Lesson from a metronome

I brought out my metronome to figure out where I was going wrong on a piece of music.  I kept getting off rhythm and I needed to find out exactly where I was playing too slow.  Well, after a few attempts I found out that I was getting off tempo because I was playing too fast and needed not to rush the phrase.  And I think this lesson applies elsewhere in my life.

Stress free birthday

I once heard that stress is created when your values are in conflict with your actions.  I feel that very keenly around birthday time.  I want very much to give the girls wonderful birthdays.  I also value protecting the environment and creating as little waste as possible.  I also worry about all the plastic we use and dispose of every day.  I usually find birthdays very stressful because there is inevitably the huge amount of plastic packaging and waste at this time.   I worry that by making my children happy now, I am only creating a debt they or their children will have to pay later on.

However, I think I might be able to have a stress-free birthday for you-know-who today.  (As she is concerned about internet safety, she does not wish to be mentioned.)  She got to open one present this morning and it was the Plan Toys Dollhouse Garden Accessories set.  It was not shipped with any plastic, AND, to my great delight, there was NO plastic inside the box.  The beautiful wooden pieces were wrapped in brown paper.  Every bit is recyclable and the toys will last for generations.

That is a gift I can be proud to give my daughter.

I think I am really going to enjoy this birthday.

PS  Her other gift from Mom and Dad is a new bike.  This actually falls into the category of necessity.  She totally out-grew her old one.  Her legs are so long now, she looks like a baby giraffe.  The bike is a Electra Townie, just like mine and should last her, well frankly, the rest of her life.  We are going to have such fun this summer!

Girls in Bonnets

Since the girls love Little House on the Prairie so much, I made them little pioneer bonnets.  Aren't they cuties!

Anachronism alert: Colonial period dress with pioneer period bonnet.   

Its not Spring yet, apparently

The spring equinox is today so I greeted the girls with a "Happy First Day of Spring!".  Gwen informed me quite solemnly that I was incorrect.  As the spring equinox is actually at 7:21pm local time tonight, it is not yet the first morning of spring.  She then proceeded to tell me what time the equinox would occur in each time zone in the continental US.  Alrighty, then.

  

The girls and I hopped on our bikes to go to Starbucks and have coffee and scones to greet the morning BEFORE the first day of spring.  As I pay for my coffee, I wish the cashier a happy spring.  And, I am not making this up, he says, "That's not till 7:21 tonight."  

Ok already.  I'll stop pretending that it's the first day of spring until after 7:21pm tonight.  Sheesh.

The Joy of a Fuzzy Sweater

Today, I wore my angora sweater.  It is so soft and fuzzy and I love wearing it.  My favorite feature is that Caitlin can't stop rubbing the sweater.  She will stop what she's doing and come over and snuggle and stroke the soft fuzziness.  I promised I'd let her wear the sweater when she's a little bigger.

Yes Gwen, I am afraid you are stuck

Over our pancakes at breakfast, Jeff starts telling Gwen about the astronomy program he recently watched. This discussion should never have gotten started.  She's only 10 years old.

Gwen: I don't want to watch it.
Jeff: Why not?
Gwen: It shows the world ending.
Me: But, that's on an astronomical scale.  That's billions of years from now.  Besides, the universe had a beginning, right?
Gwen:  Is it going to end?
Me:  Well, that depends on the mass of the universe.  We can estimate the mass of things we can observe, like stars, but not things like dust or rocky planets.  That's called dark matter.
Gwen:  Where does the universe end?
Jeff:  Well, we think it doesn't have a beginning or end, like the surface of a ball.
Gwen: What's outside the ball?
Jeff: We think there are parallel universes.
Gwen: You mean other universes outside our universe?
Jeff: Yes.
Gwen:  Well how do you get there?
Jeff:  You can't really leave our universe.
Gwen: You mean we're STUCK?  Like in North Korea?
Jeff & Me: Well, yes.

I'd like to apologize right now to anyone who has Gwen in a philosophy class.  I think we've already messed that up for you.

Chocolate Wars

The following represents an actual conversation I had with Gwen last night.

Me:  I'm making a surprise for dinner tonight!
Gwen: What is it?
Me:  A new dessert: Death By Chocolate.  It will be delicious!
Gwen:  Is it dark chocolate?
Me: Well, yes.
Gwen:  I don't like dark chocolate.  I won't eat it.
Me:  Will you try a bite?
Gwen: No.
Me:   Just one little bite.  I think you'll like it if you just give it a try.
Gwen:  You know I hate dark chocolate.  Why would you even think I'd like that!  I won't try it.  I won't.  I don't like dark chocolate.  (etc, etc)
Me:  Ok, fine.  I just make three of them.  And, if you change you mind, you can have a little bite of mine.

Later, after dinner, Gwen gets a separate dessert while we wait for our chocolates to come out of the oven.
The timer dings and I pull out the dessert, each looking so deliciously chocolately in their own tidy little ramekin.  I place the dessert in front of Jeff, Caitlin, and myself and we dig in.  Gwen watches.  We are not gagging or choking.  Clearly this is edible if not actually tasty.  (Her suspicions are not entirely unwarranted, I have made dishes that have not come out as advertised.)

Gwen:  Can I have a bite?
Me:  Sure.
Gwen:  (Takes a bite.)  This isn't bad.
Gwen:  It is actually pretty good for dark chocolate.
Gwen:  Dad, can I have some of yours?
Gwen: (Has quite a few bites from mine and Jeff's.)

This sort of thing happens quite often.  Dinner time is not the relaxing event it should be.  More like the planning and execution of the invasion of Normandy.

Bond, Jeff Bond

Jeff's work is already so casual that having casual Friday would be deeply redundant.  So, instead, they have dress-up days.  Yesterday was Bow-Tie Thursday.  Doesn't my sweetie looks so dapper.  Next, a top hat!