Bribery

While I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only mom in the world (or in Mesa or even on my street) that has had to nag and beg and remind and encourage and fuss and threaten their kids to practice their instruments, sometimes I feel like I am at the end of my rope. No more tricks in the hat. No more words to utter. REALLY, how difficult can it be to find 20 stinkin' minutes in a day to practice????

Don't answer that. Apparently, it can be next to impossible. So, I finally resorted to bribery. I'm not beneath that.

Barrett is a very talented pianist and has a real gift for sight reading and picking things up quickly, but she's not always (or almost never actually) jazzed about practicing. But I started to notice that we weren't bucking horns quite as much about it, and her teacher was commenting on her improved practicing. I thought it might be time to piggyback on that and kick it up a notch.

So we struck a deal.

Five solid practices a week for four weeks = a day out with mom.

It was a start.

It was measurable.

It was attainable.

It was challenging.

No siblings.

No dad.

Just good old fashioned Girls Day Out with mom.

Really, I knew it would be a win-win situation.

I mean seriously, how can you go wrong with a GDO with your 11-year old daughter?

It took 5 weeks to get there, but she did it. She printed up a practice calendar and taped it to her wall by her door. I had to sign off on the practices. She tried to negotiate at the end of week four when she only had four practices, but a deal's a deal. She finished up her 5th day of the 5th week about an hour before our GDO was ready to start, but she did it. And by the way, her recital piece for her performance coming up in a few weeks is off the chart. She is playing amazing! Funny what a month of great practicing will do.

Saturday was our day. And we had so dang much fun!

We started it off with a fantastic breakfast of whole wheat pancakes and bacon, Barrett's favorite, then headed out to the 11:20 showing of The Last Song. Barrett had actually seen it a couple of weeks ago with her girlfriend, but was dying to see it again (and I was really wanting to go too. I'm sure Ryan would have gone with me if I pushed, but it was a chic flick by all accounts). She read the book in 2 days and, of course, says the book is better, but loved the movie too. Her BFF, Riley, and her mom and Grandma Cindy all wanted to see it too, so they met us at the theatre. Man, I bawled and bawled. What a tear jerker. But such a good show!

Then we hit Rubios, one of our favorites, for a little baja mex lunch. I had my favorite Rubio's pick: 2-taco plate with corn tortillas, one chicken, one steak. Side of beans and chips. So tasty...as always. Barrett did her usual bean burrito with churro.

Next, we tried a new nail salon (the one by Golden Spoon) and got pedicures. I haven't had my toes professionally done since last summer, so it was a real treat for me (and for Barrett of course). I still need to get a pic of her cute toes. She splurged and had hers painted zebra style. Very fancy nancy.

While we sat in our pedicure chairs having our backs and butts vibrate with the massage chair, I started #4 of the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn. I just wish I had a whole day to sit and read and let everything else go to pot. Since that will never happen, I'll settle for stealing my 30 minutes here and there and hopefully I'll get it done in the next couple of weeks. I loved New Moon and Eclipse too. I'm hooked. Barrett and I already have a date for the Eclipse premiere in June.

We ended our great day back at home, where Barrett offered to give me a manicure to compliment my cute toes. I was feeling young and crazy, so I let her paint them purple and asked for some flower decals too. Seriously, they were super cute and very hip. Unfortunately, I had to take the polish off this morning before work since my Sunday dishwashing and showers took their toll on the semi-professional mani. I think I might become a regular at Salon de Barrett. She does some mighty fine work!

And the best part about the whole fantastic GDO (aside from the obvious spending time with B.)? She texted me Saturday night, thanking me for a fabulous day and letting me know how much she loved me.

And before bed Saturday night, she came to me and said, "Mom, can we make a new deal?