The Slow Boat to Coffee-Ville.

Hi Everyone!

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I hope you all had a fabulous weekend. Ours was good, with lots of activities keeping us busy right here at home. My wonderful husband has spent the last two weekends building things for our boys. Last weekend, he made them a bookcase and this weekend he built them a castle! Pictures and stories for those will be coming later this week.
Before I get to today's crafty creation, I thought I'd share a story with you. Now, if you've read my blog before or if you know me, then you know that I am a coffee lover. Actually, the more appropriate word is probably addict. Nothing, I mean nothing, happens in my world at the beginning of the day before that first sip of the first cup of coffee. I splurge every two weeks and buy a bag of Starbuck's whole bean coffee which I grind up each morning and then I wait while Mr. Coffee does his work. He's good to me, so I try to exercise a little bit of patience each morning with him until he's finished. Some mornings are harder than others, though. Mr. Coffee, however has been out of commission for an entire week now, because I broke a piece of him! Gasp, I know!! I was emptying the coffee filter into the trash (which was full and my husband had not taken out, so I know at least part of this is his fault! LOL) and the filter basket dropped out of my hand and hit the floor. Of course, it didn't just fall and roll off to the side. No, it fell at just the right angle with the right impact to break a piece off the bottom. OMG!! Sigh, what was I going to do now?? The thought or prospect of not being able to wake up to my fresh coffee was not one I was relishing. Then I glanced over and found my answer on the stove. The "cute as a button" blue percolator my husband so lovingly and thoughtfully bought me for our camping trip, so that I can have coffee! Just when I think he's not paying attention to me, he goes and does something thoughtful and sweet for me! Anyhow, yes, that would be perfect. Except for one major problem: I had never in my life used a percolator. How hard could it be, though? I understood the mechanics of it and how it operated, or so I thought! The next morning, I got up prepared the percolator, turned on the stove and waited. After a little while, it started "percolating", and I promptly turned it off. Why, I turned it off at this point, I'm honestly not sure. I do know it was the wrong thing to do because I ended up with something that resembled luke-warm coffee water. That was day one. The second day, I decided I will turn it up a little higher, because it took forever and a day for it to boil the day before. So, I turned up to 8 and let it go and finally it started percolating. In retrospect, I would have to say that it actually resembled a space shuttle getting ready for take off because it was rattling and clacking so much on the stove. Finally, I decided it was done, took it off the burner and poured the cherish first cup, only to discover that there were more grounds in my cup than coffee! Yep, my overzealous percolating had caused the top of the little coffee ground holder to pop off, and spill all into the coffee. Ok, to be clear...it is now day number 2 of my "Mr. Coffee Crisis" and that is 2 days too many! This just could not go on. This percolatin' on the stove business may have worked 100 years ago on the campfires when grungy old gold diggers and cowboys didn't know the difference between the coffee grounds in their coffee and the 3 day old tobacco they'd been chewing; but clearly it was NOT working in my kitchen! After some more research and thought, I finally discovered the way to make a decent cup of percolated coffee. One that tastes good, without any grounds in it and stays hot. The only problem? It takes FOREVER! Seriously...this girl can NOT be spending 30 minutes on the Slow Boat to Coffee-Ville! I want my Mr. Coffee back...no scratch that, I NEED my Mr. Coffee back.
I have ordered the replacement basket for Mr. Coffee and for the sake of my sanity, I do surely hope it arrives in the next couple of days. As for the camping trip in the RV, which I know has electricity, Percolator or Mr. Coffee? Oh, I think you know the answer to that question!
Just a little something I thought I'd share with you. Now for my crafty creation for the day, which is just a little gift card holder I made. I've actually had the pieces for this cut for a long time and finally decided to put it together. These are so very easy to do and if you are interested in a tutorial, let me know and I will be happy to post one with photos and instructions. I used Regal Rose for the base. I embossed the So Saffron piece with the Cuttlebug argyle embossing folder The pattern paper on the bottom strip for the inside photo is from Cosmo Cricket's 6x6 "Togetherness Package" I used my Petite Scallop Circle Nestabilities for the red mat behind the flowers. The flower image is from SU's "Flower for all Seasons" I stamped it in Memento "Rich Cocoa" ink and colored them with Copics. The red tulips actually have red stickles on them; but that's difficult to see in the photo. This little gift card holder fits the following challenges.
Cute Card Thursday: Use Circles
Little Miss Muffet: Anything but a card
Lollipop Crafts: Anything Goes
Mark's Finest Papers: Yellow, Pink and Green
One Stitch at a Time: Flowers

Thank you so much for spending part of your day with me, I hope you all enjoy the rest of your day and spend it doing something you love!! See ya tomorrow!