Seven Quick Takes: Friday, February 7

1. For all of you who have been asking, my dad is still in recovery mode from his emergency surgery. He is tired out very easily, and is still sleeping a lot. But that makes a lot of sense considering that he had his chest cut open, his aorta partially replaced, and was sewed back up just three weeks ago. He is getting physical therapy now, and I think it motivated by the thoughts of seeing grandchildren in March to keep on track. Thank you again for all of your prayers and support to my family. It is a great blessing to me to hear about friends who have been taking care of my parents when I live so far away.

2. I have been a little bummed about the Olympics this year. I don't understand why publicly broadcasted things can only be seen when one has a TV with an antennae. When will stations just start having a live stream on their website? It makes total sense to me. If they have the commercials and everything, why can't it be there? Further, I feel like the Olympics should be broadcasted more freely than normal TV. If it is this internationally unifying event, why leave out those cool enough to not have a TV.

3. I have been making soups this Winter from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The one last week was garlic soup. It was a little strange. Basically I cooked whole garlic in water with salt, whole cloves, parsley, thyme, and pepper for 30 minutes and then strained it. Then I beat slowly into the soup egg yolks that had been beaten with oil. It is supposed to be really good for your health, but the cloves gave it a weird flavor. There is an alternative ending to the recipe without the egg yolks, but with potatoes and saffron. We are thinking we might like that better and still get the healthful benefits of the garlic.

4. Some of our friends spent all of January in Texas, and apparently their kids cannot handle being back in Minnesota because of the cold. However, I am really glad to have them back especially because my friend R is very encouraging of my writing. I make no promises, but I hope to be writing a lot more as long as we manage to have good conversation over children playing.

5. M has been extra busy these last two weeks, since his department has been interviewing for new hires. He has gone to dinner three times in the past two weeks and not gotten home until after 9pm. Once again,  I am so thankful that I only have to manage bedtime alone on occasion and am in awe of parents who do it alone all the time.

6. G (4.5) and L (3) were competing today about who's imagination was bigger. Arms outstretched, "My imagination is THIS BIG!" G said her's has a billion pictures in it, and L retorted that her's has 20. At least L can count to the number of pictures. And if you are wondering these are pictures of monsters. Some of them are good and some of them are bad, but the bad ones only cause nightmares when you are awake. They must have been having a lot of nightmares while they stayed up until 9:15pm tonight.

7. This kid won't walk, but stairs are not a problem. 15 months today!

Linking up to Jen and her Conversion Diary! Click over for more Quick takes!