All for the want of a coffee pot

What? I have a blog? 

Life has accelerated from fast to turbo within the last few weeks since school started the beginning of September.  Hence the long absence from blogging.

A very notable event happened the end of August.  The carafe to our coffee pot was dropped and broke (boo) by a well intended child who was trying to pour her mother a cup of coffee. (awww....)  Not wanting to "jump the gun" by running out to purchase a whole new unit, I opted to order the needed part from the manufacturer's web site. 
After a few weeks of waiting, I called the company to inquire as to the status of and the exact meaning to the words "Your order is being processed", which happened to be the only response I was getting to my inquiry via their web site.  "Oh," was their reply, "That is on back order until the end of September."  At that point I slowly and carefully explained my dilemma of being a home school mom of six kids without her coffee.  Hmmmm....huge disconnect there.  No sympathy and they did not even try to offer a solution at that point, just that I "should be receiving it around the beginning of  October".  Nice.  I felt like asking them if they would like the address for the psych ward at the nearest mental facility, because that's where I would probably be by the time they got around to sending it. 

It is now October 10th and I am still drinking instant (shudder) coffee.  My "salvation" during this coffee trial is the beautiful fact that we have a McDonalds about a mile from the house.  This has saving me many days from just chewing on coffee beans or throwing myself through the huge picture window in our dinning room. 
I have - on more that one occasion - rummaged through the house, scrounged through my purse, and borrowed from the kids to get enough change to run (drive in the car) through the McDonald's drive-thru and purchase 2 large coffees which I take home to reheat and drink throughout the day.  This is good.


I had splurged in this manner this past Friday, and had finished the first cup when I trotted back into the kitchen -from the school room- to get the second cup.  I cannot possibly describe my shock and disappointment at finding the second cup of coffee empty.  Empty, with a hole poked in the bottom of the cup. "How did this happen?", I asked the kids. They were as amazed as I was, or so they feigned surprise at the disappearance of my coffee.  Kids were interrogated and many probing questions asked.  Nothing. 

Many fingers were pointed at Andie, who during her questioning managed to keep a straight face and not lie, by pretending to have no idea what I was talking about.  She kept looking at me with her head tilted slightly to one side and questioned me back with, "What?  What?".  She's a smart one.  I even sniffed her breath for a whiff of coffee because she has been known to inhale my coffee if she finds it unattended.  Rats. Nothing.  (Although, there was a little smile that kept hovering around her lips the whole time I was questioning her, and her smile is so mischievous now that she has that missing tooth in front...)  

Did she drink the coffee?  Maybe. Did I get upset?  No. These kinds of weird and strange things happen here all the time. This is normal at our house.