DISHWASHER FRUSTRATION

The new machine's in. But ach, the learning curve involved in adapting to the new tine pattern. Complain though I might about the old Kenmore, I was able to fit a typical dinner's worth of beschmutzed plates and such into the dishwasher in such a way that everything would be clean and nicely dry in the morning without having to run the heated-dry cycle. I was able to tilt various cups and glasses just enough so that water would not collect in their recessed bottoms. A thing of beauty, it was.

This new Maytag...hmm. Too many horizontal surfaces, and the tines aren't long enough to place a coffee mug so that it'll tilt like it did in the Kenmore.

Shall I do the non-guy thing and actually read the manual?

GETTING THE LITTLE ONES RECYCLING

This idea of mine is somewhere in the queue over at Parent Hacks, but it seems wise to share it now since we're officially rolling into summer, a/k/a Sticky Soda Can Season.

Pet peeve: you set out your bin of recyclables religiously every (in our case) Tuesday, recycle everything right down to the bottle caps, and inevitably there's one or two bits of plastic detritus stuck to the schmutz that accumulates at the bottom of the bin. Eeyeewwwwww.

Solution: set up an itty-bitty mini recycling bin for the kids. A small bucket is perfect. We use an old lobster-scraps bucket from the Barking Crab in Boston. The kids pitch the bottle caps and the other small items into that bucket while the rest of the items accumulate in the regular recycling bin. Come recycling day you dump the contents of the smaller bucket on top of what's in the regular recycling bin, and they're much less likely to stick to the bottom, on account of they're on top and stuff.

If you want to be persnickety about it you can dump the smaller bucket into one of the larger recyclable items, e.g. a coffee can or a plastic salad box.

IN WHICH DADDY WILL HOPEFULLY NOT MAIM HIMSELF SATURDAY

Postponed twice, the big brush-chipper is being delivered on Saturday, and I get to feed two years' worth of accumulated cut and downed branches into its gaping maw, and perhaps fill in some of the swampy spots in the yard at the same time. The whirling of the blades and spewing of wood chips would probably get a WHOA, FREAKIN' COOL out of Beast if he were but a few years older, but for now the little guy doesn't much care for the loud noises. Perhaps Noodle will like it, but in any case they'll be watching from a distance if at all. Her Awesomeness has disturbing visions of coming back from the park with the kids to find nothing left of me but my leg protruding Buscemi-like from the chipper.

ARRH, 'TIS PIECES OF EIGHT

This week we've been introducing Noodle to the concept of money, savings, and delayed gratification, on the road to Allowanceville and Chorestown. And delayed gratification is hard to do for grown-ups, let alone a four-year old. Your first hurdle may be a lot like ours. We showed Noodle a dollar bill and demonstrated what it was for...and she was bored, because your basic one-dollar bill is even less flashy to a kid than it is to a grown up. Enter the Mint:

Oooh...shiny!

This the Noodle likes. It's so much clinkier and prettier than a grubby old crumpled-up bill.

That, by the way, is the flip-side of the dollar coins the US Mint has been rolling out since last year. The front sides depict the presidents, and so far they've gotten up to Monroe. Whatever. All she knows is that thirteen of them will get her the My Little Pony toy she wants so desperately, and to get a coin she has to go to bed promptly at 8 without any stalling or kvetching or melodrama.

Eventually, we transition this into her allowance for doing household chores. I have been waiting for this since the moment she was born. Get to work, kiddo - daddy is freakin' beat.