Thankful for Teas

A few months back I know I had mentioned my attempts to get off of soda and caffeine.  Let me tell you, that was a horrible failure.  It wasn't long before I was drinking sodas more often than I had before!  I guess that's the trial of it all!  It's hard to kick a habit when it's easier not to.  It also doesn't help that the readily available water isn't so delightful to drink.  Texas tap water leaves much to be desired.

Well, I'm trying it again.  I've already pretty much succeeded at kicking the caffeine.  The only soda I drink now is root beer, with the occasional break for something else.  That much is a definite improvement.  Not only am I doing something better for my body, but I'm showing a good example for my children, something I also find incredibly important.

When I was a child I remember my mother drinking soda what seemed all the time.  While I have vague memory of my mother having milk in the morning, I never actually remember her drinking it.  It's more that she told me she did, so it must be true.  The refridgerator was always filled with diet coke and it seemed when she needed a drink, that's always what she had.  My sister and I were always told to have juice, milk, or water more frequently, but I do remember my mother and her sodas.

I suppose it shouldn't be a surprise that I grew up to be much the same way.  All too often I'll grab a soda to quench my thirst, even though I know it won't work and I would be better with water.  I find myself doing exactly what my mom cautioned my sister and I never to do, but always did herself, drinking soda first thing in the morning.  I didn't even think about how bad it had grown until my room, not having a trash barrel in it at the moment, got cluttered with cans.  I realized then that I had a problem.  I kept telling myself I would cut back, but never really put much effort into it.

Just last night I had the urge to drink some tea.  I used to be a big drinker of tea and hot chocolate.  Both were lovely on cool fall days, straight through the winter.  I would turn to tea and hot chocolate because they had such a calming effect on me.  No matter how hectic things got, I could always sit down with a cup of tea and relax.  Even when I was at work, I always knew a cup of tea would be just the answer.

Here I am now, sitting down and typing, and what is the drink I have beside me?  All to often it would be soda.  All too often I'd be drinking it down, not even really enjoying it anymore.  I would have to guard that soda against my son who would sneak up and steal it, drinking it all down when I wasn't looking.  Instead, I have my tea, the tea I don't have to worry about guarding.  Even if he did decide to drink it all down, it's just lemon tea.  It's not bad for him.  It's actually quite good for him!  It's hydrating, warm, and quite tasteful.  I'd almost forgotten how wonderful tea was!

So for many reasons, I'm thankful for my tea today.  It's a way to calm my stressed out nerves.  It's a way to sit back and relax.  It's one more step towards freedom from soda, so hopefully I'll actually be able to enjoy my soda when I have it.  I'm thankful for tea because it's showing my children that you can always have a drink in your hand.  It doesn't have to be water.  With all the contraversy over the sugar in juice these days, I'm showing them they don't need that either.  Instead, I'm showing them that there is a healthy option that's easy and so delightful on cool fall days.

Hmm...thinking about it, maybe it's time my daughter and I had a tea party!

Off to a Horrible Start

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  At least these good intentions didn't end up hurting anyone but myself, not that they're really hurting me.  It's frustrating that less than a full day in I ended up failing, but tomorrow is a new day and I can make an effort again starting then.  That's what it's all about, keep on trying until you succeed.

The caffeine thing, that didn't even last more than twelve hours.  The orange soda was sitting there, calling my name.  However, it's not a lot of caffeine, and once it's gone, I'm not buying anymore.  I did do well with drinking green tea, which is a start.  At least it's something healthier than soda.  Now if only I could stick to that!

Exercise went well, but today I just didn't have the time!  Well, I did, but I had other things to do, so I decided to be a slacker instead.  There was just so much running around to get done!  I've also been achy.  I know, excuses, excuses.  However, it's not me making excuses this time!  I've been doing so much dance over the past two weeks that I think it's starting to wear on me.  The muscles in my back and sides are sore from constantly using them in ways my slacker body isn't used to.  It's wondering what all this proper posture stuff is!  I know it's good for me, but until my body adjusts, it's going to be rough.  Then there's having to put the baby in the carrier during class that isn't helping.  The extra weight on my body is hard to adjust to when it's so suddenly on me.  I think a day off isn't too much of a big deal, as long as I make no more excuses and get back to it.  Because of this, I've come to realize that exercising every day is kind of essential for me.  If I don't exercise every day then I'll just slack off on the day I'm supposed to.  I really do need to get off my butt and do it already!

In other news, we've started talking about getting another car today.  This topic leaves me a bit torn.  On one hand, it leaves me free to do what I want to do since I won't be house-bound when my significant other is at work.  On the other hand, I'm left worrying about the impact this is going to leave on the environment.  Doesn't this just give us a larger carbon footprint?  Won't this just increase the total emissions put out by my family?  Is that something I really want to do?  I suppose I don't have much choice.  The only option is to only drive when necessary.  I already have to leave the house anyway to do laundry, buy groceries, and run other essential errands.  I suppose it doesn't make that big of a difference if I'm using a secondary car or not.  I'll just have to keep track of how far I'm going.  With the economy being so bad and gas prices being what they are, I don't think that will be much of a challenge.

Tomorrow is also my birthday.  I get to celebrate it with doing something I don't really want to do, treat the household for lice.  It seems there's a breed of lice going around that is resistant to the store-bought chemicals as well as almost all holistic treatments I've found on the web.  Apparently it's gotten so bad that they've had to change the prescription they used to use to kill the nasty bugs for something they weren't resisting.  This prescription medication is the hardest thing to find!  It seems everyone has this nasty variant of the bugs because most of the pharmacies were out.  I hate the idea of putting chemicals on my head or my daugher's, but the only other option at this point is to shave our heads.  As much as I don't want to do that, I want these things gone.  If the prescription doesn't work, it may just come down to that.  It's sad when we live in a world where bugs have become so chemical resistant that it's not just the holistic remedies that don't work.  My poor kids have been made miserable with all kinds of things put in their hair that were supposed to kill the bugs or help remove the eggs.  We were joking that these things have become super lice!  Apparently we weren't far off at all!

Tomorrow, after every male in the house has their head shaved but the baby, and my daughter and I get our hair treated, and the laundry is done, I'm going to try and think of something sustainable living related to do.  Maybe I'll pull out one of my projects and knit.  I may look up a local recycling center for reference.  Maybe I'll just focus on my own health and go for a nice, long walk.  It will be nice to stretch my legs and work out the stress of everything going on.  Maybe it will help clear my mind.

Tomorrow is another day.  A birthday is always a good day to start new and more positive habits.  It's certainly one way I can do something to treat myself.