The Very Best

On Monday, my grandmother had surgery to remove a gall stone. She was doing really well at first, but then she got a little sick (probably from the pain killers, I think) and so she had to go back to the hospital. Being the crappy grand-daughter I am, I did not shop for a card for her until yesterday. At work we have a company store which carries Hallmark, so it looks like you cared enough to send the very best when in reality you cared enough to take a break from work one afternoon. It's not a large store, and the selection isn't great. Usually this doesn't stop me from finding an appropriate card; I am creative and will branch out to other potentially-applicable headings. In this case of course, "Get Well" would be the appropriate heading, but "Thinking of You" or "Cope" might have something good. I usually get people funny cards, but this is my 90-year-old Grandmother we're talking about and the "Old MacDonald Has a Cow" card on which we see Old MacDonald yelling at all of the animals, and inside it reads "here a crap, there a crap, everywhere a crap crap" isn't what I'd consider to be Grandma-appropriate. And she wasn't expected to be in the hospital at the time I was shopping, so a lot of the Get Well cards didn't apply, and I'm an "I" not a "We" so that cuts out a good 10% of the cards right there, no matter how appropriate. I found this cutey: (click on it to see it bigger)


Inside it reads "This is especially comforting when you feel baaaaad." And there's a little bible verse on the left inside. So it's cute, grandma-appropriate, not overly religious, and knitter-appropriate, and that's why I'm sharing this with you. There was another sheep card in the Fresh Ink brand, but can you buy a card for yourself? I might. I won't describe it in case I do get it, then I'll just show you the picture.

[If you have any form of belief system that indicates that you can take some action on behalf of my grandmother (ie. prayer, lighting a candle, concocting a potion), please do.]

Today Lauren is my favorite person. She noticed that I liked tea from a posting about a week ago, and she sent me a $5 gift certificate to Adagio Teas, a lovely little on-line tea shop, which has more teas than I've ever heard of. I chose a Rooibos tea sampler (anyone got a pronounciation for that?) of six different teas, and I only paid a total of $8.75. Then I got to send more $5 gift certificates to my friends, thereby spreading the wealth. It came today:

The one in the front is a free sample! I only paid them $8.75 total, and they sent me a free sample! What a deal! It's Pumpkin Spice Tea, and it's a black tea, which I don't usually go for, but it's ok. It certainly smells yummy. I can't wait to try the rest. And aren't those the cutest tins? They are packed to the tippy-top with loose tea, so it's about 10 cups worth, and each tin has a reminder of what temperature your water should be and how long to steep. Very handy for a tea moron such as myself. I am in love. They have good information about tea, too, so get thee to Adagio Teas!