Tea Tuesday?

It's been a long time since I had a Tea Tuesday post...mostly since I always have a super busy Tuesday and I don't often schedule my posts. Likely because I'm not very good at planning ahead. I'm sort of a fly by the seat of my pants type of girl. 

 I just had to show you the teacup candles I made. 

Once again, something I've been wanting to do for a long, long time but just never did...until now.

I'm totally in love with them. They turned out perfectly.  

I couldn't have imagined better results! 

Hooray! Love it when something comes out right!

 

Green tea??

This is what I'm drinking this morning instead of tea. It's a recipe I discovered on Pinterest.

I tried it yesterday since I had everything on hand and was so surprised at how good it tasted. You can't taste the spinach at all!!

Here's a link to the recipe.

I'll be swinging by Kimmie's blog later to see what my friends are up today...you should too!

 

Juice anyone?

I'm raising my glass to Kimmie and my Tea Tuesday friends. My glass happens to have juice instead of tea today.

I've come up with my own flavor combo that is pleasing to my taste buds. It did take some trial and error with some pretty nasty glasses of juice to choke down.

I have so much more energy and less cravings for "naughty foods" on days that I juice first thing in the morning...well, second thing.  I have to have a cup of coffee first thing.

Halle's morning power juice:

1 beet
2 carrots
2 stalks celery
1 inch chunk fresh ginger

Organic veggies taste the best but I have made my juices without when I couldn't find what I wanted.



I currently have a Jack LaLanne power juicer but what I really want is a Champion Juicer.  My parents had one when I was a kid. It was avocado green. Yup...it was the 70's.  I drank carrot juice with bee pollen sprinkled on top most mornings.  Hated it then.  I would hold my nose and slam it down.
Funny how our taste buds change over time.


Happy Tuesday everyone!

 

Missing Tea

I never realized that I'd be busy over summer.

Honestly, I don't know where the times goes.

I'm afraid my Tea Tuesday friends from Kimmie's blog may have forgotten about me or worse, thought I forgot about them.

I'm skipping the tea for today and going for a big glass of ice water.

We've had so much rain here. Now high temps and humidity...with more storms due tonight.

My garden is mud...

Luckily the plants aren't seeming to mind.

I've got tomatoes on every plant.

In addition to gardening, I've been "home-schooling" this summer. Trying to keep the kids brains engaged so they can retain the info they've already learned. 

Other craft goodness has been on the agenda as well. 

We just came home from knitting group... 

And I've been sewing as well. 

So I guess when you add up everything going on, it's not to difficult to see where the time went. 

What's keeping you busy this summer?

 

Tea with the birds

As I sip my yummy iced tea (from the bargain bin, $0.75 baby) and make my Target list, 

I hear a curious sound. 

Rustling in the serviceberry tree. 

The Cedar Waxwings have returned....

They come every year to pick it clean. 

I think they are so beautiful. 

What I don't think is so beautiful are the messes they leave everywhere. Apparently those berries go right through them. Sorry...TMI.

Gracie is very entertained. 

What more could a cat want....warm sun to lay in while watching dozens of birds right outside the window.

What are you doing today?

Obviously Target is on my list...as well as stopping by my friends Tea Tuesday blogs.

 

Soup for Tea Tuesday

After working out this morning I was hungry. I didn't want to completely ruin my workout by having a lot to eat.  I made my favorite quick go-to light meal these days. 

Miso soup with tofu. I found this great instant miso. Just 1 TBSP to 1 cup of water. I add some chunks of tofu and it's good to go.

No, I'm not going vegetarian.... I just really enjoy miso with tofu. 

I had my soup then went to knitting where I finished another scarf!

I'll take pictures and share tomorrow. 

I need to get outside and plant the rest of my flowers. 

Plus stop by Kimmies and see what my friends are up to today.

What's keeping you busy today?

 

Garden and treasured tea

It's that busy time of year. 

Getting the garden prepped and planted. 

I started with my herbs that hang along the deck. I was able to over winter both a thyme and a flat leaf parsley this year. Additionally I started seeds early this Spring and picked up a couple small plants at the greenhouse yesterday. 

We love having fresh herbs in our food.

I have 12 tomato plants this year of 4 varieties that I started from seed back in mid-March. 

Six live here... along with some green onions and basil I'm hoping will sprout.

The other six are in the "big garden". They are sharing space with green beans, snow peas, kohlrabi and jalapenos.

I got the fence up immediately this year so  the wildlife wouldn't get any snacks from me.

This morning I saw that one of my book purses was this Etsy treasury.

Just had to share...makes me happy when something I've created is appeciated.

Lots of fun stuff was featured....

Are you gardening this year?

Thanks for stopping by for Tea Tuesday with Kimmie and the gang.

 

Tea with gifts

I was a very fortunate girl this year. 

I received so many unexpected but certainly appreciated birthday gifts. 

The first which was an early gift from my in-laws. Its a floating tea infuser and birdie lemon squeezer.

The floating tea infuser works really slick! 

Cutting the lemon to fit in the birdie was a bit of fussy work but I can't complain about how nicely it squeezed all the juice right into the cup. 

The day before my birthday I opened a sweet little ATC book from my dear friend Elizabeth. 

Here's a link to the post she wrote that has wonderful scans of each page.  

Thanks Elizabeth!!!

  

 
 

My daughter made me this card...

The front said Guess what day it is?

Inside was a nibble of chocolate from her Easter candy stash and a coupon "good for one chore done by Little J" 

How sweet is that.

 

When we got home from shopping and picking up sushi...YUM!....I found this plant on the front step with with a note that said:

" Happy 40 day "  and was not signed.

Lucky for me my neighbor doesn't have a very good poker face, so when I asked if she had any idea who dropped it off, she gave her hubby away.

I also got a double-decker plate of Special K bars from a friend of the family who's know me from birth. I don't have a picture because I knew I had to share the wealth of those very quickly or I'd be spending extra time at Curves working them off my butt. The neighbors teenage boys helped devour them in short order.

Oh yeah and some spending money from my mom. WOO-HOO...who doesn't love cash!

Like I said, I was a very fortunate girl.

What are you doing today? 

I know I'm going to pop over to Kimmie's blog to have some virtual tea with my friends. 

Care to join us??

 

Late afternoon Tea Tuesday

Since I am so late today, I decided to answer Kimmie's, our sweet hostess, question with my post. 

She asked:

what is ever-present in your not so simple life?

off to the edge and not making it into every photo op and blog post?

 

This is the idyllic image I  show...beautiful crab apple blossoms, lovingly gathered by my own hand alongside an anniversary card from my in-laws. 

Lovely, right?

But this is the whole scene....

The seemingly ever present paper pile on the table. It gets moved from place to place but seldom ever fully dealt with. Right now there are dozens coupons, a community ed catalog that I really need to fill out registration forms for, a grocery list and kids school papers that need to be oohed and aahed over.

I like the first picture much better. :)

 

Toddler Tea

Imaginary tea is just as fun as 

the real deal some days...

 

40 Tea Tuesday

My BFF turns the big 4-0 tomorrow. Since she's across the country from me I decided to SPAM her snail mail box this past week. I'm sure she'll get me back next month when I going the club but its all in good fun. Neither of us are freaking out about 40...it just doesn't seem possible. I feel like I'm 20 something. 

I sliced open the side of a water bottle and filled it  with a packet of flowers seeds, a knit dishcloth, crochet scrubbie, a wine cork, confetti, a few fortunes and a note.

The note explained the contents... 

In summary it said:

If I were there I'd give her flowers, instead she'll have to plant her own. 

If I were there I'd help her clean her house, instead she'll have to have her family to do it for her. 

If I were there I'd share a bottle of wine but sorry I drank it.

I also made a series of postcards with little snarky remarks all in jest of course. 

I realize this post doesn't really have anything to do with tea... other than the fact that Sandy and I often have a cup of tea and a chat over the phone. 

Stop by Kimmie's blog to see some "real" tea posts.

 

Mama's little helper tea

You may (or may not) have noticed that I have not posted anything since last Wednesday. 

I had intentions of completing projects but my back had other plans. An ice pack, ibuprofen and my chiropractor have been my friends this past week.

While sitting and icing, I've managed to finish The Help.

I like to read the novel before seeing a movie based on the book.

 And this, otherwise not comfortable, chair my friend. It has a nice firm straight back...something none of our the seating seems to provide. 

It's made of elk antlers and is over 100 yrs old. 

I want to recover it in something more interesting than what is currently on it. 

It was my Grandfather's chair. 

He traded an eye exam and glasses for it with a North Dakota Congressman or Governor in the early 1900's. 

I've heard the story both ways. 

Pretty neat, huh! 

It's definitely a conversation piece!!

The reason for the doll in the chair is to show one project that I did complete.

A tiny knit hat for Rosie.

Well my back has had just about enough sitting in front of the computer.

I'll have to go check out the rest of the Tea Tuesday links over at Kimmie's blog later.

 

Too late for Tea Tuesday

KNOCK, KNOCK...

HELLO... 

Does anyone still care what I have to say and share after all this time. Yikes! 

I've been keeping my screen time at a minimum lately...mostly just enjoying our unseasonably warm weather. I was too late to even have tea today.

I actually have been working on a few projects...none of them ready for viewing.

I did want to share Little J's school project though. She came up with the concept...I just had to help figure out how to make it stand alone.  

 I covered a bowl in wax paper then had her glue row after row of mini-marshmallows. After everything set up for several days I was able to remove the bowl leaving the wax paper intact.

Check out the little fire she thought up as well. Tiny rocks from the sandbox and a synthetic dyed leaf cut into "fire" smooshed into a pool of glue before placing the igloo. 

The photos don't show it but the whole works was sprinkled with a generous coating of iridescent  glitter for that "authentic" snow look.  

I'm sure everyone else has already left their links over at Kimmie's blog long ago. Stop by and see for yourself.