My Pleasure

Living with ME and its limitations can have a huge impact on what is pleasurable.  Things that other people find a pleasure are often hard work.  With so many food intolerances I also get little enjoyment out of eating out or even a piece of chocolate.  My pleasure can be found in a cup of tea.  Not very exciting I know, but I do love a cup of tea, here is what is in my cupboard.

A closer look

My favourites are Redbush, Green Tea and Decaf Tea.  

One of my intolerances is Caffeine which many people do not realise is in tea.  It is highest in black tea (that's normal tea).  Chart below shows levels in different teas (http://www.ezentea.com/), think I need to save the chart as when I am out I can never remember the levels and end up jittery or worse from drinking the wrong thing.

A more detailed breakdown can be found at Adagio Teas caffeine content along with the Health Benefits of tea

I can occasionally drink small amounts of Green tea, but now there is decaf quite widely available I drink that.  Drinking out is getting easier as many places now have standard decaf or a green tea or fruit teas.  I do love it if we find a place with a good choice and new things to try.  I have to take care with fruit teas as many of them are flavoured black tea, if it's called tea its usually got black tea in it, ones called infusions are usually just fruit.  Decaf teas are not caffeine free though.  Adagio teas also states "Also, keep in mind that, because teabags contain broken leaves of smaller size, they produce an infusion with more caffeine than loose tea does. This is also true of very fine loose tea. In comparison, the same volume of coffee yields at least double the amount of caffeine. In fact, most sodas have more caffeine as well." 

As you can see from my collection I buy them in any shops, often getting ones that are on offer.  The ones I found most recently were a set in Lidl; Zingy Lemon and Ginger, Raspberry Inferno and White Pear Tatin.  They sounded interesting and although I don't drink that many fruit ones I do like a change, but always go back to the decaf, Redbush and Green tea.  The lemon and ginger is quite pleasant as long as its not too strong I am not a big fan of ginger flavour, but lemon flavours are nice and I will sometimes drink hot water with a lemon slice in it.  The Raspberry one was made with caution too as apparently it contains Chilli, so I expected not to like it, but you can't taste the chilli so I like it.  The White Pear Tatin was the most appealing, but it has quite a strong vanilla smell, the taste is not so strong, but its too sweet for my normal tastes.  I think these will get drunk few and far between.  You will notice quite a few with cinnamon in; Apple & Cinnamon, Spiced Orange, and Mango and Cinnamon, its a nice warming flavour and reminds me of things like apple pie and hot cross buns.  Also in the collection are some that are not that pleasant, but I have to help my digestion so only drink after a meal, if I remember; Peppermint and Fennel and Nettle they wouldn't be my tea of choice.

I have found a great online tea company Adagio Teas.  As you can see I have a few bags, mainly as I buy enough to get free postage.  They have a Rooibos (Redbush) page and Decaf  page I have tried them all, except the sweeter sounding ones.My favourite are the earl grey flavoured ones Decaf and Rooibos.  With it being fresh and leaf tea the flavours are great.  The cost per cup is rather off putting, but I tend to use each lot twice as it is plenty strong enough.  I drink all my teas with no milk and no sugar so don't like them very strong.  I have not tried the white teas as I think the caffeine might be too much in these brands.  Many places have Teapigs which are very good, but I haven't bought for myself as they are quite expensive and also Eteket.  I have not been in a Whittards recently they are the high street shop for tea and they don't have many caffeine free ones that I like and they are quite often too sweet.  This said most supermarkets now have a good range of fruit teas and alternatives.  Lidl have started selling their own brand Knightsbridge including decaf and Redbush.

I have a rather mad idea of hosting a giant tea party with loads of different teas to try where people come along and bring a picnic and pay to be part of the event and there would be cakes and buns to buy and maybe craft projects too to raise money for charity.  I could be the Mad Hatter!!  In reality more like the Dormouse!  I have often thought about this, but the organisation would be too much and if it were to raise money for ME charities I don't think there would be much of an interest, but there are plenty of other charities equally worthwhile, maybe one day!

Meanwhile, it must be time to put the kettle on now, perhaps I should change my name to Polly!  Now which one shall I have this time?

Worry!

Well having worked myself into a right state yesterday, had very little sleep and have jobs that need doing, plus need energy for quilt class tomorrow, I am not feeling too great today, again!  Why do I worry and get myself worked up over things I have no control over?  I am feeling anxious and on edge all the time.  I feel like I am waiting for something awful to happen all the time, but then whatever happens cannot be changed so why worry.  Looking back we have been through all manner of traumatic events and come through them so why worry about what might happen and how to cope?  Its not something you can switch off though, wouldn't that be easy?!  Life goes on whatever you are faced with and you deal with things as you go along.  I think sometimes its the quieter times when we feel less able to cope as all our resources have been used up at the more stressful times and we become weak and vulnerable and worry about the next problem, rather than making the most of the here and now.  One way to keep worries at bay is to be active or keep busy, but with ME that is difficult and we pay the consequences of what we do, but I think we also pay the consequences of worrying and trying to cope.  I can suffer as many symptoms after an emotional day as physical one, although days are not usually one or the other, so its difficult to separate and really know what caused what.

I am trying to get Emily to sleep back in her bed now the nights are getting colder, so gave her a new duvet cover that I was saving for Christmas in an effort to make it more inviting and I let her choose the sheets she wanted on and gave her the furry mattress cover off the other single bed!  All well and good except I had to make the bed up, it has taken me most of the morning and left me feeling sick, dizzy and shaky, not to mention in pain and tired.  Rob did say he would do it, but Emily wanted it ready so I thought it best to get on with it rather than saying no and putting her off using it and she will be able to show her friend who is coming for tea.

I wanted to get a bit of my quilt done before tomorrow, but its not to be I'm afraid.

Oooo just realised I made cup of tea about half an hour ago, must go and find it!  Whoops rather stewed as it was still in the teapot!  Its my favourite earl grey and the leaf tea is so much better, I use each pot twice to get my moneys worth!!

The quilt is now ready to be made up, spent most of the last session on the floor pinning it together.

After pinning it all together I decided the cat needed some eyes, so asked the advice of my friend Pat and some of her crafty ladies, they agreed and we decided on these buttons.

I need to unpin a bit so I can get my hand in to sew on the buttons, will try and get that done later.

I also need to ask Sarah about my next two ideas the Olaf window picture for Emily.  I wanted to make one like this 

but its quite a lot of work, so think I will got for simpler design like this

with the Olaf panel I have bought 

My other project is a cat picture for my bedroom, like the cat on the quilt but in blues, we printed a mock up, but I can't find it or the computer file :-( Spent 10 mins looking again and found it, I hate losing things and spend half my life looking for things!

I love him already, hope it looks this cute for real.

I am lucky that Rob has booked day off tomorrow to come and help me carry stuff and drive me there and listen to any complicated instructions, but I am disappointed that I need his help and that he is using his holiday to do it rather than something for himself or something more useful.  In the afternoon we have to go into school to see what Emily's class have been working on this term.  I am looking forward to it, but know it will be a difficult day.  This said I had better go and get some painkillers and some rest.  I will try and catch up with my positives later.