The power of doing absolutely nothing

A couple years ago, lightning struck our house while eating turkey tacos. Among the many electronic disturbances it caused, all but 1 telephone was left working. I fought mercilessly with SBC and they just said it was our problem. Well, chasing down Frankie was more important than having multiple phones in the house and we didn't do a darn thing about for a couple years (but sprint up and down stairs to try to answer the phone in under 5 rings - and fail).

Last night, our 1 remaining landline quit. Dead. I called Behemoth Phone Company and they said they'd get right on it. Right.

Today, all the phone lines in the house miraculously came to life. Our procrastination was greatly rewarded. This is so cool.

A plea for help

Basically: clothes + 3-yr old ≠ clothed child

I play games, I hold her when she cries, I try to make socks going on fun, but I finally get to: "On the count of 3, you're going to put this on or I am." She has told me recently, she hates this phrase. What's a father to do? Muscle on the clothes or use more strategic means? Helpful hints in the comments - please - I'm begging.

Update
Having accumulated sage advice both online and off, I just wanted to say I haven't used any of the techniques suggested (yet). Today, as Frankie was talking on her play phone, I took the outfit I layed out the night before and simply put it on with absolutely no resistance. I will, however, keep all your suggestions in mind when the going gets tough. Thanks all.

NPR's got a blog ...

and this post is probably the best argument blogs are often useless.

But, this is blogworthy. Trish and I spent many a times at 3 am in there with only a pocket full of change. Link via BoingBoing.

Next year we don't touch the clocks

I went hunting for the bastard who invented daylight savings time (DST) and all I could find was this Wikipedia reference. Here is an excerpt of the criticisms (with my additions in parentheses):

DST is not universally accepted and many localities (wisely) do not observe it. Opponents claim that there is not enough benefit to justify the need to adjust clocks twice every year. The disruption in sleep patterns associated with setting clocks either forward or backward correlates with a spike in the number of severe auto accidents (and toddlers unable to adjust their sleep patterns damn it), as well as lost productivity as sleep-disrupted workers adjust to the schedule change. ... Since DST exchanges morning daylight for evening daylight, late sunrises occur when DST is in effect either too far before the vernal equinox or too far after the autumnal equinox and darkness in the morning can be undesirable for early risers like (cranky toddlers and) schoolchildren and workers who begin their workday at 8:00 AM or earlier.

Unfortunately there isn't a single person to blame or I'd hunt down his email address and send it to my favorite 50 online pharmacies and tell them this person was in serious need of ED treatments.

For now, we'll try to adjust.