Ah, the Finer Things in Life - The Keurig

Every once in a while, I read a book, see a photo or even watch a movie that makes me think for a second, "Wow, I was born into the wrong time period."  Does that happen to anyone else?  Oh, to be one of the lovely sisters in "Sense and Sensibility", to dress in the fashions of medieval times, or even be present while history was unfolding during huge world events!

Who the heck am I kidding.  I am SO born into the right time period, let me tell you.  To illustrate this point, I thought I'd do a few posts on the modern conveniences that I've discovered, and enjoy on a daily basis.  If you're looking for things to add to your Christmas list, here they are, and they are highly recommended!

I'm going to start with our Keurig, which was indeed a wonderful Christmas gift from my in-laws! 

For hundreds of years, making a cup of coffee was a simple process. Roasted and ground coffee beans were placed in a pot or pan, to which hot water was added, followed by attachment of a lid to commence the infusion process. Throughout the 19th and even the early 20th centuries, it was considered adequate to add ground coffee to hot water in a pot or pan, boil it until it smelled right, and pour the brew into a cup.


The first modern method for making coffee—drip brewing—is more than 125 years old, and its design had changed little. The biggin, originating in France ca. 1800, was a two-level pot holding coffee in an upper compartment into which water was poured, to drain through holes in the bottom of the compartment into the coffee pot below. Around the same time, a French inventor developed the "pumping percolator", in which boiling water in a bottom chamber forces itself up a tube and then trickles (percolates) through the ground coffee back into the bottom chamber.

That's all well and good, and, don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for every advancement ever made in the world of coffee and beans and anything caffeine-related.  Fantastic, I say.  However, I also have to say that this Keurig is the most wonderful advancement of all.

There is no worrying over trying to keep the glass coffee pot clean of stains.  No troubles when you have too much coffee and have to pour some out.  No issues relating to forgetting to turn off the coffee pot and said pot burning or exploding.  And no more fighting over what kind of coffee will be made on any particular morning!

Anytime you're in the mood for one of the more than 200 varieties of coffee, tea, hot cocoa or iced beverage, you simply select your "K-Cup", open the lid, place the cup inside, close the lid, select the size cup you would like to brew, and push the "Brew" button.  In under a minute, folks, you've got the perfect beverage!

I think it's true, we DO live in a very fast-paced world full of people who want everything right this second, and they want it their way alone.  Yeah, it's true.  But I also believe you can turn some of the fast-paced modern conveniences around into a nice cup of coffee on the patio.

Click Here to Visit the Keurig Website!

My favorite indulgence!

More of the Little Things

Ever notice that it's really the little things in life?  The little things that make you smile...or laugh...or sigh...or just wanna punch someone in the face?

"I've figured out what you do that annoys me..." my husband begins the conversation with.  Immediately my radar went up, and I must've given "the look" because he proceeded very slowly with, "Well...we're supposed to be communicating, right?  You've asked me if there's anything you do that annoys me...I've figured it out!"

I had to admit, I HAD asked that question.  "Okay, what do I do that's SO annoying?  Go ahead, bring it."

"You move the shower head...EVERY TIME YOU TAKE A SHOWER!"

Oh.  Is that all?  Goodness, I was slightly worried there for a minute.  I breathed a sigh of relief and proceeded with, "Okaaay...and why does that annoy you?"

After he explained that he liked to have some room in the shower where there was no water steadily pelting, I in turn explained that a woman needed to shave her legs, and without me moving the shower head, there would be no easy way to do so. 

Ah.  We both understood.  And that was that.

But I got to thinking about that.  Such a small thing.  Yet, when I came home from work late one night last week and my husband had unloaded the dishwasher for me already...that was a small thing...but it meant a LOT.  Or when I was in the middle of blowing my hair dry earlier today and he stopped what he was doing and pulled the clothes out of the dryer...so they wouldn't wrinkle.  That was little...but not really.  Or the time I mentioned that I needed to weed our flower beds, and the next thing I knew, he had done it for me.

I got a LOT of advice right before I got married.  Some was actually very good advice...some I wouldn't repeat, even to a person whom I wanted to see miserably fail for whatever reason.  But the one thing I had a lot of people tell me was this: always pay attention to the little things.

This is true for marriage, but you know what?  I'm pretty sure it's true for life in general.

Yeah, the big things are the big things.  But the little things can make or break us.  It's the straw that broke the camel's back, right?  Not the load he had been hired to carry.

So.  I'm thinking little.  In the best way possible.

The Defininition of Domestication

Yeah.  What the heck IS the definition of domestication?

Webster's Dictionary defines domestication this way:  well, it doesn't actually have a definition for "domestication" (have I created a new word?  That's gotta be worth some money!!!) but here's the definition for the word domesticate:  to bring into domestic use, to adapt to life in intimate association with and to the advantage of humans, to make domestic, fit for domestic life, to bring to the level of ordinary people.

When you think about it, I guess each of us has a different interpretation of domestication.  I'll be honest, when I was originally thinking about it, I was trying to figure out how I could somehow morph over from a very education-turned-career-oriented headstrong single woman to the wife who still worked to support her family, yet was not a workaholic, was always home on time and always greeted her husband at the door with a smiling face and a fully-prepared 5-course meal waiting on the table, and still had plenty of energy left over to leave a spotless kitchen in her wake and make sure her husband's additional, ahem, needs, were properly satisfied, as well.

Yeah.

Did I mention that was my definition when I was newly-engaged?

My husband and I just recently celebrated our one-month anniversary.  (Yes, we are the couple who celebrates those things.  Dadgum it, we made it a whole month, let's celebrate!!!)  We're also the couple who celebrated our dating anniversaries and our engagement anniversaries...it's the little stuff for us.  In fact, I believe that we all should be paying attention to more of the little things...but that's another post.

The point is, after only one month, my definition of domestication has been altered...quite a bit, actually.  At this point, I'm closer to the "to adapt to life in intimate association with and to the advantage of humans," and "to bring to the level of ordinary people" definitions.  Basically, I'm trying my best to leave a clean house when I head out for work in the morning, cook some kind of a wholesome meal at least several times each week, make sure there's a bit of food in the fridge and pantry for my husband to snack on, keep the house relatively organized...oh, and throw some laundry in from time to time.

Did I mention how incredibly blessed I am to be married to a man who actually enjoys leftovers, who rinses his dishes and loads them into the dishwasher himself, who is perfectly capable of doing his own laundry, and who makes the bed every single morning?  This should be easy, right?

We'll find out, won't we?

Kristen Campbell is a freelance writer, photographer, and a full-time office administrator. In her free time she enjoys reading, cooking, organizing and spending as much time as possible with her new husband!