I Think He Likes Joe

My husband is a quality engineer at a Japanese owned company. Last night we were invited to a dinner party at his co-worker's house to welcome two new employees from Japan. I was a little nervous because I don't speak Japanese and I don't know much about Japanese culture, so I didn't want to do anything to offend them. I got a quick lesson in the basics from the hubby. I knew to be sure to bow lower than they bowed at me and to take my shoes off when entering the apartment(thank God he told me that before we left the house so I could put on matching socks without holes)

Luckily, I had nothing to worry about. Even though I wasn't able to understand the majority of what was being said, I still manage to have a good time and feel at ease. The guys spoke a little (very little) English and they tried very hard to use it as much as possible. Also, there was alcohol served. Lots of alcohol. Apparently it is custom to arrive at a dinner party with a bottle of alcohol for the guest. The problem is that no one gets together beforehand to coordinate this so you end up with a really random stash of alcohol that doesn't always go well together. Unfortunately, it is also custom (at least to these guys) to drink the above mentioned gifts. All of them.

Inventory of the gifts: 2 different types of beer, 4 random bottles of wine, a bottle of Jack Daniels, a bottle of tequila and saki.

Let's just say that it was not pretty. Luckily I was driving so I was able to nurse a beer and a couple glasses of wine. Hubby, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. He got to "try" to keep up with them. As fun as the party was, the drive home was even better. My hubby, who is usually pretty quiet, would not shut up. He talked my ear off the entire way home. He kept telling me over and over about how much he really respected and like this one guy, Joe, from work. About how smart he is. And how much he likes him. And how much he respects him. Oh yeah, and how funny he is. And how smart he is. And how much he likes him.

And then he gets the hiccups. The really loud, body racking hiccups. But does that stop him...no. He continues to tell me (hic) how much (hic) he really likes (hic) Joe. And (hic) respects him. (hic) And how smart (hic) he is.

I finally had to stop him and clear something up. I asked him, "So honey, do you think Joe is smart? Do you like him?" Instead of getting the joke he says, "Yes, I really do." And then went on and on some more about it. I was laughing so hard I almost had to pull over. Funny shit. I don't know, maybe you had to be there.

How We See Ourselves

I've been thinking a lot lately about my self esteem. I recently joined True Femme and started following their blog and listening to their radio show. I've never had the greatest self esteem, but since the birth of my child it has plummeted. I go back and forth with it. I am self confident and somewhat satisfied with my self, but I hate my body right now. I had always been the skinny girl who could eat anything and never gain a pound. Now I'm a good 20 pounds overweight and I'm just not comfortable with my body anymore. I know I am way harsher on myself than other people are. Most people would not consider me fat...just average, but when you've been tiny your whole life, 20 pounds is a big difference. I've come to the conclusion that I need to take charge and get back into shape ASAP. That's the other thing...I've always been athletic and now I am becoming lethargic. I need to get up and moving and start feeling better about myself. Anyone else have fitness goals they want to share??

I wrote a "poem" about self esteem. Actually, I just took the Christmas song, "Do You Hear What I Hear" and came up with new words. I sent it to one of the authors at True Femme and they posted it!!!! Go check it out here and let me know what you think!

Ummm....Gagging here...Don't Read This if You Don't Have an Iron Stomach!

This just disturbs me. You HAVE to check this out and let me know what you think. Seriously...what next?

My Newest Addiction

If anyone needs to reach me on Mondays, Wednesdays or Fridays from 2 - 2:30pm (Ohio time) that's just too damn bad. You'll just have to wait. Two of my favorite bloggers, Kadi and Danielle have launched a new website and radio show on blogtalkradio. It is seriously the funniest thing I've listened to in a long time. It's not a show for the kiddies and that may just be what I like the best about it. They cuss, they're crass and they would both know right off the bat that those are compliments. They talk about real stuff and put it all out there. As a mom of three, it is so nice to get a dose of "adult conversation". Now, it only they could do the show EVERY day for about 12 hours!

Check out the upcoming event!! (details copied from their blogsite)

Friday: We will celebrate the launch of Uncorked and the pre-launch of True Femme. The night is ours to hang out and get crazy! Trisha, of MomDot, will be joining us for some uncensored fun and live webcam action. We will be confessing our deepest secrets, unveiling the new BloggersGive venture and giving away prizes! The party starts at 6pm PST on www.stickcam.com/uncorked. You can RSVP here, using Mr.Linky. We hope to see you all on Friday night! Anybody who links back to us or blogs about this, will get an extra entry to win a special prize during the show!

Check them out...I dare you not to shoot milk out your nose!

I Might Have Found Charlie's Pony!!

I'm so excited! We have been looking for a pony for Charlie to get started riding on. I want something small enough for her, but big enough to last her many years. I want something slow, quiet and broke. I don't want to spend too much money and it wouldn't hurt if it was cute. Not asking for much, am I?

I think I may have found her! She is an eight year old cross between a pinto and an appaloosa. She is kind of palamino in color (my favorite). She has been owner by the same family for the past 6 years. Their kids ride her and she is very broke. The mother was in an accident and no longer rides, so her kids have lost interest. I talked to her on the phone and she has sent me videos and pictures. So far everything sounds great. Unfortunately it is a 3 hour drive to go see her and the weather here SUCKS. As soon as the weather breaks, we are going to go check her out.

What do you think?

Why I'm Slowly Going INSANE!

This is a really cute toy car that Charlie got from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas. Awww, it's so cute.

THE FIRST TIME.

Now it is driving me crazy! To get the full effect of what I deal with, turn your speakers ALL THE WAY UP and then replay about 100 times or so. I'll wait.




Yeah...not so cute now, huh. Told ya.

I am the World's Worse Step-Mom

That is according to my 6 year old stepson.

Because I made him eat one more bite of his mac and cheese.

I know I shouldn't get bent out of shape by a child's comment, but it really kind of stung. I had to leave the room and cool off because it really got to me and my knee-jerk reaction was to tell him just how horrible I could be and ask him if he REALLY wanted to know what having the worse stepmom was really like. Not a good reaction.

I knew this would happen eventually. I mean even bio-parents get the "I hate you" comment sometimes, but I wasn't expecting it yet and certainly not from him. Luckily, hubby came home shortly after the comment so I went to the barn to take it out on some dirty horse stalls. (Ahhh the power of manure therapy). Now that I'm back, the shock and hurt is worn off and been replaced by concern. Hopefully this was just a bad day for him. I worry though because at 6 (and being male), he's not very good at expressing himself and there has been a lot of change in his life this year. I will have to keep a close eye on him and work on drawing him out of his shell and making sure he is not keeping too much bottled up.

I'm sorry, but it's funny.

Crying in my Cheerios

My Buckeyes lost :(


It was a great game though.

Do You Have a Map? I Need Direction!

I started this blog out just to get my feet wet in the blog world and try it out. Now I'm finding that I would like to get more serious about it, but my current blog is very random with no real focus (ya think?). I'm think of starting a new blog with a more specific focus, but I can't decide which way to go. Here's a list of things I'm considering. I would really appreciate any comments...let me know which ideas you like and which ideas suck.

#1. Something horsey. I grew up with horses and they are a huge part of my life.

#2. Focusing on step parenting. When I met my hubby I was thrown into a foreign world of step kids and baby mama drama. I've done a lot of research in order to make our lives as drama free as possible, but there are tons of great stories here.

#3. Something political. I'm hesitant about this one. I'm passionately conservative but I don't have a big knowledge base here. I do however have common sense which is all it really takes (in my opinion)

#4. Keep the same single blog, but focus on a different one of the above topics on scheduled days. For example...Horse post on Monday, Step parenting post on Tues, ect. Do you think this would be to chaotic?

Thanks to everyone who replies!!

Why, why why?

I love my kids, but for the love of Pete, why do they have to drive me so freaking nuts?!? We recently got a wii-fit and I've been trying to get them into playing it so they can be more active while it's winter and they can't play outside as much as usual. I've been trying to squeeze my own workouts in when they are busy elsewhere. So this evening I want to work out. I ask them if they want to do it too...NO. They most definitely do not. They want to play in their rooms. Sweet. Perfect.

Delusional.

Not 2 minutes into my workout and ALL THREE brats are practically on top of me, firing about a gazillion questions a minutes at me.

What are you doing now?
Why are you using the boy trainer instead of the girl trainer?
What's that?
Can it be my turn now?
I wanna try it.

ARRRRRRRRRRRGHGHGHGHGHGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do you have any idea how hard it is to do balanced yoga, push ups, sit ups, ect while three kids bounce all around you? When I want to play with them, they want nothing to do with me, but the minute I want to be left alone they crawl up my ass. Ugh.

I love my children, I love my children. Rinse. Repeat.

Do Babies Get Hangovers?

I've puked on New Year's before. I've held the hair of my friend's while they puked on New Year's. What I didn't expect was to have anything to do with anyone puking this year. There I go thinking again.

This year hubby and I decided to spend New Year's playing cards with my parents. Yeah, exciting stuff, but shouldn't involve any drunkeness or puking. We just wanted to be able to spend time with our baby girl and not have to worry about being on the road. (my parents live beside us)

So we had a great, quiet evening playing cards and eating yummy treats. Charlie had a blast playing with her toys and sampling all the tasty food. She ending up falling asleep on my lap before the ball dropped. We brought her home and put her straight in bed. About an hour and a half ago I heard her coughing and then saying, "potty". I went in to check on her and she had puked everywhere. Apparently cocktail wieners, meatballs, chips and dessert + toddler = Nasty. Puke is my least favorite thing in the world and I am a sympathy puker. I managed to get everything cleaned up and get her pj's changed just in time for her to yak again. Nice. So once again I got her all cleaned up and decided to lay down on the couch with her. I put a towel under her and we snuggled in. Just as she is about to drift off she has a coughing fit and manages to turn her head just in time to yak all over in my hair. Yuck, yuck, yuck. Sooooo nasty. I just had to strip us both down for a shower...at 2:30am.

Anyway, she is squeaky clean (for now) and tucked into bed (on top of a towel & FAR away from my hair) in her third pair of jammies tonight. Cross your fingers that we are done with puke fest '09. Sorry for the disgusting post, but it was so ridiculous that I had to share.

Lesson #1 learned in 2009...don't let the toddler eat EVERYTHING she wants just because it is a special occasion.