My Menagerie of Cats

Monday, January 18, 2010

Switch to Tea

I've been thinking about switching from coffee to tea for awhile. I have started a couple of times, but it was more in the spirit of just giving up caffeine. I would switch from coffee to tea in order to slowly step down from my caffeine addiction prior to each IVF cycle. I really like tea, but I'm not a tea connoisseur; I have a few loose teas, but most of my tea is the grocery store bought bagged kind. The other day I was looking through my Food Network magazine (first one in a subscription I purchased from one of the neighbor kids doing school fundraising), and I came upon an article about rising food stars under the age of 30. Being that I'm from Michigan and a small business owner myself, I was immediately drawn to the blurb about Ono Tea from Detroit (it's actually based in Novi, a suburb). It is so exciting to see other Michigan based small businesses getting national attention. The article talked about Viet Le, age 26 who founded Ono Tea with his sisters Phuong age 32 and Phi age 30. They market tea based on your lifestyle. Anyway to make a long story short, I checked out their website iloveono.com which is awesome and I ordered some tea. Their website explains the benefits of the different kinds of teas, and they even have a section of teas for Yogis! Love, love, love! Another funny thing is that Phuong's nickname is The Tea Chick and she has a blog called TheTeaChick.com. Since my nickname is Soapchick, I find her nickname endearing. I just added it to my google reader and hope to become educated about tea! I ordered a mighty athena green tea, a caramel slimming tea, and a kick the coffee habit tea. I'm looking forward to seeing if that last one will help me kick my coffee habit. I'm not trying to give up coffee permanently - being part of an Italian family that is impossible as I am offered coffee or espresso on every visit to my in-laws. However I'd like to start drinking tea as my daily beverage of choice. There seem to be so many health benefits with tea.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Welcome Rascal

Remember Rascal? Click here if you don't. She was my sister's cat, but now she's mine. She arrived just over a week ago and is settling in bit by bit. She's such a snuggler. In order for me to save her, I had to give my alpha male cat Claudio to my mom. He has been with her for about a month now and is much happier being an only child. My mom is enjoying having another cat (her 20 year old cat died last year) and I get to visit him all the time. He's a very affectionate cat and sits on her lap every night. He just was not good with the other cats; he was always beating them up. Pachi and Guido were very happy when he left.

Thus far Rascal doesn't really care for the other cats, but I hope in time they will co-habitate peacefully. There have been no fights, but certainly a lot of hissing and growling. Fortunately Pachi and Guido are pretty laid back and are not aggressive. I think Rascal will try to be the Alpha Female; time will tell if Pachi will allow it. Rascal is a couple of pounds heavier than Pachi, but Pachi has claws whereas Rascal does not. The good news is that Rascal has had no accidents; she is going in the litter box! I'm using Feliway (cat pheromones) as well as a special litter called Cat Attract. I knew it would work.

I'll take a new picture of her soon with her hair cut. I got her shaved, but left her tail intact, so she looks a bit like a skunk. Super cute.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

More Holiday Pictures - Christmas Eve, New Years Eve, etc.

Our Christmas tree viewed from above!

My cousins and I on Christmas Eve - Leigh Anne, Kathy, Me, Megan and Jill.

Tarzan and I on New Years Eve

Leann and I on New Years Eve

Nina, Mike and I on Dec. 27th. We've been friends for 15-18 years and have met for a holiday brunch every year for probably the past 9 years. Mike lives in Chicago, so I will hopefully be seeing him more. He is a RN and also studying for his acupuncture license. He is now able to practice on people, so I'm hoping for some discounted acupuncture on my frequent trips to Chicago! Nina lives less than a mile from me, and we really should see each other more than we do. When we worked together in Europe (me in Spain, her in Germany), we saw each other more. Hmm, I will try to correct that in 2010.