Yum of the day: minted hot chocolate

To make:

Brew a cup of hot mint tea. I really like Bieglow Mint Medley, a blend of spearmint and peppermint. Any mint will do.

Add 1 serving of hot cocoa mix to mint tea, stir to blend. Top off with a swish of milk if desired. Sip and enjoy.

I look forward to the mercury dipping each year just to enjoy this warm mug o'goodness. It's not as yummy to me in the summertime.

In other, unrelated news, I learned last night why I hate coffee. It smells like skunks to me. Last night, a skunk sprayed down the street and I smelled it in my living room. I kept asking, "is that skunk, or are you making coffee?" I am SO back to being a tea drinker only! Well, maybe tea drinker "mainly". I hate to rule out the possibility of a hot caramel apple cider at Fourbucks.

(insert your name here) who?

It's Autumn. Which means several altogether lovely things: apple picking, pumpkin pie, apple cider, crisp weather, piles of leaves to jump in, sweater weather and the new fall TV lineup. New this season is "Samantha Who?" in which Christina Applegate gets hit by a car, goes into a coma, wakes up and has amnesia. The show follows her character, Sam, as she tries to find out who she was before the accident. Sam learns that she hates who she used to be. It's really a cute and clever show. But anyways...

This week, Sam went back to her job. She discovered that she hates her job and wants to quit. But she can't, because she has bills. But instead of resigning herself to this awful existance (that she had previously thought she could escape out of by quitting, before discovering a pile of credit card debt), she decides that each day is a new beginning. Each day is a new chance to be a better person than she used to. She has a fresh start and a clean slate. She doesn't remember anything about her life before the accident. She can be as nice as she wants, for no reason. She can do really great things for other people. She can start all over again, every day, simply by choosing to do so.

It really challenged my heart anew to keep trying to be better and do better with every day I have. I may not have been bonked on the head, but there are pieces of my history that I'd rather forget. I can't forget them, so I'll improve upon them. We can all benefit from doing the same.

The pinnacle of Mommy Guilt

I started feeling a little post-nasal drop cold thing on Tuesday afternoon. Yesterday, it was a full blown sneezefest.

This morning, Jackson woke up stuffy and sneezing.

Is there any greater guilt than knowing you got your child sick? I think not. I kind of want to use my recalled Infant's Tylenol Cold Drops. For now, I'm sticking with the Hyland's Sniffles and Sneezes tablets.

I feel terrible, and not just because I bought a box of tissues. (Puffs comes now infused with Vicks!) I made my baby sick.

Someone please kill me and put me out of my misery, please.

Colbert '08

I'm not sure how I can continue to campaign for Obama now that Colbert has announced that he's running.

Must. Resist. Writing. In. Colbert.

The Tooth Factory

Moose is teething molars, it seems he's getting them all in at once. There's not a lot of sleeping going on in this house! Ugh.

In other, completely unrelated news, I went to Lush's Hair Party yesterday at Woodfield and had myself caca'd. Here are some things you should know about that:

1) They call it caca because it kind of smells like that.
2) Some of the colors have coffee in it to add brown tones.
3) Coffee can seep into your body transdermally.
4) When you put coffee on your head at 9 pm and can't wash it off for 3 hours, you get a lot into your bloodstream. Also, it leads to a propensity to chair-dance to Elton John's "Benny and the Jets".
5) Public chairdancing to Benny and the Jets makes people point and laugh.

So I had a great time, got totally strung out on caffeine and had to take some Benedryl to get to sleep. And my hair turned out so pretty! It's warm and chestnutty. It's also so shiny and soft. I'm loving the color payoff without the chemical damage. It's not as deep as I'd like it to be so next time I will mix caca brun mama with caca marron mama for a more brownish twinge. I'm assuming the brun has more coffee in it, so I won't be doing this at night any time soon.

I'll post pix later. Off to the hospitable to get some blood drawn.

Damn Straight! *preens*

Here's a funny that I just got on email from the lovely Harriette. She's funny and smart and awesome. I love her!

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I was walking down the street when I was accosted by a particularly dirty and shabby-looking homeless woman who asked me for a couple of dollars for dinner.

I took out my wallet, got out ten dollars and asked, "If I give you this money, will you buy wine with it instead of dinner?"

"No, I had to stop drinking years ago", the homeless woman told me.

"Will you use it to go shopping instead of buying food?" I asked.

"No, I don't waste time shopping," the homeless woman said. "I need to spend all my time trying to stay alive."

"Will you spend this on a beauty salon instead of food?" I asked.

"Are you NUTS !" replied the homeless woman. " I haven't had my hair done in 20 years!"

"Well," I said, "I'm not going to give you the money. Instead, I'm going to take you out for dinner with my husband and me tonight."

The homeless woman was shocked. "Won't your husband be furious with you for doing that? I know I'm dirty, and I probably smell pretty disgusting."

I said, "That's okay. It's important for him to see what a woman looks like after she has given up shopping, hair appointments, and wine."

Mooseapalooza Report

A good time was had by all, and photos have been uploaded to Snapfish (email me for an invite). Here's my favorite of all of the pictures:


Hubby's procuring me an 8 x 10 print of this, we found a beautiful frame for it yesterday after church at Blood Bath & Beyond. I can't wait to hang it!