New addiction in progress... with limits?

I normally try to limit my indulgence of Starbucks over-priced drinks to once a week or two. It's been 2 days since my last splurge (the raspberry mocha frap.), and this morning when Baby Bear walked to her stroller and started saying "stroll" and signing "please", I was quick to oblige. I also grabbed the gift card out of my wallet.

So we began our stroll. First I turned right out of our driveway, which goes to the cul-de-sac end of our street. For the first time I noticed that walking back toward our house from that end has a slight uphill slope. A frappuccino sounded good, and I had only been walking for a minute or two!

We continued past our house toward the opposite end of the subdivision. Baby Bear played peek-a-boo with the awning on her stroller, grinning up at me through the plastic window. She pulled two thick rubber bands, 1 per arm, on as bracelets. She played with the cotton balls that she had snatched out of the bottom drawer in my bathroom.

We walked across the neighborhood and into the adjoining subdivision. Down the big hill toward the shopping center we strolled. It was already getting muggy, at 8:45 a.m. When we rolled into starbucks, a kind lady laughed and said something about a walk being a good excuse for Mommy's breakfast treat. Then she held the door open.

The barista was normal- not the barely awake kind nor the overly-friendly-deserves-a-wake-up-slap-in-the-face type. (I'm not a morning person. At all.) I mentioned the mile and a half walk home and how that justified my treat- plus that someone in my family was secretly trying to get me addicted to coffee by giving me a gift card. He laughed and asked if I wanted him to leave off the whipped cream. "Heck, no! Give me the good stuff! Walking here is the whole point.." I exclaimed. Mr. Barista wrote down my name, baby bear enjoyed looking at the cool light fixtures, and when my java chip frap. was ready we went out to the patio.

Some kind person had left a newspaper to peruse. Baby Bear insisted on sitting in a chair instead of her stroller, so I obliged. And I let her have 2 sips of my drink, even though she had a sippy cup full of water. "Mmmmmmm." Yet amazingly she did not ask for more???

She played with her cotton balls and made eyes at the table of men who looked like bankers and one teenage boy who were sitting at another patio table. She watched cars and trucks drive past on the main road and clapped and cheered at them. She looked so proud of herself, sitting in that chair like Mommy's sipping her water, and playing with her cotton balls. (Who need toys when you have hygiene products?)

"Da-da?" she asked. "Daddy's at work. He'll be home this afternoon." "Da-da?" She climbed off her chair and walked toward the other table, looking for her Daddy in the mix of men. I decided that even though the compliments the men gave me on her cute dress and curls were nice, it was time to begin the trek home.

The uphill stroll is much more difficult than downhill. (No surprise.) Baby Bear fell asleep 1/3 of the way home and is currently in her crib.

And I may have a new addiction-in-progress (frappucino's, or however they are spelled), but at least the exercise will help keep all that whipped cream from sticking to my thighs. In theory. And I've decided that I might budget myself by refilling the balance on the gift card for future purchases... because somehow I feel less guilty spending money off a gift card than out of my wallet or on a credit card. And when it's gone, it's gone. Especially if I have no cash left on hand.

Oh, and my new favorite variety is the java chip. Caramel is a close 2nd. The raspberry mocha needs grandma's real raspberries in syrup instead of that fake syrup stuff they put on it. The chocolate chip splinters are a perfect treat to munch on. It is more like dessert than breakfast, but so is cookie crisp, cocoa puffs, or even a crepe.

Happy Friday! Go enjoy a frappucino or something.