Hot Chocolate at 4:30 AM

This is the life. I haven't had hot chocolate in quite a while. I generally opt for the coffee nowadays. This morning, though, the plan was to be moral support for Scott's three am wake-up time, as he had been working most of the night before, and working all day, and was hence too tired to continue working last night. In a last attempt to entice him out of bed an hour later, I headed out to the 24 hour grocery store for some instant coffee. Our coffee pot is...ahem, out of commission these days, so instant would have to do. There are no coffee places open around here at 4, although there must be a Starbucks fairly close, because I saw someone with some at the store. I'm sort of jealous now, but not too much so, for I have tasty hot chocolate that even came with little marshmallows (which reconstitute fantastically in hot water!!) ;p

Blogger was out all day yesterday, which made me a bit sad because I had quite a bit to relate. No matter! I'll just ramble on for a while today, since I have noooo lack of time:

Wednesday was Scott's birthday. He ended up working from home, which made it very hard to surprise him. In fact, it made it pretty well impossible to surprise him, which was fine, because I think when I told him this fact, he was rather surprised that I had planned to surprise him...maybe. In the end he received his presents wrapped in a towel and a sweatshirt, since there wasn't too much else on hand. This worked just as well. Hopefully they weren't too boring (The Goonies DVD and a "mouse that shoots lasers" XD)

Then, ok. At first I was going to make MY birthday cake, the one that I pretty much stole from my mom's side of the family. Yeah, it's been rather APPROPRIATED XD I love that cake. Chockamowii with the best frosting ever! Unfortuantely, to make that best frost ever you need an electric beater thingamajiggy and of those we have few (read: none.) My next thought was blueberry pie. The last time we decided we wanted that we went to the store and bought one. It wasn't. I may have mentioned how we warmed it up and ate it some, had some cold the next day, and then forgot that we left it out and it died on the counter. This time, I figured I would go all out (allllll out) and make it entirely from scratch with FRESH blueberries. What I learned checking out at the store, is that blueberry pies should only be made by people who either have lots of blueberries or are willing to let frozen berries cut it. BUT I HAVE NO REGRETS!! My original intention was to bake while he was at work so when he got home I could be all, "Happy birthday!" or whathaveyou. The way it HAPPENED, however, is that I ended up waiting until the last possible minute to even start, so it didn't get finished until something like ten at night by which time I was feeling quite ill due to my evil pills and he was feeling rather unwell due to stress, among other things. Clearly, things weren't exactly peachy. When we finally did have some pie (with vanilla ice cream) yesterday, it was...ok. I dunno. I guess, what can I expect? My first pie ever, home-made crust, yadda yadda. There was bound to be SOMEthing imperfect. I dunno. It tasted like pie. It wasn't bad. I think probably the only thing that could've gone any better was the crust. It was a bit thick, as I used a cookie sheet with the rolling pin so as not to get our "new" table all sticky/doughy. Hmm...well hopefully it wasn't BAD.

Anyways, MOVING ON:

Cup~A~Joe's has been a bit of a downer lately. The other day I went over there at opening to get some take-out coffee and I know for a fact that I gave her a ten. Why? Because on the chair where the cash was carelessly strewn, I picked up first a five and then thought better of it, for WHATEVER would I do were I to be tempted by a tasty-looking bakery item and find myself short of funds? Hence, ten. I GRABBED A TEN. It was the only bill in my pocket, woman! I swear! She insisted otherwise when I inquired after she handed back my change. SADNESS!

I forgave them, however. One can't be golden every hour of every day. The next day, I went with full expectation of receiving the normal great service and the normal delicious coffee. Unfortunately I was served watered down espresso. I'm ALMOST positive that is what she gave me. I know where the coffee comes out, and I know where the espresso machine is. I also know what hot water looks like. I feel ripped off (again.) I dunno if I can like it there anymore! Their coffee is usually so yummy! I was very very disappointed. In fact, I was so disappointed that I ended up barely touching my drink and going elsewhere in hopes I would be better served! FALSE! The other place did THE SAME THING. Is this the lazy baristas secret? Or the "oh panic she ordered decaf and I just don't have any coffee so I'll give her the decaf espresso that no one in their right mind would order but we have to stock" move? Did she even GIVE me decaf? No one will ever know.

I had hot chocolate this morning and it was damn good lol :D