Tea eh?

Well yesterday was excruciatingly long. I ended up not feeling well enough to go to our bible study thing and I stayed home with Cash and Gabe - only they weren't making it a very restful time for me and I probably would've been better off going out. Ah well.
So now it's today and I'm glad it's today because I just want this week over. It started out looking like a super busy week but due to health (or lack thereof) I've had to cancel a bunch of things so now it's just regular busy. But still, I'll be glad when it's over and it's next week. Next week will be better.
When Matt and I were at the Farmer's Market in Edmonton I picked up some Licorice Spice tea and much to my surprise there was no tea in it but instead there were anise seeds and chopped up licorice root. And that's when it hit me - I can make my own teas! So apparently this summer I shall plant lemon grass and try growing tea and a whole bunch of other herbs so I can make my own blends! I see Christmas present potential!! Fortunately Matt and I drink alot of tea so we will be able to do a lot of taste testing. I'm pumped to make a really good chai tea because then I can control the amount of black pepper in it. I really like Chai for the most part but too much black pepper is not favorable. Oregon Chai makes the best liquid chai in my opinion and I always order chai drinks from cafes when I find out that they use Oregon. It's a sweeter chai than most. The only issue with my making teas is the pressure will be on for me to make an Earl Grey blend since that's Matt's absolute favorite tea. The reason that's an issue is that the key flavor in Earl Grey teas comes from the bargamot orange fruit. More specifically, it comes from oils extracted from the skin of this fruit. Now, the fruit is native to Asia, farmed in Italy and I can imagine it will be pretty hard to find in Canada. But, I will try.
Did you hear about the Olympic sale on Ebay? Apparently the Canadian Olympic group is putting everything from the Olympics up for sale on Ebay. What's everything? Well, the hockey puck from the Men's gold medal game, the fabric starting gates for ski events, the canoes from the closing ceremonies... I bet there's gonna be the giant floating moose too. I'm going to check it out just for the fun of it but I doubt there'd be anything I'd want to get (except maybe the moose... and maybe William Shatner if they were selling him. You know, I'd bring him out for parties and stuff... I think he'd be a big hit)
So I haven't mentioned this yet and I'm not sure why... for the past week - maybe a bit more even - a bird keeps flying into our window. Not dead-on at full speed, but he'll actually perch on our window sill and then flutter repeatedly at the window and do that 10 - 12 times before flying away. He does this a couple times a day. I tried describing it to Matt the first day I heard it and then that evening it did it again. At first I thought it was a bat from the fluttering noise but then I could clearly hear him sing and then a couple days later I opened the blinds to see what was going on and there was a cute little Junco sitting on my window sill. That didn't help either - me standing there with the blinds open. He still flew at the window. It's almost as if he really really wants in. There's also been another bird that will tap at our front window while he sits on our icicle christmas lights and it's probably the same one. Crazy bird.
Anyway, I'd best go and save Gabe from his playpen. Evidently, he's done in there.

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)