 6 week long ear infection that no antibiotic has been able to kill.  I know he’s going to feel so much better and that it’s really not that big of a deal, but I still do not have to like it.  So you don’t have to tell me.  I still won’t like it.  I am, however, so ready for Thursday to get here.  He walks around with both fingers in his ears all the time.  I know that fluid is driving him nuts.

I can hear that naptime is over, therefore, so is this blog.

Proof that I clean:

Blake just took a little broom and dustpan, pretended to sweep into the dustpan, then shook the dustpan out into the trashcan. This was a very long process since his balance is still bad and he falls all the time. But he remained committed.  Like his mom.

😉

Mischief Managed

Just so you know. The size 7 diapers were the solution to all my problems. This week. When we need a size 8 diaper in a couple months, I’m really up a creek. I’ll think about that tomorrow.

But, because he was dry all night, he slept til 8, like the good ‘ol days! WOOHOO!!

Diaper Update

Since I know you’re on the edge of your seat.

Dear Pampers:

REALLY?  This is your sizing chart?  Maybe you should meet a baby.

I’m learning that part of the problem is not just that I have a ginorous kid.  It’s also that B has not yet even reached the minimum weight for size 6 diapers, which is 35 lbs.  He has officially grown out of 6’s at 31lbs.  I found that Pampers sells size 7 (oy, I dislike Pampers)-which I will probably have to buy online at Amazon (what?!).  But the clincher is that the Pampers size 7 diapers are supposed to start at 41 lbs.  REALLY?

As I surf the internet I find that I am one of MANY mothers having this problem.  Diaper people, get on the bus, we are seriously begging you to make a product that we want to buy.  Seriously.  I wish I had more emphatic words.  I do when I’m washing Blake’s peed on clothes every day.

Husky Diapers?

Ok mothers. My baby is about to outgrow size 6 diapers. For those without kids, this is where diaper sizing appears to end. This is the point at which the nice people at Huggies apparently assume that your child should be old enough to use a toilet. It goes to 2T pull-ups from there. Pull-ups don’t work well with babies. They are made for potty-training. I need diapers. Big ones. I’m afraid I’m about to have to go to the babies “big and tall” store online. BTW. For those of you who used to tell me that the fact that Blake has always been in the 120th percentile in height and weight is just an indication that that chart is outdated and all babies tend to be “off the charts”-I’m starting to think my kid really is bigger than 120% of all children his age. I believe this could be proof. We should all be scared when Blake learns to throw his weight around.