Morning Madness

Today I had one of those mornings.  I stayed up too late last night enjoying the quiet of my house, and I was paying for it at 6:30.  I woke up to my toddler shouting my name from his crib.  I grumbled, open my eyes and groggily walked towards his room, only to be met with a disappointed and stubborn little boy who refused to let me pick him up.  ”No!  Dad!” he declared.  (Ouch!)

Now at least half awake, I make my way to the kitchen, carefully stepping over toys, shoes, and laundry in every room.  In the kitchen, I make a gruesome discovery – NO COFFEE!   The day before my husband had promised to pick it up.  The kids and I were without wheels due to yet another issue with his sporty European sedan.  In all the distraction of his car troubles, he forgot.  (Why can’t men multi-task?  A woman would have would have had the car towed, called the insurance company to make sure it was covered, secured three estimates by phone, picked up the coffee and a pint of Ben & Jerry’s to make him feel better, taken the kids to the art class in the park, hosted a playdate, made breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 snacks, and done 3 loads of laundry.  But I digress….)

Sans caffeine, I put away clean dishes sitting on the counter, assembled a fast kid-friendly, healthy breakfast of buckwheat waffles, pure maple syrup and fresh-picked blueberries, pour them each their milk (skim for her, whole for him) and try to think about how I will get hot coffee down my throat before one of them starts getting on the other’s nerves and the whining begins.  Pulling my toddler off the counter and out of the sink four, five, maybe six times, I get an idea.   An admittedly re-gifted bag of whole bean flavored coffee from my sister sits in my cupboard.  My husband will complain, but drink it, given the circumstances.   No grinder!  No problem.   That’s what Google is for!  Food Processor?   A thoughtful coffee-lover online had the same good idea once, and has blogged against it!  A blender is suggested as a much better option.  And so, , the blender churns and grinds away, and after many noise complaints from the peanut gallery, my Rainforest Nut java is ground and on its way to brewing. Soon I will experience Mommy-bliss.  After all, a hot cup of coffee in hand helps any woman answer the phone, find the car keys, kiss the boo boos, mop up the spilt milk and chase after a toddler with an affinity for him mother’s make-up bag….

Just one small thing, a hot cup of coffee, turns my morning around!   Before I know it, I’m smiling from ear to ear, bounding with glee across my messy kitchen and joyfully picking up sticky blueberries off of every surface!  OK, not really…but it does make it easier to start negotiating with my daughter about which shoes she’ll wear to story time.  And that is about all I can ask of my coffee.

Everyone should have one vice…..at least one!   Aside from my one cup of coffee per day, I love to peruse farmer’s markets, cook, run, practice yoga, watch bad reality TV and spend hours on my laptop.   What’s yours?  What do you do for yourself that makes your endless to-do list bearable?   What could you do, if you are not making yourself a priority?

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