I Have Now Been 17 Twice

Today, I woke up feeling... tired.

We stayed up last night watching Hockey. The Dallas Stars vs. the San Jose Sharks. Turned out that they played into FOUR (count 'em...4! That is two whole games plus another overtime!) overtime periods, and it went into the record books as the 8th longest game in NHL history. It wasn't over until almost 1:30 am.

I awoke around 9 am, and got my first Happy Birthday phone call by 9:30 am. My mom was the first call. I got lots of emails, and many more phone calls, as well as a text or two. Brightened the day quite nicely.

Roadrunner took me to lunch at Olive Garden. Soup, Salad and Bread Sticks. Yum. DH took me to dinner at Carrabba's. I had the Mezzaluna. It is a cheese and spinach ravioli in a tomato sauce. I got my favorite dessert tonight, the Sonya Chocolate Dream. It is a Kahlua Brownie in a layered stack with creamy fluff, and topped with a Chocolate Kahlua sauce. Are you hungry yet?

I have been living my boring little life to the fullest today. I bought a few new shirts tonight. I got to watch my two favorite shows on TV (DH recorded them while we were out to dinner and shopping).

Tomorrow, I will be going with Roadrunner and her kids to the OKC Zoo. Their school takes an annual trip, and they need all the adults they can find to help supervise. We will have her older son and two of his friends, and the younger son and one of his friends. We may get one or two more kids, depending on need. I hope to take a few pictures, and I hope seriously that I do not get a sunburn.

On a more serious note, I would like to request prayers from all of you for my friend's father. Pop had a heart attack 10 years ago, and it resulted in a bypass surgery that he barely survived. He has been living well, and even though his body is 10 years older and 10 years weaker, it isn't all bad news. There have already been tests during this stay in the hospital, and there will be more discussion with the doctors on Tuesday. I guess putting a stint in is out of the question, and they don't want to try another bypass, for the fear that he won't live through it this time.

My friend is almost a sister, and these might as well have been my parents for a few years. Pop is very special to me. While he is mentally and willfully strong, his body is getting old and failing him. Please pray that Pop gets the proper treatment for his heart, and that the family can have strength.

Thank you. I will keep you updated as I get word on what is happening. I love that I can come to my Family for my heart-aches. You all do me good.

All in all, it has been a good birthday. I don't mind yet telling people that I am 34. It is funny to me how people think I will be offended when they guess that I am 26. Ha! Thank you, clueless people. I LOVE being thought to be younger.... as long as I am still in the 20's, that is. I have also been thought to be older ("But I thought you were closer to MY age...!"), and that is OK too. I am thoroughly an adult now. I like being mature enough to pull off being 37. I am not mistaken for being 16 at Youth functions anymore. That is nice, in it's own way.

For the math geek inside me (who isn't really all that great at math, but enjoys looking at the pretty numbers), I am now on my fourth turn at being 8 and a half! (You know how that half is so very important to children.)

I share my birthday with Uda (Japanese Emperor - 867... this is the reason today is a Japanese Children's Day), Tammy Wynette (Country Singer - 1942), Michael Palin (Monty Python Actor - 1943), Shawn Drover (Drummer for Megadeth - 1966), Tina Yothers (Actress - 1973), and Seji Ara (Japanese Racing Driver - 1974... I picked this one because it was the only one who actually shared my year, too.).

Wikipedia (I know) lists that four Kings have died on this day. Notably, an inventor died last year on my Birthday. Sad day for some.

Today is a Mexican holiday, though not celebrated Nationally by obligatory federal law. It is to commemorate the Battle of Puebla, where the Mexicans defeated the French. It was a significant battle leading to the Mexican Independence, which is really celebrated in November. {Edit: First Nicki Friend corrected me. November is wrong, the correct answer is September 16. Sorry. I was typing too fast, and not thinking. That is all.} Oh, I think I want to make a dress (this is a link to the permissions for this picture) for next year! These are so colorful!



A very merry UN-Birthday to you!

Little Things From The Back Of The Brain

Inspired by Jan's Thursday Thirteen this week... I give you a little Friday Five.

Memorable Things My Mother Said To Me:

1. Don't look at me in that tone of voice!

2. Hide and watch.

3. Because I said so!

4. You may want horns, but you'll die butt-headed. (She got this from a friend.)

5. Jo... MICHELLE! (Brother's name was "Miche.... JON!")

Tea For Two... Um... Five

Edit: This is my 100th post. I didn't even notice. That is too funny.

On Monday, Niki, DH and I, Max and Zoe went to the Celestial Seasonings factory in Boulder. We would have taken Pete too, but he was too young; they wouldn't have let him go on the tour. He got to enjoy some one-on-one time with his dad. Here are Max and Zoe with the Sleepytime Bear.

When you get out of your car, the air around the factory smells just heavenly. It is a combination of many flavors of tea; sweet and floral and spicy all at once. Step into the lobby, where you can read about the history of tea, see the artwork for each variety, see teapots designed like the artwork, and taste any tea you would like to try. This room has another tea aroma. This is a teapot designed like the artwork for the Tension Tamer Tea.

The tour through the factory was so much fun. They made us all wear hair nets, and for DH, they provided a face net. No stray hairs allowed, because you really do not want that in your tea. We got free samples of the tea (4 teabags of Black Cherry Berry) as a pass for the tour, and we got to keep our hair nets.

The instructions at the end of the historical video tell you not to take pictures in the factory. It is stated again before you get through the door into the tour. There was a lady that didn't listen, and thought she could get away with taking a picture of the shaking boxes that sift ingredients. A factory worker came out, and made her delete all the pictures she had taken. Our tour guide was a young lady with a very quick sense of humor. “She must be from Lipton.”

We saw the Tea Room. This is where they store much of the tea leaves as they first come into the plant. They have huge containers full of White, Green and Black tea leaves as well as Rooibos (which is not a tea leaf, but another kind of plant from Africa). My house is smaller than this room. It was tremendous.

We saw the Mint Room. It is a huge storage locker with a really tall garage door. When they open the door, the smell can hit you like a wall. Be careful stepping inside. Peppermint and Spearmint are in the air, and you can taste it if you stick your tongue out. Stay too long, and your eyes will burn, almost as bad as when you chop an onion.

Then we got to watch the machines pack and seal and stack the tea boxes. It reminds me of the soda machine working to fill the Dr. Pepper bottles, that we saw evidence of in Dublin, TX. It is an amazing process. Seal the tea mix into little paper envelopes, seal the envelopes in a wax parchment bag, seal the bag in a thin cardboard box, seal the box in plastic wrap, seal the boxes in thick cardboard shipping boxes, set those on a palate. Watch the whole process take just a few minutes. Modern miracles.

After the tour, we went back to the front Lobby and got to taste teas for free. I tried a few teas. This is HUGE for me, because I don't really like tea. I figure now that it was much like beer. I can't stand the smell of beer. But, just maybe, the issue is that I have only smelled/tasted Bad Beer. Maybe, just maybe, the issue is that I have not yet had tea sweetened properly. I tasted a tea that was brewed and then iced. It was sweetened with Sugar (as opposed to honey or aspartame) and it was the fruity sweet taste I expected. My favorite was the Acai Mango Zinger. I even bought a box of it from the store.

We went shopping in the gift shop after the tasting. Oh, I spent way too much money, but that is what vacations are for, right? How many times will I get to go back there? We got mugs that have letters and words on them, licensed by Scrabble. We came back to our favorite coffee shop and played in a Scrabble tournament, and we had the mugs to help everyone. It was very fun.

I love buying tea, and I use the ones I don't like to drink for a mini crock pot of potpourri. I love the smell of tea steeping, and coffee percolating. But, it takes a phenomenal amount of sugar to get either to a point where I can feel good about drinking it. I have always enjoyed the Celestial Seasonings brand in my crock of good smells. This is the first tea ever to cross my lips with pleasure. Here are the prints of the Bear Feet that are outside the Lobby.

After this, we drove back to Niki's house. Niki and I were fading. It was a long day, after staying awake so late into the night. I don't know how Niki fared the rest of the day, but I took a nap while DH drove South. Stay tuned for more vacation adventures!