Electronics Free Wednesday

Back in April, I started implementing a "No-TV Wednesday" Policy. We didn't manage to do it every week, but the couple times we did do it, we always had a ton of fun. One time, Dylan and I made a big, much more involved dinner and drank wine. Other time we have played cards and games. We would usually go out and play with or walk the dog.

Generally it made us do something besides sit on the couch in the same room and not interact with each other.

Dylan and I do see each other a lot, and right now we carpool together, but I think it is important for us to do things together.

I also think it is important to be unplugged for a while. Dylan and I are both on our computers all day at work, yet we still manage to spend most of our evenings plugging away on the computers. So even if we spend the evenings reading, that is better than mindless web surfing or watching tv.

It has been awhile since we have had a "No-TV Wednesday" but I also thought we needed to up the ante and go electronics free (with the exception of listening to music, since that never hurt anyone!).

So last night we had an electronics free Wednesday. Overall it went well. Until 9:30pm, which is when I have usually been going to bed since we got puppy, Dylan went back to electronics, but seeing as I was going to sleep and he was going to be up for another 3 hours, that was fine by me.

We went to the rec center by our house so that I could finally get my membership card and so we could check out the facilities. It was so nice! We used to go to 24 Hour, but since our HOA fees are mandatory and include the rec center, we dropped 24 Hour. There are not as many machines as 24 Hour, but there is an indoor running track and the pool has more than 3 or 4 swim lanes, so I wouldn't have to share. It will be really nice to start going there soon!

Then we made dinner--cilantro lime rice, black beans, diced tomatoes and cheese on the little corn tortillas. Delicious.

After doing some laundry (never ending...) we took the puppies for a walk. Ares did so good! He just wanted to be by Freya the whole time. I am re-working on Freya's heel and loose-leash walking since she has not been doing as well as I would like. The bugs were not as terrible as they have been, so that was good.

When we got home I started my next piano lesson. Unit 2! It has been like 3 weeks since I learned Unit 1, the black keys, and I have practiced a couple times since then, so I felt ready for the next unit. My brain is practically exploding with everything that I learned last night.

The main thing was learning the white keys. This meant first learning the letters for the keys (A-G) and where those are at on the keys. I practiced that with both hands (not at the same time!) for a bit, per the booklet. The hardest part is trying to remember which keys are which, especially when I am looking at the book to read the music.

I also started learning other symbols like repeat and playing soft - piano - or playing loud - forte.

The most difficult part was at the end of the unit where they have you tap out by hand (i.e. not playing any keys on the piano) different rhythms. The challenging part is that it is different for your left and for your right hand. It was definitely a good exercise for me to realize just how challenging piano playing is. I consider myself to have pretty good hand-eye coordination, but playing a different rhythm on each hand was really difficult.

Overall a pretty good lesson. Dylan was really helpful, and slightly frustrating, but that was because it is just so different for me! I will definitely practice this a lot before I move on to the next unit. I also need to start looking for a teacher. I would like to know how to play a Christmas song by the time Christmas rolls around.

It was a great Electronics Free Wednesday! I cannot wait to keep this up.