Yearly Archives: 2011

Because Nothing Says "Welcome" Like a Piano

February 10, 2011home projectsKirsetin

Getting new carpet requires moving things around a bit. In our case, it meant moving all of the dining room, study, and living room furniture to the garage or onto the areas with hardwood. That means the vast space in our kitchen, foyer, and hallway.

We put the kids to work, but those darn boys couldn’t lift this behemoth. Imagine!

We fired them, and simply slid it into the foyer. And then we left it there, for a week.

I suppose we could have someone sit there and play beautiful music when friends come through the door. That might be nicer than yelling, “Hey! Boys! Be careful by the piano!”

Or, I could suggest they come in through the garage.

That really says, “Welcome, friends. Come on in. We tidied up for you!”

School Fundraisers

February 9, 2011finances, foodKirsetin

Even though I’ve been a PTO President, volunteered for umpteen book fairs, and written my fair share of flyers telling parents about “exciting opportunities” to support the schools, I have a confession to make.

I’m not a fan of school fundraisers. Nope, I’m really not.

I am a fan of financially supporting the schools. I am also happy to write the school a check to express that support. I do not need random candy, sweet breads, or wrapping paper in return. (Although I will say that the wrapping paper has been very nice paper.) I especially do not want to pay a 70% premium for a crappy item that I could find for next to free at Target, so that the school earns $.59. Why don’t I just give the school $25 and call it good? Can someone explain this “get random junk for a high price so your school can earn pennies” philosophy to me?

But, as you may have guessed by my ranting thus far, I do, indeed, pony up for the aforementioned random items. Case in point: this year’s sweet bread. It’s a dessert, I guess. In an attempt to clear some of the who-knows-what from my freezer, I dug this out from last fall so I could be the Best Mom Ever by serving dessert on a Wednesday. A Wednesday, people!

So I review the package, and it says this:

Which I did, right? I just dug it out of the scary depths of my freezer where it was busy making friends with italian sausage and some soup from 2009.

And now I’m ready to bake it. So here are the instructions for baking:

Anybody notice anything strange? Why does it have “Thawed” instructions, when I was clearly told to KEEP FROZEN? Nowhere on the package does it say, “Thaw before baking.”

Luckily for me, it also has the Frozen instructions. On the downside, it appears that all of the cinnamon popped out the side of the bread somewhere between the time the frozen bread shipped from who-knows-where to the school, where I’m guessing it did not stay frozen, until it arrived at my house, via backpack.

Dessert on a Wednesday might not turn out to be so great after all. Frosted Mini-Wheats for dessert, anyone?

Winning Isn’t Everything, But It’s Winning

February 7, 2011sportsKirsetin

As every grade-school athlete can tell you, it’s more fun to win than it is to lose. Yes, it’s true, winning isn’t everything. We learn a lot from defeat. We learn how to dig deep and push hard; we learn the the importance of teamwork; we learn what perseverance means. And when you’ve experienced the the bitter taste of losing, winning is all the sweeter. This is true for kids of any age who really love to play a sport. It’s true for my children, it’s true for the kids I coach, it’s true for me.

And even though we weren’t the ones playing last night, the win was awfully sweet.

Thanks, Packers. And Aaron Rodgers, you’ve earned your stripes and done away with any lingering doubts: you’re the man. Go Pack Go!