"Are You Ready to Rock?"

...I said (in my best hokey-raspy-rocker voice) to the Eldest Daughter, and got the expected groan in response -- which was exactly the reaction I hoped for, since my mission in life at this point is to annoy my children at least as much as they annoy me. (Disclaimer: They are wonderful young ladies and don't really annoy me terribly much at this point. However, I'm still getting back at them for the whole diaper thing.)

But the other reason for my goofy exclamation, was that she got her Very First Guitar a couple weeks ago, when she turned 11 years old.

An electric guitar!

Shaped like a heart!

I'll admit, I was pushing for the Fender Hello Kitty guitar.

The immature mom's choice -- actually, it's even better in black.

But I guess the kitty doesn't cut it with today's tween. At least not our tween, who rolled her eyes when I suggested it.)

No, the birthday girl wanted a particular pink heart guitar (mom rolls her eyes) and according to my husband, who I defer to on all things instrumental, it is a legitimate (short scale) guitar...even if it looked like a toy to me.

And so, the Eldest Daughter is now the proud owner of a Daisy Rock "Heartbreaker" guitar. (But since I don't put photos of my girls on the internet, you're stuck with pictures of the old folks...)

It's easy to play, anyway, even for the long-past-tween mom. Not that I play it well...but it's easy for me to play badly.

And, at the very least, it proves that the Esteemed Husband is quite secure in his masculinity