a sticky sort of silence

You may have noticed a conspicuous lack of postyness yesterday. I was all set to thrill the internet with my tales of wonder and delight (some of which might have involved my ears, but I make no promises), but before I had a chance, my angelic child spilled a cup of lukewarm coffee on my keyboard.

I don’t know if you’ve ever spilled a cup of coffee on your keyboard, but if you haven’t – I highly recommend it. So much excitement! So much shouting! So much mess! The baby was not interested in mama’s Dance of Woe, but was extremely angry that after all that work I wouldn’t even let him have the coffee cup. Didn’t I see all the effort he went to in order to get it? Because, clearly, if I were a nice mama, I would let my child drink coffee.

Once the keyboard dried out (during which time I cleaned, rather frantically, and paced, and tried without success to stop entertaining bleak fantasies of a computer-free existence), I discovered that all the keys still worked. All but one: the space bar. Stupid space bar. Who uses the space bar, anyway?

As it turns out, I use the space bar rather a lot. There was some more shouting after that.

(I do not like that I am a parent who shouts. Where is my therapist when I need her? My parents shouted. My parents also hit and broke things and scarred my psyche by saying things like “a monkey could do that better than you,” but is that merely the end-product of the shouting? Is the fact that I get angry and shout indicative of deep psychological issues? I would answer these questions, but like I said: no therapist. Sigh.)

So off to the Apple store I went, to purchase a lovely new keyboard and a lovely new keyboard cover, which theoretically would prevent this from happening in the future. Great theory, yes? Unfortunately flawed, as the keyboard cover makes the space bar stick. This? This is the definintion of irony.

However the Apple store is as wonderful as I remembered it, all sleek and modern and full of things I want so badly my palms itch. And they give you the cutest bags to carry your purchase! They are like wee trendy little backpacks. They are a carrying case, and an accessory. I love the Apple store.

Anyway, I can type again, and this is pleasing to me. And my child is unphased both by the shouting and the repeated admonitions to “please not touch Mommy’s coffee, Monkey, that is NOT for babies” so at least we’re coming up even.

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Posted in catch-all on January 16, 2007 | Tagged , , | Comments (9)
  • http://themadnessofmodernfamilies.blogspot.com mad muthas

    i’ve managed to avoid that one so far, but frequently have to shake the crumbs out from between the keys. mostly pizza. not that i’ve ever sampled them.

  • http://www.cranky-mama.com cranky mama

    Oh my god, you are not kidding about the crumbs – I couldn’t believe some of the stuff that ends up in there! We took the keys off to see if we could save the old keyboard as a spare or something, and it was just gross.

  • http://izzymom.com Izzy

    My 19 month old also has a coffee cup fixation but I’ve managed to avoid spillage on the keyboard. The phone? Check. TV near my desk? Check. Important papers? Check. The plantation shutters? Check. The carpet? Triple check! All this to say…I feel ya from a fellow Mac user :)

  • http://ww.travisjmorgan.com/blog Travis

    It’s better it was the keyboard receiving the coffee and not your child. My youngest, when he was two years old, grabbed a cup of hot water (Tea to be) off of the counter right after it had been microwaved for two minutes, and spilled it all over his chest. I was upstairs, and my wife was in the kitchen with him, who had just turned around for a second when it happened.

    I remember the screaming, a painful scream. I ran downstairs, and seen him, my little boy, his face was in shock and hurt, he was shaking, and crying. I started to cry too. I slowly took his shirt off. His skin was peeling off with it. His chest was bright red and blistered. We immediately took him to the emergency room. After waiting for four hours, it was determined that he recieved 2nd degree burns, but would heal fine.

    He is three now, and the burns have almost completed healed except for a small scar. I will never forget his cries and face on that day. So again, you were lucky it was just your keyboard. :)

  • http://www.cranky-mama.com cranky mama

    Travis, how awful! I’m so glad your son is okay. I’m insanely paranoid about hot liquids around the kid – I only heat my coffee until it’s warm just in case it spills – but you’re so right, I’m lucky nothing worse happened than needing a new keyboard.

    Izzy, hee. What is it about the coffee cup that is so enticing? I mean, I’M drawn to it, but that’s more a cause-and-effect thing…

  • http://ww.travisjmorgan.com/blog Travis

    I am building a store with my designs on it and some of my products are coffee cups. Being that you are so drawn to them, I’m interested to know what you think would be the perfect coffee cup design(s)…

  • http://www.cranky-mama.com cranky mama

    Travis, honestly, my main requirement for a coffee cup is that it is full of coffee. :) Aside from that, I tend to like big, modern graphics on dishware. How cool for you that you’re building a storefront! What software are you using? I’ve had good luck with Zazzle.

  • http://www.travisjmorgan.com/blog Travis

    LOL, I agree. I have never seen Zazzle, I’ll check it out. Thanks for the resource. I’ve been using Cafepress. btw – sorry for going a bit off topic.

  • coffeegod

    It is so cool that you call your child ‘monkey’ too! That nickname has been what I call my son since he was about 2 months old and I was told I couldn’t call him ‘chicken boy’ any more. (he was kinda scrawny when he was born and he made this cackling type noise….long story). Good to find your blog.

    My D key has been broken for a couple of weeks now. Massive pain in the neck but I use a laptop so broken it will stay.