Results of the Favorite Tea Survey - Take II

Alright folks. The first time around, nobody voted on the tea survey. This could lead a person to think that none of you drink tea, which I happen to know is just not true. Lucky for you, you were given a second chance - a shot at tea redemption!

The results are as follows:

Tea Survey II: Which of the following do you prefer?

Early Grey	(28%)
Chamomile	(28%)
Mint	(14%)
Orange Pekoe	(14%)
Green	(14%)
Coffee is better.	(0%)

As you can see, Early Grey and Chamomile won, but I have to wonder if that is because they were at the top of the list? Usually, I prefer any kind of tea with mint in it, so if I voted, I would cast my vote for mint. Of course, tea is tea, and as long as it isn't President's Choice black tea sold in bulk and steeped for 5 hours creating an oily film on the top, I will probably drink it and enjoy it. Of course, I drank that President's Choice tea, too. I just didn't enjoy it.

Things I Love*

I love...

• Popcorn with extra butter and salt
• I am talking about popcorn you make in the air popper, then pour real melted butter over. Right now, I really enjoy putting the salt on the popcorn, because my salt shaker is a little yellow bear, and that makes me smile. Popcorn is so ridiculously delicious. Sometimes I have a large mixing bowl full of popcorn for dinner. While I prefer the air-popped popcorn smothered in butter, I occasionally enjoy the microwave variety, and it is practically impossible to see a movie sans-popcorn!
• Tea
• Earl Grey, Lady Grey, Mint, Orange Pekoe, Green, White, Darjeeling, Chamomile, they are all wonderful. This year, I have really been experimenting will loose teas, and I believe there are about five varieties of loose tea on my shelf right now. Tea is good in the morning, afternoon, or nighttime. Tea is just amazing. If  you don't drink tea, you should start immediately! I think I drink about 3-6 cups of tea per day.
• Playing with Squeaky
• My cat is awesome. She is 16 years old and still loves to play and run around. She also has the most attitude I have ever seen in a cat, and she things she is a person. Squeaky will try to hold a conversation with anyone who comes into our home, and I think she can understand what we're saying, because if someone makes fun of her, she glares at them for a while. Tonight I got her a new tunnel to play in and a new feathery toy on a stick. She enjoys them both.
• My Friends
• I am pretty sure I have some of the best, most amazing, talented, hilarious,unique, intelligent, kind, generous, down-right fantastic friends in all of the world. I love them all.
• Ice Cream for Breakfast
• I prefer to eat it with a spoon right out of the container while checking my email and sitting on the couch. There is nothing like a little chocolate chip cookie dough or mint chocolate chip ice cream to start your day off right.
• My Family
• My family, while absolutely crazy, is a great bunch of people. Good job, guys!
• Singing Aloud Really Loudly in the Car
• Especially now that I am listening to my ipod in the car, this has become a once again frequent activity. Songs that are super-fun to sing along with include, but are certainly not limited to: "I Can't Get No Satisfaction", "The Little Things You Do", "Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side",  "Jessie's Girl", "Resistensen", and "Someday" (Leo Laleo).
• Dancing Like a Maniac
• I'm a maniac! MANIAC on the floor! And I'm dancing like I've never danced before! This can be done in the car, in the kitchen while cooking, in the living room, while cleaning, before bed, or in the classroom. Usually I try to refrain in more public places - such as the grocery store - where such activities are generally frowned upon and may cause security to come have a chat with you.
• Mittens
• If you don't agree that mittens are amazing, then I don't know that I can trust your opinion on anything. They are so fun! And they come in so many colors and designs and fabrics! Plus they keep your hands, fingers, and wrists toasty warm through the 132,004 days of Minnesota Winter!
• When the Leaves Change Colors in the Fall
• Autumn foliage can be breathtakingly beautiful, especially if admired while on the water. Plus I just enjoy the smell, feeling, and temperature of fall.
• Playing the Piano
• This is one of my favorite de-stressing activities at the end of the day.
• My Job
• While incredibly stressful, and I am overworked, under-payed,  unappreciated, and quite often thrown under the bus or verbally abused by children, I love my job. I love working with my students, even if they are hooligans! They are my hooligans! We sing songs, read books, dance, discuss, practice our pronunciation, and talk about our cultures. They make me life and teach me so much! I can't imagine doing anything else with my life!
• When Squeaky Curls up and Snuggles Me
• She always prefers to curl up and sleep near my knees. I appreciate this, and I like knowing she is there. In her older age, she stay longer with me, and doesn't get so upset when I move around in the night.
• Crossword Puzzles
• I like to think that this will help me prevent or delay Alzheimer's or make me smarter or something.  While not particularly good at the New York Times Crossword Puzzles, I have a book of them in every room in the house, almost, and one in my car. It is a good way to spend the time with a cup of tea and a cat.
• Going to See Any Kind of Live Performance
• It can be a play, opera, orchestra concert, musical, a magic show, Rick Springfield concert, a couple of banjos - it doesn't matter. I will probably enjoy it.
• Playing Board Games - Especially ones that have to do with words or words play
• Maybe I am super lame, but I love playing board games! My favorites are of course games like Bananagrams, Boggle, or anything that allows me to manipulate words and letters, however I enjoy strategy games such as Othello as well or games that encourage social interaction, such as Curses, Imaginiff, Pictophone, or Fact or Crap.
• Going to the Cabin
• The cabin is a wonderful place. Ideally I would like to have a home in the woods on the water someday. 
• Reading Signs Out Loud
• This is just really fun. When I am in the car alone, I love reading signs aloud. "WANA - mingoooooo!" "Super Soup This Way!" "Demolition Landfill" "We Do Cows!" "Karaoke every Tuesday at 7pm". The sign doesn't always have to be particularly interesting or shocking, but I really enjoy reading them out loud. Sometimes I even do it when I am in the car or walking with someone else. Occasionally I will even stop mid-sentence or interrupt a friend to read a sign out loud. This odd - but I hope charmingly quirky - habit might be contagious, because I have caught some of my friends doing it more recently as well.

*A small sampling of the list in no particular order

Now quick! Take the grocery store survey!

Williams-Sonoma is My Porn

Williams-Sonoma is my porn. I used to wait with bated breath in anticipation of the arrival of the catalog each month. I would pour over each page with lust, first reading the catalog cover to cover. Then I would go back and evaluate what my imaginary (and extraordinarily large) kitchen really needed. Of course that would need to be re-evaluated a couple of times over the next few days. Finally, I would sigh and choose just one or two things that I would love to have in my kitchen. Then I would never buy them, because, let's face it, their beautiful merchandise is a bit on the spendy side.

Now that I no longer receive the catalog in the mail, I pour over their extensive website, oohing and ahhing. On one hand, no one can see the beaten up catalog lying on my coffee table and give me an odd, slightly concerned look, but on the other hand, it is almost more dangerous. On the internet, the website suggests other items I might like. And often it is correct. I would like those items! Another dangerous part of the online perusing is that I now have access to the entire Williams-Sonoma inventory - including their sale items. And unlike the catalog, it is really easy to just click on things and put them in your cart. Once I even clicked "checkout" and gawked at the total, then the total with shipping, before emptying my cart and closing my laptop.

The following are some especially exciting items:

This is a reversible meat tenderizer. You may not know this about me, But I love to tenderize my meat! For years I have been using the back side of an ice cream scoop, while all the while lusting after this beauty. This year I finally broke down and bought a much more affordable, but not nearly as cool meat tenderizer from IKEA. This is still on my wish list.

 

They call this an Ebelskiver pan. Apparently, ebelskivers are filled pancakes, and you can fill them with almost anything imaginable - chocolate, whip cream, apples, caramel, etc. This just looks like way too much fun.

Here is a picture of someone actually making fruit filled ebelskivers using the special pan and tongs. Why get the pan if you aren't going to spend the extra 11 or so dollars on the special ebelskiver tongs?

You can't tell, but I am drooling as I gaze upon this picture. I really want this 10 piece glass bowl set. First of all, I have no little tiny bowls. Second of all, the one small, green, plastic mixing bowl I have from the dollar spot at Target that has a slight indentation where someone (not me this time!) put a hot pan up against it is just not cutting it. What if I want to mix two things at once? Or what if I want to make a normal sized batch of cookies? Right now, that is just too bad. But imagine what I could do with these 10 glass bowls......

 This is an insulated tea pot. It keeps up to 6 cups of tea warm at a time. I could just bring the tea pot into the living room with me, and sip away at my tea all afternoon. I could go hours without having to get up and go to the kitchen to reheat the water! Imagine the convenience!

 This is just about one of the most amazing things ever. This is the 11 piece Le Creuset bakware set in the color "flame" (or in normal people talk - "orange"). Never mind that these pots are super heavy and I am a weakling. Once there is food in them, I am sure I will never have to move them from one place to the other. Or I could just get my imaginary, devoted boyfriend who looks amazing in flannel to move these once I start cooking. He won't mind. And sure, I have no where to store this set, but remember, this goes in my IMAGINARY kitchen. That is where my imaginary boyfriend is anyway. As for the absolutely ludicrous $1,310.00 price tag, don't worry about it. My imaginary, devoted, amazing boyfriend who looks fantastic in flannel just happens to be a young, successful, brain surgeon.

These pancake molds make pancakes shaped like the moon, the sun, and Saturn if they all had happy, smiling faces. Need I say more?

Ignore the fact that I have a folding table that is actually supposed to go outside, and pretend that I have a beautiful dining room with a large dining room table where I frequently entertain and my guests eat food I cooked in my orange Le Creuset bakeware. Wouldn't this tablecloth look great?

All this and more keep me entertained at the Williams-Sonoma website. I probably spend about an hour a week looking, admiring, and lusting over their gorgeous merchandise. In other news, last time I was up in the Twin Cities, I stopped by the store and got the Halloween pancake molds on clearance! That was very exciting. I don't see why one can't eat bat shaped pancakes all year round. I may get clever next fall and try to make pumpkin pancakes in the shape of a pumpkin.

I also signed up with my new address to start receiving the catalog in the mail. I can't wait!

Reminder: Don't forget to take the "Jane Austen Character Quiz" in the top right-hand corner of  my blog!

I've got a case of the Old-Timer's disease.

Alright. It is official. I am old. This is unfortunate because I am chronologically, age-wise, not that old. The number that represents my age is not that big, and the year of my birth was not that long ago, and yet I am old.

The other day I was sitting at home alone, enjoying the lights on the Christmas tree. I had a crocheted blanket in my lap, with a cat on top. The cat was keeping me nice and warm and I sipped my tea with honey and worked on a knitting project. This is because I am an old lady.

Yesterday I curled up on the couch with a good crossword puzzle, my cat, and a cup of tea. Sometimes I talk to myself or the cat. And I felt a strong sense of accomplishment when I finished that New York Times crossword puzzle. I really crushed that one!

Do you know why my cat thinks she is a person? It is because I talk to her like she is one. I am pretty convinced that Squeaky can understand what I am saying, and what is more, I am pretty convinced I can tell what she is saying every once and a while. Am I sounding more and more like an old lady to you?

People my age around here apparently hang out at sports bars. Bah! Those places are noisy and overstimulating! And I dress to practically to ever get hit on. If it is snowing, I wear my snow boots. If it is cold, I wear a winter jacket. Also, I wear a sweater or longsleeve shirt. I am not going to go around in the snow wearing high heeled sandals and a mini skirt with no tights! How am I sounding now?

Tonight I attended a live accordion performance. Granted, it is because I volunteer with some old people once a week, and the concert was for them, but I think I enjoyed it just as much as they did. I sang along with "Roll Out the Barrel" and "Bye, Bye Blackbird" (Yes! I know the words to those songs!). Usually I read to them, chat, and we do trivia, but this live accordion performance was a nice change of pace.

You can see why I am beginning to worry. Why do I have the behaviors of someone more than twice my age? I am nowhere near retirement!

Hold on. I have to go take care of something.....

"Damn kids! Get off my lawn!"

Luckily I am still young enough to think this is funny:










That never happened! I was not seduced by a french man!