Fits Me to a Tea!

Recently a friend turned me on to a British murder series, Midsomer Murders based off the books by Caroline Graham.  So instead of say cleaning house or washing clothes or any myriad of things I could be doing, I'm sitting on my arse mesmerized by English cottages with beautiful gardens, British accents, and funny sayings such as "nutters and more nutters."  Can I just say the visual stimuli of this show is absolutely flooding my senses?  Unfortunately, this marketing ploy has seeped into Hubby's psyche too.  Just yesterday he said "I say, we really should consider naming our abode."  I thought up a few cutesy names for our domicile but Chaos Cottage or Hectic Hall or Messy Mansion just doesn't have the same ring as Holly House or Beehive Bungalow or Church End Cottage.

Besides giving me the wanderlust and looking into English bed and breakfasts, I have bought every brand and flavor of tea bags (thankfully I live in a small rural area) and I'm not really a tea drinker! What is it with the English and their tea?  But this morning I pulled out my little individual teapot with matching tea cup and brewed myself a wild berry zinger...no wise-crack!  Okay, I have to laugh too- this fits me to a, well, tee!

I'm glad I wasn't born before Tea!

I have been reading up on tea, especially green tea.  The University of Maryland Medical Center has an online article about the benefits of green tea.  They say tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world.  In my world, it's Diet Coke.  Although I have reduced my consumption of the product ( I heard  Diet Coke sales plunged this past week and execs are scratching their heads in confusion), I have not cut it out completely.  I have, however, increased my consumption of tea.  Again the UMMC article states that green tea has been used as a "stimulant, diuretic (to promote the excretion of urine"-- oh yes, I can attest to that!), "astringent (to control bleeding and help heal wounds), and to improve heart health" (this strawberry is all for that!).  "Other traditional uses of green tea including treating flatulence" (no comment), "regulating body temperature and blood sugar, promoting digestion, and improving mental processes."  Good grief, why wouldn't I want to drink it?  Anything to keep me regular AND help me find my car keys.

Of course, there is another benefit to drinking green tea that many dieters have most likely already heard.  Green tea may boost metabolism and help burn fat.  So far drinking tea and sitting watching murder mysteries hasn't bolted my metabolism into action.  Although, I have pulled out the deflated exercise ball I bought many moons ago.  The makers were so thoughtful to include a tiny hand pump versus a motorized air pump.  I can sit and watch my TV while pumping little miniscule puffs of air into a 65 cm anti-burst exercise ball.  I have been working on it for days.  At this rate my great grandchildren will continue with the tradition of blowing up the damn thing one little baby's breath at a time.