Tobi the Japanese Spitz

I stole this photo from Hubby’s Vox. (Yes, Hubby has a blog, but it’s only open to his Vox “neighborhood”.) He took this photo with his camera phone. The clever title is his, too.

Every time I look at this picture it just makes me smile. I just wanted to share.

I received this in my e-mail and thought it was totally hilarious. What would you do if you picked up your cake and saw this?

This is how the conversation probably went:

Costco Employee: “Hello dis Costco, I can help you?”
Customer: “I would like to order a cake for a going away party this week.”
Costco Employee: “Wot you like on da cake?”
Customer: “‘Best Wishes Suzanne’” and underneath that, ‘we will miss you.’“

Who knew a baby bittermelon could be so adorable? Okay, so maybe it’s the face only an Okinawan could love, but I thought the baby goyaman key chain was simply the cutest thing ever.

Lunching at Utage with Joyce yesterday, I noticed some signs advertising goyaman key chains in various styles: classic goyaman (with yellow hat and red cape), eisa, hanagasa, and baby goyaman! My friend Henry, who was working the lunch shift, brought it to my table and said that it was a gift from “Uncle Henry.” How appropriate, a baby goyman key chain for baby champuru! Of course, mommy champuru will be putting it to good use in the meantime.

After reading my previous blog entry, a gracious friend offered to let me use her Nintendo DS Lite on a long-term loan and and said that I could return it when I gave birth, because surely I would have no time for fun and games once the baby arrives. Of course, I took her up on the generous offer. I figured that there was a good chance that I may simply tire of the new toy like she did or would find that I don’t have time to play with it once life starts getting busy. Borrowing it is the perfect solution for me right now. If I find that I can’t live without my ten minutes of daily brain training, I can invest in my own unit.

The nice thing is that she’s on the same wave length as me, which is educational games! The games that she let me borrow along with the DS are:

Brain Age
Brain Age 2
Big Brain Academy
Brain Boost
Sudoku
Polarium
Uno

I probably won’t find myself playing with the last two as much, but all those great brain stimulating games are just what I need! After checking my brain age, it’s obvious that I am in need of some serious brain training.

Technorati Tags: Nintendo DS Lite, Brain Age, games, entertainment

Now that I want one, I can’t find it anywhere. Shari is to blame for my recent obsession with finding a Nintendo DS Lite for myself. She’s been playing games like Imagine: Master Chef, Cooking Mama, and Imagine: Babyz and telling me how addicting they can be. I believe it. I have the propensity to get sucked in to a video game for hours on end if I’m not careful — which is the very reason why we do not have a game system in the house. As tempting as the Wii may be, I know that if we had one, many hours of potentially productive time would be siphoned away by gaming.

The reason I want to get a Nintendo DS Lite, however, is for the educational games such as Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, and Mind Quiz. I also sense that I will be spending more time lounging in bed in the upcoming months, so having a small device to occupy me — and sharpen my brain — would be nice to have.

With that being said, that’s all it is: nice to have. I’m sure I could find a DS somewhere if I really set my mind to it, but I’m not going to kill myself over it. If I run into it somewhere, I’ll pick it up. If not, I suppose I could always read in bed. A little low tech, but sometimes that’s best.

I updated my Tumblr with a few of my favorite superbowl ads from this year. Enjoy!

We have a spare bedroom that we are presently using as a computer room. I suppose in about nine months, it will be converted into the baby’s room. But, oh, the daunting task ahead. The room serves as a workout area/study/storage. The stuff has to go somewhere. But where?

I have the TLC show Clean Sweep on my DVR and I watch it from time to time. After viewing an episode, I find myself peering at my surroundings with a critical eye and I get an overwhelming desire to make “sell”, “toss,” and “keep” piles. The only problem is that I don’t have the luxury of a personal organizer and carpenter at my disposal to design space-efficient storage units for me. Also, since I live in a townhouse, I am lacking a vital component to a good garage sale: a garage. So, instead of a “sell” pile, I have a “donate” pile. We still have a long way to go, but I’m whittling away at it.

Aside from the entertainment value, I realize that we watch reality shows to make us feel better about ourselves in some way. Shows like Clean Sweep puffs me up by allowing me to say, “heck, at least my house isn’t that bad!” We relate to reality shows and compare our state of affairs to the folks on the show, who sacrifice their privacy and pride in exchange for free stuff, money, or an improved lifestyle. I sometimes wonder if I could be convinced to make such a trade.

In addition to improving our self esteem, certain reality shows can spur us to action and inspire us to make improvements in our lives. Whether it’s de-cluttering your living room, staging your house for sale, or simply learning how to dress more professionally, reality shows tell us that even average Joes like us can do it.

I’m not sure how this entry ended up making me an advocate for reality shows, but perhaps it’s because I spent the entire day watching TLC and the Discovery Channel in my pajamas. Unfortunately, nearly an entire weekend of downtime still didn’t banish this cold, but at least it’s not getting worse.