My coffee habit

It was just a few short weeks ago that I posted about my new love for coffee. In that time, my new love has turned into a bit of a problem. See, when I make coffee at home, I have to make an entire pot of coffee. Even if I save half to drink the next day, I'm still drinking half a pot of coffee by myself! Not good.

I'd looked into getting a Keurig a couple of months ago. It would be free, because I planned to use rewards points from my credit card to "buy" it. I ultimately decided it was just going to be another gadget and something else to sit on my counter. I thought the novelty would wear off quickly and I'd regret buying it.

I've changed my mind. I have to do something to cut down the massive amounts of coffee I'm drinking. I surfed around the rewards site yesterday and ended up with a Keurig on order. I opted to do it the difficult way.

The two models my rewards points offered me at the lowest point amounts were the B31 (roughly 14,000 points) and the B60 (just over 20,000 points). I did a little research and realized that, based on the value of a point, I'd be paying more than retail for these products. The short version of a long story is that I cashed in my points and ordered a Keurig from Costco.com. (My new love affair with Costco.com is a completely separate story.)

In the end, here's what I got for $159.99

• Keurig B70 model (with 60-ounce water reservoir) (retail $179.95)
• The standard 12 K-cup sampler that comes with a Keurig purchase (typically included)
• An additional 4 12-packs of K-cups from Mountain, Tully's, Caribou and Newman's Own (we'll call this a $32 value...based on the $7.99 per 12-pack price at the grocery store)
• A K-cup reusable coffee filter (for use with your own grounds) (usually $15)
• Free shipping to my door (I also have a love affair with online shopping, particularly when free shipping is involved.) (I won't value this, since I could have gotten in my car and gone to the store.)

In the end, I estimate I got a $226.95 value for $159.99!
 
I win. :)

My new love

I've never been a "coffee drinker," per say. I've always dabbled in it, but I've never been dependent upon it, nor have I had a particular love for it. I've been known to have a Starbucks cup in my hand quite often. My secret is that it was never coffee; my cup has always held delicious hot chocolate or caramel macchiato.

Now that I'm home and not driving to Greenville for work every day, I do not pass a Starbucks on any of my routine outings. Plus, my love for Starbucks dwindled as their prices rose.

I discovered a place in town called Bella Latte. They make a good hot chocolate (probably better than Starbucks), and the prices are more reasonable. Still, it's a treat and swindles me out of a couple of bucks.

A few weeks ago, my mom and I went to Atlanta to visit my grandma. I'm not sure whether it was sharing a double bed with my mom, my grandma's noisy oxygen machine or what, but I slept like crap that night. In the morning, I set out in search of breakfast. I reappeared with half a dozen Dunkin Donuts and a cup of coffee.

That morning changed my life. I fell in love with Dunkin Donuts French vanilla coffee. Since then, I've detoured by the good ol' DD a few times. The great news is two-part: 1.) There's a Dunkin Donuts not too far from my house (and it's on the way to other things); 2.) A large DD French vanilla coffee with cream and sugar is only $2.15. (Trust me, that's a deal when you're used to specialty drinks.)

I've found myself craving the stuff practically every day. Rylan's been getting up a little early lately, so I've been particularly tired as of late. On the days I couldn't make it to DD, I got a little sad. 

Today I was at Target (which meant I didn't pass DD on the way), and a coffee end cap caught my eye. Lo and behold, there was a package of DD French vanilla grounds right in front of me! I picked it up and grabbed some coffee filters. That's when I noticed the pretty creamer bottles in the fridge.

My spontaneous purchase morphed. I ditched the coffee and filters and picked up French vanilla creamer instead. And it was on sale. $1.50 for a bottle of the stuff.

I knew we had some coffee left at the house from when Jason's parents visited at Christmas.

I came home and started a pot of coffee before I even got R out of the car seat. Homemade cheap-o coffee with French vanilla creamer and a touch of sugar tasted just like the Dunkin stuff I fell in love with.

R's down for a nap and I've had two cups of coffee. I feel like I could conquer the world. Maybe I should start drinking this stuff in the morning like the rest of the world. They might be onto something...

The grandfather I never knew

Family is important to me. I dearly love my family. And, the older I've gotten, the more I've grown to appreciate the bonds and love within my family.

I have a modern-day family tree. It's one where some branches of the tree have broken off and reattached elsewhere. My family tree splits and twists. But there's a lot of love (and weirdness) all over it.

One of the areas where there aren't warm fuzzies is my paternal grandfather. I'm not going to get into the details. The extent to which I know the man is that I've met him once. I was eight years old. So, needless to say, I didn't know him.

He died Monday. (I found out yesterday.) It was strange not to feel much of anything. It didn't really affect my day or my mood.

I am directly related to him. Without him, my dad would not have been born. In turn, that means, his existence was essential in my existence. It's strange to try to reconcile that with the fact that he and I walked the earth for 29 of the same years, but never knew each other.

Despite all that, I found myself praying for him as he lay dying. Since I didn't know him, I couldn't say with any degree of certainty what his relationship with Jesus was. But I assumed he didn't have one. I prayed that he would find Him before it was too late.

And now that he's gone, I just have one biological grandparent left: my mom's mother. She was always the oldest of the four. She's currently 89 and feisty as ever. But that's an entirely different post...

Atlanta: The Christmas Gift

I've been going to Atlanta my entire life. Though neither of my parents were born there, they both lived there in high school (they graduated high school together). My sister was born there. And, even once my parents and sister moved to South Carolina, my parents' families continued to live in Atlanta.

Late last year, I mentioned to Jason that I rarely get to do anything in Atlanta that doesn't involve hanging out with family at some family member's house. My ever perceptive husband picked up on this, and a Christmas present was born.

Those of you who know Jason know that 90% of what he does is laced with fierce creativity. This present was no different. Christmas 2010 was the year I received "The 12 gifts of Christmas." Most (but not all) of them centered around our Atlanta trip. Here's the complete list:

1. Willow Tree figurine
2. Band t-shirts (Grace Potter & The Nocturnals and Matt Wertz)
3. iTunes albums (3 $10 iTunes gift cards)
4. Concert tickets (two tickets to see the Old 97's and two tickets to see Grace Potter & The Nocturnals)
5. Pictures (a frame with 5 pictures of R and me)
6. A 6-pack of Diet Coke (and a note that we'd be visiting the World of Coke, the Georgia Aquarium and CNN)
7. Caramel macchiatos (Starbucks gift card)
8. Sausage biscuits (McDonald's gift card)
9. Unsharpened pencils (I collect them.)
10. Socks (5 pairs)
11. Scratch off tickets (I won $1.)
12. Months (a 2011 calendar)

He even worked it out, in advance, for my sister to babysit R for the weekend. 

We just had our Atlanta getaway. Blog to come...