I've Been a Very Bad Christian

Today is Good Friday.  And Greg asked me this morning if this was the day that Jesus had the Last Supper with the Apostles.  And I promptly replied, "No, today is the day Christ rose from the dead."  Then I stopped and thought for a minute at the same time that Greg said "Umm, didn't he rise on Easter?"

RIGHT!  I thought.  Easter.  That's when Christ rose from the dead.  And it was a miracle because it was three days after he died...three days...count back from Sunday...three days prior is Friday...making Good Friday the day that Jesus died.  Of course.

It scares me just a little that I had to think about this.  Because, as I've said before, I acknowledge that I'm not a practicing Catholic - but seriously, I went through a LOT of religious education, PLUS I went to church every single Sunday of my life from the time I was born up until I was 17 (almost 18) and headed to college.  I have all the tools I need to know exactly how to answer my curious husband with definitive and correct answers related to the fundamental principals and, certainly, the MOST PROMINENT FOUNDATION of Catholicism!  Yet, today, I FAILED!  Miserably.

I don't know why this bothers me so much, but it does.  Certainly I don't like failing at anything, but it's more than that.  I feel a little bit sad to know that I've lost a little bit of something that was such a huge part of my childhood.  Logically, I understand that it's because of my choice to no longer practice Catholicism, and being out of practice gives plenty of reason for why my knowledge would diminish - I'm just shocked that the diminished part is about the most important celebration in the Catholic church.

Now I'm off to prepare for this most festive holiday.  Have a Happy Easter everyone!  Afterall, it is the day that Jesus saved all the Bunny rabbits in Nazareth and brought them to a manger and had formerly scandalous women wrap the bunnies in cloth that was stolen from some dead person's tomb while his mother, Mary, cried because all she wanted was for Jesus to turn some water into wine so she could drink to forget that, despite her uncouth upbringing, her son Jesus was in love with Mary Magdalen.  Or something like that right???

Best Travel Mug...EVER!!!

Last weekend I traveled to south Jersey to be home with my mom and my sisters so that we could continue our annual tradition of baking a MILLION Christmas cookies that we can give to our nearest and dearest friends as gifts for the holidays.  It was a ton of fun being with them, making a mess, and baking up a storm!  Here's a shot of our end-result:

Yes, those are full size buffet trays.
Each filled with multiple layers of  artery-clogging , delicious treats.
YUMM!!!!

Anyway - on Sunday morning, my two youngest sisters and I decided to attend mass with my Mom.  Although none of us are really religious, my Mom is, and it makes her happy when we go to church with her, so we did.  Of course, none of us decided we would definitely go until we only had 10 minutes to get out of PJs, comb our hair, and put on some decently non-wrinkled clothes.  As we were rushing around upstairs getting ready, my Mom offered to make us coffee to take along on the ride in travel mugs.  I happily accepted her offer, and just before going out to the car, I threw some milk into the already-prepared cuppa' and hopped into the car.  The coffee was very hot, and I burned my tongue taking the first sip.  Needless to say, because the coffee was so hot, I didn't finish all of it on the 10 minute drive to the church.  Sad that I had to abandon my coffee in the car, I left the mug in the back seat and begrudgingly went into church with narry a half a cup of coffee trying it's hardest to get me to fire on all cylinders.

Mass was fine, nothing earth shattering happened, although, the homily (the part where the priest talks to the congregation after he's read the gospel), was delivered by Catholic evangelist, Gary Zimak.  He didn't have anything earth shattering to talk about either, but he was, at least, interesting to listen to (afterall, you can't be an evangelist and not be charismatic) but, what I got out of his talk was that his facial expressions are extremely similar to those displayed by the actor who plays the character of Nick on one of my favorite TV sitcoms - The New Girl.  (His real name is Jake Johnson, but he will forever be Nick to me.  He's acted in lots of movies you don't even realize until after you become a fan of The New Girl - like the other day I realized he was in 21 Jump St - saw the movie when it first came out, but didn't realize it until I was watching it on showtime.  But, as always, I digress.)

Gary and Jake even look like each other a little bit when they're not making any crazy facial expressions!  Case in point:

Jake Johnson

Gary Zimak

Take away Mr. Zimak's glasses, and add some grays to Jake's hair, and I think they would look like the same exact person.

ANYWAY...what was my point?  

Travel Mugs...RIGHT!!!!

So, after church, we go out to the car, and I make a comment about knowing my coffee, that's been sitting outside in 40 degree weather, won't be warm enough to drink anymore.  My sister Adrea tells me that she bets it will still be warm since the travel mug I used is the best one they have at home and it keeps things warm FOREVER!  SO, without much faith in any travel mug's ability to keep coffee warm enough for me after an hour in a tempered environment, I open the mug and take a sip...and HOLY CRAP BALLS!!!!!  The stuff is hot.  Not lukewarm.  Not pass-able.  IT'S HOT!  (I feel like I should make reference to a Jay-Z or Usher song here - but I'm totally drawing a blank on that one.  Fill in to your liking.)

OH Wait!  That reference should be to Nelly - that's why.  "It's getting HOT in here..."blah blah blah.  I know, I ruined it.  But it just hit me and I had to share.

OK, OK, OK!  Back to the mug.

Seriously.  How is it possible that my coffee, poured well over an hour ago, and sitting in a cold car, could still be hot???  By keeping it in a THERMOS brand mug made with ThermMax Insulation - that's how!!!!  Apparently, the same company that used to make those giant milk bottle things that fit into a lunch box that you had to bring for lunch every day filled with milk because your parents didn't trust you to use your quarter to buy white milk instead of chocolate at school every day - now makes super heat keeping travel mugs for your use and enjoyment.  I was FLOORED!!!  I've been using Starbucks brand coffee mugs for many years - and - seeing as it's a Starbucks branded thing and it costs an arm and a leg to buy - I assumed they were the best heat-keeping travel mugs my hard earned $20 could buy.  And, because I thought I already owned THE BEST, I thought I was just going to have to go through life drinking my lukewarm coffee from my travel mug when I got to work.  There were days when I would get to work and go to take my first sip of coffee and be so disappointed with the temperature that I wouldn't drink it at all or I'd go to the microwave, put the coffee into a ceramic mug, nuke it to get it warm again, then put it back into my travel mug just to be able to drink that necessary one cup I have each day.

Well, after this amazing discovery, I immediately considered taking that awesomest of awesome travel mugs off my Mom's hands.  She has enough stuff already...right?  

Well I made that joke...And was immediately threatened with death if I dared to even think about taking the thing home.  Gosh Mom!  I'm your first born!  Give a little, huh?  Clearly, she wasn't having it.

So, like every logical 30-something, I decided to "Google" the product, and found that Thermos makes whole line of vacuum-insulated coffee mugs and tumblers, including ones that have leak proof seals (the one my Mom has dosn't have that - so take THAT Mom!).  These suckers guarantee to keep hot beverages hot for 5 hours, and cold ones cold for 9 hours!  One review I read said that someone had used one of these things to hold iced coffee for a day, and, when he got home to wash the mug, he found out there was still whole ice cubes inside...after sitting in an office ALL DAY!!!  How is that even POSSIBLE???  I don't care how, really, all I know is that I had to have one. So, off to Amazon I went, and, thanks to my nifty Prime subscription, last night, my new favorite piece of kitchen gadgetry arrived.  I am using it this morning, and even at 10:30, my coffee is still hot and tasty.  I love this thing!  No longer am I forced to rush through drinking my coffee trying to ward off the inevitable cooling down to the point of non-drinkability.  Now, I get to enjoy every sip.  At my leisure.  I may be drinking coffee ALL DAY!!!!  Yeah, it's that good.  Here's a photo of my favorite travel mug (and lots of my various desk stuff).

This baby doesn't look like much, but it's AWESOME.  Seriously.  Thermos isn't paying me to say this at all - but hey, guys, if you're reading this and WANT to send me a free one of these gems, I wouldn't object.  Just sayin'.

And, the best part?  Totally leak free.  I literally sat this thing upside down on my desk this morning, (while it was still full) and peeled off a sticker with a bar code from the bottom, and had to keep it that way for probably 5 minutes, to get all that sticky residue off with tape.  Not one leak!

Sidenote: why do the companies that make stickers for barcodes not make stuff that peels off cleanly?  It's such a pain in the buttox to get that sticky stuff off sometimes.  I mean, come on!  Thermos can make a container that keeps beverages hot for hours on end.  How hard is it to make an adhesive that sticks without leaving behind residue???

Anyway - I think I'll be buying another one of these today.  They make one that's red on the outside that I'm kind of in love with.  The color change is apparently worth ten more dollars since this one cost me $17.99 and the red one is $27.99 - but honestly, I feel like I will be able to keep this thing for years without having to replace it.  Let's hope I'm right!

Sorry for the long post, I'm just SO EXCITED!!!!

Happy 12-12-12 everyone!!!!!