Starbuck's Mocha Frappucino... Jen's Way...

I'm the first one to admit that I'm a Starbuck's snob. Oh, I make my own coffee at home, and use whatever French Roast is on sale, but I have to have my Starbuck's! It's always a toss between a Venti Non-Fat, No Foam Latte, or a Venti Mocha Frappucino (yes, I know they have 500 calories.)



I have put a twist on the Mocha Frappucino though, and I thought I would share it with all of you.

The next time you have a hankering for a Mocha Fappucino, ask them to add a banana. Now, you do NOT want a cream based drink. You have to specifiy the coffee based drink. Tell them they make it the same way they always do, but you want them to drop a banana in there before they blend it.

O - M - G !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Remember when you were young and you would get a banana split sundae? And towards the end, everything was just about melted and all you could taste was the banana and chocolate? It's like that, but for us adults, walking around with a Mocha-Banana Frappucino looks a lot better than walking around with a banana split sundae!

Enjoy :)

Who else misses "Friends"???

It is after midnight, and I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes from laughing so hard! I was always an avid "Friends" watcher, and can pretty much answer any trivia question on the show, but it is my late night obsession with the reruns that really get me going.

I'm watching the one where Chandler sleeps through a meeting and accidentally agrees to be transferred to Tulsa. His expression is just priceless when he realizes what has happened!

And how about the episode where Ross wears black leather pants to a date, and he takes them off in the bathroom, but can't get them back on? So he calls Joey from his cell, and Joey recommends lotion, then baby powder. That has to be my ALL TIME FAVORITE!!!

My point to this post, is that it's good to still have things to laugh at, even when you are alone, on your couch, sometime after midnight.

When is a friend a friend, and when is a friend just awful?

In the course of my (ahem) 40 years, I have been friends with a lot of people. My first friend was Therese. The story goes that my mom walked me next door to Therese's house the day she came home from the hospital, so technically, I have known her longer than her sisters, who were still at their grandparent's house.

My next dear friend was Christy. Christy and I did everything together - except when it came to getting our periods. We were at sleep away camp the summer between sixth and seventh grades, and she got her period and I freaked. Our friendship declined further until we were in our 30s and had a final arguement over our baby's schedules. (She was a nap and feeding tyrant, and I was the hippie, go-with-the-flow mommy.)

My next set of friends came in high school. We were a close knit bunch - not popular, not freaks, but somewhere in between. And after high school, we still all remained tight. Sorority sisters, college roomates... sure we had other loyal sisters in crime, but none knew each other better than the close knit bunch of high school.

Which brings us to present day. We all have kids, we all have minivans and husbands, and we all have email. For most of the close knit bunch, email serves the greater purpose - letting each other know when Junior gets his/her first tooth, when the next 1st communion is happening, etc, etc... For one member of our close knit bunch, email is not what a friendship makes. She expects everyone to see each other face to face at least a hundred times a year. Now, I don't know about you, but between soccer, softball, school, sex and sleep (which of course the latter two I know nothing about) I barely see the inside of my bathroom much less my close knit bunch.

This particular member of the close knit bunch sends a scathing email to the rest of the tight knit bunch, calling out a few of us, that continually turn down invitation after invitation to get together. Now, I must point out that the events she had planned were not to my liking. I mean, I'm not going to go do something if I don't want to, right? Then she points out that she has attended many an event that she did not want to go to. So why is that my fault?

Which brings me to the point of the post in the first place - When is a friend a friend, and when is a friend just plain awful? And how far does one need to go to ensure a lasting friendship? I mean, I know you have to work at marriage, but that's a no brainer - men are the lesser advanced of the sexes, so us women have to work to keep their men in line. Duh! But when you are friends with another woman, there is an unspoken rule that since estrogen flows 3 out of 4 weeks a month, no one really has to work at the friendship.

(Wow this post is getting long)

Alright, here is the ending... should we have to work at friendships this hard? Are some friendships meant to end, like when you move away when you're seven? How hard are you supposed to fight for a friendship? At the end of the day, I wish I had Socrates sitting next to me answer these questions.

Yesterday's Coffee

When my ever-lovin' husband and I got married, we had the big ole wedding shower. My family, his family, friends, distant acquaintances of my grandmother - you get the picture. We got the most basic of coffee pots. Darn thing crapped out within the first year. Being DINKs back then (Dual Income No Kids, in case you were wondering) I splurged on a programmable coffee maker. Deluxe!!! I would set it at night, with my freshly ground beans, usually from Starbucks, and would wake up to the delicious aroma.

Now that I'm a full-time mom, who also works full-time at home, I still have the programmable coffee maker, but I also have kidlets who require every ounce of my energy 18 out of 24 hours a day. Thus, the coffee maker is no longer programmed because I forget, or I don't have the energy to scoop cheap coffee out of the tin before I go to bed. Nope, now my coffee is made when I wake up. And I sit there, like a crack addict waiting for the dealer to cut their share, for the darn thing to start so I can put my mug directly under the spout.

And every so often, when I'm really tired and lazy, I pour a mug of yesterday's coffee and nuke it in the microwave in the morning.

It would really be nice if my ever-lovin' husband would make me a pot of coffee before he leaves for work at the crack of dawn, but he doesn't know where the hamper is, much less the tin of cheap coffee.

The Anatomically Correct Boy Baby Alive

Baby Alive has been around since the beginning of time. I remember mine well - the hours spent feeding her, changing her diaper, loving her. Ah yes, those memories served me well when my kidlets came along.

I have learned that the new Baby Alive dolls do pretty much the same thing as mine did. However, there is a Boy Baby Alive now. This boy baby live is anatomically correct. Complete with little penis and scrotum. My Girl Baby Alive didn't even have labia, much less a vagina.

I remember the "Archie Bunker's Grandson" doll that came out in the 70's and the havoc that spread across the country. That doll too was anatomically correct.

Personally, I think these dolls are great! What a way to start a dialog with your girl kidlets about boy anatomy!

Now, if we could just get Mattel to make anatomically correct Ken dolls (instead of the eunuchs they are now) we could teach our kids about sex... think of the possibilities - little condoms, little diaphragms...

Sex and the Soap Operas

I admit it, I'm one of those SAHMs that watch soap operas. I'm an ABC addict. But what I'm realizing that last few months, is that they have an awful lot of sex on soap operas. More than the average person - not that I know what average is!

Or maybe that I just think that they are having an awful lot of sex because I'm having hardly any. I have a 9 year old kidlet that thinks my bed is their bed. If someone has some magic "children that sleeps in their own beds" trick out there, could you let me know?

I don't need to have soap opera sex - especially the part with multiple partners, but I think even my ever lovin' husband would like a night alone in our bed!

Are you a girly girl?

I ask this question, because deep down, I'm a total girly girl. I love having perfect makeup and hair, a feminine outfit, matching shoes and purse (usually a Coach) and pretty perfume. Unfortunately, most people see me in yoga pants (with hot glue stains all over them) and some ratty, retro t-shirt.

But yesterday, I went with two dear friends to have mani/pedis. For an hour and a half, we chatted while our feet soaked and our hands massaged. It was LOVELY!!!!

I would think that even if your not a typical girly girl, you would still benefit from some serious girlfriend time. I think all women need to take time for themselves. Especially us full-time moms. Our lives revolve around our kidlets. Bless you if you have more than two like me and my girlfriends that I was with yesterday. We seriously don't know how you do it! I can barely keep track of my kidlet's activities, homework, friends, moods, etc....

Oh, and not to mention those husbands who constantly disrupt our lives!

So today, I challenge all you soccer moms out there to do one nice thing for yourselves this month. Be it a mani/pedi with girlfriends, or a long, leisurly walk with a sister. Whatever, just treat yourself once a month. It will re-engerize you!