personal Archives • Your Real Estate Whisperer

Tea Glorious Tea

October 12, 2016

Tea glorious tea

I know the trendy thing is to love coffee. Every time I mention the fact I’m not a fan I get “the look”. You know the one where people make that face that shows they think you have some kind of major problem. Their face gets mildly less screwy when I say, “I love hot tea” which in turn usually I get the response “I just love a chamomile or green tea”. I try to hide my disgust for such the mention of these kind of teas, They do little for me personally other than make me feel like I’m trying to do some deep, cleansing colon treatment before a colonic. It’s like a punishment to my soul to have to drink them, Seriously, GAG!.

The tea that makes me want to open my eyes in the morning, that soothes my tummy when upset and warms my soul on a bad day is the black ones. Watching that boiling hot water pour over a tea bag, making that golden hue of lovely liquid begins my day with pure joy. (a tad over dramatic, but I seriously love the stuff.) If you don’t drink tea often, black teas are the dark rich teas like Assam, Earl Grey and Darjeeling. There are many other varieties but these are my favorite.

A couple of weeks ago, I was able to visit a tea shop in Baton Rouge called Red Stick Spice Co. They have many varieties of black tea blends (and even my not so favorite ones as well). The black teas they do have are super, mega, delicious. I’d highly recommend them if you are wanting to jump into tea drinking.

I buy my everyday teas are at World Market in Baton Rouge. They have many varieties of daily black teas, including PG Tip’s, Typhoo, and my personal favorite, Barry’s Irish Breakfast. It’s just a hop, skip and jump from Ascension in Siegen Lane Market Place.

I know that this blog post has nothing to do with real estate in Ascension Parish. I just wanted to share my love for good tea and where you can find some good ones (in my opinion).

“Because YOU matter”
#yourrealestatewhisperer

Checklist- How to ready yourself for a hurricane.

October 10, 2016

I moved here to South Louisiana from Florida in 2007 and have seen my fair share of hurricanes here in Ascension Parish as well as in Florida. Many you have too, but even the seasoned “hurricane aware” person can forget things; so I decided that now would be a perfect time to put this list together for you. I gathered some of this information for you directly from the “www.ready.gov/kit” website but added things that we used and were thankful for later.

The Basics

Water – One gallon per person per day

Crank Radio- you can find them at places like Home Depot. I copied a link to these, http://www.homedepot.com/s/crank%2520radio?NCNI-5

Flashlights- make sure to buy extra batteries.

Glow Sticks- This wasn’t on the official website, but I promise if you have children, they will love having them to go to the bathroom, walk around the house, use as a nightlight and carry safely anywhere for hours. You can find these at any hardware store, and they are reasonably inexpensive.

First Aid Kit- You can buy a complete first aid kit at any drugstore.

Food- Anything non-perishable. For some reason, when people go to the store, they go crazy for milk, which spoils quickly without refrigeration. On that note, they do make shelf stable milk that doesn’t taste weird.

Sleeping bags and pillows- put these in a room where there no windows in case of flying glass from broken windows or doors.

Solar Charger for cell phones- Make sure to power up prior to the hurricane. Have a solar power charger to charge at least one phone. (It does take more time to charge with these, so use your phone only when necessary when the power is out.)

Change of clothes in water proof containers.

Sturdy shoes in a water tight container

Extra gas in an approved gas container for vehicles

Fire extinguisher

Water Proof Matches

Female products/Supplies

Tooth paste

Paper plates and plastic utensils

A whistle to signal for help

Dust Masks

Moist Towelettes

Tools- wrench, pliers to turn off utilities

For the kids- When my husband and I lived in Florida our children were very young. We always made hurricane days into an indoor camping trip. Complete with sleeping bags all in one room, we had them bring one lovey toy and one board game we could all play. I also had a charged DVD player ready for when the power went out. We told stories with a flashlight under our faces and made shadow puppets on the ceiling with our flashlights and fingers. We tried anything to entertain them, and we left the TV off so if the power did go out they would barely notice. It worked for us, and I hope it can work for you as well.

These are just a few items that have worked for my family. My husband and I have gone through at least 10 hurricanes together, mostly when we lived in Orlando. A couple of tips I’d like to share, that I heard from a friend, is to fill your washing machine with ice to use as a cooler for drinks. The water from melting ice will drain from the washers tub. The other helpful hint is to go to the Dollar Store and get the packs of glow stick bracelets. At night we would throw these into the bath tub to light the room for the kids when it was bath time. Not only was it entertaining, but it made bathing in the dark not so scary.
I hope this list works for you when you are trying to think of what you need. There are many websites that have more comprehensive lists of what you may need. I have listed some links below.. “Because YOU matter”. #yourrealestatewhisperer
https://www.uscg.mil/d7/airstaborinquen/docs/HurricanePage/Suggested%20Hurricane%20Supply%20Kits%20.pdf

http://www.kplctv.com/story/139411/hurricane-preparation-guide-and-checklist

http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4340160_Hurricane.pdf

http://hurricanesafety.org/prepare/hurricane-safety-checklists/