Caffeine

Caffeine, light of my life, fire of my... tummy. Loins is a little inappropriate there... :-P

I have an addictive personality, and easily get caught up in such delicious substances as coffee. Earlier this week, we were drinking two cups of coffee a day, and I haven't had any for the past three or four days -- I am well aware of this let me tell you!

But Sunday, I had a mini anxiety attack at Whole Foods (could happen to anyone the assholes in that store with all their obnoxious children), and Mister and I talked about it afterwards. We both agreed that I did not use to have anxiety problems as often as I do now, and that within the past three or four years is when I started drinking coffee, and more so within the past year.

Have I missed it these past three or four days? Yes and no. Yes in that I love drinking the beverage, love going to the cafe, love the whole atmosphere. Yes in that I've had a low-grade headache for most of these days. No in that I'm not spending money. No in that I like telling my body what's what, and every now and again cut coffee out of my life.

Do I want coffee right now? Yes -- it's cold out and in, it's a comforting drink, and I often hang out with Mister while drinking it.

But it is and was an addiction: the number of times I've been like "oh man I really want to go grab a coffee", how the thought of drinking coffee fills my head at odd times and with no provocation, how I used to not be able to finish my coffee and now I drink it faster than Mister.

Granted, I feel pretty good about frequenting the coffee shop that I do -- they buy fair-trade and GOOD coffee (Intelligentsia), they buy all of their snackies from local shops and farmers, their milk is hormone free, etc. etc. It's also staffed by lesbians which makes me laugh (except for a handful of gay men -- one of whom appears to have a thing for Mister :-P). (Side note there, apparently quite a few men have things for Mister, which I think he should try to get free drinks out of, as he fills a particular stereotype: the Bear. Too bad for them he's not gay...)

But yeah, so coffee is a strange, convoluted issue with me. But man I want a cup right now!

Being "Thrifty"

a.k.a., "Not Being Able To Drink A Full Cup of Coffee In One Sitting".

So, every now and again, I decide that what I really need is a cup of coffee. Lots of milk, lots of sugar, and enough caffeine to get me energized for a while. However, I'm a really slow drinker of beverages in general, and coffee is no exception. (The only real exception is tea.) So inevitably, I wind up with half full cups of coffee hanging about wherever I am. If I'm at work, I'll just nuke it and call it good. But you have to be careful about reheating coffee: a) the oils in coffee can make a paper cup catch on fire in the microwave (no idea why I'd know THAT...) and b) having already put milk in there means it could curdle if heated too high too fast. So, I'm really used to drinking lukewarm coffee.

But lately, when I've been home, I've made delicious concoctions. Since we're in Apartment Clean-Out Mode, part of this mode means "if we use it, we don't have to move it". So I've been making mochas with leftover coffee, a bit of water and random hot chocolate mixes. Thus far I've polished off what remained of a box of Swiss Miss (10 packets), and two little single-use tins. I've got a single use packet remaining, and am also eyeing the nearly-full canister of Ghiradelli hot chocolate.

So all in all -- tasty beverages, I'm still utilizing the caffeine and the money that I've foolishly spent on coffee, and I get to use up the hot chocolate mixes. Yay!