October

October Public Service Announcement

blog — Connections in Cranberry photograph

October is not only “Sweater Month”, “Perfect Cup of Tea” time,?and “For God’s Sake Turn on the Heat Already” month, it is also the start of Migraine Season.? For those of you who are no stranger to this phenomenon, I bid you condolences.? For those who are wondering what I’m talking about, consider this a Public Service Announcement.? Your friend, colleague, or random stranger could be suffering from a migraine right now — here’s how you can tell, and what you should do about it.

Headache or Migraine, How to Tell:

1. Ask the person to describe the pain.? If they say “My head hurts”, they have a headache.? If they say “It feels like someone is plunging an ice pick into my eye socket and slowly turning it counter-clockwise”, then it is a Migraine.? In fact, the more graphically they can describe the pain, the worse off they are.

2. If the person carries on like Gollum about how “the light hurts them”, it’s a Migraine.

3. If they are standing in a dark room and they still complain about the light, and you ask why and they explain that it’s the light in their imagination, oh yeah, it’s a doozy.

What you should, and should not, do:

1. DO NOT, under any circumstances, decide that this would be a good night to watch TV or listen to the radio.? They may just summon up the strength to kill you.

2. DO NOT utter the words “oh, I have a headache too” in an attempt to be sympathetic.? They will kill you, but only because that’s what they think you want.

3. DO NOT expect them to cook/ clean/ find things for you for at least 24 hours.

4. DO offer them a hot bath, cup of tea, warm compress and/ or drug of their choice.? DON’T expect them to coherently appreciate this.? Anything other than outright shrieking should be construed as positive — keep on doing what your doing.

5. DO offer to give them a massage.? (hey, it might not help, but it can’t hurt, right?)

…..yours with love and tylenol, C.

The Perfect Cup of Tea

gingery goodness

Today is the Perfect Day for wrapping up in a lap blanket and enjoying the Perfect Cup of Tea.? And not just any old “bag in a cup” will do — I’m here to share my Perfect Recipe.? Those of you who know to run in fear when I say “my” and “recipe” in the same sentence, never fear — this one’s actually good!? While my coffee crush is fairly new, tea & I have been going steady for years.

So here’s whatcha gotta do.

Boil a bunch of water.? Well, not quite boiling.? Just hot enough to make good tea but not hot enough to burn your tongue.? Pour into your favorite comfy mug.? Drop in 3-4 pieces of crystallized ginger, and one round bag of Tetley Green.? The sugar on the ginger will add sweetness, and the Tetley will add a lovely green flavor and keep it from being ginger-water.? (Which is yummy!? But not technically tea.)

Hold the warm mug in your hands for 2-3 minutes.? (It won’t do much for the tea, but it does make your hands nice and toasty.

Drink half of the tea.? Fish out one of the pieces of ginger and eat it.? Put your cup down and forget where you put it.? Retrace your steps.? Find it and put it in the microwave to heat it back up.? Get interrupted by Something Important.? Forget you put it in the microwave.? Go to bed mumbling something about a cup, err… I forget.? Have a dream that you made ginger tea but never drank it.? Wake up craving tea, but can’t find your favorite mug.? ANYWHERE.? Blame your daughter, the cats, your coworker… whoever looks at you crosseyed.? Give up on making tea.? And everything that requires you to boil water.? Stubbornly make soup-in-a-can for dinner.? In the microwave.

Discover a cup of half finished tea.

Happy Birthday Urban Artifaks!!!

birthday_candles

Just because you’re so awesome, you get your own blog post complete with birthday candles :}

Check out her amazing jewelry folks; upcycled from wine bottles from local restaurants…

Things you may not know about Urban:

1. Her favorite word is “funky”.?? Followed by “so awesome”.

2. Her favorite birthday gift so far is a glass grinder that her “he’s not my boyfriend” boyfriend gave her.

3. She started working with glass fragments after experiencing a string of robberies that left her with nothing but pieces.? She decided to make art out of the pieces.

4. She decided at 55 to become a professional photographer, and now she is.

5. Her dream job would involve traveling the world with a camera and blogging about her journeys.

6. She’s a lousy cook.? (I’m not saying that’s where I get it from…)

7. She has 40 years’ experience as a textile artist.? Jewelry is a new obsession.

8. She can convince anyone else of their talents!? But not herself.

9. She is an avid recycler.? And by “recycle” I don’t mean “puts it in a blue bag next to the trash”, I mean finds a way to use it to decorate her house.

Urban, have a wonderful birthday!!? Here’s to many more!

It’s October — Suck it Up and Turn on the Heat Already

Okay, so it’s October.? You knew it was coming (October, that is) and you knew that eventually, say hypothetically sometime in October, it would get Cold.? “Cold” as in “cute little faux sweater” doesn’t cut it anymore.? “Cold” as in wearing clothes under clothes brings your body temp. back up near usable.? “Cold” as in you bribe small animals to come sit on your lap just so can soak up their body hea– I mean, so you can lovingly pet them, because you’re just nice like that.

No, really.

It’s not because you’re such a cheap bastard that you wait to turn that thermostat dial until you absolutely cannot take it any more because you know it means going from a $20 bill to a $100 bill, just for the sake of being able to feel your toes.? No, it’s because you’re froooogle.? And creative.

So here’s what ya gotta do.? Ya gotta make some muffins.? Or a casserole.? (A what?? A casserole.? You know.? Throw veggies & noodles in a dish and bake it.? Call it tetrizzini* or something.? No, not the microwave.? That door. on your stove.? No, that’s your broiler.? nevermind.)

Now my theory is that by baking your dinner, you essentially kill two birds with one stone.? You get to eat, and you get to live.? Thawed-style.? No one says you actually have to eat the dinner.? You just have to bake it in the oven.? (No one says you have to close oven door, either.)

Believe it or not, I used to bake all the time.? Mostly before my daughter was born.**? Haven’t had much time or energy since, what with work and kid and work and homework and work and housework and momtaxi and oh yeah, sleep.? (Sometimes.)? But I do still enjoy it.? Even if I have to resort to muffins-in-a-box instead of light, fluffy powdery flour and spices and fruit muffins.***

The only little teeny problem is that I really am a cheap bastard, and instead of buying the box-o’-muffins, I bought the “bag-a-muffin”, for a savings of approx. 82%.? But instead of making oh, say a dozen muffins or some other normal number, it apparently makes…? five.

really.

So instead of having a warm fuzzy comfort food moment in front of my stove, I dirtied a spatula and a bowl so I could have ten minutes worth of heat and five crappy “banana” muffins.

But you, you my friend, are smarter than that.? You know that in order to stay warm, all you have to do is show up at my door right now and not only will I have resigned to turning on my heat full-blast in protest, but you will also get a free complimentary muffin**** to go with your lap kitty and blanket.

with love and warmth and kitties…

* no, I don’t know how to spell it.? But neither do you : P

** anyone else catch the irony that I was the perfect June Cleaver up to the point of when I actually had a kid?? Me either.? Til just now.

*** those were the days… when you measured cinnamon by how many dozen times you patted the bottom of the shaker jar.

**** limit five