The Art of Cleaning a Tea Mug

I'm prefacing this post with a couple of facts.  I am a clean person, I swear. I also really enjoy black tea.  So there you have it.  Please do not think less of me after reading this post.  (I am not a hippie).

I have a stainless steel tea mug that I received as a Christmas gift a few years ago.  I took the mug to work and have since used nothing but that mug.  I used to only drink tea in the morning, and then the habit became more and more intense and I now drink tea all day most days of the week.  Since I'm at work more than I'm at home, you can venture to guess from what mug my tea is consumed.

I'll skip most of the story here and cut to the chase.  My mug becomes very stained over constant use.  Though I rinse and wash the mug at work with mild detergent, it simply does not appear clean.  The stains become thick enough for me to scratch them!!  Gyack!

A while ago I found the best way to clean it was to take it home and use some simple baking soda and elbow grease (a really good abrasive sponge or cup scrubber) to defunk the mug.  It worked amazingly, better than any detergent I could imagine.

So I recently (today) brought my mug home and cleaned it, these are the results!

Before

First Pass

After

So, really now, there you have it!

My Dictionary

I've been told by a few random (and some more specific) people that I tend to use words that appear to be "made up". Now I admit that I do have a whole vocabulary of words that I use that are probably not in any dictionary. One for instance is "hippie-fied". Or another for example is "bloggy". There are however words that I love to use that happen to be real words (believe it or not)! I thought that you, my loyal readers (thanks to all three of you), should have the benefit of seeing a small list of my favorite words, real and fake! [I have placed a link with each word that may or may not have anything to do with the word, it's just fun this way]

facetious: One my all time favorite words first noted in my brain by They Might Be Giants (stop squirming Mike). It means to be funny as opposed to being serious, as in, to joke with another. I tend to use it when asking someone if they are making fun of me rather than making a compliment!

idiosyncrasies (alt: idiosyncratic): I first heard this word on the History Channel when in high school and made a mental vow to use it at every opportunity I could. I have a feeling that instead of that mental note, the one that actually got interpreted by my brain was "become as idiosyncratic as often as possible". Oh well, you can't win them all. This word is meant to define an peculiar characteristic. As in, "Stephanie's usage of user-created words is very idiosyncratic making her a one of a kind writer'! [On a side note, I tend to leak sarcasm far too often]

onomatopoeia: a previously blogged term, I like to say this word. It may have nothing to do with a conversation at hand or a song I am listening to; it's just fun to say. It is defined as the word used to define/describe/verbalize a sound. For example, the word oink is defined as the sound a pig makes "oink".

bloggy: a word to define my mood. I do not say that I feel like writing or that I am inspired; I choose to say "I feel bloggy".

percolator: A toaster for water.

obsequious: Another TMBG word (I mean it Mike, STOP squirming). Say it, OB-SEE-KWEE-US, see that was fun! It means to be subservient or submissive.

REVITized: To describe the transition from a two dimensional drawing into a 3 dimensional object.

eff: a shortened version of Fuck. Why shorten by only one letter? F looks unfinished.

sheepeses: Multiple sheep. Duh!

Jeepers Criminey: Okay, so this is more of a phrase, but I like it indeed. It's beats the heck out of shouting "mother effer", "Jesus Christ", or "Fookin' Fiddle Sticks".

Just Pining

I walked to my desk, hit the button on my computer that makes him think, replenished my water and sat down for a busy day of organizing paper! As the morning usually goes, I skipped past the news and went straight for my blogs. It was here, on this day, March 26 of 2009 at 7:40AM that I saw my soul mate. You might be giggling to yourself thinking that I am having yet another delusional morning, but no, this is not the case. I really did see him in a YouTube video. Are you dying to see him too? Okay, well here he is, Matt Harding in his video "Where the Hell is Matt?".

Have you watched it yet? Did you see that he is both travelling and dancing? How awesome is that? Did you see the elephants?

I am in a better mood this morning, so I will write as quickly as my fingers can type so that I can get a couple of stories in and then quickly get to work on those stacks of paper that are just pining to be organized!

English Beat Tix...Kansas City radio station has tickets to this show. It is the only way to get tickets to this show. I e-mail the radio DJ who tells me that I can have tickets but that I must call the morning show on Wednesday morning to get them. I do this, and she tells me she changed her mind. Really?? I was in no mood yesterday to handle anything like that. I think she heard my heart drop because she apologized profusely and told me that it should be a KC thing, and we were St. Louisans! Really?? So long story short....I begged, literally begged for them; she made me say things like "I hate St. Louis radio" and "I hate Cornbread". Oddly enough, both statements are true! But then she tells me that I have to wear a scarlet letter the entire night. Really?? I don't even know what that means! Oh well, we'll see what happens between now and then!

Dub Kitchen...I work with an awesome girl named Jen R. here at my cult called HOK. She is in a dub reggae band called Dub Kitchen. I got to see her perform for the first time, and she totally rocks! Her voice is perfect for this style of music, and she was adorable on stage as well! I got to dance too! I've already briefly blogged about the event, so I won't dwell, but my complaints are about Missouri bars, smoking, and hippies. Ugh, hippies! I went to the show alone, but knew a couple of people there to hang out with, though, I did little hanging 'cept between bands. Fellow cult member Seth was one of these people. He told me that on very rare occasions, he goes to the Pub, yes, the one and only O'Connell's Pub! He likes the jukebox! So do I!

Okay, so seriously, I need to get to these papers. They are giving me some looks that say, "Touch me all over and shove me in that binder. Scan me baby, scan me!". I really can't deny them of their due treats!

A few other notes before I get to it; 1)How did I get this bruise on my arm?, 2) How many times do I say "I'm sorry" in a day?, 3)Am I allowed to say "stop asking me that or I WILL punch you in the face"?, 4)Elephants are cool, so are seals, 5)I really need to not drink alcohol, I am failing miserably at this task!

Word of the day(I so like this one):
cheeky monkey: Originally used to define someone who gives lots of lip and is a smart-ass, but now refers to anyone talking or behaving audaciously.