Rollin' In It

This is my joint.

I've never been a St. Arbuck's girl.  Sure, I'll go in for a cup if I'm meeting friends, or on a long road trip, but it has never been my coffee shop of choice.  See, it's hard to go from years of this, to mass marketing.

Now, when I need "my time",  I go here.

When we first visited Beaver TWO YEARS ago - wow - we walked into Kolache and I knew instantly that IF George took the job at Four Mile, living within walking distance of this place would be a non-negotiable.  For Beaver was pretty much "country" compared to what I'd know for 40 years of my life. The ability to walk to Cafe Kolache would be a necessary part of my adapting to a new community.

My mom sauntered up to the counter and ask the owner what it was like living in Beaver.  I gave her a light shove to say "SHUT-UP" for we had the kids with us at the time, and they thought we were on a spontaneous vacation in Pittsburgh Beaver.  What Hugh didn't know at the time, was that we were casing the town, while the church was casing us.  My Mom just about blew our cover.

Just the mere presence of Cafe Kolache gave me comfort on that trip, for I knew I was potentially facing a huge life change.  As silly as it sounds, a local coffee shop would offer me some sense of the familiar.

Flash forward TWO YEARS later.  After a year of having a son still in half-day pre-school for our first year in Beaver, he is now at school full-time three days a week.  Thus, I FINALLY have the time to return to the "days of my youth" (or rather, the days of my young married life) when I would spend every morning at the coffee shop that George managed while in seminary.

I have been waiting for this season of my life to arrive.

I saunter in, sometimes in a foul mood if the morning routine didn't go so well around the house, get a cuppa, exchange banter with the staff, grab my seat, and begin to write.  I sip some soup, order some rolls, and chit chat with other customers.  My favorite day to date:  busting out to "You Keep Me Hangin' On" with a few others as it came over the radio.  The "Oooh's" were particularly delightful.

I really like this place.  Can you tell?

So when Kolache called ME yesterday to see if I wanted a few dozen rolls because they'd baked too many that day, I knew.

They like me.  They really like me.

I gladly accepted and arranged to get the yummy loot after picking up Zane at school.  No, they weren't free (and I wouldn't dream of just taking them), and yet, they came with something more important.

The offer of those rolls signifies that Kolache has indeed become, as my son puts it, "mommy's special place."

Thanks Kristi and Hugh.  For you didn't know back in October of 2008 that the shop made an enormous impression on me.  It has taken me a year to finally make coming in every week a habit.  It's hilarious when I realize that you've seen "all of me": pre-workout, post-workout (sorry - I stink), dressed in actual clothes and NOT wearing a bandana, laughing with my children, frustrated with my children, talking with girlfriends, writing, stumped, angry with George, or just enjoying some time out with the entire family all together.

You've even seen me without my wallet - and you fed me anyway!

I'm rollin' in small town love.

Thanks.

Keurig Down! Keurig Down!

I know, I know, you want to hear about how Girls on the Run is going. And how Harper beams every time she gets home from practice.

And how my son and his "girlfriend" dissected dinosaurs (only the mean ones) at the kitchen table, turning home-made flubber into the carnivore's kidneys.

You want to know the 411.

You probably have no interest in hearing about my sick Keurig.

Too bad.

See, this is Cuppa Jo, and this Jo doesn't begin the day without her fresh cuppa, handed to her bedside by her husband. And frankly, you should know this.

And yet, there's been an injury to the very appliance that I consider a member of our own family.

Some googling revealed that there have been a batch of Keurig Elites taking nose dives over the past few months. My research turned up complaints of countless misfires which have occurred in Keurig Elites all over the US. The water wouldn't heat. Machines turning off after brewing one cup. Loud, angry, painful noises.

Yes, my little Keurig is wounded.

Upon calling the company, it took less than 5 minutes for the customer service representative to share that a new one would be in the mail tomorrow. With pods. Did I need to send the defective unit back?

No.

I was instructed to just dispose of it.

Like, bury it?

No answer. He wasn't in the mood to joke. Polite? Well, yes, although also sounding very unemotional and scripted in his response to me. Clearly, he had heard my story before. Apparently, countless times. He knew the drill.

I would like to thank those Keurig Elite owners who have gone before me, reporting their injured machines, and thus blazing the trail by which enabling me to get a replacement so very quickly, without the wasted time of several phone calls to the company or the hassle of packaging up the unit to send back. Thanks for fighting so that I wouldn't have to do so.

Hopefully, my next Keurig will be from a fresh batch - ready to perform up to 4 times a day without complaint, fatigue, retreat, or defect.

Until I receive my new machine, I will lay hands on the lame appliance, in hopes of securing at least one cup of java in the morning.

And if I can't?

You will find me at my neighbor's house.