Seven Years

To celebrate our seventh wedding anniversary, we went to Medieval Times. Huh? you may say, or Why? you may ask, and you may even raise your eyebrows quizzically. Well, I'll just have to raise mine right back and say, Why Not?

After all, that's where Aogu wanted to go, and he's never been there, and he was willing to pony up for the VIP tickets that had us sitting in the front and hauling home two backstage DVDs and two sets of dandy souvenir photos of us and the "king," so again I say, Why Not? I probably sound terribly sarcastic, and if so, I'm sorry. The thing is, it was really fun! The front row gave us the best vantage point to the action; we could even see sparks flying as the knights' swords clashed. The food was simple but delicious, perhaps made a bit more so by the novelty of tearing at a half chicken with one's bare hands, a la Fred Flintstone.

Just in case we didn't have enough fun at the castle, we took advantage of the kids being under grandparental care and went off to the theatre to meet Ironman. It was a great celebration, though we'll always be confused when we look at our souvenir photo, since we went on the 16th of May but Aogu had them inscribe it with our anniversary date, May 20th....

Happy Seventh Anniversary, Baby!

Finally, Proud to Invite You Down

When we came to look at this house six years ago, the owner showed us around the basement as you see it here and proudly exclaimed, "My wife just did all this sponge painting...isn't it great?!". Um, no. In fact, I thought it was hideous, but I also didn't think a bit (OK, a lot) of sponge-painting on a house that was otherwise livable (don't bring up the pink bathroom; it's an eyesore, but it works fine) should be a deal-breaker. And furthermore, I told myself that it would be easy to paint it a different color. Please start laughing now.

That's right, apparently "painting" and "easy" aren't words that go together for me, because the only painting that's happened in the interval between our purchase of this house and this very moment has all been done by my mother.


She's amazing, don't you agree? And I'm an idiot for not enlisting her six years ago as soon as we moved in. However, rather than berate myself for the years lost in grey sponginess, I'll just look ahead to warm, cozy, inviting, friendly hours and days we will surely spend in this haven of "Earthenware".

THANKS, MOM...and thanks also to Dad...all of our "C" (that's 'crap,' you know, the stuff that makes your life annoyingly clutter-y but you can't quite get rid of it) is now nestled in the rafters of the garage in the little attic he created up there. Or it might be on the shelves he built. Or it might be in the new-found organization in the laundry room. But it's not in the meticulously roto-tilled section of the backyard, because that's where the garden goes. You better come by and check it out, seeing is believing!

I'mi is Two

Oops, it seems that two years ago, we gave our daughter a difficult name and now that she is talking, she can't pronounce it. Rather, she can't pronounce some parts of it. The "ee" sound of the first syllable comes out well, as does the final "mee". It's that "zoo" in between that seems to get lost. She doesn't seem to mind, she just calls herself "ee-mee"...


Craig and Jane, AKA Dad and Mom, Grandpa (Banpa) and Grandma (Banma), were here to visit for Izumi's birthday. The actual day wasn't so stellar. It was her third straight with a fever over 100, so I dragged her off to the doctor so they could tell me she had a virus and I should give her Tylenol and lots of fluids. Which was SO different that what I had been doing and well worth that co-pay... poor baby, it wasn't a great day for her, but we couldn't forego all celebration, so we stuck a TWO in her strawberry shortcake.


Several days later, we had her "real" party. Since I'm still recovering from Koji's party, we decided to invite two friends for her, Mari and Lily, and have them bring their families along and call it a party. Anywhere Elmo is, that's where the party is, right? Something like that...

I'mi isn't a baby anymore, though to look at her you might think she is, since she became extraordinarily attached to her "bah-bee" (pacifier) while she was sick these last few days. Argh! I mean, "Happy Birthday to You, Dear Izumi!" (new fave song...)

Shameless Plug

For more than the last two months, I have been extremely remiss in failing to give you (if you are still out there, reading this poorly tended blog) the opportunity to shop at my sister's fabulous new store. You may even catch a glimpse of Izumi, hard at work in her very first modeling job!

Happy Cinco de Mayo....