Summer Iced Tea

I thought it would be fun to start doing some posts about other parts of my life and share little tips that work for me, recipes, home decor...that sort of thing :) I'd love to hear from you, so please leave me a comment!

One of my favorite things to enjoy as the weather warms up is iced tea. I think I may like iced tea more than hot tea, though I do drink both. Years ago when my husband and I were first married we would buy Arizona Tea in the summer. As yummy as it is, it's really high in sugar and quite expensive. So I started to make my own.

I will make this for parties and when we have people over and I always get so many compliments on it and then they ask what's in it. My answer is always the same, lots of flavors of tea and I can't remember which ones! My "recipe" is to mix lots of flavors of herbal tea together, add a little honey and you've got a wonderful iced tea. I do follow a general rule of thumb to get a nice complex flavor:

*Use at least 6-8 tea bags.

*Use 3-4 tea bags that have a "zip" to them. Our favorites are peppermint or ginger.

*Use fruit flavors for the rest of the tea bags.

*I pour about 3 Tablespoons of honey into the pitcher I make it in along with the tea bags.

*Pour one boiling tea pot of water into a PLASTIC pitcher. Do not use glass...ask me how I know!

*Let the tea steep with the lid on for at least 15 minutes, longer if you want it stronger.

*Add ice to fill up any extra space in the pitcher (I use a gallon size one) and then refrigerate.

This is not a sweet tea but has just enough hint of honey that it mellows all the tea flavors. My favorite tea brand to use is the sampler fruit box from Celestial Seasonings. I usually buy whatever the least expensive peppermint tea is as I can't tell a difference. I hope you'll give it a try! If you do I'd love to hear how you like it :)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

As For Me and My House....

Thank you so much to those of you who took the time to encourage and comment last week on my distress over my son refusing to eat. You all helped me so much and I am so very grateful! I have good news to report that after a couple more days of not eating much he finally decided it was worth eating the good food he was served and we've had a complete turn around! I am praying (and hoping) that it sticks, but for now this mama's heart is so thankful for the break and to see my boy eating like a little piggy again:)

Today I have a little home decor project to share with you. In an effort to stop buying new crafty things (which is so, so very hard!) and use up what I have, I finally had an "ah, ha!" moment with these pretty paper flowers I've had for years (they are some bridal flowers from Michael's) and some Styrofoam cones that I've also had forever. I bought the cones wanting to do something like this with them but just never got motivated enough to cut out tons of flowers and do it. So when it dawned on me to use up these flowers I liked but never really reached for on other projects it finally clicked! I had a small tub of plain silver headed pins and decided to use those up too as I don't really sew and I really have no idea why I had the box of them I did. I would have loved to use pearl topped pins, but again this was about NOT spending any money and I may go back and glue some pearls on that I already have. It was super easy to just stick them in the foam cone, though it is a bit time consuming and I highly recommend using a thimble so as not to injure your thumb and fingers as I did until the thought of the thimble occurred to me halfway through the second tree. (as I mentioned, I don't really sew) I have these displayed in my kitchen and am happy to have added a couple new Christmas decorations without spending any money:)  Thanks for coming to see me!

As For Me and My House....

This is my son, Makaio. His name means "God's Gift." And he is. But as with all gifts there comes responsibility and care for it. I love my son. I longed for this child and God answered me plea and safely set him in my arms and I am so, so thankful.

 But, all that seems to fly out the window lately when we sit down for a meal. Notice the plump belly, the round cheeks? Well this sweet son of mine who ate everything placed in front of him is now being picky....refusing to eat what he is served and I get awfully wound up about it :( Not taking the best care of my gift because my impatience and frustration cloud my vision and while I'm lost in that I can't see him anymore.

I left the dinner table tonight in tears over it. After a few minutes of mindlessly blog surfing to just unwind, I calmed down and realized that I can't control him anymore that I can control...well, anything or anyone!!  Him not eating (much) goes so against every motherly instinct I have that I get into a panic mode that he will starve himself and why am I failing as a mom to get him to eat?!  But it's just another step in letting go and letting him develop into the person God ultimately wants him to be. Sure he needs guidance and loving discipline (including what he is served to eat) but my panicked and angry attitude is not going to help him be secure in his choice to eat....or not. It's a hard thing to step back and let your child fall. But they will and do get back up and will be stronger for it....and I will be stronger too.

Anyone else have a picky eater? Any tips or suggestions? Thanks for visiting with me today:)