Wauwatosa woman uncovers Starbucks trick

I love Starbucks.  A LOT. I do understand, though, how ridiculously expensive their specialty drinks are and as such, only go there on occasion. I’m sure our soon-to-be child will have enough reasons we cause him/her to seek therapy later in life…spending their college money on Caramel Macchiatos w/skim milk doesn’t need to be one of them.  If I could get this with Caramel Macchiatos in it, that'd be brilliant:

Anyway, this past Sunday was one of those special occasions. And by special occasions I mean those times when Eric or I need to bribe the other into doing something and do so through the promise of a Starbucks stop. Good times.

Well, we hadn’t been there in quite a while, partially because since finding out I was pregnant, I ceased my usual caffeine intake. And let’s be honest - most decaf coffee blows…even when you try to disguise it behind frothy milk, syrups and all the other goodies Starbucks sneaks in their beverages. Combine the mediocre taste with $5 a pop = not worth it.

But this weekend I decided to go the Chai tea route. And I’m not sure if it was the lack of caffeine in my system or the fact that I had just woken up 20 minutes prior, but I got all tongue tied when I ordered my drink. The final result was me ending up with a plain, boring hot cup of Chai tea. Not Chai Latte – that’s what I meant to order. UGH. (And yes, I know the Chai Latte has a small amount of caffeine in it…but it’s under the daily amount I’m allowed to have…so there.)

Now here’s where I uncovered the trick.

Upon arriving home, I was determined to not let my not-so-tasty beverage go to waste. So I got the synapses a firing in the ol' brain and decided to warmed up a cup of milk and added a few teaspoons of sugar to the tea and…voila! I swear, you couldn’t tell the difference. I had my very own Chai Latte!

And the best part…

Instead of spending close to $5 on a Chai Latte, my modified, but equally as good version was only $2. SCORE.

And yes, I know this isn’t rocket science nor have I discovered the cure for cancer, but it’s not bad for a groggy Sunday morning, right?!

~as

Pinch me, I must be dreaming!

In three loooong weeks from now, I have my next doctor appointment where we get to find out the gender of the baby. And if there was any question whether or not we’re find out…we are!!!  Well, assuming the baby cooperates.  He/she better unless they want to be grounded straight out of the womb.  ;)

I give people credit that wait. I can barely wait to find out what my Christmas gifts are, let alone the gender of my child! Plus, we figure there will be PLENTY of other surprises along the way to keep us going “OMG – did you just see/hear/smell that?!”

And when those surprises pop up, I’ll probably look a little something like this: (this is my usual morning hairstyle anyway, so I’m half way there already)

Well, being the planner that I am, I’ve already made a list of some of the essential items we’ll need for the baby. And in making my list that we’ll base the registry off of, I felt confident that I would have to “justify” some of the items to my husband who seems to think certain items are unnecessary.

Trust me, I went through this with him for our bridal registry and let me tell you, it was like pulling teeth to get him to agree to some of the items I added. And what do you know…ALL of the items I fought for get used in our house now. How do ya like them apples, Eric?! ;)

Back to the baby registry…this is where my years of babysitting and helping out with my younger brother and sister would come into play. I’d rattle off a few examples of when certain items would be used and Eric’s head would begin spinning since he’s never babysat a day in his life...and BAM! He’d be defeated. Muahahaha!

Anyway, yesterday, I must’ve caught him at just the right time because when the subject of the baby registry came up, he said I could do ALL of the registering myself if I wanted to.

*Insert record scratch*

Yes, that’s right – I will NOT need to offer up carefully worded justifications for each item as I happily scan away. This has been a good week, indeed. Can’t wait to get my register on!

~as

My new favorite person

T minus 23 weeks. Jeez that sounds like forever. Might as well tell me I won’t meet my child for the next ten MILLION years!

Anyway, since I know y'all passed elementary level math and know some basics about pregnancy, you’ve probably deduced I’m 17 weeks along now. As such, I recently had my 16-week checkup with my OB. Part of the routine that I’ve become familiar with is the dreaded weigh in. Let’s be honest ladies - there aren’t many of us that don’t fear the scale on a NORMAL day, let alone when you can’t control your weight gain. (Okay, yes, I know you can somewhat control it by eating healthy, exercising, blah, blah, blah…, but at some point you’re STILL going to gain weight to accommodate the baby your body has become a vessel for!)

Since I’m still at the early weeks right now, Eric’s been faithfully going to each appointment with me. Awh shucks. Here’s where my favorite person comes into play…

As I’m dragging my feet on the way to the dreaded scale, I start to hand Eric my jacket and purse because trust me – I’m not about to get weighed with those suckers on! I carry just about everything under the sun in my purse and that would easily add another 5 pounds. Yikes. No thanks. So just as I’m about to step on the scale, Eric’s all right next to me trying to peep what I’m clocking in at. Umm, NO! I don’t care how long we’ve been together! I’ll be 90 years old and STILL refusing to tell you my weight. There are certain things that just don’t need to be shared and a woman’s weight is certainly one of them.

Now, in all fairness, who knows if he was really trying to steal a glance, or if he just happened to be positioned in a bad spot (the area isn’t that large…there’s not a whole lot of other places he could go to not be in the way).

Either way, my new favorite person (my OB’s nurse Kathy) turns to Eric and says: “Umm, you don’t get to look! Turn your head.”

Kathy, you are my HERO!


~as