A Short Break

Today is Ash Wednesday.  I am Lutheran, so we don't generally do fasting or no meat or anything like that for Lent.  However, one of my co-workers did a 21 day fast for the new year and I was a bit inspired.  I've never done a fast before but I've decided that for Lent this year, I'm going to do a bit of a "technological fast."  I can't give up computer and cell phones entirely since I'm a cell phone tech.  But, I intend to not do Facebook, Twitter, blogging and Yahoo! Groups for the next 6 weeks or so.  Hoping to devote more time to family, Bible study  and maybe some composing.  So, enjoy your Lenten season everyone and for you Catholics, the Fish McBites at McD's aren't bad at all, so let that be your little guilty pleasure ;)

Joy

P.S. If you need to get in touch with me, the email on my profile will still be checked occasionally. 

Zoé at the ENT and Adèle's Birthday

After Zoé's hearing test came back, we were sent to the ENT.  Our doctor recommended a Pediatric ENT in Coppell so we made an appointment.  It was like the shortest doctor visit ever.  He said that she can hear just fine and confirmed that there was no fluid in her ears.  Our pediatrician had seen fluid behind her ears previously so I do believe it has all completely drained.  Our theory now is that after her one illness she had a bunch of fluid behind her ears.  If you've ever had that condition, it makes it very difficult to hear and everything is muffled.  Over the past month, she has shown improvement with listening so I believe all the fluid has drained.  Now it will be up to speech therapy to get her to start talking and responding better.

It was also Adèle's first birthday.  Here are some pictures:

My daughter's in love with Ducky Momo

Both my daughters love Phineas and Ferb.  Adèle seems to have taken a shine to Ducky Momo....a character who is only in one episode for only part of the episode.  I may need to make one for her because Disney doesn't have a plush.

Muppet Mania

We like the Muppets in our house.  The girls like them and it's clean so I don't have to worry about inappropriate content.

Here are some of my favs:

Paul Simon

Elton John

Steve Martin

Liberache

Charles Aznavour

Enjoy this Valentine's Day

Dear Mr. Nolan Ryan,

Dear Mr. Nolan Ryan,

I wish to express how much I love your steak.  We discovered it about a month ago when Kroger had one of your sirloin steaks on clearance.  We cooked it and....I didn't realize that I'd never had steak before.  It was amazing.  Like better than Outback or Texas Roadhouse or Logan's. 

The next week, Kroger was having a sale on your meat so we bought a whole bunch of whatever we could find.  We made one of your pot roasts that did not require a knife at all to eat.  We made burgers with your ground beef and my husband has promised that the first thing he will make when we get our grill is some of your burgers because they were the best he had ever tasted.  We've had more sirloin.  We've had London broil.  We've had new york strip. 

Tonight I had a t-bone.  The tenderloin half of it was to die for (don't get me wrong, the other side was good as well).  So good in fact that I'm about to pack up both of my children and go back to Kroger right now to pick up some for our Valentine's Day meal.

In closing, whatever you are doing to produce such excellent meat, don't stop.  And I will continue to be a satisfied carnivorous customer.

Sincerely,

Joy

Facebook Parenting

I'm sure most of you by now have seen the latest rage on YouTube known as Facebook Parenting for the Troubled Teen.  If you haven't seen it, it's a video response from a father whose daughter posted a letter to Facebook complaining about her parents but she blocked her parents thinking they wouldn't find out about it.  So his father reprimands her, posts it to her facebook page so her friends won't think she got away with anything and then proceeds to shoot her laptop.

The reviews on this are mixed, some people think it was too extreme, many people applaud it.  I would like to point out a few observations of my own on the video.
 

1. If you'll notice, this isn't the first time his daughter has done something like this on Facebook.  She was already grounded and had her laptop taken away and is now a repeat offender.  
2. The father's actual response as to why he posted this so publicly was because the offense was public.  She posted on her Facebook page so he posted his response of Facebook via YouTube so that her friends and their parents wouldn't think that he would let her get away with saying stuff like she said.  I can say that my stepdaughter has put me in a similar situation.  She had posted something, our friend who is a pastor posted a response as a comment and one of her friends posted something very rude and inappropriate in response to him.  My husband posted a comment in response saying that was unacceptable and then immediately talked to my stepdaughter and she was cut off from communication with that particular friend.
3. A lot of people think that this is extreme because he shoots the laptop with a gun.. Would they have been so shocked if he had hit it with a sledgehammer?  That's a weapon too.  Just saying....
4. He bought the laptop for her so it was his to do with as he pleased.  I probably would have sold it but obviously taking it away wasn't working for her so this may have been the best way to get through to her.
5. Another point raised is her refusal to get a job to pay for the stuff that she wants.  I got an allowance for chores when I was littler but when I was a teenager, I did go out and get a job to pay for stuff that I wanted and I didn't get an allowance for stuff anymore.  I applaud his refusal to get free handouts.  My stepdaughter spilled coffee on her netbook and now it's dead.  We may buy her a cheap computer as a birthday present but if she had a job, she would be the one buying it.  She's still a little young to have a job.  She's already drowned one cell phone, fortunately it was cheap.  Since I work for a cell phone company, she has a nice android smartphone.  If she drowns that...I do have insurance but she will be paying or working off the $130 replacement cost.
6. The man is refusing media contact and says he doesn't want to teach his daughter that she can profit from something like this.  I applaud that.
7. A lot of the commenters are saying a lot of negative stuff about her daughter being traumatized because of  this and that she'll go out and be a stripper or get pregnant or become a drug addict or something.  I say parents that don't reprimand their children when they do something like this and the child feels they can get away with anything end up with the stripper pregnant drug addicted teens.

The Results are...

Today, we woke up bright and early and drove the hour to Cook Children's Medical Center in downtown Fort Worth.  Zoé finally had her hearing test.  It's called and ABR and the child has to be sedated for the procedure.  They used a mask to put her under (bubble gum flavored gas I was told).  They were very nice.  She was cranky as all get out when she woke up.  And...then she passed out again.  Here's a picture.

As for the results....she can hear but her eardrums aren't moving.  So, we have an appointment for the ENT next week.

Finished!

I finished the tea cozy!  It turned out better than I thought.  Here are some pictures:

Tea Cozy

This is the teapot:

As you can see, the spout is positioned a little differently but we thought it was cool.  Here's my progress on the tea cozy.  I started with the two round pieces of the Martha Stewart Loom but I was concerned it wouldn't get over the spout, so I stuck the two 6 hole pieces on either side to make it bigger and increased it a bit.  I have finished the 3" hole in the side for the handle.  Now I have decreased 6 pegs directly opposite for the spout.

I took the Basket hat pattern from Knitting Wheel Fashions but I've modified it so much, it really isn't that pattern anymore.

Contemplating a Tea Cozy

My husband bought a tea pot.  He now wants a tea cozy for his new teapot.  I figured wool was the way to go because it's supposed to be insulated and stuff to keep the tea warm and if it's good enough for mittens, it's good enough for a tea cozy...right?

Of course the tea pot is not completely "traditional" and so I'm going to have to design my own pattern.  Wish me luck.

Stay tuned....

My Weekend

I didn't get a lot done except for a couple of small projects.

I used the Martha Stewart Loom to make this little woven square.

My husband also picked this up for me.  It was one of those no-sew fleece blanket kit which I normally don't do but it's Perry the Platypus.

Having some setbacks on doing Perry's face.  Setting that aside for now.  Also having some issues with the whitework.  I hate the stem stitches.  Putting that aside for now as well. 

My husband wants a tea cozy.  I'm going to do that instead for now.

It's Never Too Late

I took the ornaments off the Christmas tree today.  Hopefully the DH will take down the tree tomorrow.

I hate chain stitches.  They are giving me headaches on my whitework piece.