This Is The Way We Make The Coffee

Toby is home doing bookwork today so what better way to celebrate his day home than to enjoy a cup of coffee. Of course, he was up to that so I set out to make up the bean juice.

But first, I had to make breakfast for the kids. While I stood by the stove frying eggs, the kids grabbed a hold of my skirt, wrapped up in it as best as they could and chewed and bit at my skirt. They must've been pretty hungry this morning. They seemed to be competing over who could get the biggest bite at it. Thankfully, they spared my legs.

I quickly finished the eggs, trying not to trip over the little people wrapped in my skirt and served the food to my starving kids.

I then go to the coffee pot but on my way there, Janae dumps her bowl of eggs on the floor. I detour her way, picking up eggs as I go.

I decide that Janae's eggs are finished and that she's ready for her cup of juice.

I go to the fridge and get juice and then reach for the sippy cups. They're in the dishwasher which reminds me that I still need to empty the dishwasher. I give Janae her juice and then Landon wants some. I go back to the dishwasher, find another cup, fill it with the rest of the juice in the picture only to find that there's only about a swallow of juice in the cup. I retrieve Janae's cup from her and empty half of the contents into Landons cup; providing both of them with equal juice.

And then I remember the coffee.

I head back to the coffee maker, take out the pot and proceed to rinse it in the sink. As the water runs, while I wait for it to get warm, Landon asks for another egg.

I shut the water off and fry another egg for my starving boy.

I make my way back to the sink and resume my coffee task. By this time, the kids are finished with their eggs and playing down the hall in their bedrooms. As I rinse the pot out, I hear distressed cries coming from my darling children.

I shut the water off and go work out the problem between my children. Landon apparently took Janae's ball from her but before I got to them, Janae bit Landon and he started crying. So then we have that issue to resolve.

As soon as that situation dissolves, I head back to the kitchen to get back to the coffee. While I rinse the pot and clean off the coffee stains, Janae disappears into the bathroom.

I shut the water off again and head to the bathroom, just in time to see a little pajama clad girl toddle down the hall with a toothbrush in hand. I extract the kidnapped toothbrush, remind the little thief that a toothbrush is a no-no and then put the toothbrush back, shutting the door behind me when I leave the bathroom.

I finally get the pot filled with water and just as I'm about to pour it into the coffee maker, a hurt cry is heard from a far bedroom. I set the pot down neglecting the coffee once again.

As I investigate what happened, I could find nothing wrong or damaged but a simple kiss seemed to calm the sobs. So, I kissed and set the ailing child down and headed back to the coffee.

The water fills the coffee maker and I set the pot on the burner. I still hadn't filled the grounds basket so I attempted to accomplish that task. While I get the can of coffee out, Janae climbs up on a high stool in another room and somehow manages to not fall off before I rescued her. I set her back on the floor only to come back and find Landon vigorously sniffing the can of coffee grounds. The fragrant grains move easily in the breeze and onto the table.

"Landon, WHAT are you doing?" I ask.

"Smelling coffee, Mom." He replies, as if I couldn't' tell.

And then I remember back to one night when we were all together with Toby's family and Aaron started telling us a theory he had seen (and tried) at a perfume counter. You smell one scent after another and pretty soon they all smell the same. So, somebody found that by smelling a small tin of coffee between each scent, your scent buds are renewed with each whiff of coffee.

He claimed it worked very well.

So, somebody brought a small scoop of coffee to the table and we all tried it. Landon apparently was all eyes and ears for this experiment and seems to enjoy trying it out whenever he can.

I filled the coffee grinder and grind the coffee down. Landon continued sniffing the coffee so I had to stop and intervene with him. I refilled the grinder again and finally, the last of the coffee grinder was heard as it whirred to a stop. We were getting closer to the end of our project.

Just then, Janae comes marching into the kitchen with her mouth filled with one of those "Lacing Sweets." (a round, object with a letter on both sides and a hole on both ends.) I extract the foreign object from her mouth and remind her again that those are a "no-no" for the mouth.

I emptied the contents into the grounds basket and put it on the coffee maker. I quickly shut the basket, put the pot under and dashed for the "on" button before another catastrophe happened.

While the coffee brewed, the kids continued their lively exuberance towards life. The smell of coffee was wafting on the air and filled the house with an aire of nostalgia -- if you can feel nostalgic when your kids keep finding the very things they aren't supposed to get into.

At last, the coffee was done and I poured Toby a cup. As I filled my cup with milk first (I was going for a latte), I noticed the sides of my cup were coated with a white, powdery, anthrax like substance.

I smelled it (of course) and deemed it unsafe for drinking purposes so dumped it down the drain. I reached for another cup, filled it with coffee first, dissolved my sugar and then topped it off with milk. And then I brought Toby his cup and forgot about mine.

Ten minutes later I came into the kitchen and found my cup of coffee. It was cold by then so I put it in the microwave, only to forget about it there as well.

I reheated it again and came back for it 5 minutes later.

Sometimes I wonder why I even bother making coffee... especially when Toby only took one small drink of his and told me it was too strong. His dad came later in the day and made my coffee making adventure worth it. In a short time, he finished the whole pot off and did I ever feel accomplished.

If you ever visit my house and I offer you a cup of coffee, know full well that coffee around here comes with a price.

But really, coffee is a breeze compared to blogging. I won't even begin to tell you how many times I've been up and down from writing this simple story nor could I ever count how many times I've saved lives and rescued small children from dangerous places in just a short time.

I need to go get myself a cup of coffee now.