Knitting the Blues

They Never Accuse Me Of Having a Rosy Disposition ORLook at Me! Cultivating a Rosy Attitude!

Know me well, or actually barely know me at all, and you know that I am a tea drinker.  While I'm not so much a fan of floral teas, I mean, you can keep and steep your Earl Grey, I will fist fight you for my Dragon Pearl Jasmine.  Oh, I hear you.  You're thinking, "Her!  I could totally take that skinny little thing!"  You think so?  Well, okay you probably could, but you'd have to catch me first!

So, a while ago, when I received a sample of Rose Scented Tea with an order from Harney Teas I was sort of "meh!" about the whole thing.  That little envelope lived in my tea stash and every once in a while I would open it, take a sniff and think, "Ewww, roses!"  The aroma was strong, sent me straight into thoughts of my nana's rose scented soaps and bathroom fresheners, just strong enough so she could smell it and overwhelming enough to encourage the rest of us to hold it until we got home.

Then a couple of weeks ago on my daily rummage through the stash for the day's iced brew I decided to purge something, get it out of the stash for good.  The Rose Scented had to go.  I'd brew it and if it was so bad I'd dump it.  I even brewed a second pitcher of a different tea just in case.  Alright!  A third pot, because I always brew two anyway.

To say I was surprised at the taste would be wrong.  It pretty much tasted just like I thought it would.  The glass approached my nose and I was immediately knocked into a rose garden.  The first sip tasted like roses and I didn't think I liked it.  I didn't hate it.  I was compelled to keep sipping.  And sipping and sipping.  Until I went for another glass and all that was left was the scent of roses in the air.

My next stop?  The Harney website, I love this tea.  It was all I could think about until I replaced it.  In another surprising twist, this tea was truly enhanced by the addition of a little bit of sweetener (Truvia is my sweetener of choice), and if you are familiar with my taste in tea you know that I prefer it neat, hot or iced.  That little bit of sweetness really brought out the flavor of roses. 

So there you have it, my floral shunning, sweet rejecting tea drinking self is converted with this tea.

Eighty-nine.  AAAAAARRRRRGHGH!!!!!!!!  Could you hear my wail today?  After writing this post last night (Wednesday) and setting it to publish, I had a doctor's appointment today and among a bunch of information I got the results of my food allergy/sensitivities test.  This is the one that may be causing some of the main issues I've been having, but certainly causes others like the muscle and joint pain among other immune or allergic reactions.  Turns out that I really do have to go yeast free and I had figured out that strawberries and blueberries were on the list, but on the list of things that I have to at least limit, maybe eliminate, was..........BLACK TEA!!!!!!!  WHAT!? 

Okay, so I actually don't drink all that much black tea and limiting it to once a week or less shouldn't be all that hard, right?  But the Rose Scented tea!  So. Sad.  But, I immediately went on a search and found this and this, this and this. Luckily for me, Harney anticipated my needs and came up with Hot Cinnamon Spice in green and rooibos varieties. There are more changes to be made to my life, hopefully the next two weeks go by without too much discomfort. Onward and upward. Even if less caffeinated.

For a Random Wednesday

This just turned up on the NETA list, so many of you may have seen it.  It is too good not to share though, and while I could have waited until YouTube Saturday, well.  I didn't.  Random of me.

Other randomness?

• We have been subscribers to Blockbuster for a year now and I have had the first season of One Foot In The Grave at the top of my queue the entire time with a status of "very long wait."  Okay. 
• I am taking advantage of a free two week subscription to Netflix, put the same dvd on the top of my queue and had it in two days.  Hmmm...  And it seems the turn around is quicker.
• Having seen only one episode I'm thrilled.  British humor is worth the wait.
• Did I mention I finished the second Outlander book, Dragonfly in Amber?  It was pretty good, not as good as the first, but I never wanted to put it down for good until I finished it.  I still think the author goes a little too far for shock value, but the story is a fun romp.  Who can't use that?
• Now I am listening to The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb.  I am a bit more than half way through, and typical to Lamb's novels, there isn't a whole lot to be happy about.  Then the journals of the main character's great grandmother come to forefront and I am loving this aspect.  I remember that when I was reading She's Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True there was a point about half way through each that I almost put the book down because I hated the main character or something and then there is a turn of some kind that made me want to really finish the book.  I'm glad I kept with it, I hope this book doesn't disappoint.
• I never realized that Amazon has author stores.  Here is Wally's.
• I found a copy of the second issue of The Knitter (their website is not low on the priority list, apparently).  Meh.  I still like it, but am not as impressed as I was with the first issue.  Of course, there is always the Mason-Dixon column, very much worth the price of the magazine, right?  I think the third issue might be out any day now.  I'll be looking for it.
• I've been drinking a lot more oolong tea lately.  It hasn't ever been a tea that I was drawn to, not for any reason, just too taken with other teas.  I love this stuff.  It blends very well with fruits and makes a light, flavored tea.  Yum.  My favorite right now?  Sweet Oolong Revolution by Teavana.
• Have I complained about Teavana here before?  Probably, yes.  You know, I am willing to pay for good tea, especially when I find some that I really like.  Companies like Adagio and Harney are companies that have a wide range of tea qualities and you can pay an average to a huge honkin' lot for a few ounces of tea from either.  Usually, very worth the price.  When the tea arrives, depending on what size you have purchased, it will often arrive in a tin or in the case of large amounts from Harney (I'm talking a pound or so), a pretty respectable bag.  I like the bag, because I have probably ordered it in a tin previously and will deposit some of the pound into the tin for easier scooping. 
• Now, Teavana teas are expensive.  Especially some of their flavored whites, white tea being expensive anyway, but if you look closely at the flavored white teas you might think you aren't getting so much white tea, but an herbal tea with some white tea leaves tossed in.  Still in all, I have my favorites and will continue consuming them when I can afford to. 
• Here is the thing that gets my dander up.  Every time I go to order tea at my local Teavana I get the hard sell to purchase a tin to store my tea in, because even at the high price, you get the tea in a little baggy that is not really appropriate to keep your tea fresh. 
• Did I mention that Adagio and Harney send the tea IN.THE.TIN?  I save those tins to reuse.  A couple collect change, the rest are washed, dried will be used to store teas in again.  Some of them will be Teavana teas.
• When I get the big push from the Teavana tea scooper I always tell them (and yes, I know they are just the employees doing their jobs) that I will never purchase a tin from them, that when I get tea from other wonderful purveyors of leaves they include the tin with the tea at no extra charge and I save those tins and reuse them to keep my Teavana tea fresh.  I just take off the little sticker from the bag they give me and place it on the tin, so I always know what I have. 
• Having noticed the hard-sell on everything in the store by the tea scoopers, I asked one happy young girl if she worked on commission.  Her demeanor changed dramatically and she said, "No, not really."  "Not really?  What does that mean?" and she replied that while she doesn't technically work on commission, they are pressured to reach sales goals and quotas.  That explains the tea scoopers jumping on me every time I go through the door.
• I know, I'm a complainer, but I'll still buy some of their teas.  But Teavana, just so you know.  I won't buy a tin from you.  Ever.
• I couldn't think of a random thing when I started this post, and now I have a million thoughts in my head.  Some of them are of all the things I should be doing right now. 

Forty-three.  Maybe I should throw a random thought in every post.  Maybe with fewer linking things though.  That'll keep 'em coming back!

YouTube Saturday

On on YouTube Saturday last year I had a post featuring some winners and contestants in the Calm-A-Sutra Scholarship competition. When this video showed up on my Google home page I thought it was so cute and had to share another video about the benefits of tea drinking:

That of course led to a Claymation look around YouTube and this one had me crackin up. Those of you with Guitar Hero know exactly what it is like to get in between the guitarist and the television. Ha!

I so wish I had found this one before Christmas, but better late than never. It is really cool.

Ten. I just know I have some Play-Dough around here somewhere.....