November 13, 2007

When it rains. . .

Big I is home from school today with a cold. Guess who else has it? Guess which little person is also getting stuffy? I’ll tell you, when it rains it pours around here. It makes sense though because the holidays are just around the corner now, which means it’s time for the annual carousel of sick. Like I needed one more thing. . .

I had planned to write a post on the book I’m reading today that I think would have provoked some interesting discussion. Because there is ample nose-blowing and plenty of sounding like we’re talking with our noses pinched shut, today is the perfect time for a photo blog. Plus, that eight about eight thing practically killed me. The interesting book discussion will have to wait.

The other night, one of my karate friends brought a kanji kit over to my house to properly finish adding bling to my crutches. After several minutes of preparing the ink and practicing the brush strokes, the first stroke didn’t go so well. Just like kobudo weapons that come with that stupid laminate coat on the outside, so do my crutches.

The ink beaded up and looked awful. We wiped it off and looked for a Sharpie. I could only find red or very thin black Sharpie’s, but I did find a Crayola magic marker. Because I was too afraid I’d screw it up, my friend skillfully wrote the desired symbols on my crutches, front and back.

It was then that I grabbed one of them and smeared black marker on my hand. I spent the rest of the night in a seated position so I wouldn’t need to disturb my drying crutches.

It didn’t matter.

The next day I went to a baby shower and arrived with a black hand. Throughout the day, it only got worse. On Monday, I noticed the kanji was smeared even worse and was now on Lil C’s clothing as well.

With a drop of organic cleaner and a rag, the kanji came right off, but I wouldn’t give up. I remembered I bought these really cool paint pens when I was decorating a little train for Lil C for her birthday. I never even opened up the black one. I found a piece of sand paper, sanded off the shiny junk and got to work.

My crutches are now complete. I realize the close-up picture is a little blurry. It’s probably better that way.

If you know anything about Japanese writing, please don’t look too closely. Although my intent was to write "Nintai" which means to persevere (also seen to the left in the sidebar), it’s quite possible that it instead says, "stupid American girl." That’s probably what the fabric says on my crutch covers too.

***There are two new reviews up on The BBM Review. If you’re into video games and/or looking for games for yourself or your kids this year, then get over there now. TSDAdam reviewed a game called "Virtua Fighter 5" for XBox 360 and yours truly reviewed the ESRB website, a must see site for anyone buying video games for kids this holiday season.