Motorin' into April.

And thank god for that. As usual, March has been kicking my ass. Just to prove that I'm not imagining things, I went and looked at my blog posts from previous Marchs. In March 2010, we were all sick, and my sweet kitty Beavis was gradually dying from a tumor. In March 2009, we were all sick. March 2008, we didn't appear to be sick. However, I recall that I was working toward a deadline for a major project at work, so I was under a lot of stress. March 2007, one of our furnaces broke.

March 2011 brings a combination of sickness(me and Lauren)/work stress/extracurricular activity stress.

But I can tell that we're getting close to April because things are starting to look up.



To start with, we got (cue Bob Barker) A NEW CAR! It's a 2008 MINI Cooper S convertible. Yes, we now have a pair of MINIs. It's got all kinds of bells and whistles that we haven't figured out yet since we just got it yesterday. I bet as I'm typing this Mark is envisioning antique furniture propped upright in the back seat with the top down...



Also, I'm both sorry and ECSTATIC to report that Lauren's brief career as a dancer has come to a close. In fact, this may come as surprise to some of you who probably didn't even know she was a dancer because I've never actually mentioned it here.

Although from the moment I found out I was having a girl I was pretty much set against the money pit that is dance lessons, I nevertheless decided to set aside my prejudices when she showed an interest. Mark thought that she wouldn't last after one lesson, but she's been hanging in there from the start of the school year until now. During the last several weeks, she had been lodging complaints that she was "bored." Her class was preparing for their dance recital at the end of April, so they must of been doing repetitive routines to practice. Unfortunately, I couldn't really tell you much more about what goes on in dance class because we've never been allowed to watch, nor has the teacher shared any details regarding the curriculum, other than they do a combination of tap, ballet and acrobatics. It was all very secretive, kind of like Freemasonry.

On top of being bored, Lauren also was complaining that both pairs of dance shoes were getting too small for her feet. With less than two months left and knowing she would not be continuing with neither ballet nor tap, the last thing I wanted to do was shell out another $40+ for dance shoes. So I did what any good parent would do: told her that she only had to wear them for 45 minutes each week which is a gentler way of saying, "Suck it up."

Then there was the looming recital. Lauren neither enjoys being the center of attention nor does she like standing around and waiting. The recital involved copious amounts of both, so when she told me that she didn't want get up in front of "all those people", I had a hard time coming up with a good counterargument. After all, I was the one that was going to have to play the role of placating stage mom, the thought of which caused my stomach to clench. On top of that, both the rehearsal and the recital conflicted with the activities that we both prefer: soccer and Girl Scouts.

So yesterday I told her that if she didn't want to go to dance class any longer, she could retire. She replied with a "Yes!" and a fist pump.



Thus, I made the first of what I'm sure will be many parental investments that will not reap return: a $50+ dance recital costume. Mark suggested that I could use it as a photo prop. Yeah, like I could ever come up with a bribe sizable enough to convince her to put on a black tutu and gold lame body suit. Ain't gonna happen.