walking in a winter wonderland

One of the perks of last weekend is that we had a blizzard. Normally that wouldn't make me happy... but it meant that Mike's work was closed so I got to spend the day with him. And since we had no food in the house we decided to order pizza. But I am a pain in the butt and I wanted red wine with the pizza, so we decided to brave the elements (Mike LOVES the snow so this was no problem for him) and go for a quick walk over to the local shop where I got a bottle of Mike Ditka Cabernet Sauvignon.

Things I am thankful for...
1. Having good outer gear. As Mike likes to say, "There's no such thing as bad weather- just bad clothing!" (As I like to say, "Shut up, Mike! This snow sucks!") But I've been perfectly toasty while out and about this winter.
2. See-thru umbrellas.
3. Discovering a new, really quite delicious wine.
4. Being out in a big storm when everyone else is inside.
5. Video cameras and memories.
6. Playing volleyball again and our team (of old geezers) beating the pants off the new team of 24 year olds!
7. The future being full of possibilities. My life isn't quite where I want it to be at the moment but there is always time to do something about it.
8. My friends. I've been feeling very, very lonely lately which makes me appreciate the friends I do have even more.
9. Date nights with Mike- we've been exploring our neighborhood more and we've had some epic air hockey battles and discovered a cute little shop that sells delicious hot chocolates (we split a sampler of three different kinds) as well as homemade, flavored marshmallows and truffles.

 I love this couch! 

 Salted caramel, semi-sweet and Mexican hot chocolates.

Dr. Sha

My new favorite teacher is Dr. Sha. She is a cute little Chinese lady who is probably around 60 years old and is from Shanghai and has a VERY thick accent. But she also has a great sense of humor, on top of being a bad-ass, super-talented acupuncturist.

The other day in class we were learning some advanced needling techniques. In China they do something call "fire needles" where they actually insert the needles into a fire and heat them and then stick them in your body. We don't do that here in the states, instead we do something called "warming technique" where you take moxa (which is a loose Chinese fluffy herb that you can roll into a ball) and stick it on the end of the needle (that is stuck in someone) and then you light the moxa on fire. The heat transfers from the moxa to the needle and then to the person.

And it feels GREAT! It is very useful for places like the knees or the knuckles and feels good for arthritis. I did it to my right knee only and it felt so different (and better) than my left knee after I was done.

The moxa turns into ash, but retains its shape. So it sits there as a little ball of ash on the end of the needle. You can put some cardboard around the needle just in case the ash falls so that you don't burn the patient. But when you are done you take this spoon that has a slot in it and put it around the needle and scoop the ash off.

So Dr. Sha was explaining to us (in her very heavy accent) that when she started teaching she called it a "crack spoon" and all her students had laughed and she didn't understand because it was a spoon with a crack in it, so what was so funny? And she turned to us and goes, "And that's how I learned about drugs." And then she goes, "So don't you go home now and tell them that Dr. Sha taught you how to use a crack spoon today!"

She is adorable. We are learning some really fun things this semester. Last week we learned to do needles with moxa and this week we learned to do needles with cups over them (to intensify the treatment.) As much as I complain about school, I have to admit that it is pretty awesome too!