Cream and Sugar?

It's not much of a secret that I have an addiction to coffee. To make it easier to justify, I like to call it a healthy love affair rather than an addiction.





(It just wouldn't be healthy or proper for me to stalk this man.)


I didn't always drink my breakfast, but as I apparently am required to be awake to sufficiently care for my family, I caved to genetics* and began consuming the energizing beverage several years ago.

*My mother always had a napkin with a coffee cup ring on it sitting on her sewing machine table. My sisters and I would come home from school and there would be 3 matching dresses hanging on the sewing room door that had not been there when we left at 7:30 that morning. The dashboard of my father's pickup was littered with Styrofoam cups. I can almost smell the faint scent of McDonald's coffee that permeated the cab of his work truck. He convinced me when I was a kid that his vehicle just automatically turned into the drive-thru every day on his way home from a paint job.

Tom and I had a coffee maker that sat, unused except for company, for a few years after our wedding. Then along came the babies, and after the arrival of Savannah, Mr. Coffee became a permanent fixture on the counter top.

Tom worked 3rd shift the first twelve years of our marriage, so naturally he drank a lot of the sludge. He needed it to stay awake, and it really does smell good - I'll blame him for a portion of my problem. We both love to wake up to the smell of fresh coffee. He, more than I.* My addiction used to be more pronounced in the winter, so I kept a "winter" (12 cup) coffee maker, and a "summer" (4 cup) coffee maker available. Preston and Bucky occasionally like to partake of a cup with us, so we just use the big one all the time now. (I also now drink just as much coffee in warmer weather as I do in cooler weather, but who's counting??!?)

*For a short period of time, Tom decided we should have a Bed-n-Breakfast bedroom. His version was simple - take










the summer coffee maker















upstairs and keep a supply of ground coffee, filters, and a gallon of water under the bed. The preparations would all be in place before he went to sleep at night. In the morning, his alarm would go off, and without a word being said, he'd roll over. I'd hear him hit the snooze with his hand and start the coffee pot with his foot. In a few seconds, I'd hear "pssssssssss...." as the water began trickling into the carafe. This went on for several days, until one morning, listening to the chain of events take place in the darkness that is 5:00AM, I could contain my mirth no longer and simply burst into laughter. Shortly after that, he quit making coffee upstairs, and our bedroom returned to it's previous place in our domicile as Just the Room in Which We Sleep. I have no idea why.

I used to just drink the plain stuff, and while I still like a simple cup of coffee every now and then, my disease has progressed to the point that I now require special treatment. Where once I used to be able to survive on this,







now I use this.




Where once I used to speak daily with Mr. Coffee, my husband knew that Mr. Coffee could no longer fulfill the requirements I have for kitchen appliances, so he enabled me with this.





And you almost ALWAYS find something like this in my fridge.



Every once in a while, usually on a blustery winter evening when I happen to have time to read a good book, I might stray off the beaten path and shake things up a bit with some of this.







But lest you think I've drifted so far over the edge of sanity there's no hope for my return, be assured that I find useful ways to recycle various coffee-related articles. For instance, the larger containers of the plain-jane coffee make excellent storage devices for baby bottles.



Aware of the need to become more "green", another efficient use that I've discovered for run-of-the-mill coffee buckets is composting. Keep one of these suckers sitting by your kitchen sink, and toss in your leftover scraps from making juice, scrambled eggs and ....are you ready for this??....COFFEE!! Voila! Instant mush for your garden!




Now on the off chance that you think I'm not treating my body in a healthy manner, let me just say that I drink all this in an effort to retain my brain power. Granted, it would help if I could actually FIND my brain to begin with, but if I am ever successful at that endeavor, at least I'll be geared up for making sure I don't wind up suffering with dementia when I'm 80. And I've got proof!!!

So! Back off, all you naysayers! I'll be just fine.

Now...
where did I set my cup down?