It's fantastic. It has settings for different kinds of tea, so that it brews for the right time and with the right temperature of water. This is the one: [link] I managed to find it cheaper than that on the high street, although I don't know if they sell them internationally.

Want! Amazon.com has them. They're pricey, but maybe I can get it for myself after Christmas.

I can't justify getting myself a tea machine. It's really not much less work than boiling a kettle and pouring the water into a teapot.

What kind of appetizers are you making?

Don't know yet. I'm going to go to Fresh Market and peruse and see what captures my fancy. Definitely bringing some good cheeses. Perhaps a hummus. The crowd we're dealing with does not have adventurous palates. Little spinach/cheese quiches counts for exotic.

"Get Up" by REM

I'm also considering changing my alarm to The Muppet Show theme, hoping that it will kick things off in the proper vein.

yes, the wake up music is key. I work in a separate office than my boss, so no one really watches my comings and goings. Therefore, I am often "late" (I put late in quotes because if they want to be a hardass about my getting in on time, then I will be a hardass about leaving on time, and will no longer stay until 6:30 or 7 on a regular basis). Occasionally, I really need to be in on time, so I set my phone to do an additional alarm for a drop dead time. It's usually something peppy like Britney's "Circus", or Ini Kamoze "Here Comes the Hotstepper". I also have Tim Gunn saying "Carry On! Make it Work! Holla at your boy!"

is there anyone who has/had massive issues getting up on time and found ways to deal with it? Besides multiple alarms, because I can apparently hit snooze/turn them off in my sleep like a CHAMP. The thing that's worked best for me is to get a wakeup call from a real human being, but I despise asking that of anyone.

Man, I *cannot* get out of bed in the morning. It's like I have an actual medical condition — lack of wakefulness, or something.

The only thing that works is that The Boy gets up, too, and so either (1) I feel guilt at my sloth, or (2) he comes back in the bedroom and pulls the covers off me.

Otherwise, I'd be late every single day.

I do also set up the coffeemaker the night before, because there is no way that my uncaffeinated morning brain can figure out how to make coffee. This way, I set the timer and coffee appears, as if by magic, every morning.

I'm also considering changing my alarm to The Muppet Show theme, hoping that it will kick things off in the proper vein.

I have that as my ringtone! I wake up to the radio news, though. Which sometimes produces some interesting dreams.

I wake up to the radio news, though.

True story: I have my alarm set to NPR, and the morning after Heath Ledger died, my alarm happened to go off when NPR was doing a story about him, and the story led off with a clip of him singing in 10 Things I Hate About You.

Cree.Pee.

I also have Tim Gunn saying "Carry On! Make it Work! Holla at your boy!"

HA! Where can I find that bit of brilliance?

Man, I *cannot* get out of bed in the morning. It's like I have an actual medical condition — lack of wakefulness, or something.

OMG, my sistah in sleepiness. I feel like I have tried *everything*. And really, the only thing that consistently works is to have someone call me and talk to me until I'm out of bed and have fed the cats.

I have that as my ringtone!

It's currently my ringtone when my parents call, so I'd have to find a new ringtone for them.

I've found a couple of iPhone apps to try. One is called Sleep Cycle, and supposedly uses your iPhone's accelerometer to determine your lightest sleep phase in the half hour before your alarm is set to go off. I am intrigued but skeptical. The other has a "fade-in" option for up to 60 min. Not sure which one I'm going to try first.

Tim Gunn said "Holla"? There really is someone who'd be funnier than me saying that.