Yesterday I was really put to the test as far as controlling my reactions to every day aggravations. How did I do? I’ll let you decide for yourself.

1. On the way home from dropping my daughter off at school, I tried to merge on the highway but got stuck behind a minivan going 25 MPH! Oncoming cars in the right lane did not slow down enough, and I was stuck in the middle of it all. It was one of the most terrifying merging experiences I have ever had. How I made it out alive, I am unsure. But did I let it bother me? You bet your @#$ I did! Let’s just say that it is likely that the the minivan driver had nightmares about my facial expressions last night.
2. I had a lunch meeting and could not find a parking space. Then when I finally did, the rain poured on me. If that were not bad enough, I stepped into a deep (7 inch) puddle and my feet, socks and shoes AND bottom of my pants were soaking wet. That was very uncomfortable sitting in the air conditioning that way. How did I handle it? One word. But I cannot say it.
3. I had to run to the post office on my way to pick my daughter up from school. After arriving at the post office, I realized I forgot to bring the papers needed for Rachel to take her driver’s license test. So I had to race back home (in the rain) to pick them up and then head to school. I knew I’d be late picking her up, and she would be waiting for me intently (due to the eagerness to take the driver’s license test). How did I react to this inconvenience? Actually, I did not let it bother me, really – that is until a nasty driver of an 18 wheeler cut me off on I 95.
4. On the way to the driving exam, it started to rain again extremely hard. We knew this meant we might get turned away at the DMV, like we were on Monday. But we decided to drive out there anyway to give it a try. We witnessed a ridiculously stupid car accident right in front of us, where the guilty party chewed out the innocent driver. We decided not to get involved. It was stressful. I kept my thought to myself on that one.
5. 1 mile from that minor wreck, we got stuck in more traffic due to a more serious accident. By now we thought we’d never make it to the DMV in time to get the license test done. But we both were pretty good about just waiting it out. Okay, I did a lot of sighing and moaning maybe.
6. We finally got to the DMV and were faced with a long line outside. Luckily we had a special pass to get VIP treatment due to being turned away on the day we had the appointment. But then we had to wait in another long line, but at least it wasn’t 2 long lines. (See? I’m being positive.) The real problem was that we had to move our car to the testing area. Rachel was driving, and another driver came very close to slamming into her twice while she was backing up. Not her fault. Even though she tooted her horn, the other driver kept going until I yelled at the top of my lungs out the window. It turned out that the driver was around 100 years old. The good news is that Rachel passed her driving test!
7. When we finally came home, I was glad to get back to work, since that would be more relaxing than driving. Rachel went next door because she is cat sitting for the neighbor. She was unable to turn off the house alarm, so the obnoxious alarm noise blasted through the neighborhood. I had to run over there. I could not turn it off either, as apparently the control panel near the front door does not work. The neighbor failed to inform us about this situation. The phone rang and it was the alarm company, but because we could not find the darn cordless phone we could not answer in time. I was running around the house like a maniac panicking. We finally were able to turn it off using the panel by the back door. Long story short, the police came – 45 minutes later! (Nice security!) We explained what happened and it was okay.
8. I came back home and started to make dinner. What could happen now? Well let me tell you. I cut my thumb with a very sharp knife while slicing a potato. (I rarely cut myself in the kitchen, and I cook all the time.) Ouch. Very gross as well. How did I handle it? I ran around the kitchen looking for something to wrap it in, since it was bleeding a lot. Turns out I picked up a paper towel that had glass cleaner all over it. Ouch! $@#%&! My husband had just come home from work, so he helped me get it right. (Today it is all swollen, and it is no fun to type on the keyboard.)

I went to bed at 9 pm last night. I assessed my reactions to the events of the day. I gave myself a D-/F+ for my reactions. I guess I have a long way to go.

I’ve been doing a lot of deep thinking lately. I suppose this makes sense, given that my Mom just passed away in July. I’ve gotten somewhat past the “stuff” issue, and I vow to never buy a bunch of anything any more that I do not need. I also decided I am not going to buy gifts for people, because those will likely end up in the pile of discards. And they just clutter up their lives like stuff has cluttered up mine and most everyone else I know. I’d love to do something special or donate to a deserving charitable cause in the name of a friend or family member though.

What I’ve been thinking about mostly today are the every day hassles that we let bog us down. I’m talking about the little aggravations and frustrations that can really put a person in a foul mood. (i.e. traffic, rude store clerks, gossip, toxic, negative people, a stubbed toe, etc) They are really petty in comparison to what is truly important. But while you’re experiencing these things, they seem so unpleasant and unbearable. Usually the next day, you forget all about it and start with new aggravating challenges.

So the question I posed to myself today was, how do I spend less time on pettiness and more time on meaningful, more pleasant experiences? I suppose it all boils down to how I react to these mishaps. I can flip out (as I often do) or I can laugh some of that off. (Probably not that hard to do, actually).

I think I will experiment with this for the rest of the week and see if I can reduce the pettiness in my life. I’ll let you know how it goes.

4 days ago I wrote about how ridiculous it is that school starts so early. I mentioned that we usually have days off due to tropical weather. Well, yesterday and today there was no school due to tropical storm Fay. It was simply a rain event here, and not even as bad as most of our thunderstorms. But the schools want to be cautious, which is fine.

But here is my point – Why start school in the summer only to have days off due to bad weather, year after year?

As parents, let’s fight to get schools across the country to start AFTER Labor Day!

We just announced our Writing Contest for Librarians a few weeks ago, and already entries have been coming in. And I have to say they are looking good! So if you have not entered, please start writing your most interesting, funniest, most touching, most ironic, most endearing or most whatever you wish story describing “What I Wish Everyone Knew About Librarians.” The grand prize winner will receive $500, 2nd place winner will receive $100 and 3rd place winner will receive $50 just in time for holiday shopping! Click here for the full entry rules.

We are just a few weeks away from announcing our 3 winners from our Kids Travel Writing Contest. The deadline to enter is September 1st, so tell all the kids you know to get writing. Each winner will receive a check for $25 and an autographed copy of The Travel Adventures of Lilly P Badilly: Costa RIca. Click here for the full entry rules.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups organic heavy cream
• 2 cups organic half & half (half cream/half milk)
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 whole vanilla bean (quite expensive, but worth it!)
• 2 Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate Bars

In a bowl mix with a whisk the cream, half and half and sugar until sugar dissolves. Add extract and stir. On a cutting board, split that vanilla bean long ways down the middle. Scrape out all the tiny seeds and put into the bowl. Whisk well into mixture. Pour into ice cream machine and turn on. (Make sure the bowl that goes into the ice cream maker is completely frozen, or you will not have good results. I keep my bowl stored in the freezer at all times so it is ready when I need it.)

Meanwhile cut choc bars into small chunks. I cut each square segment of the bars into 4 pieces so there are many small pieces. You don’t want huge frozen chunks in the ice cream, because it hurts your teeth to bit into it.

When ice cream is quite firm but not yet finished, add chocolate chunks to it. When ice cream maker is done (according to your machine’s instructions) pop it into the freezer in an airtight container. It will firm up much more there after a few hours. Consume the ice cream within a few days for optimum freshness.

Trust me, it will disappear quickly, because it is so GOOD!

Last week we celebrated Rachel’s birthday with friend, Ben at our favorite restaurant, Cafe Maxx in Pompano Beach. Tonight, her real birthday we had a great dinner at home with cake and ice cream. I’ll post my ice cream recipe, because it is so easy and so delicious. I cannot believe I am old enough to have a 16-year-old daughter!

Our piano-playing, avid-reading, good-humored daughter is 16 today. . . For all of you who have younger kids, beware. It may sound cliche, but time goes by so incredibly quickly, it is unbelievable. Enjoy every moment. More photos to come later . . .

My daughter started school yesterday, August 14. I don’t know about how you feel, but I have always believed that August 14th is at least a few weeks away from the end of summer. What ever happened to school starting AFTER Labor Day? I sure miss those days.

What is the reasoning behind starting school so early? Here in the Miami area it is all about the public schools and the FCAT. The theory is that the earlier the school starts, the earlier the teachers can shove the FCAT down the students’ throats, thus improving the tests scores. I find this reasoning to be weak at best. Because the public schools start early, the private schools follow suit. The ironic thing about school starting this early in the tropics is the threat of hurricanes, causing schools to shut down. Last year was the the only year in my daughter’s life when school was not closed for at least 1 day due to tropical weather.

Kids need a real break from school work. Summer is part of growing up. Who cares if they forget some of what they learned during the school year? We all did that too, and we turned out just fine, didn’t we? (Okay, don’t bother to answer that!)

Besides, during summer, kids can read whatever they want (The Travel Adventures of Lilly P Badilly: Costa Rica) instead of what their teachers tell them to read. They can perhaps visit the library more often, get more exercise and just be outside in the fresh air.

And what about teachers? They deserve a nice long summer break, don’t they? They barely have time to recover from the previous year and then have to go back in mid August. Plus we must remember that they stay after the students leave in June and return before school starts in August to get ready.

So what can we do about it? Let’s continue to complain together until school starts AFTER Labor Day.

Have you ever forgotten to return a library book? For a really long time? And you’ve kinda, sorta ignored the late notices from the library? Beware. Unreturned library books and late fees are so common, that many libraries now use the services of collection agencies. That means that your late fees can actually be reported to a credit bureau adversely affecting your credit score. Even if you return the book, but don’t pay the fines, you can find yourself in trouble for a relatively small amount of money.

This “punishment” may sound a bit far fetched, but library books are actually loans. Libraries all over the US are working on very limited budgets these days. And they lose a large volume of books to borrowers who never return the goods. Plus, when you are late returning books, there is likely a disappointed reader out there missing out on reading that book.

So next time you borrow a book, mark the due date on your calendar at home and make a real effort to return it on time. The next time you are checking out a book, ask if there are any outstanding fines on your account, and pay them. You’ll feel good about yourself, and you’ll be doing the right thing.

My daughter Rachel starting talking about sitars when she was 10 years old. We’re not sure how she knew about them. But it was obvious she really wanted one. I wasn’t thrilled at the idea at first, because I thought the soud of a sitar might get annoying after a while.

Despite that, we surprised her with this gorgeous mahogany sitar her freshman year of high school. It’s been less than 2 years, and she has taught herself to play quite nicely. And the good news is that listening to this instrument is one of the most relaxing sounds on earth. It is so ideal for setting the mood for meditating.

Rachel expains . . . The instrument is from acient India, and is made using gourds. On the bottom, there is the main gourd or “toomba” That is attached to the neck of the sitar, where the frets lay. On the top is another gourd which amplifies the sound. The instrument has 20 strings in total: 13 on the bottom, and 7 on top. The bottom 13 are never actually played; they simply resonate when the strings on top are played. The musician wears a mizrab, a metal type of pick, on his or her right index finger to pluck the strings. The strings are often bent during playing to produce different notes and tone qualities; this is a technique called “meend.”

So if you are looking for a unique new instrument to learn to play, consider the sitar. It sounds great, looks gorgeous, and people will be impressed with you if you can play it!