Coffee Tales

I'll have to get caught up a bit....the week zoomed by.  No MMD's which is great.  Too busy to focus on anything but the work of which there is plenty.  Construction starting the day after school is out plus budget equals so much to do.  So busy the days just fly by.  (I even have moments of feeling a little guilty that I have work to escape to vs. J. who is in it 24/7.  But there's plenty here to keep him busy and he is busy).  It was a good week.

The concert on Monday was really wonderful...though there were two opening acts.  J. and I were definitely among the oldest in attendance and the hundreds of people that were on the floor and stood the entire time amaze me.  I never liked being 'on the floor'....like a sardine. Reserved seating has always been my preference...but I admire those who are such fans, they want to be down close.  Ingrid Michaelson (the main act) didn't even start playing until 9:20ish!  We got home close to 1AM which is very, very late for us.  The Fox Theater in Oakland is a Bay Area treasure and a really fun venue.  There's a snack bar/lounge/bar attached to the theater and I'm pretty sure they have two opening acts with breaks in between each to encourage people to eat, drink and mingle.  A lot. J. and I both got wristbands confirming we were drinking age (Hah!) and we could take food and drinks in or out.  We didn't (other than water).  But we did enjoy beer (me) and margarita (him - it was Cinco de Mayo so he felt he should have a traditional drink of the day) and good noshes that kept us full.  The music was wonderful - discovered two new groups I am now obsessed with.  The Alternate Routes and Storyman.  My ITunes account is getting a great workout.  Lovely evening and I managed to get up and get to work by 10.

H. continues to amaze.  He's doing really well.  He got a 'zero' haircut yesterday in preparation for likely starting to lose his hair - will be easier to shave off if it's pretty short already.  He always wears his hair pretty short so it's not a shock which will help.  He's got an assortment of beanies and we've promised baseball hats or whatever strikes his fancy.  He's a trooper!  He slept through most of his PET scan on Monday morning which they said was 'good' 'cuz when they first put the radioactive material into his veins, they didn't want him to move around much.  He obliged by going to sleep.  And then slept through the scanner part, too.  We will get those results on the 15th - right before H. has his 3rd chemo round.  Fingers crossed for Stage 1 being confirmed.

Other major events include J. getting to hear what every husband everywhere wants to here: you were right.  For months now, I clean out the drip tray under the coffee spout over and over and over.  We have that 'one cup' Hamilton Beach coffee maker where you fill the filter with coffee (your own ground coffee) and it brews one mug at a time.  Seemed cheaper than the common 'pod one cup' makers out there at the time.  But often (my version), the drip tray is full of gross coffee that isn't caught by a cup or mug and it's a pain to clean.  I rant about it.  J. says 'I clean it all the time' (his version) but 'sometimes it spews out more coffee with no warning'.  I think 'sure it does....'.

And then it happened.  Last Sunday, piddling around the house before heading into my office, I wiped the stainless steel down to clean the drips off the coffee maker itself - and it started dripping 'coffee' in a stream!  Not little drips - a pretty significant stream.  Like it was emptying the water that had drawn up into the chamber and not cycled through when the internal 'brew' cycle stopped.  J. was right!

And...after brewing myself another cup of coffee later that morning and then lifting the drip tray cover to clean it out again, it did it AGAIN only this time the water was HOT ('cuz I'd just made myself a cup of coffee) and it burned my hand.  Not hospital level burn but still. Now we had a safety reason to dump the old machine.

So - that's it!  We broke down and bought our hearts desire (and admittedly, our coffee maker obsession has led us to have many different brewers) and got a Keurig.  60 seconds and delicious coffee and while the pods are about 50 cents each, oh well.  We do have a 'My K Cup' to use with our own ground coffee and will do that sometimes.  But for now, we are enjoying the hugely wide variety of beverages out there.  Iced tea!  Cocoa!  Hot Cider!  The list is seemingly endless.

I am up early for a Saturday but since I went to bed at 8 and was falling asleep watching TV within minutes of getting into bed, I got a good, long night of rest so I'm raring to go. Yes, work.  But that's OK.  I get so much done when I'm alone - it's so quiet and I just plow through.  Interruptions are hard when it's budget time 'cuz the work is very detailed - so I'm grateful for no interruptions!

And I will wedge in some time to garden later today.  We have our first tomato on the vine and my herbs need trimming.  I'm going to try to dry some sage - do a good trimming and hang the bunches up in the garage (out of the wind).

I feel a 'miscellaneous' post coming on of little things I think of throughout the day(s).  So more soon.  Happy Saturday!