Mama Still Knows Best

Saturday, my mom and I got into a discussion about tea. I discovered a place that sells Turkish apple tea, so I bought some and am now addicted to it. I have not been able to find apple tea like it since, well, since I was in Turkey in 2001. This Turkish tea from the store Teavana has an uncanny resemblance to what they serve in the suks in Turkey. Anyway, my mom said that the best way to make tea is to boil the grounds, then strain it. Man, is she ever right! I bought some more Turkish tea on Sunday to support my new addiction, and I made Doug search for his strainer when we got home from the mall. We brought some water to a boil, then added the tea and let it boil for about five minutes. This tea does not come in tea bags, by the way. Doug strained the tea into our cups and by God, that was the best cup of tea I have ever had!

The band finally had a weekend off. It was a well-deserved weekend off, after playing four nights a week for the past month, not to mention doing all that gigging in addition to working our day jobs. It was so nice to go home from work on Friday and catch up on some laundry. I baked a frozen pizza and almost polished off a bottle of Norton. Then, I folded laundry and watched two of my favorite shows, "Monk" and "House, M.D." I went to bed pretty early, early being eleven, for a Friday night. I still had to work Saturday morning for a few hours. My poor little brain did not know how to act on a full eight hours of sleep.

Saturday night was Credit Union Trivia Night to benefit the Children's Miracle Network. It was held at a VFW hall in Overland. The turnout was great and I think we raised a good amount of money between the silent auction and the 50/50 drawing. My table scored the lowest amount of points, but we still had fun. My table did have just about all the answers in the Movie, Motown, and other music categories, however. My table's theme was "Birthday Party." We sat the closest to the trivia judge and when he tried to insult my table for scoring so low, my friends Pam and Katie attacked him with silly string. He asked my table what department we work in, and I said, "We are the janitors," to which he cracked up.

Katie, Pam, Angie and I went to a country bar, after trivia was over. Saddle Ridge is a new country and western-themed bar in Westport Plaza. I was not going to go at first, but then I learned that they have a mechanical bull, so I had to go and show all the city-slickers what a good mechanical bull rider this small-town girl is. I was a bit worried, as we were waiting to get in though, because I could hear from the outside that the bar was playing Def Leopard's, "Pour Some Sugar On Me." I was thinking, "Can I not go anywhere on my night off without hearing that friggin' song?" Moreover, I was at a country bar and I wanted to hear the latest in Pop-Country music, not friggin' "Paradise City!" Yes, I play in an 80s pop band, and the general publics' drunken love of songs like the Beastie Boys, "You Gotta' Fight" is paying my college tuition, but give a girl a break on her night off, eh? I know, I should have gone to a blues bar if I did not want to hear "Like A Virgin." Man, am I a music snob or what? I had a great time, anyway, singing karaoke with my friend Angie to "Toxic." It is actually one of the better bars at Westport Plaza. It is kind of like a theme park, with different rooms hosting various activities and challenges, like line-dancing and billiards. I have to say that I will definitely go back there to do some bull-riding in the near future--especially at gun-point!