things that made me happy this week

This week has been a pretty good week.  I've felt relatively good all week (thanks to the bijillions of medications I'm taking).  And I finally feel like there is a light at the end of the tunnel and that the end of the tunnel isn't as far away as it felt last week!

These are some of the things that contributed to my yay week:

Ok so this wasn't necessarily a yay thing.  All of a sudden a nice little crack showed up on the screen of my iPhone.  When I say 'showed up' I mean to say mysteriously.  I didn't drop the phone or anything and the strangest part was that the crack was on the inside!  You couldn't feel the crack on the outside glass of the screen.  And where it was situated was directly over the phone icon in that corner making it very difficult to make calls (or choose the letter 'v' when playing Hanging with Friends with my sister).

So Ray called Apple and they said that any crack in the screen voided the warranty and it would cost somewhere around $250 to get a replacement phone.  BOOOOO.

We went over to the Apple store to get someone to take a look at it.  The guy looked at it and said it was a single line crack and was probably a manufacturer's defect (though he'd never seen anything like it) and replaced my phone for free!  Whew!

So here's my yay phone picture!

Notice....no crack!

After the discovery of the sugar free awesome Oreos I didn't really think anything would be as wonderful.  I was wrong.  I've been splurging on Skinny Cow products (which are delicious), but they still contain about 10-12 grams of sugar per serving.  We found these at the grocery store and they only have 3 grams.  I tried one out suspiciously, sure they would taste like iced milk or something horrid like that.  I was wrong.  They're rich and creamy and completely wonderful.  Yay chocolate fudge bars that won't spike my sugar!!

For some reason this week I've been especially infatuated with my Hermione book mark.  I love it.

I realllllly good after dinner glucose level!  Yay!

My friend recently joined up with Wildtree food products so being the awesome friend I am I went to the party, tasted some food and purchased said food.  Apparently, grapeseed oil is fabulous for you.  Even better than olive oil.  So I got some to try and used it for the first time the other night.  I used it on my steaks and to saute the spinach, mushrooms & green beans.  It was so good!  If you can find a Wildtree rep in your area you should tackle them and get some of this stuff.  They have a bunch of different infused oils too (like bacon!), but I really liked this Roasted Garlic one and felt like it would be the most versatile.

And last but not least, my favorite yay thing of the week.  Crystal Light's little drink packet thingys.  I started with Iced Tea with Lemon and enjoyed it.  I also got some Green Tea with Lemon and Honey and I liked it (though not as much as the Ice Tea with Lemon).  Then I tried the Orange one and really liked it so I thought I'd try some other fruit ones.  Today I got Strawberry, Fruit Punch, Pomegranate Lemonade & Pomegranate Cherry.  So far I've tried the Fruit Punch and LOVE IT.  I'm not a big drinker of the plain water.  I will drink it and do, but sometimes I just want something with flavor and since I really shouldn't be drinking soda or fruit juice these are the perfect subs for me.

So there you have it!  Stuff that's made this week a little more sunshiney for me!  Is there anything that's brightened your week??

my little salesgirl

We had our garage sale yesterday.  It went well.  We sold junk.  Mostly Emma’s junk so girl made some cashola.  But the highlight of the day was Emma’s lemonade stand.

She was soooooo excited to set up, but started out somewhat timid.  Ray told her she had to call out, ‘lemonade for sale’ so people noticed her.  Once he gave her the idea, she ran with it and it was DAMN CUTE!  I know she’s my kid and I’m supposed to think she’s cute, but seriously people she was cute.

She spent the night before at my parents’ house and she and my mom made cookies, wrapped them in twos in plastic wrap and she was going to sell those for 50¢.  

Later in the day a guy stopped by to check out our wares and didn’t find anything he was interested in.  He dropped a quarter in Emma’s money box and asked for a lemonade.  She poured him and cup and then also handed him a package of cookies.  She said ‘it comes with cookies too’.  He replied ‘wow!  I feel like I should give you some more money!’ and then he dropped a few more quarters in. 

The kid loves money, don’t get me wrong, but I think she just mainly liked the idea of playing store.

Her first customer of the day.

Showing off her first dollar.

This one came out super blurry, but it was the only one I took of her whole table!  

Doesn’t she look so happy?

So now she’s spending another night at Ba-chan & Ji-chan’s house because she didn’t get in enough crafting time the day before what with all the cookie baking.  She and my mom do crafts together like nobody’s business.  She even has her own sewing machine over there.

Two nights in a row … that’s unheard of around these here parts.  I miss he when she’s just gone for the day.  Ridiculous, I know.  *sigh*

But on a happy note it's Comment Love Day over at FTLOB!  Yay!  Happy CLD everyone!!

tell me if i’m crazy

Well, first of all, I guess paying $20 for sugar is crazy, but bear with me here.

We buy tea at Teavana, a tea store in the mall.  We’ve spent quite a bit of money there over the last few years and continue to shop there despite their pushy, slightly snobby salesclerks & slightly expensive tea.

I make a really delicious iced tea blending a Rooibos & a Herbal Tea and ran out of some the other day so we went out there today to get some more.  It’s about a 20 minute drive, not far, but certainly farther than Safeway.  While there we decided to restock the German Rock Sugar that we also get there.  It’s a three pound container that lasts about a year, give or take.  This time the sugar was packed in Teavana’s large tea tin containers instead of the glass jars that they’ve previously been sold in.  Each had been individually weighed and priced.  There was a price tag on the side that stated the sugar in that container was $23.52.

The salesclerk said that the glass jars had been discontinued by the company and they would probably have new jars  sometime in July.  We mentioned that we already had a jar and he said if we wanted he could pack the sugar in a bag or something or we could bring the jar in and they could refill it for us.  Since we weren’t planning on coming back to the mall for awhile so we just purchased the sugar & teas and went home.

When we got home Ray was putting everything away and looking over the receipt he noticed that they charged us $23.52 for the sugar and an additional $7.00 for the tin.  Not once did either clerk tell us that the tin was a separate charge.  There was no signage on the table with the sugar and no price tag on the tin except for the one that said the sugar was $23.52.

Am I crazy for being pissed about this?  It’s not that we can’t afford $7, but it’s the principle.  I feel like the clerks were getting away with something by not mentioning that the tin was not included with the sugar even though the sugar was IN THE TIN.  Even when he told us that we could bring in our jar and have it refilled he didn’t say anything like ‘then you wouldn’t have to pay for the tin.’

I sent an email to the company just to vent my frustration.  It’s not worth it to drive all the way back to the mall to return the tin, but I just feel like I want someone to say, ‘yes, you’re right, that was wrong.’

So … am I crazy?

project 365, week 18

So behind, so behind!  I think I’m two weeks behind now.  I’ll post the week before today and then I’ll get to last week’s tomorrow.  Hopefully…..

5.2.11 – I call this one ‘Cheater Bokeh’.  I just took a picture of some bokeh on my computer screen.  *tee-hee*

5.3.11 – It looks like wine, comes in a wine bottle, but it’s not wine!  For us preggos.

5.4.11 – This is a picture of my lap desk pillow.  I love it!

5.5.11 – It was such a hot day and Emma and I were in the driveway while she was making her Mother’s Day presents.  Ray had hosed down the driveway and I stepped in the water and took a picture of the footprints before they dried.

5.6.11 – Took Emma for our pre-birthday pedicures.

5.7.11 – The Birthday Girl blowing out her candles.

And there’s the week!

tea time

I love, love tea.  Mostly I alternate between Earl Gray with cream and sugar and a blend of Jasmine Green Tea and Rooibos Tropica from Teavana.  Here’s how you can make my perfect tea.  You’ll need to take a trip to Teavana first and pick up a few things, but it will be sooooooo worth it!

Heat your water to 175°.

The Rooibos Tropica I get from Teavana, the Jasmine we get from an Asian market in San Jose.  This was ridiculously cheap compared to buying it at Teavana and it’s still super good.

Teavana sells German Rock Cane Sugar.  In my opinion it is what makes everything soooooo perfect.

This is the large Perfect Tea Maker.  It makes about 3.5 cups.  It’s much easier than using any other kind of steeper.  Believe me, we’ve tried ‘em all.

Making a cup for both Ray and I it takes 3 scoops of each the Jasmine, the Rooibos & the sugar.

Add the water.

Let it steep for 3 minutes.

The best thing about the Perfect Tea Maker is that you just set it on top of your cup and the liquid comes out straining all by itself!

Now go and enjoy your perfect cup of tea!