Tra la la

[All posts this week have been scheduled. I am on "vacation" (accompanying my husband on a business trip) right now in the Dallas, TX area. Probably dying of heat. I will, hopefully, blog all about the trip when we get back. Including the insanely long drive, the insanely hot heat, the insanely boring days, etc.] 

We now have a piano in the house. We actually traded our Wii (and all games/accessories) for my mom's piano. We figured, "Hey, we never play our Wii, and we want a piano. Mom never plays the piano, and might want a Wii." My youngest sister is a little upset about the trade...even though she never played the piano. But, I figure she'll be ok, because she has a guitar, and she's really good at playing that!

The piano is OLD. And it looks it. Living through years of torture from my and my sisters, plus whatever torture before then...and now the torture of Bug! The piano started out as -my- grandma's piano. I'm not sure exactly when she got it, but I think the piano was made in 1963. It was never fancy. My mom acquired the piano when my sisters and I were all really young. We all had piano lessons (mine lasted for four years, and I still can't hardly play! Goes to show that practice really is important!) and we all abused the piano. It has water stains on it from being used as a side table. The keys are dirty and discolored. Some of the keys are chipped. And four of the black keys have come off (but that has mostly been Bug's doing). Chips, dents, scratches, water marks, and more. Plus, the thing hasn't been tuned in YEARS! And it has been through a couple of moves, too. So, it sounds pretty miserable. Oh, and the E flat key sticks.

Since we have had it in our home, I have been doing my best to train Bug to treat it nicely. The first rule for Bug to learn: The piano is NOT a train track! He seems to think it is a nice track to run his toys across (hence the four black keys that have come off). We also remind Bug to -only- use his fingers on the keys and to be soft. That means no toys of any sort. That means don't bang your head on it. Don't stand on it. Don't pound. Use your fingers and be soft!!!! I think it might take awhile before he remembers that particular rule! Rule three, no climbing on the piano. It might offer a pretty nice view of the room when you are sitting on the very top, but it isn't very nice to climb on a piano! Rule four, you are only allowed the play the piano from 8am to 8pm. We live in an apartment building. I really don't want my neighbors to have another reason to hate us (you know, on top of all the other noise that Bug tends to make). Hopefully he will learn to treat the piano nicely. And maybe I will start practicing again and finally learn how to play!

Also, we are planning on painting the piano bright red, to make it look more inviting. (Since fixing it up to look like a nice piano is not a monetary option.) I found this great link on painting a piano (via Progressive Pioneer). Can't wait until it's done!