Sunday, November 29, 2009

ALL THINGS TEA


I have always been a tea drinker, however, have not ventured far from the standard orange pekoe teabags. I started drinking the Celestial Seasonings flavored teas, which are quite tasty. I was never a fan of mint tea but read on someones blog (I think it was over at Life, Health Fitness) to add some hot chocolate mix to mint tea., and let me tell you I was pleasantly surprised.

My new favorite thing!!
I have been on the lookout for loose tea for awhile, but wasn't having much luck around town. So when I was at Tweed and Hickory looking for some K-Cups for my Keurig coffee maker ( I love my flavored coffee too) I was excited to find they sell loose tea. Then came the hard part.. deciding what flavor to buy. I decided on Vanilla Cream and I have to say it was a good choice.
A friend of mine was out shopping and came across a kiosk at the mall for "The Tea Brewery", that was selling various flavoured loose teas. She purchased the Nova Scotia Blue.... yummy. If you like blueberry you will love this tea. The next day I was off to find me some more yummy flavours. I scored some at Sunnyside Mall. My favorite so far is Rum Truffle Rooibos..It is delish!! The others I brought home were Maple Fundy, Ginger Snap Rooibos, and Caramel Crunch Rooibos. I can't wait to give them a try. The great thing about it is they have $2 sample packs that you can buy so you don't have a big bag of tea you don't like. The Rooibos tea is caffeine free, a bonus there. I took this excerpt from Wikipedia


Nutritional and health benefits
Rooibos is becoming more popular in Western countries particularly among health-conscious consumers, due to its high level of
antioxidants such as aspalathin [5] and nothofagin, its lack of caffeine, and its low tannin levels compared to fully oxidized black tea or unoxidized green tea leaves. Rooibos also contains a number of phenolic compounds, including flavanols, flavones, flavanones, and dihydrochalcones.[6]
Rooibos is purported to assist with nervous tension, allergies and digestive problems.


The Tea Brewery is a local company from Mahone Bay, NS. I've been to Mahone Bay a number of times and didn't know it was there. You can visit their website for a price list and information to place an order http://www.teabrewery.com/. You can find their kiosks at various malls until Christmas. I know they are in Sunnyside Mall in Bedford, and Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth.


I think I'm going to brew myself a cuppa Rum Truffle now.

Jackie

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Breathing a Sigh of Relief

I guess I haven't gotten off to a very good start with this blog, since it has been over a month since I last posted. We'll see if I can put in a little more effort.

So the last few days were not good to say the least. One of our fur children, our 13 year old golden retriever was not doing well. It all started with a little limp Wednesday night. We didn't think too much of it since he is 13 and has had a limp off and on before but it never lasts. Anyway Thursday morning he struggled to get up so hubby helped him up but he wouldn't walk. He did eat his breakfast and we took him outside to do his stuff, but he still wouldn't walk. We had to go to work, so asked the neighbor to watch him. Through the day she called hubbie and said "he was breaking her heart". He wouldn't get up for her. We couldn't get an appointment at our vet until Friday. Upon my return home from work, he seemed quite a bit better, he got up for me was walking around, he still had a limp, but was up and around so we thought he was on the mend.

Then Thursday morning came. He wouldn't get up again. Hubby got him up and he tried to walk, but had no control and was falling over. We were beside ourselves, it was heartbreaking to see him like that. I took the day off work to stay home with him, (I'm sure I'll get grief about that on Monday), and we were taking him to the vet in the afternoon.

I think both of us cried all the way to the vet thinking we were going to get bad news and might not be able to bring our beloved pup home.

Thankfully, that was not the case. Turns out his muscles are in spasm and this is effecting his nerves, so he was prescribed Robaxacet and massage therapy. Yes you read that right we have to massage him a few times a day or whenever he will let us. She also suggested acupuncture for him, I'm thinking I might take him with me next week when I go to my acupuncture appointment. Maybe I could get a 2 for one deal.

Our buddy is home, feeling better and that is all that matters.