Snow Angels

It wasn't long after this when I decided I had to go out and join the fun! (turn music off at the bottom of my blog before viewing)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

We Were Dreading This

It happened. I've been dreading this day for a long time. I got the phone call at work yesterday from Bryan, and was immediately catapulted back to this little fiasco here.

Brandon has learned the mother of all bad words--the F-word. Where did he hear this word? I had flashbacks to this moment. Bryan & I are known to cuss like the sailors we are at certain moments--but we are careful around the kids, and are really careful when it comes to this particular word.

He was caught trying to spell it while riding in the daycare van. "F-O-..." Apparently, he and one of his friends were sitting around trying to think of all the bad words they know. Things like "butt", "fart", "hell", and "boob"--mostly innocent words that we don't approve of due to the fact they they ARE little boys and easily get carried away with bad manners while using those types of "bad" words. After Brandon listed off all the bad words he knew, his older friend told him that he knew one more... Thankfully, they don't know the meaning of this terrible word, and it wasn't learned through hearing it from us.

Bryan had a good talk with him about bad words and the reason we don't say them, and clearly explained that if his little brothers magically start saying this word--Brandon will be blamed.

Big Giant Gaijin

(at Zojo-Ji Temple with Tokyo Tower in the background)

Even though I am dead tired when I get home from work, I am still reading books. One of the blogs I follow (I can't remember which one, I'm ashamed to say) recommended Memoirs of a Gaijin: A Humorous Look at the Daily Life of a Foreigner in the Japanese Countryside. This caught my eye for two reasons: 1. I have co-workers who relocated to Japan and told me many strange and funny tales of their own experiences, and 2. my job eventually sent me to Japan where I stumbled into my own funny circumstances.

My boss had traveled to Japan several times before me, so I followed his recommendation to pack extremely light even though I'd be gone for 2 weeks. I only took a backpack, my computer bag, and a carry-on (yes, amazingly light for a woman) so that I could easily hop on & off all the trains I'd have to take from the airport in Tokyo to my final destination of Yokosuka. The hotel had a reliable laundry service that would return clothes in 24 hours, so that enabled me to pack only one pair of pants (it was summertime, so I wore shorts when I wasn't at work.)

That Saturday I turned in my pants to have them clean in time for Monday morning. Sunday I stopped at the front desk to retrieve my clean pants, and they told me that the cleaners did not work Sunday--I wouldn't get my pants until Monday afternoon. I had to work Monday morning. No problem--there were many places in Yokosuka where I could buy some new pants, and my co-workers & boss were looking to walk around the city shops anyway.

We hit one of the malls first. Since we didn't know what the conversion was between Japanese and American sizes, we had to ask a sales lady if they had anything for me. She got wide-eyed and ushered me over to what turned out to be the extra-extra-large Japanese sizes. Of course, this brought some snickering from me and my two male co-workers. The lady handed me the largest size they had, and I went to go try it on. To my amusement, I couldn't even get one leg in--it got stuck on my lower thigh.

So we moved on to the next store. Same thing: wide-eyed sales lady who took me to the "big & tall" section. Again, did not remotely fit. Lots more snickering from the males who were accompanying me. Now, I am not a big girl--I am an average American size 10.

This happened repeatedly at two more malls before we realized that we were out of luck with Japanese stores. We had to go to the Navy Exchange on the US base to find some giant American clothes for this apparently fat gaijin (pronounced "guy-jean"--the derogatory Japanese word for foreigner.) This is one of two stories my co-workers love to tell when anyone asks how that trip to Japan was. I'll save the other one for next time I have nothing to write about!

(Don't ask--I don't know why all these people dressed in strange attire and offered free hugs while flashing peace signs everywhere. They hang out in Harajuku, Tokyo.)

Best Christmas Present EVER

I found out a really surprising, but very pleasant thing about having my new Roomba. Turn it on, and the kids are out of my hair and entertained for as long as the darned thing is running! And, guess, what??? As an added, most awesome bonus, they friggin' pick up ALL their toys WITHOUT me having to even ask them ! (because they are afraid that thing will gobble them up forever.) It is the most magical toy I've ever owned, and I think every parent of small kids should own one! They aren't fighting, bickering, tattling...just running around playing chase with it. It's the darndest thing I've ever seen.

Brandon's Commandments

I discovered this taped to Brandon's door this evening. Turn off the music at the bottom and listen to his explanation:

Make a Smilebox slideshow

He made those rules for ME. Nevermind his brothers who routinely break every one of those rules while in his room (or anywhere else in the house, for that matter.)

Holiday Bonus

We just got our Holiday Bonus a la the movie "Christmas Vacation". Our co-workers kept asking us if we received it--it seems that it slipped down between the seat cushions of the courier's vehicle and was just rediscovered. Thank goodness we didn't put a down payment on a pool in anticipation.

It's a DVD. Full of propoganda. No "thank you" or "Merry Christmas" (nor a politically correct version of either) in the video itself. Just undertones of how we can be better workers.

Oh, thank you so much Big Company for your generous gift...it is nothing that we don't hear at work every other stinkin' day of the year.

Maybe I'm just supremely grouchy because I don't want to return to work tomorrow after having all this time off. Grrr... I will self-medicate via chocolate chip cookies & alcoholic beverages.