It's that tax refund time of year again....

...and today, I made an appointment to have the piano tuned. I don't think it's been tuned for oh, maybe about seven years. And you know what? You can TELL. It's gotten to the point where I'm starting to cringe at some of the chords Aisling hits when she sits down to play and my husband remarked the other night that it sounded so whacked out, it made his teeth itch.

The piano tuner, who is Aisling's piano teacher's son (that sounds like another French 2 exercise, doesn't it?), only charges $80, but he told us he might have to come twice in order to bring it into its full sound. This makes me feel like throwing my hands helplessly into the air -- money seems to leak out of this house like a sieve -- but it is a very nice piano with a beautiful tone. It's the piano my grandparents bought for my parents when I started piano lessons at age six, so I am extremely emotionally attached to it and I don't want to see it go downhill. Sometimes there's nothing for it but to just write the checks.

The piano tuner is coming one week from today, so I am excited in spite of the money. I look forward to hearing Aisling play on an instrument that sounds full and rich, that fills the entire house with music. That, to me, is the good life.