Coffee, Tea and Me

I was never a coffee fan growing up, but as I got older I learned to love it.  Now I can not start my day without a cup or two.  It gets me going, revs me up, so I can move my day along doing the things I need to get done.  I have found that if I don't drink it every morning I get a headache, I need that caffeine!  I guess I'm addicted to it now.

My family gave me a basic Keurig coffee machine six years ago for Christmas, I think when they first started hitting the market, and I could not wait to use it.  I grew to love my new fangled coffee maker, and can't live without it now.  It started seeing it's better days, wore out from old age I guess, after using it everyday, sometimes twice a day.  I finally broke down and bought it's new cousin, and I am happy to say it is a gem and did not disappoint me.  My new machine is quiet, doesn't make any noise when brewing, it's sleek, updated and this new one has a carafe so you can make a pot of coffee when having quests.  It came with 36 K-cups - Paul Newman Special Blend,  Donut Shop Regular and Green Mountain Breakfast Blend.  It also came with a 6 pack variety of Starbucks Pike Place Roast, Green Mountain - Nantucket Blend, Hazelnut, Donut House and Barista Prima Coffeehouse Italian Roast, and for the carafe a variety of 4 larger pods - Green Mountain French Roast, Breakfast Blend, French Vanilla and Donut Shop Regular.

I am so happy with my new morning friend, just enjoying a cup of fresh brewed coffee, without having to fight with a coffee maker because like the rest of us it got old, is a pleasure.  Check out my new coffee maker I got for my birthday, she's a looker!

She was sleeping, now she just woke up and will brew me my morning joe in a few seconds.

 This is everything that my new coffee maker came with.

 The pods to make a carafe of coffee are much larger.  The carafe is a great option to have.

 Sitting down on a Sunday morning, or any other morning and getting lost in a great cup of coffee!  The simple things in life.

Coffee Please!

I never "got" the rage about coffee until I was in my late twenties, it never appealed to me until I hit the work place.  Now I can't live without my one or two cups in the morning. It gives me that little push to get me going about my day.  I set up my coffee bar, moved it around a couple of times since I started this blog, but as a coffee lover knows, nothing changes the love of the taste.  I have a lot of favorite flavors, but am always on the search to try new ones.  My hubby bought me a Keurig for Christmas a few years ago, that I absolutely love and can't live without. I am the only one in the house that drinks coffee, so a machine that makes a cup a time makes sense to me! 

This is how I get started in the morning after feeding five cats, and looking forward to the rest of what my day will bring me.  I need to relax with the aroma of a fresh brewed beverage.  Some of my favorite pods, I buy all of my coffee, tea and other pods at BB&B.  I always have coupons to use, so discounts are great when buying.  They have a wide variety of flavors.

 These are some of my favorite creamers.  Hazelnut is missing, oh my, I will have to get some more of that!  I also use Sugar In The Raw 100% Natural Turbinado Sugar, it's pure cane sugar.  I like the packets because they are perfectly measured.  This sugar also is sold in bulk, in a box, so you can also use it for cooking and baking.

 My Coffee Bar.

 The large jar holds snacks for having a cup of coffee - biscottis, cookies, digestive cookies, diet brownies, those sort of things.  The other jars hold all types of sweeteners, tea pods, tea bags, and coffee pods.

Basket of cups, smaller basket of spoons, honey dippers, tea bag squeezers, tea bag trivets and my beloved Keurig.

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree, Oh How I love thee......

I'm BAAACK!  Was a little under the weather, feeling much better now.  I don't like being sick over a holiday it dampens all the fun. Anyway.....My sister and I went to the Christmas Tree Shop over the weekend, this store is so much fun I could spend hours in there, and we did.  So...These are some of my good sale finds.  I spent less than $50.  She spent way more than me, I guess she loves the store too!

One of my favorite coffees in the morning - 18 count for $9.99.  The price doesn't get any better than that unless it's free.

30 inch long marshmallow roasting sticks - 12 for $1.00

These lights are for underwater and they change color.  Great for party centerpieces and if you use them outside they will light up the night.  Pretty cool.  2 in a package for $1.50. 

These are burlap collapsible lined flower pots.  Mine have birds, because you know I love the birds, but they had many different patterns.  1 large and 1 small in a package for $2.99

Found this gutter scooper to help the husband out with gutter clogs.  It was marked $1.00 but it was on sale for $.69.  The gutters are running smooth now.

24 cupcake liners and picks for $2.99. They had many patterns to choose from. 

They have huge bins in the store with different sized and patterned napkins.  20 large $1.29 and
 20 small $1.00.  I chose these because I liked them and the patterns go together.

I go through A LOT of hand soap in my family. At Christmas Tree the hand soap is only $1.00 and they have  so many different scents to choose from.  I also bought the microfiber dishcloths 4 - $3.99. 

Pottery Measuring Cups - $4.99

They are 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup and1/4 cup and they are cute!

Canning Funnel - $1.29 

2 Beach Towels - $2.99 each

Microfiber Dish Draining Mat - $2.99

2 Large Ice Packs for $.89 each

Easy on the Pocket Home Decor

I painted our master bedroom back in October.  The color on the wall is called Pure Earth by Behr at Home Depot.  When I started to think about decorating the walls I didn't want to spent a lot of money, the room is very large 28 x 13 I think, with alot of wall space.  I went to my local thrift store (my lucky day) and found three of these solid wood shelves, with the hardware for hanging, from Pottery Barn for $1.00 each.  Yes that's right, $3.00 for 3 shelves that still had the orignal tag on them and were $39.00 each! So I painted them with one of those little jars of paint I spoke about in an earlier blog. The color was called cream in my coffee.

I repurposed these wood lamps that I got a while ago from Lowe's for $19.99 each.  The burlap shades were $9.99 each.  Lowe's has great stuff in their clearance section, always look. I went to Michael's and found these fabric flowers in the scrapbooking section and hot glued them on to the shades.  It gives them a fancier look than a just a plain shade.

My little coffee bar.  I had an old french buffet that was painted black so I reused it in the kitchen to set up a coffee bar. I wanted to get the big Keurig (I love the Keurig) off the counter and free up some space.  It really does need a place of its own.  I store my coffee pods, sugar, sweeteners and tea in Longaberger baskets. I have a "sick" collection of those baskets so I may as well use them. 

This metal rooster is my kitchen table centerpiece, it's about 2 feet long.  I bought it at  Gabriel Brothers for $9.99.  I decorate it for all seasons changing what I put inside.  For summer I have lemons and limes that I got at Ross for $4.99.   The plant was $5.99 and galvanized bucket was $5.00 and both came from Ikea.  There are also battery operated bead lights from the Christmas Tree Shop on the plant, they were $3.99.  Reindeer moss on the bottom is from Dollar Tree, you guessed it $1.00!  The 72" twine/rope mat was $7.99 at Marshalls.