The Sound of Music

I hear the sound of music in our house! After a year and a half of subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) hints about a particular empty corner of our family room that would be just perfect for a very large piece of furniture, say maybe, a piano! Martin found a solid mahogany baby grand piano on craigslist - community classifieds. It was delivered on Saturday as an early Christmas present.

Is it new? Yes, it is very new to us. But it may actually be older than me. [Update: Martin researched the serial number and found out it is closer to being older than both of us combined!] There are a couple of keys that are currently sticking and we'll have to find someone to tune it pretty soon. But I think it is gorgeous and can't wait for the boys to learn to play. Preston and Garrett are excited about it too. Tonight, I taught them how to play "Mary had a little Lamb" with one finger, but unfortunately, that's the extent of my musical knowledge.

Here is a video of Preston and Garrett warming up. Nolan is the one under the piano following our cat, Midnight, and Liam is talking about the soccer metal he got at his last game of the season (this morning.)

It's good we have something else to entertain us for a while. The TV reception in our house has been out for almost a week now. We tried to upgrade our DirectTV satelite dish to High Definition, but something went wrong. It didn't work. Parts had to be ordered. Someone at the parts place forgot to place the order. Had to find new parts place. Parts order should be ready tomorrow. Not holding breath.

The thing that surprises me the most is that I really haven't missed it all that much. Other than a few early morning cartoons (Dora, Backyardigans, Wonder Pets, Mickey Mouse Club House, etc.) the TV is off most of the day anyway. Even when it is on in the evening, we'll find ourselves channel surfing and saying "How could there be 500+ channels and NOTHING on."

I do kind-of miss the news though. The world could be coming to end and we wouldn't even know.

A while back one of my sisters went TV free for a couple of years. Frankly, back then I thought she had gone nuts! (Sorry, Sis, if you are reading this. You know I love ya!) That was also the reaction I got from my mom when I told her how long our TV had been out. "What!!!!"

But now, I'm thinking hey here is an item we can cut from the monthly budget. No distractions, no loud commercials, no "Suite Life of Zach and Cody"! We've had family movie night four nights in row. No Monday Night Football, no Tn Titans away games, no UT Football games, no Sci Fi shows for Martin, no HGTV for me. Uh oh, this may not work afterall.

HURRY UP WITH THAT PART!

In the meantime, if the world is coming to an end, hopefully it will be mentioned on the FRUA Board or someone will post a comment on my Blog. Right now, that's my only connection to the outside world!