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COCONUT OIL IS GOOD FOR YOU!!!
Posted by Melissa at 8:57 am in Misc.

Don’t believe the hype. Realize there are ‘food wars’ out there. Just like any other business, agriculture is driven by supply and demand which is why coconut oil’s good name has been slandered.

http://www.coconutoil.com/

This website has some great information about coconut oil and it’s health benefits.

Here are some more :

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/dietweightloss/a/coconutoil.htm

http://www.mercola.com/forms/coconut_oil.htm

Let’s all start to read more and think more for ourselves without blindly following the media hype.

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Ladies of Integrity
Posted by Melissa at 8:41 am in Tea

I currently attend the Integrity Cowboy Church. Some may immediately stereo type the parishioners based on the title of the church (an etiquette no-no by the way). I have had many people ask me if I HAVE to wear a cowboy hat to church because it is a cowboy church. No, and you don’t even have to be a cowboy to attend. Many of the people who attend cowboy church are engineers or wives of engineers. Yes, there are some real cowboys and we do have rodeos and buck outs, but while not everyone is a cowboy, everyone is welcomed.

On Saturday, I co-hostessed an afternoon tea for the Ladies of Integrity, the women’s group at the church. The age group of attendees ranged from 20-70. There were about 10 ladies that came. When the idea of bringing people together through tea first started forming in my mind, this is what I envisioned. Ladies of different ages and cultural back grounds coming together to get to know each other better and to form meaningful and hopefully lasting relationships. It brought tears to my eyes to see this vision come to life if such a wonderful and unexpected way.

I am hoping that the seeds have now been planted within the church so that I can bringing this way of connecting to other people and their groups.

I’m looking forward to working with you and your group. Please contact me and let me know how you or your group needs to connect.

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What IS it about tea?
Posted by Melissa at 9:13 am in Tea

My husband and I come home from our trip to the grocery store. I quickly put away the foods that need to be refrigerated and reach for my reward. My fingers wrap around the small rectangular box causing the cellophane wrapping to make it’s familiar crinkling sound. As I rip open the flimsy plastic shell, I catch the first tantalizing whiff of leaves inside. Once the plastic is completely removed, I open the box of carefully wrapped tea bags nestled in their foil bags, neatly tucked in like children in a bed. I deeply inhale the exotic aroma and imagine misty hills in far off places and sun baked people in colorful fabrics. Places where I long to go and people I would like to meet.

People I have never met have tenderly picked the now withered leaves that rest inside this tiny box.

I think it is amazing that tea used to cost about $100.00 when it was first brought over to America (about $2000.00 by today’s exchange rate-give or take). Today, you can have your own little box of this exotic beverage for less than $4.00. Incredible! A beverage that used to belong exclusively to the very rich is now available to anyone who walks into the grocery store.

Back in the day, oh say a couple of hundred years or so, tea was so expensive and so highly sought after that servants would dry the tea leaves used by the ladies they served and sell them to be reused later by someone unable to purchase them at full cost. When even that proved to be too expensive for some, there was always the black market tea infused with dirt and sheep dung. Mmmm, tasty.

Now, tea seems to be everywhere and in a wide variety of flavors too. If it has been a while since you have shaken things up in your tea cup, why not try something different today? All it would take to experience something new is a quick trip to the store. Who knows, you may just end up dreaming of far away places and who knows where that would lead?

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Melissa’s Cozy Teacup