Stuff #22: Tiny Teapots

Or at least smallish teapots.

You see, coffee is among my many dislikes.  Caffeine is not.  I rather like being awake.  It's that bitter dark stuff I don't need.  Soda is an excellent source of caffeine input, but it is unhealthy, and not how I want to start my day.  Enter tea.

I have already excitedly gone on about how I like tea, but today I want to tell you about one particular teapot. 

 Tah-Dah!  (or is that Ta-Da, I can't decide)

Let me tell you why I love this teapot.  It is small, for one.  So tempting to just make a huge pot in the morning, but really, I don't want all that much tea.  So the fact that the teapot is about the size of a normal mug is pretty much perfect.  Not too much, not too little, it's the little bear (--cough-- Obscure Goldilocks Reference --cough--) of teapots for me.  

 

Teapot again, this time with hand for reference.

Also, check out that handy strainer.  Perfect for loose leaf tea.  Put the tea in, pull it out, perfect.  

Of course, I could make myself a cup of tea just as easily as a pot.  Why bother with the extra dishes?  Well, the fact that it's adorable is one.  It also cools the tea faster, in the tiny cup.  I tend to drink tea all in one go, and boiling water is a bit hot.  The cup is small enough that I can drink it all before it gets too cold, too.

Perhaps an even more important reason is that it's sort of a ritual.  Make the tea, pour it in the cup, sip at the cup, pour more tea in.  It's a simple routine to get my day off to the right start.  

 

Stuff #21: Cleaning Music

So last night, I walked into the kitchen and saw this.

Ach, mine eyes!  It burns!

Sadly, I see this on an all-too regular basis.  Apparently, it has something to do with that, "adulthood" thing, mixed with the "having people over" thing.

An hour of hard work later, and I was looking at this.

  Much better.

But what could bring about such a transformation.  Aside from, you know, hot water, soap, a dishtowel, and some scrubbing.  Well, let me tell you...

Cleaning music.

This music is totally essential to my getting stuff done.  It turns hard work into hard work...with a soundtrack!  Which, while still not a walk in the park, is way more fun.

Cleaning music the first: Fang Island.

I haven't met too many other people who know this band, but it is pure happiness and getting stuff done set to guitars.  And drums.  And. awesomeness.  Best of all, you get to hear the music for free!

Cleaning music the second: Angels and Airwaves.

I've loved Angels & Airwaves for a long time.  (Well, since their first album, in 2006, but five years is a long music time, dangit)  To me their music sounds like rocket ships taking off, like watching the sun peek out from behind the earth as you rotate over it in a shuttle, like flipping on your back underwater and watching the sunlight filter through the waves as fish swim between you and the surface.  Basically, their music is the soundtrack to the sci-fi I write in my head, and that makes it a great soundtrack to do dishes to.

Cleaning Music the third: Los Campesinos.

This band courtesy of vauge internet rumors, and then specifically my little sister.  Because a song called You! Me! Dancing! is bound to get me scrubbing pots a little bit faster, and a whole lot happier.

Cleaning Music the fourth: Noah and the Whale.

This one entirely courtesy of my little sister.  It's got a mellower vibe than I usually look for in cleaning music, but it works.  Not sure why.  It also got stuck in my head, which made for a rather happy Allison.  Let's face it, Noah and the Whale, way better to have stuck in your head than It's a Small World.

Cleaning music the fifth Matt Kearney's Hey Mamma.

I can't vouch  for the rest of this guy's music but I LOVE THIS SONG.  I first heard it on the radio.  In smooth announcer voice, the guy said, "And coming up next, Matt Kearney's new single, Hey Mama"  I almost turned the radio off right then.  A song called Hey Mama did not sound at all promising.  But I gave it two seconds, and I was hooked.  I don't think it is possible for me to listen to this song without dancing.  This makes it excellent dish music, not so great blogging music.

So I'm going to go, so I can listen to it. 

Stuff #20: Zombie Blogs

We're back from the dead!  Okay, maybe two months isn't dead, but it seemed long enough to call it a zombie blog.

Zombie blog: all the fun of coming back to life, without all that decomposition and nasty need for brains. 

Though now I am sort of curious what a blog out for brains would look like.