You Gotta Love 'Em

After spending the entire day with my family,
I asked G:

"So what was your favorite part about today?"

He answered: "The ride home."

Wii Can Dig It

Our Wii system arrived on Friday night! For our first night of gaming, we invited my Mom over - she has about the same amount of video game experience as G - and I cooked a big pot of Shrimp Jambalaya for dinner. We heard so many positive things about the system, mainly that it was very realistic and easy to play, so we were excited to see if it lived up to the hype. We decided to start with bowling. I really don't like bowling because basically I suck. But to my surprise, not on the Wii. You really don't have to have any skills, you just have to know how to mimic the movements of bowling. And my Mom won every game! It was really funny and cool to watch my 59 year old mother screaming and jumping up and down when she bowled a strike:) G and I really liked the boxing game. I broke out in a sweat trying to out punch him. We've been playing every night. We call it our training for Virginia. We have friends, another newlywed couple, and they are huge Wii players. We wanna be ready to throw down!

Think about it...

The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his
future by merely changing his attitude.

-Oprah Winfrey

My Latest Obsession

I'm turning into a full blown housewife. I know this because lately, I've been on a Juicy binge. I'm sure you can remember when every Hollyweird celeb was wearing the signature sweats with JUICY splashed across their ass. Well, to my surprise, they've upgraded their sweatsuit line. Now they have super soft terry tracksuits in the yummiest summer colors ever. They've even extended the terry line to rompers and baby doll dresses. The tracksuits are so comfortable, perfect for running errands. They feel as good as my ratty faded MSU sweatshirt and mismatch pants, but they look a million times better.

Bridging the Gap

G and I have never agreed on TV shows.
I guess that's why, in Munich, we hardly ever watched TV together. Sometimes I would turn
on CNN in the morning but more than often,
the television would only serve as background music, with MTV Germany or VIVA playing. But now that we are back home in the US, something
really cool has happened...
A couple of weeks ago, we watched an episode of A&E's The First 48 and we were both instantly hooked. The show focuses on real life homicide investigations across the country. Every episode focuses on two different cases. It is real, in your face, emotional and sometimes aggravating television. Every Thursday night, we rush to eat dinner, load the dish washer, walk Denzel, and get back home in time for the new episodes! And another riveting real life series on A&E that we both enjoy is Intervention. It is unbelievable and shocking. It focuses on two addicts that believe they are participating in a documentary on addiction. But their families are actually planning and staging an intervention to help them enter into treatment. Almost every episode makes me cry. If you are into real life drama, tune in.

A sandwich is a sandwich.

But a Manwich is a meal.

Tonight, G will have his first Sloppy Joe ever! Lately, I have been on a mission. I want G to taste all of the foods I grew up eating. Every week, I'm giving him a little sampling of typical "American" food. He has tried and loves Macaroni and Cheese. He's sitting on the fence about Green Bean Casserole and Twice Baked Potatoes. And my all time favorite topping for toast, Apple Butter, is now his favorite. Next week, he'll try a real blast from the past, Malt-O-Meal.

Nazi Trainer

For those of you that read my post about our horrific experience at Petsmart, the following post will either one, totally blow your mind or two, convince you that we are totally crazy. Either way, I welcome your comments. So after the Petsmart drama, we decided to enroll Denzel in another training program at Petco. Two weeks ago, we went to the first class. Our trainer was a nice girl and seemed super excited about her job. Major Chatty Kathy. She was also extremely sympathetic about Denzel and assured us that with her positive reinforcement training method, Denzel would be listening and following every command in 4 weeks. She was very confidant. After giving a description of the course, she asked all of the parents to introduce themselves and talk about their expectations from the class. Of course, when we introduced ourselves, I mentioned that my husband is German and that we just moved from Munich back to the US. I also talked about Denzel's puppy school in Munich and how pleased we were with his progress there. When I finished, the trainer said, "Okay. Well, I'm not some Nazi dog trainer who only believes in doing things my way. If you were taught a command that works for you and your dog, then you can keep doing that. Do what works. Like I said, I'm not a Nazi dog trainer!" G and I looked at each other with the Okay....???? face. The other parents sort of looked down into their laps, waiting for the uncomfortable moment to pass. What was with the Nazi talk? We didn't say anything to the trainer but as soon as we got in the car, G told me how uncomfortable he felt. He said that he found her comment unnecessary and rude and couldn't understand why she would use that phrase. I know I don't have to say this, but I believe that most people understand that just because you are German, that doesn't mean you are a Neo-Nazi or had family that was part of or believed in the Nazi movement. I thought her comment was rude but mostly ignorant. But I am not German so I could still empathize with G being a little pissed off. We let the comment slide and went to the second class. Now the first class was only for parents. This class was the first class for the puppies. We thought there were 3 puppies in the class. It turned out to be 6. We were so disappointed because Denzel would have a lot less one on one time with the trainer and the area inside the store is only a small enclosed section, so it was cramped with 6 puppies and their parents. And then you had Chatty Kathy talking most of the time instead of actually instructing the class. In an hour, Denzel only practiced one exercise. And she said Denzel would be listening and following every command in 4 weeks? Right. But instead of complaining, we listened as best as we could and tried to get the most out of the class. She sensed everyone's uneasiness about the chaos and assured us that in the next class, the puppies would be calmer. At the end of the class, she brought us all together in the middle of the space to give us our homework. She began her instructions with, "Since I'm not some Nazi dog trainer, I won't give you a lot of homework! I mean, you should be having fun with your dog most of the time, right? I want you to have fun. I am not the Nazi trainer!" I could not believe it.
We waited for her to finish and G went straight to the manager.
We pulled Denzel out of the class and received a refund.

Are we crazy?

Help

I can not tell you how many times I have had to hear about American beer and how much it sucks, since we've been back in the US. G is really getting on my nerves. And I know from experience, that most German men share the same opinion but come on, there has to be one American beer that is comparable, right? I'm not a beer drinker so I can't make any credible recommendations. But I do have a blind faith in my American breweries! Any suggestions? In Munich, G's favorite beer was Augustiner-Bräu. Since we've been home, he's been drinking Canadian beer, Labatt Blue - by force, mind you.