Maddy Barone Send Message

Today i’m packing my knitting stuff, my daily use stuff and my clothes. Tomorrow my brothers are coming to load up my bed etc. That means today is my last day in bass hell. I was hoping for a quiet, relaxing day of packing.

The bass started up today at 10:40 am this morning. I want to go over there and punch him in the face and scream at him that couldn’t he for F’ing ONCE not play his bass at top volume? He once told me, “I like being respectful.” Well, respect this, you selfish, inconsiderate @$$wipe! Grrrrr.

My tea is packed. Actually, it is all in one of those large sized reusable grocery tote bags. To celebrate, I decided to brew a small pot of Ambrosia to sip while I pack. It is a great tea. So, so smooth. The flavor is rich. No bitterness, no astringency. Truly worth the price tag.

I have a collection of teapots and I know I can’t take them all so I decided to pack my DAVID’s clear glass bubble tea pot for mom’s. It supposedly holds four cups. I find it holds TWO, but then, like C.S. Lewis, you can’t get a cup of tea big enough for me. Anyway, I left out a couple tea bags for when I’m here later packing and cleaning. The microwave and a paper cup will suffice for those days.

I am exhausted. Spent a little over 4 hours at mom’s tonight washing walls and going through the crap my sister and her daughter left behind when they moved. Progress is being made. Very good progress. The move has been postponed from Saturday to Sunday because we are expecting snow on Saturday. So, one more day to do some sorting and packing at my apartment. One thing I need to pack is my tea stash. Oy!

When I came home tonight I was dragging, and a migraine had developed on the drive home. I took a shower and put on a clean flannel nightie and I made a cup of this tea. I know its a bagged tea, but it is one of my favorites. The name Sweet &
Spicy is the perfect description of this. If the red hots candy could be liquified, they would taste just like this tea! I know I already have too much tea, but I’m down to only one more bag of this. I will need to pick up another box.

I am finding myself really enjoying these sweetish cardamom teas lately. I like the Cardamom French Toast from Davids, but I think this one might be a just that little bit better. Maybe it’s the coconut, although I don’t really taste the coconut. I have a bit of my sense of smell right now, but it is pretty weak, so I may just be missing the coconut. But I get the smooth light spice and the sweetness of syrup.

This tea goes very well with the Girl Scout Trefoil cookies. The shortbread doesn’t have any strong flavors to conflict with this. I think the Thin Mints go better with an unflavored tea. What do you think?

Well, the last several days have been a nightmare. My neighbor, the one who is in love with his subwoofer, used to only play his music loudly in the afternoons. I’ve over about four times in the past and asked him to turn it down. He always politely apologized and turned it down for the rest of the day. Starting at 11:16am on Friday (ask me how I know) he had it blaring off and on until 1:15am. maybe later than that, but that is when I finally fell asleep. The bass travels through the walls, through the furniture, into my spine.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday the same.I averaged about 4.5 hours of sleep a night according to my FitBit. Tuesday night around 11:00 I finally had it. I got up, put on my robe, and went over to his door and knocked. He didn’t answer. I knocked louder. Nothing. I went back to my apartment and tried to sleep. Couldn’t. So angry I kicked the wall where I believe this subwoofer is mounted. Well, that was effective. Yeah. That rat b@sta@rd turned it up.

Today I went down to the rental office after work. I asked them to please call him and tell him to keep it down. They said they would but that I should call the police if it happens again after 10pm.

I got the police number and added it to my contacts list. The bass was partying when I left for my SCA meeting at 6:30. I got home at nine and it is quiet. Amazingly quiet. It feels funny. I wonder how long it will last. Hopefully through Feb 24 when I move into my Mom’s house. I was going ot move at the end of March, but I talked to both my brothers today and we’ve agreed on 2/24.

So… Why did I go on and on about that? Because now you will understand the deep extent of my quiet joy when I sip this tea. It is mellow, with an almost buttery flavor, soothing to my jangled nerves (which are gradually untwisting in relief). I

After the disappointment of Dream On, I decided I deserved a tea that I know I adore. I’ve been carefully hoarding this one for summer. It is amazing iced. Light, mildly sweet and utterly refreshing, Golden Honey Dew is probably my absolute favorite cold brew on a hot summer day. But after my horrific weekend of Torture By Bass, I decided to splurge and dug this one out to make a hot cup. So lovely. It is 11pm and the bass is still rocking my world, but that doesn’t keep me from enjoying this tea.

I have had a pretty rotten weekend thanks to the bass loving neighbor. It’s strange because he has never played his music so loudly after 8pm and this weekend it was been going on ALL THE TIME. Like, I can feel the bass in my bed when I try to go to sleep. I’ve tried knocking and he ignores me. If I am arrested, it will be because I lost my mind and kicked his door in. I definitely need a calming tea.

But I have to say, I didn’t enjoy this one. It’s the camomile I think. I don’t like camomile and it is the star flavor here. I think if it were left out I would enjoy this tea quite a bit. The lemon is fine, and the fennel is fine. Just not enough to mask the camomile! I think I’ll go find a honeybush tea to enjoy before bed.

I was in the mood tonight for a spicy tea, but I am determined to sleep tonight. My darling neighbor is in love with his subwoofer and seems to think his neighbors are dying to hear it too. Normally he doesn’t play it loud after suppertime, but It’s been going pretty much non stop since yesterday at 11:15 am. I’ve tried twice to knock and ask him to cut it out. In the past when I’ve done that he has always apologized and turned it down. Tonight he won’t even answer the door. I am not generally the most easy going person in the world, and this is driving me ballistic. Last night I tried to sleep, but the bass trembled in my bed. Just faintly. Enough to keep me from sleeping.

I have been a miserable, sniveling mess all weekend. I know it won’t last forever. This might be the only time he plays his music so loud in the evening. And I am moving in the first week of April. But that is still two months away. I guess Monday I will call the rental office to complain. Again.

Anyway, the tea is delightful. I mean Scottish Oat scones this afternoon, and it went beautifully with them.

My tea pushing Winnipeg friend brought me 50 grams of this. I like it quite a lot. The leaf is very pretty with the candy snowflakes and bits of broken candy cane. I’m glad to have a bunch of this to enjoy. But I think I prefer Santa’s Secret just that little bit more.

Totally off topic. It is 8:15pm. How did it get to be so late? I just finished supper so I keep thinking it’s 6:00pm. Ugh. Too much to do, too little time.

It’s been a long day. Worked 9 hours, then hit the gym with a friend, then ran errands, the off to church. I came home from church exhausted. I’m still getting over that flu/cold thing, so you can imagine how hard it was to climb three flights of stairs. The cherry on my sundae is that it is 2 degrees F, with an expected low of -11. Do you know what that means? Yes, TEA.

I wanted something warm and dessert-y. I wavered between this one and Candy Cane Crush. This one won. I really like this one. Smooth and sweetly spicy, it was the perfect way to end my day.

So while I was at Target tonight I went down the tea aisle looking for a plain peppermint tea. The only herbal mint tea they had was Harney and Sons peppermint. That was $5.99 for a good sized tin. Which is a good price for what you get, but I had only $8.00 to my name. So I bought this one. I usually like peppermint tea in the evening after a heavy meal, and this one is specifically called After Dinner.

I think I’m having buyer’s remorse. It not a bad tea, but I wanted peppermint and think I should have held off on buying until I found my stash peppermint or another mint tea. The flavor here seems very busy. Like I can’t quite identify all the flavors. First I think “There’s the mint!” but it immediately changes to black licorice. Or is that the ginger? I am just not sure. It’s all sort of muddy. And the liquor itself is cloudy.

As I said, it’s not undrinkable, but it’;s not peppermint. I think I may bring this box of bagged tea to church. On Wednesday evenings we have casual Bible Study and children’s classes, and there is a coffee pot and a hot water kettle for tea and hot chocolate. someone may appreciate this one a little more than I do.