Teacups and Toasters

I haven’t posted here in over a month.  Life has been a dizzy assortment of bizarre, needed, and awful events. Though not all the events fall into all three of those categories.   It’d be nice if every day involved brownies, autumn weather, and seashells, but alas it’s the mid summer and I watch Cookie Monster with Partycake to take my mind off  of other things.

I’m not hiding though. My Bible is filling will little blue slips of torn paper that mark every scripture that God is using to encourage me in the midst of this heat wave. The little blues give me pause to reckon that I must have needed this.

Though I’ve had moments of holding a few breaths to keep down the nausea, I am feeling good about this fight. It’s always hard to do the right thing and it may cost a lot.   Yet, if one never loses anything, they’re probably not trying to gain anything either. My gain isn’t a personal gain, but a gain of awareness for a family that isn’t tied by genetics.

“We also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  Romans 5:3-5

on the new Toy Story Toy Creator, but it sure was fun

Me, as a toy:

S Cop Eh Mommio

My Jeff, as a toy:

J Bop Daddio

Make your own here and even print out a box.

Just in case you’re looking for a great way to vacation in the time frame between August 15- October 2, I wanted to give you a head’s up that Disney opened up their Free Dining  promotion this morning!

If you stay at a Value Resort, you’ll get the Quick Service plan for free, which includes 2 snacks, 2 counter service meals per person per day. For $10/adult and $2/children aged 3-9 per day you can upgrade to the Regular Dining Plan.
Moderate and Deluxe Resorts give you the Regular Dining Plan for free, which includes 1 snack, 1 counter service meal, and 1 table service meal per person per day.

For more information check their site, here.

It’s a great deal and free food makes things pretty relaxing!  There are a wide variety of snacks in all shapes and sizes and lunch/ dinner include entree, dessert, and drink -unless you’re a child in which case you get an appetizer, entree, dessert, and drink.

Oh happy day. Oh goodness.
Once upon a time there was a girl. A happy little girl. She was happy because she had grape Pop Tarts. They were her favorite. Then one day a big, mean, seagull came and took away all the grape Pop Tarts in the Whole Wide World.  Leave it to the seagulls, to a ruin a happiness. (No, really, seagulls are rotten.)

The girl was sad. For a long time. The world was less grapey without grape Pop Tarts. Then one day, long after the little girl had grown up, she was browsing. She was browsing her local Kroger breakfast aisle. And there, as she bent down to pick up the inferior cherry Pop Tarts, she saw them. Her bestest Pop Tart friends. The mythical, grape Pop Tarts! Only they weren’t just grape. They were Wild Grape. They had strange frosting. She bought them anyway.

With a crazy smile, she took them home. Would they be the same? Would they be some wild overly sugary and sour attempt at a past goodness?

Oh happy day. They are just as she remembered.

Your adornment must not be merely external–braiding the hair, and wearing gold jewelry, or putting on dresses;  but let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is precious in the sight of God. 1 Peter 3:3-4

Yesterday was a really good day. It just was. Partycake was exceptionally well behaved. Everything was smooth. Everything had a tinge of sweetness.  And LOST, well, perhaps that was the only downer to the day because it was so short of an episode.  Really, though, I found myself thinking throughout the day that there were certain qualities present that just aren’t always there. Rather, they are, but I’m not.

I’m not at all a fan of self-promotion-feel good- you are your own god books, but I do think the outlook you give to any given day, does help.

Yesterday easily could’ve been mundane. Grocery shopping. Laundry. Cooking. All that jazz. But waking up and giving it a,  let’s do this right, kind of mentality was really worthwhile. I love my family and am trying really hard to have a gentle and quiet spirit, the kind pleasing to God, on a daily basis. This is tough for me, but not as tough as it once was. Having this goal has really strengthened relationships. Quiet doesn’t mean that I let Partycake get away with whatever and that if I disagree with my beloved that I don’t tell him. It just means that I don’t freak and talk crazy smack. I suppose Gentle is the real key word.

Anyways, yesterday was a good day. Today was too. Tomorrow is yet to be seen, but the forecast is nice anyway.

I’ve had a lot of fun trying out the different Wonderland Tea’s and sharing them with you.  After sampling the Mint, Papaya Passion Fruit, Mango, Lemon Honey Chamomile, Jasmine, and Blueberry – I’d have to say that Mint is my number one with Blueberry at a close second. Mint comes in first place because it was great steamy hot and icey cold. Most of them were just better hot.

Remember that all of these are green teas, except for the Lemon Honey Chamomile. It’s herbal.  There are six more teas that I didn’t review, which are black teas. Their hosts and flavors are:

Cheshire Cat: Chai

The Red Queen: Earl Grey

The Cards: Pomegranate

Alice & The Mad Hatter: Mad Tea Party Blend

White Rabbit: English Breakfast

and The King: French Vanilla

You can buy them online at The Disney Store website. Drink me! And perhaps they are still available at the parks. I haven’t been in several months, so I can’t say.  If you’ve tried any of these, I’d love to hear your opinions in the comments!

Here are some close ups of the box:

Now, if only we had some tarts..

“How doth the little crocodile improve his shining tail and pour the waters of the Nile on every golden scale?”

-Lewis Carroll

The Mango tea was not as impressive as the Blueberry tea. Sorry, Caterpillar. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t super. The mango flavor was noticeable, but not overwhelming, which does make it similar to the blueberry concept. However, the fragrance wasn’t particularly exciting. I think reviewing these teas has caused me to require my teas carry a lovely fragrance.

At any rate, the Mango Wonderland Tea won’t cause any identity blunders. You’ll know who U R with, or with out taking a sip.

Ah, sweet blueberries! This tea had a nice mellow flavor. The blueberry was toned down and not at all tart. Fragrant, but not overly sweet, more in the way of blueberry muffin scent. I think this one’s a keeper. I’d buy a box of it all by itself.

The mad March Hare is featured on this box of green tea.  I feel I should mention that all the teas I have reviewed thus far are green teas (except the lemon honey is an herbal tea.) I cannot drink black tea for medical reasons and won’t be able to review those, which is a shame because the Red Queen hosts the Earl Grey box, and the smell of Earl Grey brings back wonderful memories of a little book shop I interned for in college.

At last, we have one more coming up: Mango with our dear Caterpillar who is “exacatically” 3 inches in height.

“Like a tea tray in the sky..”

I thought two posts in one day would be appropriate, since I got a little behind.  I really do like chamomile tea. I love the taste and the fragrance. Lemon and honey are of course a good natural weapon when combating a cold. The rest of my family has one. So, I thought I’d drink this too, for good measure.  It was indeed enjoyable for the most part, but did have a bitter aftertaste. The lemon was the dominate flavor. However, I added 1/2 tsp of honey and about the same amount of white sugar. That seemed to help a bit.  If you’ve got a cold, this is a nice choice and it’s sure to warm up your vocal chords. You’ll be singing, “twinkle twinkle little bat,” in no time.

(Love that door mouse.)

My apologies for taking so long to get on to the next post on Disney’s Wonderland Tea. The Jasmine tea tastes rather like a flower. I’m sure this does not come as a surprise to those of you who have had jasmine teas before. I hadn’t. So this was new and I really did learn a lot of things from the flowers – Like I’d rather smell Jasmine tea than drink it. Oh, it really wasn’t bad, and got progressively better the further I drank.

I’d drink it again, but so far the Mint holds place number 1, for me.