What's the Name?

It's a cool, icy day out today. Which makes it perfect for some hot tea. I hope you've enjoyed some today. For a few days I've been thinking about people's names. So here's my thoughts.

What are names today? I feel so darn OLD. I have a a name like a real person. Most of my friends have people names. We are normal. What the heck are people doing calling their offspring any old noun that they want? It used to be that people just wanted to be different in how they spelled normal people names. Lukas or Lucas, Theresa or Teresa. No big deal. Today I see names that are just not names. Celebrities are not the best to use because, well they live in a different world, but I'll start there. Some of their chosen offspring names are: Apple, Audio, Bronx, Cricket, Denim, Dream, Future, Java, Maple, North, Pilot and Story. What heck? Did they open up a dictionary and point at a random word and say that's our kid's name?

But this isn't just celebrities. This trend is heading mainstream. I kid you not! I know people who have given their offspring names like Tweed. I guess this shouldn't be surprising since one of the top unusual names for 2018 according to NameBerry is Taffeta. I'm really surprised grammar check didn't correct me capitalizing that word.

Tweed

I don't believe parents have thought through some of these very odd names. Maybe they want to be trendy. But have they considered how these names could affect their offspring? According to a New Zealand study those people with unusual or hard to pronounce names are deemed more risky or untrustworthy than people with more familiar names. Other research suggests that people who have more familiar names are considered likeable more often than those with unfamiliar names. A person's name may also affect their career. It suggests that those with more common names have an easier time getting promoted. There's obviously a good reason why some actors change their name to perform.

When I was young, I liked having a name that not many other people had. It wasn't an unusual name, just not common. That suited me fine. But I've got to admit that some parents might not be putting the same thought into the naming of their child as they used to do. Or maybe they are so desperate for attention they thought naming their kid something strange would give them what they need.

I don't see this trend changing and I'm not having any more children, but I do have to pronounce their names daily. So please think about the teachers as you search for some random, trendy name for your child. We don't like trying to learn new names and new spellings of names. Thank you!

Let me know what you think about odd or unusual names. Do I need to lighten up? Comment below.

Sip to Your Health

I made up a pot of Country Peach today and celebrated a snow day. That means a bonus 3 day weekend. We will make it up, but right now it's a free day. So I drank tea and exercised and that's about it. It's time for some mental exercise.

I wanted to explore benefits of drinking tea. Thank goodness for Google; now I don't have to dig through books to get information. The down side- sifting through all that information. So I decided to stick with hard core sites. WebMD gets down to the nitty gritty along with Harvard Medical School.

Real tea would be made from that specific plant that's native to China. This would be our green tea, black tea and white tea. Although I don't go out and buy white tea myself, you can bet it's still the real thing. These teas contain a special antioxidant known as "flavonoids". These are considered phytonutrients which basically means plant chemicals. The ones in these teas can help prevent cancer, heart disease and clogged arteries according to WebMD. The caffeine in tea is lower than coffee, which can help those people prone to high blood pressure and susceptible to jitters. At the same time caffeine helps with mental alertness.

These real teas also contain polyphenols that may increase insulin activity according to researchers. According to a Dutch study from 2009 "drinking 3 cups of tea (or coffee) could reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 40%". 1  You also need to know if you add milk you've diminished the insulin benefits from the tea.

Herbal teas are a different class of tea because they aren't derived from the tea plant itself. As I looked over my peach tea box the ingredients had nothing to do with tea. So even though I enjoy the flavor of herbal tea, the health benefits are based on exactly what's in your herbal tea. The best bet is to check the box and search the ingredients.

Speaking of ingredients, you're better off avoiding the sugary bottle teas you can easily find at convenience stores. Adding sugar just negates the health benefits. And if you live down south (US), don't even bother trying to find unsweet tea in bottles. If you do find it, don't drink it. I know from experience that it's probably way out of date. And instant tea is just gross in my opinion. That's because I don't add sugar. You also may want to check the ingredients of instant tea; you may find MSG hidden in there. Not good!

So feel good, my friends for brewing up some of your own tea and sipping away. In fact I'm ready for some more tea.

What Game?

I made 2 perfect loaves of bread last night. Now this is the 3rd time I've made bread in the past few months and the first time both loaves have come out of the pans looking like, well, real bread. My secret?  Two metal loaf pans. The first 2 times I used one metal pan and one glass pan.

I baked this batch for the Super Bowl game tonight. In all honesty I really don't care about the game. It just seemed the thing to do. In fact, I'm not really a big football fan. At the same time, I'm not one of those girls who can't understand the game, either.

From the time I was eight years old and on my family would watch football games on the weekends. Now this was back in the days when there was one television in a house with three stations and the parents controlled what channel it was on. I may have been a channel changer (the remote for you youngsters), but I followed orders on which way to rotate that knob.

In more recent times, I had the NFL channel. It was during a show on this station that I realized that I don't believe using the wildcard is completely fair for the playoffs. And I had no idea that it had been going on even when I was turning channels for my parents. My son liked to have the NFL channel on at weird times. Personally, I got tired of hearing "Michael Vick, Michael Vick, Michael Vick". And why oh why does this channel keep going after the Super Bowl? To talk about trades for next season. Get me out of this Twilight Zone! So a few months ago I removed the NFL channel and many other channels from my satellite subscription. And I didn't miss it.

Combine the lack of access to football talk with mainstream talk about kneeling during the national anthem and I ended up not wanting to watch football at all. I get what they were trying to do by kneeling and I personally feel that football players and people in general should not get publicity for being disrespectful. But that's what happened. The more they did this kneeling, the more people talked about it. And it soured me on watching any NFL football game. A friend told me they quit showing the national anthem and that didn't make me feel any better about the games.

Don't get me wrong; I still have a favorite team. (They aren't doing so well this season.) But I haven't watched a game all year. And yet here I am gearing up for the Super Bowl. In the interest of being completely honest, I didn't make my bread for the Super Bowl. I made it to go with my pot roast.
So who knows what time the Justin Timberlake concert starts tonight? :D

Crochet and Tea

Time for a little mix berry tea in a pretty pot and cup with saucer. They don't completely match, but that's okay. They were my Grandma's and that's good enough for me. Sometimes I feel like our lives get too busy to stop and do something simple like drinking tea out of bone china or  even making tea in a teapot. Other activities some may call "old fashion" may also be falling away. We take selfies, share gifs, watch Netflix, but do we take the time do real crafts?

Last year I made well over a dozen crocheted snowflakes to give away with my Christmas cards. They were pretty and could hang on Christmas trees, if desired. It took some time to make, but I enjoy crocheting and it made me feel good to make a snowflake for my friends.

This week a friend crocheted something for me. It's so nice to see first hand that I'm not the only person out there crocheting. Over the years I've crocheted scarves, small blankets, and yes way back I used to make doilies. And I find it a relaxing hobby most of the time. When you make a mistake, you can easily rip the stitches out and start over. When you get into a rhythm time just seems to fly. One problem I've noticed though, when you want to combine tea and crochet is that you can get so wrapped up in crochet that your hot tea gets cold. Actually that happens when I'm typing, too.

Here's the cute cup a friend made for me. It can be a little coaster for a tea mug or be placed on top of your cup to keep the tea warm while I'm typing or crocheting. What a clever crochet project!

Crocheting may be an old craft, but it serves purposes today also. It keeps your mind active. Reading those patterns can be challenging.  You do have to learn those abbreviations and stitches. But it's not too hard. Crocheting also keeps your hands and fingers nimble. So you're doing finger exercises as you work. I'd hate to see crocheting fall by the side for more technology oriented endeavors. So I might have to find a new crochet project. Any ideas?

Do any of you crochet? What do you make?

Secret Society of Teachers

Believe it or not, there's a secret society of teachers roaming around out there. And if you're lucky, you might be able to find one of these special teachers. They are the teachers that get apologies when those outside the profession learn whom they teach. People are surprised and in awe that they are nutty enough to perform their job day in and day out. They are called middle school teachers. They teach those young teenagers in grades six, seven or eight. I'm going to give you a few clues to help you spot one of these rare creatures.

1. Fun loving or Good sense of humor- If you spot a teacher that is down right funny or knows how to laugh, you may in fact be in the presence of a middle school teacher. If they laugh at juvenile jokes, it's a good bet you found one. Say duty, ball, dyke, lay, or dongle; if an adult smiles or chuckles, you probably found a middle school teacher.

2.  Energetic- Middle school teachers have lots of energy. They may come home dead to the world, but in class they are anything but dead. They have to be active because they have a million things to take care of in each class. And they'll do anything to keep the attention of their teenage students.

3.  Different- Members of this secret society aren't your kind, sweet elementary teachers. Nor are they your serious, subject-oriented high school teachers. Try to shake them up with a shocking story and they'll probably try to one up you. Some may even call them a little crazy. But when you can laugh and be discouraged all in the same day you're either slightly hormonal or a little different.

4.  Flexible- Some teachers can easily and quickly adapt to change. Those are middle school teachers. Maybe a lesson isn't going well, the internet is slow or there's an interruption in the class. These teachers handle it without batting an eye. That's a real skill.

5.  Patient- You might think elementary teachers have patience, but put them in a 7th grade classroom and watch what happens. All their tolerance goes out the window. These aren't sweet little babies. Middle school teachers must have an abundance of charity to handle middle school shenanigans.

6.  Squirrelly- If you spot a teacher who acts like a young teenager, you've probably crossed paths with a middle school teacher. These adults deal with hormonal kids all day, every day. Their goofiness is bound to rub off. These are the teachers you see talking and laughing during a teacher meeting. They can't help it.

7.  Sarcastic- Try to deal with middle schoolers and not become a little sarcastic. These teachers are probably the ones teaching sarcasm to youngsters. Middle school kids find sarcasm fascinating and like to try it out occasionally in the classroom. Their teachers can dish it right back. But it's all in good fun.

8.  Drinking- Middle school teachers love their coffee and possibly tea. But they are also known to belt down something stronger; not before or during school, though.  Have you ever been to a middle school conference? I'll tell you, it's one crazy adventure. And I'll leave it at that; otherwise I might get kicked out of the club.

Anything I've missed? Have a comment or idea about middle school teachers? Please comment below.

Cashew Chicken, Springfield Style

Today was a good day for some hot tea. The sun was deceiving today. It shone brightly this afternoon, but didn't do much to warm us up. But tea does the trick.

If you've ever lived or visited southwest Missouri, you've probably tried Springfield style cashew chicken. Once you've tried it, you realize it is way different than any other kind of cashew chicken. If you've sampled it, you more than likely enjoyed it. And every so often you get a hankering for it. That's what happened to me. In fact, my hankering lasted a few days.

So I decided to make some cashew chicken at home. I had my trusty Minute Rice, chicken and the secret cashew sauce mix. The only items I was missing was cashews. Please don't laugh. I also didn't have any green onions. But I thought, "What the heck!"

I started by cooking up the rice. When that was done, I got to work on the fried chicken pieces. That's a chore in itself. (See my blog about the dirty chicken.) When the chicken was almost done, I got the wok out and went to work frying some veggies, then scrambling eggs. On another burner I got the secret sauce going. I'm going to admit I was prepping and cooking about an hour and a half.

When everything was done, I put it all together. And it took me a little over 10 minutes to scarf down. And it was okay. It was filling, but it wasn't like cashew chicken in the local Chinese restaurants. And it wasn't the lack of cashews and green onions. I have no idea how those restaurants get such a tasty dish together. But the next time I get a hankering for some cashew chicken, I'm going to get the real thing from a real restaurant and save myself an hour and a half of work.

If you've ever made something that tastes as good as a restaurant, share with us. If you've had a not so great experience trying to do the same, share also. Let me know I'm not alone. Until the next tea break...

What You Can Learn About the English From Television

 Over the course of my life I've watched a few English television shows. Mostly I can thank PBS for that. I've seen Absolutely Fabulous; I really don't understand what they are trying to portray in that show. It must be way over my head or something. I used to watch Are You Being Served and Keeping Up Appearances. These were shows to which I could relate. If you aren't familiar with these shows, Are You Being Served takes place at a department store and revolves around the workers. Keeping Up Appearances has a female main character who definitely wishes to be someone that she isn't. She pronounces her name "Bucket" like the word "bouquet". You know it's a good episode if she gets her come uppings by the end.

My latest English show comes from Netflix. I love how I can work my way through all seasons of a show on Netflix. I've made it through seven seasons of Midsomer Murders this winter. And between all these shows, I've learned a few things about the English.

First and most important, the English really do like their tea. And they like it hot. There's hardly a kitchen scene without a tea kettle sitting on the stove. And if they aren't inviting someone in for a beer, then it's always for a cup of tea. After tea, the English really do enjoy some pretty flowers. Many flowers are in hanging baskets near the front door of their homes. And I have to admit, I really find them attractive. Rural England has a large amount of murders based on my recent viewing. The English also like their pubs. Pubs seem to be a place for gossip, hanging out and just drinking.

Based on my viewing you can also find a good amount of woods in England. And people think nothing about walking in the woods day or night. And when they go out at night, they don't bother with a flashlight. They must know they are going to get into trouble and don't want to see the trouble first. British men and women in these shows seem to have a good amount of extra marital affairs. But that may be part of the murder genre or rural England. There also seems to be more guns in England than the rest of the world thinks if you believe television. I've seen a good amount of rifles and some handguns in Midsomer.

Some differences with the U.S. are that the older people in England can be more open minded. The English know how to surprise their audience sometimes with something very unexpected. I thought the English knew how to speak English and they do. Maybe I just don't know how to listen. I thought the daughter's name in Midsomer Murders was Kelly. Some people pronounced it as "Cally" and others as "Kelly". When I looked up her name on IMDB, her name was Cully.

Some similarities with the U.S. are that the police do their job well. They may go about it in different ways, but both are thorough. Bad people lie and hide in plain sight. Rural people know everything about everyone in town. And television stars do leave to pursuit other career offers. I have to admit, I'll probably learn more the more I watch, but as long as I get to watch a good murder mystery I don't care if it's from England or the U.S.A. all I care about is having a good show to watch. Until the next tea time...