"The moment I wake up..."

Every weekday morning the alarm goes off at 6am. I press snooze twice, then put my feet on the floor at approximately 6:12am. Sometimes there's a little boy in between us who woke up 'wet' and timed it just right so that he could spend early morning moments with daddy before he's up...around 6:25am. If not, we're both soft stepping so that mommy can keep a few quiet minutes before she's on duty. The first thing I do, sometimes even before I turn the light on, is to flip that electric kettle switch. If I'm on top of it, it's filled the night before, Brent's travel mug and my teapot sit side by side already out on the counter, waiting for the "just before boiling point" moment when...ahhhh.....curls of steam warm my face promising soothing sips...served 'straight up' (no milk, no honey). Brent has been known to laugh at me as he walks out the door with his 'mate' cocido' (yerba mate', in tea bag form, with splash of raw milk and honey) cause he knows I won't actually drink my tea till it has reached optimal drinking temperature (no risk of burning the tongue, warm enough to feel going down, cool enough to take a long drink). 'Optimal' becoming a very loose term, because sometimes I wait too long, and I drink lukewarm to cold tea all day long.  By the time Brent returns, he sometimes finds the pot still half-full (not half empty) and has occasionally make the mistake of tossing this unused brew down the drain....only to find me asking where my tea went an hour later. 

My morning ritual usually includes some sort of green tea, then it is a hodge podge of whatever I have in the cupboard.  I started this routine as a goal to use up that which I already have before I went out and tried something new....I'm still whittling away at it...determined to make some level of a dent on the tea shelf. I'm dreading when I reach the last box of "Coca" tea that I brought back from Bolivia...or "cocaine tea" it was affectionately named by our friends. Same plant. =) That will be an interesting week....