Melissa’s Cozy Teacup

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

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It’s time to celebrate! Dig out your good stuff. You know, the things you tuck away and save for ’special occasions’. Personally, I think we should all use those things everyday that we tuck away and never use because we are always waiting for the special occasion that never comes telling ourselves we are too busy to entertain. I imagine entire neighborhoods filled with homes whose china hutches and linen closets are packed with items that are never used. Break out your good stuff people and let’s get to work.

If, however, you do not have closets and drawers full of unused items waiting to be put into service or your drawers and cabinets are full of mismatched items, and you are reluctant about inviting people over because you don’t have enough matching dishes, you can do several things to remedy the situation. The dollar store has clear glass dishes. You can either flesh out the dishes you already have with a few extra from the dollar store by mixing them in with the others to blend them together, or, you can buy an entire new set of clear glass dishes and use them for every occasion, changing out the table decorations to match the season in which you’re entertaining. You may also mix and match your present collection of dinnerware as I have done here in this photo. The dishes are a combination of my grandmother Hagemeir’s dishes(the small roses) and dishes I found at a local thrift store (the large roses). On the side, you can see a crystal sugar bowl and creamer. Neither set of dishes has a complete cream and sugar set so I used the crystal set (from Princess House I’ve had for years) to complete the table scape. Are you on good terms with one or more of your neighbors? You may try asking her if you could borrow some of what you need from her (only if you are in very good standing with her) some things to remember about borrowing; you must return the item/s the very next day, clean and in the same or better condition in which you received them. If the item is antique and irreplaceable and you are concerned it may become damaged, do not borrow it. If the item does become damaged whether you forgot and put it into the dish washer and the paint faded, you broke it into a million pieces, or it’s stained beyond redemption, you replace it. You don’t had her the money and say, ’sorry’, you go to the store, buy a new one and profusely apologize for your clumsiness. To say thank you to your neighbor for her gracious behavior in lending you what you needed to pull off your event, invite your neighbor over for a cup of tea and something good to eat on top of the thank you note you gave to her when you returned the item. A little token (gift) of your appreciation can’t hurt either. You could send home a plate of cookies with her that you baked for the rest of her family to enjoy.

If you’re new to the area and haven’t made such close neighborly connections, open up the phone book or go on-line and look for the nearest party planner rental place. These can be life savers if you don’t want to buy extra plates, napkins or certain decorations. A quick call later, and you can either pick up, or have delivered to you, what you need to complete your table scape.

Plan out how you want your table to look ahead of time. Do a practice run. Set everything up exactly how you want it to look, then take a picture of it for two reasons;1. The day of the event you will be focused on other things. You may not remember how the table looked and with the picture, you can delegate the job of setting the table to someone else. They will know exactly how you want everything to look and you don’t have to waste valuable time showing them what to do. 2. File it away to use for another event. You’ll not only have it as a guide but you will have a keepsake of how pretty your table looked.

Remember, no matter how you choose to decorate your table, entertaining is about people. All the little extras you do make it that much more enjoyable for everyone (and hopefully yourself) but don’t focus on what you do or don’t have on the table, focus on who is sitting around it. Tomorrow, I will discuss seating arrangements. Seating arrangements can make or break a dinner party.
Please use the comments or my email to ask me any questions you may have about entertaining. I’m happy to answer them for you.

Happy sipping!

I know, that in this time of uncertainty and turmoil, we find ourselves drawn inward in order to find what we had previously been looking for outward, in the world. When food, clothes, cars, ’stuff’ cannot bring us happiness nor give us a sense of fulfillment and purpose, we start to seek it elsewhere. If you are looking for ways to discover and develop your purpose, try, in addition to reading your bible, ‘The Purpose Driven Life’, by Rick Warren, or ‘Conversations on Purpose for ‘women’, by Katie Brazelton.

These books focus on the Creator, not creation. I am bringing this up because of the newest book to have made Oprah’s book club. ‘A New Earth’, by Eckhart Tolle.

Yes, I post about tea, and the way my sister’s dog’s feet smell, but that doesn’t mean I take life and spiritual matters lightly, and neither should you.

I went to Amazon.com and started reading the excerpt for ‘A New Earth’. My there certainly is a good deal of type dedicated to flowers in the first few pages, isn’t there? I love flowers, too. Flowers amaze me. Why? Well, God could have created a world where there were no flowers, or only one kind of flower, or a world with no plant life at all and the air could just be filtered with ugly metal machines. But He didn’t. He made the earth full of bright color and living things, for our enjoyment. Yes, it all is intricately woven together to function in a complicated manner. Perfectly so that we have exactly what we need to survive. Isn’t He good? He also gave us more than basic survival gear, He gave us beauty.

The bible says God gave us creation and all its marvels as proof He exists. ‘A New Earth’, focuses on evolution and even in the first pages give vague and unbelievable theories on how things just happened to happen.

‘One day, however, a critical threshold was reached, and suddenly there would have been an explosion of color and scent all over the planet-if a perceiving consciousness had been there to witness it.’

Excuse me? Is he really going to the old ‘if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it does it make a noise?’ argument? Is he saying that if no one was there to witness it it probably didn’t happen? ‘There would have been- if…there to witness it.’ Well, Mr. Tolle it did, and there was.

When creation was created, there was a ‘perceiving consciousness’ there to witness it, God, then Adam and His finale’, Eve.

In his book, Tolle also compares Jesus and Buddha side by side as if Buddha can even be in the same category as Jesus, which he can’t. There really is a difference.

Recommended reading: ‘So, What’s the Difference?’ by Fritz Ridenour

‘Captivating:Unveiling the Mysteries of a Woman’s Soul’ by John and Staci Eldredge, just because it is so good.

‘The purpose Driven Life: What on earth Am I here for?’ by Rick Warren btw, yes that is a preposition at the end of his title sentence and it still became a best seller. It must have some good stuff in it worth reading, eh?

Just about anything by C.S. Lewis. Last, but not least, your bible. Everyday. Fill up on the word, and the garbage can’t get into your head.

It all started on Friday and didn’t end until late Sunday night. Hubby and I went to a marriage conference at one of the big churches here in the Springs. Ok, THE biggest church here. It was a bit of a nightmare for we introverts. The conference information presented was good, it was just the huge mash of people there that was stressful. Plus, and here we enter into the realm of WTMI so, avert your eyes know and read a little into the next sentence to avoid the TMI. I get gassy when I sit for too long. 6-10 Friday night was way too long. I could have powered the car home with methane, too long. Ok, you may read again. Hubby and I enjoyed the information so much we are planning to do a small home group on it some time after the first of the year. Back again we went Saturday morning from 9-1:30 only now, I had cramps. Yippee! -not. Went home and crashed the rest of the day after stopping at the Elephant Bar Restaurant for lunch, one of my favorite restaurants. Sunday, we went to church service and then back to church for a leadership meeting/potluck at which I became ill. I know I shouldn’t eat pot luck food but I’m curious about other ladies’ recipes. Next time, I’ll take my own Taco Bell but I might have to bring some for our pastor who is a self proclaimed junk food junkie.

Our church is doing some exciting things with groups and leadership. I’m so glad this is a church interested in more than just people coming in and warming up a pew/chair.

Check out my church- Restoration Church 

I have two favorite French blogs I visit everyday. One comes to me and is titled, ‘Paris Breakfasts’ the other is , ‘Tongue in Cheek’. PB is the home of a New York based water color artist who has infected me with her macaron obsession to the point where I broke down and made my own since I cannot find a shop anywhere near me that sells them. TC is the ‘home’ of an American Expat married to a French husband who owns a gorgeous antiques store. From time to time, beautiful French things, old, delicate, can’t find that here, will show up on her site and make me drool. Not good for the key board. I have a new French friend I discovered today upon visiting my friend at the Gracious Hospitality blog. The latest addition to Frenchie passions is…The Inspired Room tmPlease take a moment to visit and leave a comment.