Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Review: McDonald's Coffee

Raidman has been taking the small person to school in the morning since he went back to work. This has been awesome as we are all likelier to get where we need to be ~on time~ if I'm not making extra stops in the morning.

I am one of those people whose friends tell her to show up 15-30min before they actually want her there, so that she might actually be on time for a change. Yes, I know. Everyone hates people like that, me included, and I am working on it, honest! I'm just, uh, easily distra... ooh, a cloud!

See what I mean?

Anyway...One of his special treats to get her moving in the morning is to occasionally stop at McDonald's on the way to school for cinna... somethings (no clue what these things are called).

Well, J's morning chauffeur threw his back out yesterday; actually, he probably hurt it Monday but yesterday pain went from 3 to 8ish. Out of a desire for something more effective than Doan's and Tiger Balm, he is headed to the doc this morning and asked me to take the little one to school.

I am SO not a morning person.

I told her if she would get up, get dressed, and make her own lunch while I showered and dressed we'd hit Mickey D's. Yes, I checked the lunch to make sure it had decent nutritional value, I'm not a total loser mom.

We went to McD's and I grabbed a latte (sure there were/are 3 cups worth of coffee in the ginormous thermos in my purse, but, well, you can never have too much coffee!) which got me her cinna-thingys for free and grabbed the kid a hot cocoa (in Austin 43 & rainy is COLD ;-) That's when it got weird.

"Whole or nonfat milk" whoa. At a McDonald's?!

"Nonfat."

"Flavored syrup? We have vanilla, sugar free vanilla, caramel, and something-else-Dy-has-already-forgotten"

"Umm...SF Vanilla?"

Bizarre drive-thru experience. I guess that just shows that when I ~do~ go to the overpriced coffee places I always go in...

Even with free cinna thingys I spent almost $6 for a large latte and a small hot chocolate. Yea, I coulda had a Starbucks for that. I am not a SB pimp and don't think their coffee is ~all that~ , but it IS consistent. I can order something at any Starbucks and get coffee that tastes the same in Austin, Dallas, Houston, Temple, Conroe, Brenham, or any of the other locations I visit.

The vanilla was... overpowering. Sickly sweet, and I have a sweet tooth that has paid for several dentists' boats. Everything smelled overpoweringly strong. The cinnamon smell was overwhelming in my little bug, the hot cocoa smelled like a chocolate store, it was all just too much. (or maybe it's that I'm weaning myself off the wicked tobacky plant and CAN smell things now...?)

At any rate... The coffee was pretty strong; I had to add some Splenda when I got to work--the vanilla was sweet, but the coffee wasn't, if that makes sense... It was okay, but if I go back it will only be cuz I'm bribing the kid.

Oh, yea -- they do get kudos for knowing what I meant when I asked for a kid-temp on J's hot chocolate. Minuses for not actually giving us a kid temp hot cocoa, but at least the person inside wearing the head set knew what I wanted...

Overall, not bad, probably better if you aren't doing the diet version, but not stellar, and not an experience to repeat unless it's a choice between McDonald's coffee or scary gas station coffee...

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Tuesday Tirade: This One's for the Girls

(my apologies to Martina McBride for the blatant title theft)

(potty talk alert - sorry ya'll, there's simply no way to avoid it this week)

Yes, it's a gender specific gripe; it's allowed, since I'm railing against my own gender. Hell, it's allowed cuz this is ~my~ blog. :-)

I need to talk about hovering. You hoverers out there, you know who you are... Stop, please, just stop.

For the uninformed, a hoverer is a woman who is obsessed, to the point of paranoia, with the notion of germs on toilet seats in public restrooms. So obsessed that rather than sitting on the toilet she will "hover" over it in some bizarre semi-erect squat and attempt to pee in the bowl without touching the seat with any part of her body.

I gotta tell you: most hover-types have lousy aim.


So women-who-hover, I have to ask. WHY?

  • You can't get pregnant from sitting on a toilet seat.
  • Unless the skin of your backside is covered in open sores, you can't catch a disease by sitting on a toilet seat.
  • The most "eww" things on a toilet seat are deposited there by (you guessed it!) other hovering chicas.

Just sit your butt down ladies!

Failing that, clean up after yourself! If ~you~ don't want to clean up your own urine, why the hell do you think someone else wants to?!

And, and this should go without saying, but I'm going to go there anyway, if you are in the loo to make a more significant deposit, please, please, please, sit down!!!!!!

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Bucket List

My mom, dad, & aunt all send me these periodically in some sort of how-well-do-you-know-your-relatives round robin. This particular one had a few items on it I'd never seen before, so I actually filled it out and sent it back. Then decided to post it here cuz I'm desperate for blog material (the real reason blog memes were invented!)

I've accomplished 37 of 49 (though accomplished may not be the right word). Being the mother of a small person, I better not be watching my grandchildren sleep anytime soon. Being a happily married woman, the blind date thing is pretty unlikely. Being terrified of heights and all planes smaller than a 767 the whole pilot thing is pretty much out of the question, but those other 9 I'm missing? I might have to work on those...

If you wanna play, copy & paste the text and place an (x) by all the things you've done and remove the (x-or other indicator) from the ones you have not. Then send me a link in the comments.


  1. (D) Been to Europe
  2. () Been on a cruise
  3. ( ) Gone on a blind date
  4. (D) Skipped school
  5. (D) Watched someone die
  6. ( ) Been to Canada
  7. (D) Been to Mexico
  8. ( ) Been to Florida
  9. (D) Been on a plane
  10. (D) Been lost (Physically, MENTALLY & SPIRITUALLY)
  11. (D) Been on the opposite side of the country
  12. (D) Gone to Washington , DC
  13. (D) Been to Vegas
  14. (D) Climbed a lighthouse
  15. (D) Swam in the ocean
  16. (D) Cried yourself to sleep
  17. (D) Seen the Cherry Blossoms in Washington , D.C.
  18. (D) Played cops and robber.
  19. ( ) Flown a plane
  20. ( ) Owned a boat
  21. ( ) Watched grandchildren grow
  22. (D) Recently colored with crayons
  23. ( ) Been to the Kentucky Derby
  24. ( ) Been to Key West
  25. (D) Been to a rodeo
  26. (D) Rode in a limo
  27. (D) Smelled puppy breath
  28. (D) Sang Karaoke (group only)
  29. (D) Paid for a meal with coins only?
  30. (D) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't?
  31. (D) Made prank phone calls.
  32. (D) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose
  33. (D) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
  34. (D) Danced in the rain
  35. (D) Written a letter to Santa Claus
  36. (D) Been kissed under the mistletoe
  37. (D) Watched the sunrise with someone
  38. (D) Watched the sunset with someone
  39. ( )Gone scuba diving
  40. (D) Gone on a picnic
  41. ( ) Seen the green flash at sunset.
  42. (D) Blown bubbles
  43. (D) Rode a horse
  44. (D) Watched your child sleep
  45. (D) Gone ice-skating
  46. (D) Gone roller skating
  47. (D) Gone to the movies
  48. (D) Gone to a concert
  49. ( ) Owned a convertible

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Anti-Theft Run Amok!

I get that theft is an increasing problem in some types of stores, most notably drugstores. Maybe it's just most noticeable to me there because the draconian loss-prevention seems to have gotten really out of control at my local Walgreens. Well, since it has been that way at all the Walgreens' locations I've patronized in the last six months I suspect its an area-wide thing at least and possibly nationwide.

Drugstores sell a lot of relatively cheap merchandise, presumably with a narrow profit margin. That said, I am just about DONE with these stupid Walgreens! I bought hand lotion there a couple months ago for my desk and I am ~still~ trying to get the little foam sticky dot off the lid (it's a tube, it rests on its lid--the part I have to grab and touch every time I use it!) that was holding the lotion to the shelf in the store. Yes, the merchandise was damn near glued down. Irritating as hell, but I get it--I buy a little bit more expensive than average cream because of allergies and because it lasts me a long time. I assumed this level of ridiculous was being reserved for something a little more expensive, but not so pricy that it was locked up.

Wrong.

I bought a nail polish remover pen last week, one of those things for cleaning up your manicure in a hurry, right? It's packaged in plastic with the plastic glued to a cardboard backing, pretty standard stuff. I finally opened it last night and discovered that the bottom of the pen was glued to the bottom of th plastic overlay with that funky flexi-tac stuff (like they use to hold your ATM card to the letter they mail it to you on). I can't get it off. I got the pen off the plastic but cannot get that damned tacky stuff off the bottom of the pen. Meaning it will collect stray hair and piece of lint and random penny it touches in my purse for the next month (eww!) I assume this sticky bit is to keep people from sliding said pen out the bottom of the package without paying for it, but... Really? It's a $2.99 nail polish pen people! Get a grip.

Scratch that--loosen the grip a little would you? Before I have to go back to buying this stuff at the grocery store--where the packaging doesn't stick to me OR make me feel like a criminal just for picking it up!