Just that kind of day ...

I'm ready to put a complete and absolute ban on the technology in our house. In fact, I'm ready to get rid of what we have and buy a boom box (if they still sell them) -- something simple and straight-forward. Now, I am not an idiot -- not by a long shot. I am also not technologically-challenged, as many of these audiophile/techno-geek husbands think their wives are (Holy Stereotype, Batman!). While I admittedly cannot maneuver my way around inside a tube amp (nor would I ever want to), I have nevertheless fixed my fair share of technological instruments. However ... bigger is not necessarily better, nor is there any value in possessing way too many "toys" in the entertainment cabinet if you can't achieve your purpose.

This has been a weird day. I'm tired. My kids are "off" -- not necessarily cranky, but not the cheerful cute cherubs they've been all week. Aidan and I got into a tiff on the way home from school -- he was just so stinking ornery in the car I couldn't take it. I despise attitude coming from a little child!! Grace is in a not-eating phase -- and for Grace, this is new territory (for her and for us). She just doesn't eat and it drives me crazy. We always start the day OK -- a large sippy cup filled with a yogurt drink, followed by a mid-morning gulp of fruit juice and a very small snack. No lunch to speak of, turning her head away in disdain. I'm tired.

After school, the kids and I spent some time in the yard -- I wanted to finish up some planting, but my kids refused to cooperate. For the last few days they have played miraculously well with some fun toys (a castle with pirates and other medieval equipment; a Wild West town with cowboys and horses; a tree house with Robin Hood characters), but today it wasn't working. I guess it was bound to happen, this 180-degree turn; as Geoffrey Chaucer said in The Canterbury Tales (The Monk's Tale),"And thus does Fortune's wheel turn treacherously / And out of happiness bring men to sorrow." While I'm not quite sorrowing, Fortune is definitely fiddling with the wheel. Grace was wandering aimlessly around the yard, with a horse in one hand and a pirate in the other, while Aidan whined about ... whatever. Storm clouds were whipping up so I hustled everyone indoors, taking the town and castle with me. Thankfully Aidan started playing well and Grace was enjoying herself just watching him play, giggling at his antics. "Phew," I thought, "this afternoon might be salvaged after all."

Here's where my beef with my technologically-overloaded household comes in. Aidan made a simple request: Can I watch TV? No, I said -- you watched way too much already. I admit -- my kids do watch too much. Usually in the morning, because frankly that's the only way I can get anything done. It's not hours on end (thank goodness) and it is completely monitored (PBS or selected videos and DVD's from the library), but still ... it is what it is. I try to keep the afternoons TV free, at least until it's time for me to make dinner and I get a half hour respite in the kitchen (sometimes). Anyway, I was grateful that Aidan didn't whine about the TV rebuff, but instead asked politely, "May I please listen to some music?" Sure! He requested his Veggie Tales "Bob and Larry's Campfire Songs" (it's actually really funny) and I was happy about how the afternoon was really shaping up. That is, until I got the CD into the first of two players. Now what? I have two amps. I turn on the solid state gadget (knowing that Don prefers to save the vintage tube amp for "his" music -- lately, vinyl). Now what? It was on phono, due to his vinyl playing last night, so I turned the dial to auxiliary. Now what? No sound. There's another little box there with NINE little cables attached to the back, each with a different colored connector (yellow, orange, white, red, etc.) and one random shiny gold one. I recalled pulling that gold one out for some occasion, but I couldn't remember why. I tried it, replacing it with a yellow one -- still no sound. I took the CD out of the first player and put it in the DVD player (which also plays CD's) -- still no sound. I turned on the tube amp, willing to risk a scolding, but still no sound. "I'm so sorry, Aidan -- I have no idea how to make this work."

15 minutes!! 15 minutes spent fiddling with stupid knobs and buttons and dials and randomly plugging things in and out of random holes. My poor kids -- they can't even listen to Veggie Tales, for pete's sake! I'm really, really tired. I'm tired of wondering why my daughter isn't eating (oh, I know it's completely normal -- I just don't like it). I'm tired of a tired little boy who's giving me attitude with an extra heaping of whine. I'm tired of trying to think of creative things to do, only to be met with "noooooo!" And I have to leave in 20 minutes to pick Don up from work. So what are they doing now? They're watching a Baby Einstein DVD, "Meet the Orchestra." Sheesh.