TEA-BAGS

Hell of a way to wake oneself up, what a frickin' shock. We were late getting up today. I don't know what happened, the alarm went off at 7am, and next thing I knew it was 7:45!! A whole 45 minutes swiped from the crazy morning routine. Eeeeeek! I jumped out of bed, needed to make up this lost time quick-smart.

Right kids! March them out to the couch, trying to keep things calmly calmly. I sit them down, put their blankets over them, pop on the morning cartoons and make for the kitchen like the 'Road Runner'! Jesus Jesus Jesus... butter, ham... no wait... breakfast first... right toast on, make sandwiches while bread toasting... oh and put porridge on, that can be cooking away while I get lunch too. Get their clothes out. "Mom"! ... calmly calmy I tell myself as I wince with the shriek. I turn to see what the emergency is with our middle beau, "what is it sweet heart?" I ask him, "oh, you want me to fix your blanket?", I ask through gritted teeth, with a fake smile. Of course I fixed his blanket, quite clearly I wasn't doing anything else anyway!! THE PORRIDGE!

I retrieve the best bits of the porridge for the 2 cubbies that eat breakfast, and pass the toast to the little one who I know will only look at it, until I tell him to put it in the bin an hour later. Exasperating. Breakfast eaten. The chorus comes from the couch, they know the drill. They eat brekkie, and they are rewarded with our morning cup of tea. "Mom!!!! TEA TEA TEA TEA TEA TEA", the chanting starts. To avoid the situation escalating, I get onto it straight away, I boil the kettle, grab the tea-pot, open the tea-bag jar and wriggle my desperate fingers around inside and to my absolute horror, I find one measely tea-bag!!!!! Oh Holy Hell!!!! This was bad, Very VERY bad. Running out of tea-bags is the absolute worst thing you could run out of in any house, but especially our house. I look at the solitary tea-bag and the tea-pot, pop it in, add the water and hope that with some excessive stirring and swirling, we will magic 4 cups of tea.

Tah Dah!! Here you go little darlings... some lovely milky tea, disguised with sugar. They're happy out. Giving them sugar, I know. Judge me later. Giving them tea, yeh I know, again, judge me later. Now it was my turn... I stare into the tea-pot and look at whats left, wondering if it's really worth it. We all know that first cup of the day is the best. Desperately wanting my cup too I weigh up the pros and cons and decide I will wait until I buy tea-bags after the school run, that way, it will be a decent cup and I can enjoy it.

Kids delivered, I head to our local shop, fly around grabbing a few essentials and most importantly the tea-bags. Discuss the whole shocking tea-bag saga with the girl behind the counter. We laugh, and I learn that you couldn't even get two cups out of a Punjana tea-bag, which is her tea of choice. I load up my arms with the groceries and balance all carefully and go to head off home. But of course, following my usual trend of 'ditzy', the girl asks "eh, is that your bag?". Aha, yes, yes it is. Yep, the bag I brought in specifically to carry the groceries out, which is also my hand-bag as it happens. She laughs again and tells me I need to go home and have a strong cup of tea.

Needless to say, I get home, first point of call, kettle. Flick the switch, grab my favourite cup and open the jar to grab a tea-bag... HAW HAW, I tell myself, because they're obviously not there, they are in my bag on the floor. I grab the box, put it on the counter. Kettle is boiled so I lift it and pour into the cup. I peep in, hoping to get the lovely smell of the tea brewing and feel the steam on my face (from a safe distance of course!), I stare, and blink... and blink yet again. Unbelievable! I forgot to put the tea-bag in!!!