In the last 24 hours
Sad: Realizing, at age 35, that I am mildly tone deaf. My singing voice will waver as much as a quarter tone off the note and I can’t hear it. This means that I am retroactively embarrassed about any public singing I’ve done ever. It is possible that the inability to hear notes clearly is related to the scar tissue I have on my eardrums. The scarring is a result of far too many childhood ear infections. Or perhaps my ears are just built wrong for tone discernment. This makes me sad because I love singing. It also makes me doubt my own judgment because I considered singing something I was pretty good at.
Comforting: Having a nice talk with Howard about perceptions, validation, music, capabilities, limiting factors, and plans.
Frustrating: Finally assigning the kids chores that will help us get the house actually clean rather than just de-cluttered. Then having a child whine that the 20 minute job I’ve assigned is too hard and completely unfair. We wrangled and then came back to the conflict from a different angle. The job was done by the child, but it is frustrating to try and get them to care about dirt.
Rewarding: Watching Gleek at her first gymnastics class. She approached it as she does everything else. She threw her whole self at each physical task. Her cartwheels, forward rolls, hand stands, and back rolls would all improve greatly if she would just slow down to get her form right. Right now she is using raw energy and muscle power to get the tricks done. Gymnastics is a perfect fit for her. It is an activity where she is praised for throwing herself into the activity.
Satisfying: Knowing that I got all my business stuff done before noon.
Tiring: Looking around at how much house work there is to be done. We’ve been operating on bare minimum for over a month. And for a long time prior to that we’ve been paying only small amounts of attention. Everything is dirty.
Hopeful: Howard has finished his last convention for the next six months. We have a space of time to really refine our home routine and get things running smoothly both for the family and for getting more books into print.