Also this weekend I got stung by a paper wasp, which was actually somewhat amusing. Well, not at the time.

The back yard had become a jungle, which deters the dog from doing her business in out-of-the-way spots, so it was due for a mow. I got out the lawn mower and cranked it up, and grabbed the push handle to get going.

And then it was like a slow-motion mental dialog. My brain was like, "Okay, sensors report something odd with the left hand, a sort of prickle. No wait, that's starting to actually hurt. Yes, yes, that definitely hurts. And it's getting worse. What the hell? OW CHECK THE HAND CHECK THE HAND!"

So I let go and open my hand to take a look, and there's the wasp just sitting there in the middle of my palm. I may or may not have screamed like a little girl. It must have been on the handle when I grabbed on, of course, but there was no sign of the beginnings of a nest or anything. Just one of those things. I did the ice thing to numb it, and some vinegar to try to neutralize the venom, and it didn't hurt for long--but now it itches! Stupid wasps. I appreciate their role in the ecosystem, truly I do. But I still kill 'em dead when they build a nest too close for comfort!

Oh, and I never showed off last weekend's project (not that it took all that long): my Wall of Strings!



I had two racks on two sections of wall, and after last weekend's Great Furniture Rearrangement I decided I'd like to combine those into a single wall (until the collection expands, anyway) with a staggered pair of racks. I think it came out pretty well, though the blonde acoustic is by far the biggest of the bunch and sorta crowds the others. So if and when I do get the new electric I've been eyeing, I think I will find a new home for that acoustic.

Which reminds me, I don't think I mentioned the Great Furniture Rearrangement, either! We consider moving furniture around to be one of our main hobbies--it's fun to try new setups! Since we'd decided to get rid of our grand piano, that got me to thinking about what concurrent changes we could make. So I suggested bringing my desk and whatnot back into the great room--I'd been sharing the girls' school/craft room over by the kitchen, and somehow their toys and stuff always made it onto my desk and under my chair, and I was a bit tired of it. Plus mine is the PC that connects to my musical gear if and when I ever get back into writing and recording tunes, so it makes sense that it should be in the great room (which is really our music room, or at least that's my notion). Heather was not a fan of the idea--at least, not until I told her we could move the huge filing cabinet full of LEGO into the schoolroom, and that could be the LEGO room instead of always having LEGO all over the coffee table and floor in the great room. That got her on board pretty quickly. :) So I did the moves, and so far I like it.

Speaking of things happening quickly, since the idea of the move made it important to clear out the piano asap, Heather posted it on Facebook for her musical friends. And almost immediately, our neighbors down the street expressed interest. It's the lady who's been giving Hermione piano lessons for the past few years now, and apparently she's always wanted to have a grand piano, so her daughter went to her father like, "Can we do this for Mom?!" We didn't think to offer it to them because we didn't figure they had room in their house, and because she was familiar with our piano's issues, having started Hermione's lessons using it (nothing major, mind you, just a couple missing hammers and strings, and a few keys that don't work perfectly). But they did have the room and she didn't care about anything but getting the piano. We were quite pleased to see it go to someone we know and like, and the idea of only having to move it halfway down the street was appealing too, so they enlisted some helpers and came to get it that very evening. Kinda sad to see it go, but it was really just taking up space that can be better used--and let's face it, I was probably never going to give it the time and money it needed.

So now the music room is home to the digital piano, my guitars, the girls' violins, my PC/DAW and mixing board and whatnot, Heather's flute and French horn, and random bits of percussion. I think next we need the electronic drum set. Then I want that electric guitar I've been drooling over, and maybe then I can add mandolin, banjo, and dobro. Ooh, and some nice congas and bongos. Let's do this!

Still fighting the cold I had a few weeks ago, or maybe this is round 2 or a new contender, I dunno. It's just my throat, though--I can't seem to get it clear, so I keep harumphing and coughing and now I can consciously feel the back of my throat, feels a bit raw and annoying. Heather has been struggling with a runny nose this week too. Luckily the girls are okay, but a few of the cats have been particularly sneezy as well. Can people catch cat colds and vice-versa? Hopefully we're coming out if it, though, especially since the weather is warming up nicely.

A bit of good news/bad news today. Good news is I finally found out details on my annual bonus. As a manager I get one every year around this time, so I knew it was coming, but I never seem to find out exactly how much it will be until it's almost upon us. Last year's was a pleasant surprise since it turned out to be more than I expected, and this year was again a pleasant surprise, so that's all happy. The bad news is that it's pretty much all spoken for: we need to catch up on a credit card that's been carrying a balance, plus we need to pay our federal income tax for the year. That would have still left a few thousand bucks, but today we noticed that the digital piano we bought last week didn't have the no-interest finance deal we thought it did, so we need to go ahead and pay that off as well, which won't leave much to play with. Oh well, the piano was a good purchase so I'm not too upset about that, but it changes the timeline a bit. The wife was surprised to see that and feels like it might kibosh the lens purchase I have in mind, but I naturally do not see it that way. So we pay off the piano and get a no-interest finance deal on the lens instead, it all comes out in the wash, right? :)

Speaking of the piano, did I finish that story? I mentioned that the music store that was to deliver the piano arranged it for Saturday and then moved it up to Thursday, and they made good on that. It's a very nice instrument! Looks good, sounds good, plays well. Hermione tried it and quickly proclaimed that she was never going to play the other piano again. Ha! It does need work, that's part of the reason we got the digital, so I can tear into the grand and get it playing (and sounding) better.

What else is going on.. oh yeah, part of the bonus is also going towards paying for our new home security system, which got installed Monday. It's pretty cool, I must say. But I'm a little scared to arm the thing! I just hate the idea that the dog could trip the motion sensor and cause a false alarm. I did arm it last night, after disabling that zone. I guess I'll give it a few days and see how sensitive the motion sensor seems to be, and either disable the thing or go with it. It's supposed to reject animals under 85 lbs., which is pretty big! Yesterday I set up the cameras where I think they'll live, so it's fun to peek in on the kids (and cats) now and then.

Okay, lunchtime! Hope everyone is having a good day so far.

I feel like I should post something because I suck about posting and want to stay in the habit. So.. yeah. :)

• Weekend was okay. Another rainy, chilly, gloomy, dismal Saturday, so we didn't do much. We went out in the morning for a bit--now I can't even remember where, how sad is that?--and to have lunch, but then we stayed home all afternoon. Hallie was sickly anyway, a little bit of a fever and she just wanted to sleep and relax all day. Sunday looked like much nicer weather and we had no plans, so we decided to head to LEGOLand since it had been a while. Luckily Hallie was feeling all better! It was a fun time, lines were generally short and the weather was indeed nice, if a touch too warm. We stopped at our usual place on the way home for milkshakes, because it was hot and they're damn good milkshakes. :)

• At LEGOLand Amy drove the little LEGO cars for the first time--it's supposed to be for kids 3-5 years old and she's a few weeks shy of 3, but she still did pretty good! She had some trouble coordinating her steering with holding the accelerator down, I think--she could focus on one or the other but not both. Still, afterwards she said she felt perfectly confident to drive the van. :)

• Speaking of LEGO, I totally want to see the LEGO Movie, which seems to be getting really good reviews. When FoxNews calls out a childrens' movie for brainwashing kids with commie anti-capitalist ideals, I'm on board as a general rule. I dunno when we'll go, though--maybe I can take Hallie to the theater some evening this week, since she's the only one who's usually interested in going to the theater anyway. Hermione takes after Heather, who would rather watch a film at home and in chunks. I'm glad at least Hallie appreciates the theater-going experience! Amy might too, but she's still a little too young and doesn't have the patience yet.

• I finally finished the girls' bathroom! Well, almost. I am notorious about starting projects and not finishing them. In this case we did a remodel of their bathroom last year, but I hadn't gotten around to attaching the backsplash to the vanity top. So I finally did that, just need to caulk it and attach one more piece of trim along the side. Easy!

• Speaking of projects, I really need to get back to work on our piano, which has been a work in progress for what, 5 years or so now? But I haven't wanted to tear it apart to work on the action because Hermione uses it for lessons and practice. But Friday night we went to Costco, and they were having a special display of Yamaha digital pianos, which got us thinking about getting one. Our piano is awesome as an antique artifact, but it really doesn't play very well, it needs new strings badly, and it's out of tune. So it's really not a good instrument for Hermione to be learning on, not least because she'll get to think an in-tune instrument sounds wrong, you know? So if we got a digital piano for her to learn on, I could work on the acoustic piano without depriving her of a means to practice. Bad thing is, good ones are pricey--the one I think we settled on is Kawai's CN-34, which goes for $2400 or so and seems like a good mix of features before leaping to the $3500+ models. (If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations, I'm definitely interested to hear them!)

• Um.. I think that's about it for now. Oughta get some more work done before I call it a day, especially since I'm on the road tomorrow!

Just a quickie today:


Finished up the top side of the fallboard yesterday and moved on to the underside. As I suspected, the aesthetic criminals who painted the piano did so right over the fallboard decal. I was hoping that the decal was under varnish, or at least that the lettering was on the underside of the decal, but no such luck. I think I did as well as I could at salvaging it, but I still lost some of the lettering and the rest is pretty scuffy. Still, I think I might try to touch it up with paint before I take it all the way off and replace it. I just prefer the idea of having the original decal on there.

Aside from that, just more stripping.. that'll probably be it for a while, with maybe some refinishing too of the parts that are removed and stripped. I also need to polish up the pedals real good and get some polyurethane or something to seal them from tarnishing again. I want to get the lid off and see about getting it stripped and refinished too, and polish up the strings (and replace the few missing strings) while it's all open. So much to do and so little time!