Melissa’s Cozy Teacup

While at Aunt Barbara's home, she fed us home
made bread from her bread machine and this
wonderful gooseberry preserves from Hero, a
Swiss company. I'm usually a strawberry or
plum kinda gal when it comes to things I like
to spread on bread. Although nothing really beats
Nutella, this new-to-me flavor definitely comes in a
close second.

A Gift of Tea from Me, originally uploaded by Kimberly Shaw Graphics.

To you and I, a teacup may be a vessel for a lovely hot beverage, a dessert cup, even a basin for a flower arrangement, for Kimberly Shaw, they are works of art that adorn her own works of art and appear on the most precious, heart touching stationary and cards, I think, the tea world has ever seen. Each card has a matching tea bag so that the recipient can imbibe in a cuppa while reading your words of congratulations, comfort and/or encouragement.
Why not visit her Flicker site where you can see how she grew from a one woman art/craft project at Christmas time, to a warehouse full of boxes of tea and cards designed and painted by her. I hope this post gives encouragement to someone out there embarking on a journey of turning a passion into a profit.

I met my friend Christine at

I had Aged Earl Grey tea (whatever the aged part means) from Numi and a piece of quiche, not too good. Tasted kind of rubbery and was cold in the middle. Then, when my friend arrived, I had a chocolate chunk scone that was stale. She had a bagel.

It didn’t matter though that the food was only so-so, what mattered was that I was getting to visit with my friend and hear all the wonderful things, God has been doing in her life. If you’ll remember, Christine is the lady who taught me how to paint and in whose cookie tasting panel I had the honor of participating. Well, her cookies are taking off and the orders are coming in! Woohoo! I’m so excited for her! I though that perhaps her success had been over night when I was lamenting to her how slow things have been for me in getting started in what I feel the Lord wants me to do. Come to find out, she was given the cookie idea 5 years ago by the Lord and things are just now going from the ether of a dream to where she is walking in it however new and scary. She say things may have gone faster had she listened more carefully to what the Lord was trying to tell her but she also said she has learned a great deal on her journey. Her most powerful lessons seem, so far, to be in the arena of letting go of perfectionism. How many of us can relate to that? If we wait until all the lights are green before we start our journey, we may never reach our destination. Now, I’m not saying a person should not have a plan. What I am saying is that one must be flexible enough to let go of that plan or change it should the Lord lead one in a different direction.

To contact Christine about he wonderful cookies, you may reach her here

Christine(at)ABakersDozenOnline(dot)com

It looks like her website for her cookie biz may not be up yet. To view pictures of her fabulous cookies, click HERE

The newest edition of Small Town Living is now available HERE. I plan on making a small pot of tea to enjoy while I read. Tell me about some of your favorite and unusual magazines that we would not see on the racks of the book or grocery store.

City Grandma Cup and Saucer, originally uploaded by dancingteacup.

This teacup is from the grand other on my father’s side of the family. She brought a suit case full of china to our house from Buffalo, NY one summer. My sister and I were given the privilege of dividing up the china between us. This is one of three cups fro her I dearly treasure.

My husband and I bought a six pack of canned air the other day, you know, the stuff you spray on your key board to clean it? Well, 3M added a bittering agent to the recipe to ‘discourage inhalant abuse’ that’s not all they’ve discouraged. We are taking back the cans to where we purchased them and will be getting our money back. The bitter smell and taste do not only affect those who try to abuse the product, but also those of us who are using the product is intended. This is called, ‘Nanny State’, and means that corporations are governing people, and how they use their products in order to prevent law suits. I do not need a nanny. I do not need to be punished (and using this product feels like punishment) for the actions of those who never learned to, ‘just say, no’. Using 3M’s new canned air formula leaves a nasty taste in your mouth and lingers in the air long after you are done spraying. Can you imagine a large office of people spraying this product? 3M, I do not need you to Nanny me! Stop punishing your customers for the actions of others!

Here is something interesting I found at Active Christian Media. Why is there a double standard? Why is preferential treatment being given to some religions while Christians are being silenced?

Please visit and learn. Thanks!

To some, it may seem odd and perhaps out of place for me to discuss politics on a tea site, but no, my lovelies, it is quite fitting. The Boston Tea Party, the Suffragists Movement, to name two well known historical political events not to mention political issues discussed by women in sitting rooms, parlors, living rooms and kitchen tables over a cup of tea or coffee before the kids and husband came home. Eventually when women were allowed to, they ventured into tea rooms and coffee houses, bent whispering over hot steaming cups of something good to discuss the issues of the day. In keeping with that noble tradition, I am discussing politics on my tea blog. Here we go!

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Join the Tea Party!

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Ron Paul is a Republican. He is not a Libertarian as the media has erroneously reported on many occasions. Ron Paul wants to support our troops by ending the war. He is a veteran. Just because he opposes the war, does NOT mean he doesn’t support our troops. He does. Ron Paul is against gun control. Ron Paul votes for what he believes in and he cannot be bought. He does not cave to the temptation of lobbyists.

There are many of you out there voting for McCain out of desperation because:1. Your candidate gave up and dropped out-Ron Paul is still in the race, learn more about him and vote for him. 2. You think, erroneously, that McCain is the right man for the job, he is not. McCain votes liberally. If you care about the fate of unborn babies, if you want our boarders closed, if you want the government to stop spying on you (this is illegal and unconstitutional no matter how they try to sugar coat it under the guise of ‘protecting us’), if you want to put an end to benefits for illegal immigrants, if you want the constitution of the United States of America, that many Americans have died protecting, to be up held and adhered to, the you must vote for Ron Paul.

The media have been trying their best to keep you in the dark about Dr. Paul. Make sure you are making an informed decision when you vote in November. Find out more about Dr. Paul by going to his web site. I’ve provided a like to his site above, under the photo. Here is a link to a Ron Paul video. Please take a few minutes to view it so you know who he is and why he should be the next president.

http://www.ronpaul2008.com/

Why, why, why would an introvert like me, concern herself about getting ladies together for tea? I’d much rather be holed up in my house reading about tea, surfing the net looking for tea ideas, reading novels, writing and painting.

Tech Hubby and I started entertaining people as a way to tithe on our wedding gifts. We host a home group every Wednesday in our home. I love having the people over, I hate doing what it takes to get ready for their visit. Because of past woundings, I feel like my house will never look good enough for company even Ty Pennington were to come over and so an extreme makeover. Still I do what God asks me to do. He didn’t ask me to make my house perfect. Or cook a professional meal. He just asked for us to open up our home to others, to not forget to meet together as some are in the habit of doing. To be hospitable. So, we give, of our time, our food and our home, once a week. I also try and get ladies together for tea. It’s been difficult. Everyone is so busy being busy. Our lives are so filled with activity but is that activity producing substance or is it just keeping us/you isolated. Can you give up something to give more of yourself to others? Can you rearrange your schedule to have one day a week, every two weeks or once a month available to those who need face time with you? Or hey, how about this for a twist? maybe someone invited you to join them for some social time. Maybe they saw you needed a breather from the world. What did you say to them? Did you say you couldn’t because you were to busy?

Why not let this be the year you open your door and heart to someone who needs a friend, needs a prayer, needs you? You really do have more to give than you think. If a grumpy introvert like me can do it, I’m sure you can too. For a little more motivation, here is the sermon Pastor Mike gave yesterday.

LINK

The above link will take you to the church’s website then just scroll down a bit until you see this thing

and click on it. sorry I’m not sophisticated enough to get you there in one click. You can try clicking on the listen now box and see if it works though it didn’t for me. Could just be my system.

If you haven’t done so, please take a moment to fill it out. Thanks! LINK