Smart Ideas

I was bumming around the grocery store today... no wait. I never ever bum around the grocery store ever. I hate grocery shopping. I try to go in with an attitude of "Okay Heather! Let's play that game where you see how many new, interesting, exciting products you can find that are both cheap and healthy!" Which of course fails miserably and all I wind up getting is what's on my list and maybe Oprah magazine as a big treat if the cover doesn't feel too self righteously happy.

Aaahahahannyyyway, I was in the store looking for a few non-specific items. And I was in the tea/coffee aisle and saw the most ingenious contraption ever:
It's a coffee filter holder y'all. And it has solved a problem that is really tiny on the grand scheme of things (compared to, say, Haiti) but has really been grating on my nerves (appliance storage). I rarely drink coffee, and it is even more rare (rarer?) that I make a cup at home. Every time I make it I have to look up how much coffee per cup and each time I am AMAZED at how much coffee I'm using- that's how much I don't brew coffee. But sometimes I want a cup anyway. And sometimes I have overnight guests who are crazed zombies if they don't get some caffeine first thing in the AM. I have this little tiny 4 cup coffee maker, and it's just a pain the ass. Where does the cord go? Cleaning the pot and the filter holder part really irritates me because they're both weird shapes and don't fit into a dish drainer with any sort of ease. That bugs me. I would prefer if all of my appliances were cubes, then I could stack them up in my cupboard and not have to store them on top of my dryer in the laundry closet the way I do now.

Sooooo, ANYWAY, I was at the store and glanced to my right and saw these little guys. And I was like that is such a great idea. Instead of making one pot of coffee just for myself I can make a cup at a time. It was $3 at Kroger. I bought one.

And even though it's 6:00 at night and it was probably a really dumb idea, I just made myself a little test cup of coffee. I heated up some water in the microwave for two and half minutes. While that was going I threw 2.5 tablespoons of coffee into one of the included filters, set the filter into the plastic filter holder thingy, and put that on top of a mug. In 2.5 minutes I poured the steaming hot water over the ground coffee very very slowly, in batches. Then I added cream and sugar.

Y'all. This cup of coffee is excellent. Granted, I used Green Mountain coffee which is great to begin with, and we all know that coffee is a very personal thing. I like my coffee really strong but I don't like it to be too burnt or acidic tasting. For winging it on measurements and stuff, I am really impressed. Now I just have to stop drinking it so that I sleep tonight!

SPEAKING of smart ideas, I'm sure you've seen the new design for the NYC condom wrappers. This was such a great idea I was totally blown away. I can think of at least 4 different ways the international power switch button is the perfect symbol to put on a condom. BRILLIANT!