How to Practice Piano in Six Easy-to-Follow Steps


Step One

Sit with good posture and play the pieces your teacher gave you for the week.

Step Two

Smile when your brother sits beside you and invite him to a duet.

Step Three

As he begins to take over the piece, gently slide (no pushing, please) him over and place your arm over the notes he shouldn't be playing.

Step Four

If this technique fails, sweetly place your arm on him and explain to him that you are a budding pianist and would like to continue your devotion to music. He'll begin to understand that you are under time constraints and that you must take your music seriously.

Step Five

Don't be surprised if your brother is overcome with joy and decides to hug you. He isn't trying to slow you down in your endeavors, he is simply expressing his deep-felt emotion.

Step Six

If you've truly impressed him, your brother will even give you pats on the back(side).

You'll never know what music does to people until you begin to play an instrument.

It really does soothe the savage beast.....as illustrated above.

Strawberry Pyramid

Strawberry Pyramid
Originally uploaded by jannza

My strawberries are growing nicely. This picture was taken last year when we first set up the bed. Runners can be encouraged to grow on lower levels. (The variety I planted was the ever-bearing strawberry.)

My husband built the pyramid and eventually made a pvc frame which fit over it so the birds wouldn't eat all of our juicy treats!

This year it is doing even better and has many yummy strawberries quickly approaching the ripening stage. I have more plans for these berries than I'll end up having berries, I'm sure. At least I'm guaranteed none will go to waste.

Yikes! Waste strawberries? They send you to jail for that, don't they??

Thank You

Thank you to Pete-Bakes! for a great cookbook. Since I already enjoy making great artisan breads, this will be fun to use. I've never won a cookbook before!

I'll be sure to share my endeavors in the future.

Who Says Math Isn't Fun?

"I hate math!"

Oh, such dreaded words. How to get a child to do their math, understand it and stop complaining! Ever try racing through the problems with them?

Really,
On your mark
Get set
Go!

I'm guessing this technique works best with a slightly competitive child but it's worth a try....

And then there's always snack time afterward....

Romantic Brunch

Thank you, little one, for the delicious romantic brunch you made for me and Daddy.

January Snowballs

About the only kind of snowballs I can stand for very long are one of two pleasing varieties. There's the delicious offered-in-many-amazing-flavors: New Orleans snowballs...a sweet ice-cold treat in a cup.

The other variety is easier for me to get at the moment and I'm pleased as punch to be teaching the technique to my younger daughter: the snowball quilt pattern. We have started working on a quilt-pattern-a-month plan so she can learn more about this new disease she is suffering from: sewing!
This morning our girl time was spent setting up for the January pattern. Cutting, playing with colors, ironing, pinning and finally sewing...with a short break in there for a hot bowl of homemade potato soup with cheese and one quick Andy Griffith show.
The outcome was a lot of oos and aahs at her beautiful first attempt at making snowballs that won't leave you freezing...in fact, they may even warm you up. Not as tasty as a New Orleans snowball but much better than the seemingly endless white variety we have sitting out in the front yard.