My obsession

I started drinking tea as a habit my sophomore year in college. There was one of those coffeehouse slash café places on campus. It had (has?) comfy chairs and lots of table space, like something you'd see on a sitcom. Mango Ceylon was my drink of choice. Three sugars and a drop of milk. I was quite the regular, visiting at least twice a week for a year. I got married early in my junior year & I stopped going to school (& in turn the coffeehouse slash café) soon after. The Mango Ceylon was no more. Funny thing though, I married a Brit. Brit's are known for their love of tea. Crooked yellow teeth surrounded by puckered lips sipping tea with pinkies in the air. Hmm... got a little carried away with the stereotype. I tease my husband for not really being British anyway. (He's just passed the point of having lived in the States longer than the UK.) So being somewhat British, as he is, he does possess the automatic response of "yes" when offered tea. This has fueled the obsession. He's kept the habit going (now onto British Breakfast and Irish Breakfast) and accelerated it, making me sweat tea. We spur each other on. We've started drinking our tea loose leaf, & somehow I've aquired a collection of teapots. Another interesting phenomenon is the staining of our kitchen sink. You know you're drinking a lot of tea when the house you've been in for 5 months has evidence of the fact. As much as I can tell there is never a bad time to have/offer tea. The last episode of Poirot I watched was the clincher, "I'm sorry for your loss Madame, may I offer you some tea?"

A raging war

My family and I have been up to our eyeballs in a war against germs. Picture each of the four of us as our own country (the allies), our immune systems are our troops, and our adversary - those pesky germs...

Those nasty germs really had their ducks in a row. Organized enough to come at us in waves. The first attack quickly claimed both my husband and Bug. Sweetiepeas (who also occasionally goes by Leigh) and I came next, but not without putting up fights of our own. Defenses consisted of germ killing tissues, frequent hand washings, and the diligence of covering our mouths when we coughed. Our troops rallied. Bug recovered quickly. My husband and I were still under siege, but seemingly achieving the upper-hand. Leigh was able to keep the enemy forces at bay just enough to concede only a stuffy nose. However, our moment of glorious triumph was to be postponed, it was discovered the germs had laid a sneak attack in the form of an ear infection. Leigh's troops were besieged with germs, their edge on the battle slipping. With Mikey and I both slowly recovering, and Bug already well, the germs decided to continually attack where they had a toe hold. The youngest of our troops were hit hard. Antibiotics were sent to the front lines and the ear infection was flushed out. Celebrations for the allies were to be squashed however, since the antibiotic counterattacks were revealed traitorous, producing a nasty case of hives before they exited the battlefield.
Now that the trials for the traitors have ended (earning them sentences of exile) we find Leigh's troops once more under attack. The germs called in their answer to special ops., The Virus. We're hopeful that once again we will be victorious, that once again we will rise up to destroy the foe, that peace will return to allied lands!
...Ok, so I got a little carried away... Well it would at least be nice for us know what it's like to be well in 2005!

Figuring me out

I thought I'd share a bit about myself. Sure, there's the "view my complete profile" button you can link to, to find out my age, birthday, my sign, favorite movies & books etc. Well at least you would be able to find those things out, if I were to finish filling it out. I got stuck just after the questions where engaging your brain is optional, with that I mean, I am 26, I am a Capricorn and I do live in Colorado, no fabrications there... but when it comes to favorite movies, books, and writing a bit about myself, well the old grey matter just doesn't cooperate. So, I thought I'd write a list of things about me(say, 50 things) and hopefully (since I like lists) I could get my brain jogged as to who I am.

I...

1. like lists. I know this has already been mentioned, but since I believe it to be an important factor in getting my brain organized, it's worth mentioning again to start things off.
2. like being organized, but I am also a procrastinator and lazy. (It makes for an interesting combination.)
3. tend to be a perfectionist, but also impatient. (Also an interesting combo.)
4. love to cook, bake, and generally spend time in the kitchen.
5. am also familiar with take out menus, and not afraid to call on delivery people, or my husband and his truck, to supply my family with a hot meal.
6. have been married for 5 years and couldn't possibly imagine life without my soul mate.
7. have a 3 year old son whom I affectionately call "Bug."
8. have a 7 month old daughter with the special nicknames of "Munchiekins" and "Sweetie Peas"
9. have two older brothers who have all sorts of nicknames for me (Baby botz, Neeners, and a bunch more I, um... forgot).
10. miss my parents (who live a state away), but try to talk with them often.
11. have 3 sisters-in-law, 2 by my marriage and one by my brother's.
12. feel the title of Mother-in-law (much like Stepmother) has attached with it, warts and an evil cackle.
13. call my mother-in-law, Mum.
14. call my sisters-in-law by their names.
15. love to read, but hardly have/make the time to.
16. love a good mystery (Agatha Christie is still the tops).
17. spend way too much time watching TV.
18. started watching Poirot on the Biography channel.
19. have 4 dogs and a cat.
20. feel like I live in a zoo (hence the web address), but am usually happy about it.
21. have averaged a house a year for the past 4 years.
22. hate moving.
23. would never go into the real estate business.
24. would like to say it's our last move for at least 10 years (but should know better with our track record).
25. really enjoy the TV series Red Dwarf.
26. am a bit of a sci-fi nerd.
27. also enjoy Farscape and Hitchhiker's Guide.
28. attribute my oldest brother with teaching me nerdy ways.
29. enjoy the Autumn season the most, but mainly for the clothes.
30. am not a big fan of snow.
31. am in denial that we're back in Colorado where winter actually exists.
32. am very glad we've never moved to the north where one can say it truly snows.
33. am now knocking on wood that my husband's company doesn't decide to move us to Minnesota.
34. enjoy cheesy romantic comedies.
35. love that my husband enjoys them too.
36. hope he's not upset I "outed" him on this blog.
37. view any day I haven't been pooped on, peed on, or thrown up on as a good one.
38. love the things my Bug says. "We need to go to Target. Baby sister needs new shoes."
39. know his little sister doesn't wear shoes.
40. understand the need to go to Target.
41. love to take pictures of my kids.
42. know that's nothing out of the ordinary for your average parent.
43. actually went to school for photography for a year.
44. still can't get my automatic camera to focus properly.
45. enjoy cheesy and not so cheesy action/adventure movies, a la Jackie Chan, Indiana Jones & the Borne movies.
46. can't forget to mention James Bond.
47. could be disowned by both my father and husband if I did.
48. hope I can keep up with writing on this blog.
49. figure I'll take it one day at a time.
50. am finished with my 2nd entry!

The beginning

A few factors went into the decision of starting my own blog. The main being the enjoyment I get reading my SIL's blog at Lifenut.com (yes I do recommend anyone reading this to check out her blog too, although I would be happy if you would do me the favor of finishing this entry first... You see she's a very talented writer, and I believe when deciding between this blog and Lifenut, you'd surly pick the latter). Reading her blog gave me the impression that, if given the chance, I could get some satisfaction venting about my mundane life (I'm not saying her life is mundane, far from it; she has 5 children!). Another factor was my husband's urging. When he saw me checking out a blog site he immediately listed reasons as to why I should try it out. Thanks in part to my scatter-brainedness I don't remember the reasons now, but his was the push that led me here. Of course I had my own curiosity, could I keep up with it? Would I find enough things to babble on about? Most of all, would it be interesting to read? I have no idea! I guess we'll find out...

Nini