Wednesday

Exciting title, huh (smile)? Hey, not only is it Wednesday but it's 41 degrees, fog so thick you can see maybe a half a mile (if you have your distance glasses on) and it's raining. On the bright side, I'm at the library and there's hardly anyone here so I was able to snag a computer. Either people are home because the weather sucks or they're at the mall shopping till they drop.

I'd like to say there's a ton of exciting stuff going on in my life but you'd know right off I was lying. My life, while not wildly exciting , is a good one nonetheless and I am relatively happy. I'm still crocheting, working on yet another afghan made of a myriad of colors and textures of yarn from my 'stash box'. Despite faithfully working from the stash it appears as if I have enough leftover yarn to make afghans for everybody I know and you know and still won't have to purchase more yarn.


When winter sets in and there's snow on the ground I'm going to be sewing Barbie doll clothes. No, I'm not regressing into a second childhood (smile)! I have a cousin, a little girl, 8 years odl, who has a 'thing' for Barbie. She has several Barbies but no clothes for them! At the store, even at KMart, the cheapest clothes are $5 for an outfit and they're chintzy, nasty looking and won't last but a minute. I think that's why her Mom hasn't bought her any. Plus, money is tight at their house and the kids need clothes more than a doll does (almost word for word from her Mom). I bought a ton of fabric, thread, laces, etc. and I have Barbie clothes patterns and I figure I can sew beaucoop clothes for her dolly. It'll be fun for me and she'll love it. Plus, I bought a new Barbie to give her with the clothes. I'm thinking maybe April I'll be finished.

Same cousin, I made her a pretty girlie-looking pink afghan some monthes ago. She loved it. Pink is her favorite color. Got a phone call from her last week, all upset. Her baby doll didn't have a blanket and it's cold! Oh no! I made an afghan for her baby doll just exactly like the one I made her (except smaller). Now baby doll is warm and snuggy.

I made cinnamon rolls from scratch last week. First time ever for me. I used the recipe from the Pioneer Woman's cookbook. It can also be found online at her blog/website. If you're interested, just Google Pioneer Woman. She's wildly popular. What I liked about her recipe was she had photos for each step (both in her cookbook and on her site). It makes it much easier when you're attempting something new because you can see what the person is saying, sort of. The recipe made a lot of cinnamon rolls, like about 50, and they weren't your little bitty ones either. These were honking huge rolls! Everyone I gifted with a pan of them loved them and asked to be placed on the cinnamon gift list (smile). Okay, everyone but HSM and her family. They said the rolls were too buttery. And they were veryveryvery buttery, very old school. But that was a good thing. They tasted like cinnamon rolls used to taste before people started making foods without much flavor. But as much as I liked them the way the recipe said to make them, next time I'm cutting the butter amount in half. I think they'll still be good. If you look the recipe up and give it a try, I also changed the glaze/frosting when I made them. PW said to use maple flavoring and coffee in the glaze. I nixed that and used vanilla instead.

Well, the clock on the computer says my time is almost up. Gots to go. You be good and be careful, take care, stay strong. And be mindful when you're out and about. Lots of bad people doing bad things to good people.


hugs, Tawny
248-615-1300

Hatred

I haven't been shy about saying how much I enjoy the new TLC (cable) channel show, All-American Muslim. I watch it every Sunday night at 10 pm EST.

One of the kind of cool things about TLC is the diversity of their programming. We can vicariously live amongst all sorts of different people via the network's shows.

I have watched Big World, Little People for years. It's a reality show about a family that lives on a farm in the Pacific Northwest. The Mom and Dad as well as one of the twins, are dwarves. The other three kids are normal sized. I have learned from watching the show that just because they're small physically, it doesn't mean there's anything wrong with them. They're not freaks. They live and love and want for their family what we all want for ours.

I've watched Jon and Kate Plus 8 from the time the sextuplets were little bitty kids. I learned several things from that show. First, that it has to be hard as can be to raise eight kids--a set of sextuplets and a set of twins. Second, that we should treat our spouse nice and not 'dog' them like Kate did Jon.

I've watched the show with the Duggar family. They're Christians with, at last count, 19 kids. They don't use credit cards and, while I disagree with how they homeschool their kids and the fact that they have so many kids, I've learned that they love their family and want the very best for them.

I felt when All-American Muslim aired that it would show people who were unfamiliar with Muslims that they're people too. That they love their families and want the best for them, just like everybody else in the world. I felt it would show people that Muslims are people too.

Here in my town for years we have had a sort of 'meet your neighbor festival'. I live in a diverse community where there are families from all over the world, where our residents speak dozens and dozens of different languages, where we come in all shapes and sizes and colors and religions.

As a result of our festivals we have all learned that we are all the same whether we're Armenian, African, Chaldean, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, obese, anorexic, little people, etc. We are all the same. Because of that realization we are a community that gets along and looks out for each other.  

Apparently America isn't like the town I live in. Lowes has been one of the advertisers of All-American Muslim. Bowing to great pressure from the Muslim-haters of the USA they have pulled their advertising dollars from the show.

While it is their right to spend their advertising dollars as they see fit, it is a sad and sorry thing that they would cave in and, essentially, agree with the haters. They have rubber stamped bigotry and hatred.

I am not a home improvement contractor or anything, just a homeowner who does her very best to keep her home in good shape. I have been a Lowes shopper for years, ever since they built one near to my home. I spend probably a thousand dollars a year there. That's not a whole heck of a lot of money in the grand scheme of things, but it's a sizable amount of money to me.

Until now I never knew that Lowes didn't like Muslims. But now that I know, well, no more shopping there. I am a Muslim. How can I patronize a place that hates me?  

Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.

Hugs, Tawny

248-615-1300

New Thoughts On A Brisk Day

As one of my friends made mention the other day, for like the umpteenth time, 'I sure did enjoy your last blog entry....' which is code for 'when in the devil are you going to write something again?'. So here I am. There are lots of reasons why I don't post often. One, not a whole heck of a lot is going on here. Two, thanks to more changes at the blog site as well as to the work-around site I've been using to post from, I am not able to post at all from my WebTV. That means, unless I am able to get to the library and snag use of a computer, I have to bother TWG and ask him to post it for me. That's what's happening today.

Who says facebook is useless? I read on there today that the state of

Pennsylvania has decided to stop trying to execute Mumia Abu Jamal! Mumia has been on death row for 30 years for the murder of a Philadelphia policeman. Mumia is still in prison, he hasn't been released, but perhaps it's the first step to gaining his freedom.

Also via facebook, you know how once you get on there you seem to reconnect with people you haven't seen in ages? Well, the people I went to grade school with, just grades 7 + 8, before that I attended public school, 'found' me on FB. I have been invited to do lunch with a few of them this month (but can't because of other commitments) but who knows; maybe the next time they get together I'll be able to join them.

Cable TV. Are you watching 'Boardwalk Empire' on HBO? I hope you said yes. The end of the second season is imminent and I'm going to miss it. It's superb TV. Same way with 'Homeland' on Showtime. It is an excellent series and if you're not watching it, well, you are missing out big time.

Last but not least, the TLC channel. Sunday nights at 10 pm EST, 'All-American Muslims'. A reality series filmed in Dearborn, Michigan. Dearborn, a city that is home to the world headquarters of Ford, as well as the largest concentration of Arabs outside of an Arab country, is part of the metro Detroit area. If you know nothing about Muslims except for the garbage you hear/see on the Fox network then this show is a must-see for you. Muslims are people too. As American as you and your family. I love this show and watch it every Sunday.

Yesterday the movie 'The Help' was released on DVD. I read the book years ago when it first came out and loved it. The story reminded me of my grandmamma. Often times when a book is made into a movie it, well, it sucks big time, but not this time. I really enjoyed the movie. And no, it's not a 'chick flick'. That is such a derogatory term.

I think that's about it from here. I'm still crocheting. Finished all my afghans and am working on another one. Trying to use up all my scraps and bits and pieces of yarn. From the looks of it there's probably another two or three scrap afghans worth of yarn in the bin. Oh well, they sure do end up colorful!

Hope you're staying warm. It's downright chilly here. Last week they got over 6 inches of snow just forty miles west of here. So far we haven't had enough snow to even talk about.

Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.

Hugs, Tawny

www.tawnyford.com

248-615-1300