A New Summer Drink

My question to you is what do these things have in common? The answer might just surprise you. Combined with ice these items make a wonderful and refreshing summer drink that is very easy to make.

Recipe:

Brew 1 tablespoon of the Teavana Blueberry Bliss and Pineapple Kona Pop* for 5 to 6 minutes in 12 ounces of water heated to 208f.   

      

*If you do not pre- blend the Teavana Blueberry Bliss and Pineapple Kona Pop like I do use 1 1/2 teaspoons of each tea.

In a very large tumbler or small pitcher combine 11 ounces of the freshly brewed tea with 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of the Trader Joe's Cranberry Raspberry Juice. Add 1 cup of ice cubes. Stir well and enjoy. I did not add any sugar to this since the Trader Joe's Cranberry Raspberry juice is already sweetened. 

Living in the desert I have a lot of very large tumblers and this just fills one 24 ounce tumbler to the brim. I am sure that this can be doubled or tripled for parties, although I tend to brew my tea 1 cup at a time. 

Disclaimer: I was Not given samples of the Teavana tea or the Trader Joe's Juice to develop this recipe. I was Not paid by either company for featuring them. I paid for the products with my own money. All opinions expressed here are my own and in no way reflect the policies of either company.

A Day of Rest

Today I took it easy and just kind of went about life at a very,very slow pace today. I did make a quick trip to Target and Trader Joe's but mostly it was just relaxing.

I was too tired to spin today but I did get a lot of knitting done. I finished one scarf that used four skeins of yarn. I then started another hat and I almost finished it tonight. It's within a couple rows of being finished so I'll get that done in the morning.

Eric got to spend the day at Mount Lemon with his friends at a picnic and he came home very very tired from his day program. I hope he has a good and quiet night tonight because I can use another night of sleep.

Tomorrow I plan to do about the same things I did today although I am going to try to get some spinning done too. Of course I've already got four loads of laundry lined up in the laundry room so I'll probably have to get some of that done too tommrow.

Time for a Change

It is time to slow down a little to get my body back in sync. Let my joints have a rest and maybe just hurt a little less. Maybe even get a full nights sleep. 

I will try to relax. On schedule will be knitting and spinning.  A few trips to Bookmans. 

Eric managed to have hiccups for over an hour tonight. That does not go with my new plan of slowing down.  I guess I forgot to run my plans past the boss. 

Monday Where Did You Go?

Monday was a very busy day around here. We had a couple of appointments followed by  errands. This left me pretty tired. So I can't figure out for the life of me why after I picked Eric up from his day program I decided to start cleaning the garage. I was dressed in a skirt and blouse for the earlier appointments, not dressed for cleaning. I also forgot to put an apron on.

Thirty minutes latter John and I had made a very small dent. We had filled 1/2 of empty recycling bin, you know the big on that rolls out to the street. Added more to the garbage can and the charity bin. We were even able to move 5 storage boxes from useless piles to easy access. This might not seem like a big deal, but it gave me a better idea of which yarn was going to be used up next in my yarn stash down challenge.

I am just thinking that it will only take a couple of dozen more hats and scarfs before I can refill the cotton basket with more one of a kind skeins of yarn to make more hats and scarfs. This will intern make more room inside for yarn to come from the garage to used. Looking around the house and garage it seems to me that I am about 50% of the way done in my goal of having yarn in only one area of the house with none in the garage.

The only thing that is really hindering my stash down process is my need to spin more yarn. To that end I will try to list a few skeins of yarn either on my Raverly stash down page or my etsy shop. Either way I will add links to my blog.

El Cisne in Tucson Arizonia

John and I have found a lovely new locally owned Mexican restaurant here in Tucson.  It is called El Cisne. El Cisne is located at 4717 E Sunrise Drive on the North East corner of Sunrise and Swan in the Bel Air Plaza. Telephone number (520) 638-6160. We have eaten there several times.  I have tried something new almost every time we have gone. The prices are mid range. They are open for lunch and dinner. I have not tried their catering yet. This is an upscale casual restaurant with a very pleasant decor.

Tonight we both had the Enchiladas. John had the chicken and I had the beef. The beef enchilada had a nice smoky barbecue flavor, with very tender beef. It was served with rice and beans cooked to perfection along with some very fresh salad. The flavors worked very well together and I thought that I had hit the dinning jackpot of the evening until I tried John's chicken enchilada. Our original plan was to each order a different dish and share. Once I tasted the chicken enchilada, I knew John would not be sharing his. The chicken was tender with the seasoning just perfect. It seemed to melt in my mouth. I have not had an enchilada this good in over 20 years. Don't get me wrong the beef enchilada was fantastic, its just that the Chef managed to make the chicken enchilada even better.

We have also tried the Carne Con Chili/Beef Burrito both Red and Green with and with out beans. All versions were wonderful. The Topopo Salad which is a meal in itself.  In my experience you either get a great Topopo Salad or never order it again. El Cisne makes a wonderful Topopo Salad. The Carne Con Chili De Vaquero Sonora is a go to dish for John. The only desert that we have tried were the Sopaillas which were just perfect. They never seem to have a problem leaving the cheese off a dish or telling us that a dish can not be made dairy free.

Disclaimer: Since John and I don't eat dairy and I don't eat shellfish or pork you will not find those menu items covered here. That does not mean that I don't like them, I just don't eat them and can't review them. Also all the opinions here are my own. I was not asked to write this. We paid for all of our own meals, nothing was comped.

A Two Two Day

This morning I was able to empty 2 more bags of stash yarn. Instead of being in bags the yarn now is in its new storage space. I am really making progress in my stash down. It must also be a day of  twos.  I got 2 hours of house work done. I also finished 2 more charity hats tonight. I got 2 loads of laundry done too. 

All of this happened inspite of the stupid headache that woke me up at 1:30 this morning.  The only thing that did not have to do with 2 today. 

I am hoping for a headache free day tomorrow. I am also planning on another two two day tommrow. 

A Good Day

Today was a good day. I even got out of the house to go to knit with friends. I finished two hats and cast on another one for the to go bag.

Eric made it to his day program. It was Friday so they went swimming and he even fell asleep in the pool. One of the advocates was holding Eric so he was okay in the pool even though he fell asleep. But he was glad to be back with his friends. The first thing Eric did when he got home today was go to his room to take a nap. He wanted company so I sat and did some knitting why he's slept.

I am making a dent in my yarn stash. I think sometime this week I'm going to have to reorganize the yarn in the house. I think I might even be able to take some out of the garage but that might be a push so I can't guarantee that quite yet but I'm getting a lot knitting done. Baskets that were full of yarn three months ago are now half-empty I think that's a good sign. I am averaging finishing two small projects a day. Most of them are hats so they leave the house as the weather gets cold and go to charity. I know it's spring so I know it's a few months till they get to leave the house but maybe I can persuade one of the charities to take the hats earlier if I have a full bag. 

This week we started training three new aids for Eric. So things are going to be kind of crazy around here. We might not have as much freedom as when we have  fully trained aids for Eric. So if I seem a bit distracted don't worry about it everything is going fine here and we're going to call it an early evening tonight.