Coffee! Coffee!! Coffee!!!

Mmmm...I love me some coffee.  Granted, my earliest taste of coffee was the half-coffee/half-milk mixture my parents treated us kids to on occasion.  (I still take mine with cream and sugar.)  So I wanted to share a few things with you.

First, I'm super proud of the work my daughter is doing in Peru, working with fair trade coffee.  Here's her blog on the subject.  If you're interested in buying fair trade coffee, here's one source.  This is the brand that some of my friends buy and they say it's tasty stuff.  Pura Vida Coffee is the name.  I pick up the fair trade French Roast Sam's Choice at Walmart.

Secondly, I got to thinking about how Peru has this huge coffee export business, but no coffee culture, and that made me wonder about Spain's coffee culture.  And I happened upon this little article comparing Spain to Germany.  Nothing Earth-shattering, just an interesting look into another part of the world.

And finally, I found a recipe for homemade coffee creamer.  I did the math tonight and found that an off-brand creamer comes to 9 cents per ounce.  This recipe comes to about 6 cents per ounce.  Pretty good deal.  Plus, I can make the flavor that my local store no longer carries (for some weird reason).  Vanilla Cinnamon.  I simply added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon to the recipe.  I'm going to figure out how to make a mocha one - that will be good.

So those are some things to ponder and read over while you sip your cup of joe in the morning.  Hope you have a great day! Oh, and here's a video of my favorite singer, Robert Plant.  Enjoy!

Peaceful Surroundings

I love peace.  I love a day where things just go according to plan and I can accomplish all the things I wanted and then some.  I had a day like that yesterday.

One of the things that I find helps me keep that peaceful feeling is to make my surroundings calm and peaceful.  For me, that means a clean, organized house.  Well, as organized as I can get in our somewhat small home that overfloweth with the things we collect and love.  But I really enjoyed cleaning the kitchen yesterday.  Hubby even joined in and did the dusting and vacuuming for me.  Awesome!!  While I did a load of laundry, I thought about how easy I have it compared to women years ago.

Think about how women used to do the laundry.  Scrubbing it on a washboard over a basin of water, wringing it out, hanging it on the line, ironing it out with an iron that had to be heated on a stove.  Yowza!!  I can throw in a load and go do something else, throw it in the dryer and go do something else, and then come back and hang it or fold it without worrying about ironing.  Easy peasy.

Modern conveniences sure make for a peaceful life and maybe when we get tired of dealing with them, we should thank our lucky stars we were born in the modern age.  Hooray for peace!


Tip:  Here's my best laundry tip.  If you hate dealing with socks and underwear as much as I do, you'll want to take note.  Put a drawer system in your laundry area.  I use those large plastic 3-drawer stack-able ones you can get cheap at the super store.  Put a label on the front of each one for each member of the family.  When socks and underwear come out of the dryer, instead of folding and carrying to the bedroom, just stick 'em in the right person's drawer and voila - you're done. 

Here's a lovely song to add to the peace of your day.

Keep Moving!

In a previous post, I wrote about some health lies we tell ourselves to make ourselves feel better about our habits.  Today I want to address the topic of just how much exercise you are getting.

One way we are told we can burn more calories is to take the stairs or park further from our building.  Now if you live or work in a building with 20 floors, I'm sure that's good advice.  But in my town, the tallest building we have is probably only 3 or 4 stories tall.  And considering that climbing stairs burns about 5-10 calories per minute (depending on weight), I might burn all of 30 calories going from basement to top.  That's not much.

Instead, consider finding an activity you enjoy and doing it long enough to make a real difference.  Here's a handy chart for you to look up the calorie burn for some common exercises. [Calorie Burn Chart]

Of course, using the stairs is still a good idea and we should all do that when we can.  Now if we only lived in a 20-story walk-up with stairs like these:

Summer Series

Wow!  It's been a while since I've written anything.  I had a really busy end-of-the-semester and right before finals, my daughter came home for her summer visit.  Busy, busy!

But now that things have settled down a bit, I thought I'd get back to this blogging thing.  I changed my format earlier this year, having specific types of stories on different days.  (Read about the changes here.)  However, that's too regimented for summer.  You never know what will happen, so I'll just go back to my whatever-I-happen-to-be-thinking-about style of writing.

Some of the things I've been thinking about lately include:

• Many college freshmen are woefully unable to write complete sentences.
• Some people share information that is far too personal on Facebook.  TMI, people!
• How can I incorporate more technology into my summer classes?
• I need a kick in the butt to get back to working out regularly.  Thanks a lot, Achilles Tendon!
• Maybe there are some life lessons to be learned in rock songs.

As for that last thought, I actually got to thinking about that during the Bon Jovi concert I attended in St. Louis this past Sunday.  Yeah, I know that's a weird thing to be thinking during a concert, but that's just how my brain works.  So anyway, I had the thought during the song It's My Life.  I really like the line, "I ain't gonna live forever - I just wanna live while I'm alive."  I know it was perhaps put more eloquently by William Ross Wallace when he said, "Every man dies.  Not every man really lives."  Either way, it's a good principle to remember.  This summer, while you're working, playing, swimming, fishing, and doing all the other fun activities we enjoy in Southeast Missouri, take that thought with you and use it to make your life and your relationships great.  Don't just exist.  LIVE!

Friday Fun: Sunshine!

It's been a rough spring here in Southeast Missouri.  A lot of my neighbors, students, and friends have had damage from the recent flooding.  But today, the sun is shining and the temperature is in the 70's.  My fun today is going to be taking a walk with my husband on this beautiful day.

Here's a video for this sunny day.  I hope you enjoy today and your weekend.

Talked Out Tuesday: How Blogs Are Born