Tea, Tea, and More Tea

The last several days the wee girlie has been out sick… and I am now fighting it off myself.  I’m close to losing my voice and my throat is super scratchy and sore.  I have a conference to speak at on Saturday though, so I am WILLING myself (and downing a ton of home remedies including a ton of echinacea and tea) to be better.  Being sick, thanks to my wonderful Auntie Risa, meant new tea.

YAY for Auntie Risa!  YAY for her gift of tea!

We love tea.  And for the longest time there wasn’t any place in Saskatoon to get decent tea.  Thankfully there is now though, and along with the store came my Auntie Risa who runs it.  So not only did we finally get great tea locally, but we got my Auntie Risa home too.    So go visit her and get some great tea at Tea Desire in the Center at Circle and 8th.

Rooibos Strawberry Cream

 

Okay, my photos seem determined to post sideways today, and I’m too tired to fix it.  LOL  They were taken with my iPhone and well…  I’m not about to open photoshop to fix them (usually I can flip them from within wordpress and it works, but not today apparently).

Anyway…

Yesterday we brewed up a bunch of Rooibos Strawberry Cream in our bodum press.  The girl was batty for it, and drank several glasses (leaving me only one).  LOL  Today we did up some Honeybush Superstar (which, lets be honest, sounds like the name of a porn star – maybe it should be my drag name).  LMFAO  It smells divine and is sooo soothing on a sore throat.  Seriously, the BEST tea for when you are under the weather.

sick, but enjoying her tea

 

LOL  Okay, that photo worked.  Jeepers.  LMAO

And here’s one last thing for you!  Have a wee one you need to cool the tea off for after steeping?  Grab an ice pop out of the freezer and stir it until it’s at an appropriately warm-only temperature.  It works like a dream and unlike ice cubes doesn’t dilute it. 

ice pop stir stick

 

Enjoy your tea!

How I envy the resiliency of youth

I’ve been out sick the last couple of days.  I’m still sick today, but have a little less cold and flu medicine in my system – which gives me a spank more lucidity.  So figured I should make an attempt to post something through the haze in my head.

One thing I envy children is their resiliency, their ability to bounce back and to just keep going.  Lily-Ann is the one who passed this virus on to me, but did it knock her out?  Heck no.  She had the sniffles, but was determined to just keep on keepin’ on.  Her contagious period occurred while she was out of school on the weekend, and she wasn’t about to miss any of the fun.  She had a runny nose, but was otherwise unaffected.  Me, on the other hand…  I’m a wreck.

I was out cold all of yesterday, stuck in bed, loaded with a plethora of remedies (both home and store bought).  Drippy, sore, cranky, and exhausted.  And today I’m not much better – though trying to make due with a little less of the store bought remedies…  but as soon as I’m done this blog post it’s back under the covers for me.

There isn’t much I envy of children, but that ability to bounce back is truly a remarkable thing…  and it’s not just virus related.  They have an incredible capacity to fight back, to push until they see things righted.  If only we could harness that power – the good we could accomplish.

Ahhh well…  That’s enough musing from me.  My typing skills are getting worse the longer I’m attempting lucidity.  And I’m also beginning to drip on my keyboard – and that’s the kind of lovely image I strive to leave y’all with.

So TTFN.

Keep your friends close, and your netti pots closer. 

Too sick to party? Hope not. :(

I’m afraid that after all of her hard work, kid-kid may just be coming down with something in time for her class’s Valentines Day party.    Today she has a runny nose, and is a little extra wrangy…  Hopefully with lots of fluids and healthy foods we’ll have her on the mend before then.  Poor kid.

On Friday we spend the early afternoon baking and decorating:  cupcakes, of course.  Confetti cupcakes with chocolate icing, and covered in sprinkles, sparkles, and red, white, and pink candy hearts.  We then popped one tray into the freezer and one into the fridge.  We still have to make the cupcake toppers and slide them into their individual bags – but then they’ll be all set.  We’re also planning to do up bookmarks for all of her classmates.  She’s super excited about them, and I know they’ll turn out adorable.  After everything she’ll have put together it would be awful for her to miss out on the festivities.

Damon and I don’t usually exchange anything on Valentines Day.  Instead we buy something for the girl.  After all, we have our anniversary to celebrate one another…  Valentines is about celebrating love, so it only makes sense that we’d celebrate our baby.    And went out shopping yesterday and again today in search of the right gift (while Lily-Ann was having her weekly sleep-over at her Pop Pop and Grams’ place).  I think we’ve got something she’ll absolutely love.  And thanks to an error at the store, we got it for half price – which is what brought it into our price range.  LOL  Gotta love an error (of course, we didn’t realize it was an error until the price came up differently at the register – but Toys R’ Us honored the price marked on the shelf, so YAY).

Even if the girlie ends up out sick, I’ll make sure that her things are delivered to her class, and she’ll still get a present…  but after all her efforts I’d hate for her to miss out on the class party.  Lots of good vibes, healing energy, and white light her way, if you have any to spare, we’d appreciate it.

My poor baby.  Crashed out on top of the comforter…  We didn’t even make it three pages into our current chapter before she was out like a light.

And yes!  She has a fuzzy red heart-shaped pillow (it’s a total coincidence, we didn’t start reading the Goddess Girls books until after she’d had it for several months, she giggles every time we read about Aphrodite’s pillows).

And again, yes.  She’s wearing a frog prince sleeping mask – which I slipped down over her face after I snapped this shot.

And one further yes.  Like any good Canadian kid should have, she’s got on her Toopy and Binoo jamies. 

Poor kid, just wiped right out.

A very long day…

It’s been a very long day…  Mostly because we didn’t get much sleep last night.  It was absolutely freezing here.

The pilot light started going out early in the evening, and while we thought it was odd, we lit it a couple of times and the furnace then kicked in fine.  However, by about 9:00 it went out and stayed out.  We could light it, but within about a minute it would be out again.  Of course, by this point, there was nothing we could do but wait until morning.

Thankfully the girlie was away, sleeping over at her Pop Pop and Grams’ place.  I’d have hated for her to have been here with us.  It was pretty miserable.  It was just too cold to sleep.  I was up until about 6:00 AM, when exhaustion kicked in and I finally crashed.  But even then I was only able to sleep for five or ten minute spans, as the cold would rouse me.

Damon slept pretty well all night, but was up by 7:00, and couldn’t get back to sleep…  because?  You guessed it.  Too cold.  I gave up and got up at about nine.

I have to admit, I’m awfully grateful for Damon some days.  While he may not have a romantic bone in his entire body, he is pretty handy, and good at figuring things out.  After spending a little time online he figured out what the problem was, and we hit the co-op home center.  Twelve dollars later we had heat.

So, not sleeping will make most any day seem long…  but today was jam packed and would have been long even without our frigid night.  I’m looking forward to sleeping tonight, but am guessing that morning will be here all too soon. 

cough… cough

I’ve had a lingering cough for weeks now.  Just can’t seem to shake it.  And as of tonight?  It’s gotten worse.  I had my cold, not fair that I may end up with another.  I guess that’s what I get for having the wee girlie in school…  all the germs that go with it.  LOL  Oh boy.

cough…  cough…

Totally not cool.

No pictures…  took some…  but don’t feel like uploading just now.

cough…

Got some cute ones of the girlie.

cough…  cough.

cough.

Time to load up on the echinacea again.

Wasn’t coughing all day like this, thankfully.  This just started at about 8 pm.  So was able to make a nice supper (roasted a chicken – with stuffing, carrots, potatoes, and corn).  Will make soup for lunch tomorrow, for which the timing couldn’t be more perfect.  LOL

cough…

night all

cough… cough.

Fight the Flu

People have this notion that it’s cold and flu season during the Winter, because when we go out into the cold we put ourselves at risk.  Not so.  Germs don’t like the cold – that’s why a cold mist humidifier is WAY healthier than a warm mist one.  Winter is cold season, because WE are like the viruses that plague us.

We don’t like the cold.  We huddle together inside.  We are in close confines, bunched together, all Winter long.  Germs love this.  It’s warm inside.  We like it warm, and so do the viruses.

I have a bad cold, and it’s knocked me for a loop.  But I have to admit, I’m glad I’m sick now – because I’d rather be sick now than during Yule and Christmas.  This is why I  didn’t post yesterday.  I crashed pretty early.  LOL

So here’s my survival tip (and yes, I’m taking my own advice).  Knock out the virus by loading up on Echinacea and Vitamin C, stay hydrated, and get plenty of rest.

 

Echinacea

Snowman II – The Remains

Within a couple of days, the girls’ snowmom, snowowl, and snowbaby had been destroyed.  Pushed over, trampled on, and left as nothing but piles and clumps of snow.  Then provided with an ever growing blanket of snow to cover their exposed remains, there is not much left to see.

A snowy blanket to cover the remains of a murdered snow family.

 

And if you can’t see the little piles under the blanket of white, here’s another try from a different angle:

Snowmen No More

Slurpee!

It’s time for a frosty treat! 

Slurpees are something all three of us enjoy on a regular basis.  And to help make this treat a little more eco-friendly we all have reusable cups.  Tonight though it was just DH and I (as the wee girlie is off at a sleepover with her Pop Pop and Grams).  So here are our two reusable cups.  Can you guess which one is his and which is mine? 

His and hers slurpee cups

Frost

Looks like Jack Frost has been busy painting the prairies with his icy brush.  Most everything has a glinting layer of white.  Beautiful, but chilly.

Go Frost Yourself!

 

Just a reminder… the candlelight vigil in remembrance of the lives lost this year due to bullying is tomorrow night.  Please join us at the Vimy Memorial Bandshell in downtown Saskatoon.  We will be there from 7-8.  Bring candles, wear warm clothing, feel free to set up lawn chairs and blankets…  just come.  Please feel welcome to share your own stories, or listen to those of others.  The theme is “it gets better”.

It Snowed!

Initially I planned to write about taking my FoodSafety course.  I have my certificate from the CHEP leadership training, so now only need my FoodSafe certificate in order to lead a Collective Kitchen group.  I took a quick pic of my notebook and some of my notes, and was all set to share.  Then I got home.

Well…  you couldn’t see it downtown (where I am taking the course) but once I was home, you couldn’t miss it.  There was snow.  Albeit a thin layer of it, but it is there.  Shining white like diamonds in the moonlight.  Shimmery, beautiful, new.  Chances are it will be gone by noon tomorrow (thankfully), but that first bit of snow really is a pretty sight.  A little touch of faery magick in the otherwise dreary and dark late Autumnal world. 

So while I’ll be happy to have it melt away, the new snow still puts a touch of magick into an otherwise drab and boring night.

It Snowed!