I needed wipes and diapers so I got up this morning and decided to go to Costco. I could make it back before Ainsley had to go to school, so it would have been fine.

Finally got out of the house at 11am. Went to cash check and change cash to yen. Oh, whoops. The club cash cage is closed for construction for like 3 months. Ugh. So I went to the NEX and cashed a check, then went to the bank to change the yen. (i've forgotten my ATM pin number so I've got to use these ancient pieces of paper called checks. I'm pretty sure I'm the last person using them.)

Well...by this point I was getting crabby. But I was gonna push on, even tho I felt like I should stay home. Got on the road around 1130. Not too bad, I could maybe still make it back in time for school. Well, traffic was awful. Not really, but Ainsley was awful and Riley was screaming and I wanted to turn around, but I pushed forward anyways. Got to Costco, got everything I needed. They even had some fun extra things. Had lunch. It was already 2, but if I trucked it Ainsley could be back before snack time.

I was thinking to myself, see, that wasn't the Holy Ghost telling me to turn around, I was just being wimpy. Went to turn the car on and it wouldn't start. Wouldn't even turn. No power at all! The minute it happened I knew I'd lost that argument with Heavenly Father. That was why I shouldn't have gone. Nobody even knows how to get to Costco but me! I couldn't even call a friend to come and get us. (Shelle knows, but she's on va-cay)

I figured I'd walk down to the tire place to see if they had jumper cables and could help. No such luck. The guy also seemed to be the only guy at Costco that didn't speak English. I was almost crying at this point.

As I was walking I noticed some people that looked like they might speak English. It was an Australian couple that had borrowed a car from friends to go to Costco. They weren't sure if there were jumper cables, but they checked and tada! Cables! They loaded up their car and came and helped. The guy had to push the van out because I didn't back in. D: But we got it started. Thankfully!

Ainsley and I said a prayer thanking Heavenly Father for sending someone to help us. We made it home around 4, took the car straight to the autoport and walked home with the stroller.

I did find something super fun at Costco. It's naan. I have no idea how to heat it up since the instructions are in Japanese, but check out the brand.

After my last post I found some photos of when we went to the zoo a few weeks ago. It made me feel better (as did all of your comments) so here's a picspam. Ainsley was given the camera and she went wild. These are just the highlights.



( picspam )

Have you ever gone crazy from being a mommy? My friend, who I thought was the most perfect mommy, told me the other day she wanted to put her running shoes on and never come back. This just reiterated to me the fact that we all go crazy, more often for some, from being mommy.

I was whining to my own mommy about how I was so frustrated with Ainsley and I wanted to know what the heck Heavenly Father wanted me to learn from this. She gave me a gem of insight. She said, "Maybe you are supposed to learn to be happy no matter how awful your children are." At the time I replied with something like, "says the grandma who is 6000 miles away." but since then her words have crept into my mind when having hard moments with Ainsley. This is the same concept as finding joy in the journey. Guess I'm not doing so well at that and I need practice. Hopefully I can grasp it soon so my lovely, fun child can return instead of this vengeance demon.

But I'm too tired, cranky, and crabby.

Try back next week.

If there is one person or more on your friends list who makes your world a better place just because they exist and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.


I LOVE YOU GUYS!

In case some of you forgot, I live in Japan. Every now and then I see things in Japan that make me laugh hysterically. I've also taken up Kit Kat collecting. You can get them in all different flavors. The one I got today was sports drink flavored. Yum! A friend got me some peach and some rose flavored ones. They were tasty, too.

So...a few pictures to illustrate my point about those wacky Japanese:

I thought this was funny because Monique lives in Hungary. She told me that Hungarians like to say they inspired everything from fire to the wheel. Apparently they actually did something inspiring to the Japanese.



There's a map right on the bottle to prove they know where Hungary is and they were inspired!




Just like Pokemon is huge here, apparently things that we loved back in the day are still going strong...such as Popples!





I know Care bears have made a come back, but they never left here. XD





And who needs an easy bake oven when you can make your own sushi?




That's all for now kids, but next time I see something kooky, pray I've got my camera on me so I can take a photo.

Brandi and I are Twilight haters. There aren't that many of us, so we stick together. I got her package in the mail. She sent some adorable onsies for Riley. Yay! Firefly onsies. But the part that thrilled me was the gag gift for me. The Forbidden Fruits Sweethearts. They are Twilight themed Sweethearts. They even sparkle. They say things like bite me, lamb, dazzle, and live 4ever. They are ridiculously hilarious. The box even says "the forbidden fruit tastes the sweetest." I can't decide if I want to test that theory or just leave sealed and try to sell it to some chump on ebay that is desperate to complete her collection since this box is 1 of 3 different designs.



I suck at photos, so this is what you get.



Riley is gonna be so adorable in these.



Ariella...do you have a complete collection? XD
Thanks Brandi!!!!

Angelina was the first friend I had in San Angelo. I arrived shortly before my eighteenth birthday and she came to our hotel room door with a bag of skittles and said "Happy Birthday, let's go do something." My freshman year of college she was my go-to gal.

Angelina passed away this morning. She's been fighting a losing battle with colon cancer. But trust me, she told cancer to suck it. I found the news to be bittersweet. I'm sad that she's no longer in this world, but I know the pain and difficulties of the illness were becoming unbearable. And now she's safe in the arms of a loving Father in heaven.

You can read her blog here.

Put the Ainsley in hourly care, as did my friends Maria and Joy. We had yen, we had crappy directions, we hopped in Maria's car. I estimate we paid around 3000 yen ($30) in tolls from getting lost and finally getting home. We never made it to Costco. :( But there was fun to be had. We found out that Maria will not hesitate to order dessert. (chocolate molten lava cake, three spoons please!) That Joy should wear her seat belt more often. (she wasn't badly injured, she just bumped into Maria's seat) We all think Jonathan Rhys Meyers is good looking and that I have no earthly idea where Costco is. One day I hope to find it.

I'm late to the party, but remember, I reside in a foreign country. I had some free time this evening and I watched Glee on hulu.com. If you haven't seen it, don't even finish this blog post. Go watch it now. It's like someone took the total fun of High School Musical, left out the cheesiness, and blasted it with the realism of actual high school. I seriously got chills when I watched the big musical finish. Plus, the two leads have total chemistry. Really. Go. Now. Watch. I think I'm gonna go watch it again.


BTW...Denise...the lead is Canadian. Support your people. XD

Most of you know my favorite past time is to complain about my tiny (815 sqft!!!!) apt. I feel pretty good about my kitchen/living/dining area. It's put together, with the exception of the computer area (I used to have a whole room for an office! now it's a 6X2 area!) and the counter top from the kitchen, it does it's job. It looks fine (if not a little cluttered.) I can live with it. The problem is the bedroom situation. I've got 4 people in 2 bedrooms. And no room. I've got a crib and a bunk bed and two kids on two different schedules. I need help! I need to be able to fit the crib in my room for a few months until I get Riley on a schedule and I need some help in decluttering both rooms. Sure, I could get rid of Ainsley's toys or books or at least store some for a while, but she really does play with the toys she's got out. I've put a lot in storage/out of rotation. We are working on sorting through Cheyenne's clothes. (Isn't that ridiculous? Mine are fine, he just can't seem to part with stuff.) Point being...I need your help! I need ideas (hopefully on a small budget) to make more room. I also need ideas on furniture placement etc. So, I've got pictures of the rooms. PLEASE HELP ME! (excuse the mess. who wants to clean when you don't have room for all your crap?)

worst.day.ever. Today was supposed to be Monsters vs Aliens. I hyped it all week. She was so excited. Turns out I got the wrong day. It was Tuesday, not today. Ugh. there were huge screams, tears, "Mommy NOOOOOOOOOOO! We can't leave! We have to see the movie!!!!!" It was awful. I haven't cried at all, even though my husband left. Life hasn't been that rough, but I cried. When I finally got her in the car (she held onto every piece of anything she could get a hold of so I had to drag her away.) I got in and cried with her. I felt so bad for getting it wrong. I couldn't console her. It was awful. I finally got her home and found out I can take her next week to see it at Zama, but it was awful. I never want to do that again.

On top of all that her teachers want to know what they can do to help with her anxiety. She's apparently getting panicked when other kids get in trouble. (teacher says she's going to have to talk to someone else's parent about behavior and Ainsley cries, "No!") You got me teachers...when you figure out what works, let me know.

A while ago Sarah wrote about her turnoffs. One of them being emoticons. Well...I'd like to vent about this terrible trend in text/internet language that is "LOL." I've noticed it being used in odd places a lot. Then Barney and Marshall on How I Met Your Mother made comment about it and it reminded me how dumb it is.

LOL = laugh out loud. When you type it are you really laughing out loud? I don't know too many people who are. That's my big beef, but it's gotten worse folks. I've seen it all over (facebook, forums, blogs, etc) used improperly. Or just awkwardly. A huge vent about how your life sucks should not include "LOL" unless you are laughing in delirium and in that case I might need to call the cops to put some guys in white coats on your tail. If you are upset about something, you should not be using "LOL" you should be using things like "WTF" and "WTH." You know, use whatever you want, but please stop using "LOL"!

case in point, I went hunting for a pic to go with this entry and I found this



what is "LOL" worthy about that? Why would it be tagged with "LOL?"




Barney and Marshall are pretty sure Ted doesn't know what "LOL" means.

I try not to swear, but WHAT THE HELL?!

A buffy movie without Joss?

It's like the stupid people in the world that say that the British Office is stupid. Um...without one, you can't have the other.

Tell me where to send my hate mail please.

Tonight Ainsley's prayer went something like this :

Thank you for the good day, and bless school friends (then she listed every single one of them) and sunbeam friends (listed them, too, including "me") and Texas people (grandma, grandpa...you get the idea) and bless Ainsley will sleep good and not be scared and bless mommy and bless daddy that he will come home and we can get a present and we can open it and it will be so fun, and bless Riley, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

My friend Denise told me she read my blog so she would hear about tv she never watches or has never heard of. That's what I like to hear. I'm educating the masses of mommies/friends that don't have time to watch everything. I'm here to weed out the bad and suggest the good. I feel like I should rededicate myself to this TV thing. I've been slacking and having a baby and living in a foreign country with non-current tv are not excuses! So, I'm going to spend the summer catching up on what I've missed and come Fall tv I'll be here with suggestions. I promise!

Dollhouse - preorder your copy today. It's got an extra episode that is supposed to be stinkin' awesome! I believe if you live in the US you can also view episodes on Fox's website. If you need to catch up you can watch episodes 8-12 on hulu.com. Alpha rocks my face.

American Idol - I'm going to admit (against my better judgment) that this year I watched American Idol. I've never watched it. Ever. I like my reality TV to be good (not covered in crappy medleys) and airing on Bravo (Tim Gunn and PR!) But I watched this year. (stupid AFN and lack of good programming) I wasn't a fan of Adam. I mean, sure he's the most talented guy there, but American Idol is looking for the lowest common denominator and he was not it. I was surprised to see he didn't win, but I think it has nothing to do with his "is he or isn't he gay." (He totally is.) I don't think it had to do with his song choices (Jill XD) I think he just wasn't American Idol stuff. Let's face it, the kid's gonna have a better, more successful career and he'll sell the pants of the other kid. At least he won't have to deal with the binding pop-ness that the producers of American Idol are looking for. He can do whatever the heck he wants and I think in the end that will make him happier. (Wow! That was all over the place...I sounded like Paula.)

Lost - Did anyone else get bored with the Jacob stuff and want more Sawyer and Juliet? That was the only thing I was caught up in. Jacob Smacob. I wanted that sub to continue on to Ann Arbor* and those two crazy kids could make a crazy, groovy life together. Stupid Kate, stupid Jack, stupid fake Locke. Ugh.

*Were they referring to Ann Arbor, Michigan? How does a submarine get to Michigan? Isn't it like, land locked? I mean, I know they've got lakes and stuff, but I don't get it.

Wonderfalls - What's that? You've never heard of it? What channel does it come on? Sorry, it's canceled and I'm just now getting around to watching it. But it's good! Bryan Fuller of Pushing Daisies fame and Tim Minear of Angel and Firefly fame work on this great show about a Brown graduate who is over-educated and underemployed. She works in a souvenir shop at Niagara Falls living her disaffected 20somthing life style until inanimate objects start talking to her and asking her to do good works. It's very funny. Really. Try it.