Things around the house

~ Things have been blooming around the house ~

~ Things have been moving around the house ~
After gram, we got rid of the dog scented sectional sofa and that has allowed for more arrangement possibilities.

~ Things have been migrating around the house ~
After Gram (again!) Bijou kitty is all over the place and up in everyone’s business, gone are the days of upstairs-cat & downstairs-dog. ♥

~Things have been brewing around the house ~
We are some serious slow-brew sun tea drinkers (well at least Jason and I are!) If you want to make your own, this is all you need to do:

Get yourself a huge super sized GLASS pickle jar, I mean like the industrial 1 gallon sized ones!

#1 Firstly eat all the pickles (YUM!) then thoroughly wash and clean it out. (Pickle smells may hang around for a while in the jar/lid ..not to worry though, they WILL go away and you WONT taste it!

#2 Fill with water, I don’t usually worry about the temp (it’s not ice-cold and it’s not hot ..whatever comes out of the tap first, maybe tepid coolish!?!) I usually fill it all the way up to the threaded neck. Add in 8-9 tea bags, we almost always use straight black tea (universally loved in our house) but you can get as flavor fancy here as you want! If using bags with tags, leave the tails hanging on the outside of the jar rim and screw the cap on.

#3  Place outdoors in direct sunlight for a few hours on a warm summer day. The hot sun will heat the water up and start brewing the tea!

#4 Once you’re satisfied with its color (nice and dark) bring it back into the house and remove the spent tea bags (sometimes I put them in a container in the fridge and use the cool wet bags to soothe wind or sunburned skin and compost the used tea in the end :) You can leave your gallon of sun tea unsweetened or turn it into sweet tea by adding 1 cup of sugar (more or less, depending on how sweet you like your sweet tea.) It’s best to do this right away by the gallon, as the warm tea will melt the sugar and leave you with smooth granule free tea.

#5 Pour yourself a tall glass over ice, leftovers can be kept in the jar and stored in the fridge.

A few other things: Wash the Jar between tea batches. You can actually do this in any glass vessel (always use glass though) and use the ratio of 1 tea bag to 2 cups water (example 6 cup glass container = 3 tea bags)

Personally, I love using a strong spicy chai tea, sweetening the whole jar while still warm and then adding a splash of almond milk or cream once it’s over ice in my glass. Another great flavor mix is 8 black tea bags + 1 speciality flavored tea like orange, jasmine or mint (using just 1 bag of a different flavor adds a subtle undertone of yummy)  You can also use green tea instead of black ..so good!

~ Things have been like old times around the house ~
With our sweetest girl home for the summer, I am getting more requests to make cute things! Alexa has a big soft spot for squirrels, last year we had a baby fall out of a tree during a wind storm and injure itself. When it was clear momma squirrel wasn’t going to come to its aid, Lex stepped in and rescued him, bringing the little guy (she named punch) in a soft cloth lined box to the wildlife rehabilitation center ..yeah she is that tenderhearted and awesome!
(most states have several centers for orphaned & injured wildlife of all kinds, so if you happen upon something hurting (no matter how small) please help stop the suffering if you can. xoxo