Swimming for my life

Situation: Somethings hurts.
Tea Time: If you can predict that something is going to hurt, then get the tea prepared beforehand. If you're already in pain, it's probably best to get someone to make it for you.
Tea Type: Soothing. I think, in this instance, a white tea is called for. Something mellow.

Good news - I'm not noticing the pain of the torn/strained muscle/ligament/tendon/whatever in my shoulder! Bad news - it's because my entire shoulder is on fire. I think I figured out how that Icy Hot (in my case, the generic) actually works - it causes so much pain you forget about what hurt before!

(Is it possible to overdose on this stuff? Seriously?)

Tea can also work by taking your mind off pain, but not with more pain. Rather, you concentrate on the soothing nature/rituals of tea to take the edge off things. I'm not sure it can do much for me at this point (burns! it burns!) but I do use it copiously for other minor aches and pains (which are so much more frequent these days...).

Situation: You've settled down with a book, and are getting far more engrossed than you thought you would.
Tea Time: While you're still reading (holding the book in one hand), pop the kettle on and see if you can manage to make the tea while not only holding on to the book, but continuing to read. Note: I am not responsible if you pour boiling water on yourself, which is... I, um, hear... quite painful.
Tea Type: This depends a lot on the book. It has to match the mood and setting, so a humorous book would require a light and lively tea, where a drama would require something bold, and a mellow book would need an equally mellow cuppa. I happened to be reading a book that had mystery, murder, and intrigue, so went with my old favorite, a strong Earl Grey.

I'm a member of a mystery book club at a local library, and I'll be the first to admit the well over half the books we read aren't to my liking. Often, I'm the lone dissenter, but that's okay. I'm picky. I've read a LOT of books, and my taste is fairly... defined. I'm not a book snob, I don't read high literature, but I need something in a book that keeps me interested. An amazing character, a great setting, a plot that pulls you in - something. And while it can be mediocre in areas, if something (writing, dialogue, characterization) is really, really, really awful, I can't read it. So, okay, a little picky.

This month's selection, Bad Things Happen, was very intriguing. And despite starting it yesterday and setting it down for the night (lately, the kiss of death for books, I just never go back to them), I immediately finished it this morning. It's a murder-mystery that mocks the cliches of murder mysteries openly, and then still manages to use them without being annoying. It has interesting and enigmatic characters. And no one is "good" or "bad", not really. They're more realistic in that they all have secrets and I don't think any of them have pure motives. There's a slightly weird little bit at the end I'm going to pretend wasn't there, but it's not important to the storyline. To tell you more is to give too much away, I'll just say that if you like mysteries, this is a good one to pick up.

Along the same vein, I watched a movie today I didn't expect to like. Unknown is a story about 5 guys who wake up in an abandoned warehouse, and have no idea who they are, how they got there, or what is happening. Pretty quickly they realize that some of them must be the bad guys, but who? I can't say more than that, again, without giving away the ending, but... it was good. It almost seemed like it was going to be a bit trite and predictable, and then... it wasn't at all. See it if you like action movies! (Also, with that and finally watching X-Men III, I cross off my alphabet of movie watching from my 101 things in 1001 days list!)

Situation: Tornado sirens are going off.
Tea time: Living in the Midwest I do have a bit of an overly cavalier attitude towards tornado warnings, because we have them all the time, but you really should get to safety when they tell you. Never mind the "tornado" that touched down was weak, and they predicted any others would be F-0 wind speeds (we get straight-line winds stronger than that), it was a block from my house, so I did go to the basement. Luckily, our basement is finished and we have an electric teakettle down there.
Tea type: Darjeeling, because it was the box out on the counter.

Hello, spring! Hello, storms! Hello, tornado warnings!

The weather really is the one drawback to living here, and the main reason I'd really like to move. On the up side, we did get some much-needed rain. On the down side, it all fell in a couple of hours - all 3 1/2 inches of it. That may not be much in places that are used to monsoons, but we don't normally get that here. On the down side, lots of flooding means a fun-filled day at work. Yay!

Situation: It's a weekend morning, and you're up before the rest of the house. All is quiet and calm.
Tea time: With a light breakfast, perhaps some toast. Go down to the kitchen to prepare it, eat the toast while the tea steeps, then bring the tea back up to your favorite curl-up-and-whatever spot.
Tea type: If you're like me, and are going to take this time to read or craft, pick a tea that's good even if it's gone a little cool, as you may not sip it quite quickly enough. Alternatively, if you want a full-blown tea-time, make a pot, slap a cozy over it, and use a very small cup and pour out little bits at a time.

I have never been a morning person. I'm not exactly a late-night person, either, though, as I fade around 2am no matter what. But I'd always been a big fan of sleeping in on the weekends. Even with the dog, who would wake me up in the mornings to go out, I'd still crawl back into bed and sleep until noon. Recently, though, an annoying thing has happened. No matter what time I go to bed (anywhere from 10pm to 3am!) I've been getting up - and staying up - at 9am.

Now, I should explain that I do get up during the week at 6am, to be to work at 7am, but I'm not happy about it. I don't feel awake, and I rush through getting ready and running out the door (because the alarm goes off at 6, I don't always - okay, never - get up right away. Yay, snooze button!) and I don't really feel awake until much later in the day. I have "sleep inertia", I do not properly transition into wakefulness. The first 5-10 minutes I'm awake I'm very confused and disoriented and can convince myself of just about anything to justify "just five more minutes" of sleep. And I've always been like that.

This morning, however, a line was crossed. I woke up at 7am. And stayed up.

I worked very hard to become a morning person all through college and when I started working, and nothing ever did it. If I'm becoming one now, when I've developed a social life and light-night parties (crafting parties, but still!) and have friends that all stay up late... not funny, universe, not funny.

But if I have to have mornings foisted upon me, I will great them with a nice cup of tea and at least get some cross-stitching done!

Situation: National Walk at Work Day falls on the first (and only, in the foreseeable future) 90+ degree day.
Tea Time: If you're smart, before and during the walk. If not, as soon as you stumble back to the car, gasping and with sweat pouring down your body.
Tea Type: Iced, naturally.

I love to walk, especially along the trails out by work. I participate in the Walk at Work event every year, and not just for the free lunch, the Blue Points (redeemable for actual money! Well, gift cards), and the excuse to eek slightly more than an hour out of a lunch break. Not that those aren't reasons enough, obviously, but despite my fluffiness, I enjoy a nice long stroll.

What I do not enjoy, however, is heat. Ever since succumbing to heat exhaustion 15 years (or more) ago, my heat tolerance is very, very low. I take that back. Last year, when the temperature was 110 but with only 10% humidity I was fine. Perfectly fine. But we rarely get that kind of heat here. No, here we get a sauna. I've never used the sauna at the gym, I don't need to. The outdoors works... probably better.

So the usual brisk walk was greatly reduced to a leisurely stroll and I still ended up dripping and exhausted. I did stop and take some pictures along the way, mostly with my Little Visitor Charlie, but a few landscape scenes, as well. I'll post those as soon as I get off my lazy butt and download them from the camera. It's downstairs. Stairs. Ugh. (I've also been on a quest to increase my leg strength by doing squats, yesterday I got up to 45 - I do them by sliding up and down a wall, keeping my back straight and going far enough down that my thighs are parallel to the ground. It's kinda the weenie way, but I felt good when I could out-do my much thinner, fitter friend. This fluff covers a lot of muscle, apparently. But it has left me a little tired...)

(By the way, I have settled on my topic for the 100 things blogging challenge, it's times/places/situations that just cry out for tea, dammit)

Situation: A new traffic light is added to your commute
Tea time: Directly after walking in the door when you get home
Tea type: If you are going back out, something soothing like chamomile. If you are staying in, perhaps some Earl Grey with sugar and a dollop (or two) of brandy

I have spent a lot of time devising the optimum route to and from work. It's a delicate combination of speed paired with a lower-stress environment. Obviously, I want to spend the least amount of time as possible on the road, but I also don't want to decent into madness with every commute. Hence, I avoid the highways, which can be marginally faster but considering I have to merge FIVE TIMES in order to stay on the highway when I get on coming home, it's not worth the stress. Especially because people are complete boobs and won't let you in, despite the fact that I drive an old car and really don't care if you chip my paint, so... I'm coming over. Don't you dare speed up just to cut me off for no reason other than being a jerk! *ahem* As you see, it's best I avoid the highways.

The highways create problems beyond the stress of driving on them - you have to get past them. And on roads that have ramps, this means a ton of traffic lights. You have two choices at this stage: take really back roads through subdivisions, where the low speeds increase commute time and there's probably a school zone or two that adds headaches and stress, or find the one road (yes, ONE) that doesn't have a ramp to the highway, but passes quietly and sedately underneath, with nary a traffic light in sight! I found just such a route, and despite the fact that my 13 mile commute takes me almost 30 minutes, I was pretty happy.

And then last week, a new light started to go up. Coming out of an entrance to a golf course.

Today, the first time it was live, I got a red light. Which caused me to miss the next light, because of course it's not coordinated or anything. That light I had to sit at for a good minute and a half.

That doesn't sound like much. And it probably won't stop me every day, each way. But let's say I hit it red half the time. And lose that minute and a half once a day. In a year, that will be 390 minutes. SIX AND A HALF HOURS. Do you know how many rows of knitting that would be?!

All the more reason we need to move to pneumatic tubes for transport...

{Take the 100 Things challenge!}

I thought about it for a long time. I couldn't decide what I wanted to do... music, movies, crafts... books... recipes... flower pictures... drabbles... Of course, the only thing you had to know is that it wouldn't be serious. As I am not the most serious person (I know, who would have guessed!)

Currently, I'm thinking of going with 100 Fortune Cranes left in the Wold (Cranes Gone Wild!). It's a bit of a cheat, since I've already done like 10 of them, but it would also be something that would require me to get out and about and really do something. I'll think about it for the day, and decide if that's what I'm going for. The only problem is that I'd only do 1-2 a week, so it would be a loooooooooong process. We'll see!