I'm back!

Wow, I haven't checked this thing in over a year! Anyone still out there? Life got hectic and blogging sort of got thrown by the wayside. At the moment it is very late, I have a sick baby and husband sleeping downstairs in the recliner, and my comfy bed is beckoning me. But I just thought I would throw it out there that YES! I am still alive! I made it through one more pregnancy and childbirth. I have a beautiful baby boy in addition to my beautiful little girl. I am one year older, and hopefully wiser. My brother has moved back home and I am thrilled! I love to write but do not have much time because of the daily must-do's. However, this last year has given me A LOT of writing material! So maybe sometime soon I will get a chance to blabber to you all once again about my boring, yet sometimes slightly funny life.

Basket Case

Where exactly does the term "basket case" come from? Between dealing with the extreme fatigue that comes with early pregnancy and the emotional rollercoaster, my husband already needs a break from me. I am honestly trying sooooooo hard to not be moody and irrational, but that kind of flies out the window when everything makes you want to cry or scream. Tell me what you think, am I being irrational, or was my anger completely rational?

So I'm sprawled out on the recliner just trying to pry my eyes open, the tiredness is beyond belief! It's the weekend so my husband and daughter are home un-doing everything that I've done, which took me five times as long to do it in the first place. The kitchen looks like a tornado passed through, the floor in my daughter's room is no longer visible because she has strewn every toy she has all over, the cats are crying at the door because they are starving and no one has noticed, I'm sick to my stomach but STARVING at the same time. So Jack puts a lasagna into the oven like a nice husband and decides to drive up to my parent's house and borrow a movie for me. He drives down our driveway but does not continue down the road, he turns into our neighbor's driveway to return some mail of his that we got by mistake. So I'm thinking to myself, don't freak out, he will only be there for a minute, then he'll go get the movie and be back to give me a break. Then I realize, what the heck am I thinking?!!! I know Jack, if he comes in contact with any other human, then without fail a long drawn out conversation always ensues, then I might as well just pull the covers up over my head and wait until he comes back tomorrow. I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm just stewing and seething inside. I need him here, I need a break from doing dishes, wiping butts, picking up toys, making snacks that leave me sick to my stomach, letting the cats in, putting the cats out, temper tantrums, etc. So I wait.

Now my blood is boiling. His car is STILL there and it has been almost an HOUR! I text message him: U R dead! After I push the send button I hear from the kitchen "message received". He left his phone! I take the food out of the oven, which I'm not sure I can even eat at this point. My daughter has put herself to bed at 6:00 because she was so hungry and tired, which is not good because that means she will wake up after a while and then be up really late. Finally his car drives away and I'm just wondering how I am going to keep it together and under control when he gets home. I'm not exactly rational in my "condition". When he finally returned, it was not pretty. But I got it all out so I felt slightly better....until I heard the words "Just calm down, you are irrational because you are pregnant, I understand. But it wasn't my fault, our neighbor talks a lot!". It got even uglier, then the tears started. Ah, the many joys of pregnancy! I still vow to try my hardest to be nice and fair to everyone, so you don't have to take cover CC...yet.

Hurricane Hormone

For the last two weeks I've been dizzy, queasy, and so tired that it seems like an impossible feat getting from the couch to my bed. Most food does not sound good, but strangely enough the thought of re-fried beans makes my mouth water. I've been suspicious, but also in denial, until yesterday morning when I peed on the stick and two pink lines appeared. So, baby number two begins! For those of you that haven't figured it out, I am pregnant! Although, I do have this weird thought that what if it wasn't correct and I'm telling everyone and it turns out it was all in my head. That would be embarrassing.

My three year old daughter stared at me blankly when I explained it to her, she didn't quite compute it at first. Then she jumped up and said "I'm going to go get the baby book with all the pictures". The book she is referring to is a 70's pregnancy book with LOTS of pictures, most of which are scary. The hideous maternity clothes, the man perms, the HUGE mustaches, and lack of grooming in other areas which I will not mention. You get the picture. I did not buy this book, it was given to me when I was pregnant with my daughter.

So, we are happy, but it doesn't really feel like reality yet. I know reality will be dropping an anvil on me soon enough. I resolve not to gain 52 pounds this time. I also resolve to be nicer to people. Along with that I need to learn to control the murderous thoughts I tended to get when someone didn't get my order right or Jack didn't bring home the correct chocolate. I also resolve not to make this a typical boring pregnancy blog. Pregnancy milestones usually aren't all that interesting to hear about unless you know the person, in my opinion at least. So if I decide to share some of the quirks of this pregnancy, or embarrassing moments, it's only because I think you might find it funny or entertaining. If it starts getting boring, just let me know. Or maybe not, it depends on how moody I am.

Coffee In a The Boondocks

Cassoulet Cafe is having another great coffee give-away, but to win you must post an interesting coffee story. The prize is from The Metropolis Coffee Company, check out their website! I am currently at a loss as to what to say. I suppose I could expound upon the story I did for the last give-away (which I didn't win!). Or I could tell you about the amazing adventures of being a teenage barista in a little coffee hut.

That's right, once upon a time I worked in a little espresso stand in a dinky little "town". This was long before Starbucks came rolling in and educated the people on the difference between a cappuccino and a mocha...though they still haven't educated anyone on what good coffee is. The people of this town, and neighboring towns were very interesting folks. And by interesting I mean that the pretty ones had most of their teeth intact and wore both shoes at the same time. The pretty ones also wore a colorful assortment of stained pajamas for their "going out" clothes. Now I've never been to Alabama, so I don't want to offend anyone, but I'm just going to go on the assumption of the things I've seen in movies that take place in Alabama. Take away the southern hospitality, banjos, sweet tea, and alligators....and there you have the town that I worked in.

Now, I don't know about you, but I have never seen the word "espresso" spelled with an "x", yet most everyone said "EXpresso". And most of my customers didn't know what anything was that ventured outside of being plain old coffee. "I'll have one uh dem mocha laddees' please". Um, what? I could never figure out if they actually wanted a mocha, or a latte, so I just made them what I figured they wanted. Steam some milk, add a little bit of espresso, and LOTS of chocolate. They felt proud and refined for ordering an espresso in the first place, so I just went along with it and didn't tell them they were drinking hot chocolate with a teaspoon of coffee in it.

My favorite customers were the ones that had absolutely no clue what anything was, they couldn't even compute why they were there looking at a board with words on it! They looked as if it was their first day on earth and they were so confused by what that little white building next to the road was. There they were looking at a menu full of Italian words and they hadn't even finished learning their mother-tongue. Those were the people that always ordered a cappuccino because they remembered hearing that on t.v. or something. I was hesitant to make it, but went ahead with the order not wanting to talk down to anyone, "excuse me sir, but do you even know what a cappuccino is?". No, I didn't want to be like that. So I just pulled out the old standby, "would you like that wet or dry?". The dumbfounded look on their face revealed it all. After explaining in detail every item on the menu they would usually decide on an espresso milkshake....without duh coffee stuff in it, they didn't like coffee. I must clarify though, when I am speaking about these people, I am not referring to those that are simply undecided in what they want, or are just confused by the menu. These unique individuals were confused by the board itself that the menu was written on.

The most exciting day of my barista career was when two businessmen from New York were driving through the state and pulled off of the freeway to my little old coffee shack. One ordered a latte and the other ordered a dry cappuccino! I told them to bear with me, I didn't have a whole lot of experience making cappuccinos because everyone always ended up changing their minds after finding out what they were. I successfully made a dry cappuccino and they were very happy with their drinks. I had finally fulfilled my barista destiny! I made real drinks for real people!

In my glorified hot-chocolate making career I made many delicious coffee and espresso drinks for myself and my family. Whenever I found out that my sister, CC, was at my parent's house I handcrafted her a FREE drink of art and brought it home to her. That is why I think I should win some coffee all these years later! Oh, and I would like to clear something up. I am not trying to be mean to the confused people out there. I am not pretentious and I do not think that because someone doesn't know about coffee and espresso that they are stupid. I do, however, have a slight problem with people that have six kids in tow, a pregnant belly, cigarette dangling out of mouth, yelling at the kids and baby's daddy, throwing empty soda cans and cigarette cartons back at the kid's heads, all while trying to order her 75 oz. iced mocha with 5 shots of caramel. And then to top it off, it's oh so very hard for her to drive away and pour the contents of her flask into the drink at the same time. OK, so I'm exaggerating.....slightly. Now, I do have to admit that there was one nice guy who brought his mom with him to ask me out. When I politely told him that I was unavailable he kindly yelled "CRAP!" at the top of his lungs and told his mom to drive off. I didn't stay at that job too long. But I still love coffee.

Obeying Kim

So apparently I am supposed to post ten honest things about myself. Here goes:


1. I hate mayo (does that count?)

2. I put pee in my sister's shampoo when I was little. She told me there were heads under the bed, nightly.

3. I can easily scarf a bag of Kettle chips, very quickly.

4. I have only one "good" set of sheets (which are quickly deteriorating), and I put the stained pillowcase on my husband's pillow because I don't want it.

5. I put a sock over my cat's face and head because it was funny. She ran around the house backwards at full-speed.

6. I hate wal-mart, but I still shop there.

7. I have skin "issues", whiteness aside.

8. I had a parakeet when I was three and smothered it. I thought she was cold!

9. I was a crazy person when I was pregnant, sorry sis, you and "Jack" got the brunt of it and you two deserve an award just for that!

10. I HATE being interrupted or talked over, or ignored. Makes me feel like a little kid again. Although I do NOT like being the center of attention either.

One more: I like pickle juice.

Ready For The Ride?

So we've visited the subjects of hairiness, eggshellness, and cheekiness. What wacky head trip journey shall I take you down now? Well, before I disappoint any followers of this blog that are looking forward only to hairy white tales, I better give you a little more insight on the probability of how my blog will go.

Bi-polar. That's right. Just when you think things couldn't get any lighter or funnier, they won't. Suddenly I'll switch gears and take you someplace deeper and more profound, or just strange and perhaps sad. As my French chili sister (Cassoulet Cafe) informed me, blogging is fun and creative entertainment, but can also be a cathartic therapy session. I plan on taking advantage of the free therapy. So, for those of you who would like to stick around on this roller coaster, thank you! And welcome to my Cheeky Greek head, it could be a long strange trip. But I will try and make it an entertaining one.

I have always loved to write, I don't claim to be any good at it, but I love it! I have shared things I've written only with like two people ever, so this is very new to me. I'm not very good with getting the right words to come out of my mouth, but give me a keyboard or pen and paper and the words flow freely. I guess all those years of cave dwelling with Twinkies and a large supply of Gillettes has somewhat inhibited my speech. If you don't know what I'm talking about then you haven't read my first two posts. I hate Twinkies by the way.

Most people do not know that I've been writing "in the closet" (or cave) since I was seven. I have a collection of poetry, short stories, and kids books I've written. I have started countless novels only to destroy them because they weren't up to my O.C.D. standards. Nor did I think anything would come of them. One of my favorite ways to write is to sit alone in a room with the music that moves me the most serenading my thoughts. I write everything that pops into my head at the exact moment it pops into my head. The result? A paper full of scrambled thoughts and lyrics, some inspiring and some not so understandable. I just think it's amazing to see the human mind on paper. I love reading things that require deeper thought and discernment to relate to it, or to even comprehend it. In the last six years due to marriage and having a high-need demanding toddler, the collection of new writings is very limited. These last few days are the most I've written in I don't know how long!

So, on that note: Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Give a man a fish with mercury, you just screwed that guy. Random? I know, that's me.

Fish anyone?

Cheeky?

I suppose I should address the Cheeky part of my name. Why cheeky? Because, I was not blessed with high cheekbones. While many people may object and say that I do not have a chubby face, I strongly feel that I am one of the cheekies.