things around my house thursday, 1 of 52

Welcome to one of my very own "How To Survive 365 Days Of Blogging" weekly blog posting themes!

Things Around My House Thursday

teapots and tiny hands on the kitchen windowsill

I love tea. I wouldn't say I'm a tea snob. I'll drink a good ol' cup o' Lipton every once in awhile. But I do have a warm fuzzy spot in me for loose teas and for very fine teas. It comes from my days working at Peet's Coffee and Tea. Every once in awhile I'll splurge on a hand rolled green tea or some exotic ball of tea leaves that flowers open when you brew it.

The last couple of months I have been using primarily white ceramic pots and either brewing herbal teas, or the occasional black tea with a fruity blend concoction added to it. I've also been just throwing a tea bag into a mug ;-)

About the pots:

The one on the right is a Japanese cast iron pot. I've had it for 9 years or so. I tend to reach for this when I am brewing a jasmine tea. It has a really generous basket inside to give the leaves room while brewing.

The pot on the left is a Yixing clay teapot from China, and it is used only to brew Oolong teas. The clay absorbs flavor, so the idea is not to muddle things up with another type of tea. I think I read somewhere that after decades of daily brewing, you could just pour hot water into the pot and tea would come out. I've had this pot for about 4 years.

About the tiny hands:

This is a new acquisition. I have been dragging around a gift certificate to this store for almost 2 years now. They sell religious and spiritual items, but for just about every possible religion and type of spirituality. Seriously. All in one place. It's kinda cool.
OH, and it's two doors down from a yarn store.

So sometime near the end of November maybe, I visited both stores (of course, and yes...I bought yarn, too...shut up), and the tiny hands are what I picked up with my gift certificate. I just love how detailed they are. I see them every day when I am at the sink, and they remind me to wash my hands and use soap. Hahahahahaha. Just kidding.

What they really remind me to do, is to be giving.
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Why am I Going To Show You My Stuff Each Week

Well, for starters, Thursday are just plain busy. On Thursday mornings, my dad and I go out and run all of our errands together. We save gas that way, we get to help each other out (mostly he helps me), we sometimes grab lunch together, and we have one really great time. It's one of my favorite days of the week, and it sure beats doing the shopping alone.

Later in the day, I find that Thursday afternoons are a bit of a crunch. MyFavoriteKid has to do his homework immediately after school, then be driven to his dad's for a weekly visit, at which point I head out to go teach dance class. Sometimes I don't get home until almost midnight.

I typically have very little time to post on Thursdays, and if I am going to have any hope of doing 365 days of posting, I need to not be fishing for a topic. I believe there will be two other weekly repeating series on the blog this year. I'm still mulling it over, but I think one will be about food.

There is another reason for doing a series about the things in my house.

A long time ago, a friend of mine passed away. Her house was sort of one huge "altar". The whole house was filled with collections of items that were grouped together and it was clear that they held spiritual significance to her. After she died, lots of us got to take a few things home. I have often wondered about a couple of the things I have of hers.

I don't have nearly as many items in my home as my friend had, but I have really been thinking that I'd like to record what they mean to me. In addition to showing the sentimental items I keep around, I also want to give a tour of artwork around here, too.


That way when I bite the bullet y'all don't have to wonder.