February 4, 2007

Mish-Mash

There’s so much to say but I can’t seem to focus on any one thing. So, here are all the posts I started this week and never finished.

1. Do not, under any circumstances, purchase a home with wallpaper on the walls unless you are EXTREMELY happy with said wallpaper and plan on keeing it on for all eternity. Can you guess what I’ve been doing this weekend?

Mr. BBM and I have been removing all traces of the peachy, flowery wallpaper from our bathroom. Why didn’t anyone tell me that hitting myself in the head with a hammer would be a better use of my time? The not being able to put anything coherent together could be that I’m coated in gooey wallpaper glue. Is that stuff toxic?

2. At karate this week, we worked on bunkai for waza’s and it was awesome. I got to work with my instructor while working on the application. He went first and then I tried to go as fast and furiously as he did. I didn’t succeed at matching his speed, obviously, but I didn’t do a bad job either. This whole faking confidence until you have it thing is working out well for me.

3. After black belt class this week I spent some time trying on my instructors gi’s to determine size and weight. I’ve been using my lightweight student gi all this time. I’m going to upgrade from a 6 oz. gi to a 12 oz. heavyweight gi. I tried a jacket on and threw some punches and it was like I was a different person. The snap that I’ve been longing for was there. The only problem is deciding which one. There are so many different gi’s out there, and the size charts are crazy.

I think it’s worse than shopping for a good pair of jeans. For guys it’s simple. I’ve watched my husband buy clothing over the years that he doesn’t even try on until he walks in the house, and whatever he buys always fits perfectly. Then there’s me. . . a size 4 in some brands, a 6 in others, an 8 in yet another brand and if it’s a dress? Then all bets are off because I can fall anywhere between a 2 and an 8. If someone inspected my closet they’d think three different people share it.

After black belt class I had a decent idea of what size and brand I wanted to order, but the jackets I tried on were all different brands and between brands, just like jeans, there’s a big difference. So, short of asking my instructors to strip down and let me try their gi’s on, there really weren’t any other options. So I did just that. My instructors recommended the Pro Force one so I’m going to go with that one. I don’t need an expensive one-I just want one that snaps.

I wish I could get a black gi, but unfortunately those are reserved for black belts only right now. I don’t want it so I can look all big and bad. I’d just like it for the fact that it would hide the pre-karate dinner stains that are inevitable when you have kids in the house. Take for example the sloppy joe stain on my pants last week. Despite a generous dose of Oxyclean (that didn’t work), followed by a shot of carpet cleaner that my husband guaranteed would work (it didn’t), I went to the dojo with a sloppy joe stain AND a big wet mark on my leg, all the while smelling like carpet cleaner meets Oxyclean. There was no doubting I had my shower for the day.

And now, Lil C is bugging me to put headbands and bows on her stuffed Elmo, so I have to run. That and I need to go inhale some paint fumes or something. My bathroom is a disaster. Before and after pictures to come when we’ve managed to transform our bathroom from the mess it is now into a masterpiece.

Happy Super Bowl Sunday!