I am so excited I am about to burst (no I am not pg)

I have started on a new business venture that I am so excited about.

More news to come in the next few days . . .

My husband and I are huge tea drinkers.  I used to be a coffee drinker before kids.  Something happened to my body after having children and it cannot handle caffeine the way it used to.  There is something about the simple act of making tea that I love so much.  It is slow process that makes your body and mind slow down as well.  The process of brewing the tea, then letting it steep, and lastly sitting and enjoying a cup or two.  I find that even in the middle of a busy day it is what I can make for myself and enjoy a few times a day as a way to quiet my mind.  My ritual so far is to have a cup of chamomile or orange tea in the morning with honey, some type of sweet & spicy variety like Good Earth or Celestial Seasonings Belgian Spice.  Then at  night I have a lemon ginger type.   I have always wanted to get into using bulk loose teas.  There is a wonderful company in Vermont called Love & Tea that makes awesome loose teas.  We tried using tea balls but we were never really happy with them.  I had been eyeing some wonderful ceramic tea pots that have a built in tea infuser that sits in the pot.  The concept is you boil the water for your tea in a different pot and then pour the water into this ceramic pot that contains the loose tea, let it steep and then you have a nice little pot to put on the table and serve tea from.

So when trying to decide what to get my husband for Christmas this year I came across one at a local store and thought it would be a perfect gift.  I chose to get one made by Bee House that looked like this




I was very excited about my gift.  I would him some orange tea from Love & Tea to go with it and wrapped it all up.

Chrismas morning came and he gave me my present.  I was suprised beyond belief when I opened it and found that he had also thought of the same idea and bought me a tea pot.  It was a different version.  He chose one made by For Life.  Same color though.  I actually almost got this same one for him  This is the one he got me.





We laughed so hard over this.  How funny.  We were not sure if we should keep them both at first but we have since decided to do so.  The one I got him is a bit smaller.   It holds about 2 mugs where the one he got me holds about 4 so we thought they would both be useful.  So now here we sit, sick as dogs, sipping lovely tea and trying to heal.

happy health to all.  drink more tea.

Here are pictures of my 2nd and 3rd crochet projects.  The red scarf was for my 6 year old and the white neck warmer is for my 2 year old.  I made him a neckwarmer because I thought for the little ones it would be better not to have lots of extra material that could get caught on somtething. 

I also just finished my best piece yet.  A thich dark grey wool blend scarf for my DH.  I will post a pic later.

Being on bed rest this past week with pneumonia drove me crazy. So I decided to finally learn how to crotchet. With a big plastic crotchet hook from my son's weaving kit, some nasty old acrylic yarn I found in my studio, my laptop and a video from Expert Village I taught myself how to crotchet. After making a few pieces that came out a triangles I called my dear friend, the master at Urban-Farmgirl and she set me straight again. Since getting her advice I have been able to keep my stitches straight. Well sort of.

Here is a picture of my scarf in progress. I am officially addicted.

The antibiotics have kicked in and I am finally starting to feel better.  My energy level is shot though and I am spending most of my day in bed still.  I get up and about more around the house now and help DH out more than I could before but I quickly realize when I start to over do it.  I think this will be a long recovery.

Getting pneumonia has taught be that I have recently taken on too many things. Between blogging, my crafting business, taking on a 20hr/wk job at home and raising two kids full time I have over done it. I recently got to a point that I remember too well. Two years ago when I decided to quit my job to stay home I had come to a similar point. It was too much for me. I realized then, and I have been reminded now, that I am the type of person who cannot take on too much. My body reacts badly to stress. I get sick, I breakdown, and I lose myself.

It is unfortunate that I let myself get off track and ended up getting this sick. I will learn from it though and move on. Being on bed rest has already done a lot for me. In the past two weeks I have:
1. Read The Road
2. Read Middlesex3. Started teaching myself to crotchet and I have become a junky
4. In an attempt to stay away from the computer I picked up my journal and have attempted to begin handwriting again. What a concept. I think my hands actually forget how to use a pen.
5. Just started reading You Must Remember This

As I head into a new year I look forward to taking on the following resolutions:

1. Say no more
2. Finish crocheting a scarf
3. Read Eat, Pray, Love
4. Use my yoga punch card from last Christmas
5. Finish my written work for my Childbirth education course by this summer
6. Say no more.