Friday, March 18, 2022

7 Quick Takes about Ending the Madness, Piano Serendipity, and Passengers who Look Good and They Know It

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

1


Daylight Saving Time is a monster. My kids have been progressively more tired every day since the switch. My 8th grader is so out of sorts today he didn't even go to school. This is ridiculous.

But there's hope! 

I learned a few days ago that a bill passed unanimously in the Senate to stop messing with the clocks and permanently stay on Daylight Saving Time. 

I repeat: every single person voted for it. 

Proving that no matter how politically polarized we get as a country, the one thing we can all agree on is that this stupidity needs to end.

2


With the melting snow, things always resurface in our yard that were lost over the winter. After getting off the school bus, my 5-year-old meandered around, picked something up off the ground, and brought it inside.

Coming in the door with a wide smile, he held up the severed torso-and-legs of a Toy Story figurine and announced, "I found Woody's buttocks!"

I feel like I should probably explain that when my kids shoot BB guns in the yard, they set up old Happy Meal toys and action figures for target practice. Not that it makes this story any less weird. I guess it just gives you some context.

3


We got a new piano!


Like everywhere else, piano dealerships are having massive supply chain issues and it's taking between 6 months and a year to get certain models, so we were expecting it to be a long wait.

But they happened to have one in the showroom that just arrived and wasn't yet spoken for, and in less than a week after I called it was in our living room.

When my 15-year-old got home from school that day, I started showing her the fancy features. She politely listened, then said appreciatively, "And you can stalk people in its reflection!"

It was hard to get a picture without ending up reflected in the piano, actually.

She's right, it's a pretty shiny piano.

4


It was hard to say goodbye to the old piano, though. It's a beautiful Kurtzmann upright from 1906, and it passed to us from my mom who had it since she was a child. I learned to play on it, and all 6 of my kids did, too. 

It's a great family heirloom. But sadly, it's just developed that "old piano" sound that no amount of tuning can reverse. 

So for now, we've moved the old piano into the basement and our resident artist, the 17-year-old. is working on memorializing it in a painting we're going to frame and display somewhere in the house.


Luckily we have a walk-out basement, but the piano movers struggled mightily transporting the old piano down there. (I could tell they were good guys because when they ran into trouble they started laughing instead of swearing.) They just don't make big beefy pianos like that anymore, and the spring ground is very mushy right now.

Once the old piano was moved out, we of course found dust bunnies, lots of Nerf darts and assorted toys, and even a few tortillas our avoidant eater had stuffed behind there when he thought we weren't looking. I made a joke about it and the movers said, "Don't be embarrassed, one time we found a dead cat behind there."

Now someday, we too will be immortalized in a story just like that. Whenever someone apologizes for their heavy piano, the movers will just tell them about the people with the 850-pound beast that almost broke their backs as they tried to move it downstairs.

5


In other serendipitous events (see Take #4) my son got glasses, just in time for my daughter to lose hers. 

We'll order her another pair if they don't turn up soon, but she was panicked because that evening she was going to a movie with a friend and wouldn't be able to see the screen.

In the end, she ended up wearing my son's glasses, and even though their prescriptions weren't the same, she said they were good enough to watch the movie.

Having 6 kids is hard, but I also can't count how many times it's saved my butt when I need a last-minute babysitter or someone to take another kid's place at the dentist or doctor to avoid a cancellation fee.

6


At bedtime, I've started putting some quiet backgroud noise on my phone (I just have to remember to check that it's on Wi-fi first because one time I used up all my data for the month playing 8 hours of white noise while I slept.)

My kids and I were once investigating the different noise colors on YouTube (my favorite one for sleeping is red noise, by the way) and we were laughing harder and harder at the comments section under each video. My favorite comment was: "I'm colorblind, I really hope this works."

7


Does anyone know who this man is? My kindergartner brought this sticker home from school without explanation (and then equally without explanation put in on the passenger seat headrest of the van) and it seems like it's probably a character from something.

If no one has any other suggestions, I'm going with Extra-Fabulous Version of Robert Downey, Jr.

The first time I looked over and saw it on the passenger seat it startled me, but now I kind of like it. When I'm driving around by myself, it's like a little traveling companion. Throwing glitter like a superstar.

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7 comments:

mbmom11 said...

Could that be Freddie Mercury?
I always wonder how kids lose their glasses - I've cleaned out the lost and found at my kids' school and they're are usually 2-3 pairs. Keep them on your faces, kids! My kids just destroy them on a regular basis - thank goodness walmart optical replaces the frames within a year of purchase. (One son had them replaced 5 times in his first year of glasses wearing!)
Enjoy your new piano!

Leslie said...

oh that's Salt Bae.

Diana Dye said...

I too think changing times twice per year is a little silly but we've always adapted well. ("Set it and forget it" is our mantra). I am a little curious how my kids will like going to school under the moon and stars next December though.

And congratulations on the new piano!

Peggy said...

Not switching time is a great idea, although I’ve heard lots of medical experts lately saying it should be standard time to not mess up our natural clock. Permanent daylight savings means your high school and middle school kids will start school before daylight.

PurpleSlob said...

Just pick one! I'd prefer regular, not DST myself, but once we all get adjusted, then no week s worth of lost time every 6 months!!

Terra Heck said...

Can't say I know who the sticker's supposed to be but I like what you came up with for it!

Amelia J said...

Leslue's comment is correct, it's "Salt Bae". He's a real guy, a video of him sprinkling salt on meat became a popular meme in 2017. So your traveling companion is throwing salt, not glitter haha.