Weekend to Unwind

Alas, some peace and quiet. By myself. Family has left for spring vacation visiting relatives in California and I am at home . . . to relax . . . well sort of.

My 92-year-old Grammy is in the hospital getting a pacemaker. She's been in since Tuesday, so it's been visits to the hospital every day. Fun week. Not really.

So my Mom had I have had a spring break detour of sorts.

Sweet blogger Elysbeth has spent me a wonderful care package of lovely green teas . . . I can't believe she did this in the midst of her move and not even being able to find stuff for herself, like tobasco sauce for her eggs. But to understand that you'd have to read her blog here.

Anyway, thank you so much Elysbeth! And actually caffeine green tea is preferable to me over regular tea. She sent me a sampling of her favorites, including: Melaleuca Herbal (G'Day), Numi Dry Desert Lime Teasan, Raspberry & White decaf tea, lemon & white decaf, Numi Simply Mint Moroccan Herbal Teasan, Orange Ginger Mint, Blackberry Sage decaf, Green Pineapple, Sleep tea, decaf green plum. Honey Vanilla Chamomile. And not to mention "True Lemon" for water and tea. Your kindness is touching. I can't wait to try these.

I read in PREVENTION magazine this week in Dr. Weil's coloumn, that Japanese researchers have found that the health benfits of green tea greatly outweighs that for coffee. Tea, especially green and whit etea, is the source of some of the most powerful antioxidants known. Japanese researchers have found, after an 11 year study, that women who drink at least 5 cups of green tea each day cut their risk of heart disease by about a third.

Another Sanity Saver that I just bought, purchased from Perfect Scents is a lovely Spa Comforts "Shoulder Wrap" (I think you can buy one from www.spacomforts.com) filled with peppermint and lavendar flowers. As this calming shoulder wrap rests on my shoulders and neck, I feel as if the weight of the world is lifted OFF my shoulders. Whew! Lovely.

I've been reading the book, "A Million Little Pieces" by James Frey. I know this is not a new book, it's been out a long time. I'm usually about 2 years behind the "in" book, movie, TV show, etc. But this is really good. In spite of the all controversy and hoopla on the fact that James embellished some things in this book, that doesn't affect my enjoyment of the book one bit. I'm on on page 79, just past his gruesome dental experience, but I'm really caught up in this compelling read. And now, darn it, I've left the book in my eye doctor's office and he's closed for the weekend, so I'll probably go buy it again.

Did I mention that I'm going to Stitches in August? Yah!!! I'm taking a Freeform knitting class from the creative master herself, Valentina Devine. Very exciting. I can't wait. As I've mentioned, I'm also taking a Sally Melville Class on Intarsia on April 15th. I'm looking forward to that too.