November 20, 2018

Tuesday - Rainy with hail

A horrible day.

I got up this morning just after F left. He was going out the door as I came downstairs. 

I had a quiet day at the house today. I did a load of laundry and hung it up in the room. I worked on my Christmas ornament in the afternoon and got it looking really good. I finished it off in the evening, but I’m getting ahead of the game. We also had a loud hailstorm in the middle of the day. I was rather surprised about that. 

Looking down on the hailstones...

F came back from work and we decided to cook at the house. Of course, we had to go out and get the food first. He talked about getting two kinds of fish and I said that was too much and since we were going to have other side dishes we didn’t need it. I thought he agreed.  

We go to the store, I get stuff for my lunch and he picks up two kinds of fish. Sigh. One to cook, one to sashimi. 

We get back to the house and he goes into “Chef” mode. He starts cooking the fish, plating the sashimi, basically using every plate that he possibly could in the kitchen. I worked on moving dishes to the table and cooking an onion cake that I had wanted to serve with dinner.  Finally, it was all done, but I was not happy.  There was too much food for me. I was barely hungry and there was rice, miso soup, grilled fish, sashimi and onion cake.  I skipped the sashimi and the rice, F was angry with me. I gave them to him to eat so they weren’t wasted. 

Of course, since I was in disgrace I was allowed to do the dishes alone…well nearly. K kept coming into the room and getting in my way.  I think she wanted to say something to me, but not sure what that would be. 

F and I had planned to go to the onsen after dinner. He went without me. He asked me if I was going to come with him and I asked him if he wanted me to. He said a resounding “No!” so I stayed put and he stormed off. 

While he was away I worked on my Christmas decoration and got it finished, almost! I’m still working on the hanging string. I really like it. The first one I did was very pastel, this one is very Christmassy. 

When F came back he ignored me completely, even though I talked to him. His mother and he seemed to have words downstairs, but I don’t know what about. 

I tried to have a conversation with F a few minutes ago but he wasn’t very nice to me. Sigh. I asked him how long this was going to last and he said he didn’t know. I got the usual crap about how I stay in bed too late and stay up too late. Well, what else is there to do for me?  Besides, I get up around 8 am these days, how or why is that late? On weekends I like to sleep in, and why not? It’s not like we ever have any plans. 

Anyway, I hope this will blow over soon. It’s F’s birthday on the weekend and I’m not sure if that makes him extra cranky or if it is the change in the weather. 

Come back later if you dare and see how things go on Wednesday. Until tomorrow….

November 19, 2018

Monday - Rainy and cold

A quiet day.

I woke up just before my alarm this morning. The wind was wuthering around the house and it sounded horrible outside. I felt sorry for F having to go to work in it.  I watched the news from under the covers so that I didn’t have to turn on the heater quite yet. Around 9 I got up and turned on the heater and watched my morning drama.

I had a quiet morning and early afternoon. I barely saw K at all, didn’t even say hi to her until 4 pm. I worked on my ornament for my Christmas swap. I even finished it, but I’m not sure about it.  It’s cute, but I’m not sure that it is Christmassy at all.  

When F came back to the house I suggested getting in bentos for dinner. We ordered and then F and I went off to pick them up. We did a quick grocery shop and then picked up the bento and came back to the house. We ate and everyone enjoyed themselves. After I finished, I started gathering the dishes and cleared the table. I put my dishes on the table in the kitchen and went back for more. K brought her dishes through and then washed them in the sink. She washed them in cold water with no detergent in the old cold water in the basin.  I tried to get her to stop, but she wouldn’t.  As soon as she left the kitchen, I grabbed her dishes again and put them to be washed again. If they had just been dishes that only she used, I wouldn’t have cared so much, but they were things like glasses that all of us use.  

F came into the kitchen and he washed the dishes, I dried them.  We went upstairs afterwards. I watched a bit of TV and worked on another ornament in more Christmassy colours. F asked if I wanted to go out. I told him that I could, but I didn’t have to.  He asked a couple more times so I thought that he would like to go out.  I finally accepted.

We went over to Komeda Coffee and had coffee (decaf) and I had an order of chicken nuggets.  It was really good. I was still a bit hungry after dinner, and the chicken filled me up. I did give F a piece too, so I didn’t eat it all.  

We came back to the house and took showers. F went to bed and I stayed up and watched Idol. 

That’s about it for today. It was an okay day and hopefully, I get to do it all again tomorrow! Come back and see what goes on…until tomorrow….

November 18, 2018

Sunday - Gorgeous but cool

A good day.

I got up this morning a bit early for me on a Sunday. F had decided not to go to the onsen today as he wasn’t feeling great. I asked him if we should cancel with my friend, but he said not to do that.  

I went back to bed for a short snooze and my friend called to say she’d slept in and would be late. We adjusted our plans and after we rung off, I let F know.  

I got dressed and ready to go.  I grabbed a bag for her with a packet of biscuits from Britain. I know she likes them!

F and I drove to the Oyama Nature Centre, but he kept getting lost along the way. He didn’t wait for the signs to tell him where to go. I asked him if he was really born in Oyama! My friend arrived at the Nature Centre a few minutes later with her children.  We spent the next hour and a bit walking around, looking at birds and chatting. In the Centre’s building, they have quite a few things set up for kids to play with so it was great for the children.  

Around 1 pm we all headed back into Tsuruoka for lunch. We went to McDonald, which was a big treat for the children, but not so much for F or even me if I’m honest. F had the Texas Burger, I had the Idaho Burger…his had barbecue sauce on it, mine had a hash brown patty and they were okay. While we were there we saw F’s nephew and his wife. His wife recognized me but I thought she was one of my ex-students, so didn’t really twig on who she was. Oops.

Sadly it became time to split up our little party. We had had a lovely time, but have vowed to try and get together again soon. 

F and I came back to his house and went to bed again.  I slept for an hour, used the washroom and then went back to sleep for two hours!  When I woke up again it was after 6 pm. I can’t believe that I slept that much. F came into the room just after I woke up and said that he’d been to the grocery store and bought things for his mother’s dinner.

We talked about our own dinner and didn’t really know what to do. We sort of decided on bentos from the store, but then F suggested going to Cocos Ichibanya so did that instead. Good idea.  I had the Spice Chicken Curry again, but with veggies this time, F had the curry udon with rice. Our dishes were both good.

We did a little grocery shopping afterwards and then came back to the house. I noticed that Three Billboards was on WOWOW, so put that on. It is such a good movie. Not safe for families, but worth watching. 

And that’s about it for my day. It was lovely to see my friend and her children, it was lovely to be out and about in the great outdoors and it was even better not to have a fight with my husband!

Come back later if you like and see how Monday goes. Until tomorrow….

November 17, 2018

Saturday - Rainy then clear

A busy day.

I got up quite early this morning and got dressed. F had gone to the doctor’s office and put in our cards so we could be seen early.  We got dressed and went to the clinic.  After an hour or two of being poked and prodded and such, we were able to leave. No big deal. 

F and I went to the new Starbucks and had regular coffee and a biscuit each. I had a buttermilk biscuit which was lovely, F had a strawberry one which was okay. 

We went back to the house when we finished and relaxed for a while.  F made his lunch and something for his mother, I made myself a couple of quesadillas that were good. 

We left for the clinic where we were getting our flu shots and it went a lot different than I thought. We were in and out in about 20 minutes.  I had taken my knitting and I wasn’t able to do any of it!

We went to the grocery shop for K’s dinner and also because I wanted to buy something there.  After that, we came back to the house. F gave his mother her food and we discussed where to go. Since F didn’t want meat, I suggested a really good fish place. He countered with a couple of others but really mine was the best place to go.  We went early as it gets very busy. On the way to the restaurant, F suggested going for gyudon instead but I squashed that. He said he’d have fish there, but I personally didn’t want gyudon! We had a lovely meal at the fish place. F did that thing he does where he says he’s going to have one dish until the waiter arrives and then he changes his order at the last moment. Argh.  I was going to suggest an add-on for us but he changed his order to something that included the add-on I wanted so we couldn’t do it anymore.

After we finished we went to S-Mall and had some Baskin Robbins. I tried a couple of new to me flavours. Yum.

We came back to the house and had a quiet evening in. F was half in bed and half on his phone so I got to watch a bunch of stuff “live” tonight. Yay me. 

That’s about it for today. Tomorrow we’re meeting up with a friend of mine and her children and after that, I’m not sure what we’ll get up to. Come back later and see what happens. Until tomorrow….

November 16, 2018

Friday - Rainy and cooler

A good day.

F woke me up again this morning. He dropped something heavy on the floor. I wasn’t too pleased. 

I got up soon after he left and watched the news in English. I tend to ignore the non-English ones as I can’t understand them.

I had a really quiet morning. I did some laundry and hung it up, I also put away the older stuff. 

Most of the afternoon I listened to podcasts. Nothing groundbreaking, but quite interesting.

F came home and wanted to know about food. I suggested going to Tai, the Curry/Ramen place and he liked that idea. K came too and we had a good meal. We came back to the house afterwards and stayed in. 

F was tired so he played on his phone and I watched TV and worked on my Christmas Ornament. It’s going quite well so far. I’m hoping I can finish it soon.  

I used FaceTime to talk to my sister and my niece tonight. It was lovely to be able to talk to them. I do feel sorry for them though, the weather outside was horrible. They have a lot of snow at the moment. 

I have to get up quite early for me tomorrow as F has offered to take me to see a doctor. It’s nothing serious, but I should get myself to bed if I want some decent rest. Tomorrow night, I’ll likely be back, but I’m also getting a flu shot tomorrow so if I’m not up to posting, don’t miss me too much.  

Come back later if you like.  Until tomorrow….

November 15, 2018

Thursday - Rainy at times, mostly clear

A good day.

F woke me up again this morning. He turned on the light in the room and I’m afraid I wasn’t too nice about it. I think I made a comment to the effect of “You woke me up again?!”  I suppose he doesn’t really have a choice…actually, he does. If he’d just get his stuff together in one place the night before like normal people do, he wouldn’t have to turn on the light. Whatever.  I ran downstairs and then came back up for 5 more minutes of sleep.

I got up, but the room was cold, so I turned on the telly and watched the news from the bottom of the bed. It was warm and cosy that way!

I had a normal morning except the plumbing guys were here to fix the pipes and then F’s sister came by to check on his mother. She rang the doorbell, but K didn’t hear her. Luckily, I did hear the doorbell and opened the door.  

I had a very quiet day for the most part. I set up the slow cooker to make Pulled Pork and then exited the kitchen. I didn’t use a recipe, just a method from Epicurious. It turned out quite well. 

I did a couple of Postcrossing cards again today. I thought that doing two is better than waiting for myself to have a non-busy day and doing a bunch. These ones are off to China and the US. 

F called around 5:30 to say he was on his way, so I went into the kitchen and made the coleslaw. He arrived just as I was going to shred the meat. There was a big lump of fat still on the roast, so I was going to chuck it out. F said he’d eat it. I suggested he use the frypan to fry it first as it didn’t look too appealing. I can’t really believe it, but he cooked the whole thing and then ate it too. I shredded the actual meat and put it back in the slow cooker to blend with the juices. 

I worked quite hard to get the table set and F worked to get in my way. He did help by making rice for K, but when I’d ask him what he’d like, got mad at me.  Sigh.  I got things on the table and set K’s plate in front of her.  F and I had our pulled pork on tortillas, she had hers on rice.  She said a couple of times that she liked it, and ate it all, plus had a little extra so I guess I believe her! F only had a couple of tortillas, I had three. It was good, but I missed not having a lot of barbecue sauce on the meat.  Still, the others liked it a lot, so that was good. I cleared the table.

I was just about to start washing the dishes when F came in. He washed them and then went off somewhere. I washed my slow cooker and boxed it back up again. 

I went upstairs and F came up a bit later. He went straight to bed. I waited a while and went over to see him. We had some cuddles and then talked about going out. It seemed if we wanted wifi our choices were Komeda coffee or the internet cafe. We went to the latter one.

It wasn’t too busy tonight so we were able to get our chairs right away. We spent 3 hours in the chairs. I watched a little telly, a little YouTube and did some crochet of my Christmas project. Yay.

After 3 hours we came back via a convenience store for me to mail my postcards. Before I ran into the store I asked F if he wanted to come in or get something. He said no.  Then, when we were coming up to a store nearer to his house, he asked me if I wanted to go to a convenience store. I just laughed. 

We had a quiet evening in. F took a shower, I watched some telly and then started blogging.  That’s about it for me. 

I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I have a feeling that laundry will be involved though! Come back later and find out. Until tomorrow….

November 14, 2018

Wednesday - Rainy

A goodish day.

I got up this morning but it was cold, so I did my “stay in bed with the covers over me but watching the news thing”. It kept me warm. I got up after 9 and did a few things around the room.  

I had a fairly normal day today with some laundry, a bit of Postcrossing and a bit too much time on the computer.  Oh well.

The hot water doesn’t seem to be working either. I tried to heat up some water to do dishes and nothing but cold water came out. Yikes.  A couple of times today K tried to tell me something, but I have no idea what. She isn’t very good at explaining things. To be fair to myself, F says that he can’t understand her sometimes either!

F came back around 6 pm. He’d called earlier and I had asked him to bring something right away for his mother to eat. I don’t know if she’d had anything to eat this afternoon. There is food, but I’m not sure if she can make it/heat it nowadays. 

F showed up with 3 bentos, so we had dinner together by bento. It was rather nice.  We did some washing up afterwards and then F and I went to the onsen. Since the hot water in the house is out, I used the onsen, I didn’t really have a choice. It was fine today. I spent most of my time out in the rotenburo. Nobody was in it with me for about 10 or 15 minutes so it was nice. 

After the onsen, F wanted to go for coffee, so we went to Komeda Coffee. I like the place, but think it is a little expensive for what it is. I tried to talk to him a couple of times, but he didn’t hear me as he was wearing an earphone and listening to a radio drama. Sigh. It’s really starting to get to me, that. Yesterday when I had lunch with my friend the two of us hardly stopped talking, but my own husband can’t be bothered to listen to me. Sure, I check my phone, and I’ve even been known to play a game, but to listen to radio dramas when someone is with you seems more than a little rude to me. 

We got a few groceries for the house and then came back. I did my lovely burnable garbage thing and then came upstairs.  I got F to fill up the kerosene heater for me and have used it to stay warm for the rest of the evening. And yes, I did put on a sweater first.

That’s about it for me. I’m going to do pulled pork in my slow cooker tomorrow for dinner, and maybe a little more laundry. I’m not sure. I’d like to do another couple of Postcrossing cards too or get a start on my Christmas shopping.  

Come back later if you have the inclination and see what I get up to on Thursday. Until tomorrow….