Have a cuppa

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In British English, a “cuppa” is a cup of tea! In 1972 when I entered Transactional Analysis Therapy one of the first things pointed out to me was that I had an addictive personality. Part of that was an all or nothing at all attitude whether it be on a diet or not, whether it be drinking a case of diet cola a day, smoking 2-3 packs of cigarettes a day, drinking alcohol until I was drunk or as it has been not smoking a single cigarette since July 2008 or not a drop of alcohol (not even in cooking because though it may evaporate my thinking would be, "Oh well, I had wine I might as well......."), not a sip of cola, diet or otherwise, since science came to the conclusion in interferes with losing weight---hey, I need an excuse for the weight gain, though my doctor doesn't buy it! I didn't drink any coffee until I was in my twenties and then it was coffee every moment I was awake and not drinking alcohol! I used to be a iced tea drinker but not too often and then I found out that I was becoming addicted to Aleve PM and Lorazapam for no reason at all as I didn't need help to sleep. I did stop drinking regular coffee except 1 cup when I woke up or when I went out to eat, filling in with decaf. I read an article about chamomile tea (which I still don't pronounce correctly!) and decided to give it a try. I used 2 teabags to a cup plus a sweet 'n low (okay, another addiction!) and a 'shot' of lemon juice. I stopped the Aleve and Lorazapam and all was going good. A few weeks after I started the tea I noticed The Dollar Tree was selling the chamomile tea plus others like peppermint which was caffeine free so I bought a couple of boxes and started to have 1 bag each of chamomile and peppermint (plus the lemon juice and sweet 'n low!) If that wasn't enough a few weeks ago they were selling a variety of teas and Winn-Dixie was having specials on tea from both Bigelow and Celestial but it was the new teas from The Dollar Tree that got my attention and, all of a sudden, during the day I was having the following: 1) Herbal Helpers Detox Boost which had Tumeric, Chai Masal, Rosehip and Hibiscus plus green tea 2) Herbal Helpers Immunity Boost which contained Corlander, Ginger, Cinnamon and Clove 3) Herbal Helpers Energy Boost containing Aswagandha, Licorice and Cinnamon. All contain natural antioxidants and none caffeine. After checking out what the various herbs were---come on--do YOU know what Aswagandha is?!?!---and going to their web site: ceylonfoodvalley.com I started a routine of having the various teas at home and winding up the day with the chamomile and peppermint mix. Of all the teas the only one I didn't like was called "Get Burning" which has a touch---too much of a touch---of chili pepper spice and black pepper which has too much of a 'kick'. It also is made of Rooibos--an herb only available from South Africa--which sounds interesting and I would like to try without the other herbs and spices mixed in it. Okay, I am doing the addiction thing again but all these are supposed to be good for my health and I am asleep before my had even hits the pillow. Mmmmm---wonder what my cardiologist will think of my mixing all these herbs with my meds??? Meanwhile want to come over and have a cuppa???