I know you are all (OK, so no one actually 'follows' our wimpy blog for now...but wait till you see the upgrades that are coming soon....it will POP) looking for an adoption update, either the prequel or sequel to the last post. However, I thought to put a little humor in the mix this morning from my coffeemaker seeking escapades.
So, if you caught my Tweet/FB update you know that our coffeemaker broke. Well, what appears to have happened is that the tube that sucks (couldn't think of a better term) the water in from the reservoir must have gotten clogged. I tried everything to get that puppy to move the water along. Jo Anna thought to call Sunbeam, the manufacturer of Mr. Coffee machines (imagine that, they are owned by the company whose line of namesake products I despise due to past experiences...all bad) and insist that this was a warranty issue. We've only had this machine for nearly 3 years, and it only has a 1 year limited warranty. You have to know Jo Anna...everything is a warranty issue and she never wants to pay for the 'extended service plan' or similar. "That shouldn't happen..." should be the plaque hanging above the kitchen entryway. LOL
I finally gave up and pushed the derelict over and out of the way to make room for Thanksgiving dinner. As an aside, if you haven't used Alton Brown's simple turkey brine for your bird, look it up and do it for Christmas...delish. Anyway, we struggled...and I mean struggled to get through the last few days (it broke Wednesday, November 25th) :*-) Jo Anna had purchased a mini-Keurig machine that brews with those cute little 'k'-cups. It got plenty of use since Wednesday, let me tell you. My DW even got up the courage to actually brew a cup herself...and didn't cause any damage (yeah, she is 'technologically-challenged' to say the least). If that little 1-cup coffeemaker could speak, it would be shouting all kinds of obscenities at us.
On to the potentially funny parts. That was the sermon 'intro'...haha. The title of this post is a parody of "Adventures in Babysitting". If you have ever seen that film, you should be chuckling right now. So much went wrong it was even awkward at times. LOL
I looked up the same CM (I gotta shorten 'coffeemaker'....it's just too much to write) online at Kohl's, which is where we bought the first one. I was happy to see that price had been reduced and was on sale. I kept the web page up for over a day to remind me of the 'target'. So yesterday I began planning the 'mission'. My 'goal' was clear. I would get up at 4:30am to arrive at 6am at Kohl's to obtain 'the package' and return to 'homebase'. Jo Anna was to be at work by 8am, so I had little time to waste on my 'quest'. (Am I using too many of those thingies...you know, the partial quotations that have another name???)
I couldn't sleep. It didn't help that I watched my Pitt Panthers go down in flames at the hands of the WVU Mountaineers...then went on to watch one of my favorite Denzel films, Crimson Tide (go Bama). I made the mistake of logging in to my Facebook account and caught up on the latest posts and games. I finally went to bed after 1am. Yikes. I set the alarm for 5am and tried to fall asleep. I had one of those nights where I was overly concerned that I wouldn't ever fall asleep and/or wouldn't wake up when the alarm went off. Well, I got about 3 and a half hours before I was awake. I tried to fall back asleep, but couldn't...so I got up at 4:45. Ugh.
After intially failing the attempt to make a 'k'-cup in the Keurig, it reluctantly gave up and yielded it's sweet nectar. I proceeded to take a deep breath and dive in to my mission. On to Kohl's to fight the crowds on the day after Black Friday. I left at 6am...great :-(
There were no crowds...no one to elbow me, step on my toes while navigating between the messy bays, andno stressed out associates. I had mentally prepared for battle (yeah, I gave up on those mini-me quote marks), yet my opponent was not present. I pleasant, yet unsettling surprise. LOL
I headed straight for those funky little top-heavy shopping carts (which barely qualify). Yeah, you know the ones. They have a false bottom that leads to the same place that socks go while in the clothes dryer. Anyway, I grabbed one and drove it towards the housewares area. Did I mention that I was one of only 2 males in the place? Awkward. So admidst those really unnecessary and annoying pages from the management stating what their goal is (ex. "We're looking for 40 people, so let's get moving. 121 is already there.") I found the CM I was looking for. Then, I had no intentions to do so, but...*sigh*...I went shopping. OK. I said it.
I will skip the parts where I bought clothes for my new job (which is my old job, just a different locale...which is actually my old locale from last stint in NC...long story). I was at the checkout with the pleasant associates who didn't seem to notice that the place was a disaster. As I was paying for everything, I get a $50 Kohl's 'bucks' or whatever that I could have used to buy Jo Anna's present that I wasn't supposed to buy (yet another post).
I drive home, drinking my cold, yucky 'k'-cup anticipating my brewing a cup at home. Mmmmmmm....fresh brewed regular coffeeeeeeee. Skipping to the point where I pull the new CM out of the box where I notice that I bought the one without the warming plate controls...which was WHY I was going to purchase this particular Mr. Coffee. Mr. Crawford was at that point neglecting this fact and ready to make Mr. Coffee do his rightful duty. I called and spoke to Mrs. Crawford who agreed that we couldn't wait any longer (no, we are not caffeine addicts, just former Yanks who love coffee in the morning). Then, after all my morning challenges -- getting 3.5 hours sleep to arrive at the store by 6am, psyching myself up to throw down with the wild shoppers, getting to Kohl's late, disobeying my own mandate of not doing any other shopping, putting up with the horrible conditions and listening to the funky pages by management, and then arriving home only to discover that I had bought the wrong CM -- I got it all prep'd and ready to brew and finally made a cup of Joe. *extra big sigh*
Sorry for such a long post. I cut it short because I need to take Nugget to the vets to have a couple nights in the doggie spa while we go to Charlotte. I hope you appreciated my adventures :-)
