TrickyBuddha Studios

I’m officially as hooked as hooked can be on iced green tea.

But about a week ago, I had a glass and got a stomach ache. I wasn’t sure if it was from the tea or not but a second glass and a second stomach ache proved to me that it was the tea. So I dumped that jug down the drain and got a glass from our second pitcher and — another stomach ache.

I tell you, brothers and sisters, that I have never been quite so distraught as at that moment. I just don’t dig coffee as much as I once did (though the occasional cup still calls to me), and I don’t drink soda/pop (too much sugar or aspartame, depending). And without the caffeine, it’s headache city. Sure, I could heat up some tea each day since that didn’t seem to bother my stomach, and that’s basically what I did during my crisis, but I really like a nice, refreshing glass (or two) of iced green tea each day. Our iced tea maker was just so damned convenient.

Fortunately, Candice mentioned that the last glass she had was pretty sweet and suggested maybe it was a result of too much honey. So I tried making another pitcher with just the tiniest bit of honey in it this time and — success. No headache from my green-tea yumminess. I’m back on the bandwagon. Whew.

You may now continue on with your day.

We woke up early today – so early, in fact, that the little letters on the clock read “AM”.

*gasp* *marvel*

(I’ll leave it to your imagination as to how deep into AM we were.)

Why so early? We wanted to sign our rental lease (one more year!) and then take Lisa to her chiropractor appointment. And though I wasn’t tired, there was a 5-hour energy shot in the fridge and I figured “why not?”

Last time I tried it, we went to a concert immediately after and I don’t remember feeling any differently or experiencing any kind of an energy boost. This time, however, was not that time. I felt jittery, like I drank one cup of coffee too many, and the jitters really persisted; I took the shot at 4pm and it wasn’t until 2am that I felt back to normal. Caffeine can be so random. Was it my empty stomach? Is it all the green tea I drink these days messing with my tolerance? Whatever. It’s almost 4am now and I still feel pretty awake and alert. (As I yawn. OK, maybe not *that* awake and alert.)

In other food-related news, we bought some Double Strawberry Sedona™ Frozen Yogurt Granola Sandwiches and they are mighty tasty. This picture isn’t “artsy”, but it does show what you’re getting – two granola wafers sandwiching strawberry frozen yogurt. Mmmm.

We’ve been cleaning just about the entirety of today.

And although we tend to keep the place clean (though not necessarily tidy), we’ve gone all out because of tomorrow’s inspection. See, the rental office manager is a bit of a tool and she likes to throw around her authority – then play the “I’m just following orders” card. She’s hassled us a great deal in the past and at this point – only a few months before our lease is up – we’re just doing our best to fly under the radar. Thus the heavy-duty day of cleaning.

On the plus side, I don’t think our house has ever been as clean as it is right now.

The walk is shoveled and salted (which is more than the office can say about the streets in our community). The rugs are all vacuumed. The bathrooms have been completely scrubbed. The counters have been completely scrubbed. The walls have been completely scrubbed. Every last dish is washed. Every last article of clothing is washed. There really isn’t any surface left untouched.

Also, two-of-the-three cats are spending the night away at “Aunt Lisa and Uncle Jared’s”. It’s a vacation for Duritz (who’s here with us) to be away from the two cats he hates. And it’s a vacation for Spook and Feyna to be away from the one cat they both hate (of course, they probably have an equal hatred for L&J’s cat, Winkle).

Nothing left to do at this point but sit back, enjoy the fruits of our labor, and wait for the manager to come over tomorrow and apologetically tell us how her hands are tied and she’ll just have to write us up for <blah – i.e. it’s 70 degrees in our house>.

(Watch: she’ll send someone else over tomorrow. They’ll peek their head through the door. They’ll say, “It’s not on fire? OK, you pass.” And then they’ll leave. :p)