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09 January 2017

Morning Coffee | Random Thoughts & Oddities


Paul at Lat43 does these hysterical Morning Tea blog posts which are a brain dump of whatever pops into his head while he's writing them. I decided to steal his idea. Except, I'm drinking coffee while I write this and he drinks tea, so it isn't really stealing, is it?

So, here we go - all of the random nonsense floating through my head while I sip on my morning coffee.

  • I occasionally check the spam comments that Blogger filters out. This one cracked me up - "Unlike other blogs here I am writing a lot of knowledge so tasty I have read and blog in my opinion very well Greetings admin." Greetings to you too, Mr. Spammer. Glad you enjoyed the tasty knowledge on offer here.
  • I hate when you want to leave a comment on someone's blog and you have to go through hurdles to prove you're not a robot, like picking all the pictures with things like cups of coffee or street signs in them. If I'm going to have to spend time doing that, at least have pictures of fun things like kittens.
  • I hate cleaning out our French press coffee maker. Coffee grounds get everywhere and it takes a lot of water to clean the thing out.
  • Coffee tastes much better when someone else makes it for you. It tastes even better if someone cleans the French press too.
  • We're loving Guatemalan cookies lately. They taste like a cross between cinnamon sugar cookies and biscotti. They go great with coffee. 
  • It hadn't occurred to me until recently that Spanish is a second language for many of the Guatemalans in Indiantown. They speak various Mayan languages as their mother tongue. It should make me feel less self-conscious about practicing my Spanish with them, but it doesn't. I need to get over that.
  • There's nothing worse than sewing a really long seam and feeling really proud of yourself because it was so straight only to find out the bobbin thread ran out and you have to do it all over again.
  • I'm in the process of repairing our bimini and dodger (the canvas work over our sailboat's cockpit that keeps rain and sun off of us). I love my Sailrite sewing machine. It just powers through thick layers of sunbrella and strataglass.
  • Who knew I could love a sewing machine so much. Of course if you're going to spend that much money on something, you better love it.
  • It's really cold. I dug out my wool socks and I'm all bundled up. If it wasn't for the palm trees, I would find it hard to believe I'm in Florida right now.
  • We're going to take six cases of beer with us to the Bahamas. I know some people take 20 cases, but we don't have that kind of room aboard our boat. Plus, if we drank 20 cases of beer we'd get really big beer bellies. And we'd need a lot of naps. Beer makes you tired.
  • We're going to go to Trader Joe's and stock up on cheap wine. We'll also get some fun snack foods. The trick will be not to eat all of the snacks up in the first couple of weeks. That's the problem with fun snacks. You want to eat them right away.  
  • I feel like I constantly have dirt, grime and grease underneath my fingernails these days. I find myself checking out the hands of the other ladies at the marina to see if they have the same issue.
  • This blog post is 631 words long. I'm tracking how much I write every day in an effort to make it a daily habit. That's probably more words than you wanted to read.

What random thoughts are going through your head today?

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48 comments:

  1. The Captcha on Blogger blogs appears after you visit twenty-five or so and the blogger has no control over it, unfortunately. Trust me, I know...
    Coffee tastes better when it's only smelled. (I don't drink it.)
    That's a lot of cases of beer. I can see why you only take a few!

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    1. I hadn't realized that Captcha turned on after you visit 25+ blogs. Good to know.

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  2. Have you ever tried an Aeropress? It's a breeze to clean and makes a great cuppa. I was dubious too but Lucy bought me one for my birthday and I'm a convert now!! :)

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    1. Us too! Uses much less water to clean, and if you're a miser like me, you can rinse the little paper filter disk and use it a couple mornings!

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    2. Us too. We have two Aeropress in the boat, and two in the camper. Always be prepared!

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    3. We are currently having "The Great Coffee Debate" on our boat. I just bought an Aeropress, but Scott is really dubious. I'm hoping I can turn him into a convert like Lucy did with Matt.

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  3. That's right, Matt, I'll do anything to keep you in the kitchen when you belong and me on the couch where I belong - because Ellen is right, coffee is the best when it's handed to you!
    We're not taking much booze to the Bahamas either. When you really look at how much space, weight and money booze costs, it becomes less appealing. Hastings wants us to bring lots of chicken jerky instead.
    The no bobbin thing is one of the worst. The pride you feel in completion, followed by shock, confusion, despair. Almost as bad as putting the needle in wrong, and facing breakages, skipped stitches, more despair.
    Where does the dirt come from? I wash my hands, I clean my boat every day, and yet it's always there....
    We bought freeze fried fruit for the Bahamas. I'm eating the papaya like it's crack. Think we'll have to re-stock before we leave!

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    1. Where did you get the freeze dried fruit? Great idea! And funny thing - my nails seem to stay cleaner on the boat then they did ashore... How can that be?

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    2. We ordered it online from Harmony House Foods. They have sample packs and are available on Amazon too!

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    3. I bought some vegies from Harmony House to try out in the Bahamas when fresh ones are scarce.

      Keith - clearly you're not doing any work now that you're out cruising, otherwise your nails would be dirty ;-)

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    4. Lucy - I'm glad you have your man well trained :-) And definitely bring jerky for Hastings. You have to get your priorities straight. Dogs first. Booze second.

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  4. Why is it that coffee tastes better when someone else makes it? I thought it was because I was lazy, but clearly you and Lucy agree so it must be a real thing. Oh, and Melitta is the only way to go!

    Oh, and we're Melitta converts (from a French press) and just got a thermal carafe for Christmas -- it's brilliant!

    Stephanie @ SV CAMBRIA

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    1. I don't know anything about the Melitta system. I'll have to check it out. We have a regular thermos that we put our coffee in.

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  5. I love Trader Joe's! I wish one was closer to us. They do have good one and at a cheap price.

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    1. I'm kind of glad Trader Joe's is a bit of a drive from us so that we don't get tempted to by snacks from there too often.

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  6. I'm with you on the cold here in FL! Thankfully the sun is shining, and it will warm up later this week. My kind of winter. :)

    I really like the Trader Joe's Powerberries - dark chocolate covered berries. Yum! And the chocolate covered expresso beans.

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  7. Blogging can be weird can't it. I refuse to comment on blogs that are that difficult to leave a comment on. I will tell them before I never go back though.

    Another thing that bothers me is the folks that you visit their every post but they never visit you. They eventually get left behind. Blogging folks should be I visit you and you visit me. When you don't visit me you're telling me you have better things to do.

    I don't think you have enough beer or snacks. Just saying.

    So it's cold in Florida? How cold is cold? Just wondering.

    Okay, I've not done a word count, but I've got a pretty long comment here.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

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    1. It got into the 40s here, which is pretty cold for FL.

      It was interesting to learn from Alex that bloggers don't have any control over Captcha. I try to visit everyone who leaves a comment on my blog. It seems like the polite thing to do.

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  8. Are we secretly related? It's possible. We have too much coffee on board in all its various forms. My secret shame, since I live in coffee-addicted PNW where Starbucks is the original, is that I drink Nescafe Classic instant coffee, which I learned to love while in Scotland. Costco sells it! Yeah, it's a damn shame, right? But with my nifty Securo milk frother, it makes the best latte ever. I'm drinking one now, thinking of all the times I ran out of bobbin thread and didn't know it. There should be some kind of alert for that. OH, in addition to a french press, Mike got a pour-over ceramic filter holder for Christmas. Now he uses that every day. It's actually easier to clean than the french press.

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    1. I would love it if Scott drank instant. It would make things soooo much easier. He was never a big fan even though we lived in the UK for ages.

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  9. Ellen, We are with you re: Trader Joes. We always stock up on the few occasions we are near one. [typically necessitating traveling hundreds if not thousands of air miles...]

    Since we buy so much, it becomes scattered throughout the boat when we stow it away. That is our unintentional method of making it last longer as we sometimes forget all the squirrel holes things were hidden in, leading to future pleasant surprises [if not too much time has passed...]

    There are probably better ways of titrating treats...

    Cheers! Bill on SV Denali Rose

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    1. I like that idea of scattering the snacks about and being pleasantly surprised.

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  10. I'm not a coffee or tea fan, but cookies taste so much better when someone else makes them for me. :) Have a great week!

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    1. I'm with you - homemade cookies that someone else makes are the best :-)

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  11. Trader Joe's has a Kona coffee, half dipped, shortbread cookie. Cookie and coffee in one! Delicious!

    What is considered "cold" in Florida! Inquiring minds....

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    1. Now that sounds delicious!! I'll have to find those when we're there.

      It got down into the 40s which is nothing for you hardy folks up in Alaska :-)

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  12. Except for the coffee part (tried drinking coffee when I turned 60 to help stay awake) it's like you're inside my head! Amazing. Okay, except for the sewing machine. Can't sew. The long sew problem has happened to me one too many times! Still, it's like you're inside my head, Ellen! Congratulations on the IWSG anthology. Your story was fascinating.

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  13. I love drinking coffee though it keeps me awake for half the night :)

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    1. I have to stop drinking coffee by noontime otherwise it keeps me up too.

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  14. Cold?? I live in Maryland and it was 12 degrees this morning. I am sorry but you get no sympathy from this guy...

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    1. Fair enough - you win when it comes to cold temps. I've gotten soft living in FL :-)

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  15. I thought coffee from a French Press sounded really exotic and different. I looked it up. It's what I use every day and call a cafetière. Oh, that's a let down then. (Definitely tastes better when somebody else makes it.)

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    1. That's too funny :-) Scott actually was confused when I called it a French press too.

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  16. Coffee is wonderful, but never for me after 2pm. As to random thought today-if my son wore his winter coat and snow pants outside in summer, he probably wouldn't suffer from poison ivy so easily (helpful thought too ;) )

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  17. It is so much colder here in Northern California than I thought it would be. But, there are palm trees as well and that means something, I agree. If you like goat cheese, check out the goat brie at Trader Joe's. Mark loves it and it is very affordable. It is the sole reason we go there!

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    1. I do love goat cheese. I'll have to check it out. I have a feeling we're going to have one very full cart with all of the great recommendations everyone is making.

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  18. "There's nothing worse than sewing a really long seam and feeling really proud of yourself because it was so straight only to find out the bobbin thread ran out and you have to do it all over again"
    For some reason...this is a very common occurrence with me when I attempt to sew anything.
    Thanks for making me laugh!!

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    1. I'm so glad I'm not the only one that this happens too :-)

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  19. I love all the random thoughts. It's too early in the morning for me. Drinking coffee and reading blog posts is about all I can do right now. Thanks for the giggles. Nice way to wake up. :-)

    Anna from elements of emaginette

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    1. Reading blog posts over my morning coffee is one of my favorite ways to wake up too.

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  20. That is the problem with fun snacks. French press coffee is awesome. I wish I could have coffee again. I bet Florida cold is still way warmer than ORegon right now.

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    1. My family lives in Portland and I've been getting reports about how crazy the weather has been there lately. So many snow days. I don't remember it being that bad when we lived there.

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  21. Those Guatemalan cookies sound really tasty!

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