Coffee: A History

For much of my life, I have hated coffee. I never understood the big deal.

In my house growing up, I don't remember my mother drinking coffee but I do remember my Dad always starting off with a Pepsi.

Not a Coke - a Pepsi. Otherwise he mostly drank Lemon-Lime Gatorade.

Moving on to High School - I had this Chemistry teacher who spent most of his time hiding in the men's room smoking. Somehow I became his favorite and he sent me to the teachers lounge to get him coffee. He told me to make it really strong.

Um - I don't know how to make coffee..

Down I go to the teachers lounge hoping some is already made and it's not. Great.

I am a relatively smart person, in contrast to my hair color, so I knew about the filter and water, etc. However when you don't make coffee, don't drink coffee, and don't live with those who DO - being a pinch-coffee-fetcher is stressful.

Needless to say - that cup of coffee probably wasn't his best. But he DID keep sending me on this errand the rest of the year.

In college, my go-to for caffeine was Coke. (a-Cola. not the other kind..) Late nights were Snickers Bars and Coke and loud music.

Then I was introduced to a Mint-Mochasomethingorother at Java Jacks by way of Donald.

I will never forget my first experience with THISMUCH caffeine.

I drank it on the way to work (I was in the Help Desk department at a call center) and by the time I finished this cup of minty-mocha goodness I was WIRED. I probably out-talked Donald, which is an urban legend to this day.

After that, I was a little more careful with the amount of caffeine I would consume but I couldn't stop drinking that damn Mint-Mochasomethingorother.

As I got older, coffee became more of my daily life. When I first started out it was always some coffee contraption like a Vanilla Latte or White Chocolate Mocha. Nowadays, it's just coffee with cream and sugar, or Iced Vanilla Coffee with Milk.
After Logan, my coffee consumption probably tripled and I can't get through the day without at least 2 cups.

Even then I have about 1/4 of the energy he does....

Big Girl Job

Other than wrangling Logan and being the best wife I can be, I also have that Big Girl Job I go to every weekday.

Recently a project I worked on was completed so I headed up to take some photos, something I rarely get to do.

Note: The color scheme is a company standard. Not my idea! I will say it's growing on me...

The floor is entirely open seating

"Huddle Rooms" and "Phone Rooms" are provided for privacy when needed.

Another view of the Huddle Room. There is a larger "Meeting Room" behind this to the left.

Very large Meeting Room

Small break room

Elevator Lobby. No the building isn't falling, I just can't hold the camera straight....

Large sign - I tried to be creative

I blurred out the company name, just to be nice.

Other than the color scheme, it was my job to draw up the plans and assist the contractor when they had questions. This company is growing rapidly and I am looking forward to more work with them in the near future!

Body Shop

After a wonderful visit to the ENT on Thursday, it has been determined that Logan needs to go back to the body shop for a tune up.

The Dr came in the room and I started just spilling off the week we had. Fever, tonsils swollen, etc etc etc.

He was like "so basically he is on Nasonex and Claritin and STILL has goopy nose?"

Yep.

So I help Logan in a vice grip while the Dr cleaned out his nose. I heard this awful slurp noise and the Dr held up the clear tube and said "Gee, does that look like puss to you? Looks like puss to me!"

At least 2 tablespoons of puss were in this tube and it had all come out of Logan's aednoid.

Because I didn't know where/what it was either...

Basically, this is the culprit of Logan's issues since he has tubes and is STILL getting infections.

This little sucker is being yanked out on August 31st. Hopefully this means that as we enter cold and flu season, Logan can actually just get a cold, not some nasty infection.

Ever since Thursday (and now on some antibiotics.... again) Logan is back to himself. Sleeping, eating, happy!

Oh and that whole slogan - Happy Wife Happy Life? no. It's really "Happy CHILD Happy Life."

Just letting you know...

These days

Oy. This week. Yikes.

Monday: At work, everything plugging along, and at 2:45pm - phone call. Logan is running a 103 fever.
Me: Well hell.

So on impulse I take him to the pediatrician that is right down the way in the shopping center. Something was telling me to not just fill the antibiotics prescription I had in the car.
Sure enough, it's NOT his ears. He had a red throat and tonsils and they tested for strep - negative. So just a virus which means "sorry, gotta tough it out." On top of all that, this dude is teething and we haven't slept well in weeks.

Tuesday I take him back to that same Dr for allergy testing. When I told her the history and she called Walgreens to check the recent history of antibiotics - she was SHOCKED. She wanted to see if there was something he was allergic too that was possibly causing all this sickness.

He was a trooper for sure.

The end result - nothing too serious. Ragweed, lots of trees, mild allergies to milk, fish, and tomatoes.
And?
Cockroaches.

Any of you who know me personally know that roaches make me freeze in fear. I shake. I scream. I FREAK OUT.

Upon thinking of all this, I think the ceiling caving in thus attracting or making bugs welcome into our home - this was all the same time Logan got sick. Over. and Over.

So - now he is Nasonex and Benadryl at night and Claritin in the day. Yowza.
They said in many of the extreme ear infection cases Nasonex does wonders.

We also already had an ENT appointment scheduled for Thursday afternoon to talk about his Aednoid and I am glad to have all this other info under my belt when I go in there.

Can we just fix my little man already? Momma likes a healthy boy, and not being that schmoe that calls into work repeatedly.

On the teething front, he is cutting his bottom "Second Molars." This is what is causing much of the night waking and ear pulling.

Our routine is usually:

6:45pm-7pm - put cranky ass kid to bed cranked full of Advil or Tylenol.
Anytime between 2-4am - screaming from the crib. I bring in cold water and give more meds.
Sometimes he wakes up more than once but unless I can give him any meds, all I can do it go in, snuggle him a minute, and put him back down (where he screams for a full minute b/c he is pissed I left.)
I'm. So. Tired. Y'all.

So out of curiosity, I looked up a teething chart:

Upon studying this chart I figured something out - after he gets the top Second Molars.. we are done. DONE! No more teething!

SLEEP IS STILL ATTAINABLE!

Then my boss tells me "yeah then come growing pains. Have fun with THAT one!"

I would have liked to have a few more minutes of hope and happiness before she went there.

Our weekend...

Guys, I feel a little conflicted. What is my blog all about?

Logan? - Yes.
Life? - Yes.
Occasional Rant? - Yes
Cooking? - Yes.

So I have decided to just blog about anything and all things and see how it goes.

This past weekend was busy, but good busy. We did whatever we wanted and it was great.

Friday night I went with my boss and clients to the Astros game, in style at the Insperity Club.

Now THIS is how you watch baseball!

I had a great time for sure and we actually won!

Saturday morning we headed to the Galleria to let Logan hang out in the "Little Galleria." It is basically this super awesome play area that is padded so you can let him loose and sit still and drink coffee.

As you know, coffee is one of my very favorite things.

Anywhoo, we often let him loose right off the elevator.

Buy me all the things!

He always has a great time and we always love to watch him jump and play and, honestly, wear himself out.

That afternoon we did a little kiddie - pool time and then had friends over for dinner.
It's Hatch Chili time here in Houston and HEB had everything strategically placed so that you bought everything and anything hatch.
And we did.
I bought a container of roasted chili's:

I put them in the mini prep with lemon and oil and rubbed it all over a whole chicken:

Lee grilled it very slowly along with some sausage and veggies:

I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Sarah and Katie in the kitchen drinking wine and talking about babies, marriage, and botox.

Sunday we rounded up about 12 people (and 3 babies) and headed out to brunch.

Parmesan Truffle Fries

Katz Coffee

Shrimp and Grits for me please!

I left my camera at home so these are all iPhone, but Sarah (and Katie!) brought theirs so hopefully I can link to some photos soon.

Now back to a busy week.

And please let the teething stop. Mama needs some sleep y'all.

Car Shopping

It's still about 6 months away, but I am already obsessing shopping for cars.

Right now I have a 2010 Acura RDX:

All in all, we really like this car. The main drawback for us is the size. With Logan's car seat, I can only comfortably seat 3 adults (including myself) in the car. 4 if someone wants to squeeze in. Also, the cargo space is lacking in a bad way.

The thing we have going for us is that we leased this car, so in March - it goes back and we get something else. I am in the market for something bigger, but not huge. Here is what I am looking at.

1. Chevy Traverse

2013 Traverse

 I am really loving this vehicle. It's gotten #1 family vehicle several years running, it's big but not huge, and it's on a car chassis which makes it drive nice. Seats 7 people and I could fold the back row down for trips where we need more cargo.
Starting Price: $30,485. My price (loaded): 40K.

2. Ford Explorer

I rode in this one yesterday and I had some geek moments for sure. It was awesome and roomy and had... wait for it... cooled seats. OH. WOW. Seats 7 people, the back cargo (and back of the back seats) are rubber so it won't get dirty. I've heard great things about the Sync system.
Starting Price: $28,870. My price (loaded): 40k.

3. Maxda CX-9

 Lee wants us to look at this one, but I am not crazy about the body style. Maybe when I see it in person?
Starting Price: $33. My Price (loaded) $39k.

Any suggestions?

Tired

Man I'm tired...

Lilly, yawning

I'm tired of fighting and controversy.
I'm tired of trying to figure out the right thing to say/do.
I'm tired of just not saying anything at all.

This whole Chick Fil A thing is absurd. First of all - what else do you expect out of someone of that generation? What else do you expect out of someone who's store is closed on Sunday's and there is a poster in the window telling you exactly why?

Now - do I think what was said was right? No. Am I surprised? No.

I was not happy about finding out about this companies charitable contributions. THAT would be a reason I wouldn't want to spend my money there.

However, the owner of the franchise may feel differently than the company. You are hurting them, not the man at the top. 

Am I happy about the way the opposing side reacted? No.

Fighting fire with fire is never the way to go.

I feel like everyone overreacted. And I feel like there was a lot of emotion without a total understanding of the entire situation.There was much texting and explaining in my own family about this and it was awkward until we all finally talked and moved on.

I support equal rights for everyone. You can't tell me that allowing gays to marry is going to ruin traditional marriage. Really? Traditional marriage is already something many people do not take seriously. Are you telling me that someone who is in love and wants to have a family and have already been together for 10 years and only wants the same basic rights has less right to get married than Kim freaking Kardashian?

When I got married, I told myself (and Lee) that we will see 3 different counselors and try everything in our power to stay together. Thankfully, nothing like that has been needed, but we were serious when we got married. We didn't think "oh well, if it doesn't work we will just split up."
Too many other people don't see it that way. When there are laws that you can't get married more than 5 times in a state, I believe the whole traditional marriage thing is not the right argument anymore.

I won't be cliche and say "why can't everyone just get along." But I am not going to just sit here and not fight with my dear friends for equal rights. I am sure it was exactly this way for Women's Rights and Civil Rights. Eventually, it will all work out, but for now it's a fight.

Also?

I'm tired of teething. At least there are only 3 teeth left to go...