February 27, 2015

Friday - Snowy, rainy and cold

A good day.

I got up this morning and watched the new show on D-Life.  It’s okay I guess.  I had a quiet morning and was even able to do a bit of reading on my book.  I tried a new morning cereal today, a muesli.  It was quite nice.  

In the afternoon I took a shower, watched a bit of a movie and generally had a good time.  I even packed a bit of my suitcase. Later on, F called to say he was going to his mother’s then he came home.  

I started dinner after F said he was on the way home.  It was very simple today.  We had boiled brussels sprouts, tofu & chicken burgers, salad and then leftover Swiss chard and chicken from last night.  It was good! 

After dinner I looked for a specific item of clothing.  I finally found it, but decided that it needed some repairs.  I brought it out to the living room and then F and I decided to go out for a “date”. 

We were going to go to Mr. Donut but there was no parking there, so we ended up at Mosburger.  I had a dessert and F had a fish burger.  We chatted for a few minutes and then came home again.  I did my sewing and watched a little TV.  When 11 came along I went over to the couch for Pretty Little Liars, but F went to bed.  I worked on my bobbin knitting for a bit.

At the moment I’m now watching Episodes.  WOWOW has a few episodes on back to back.  I won’t be able to watch them all as I have to get some sleep, but it is a terrific and funny show.

Tomorrow I need to finish getting ready for my trip.  I will also finish up my decluttering.  I haven’t written about it, but so far in February I have been throwing things out that are around my computer desk.  The area is looking much better, although it still isn’t tidy.  I may start with another room next month, I’m not sure yet.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to update tomorrow night as I’m going to have an early morning on Sunday.  If not, I’ll be back on Monday night! Until tomorrow?

February 26, 2015

Thursday - Clear, then rainy at night

An oddish day.

I got up quite early this morning and came through to the living room for my morning telly.  I made myself a pot of tea and watched TV, surfed the internet and even did some of my reading.  I’m quite enjoying Middlemarch.  

F came home for a bit and acted really strangely.  He was looking for medicine but didn’t have any.  He ended up taking time off work in the morning to go to the doctor.  After that, he came home again.  I wasn’t exactly happy to see him because he was quite prickly.  I had just started vacuuming the apartment when he came in so I quit.  He had a headache so I didn’t want to make it worse.  

He ate lunch and then went back to work.  I finished vacuuming and then did a few things around my computer.  I even did a load of laundry!  

In the evening I looked up some cooking methods for the veggies I was going to do and then F came home.  He barely said hello to me and took off his work clothes and went to bed.  I checked on him and he said he’d have dinner with me, so I got on with cooking.

Tonight I did sauteed swiss chard with parmesan and a herb chicken.  We had a salad to go with it too.  I cooked and it took a bit of prep, but when I asked F if he’d like some dinner he said he wouldn’t.  He went back to sleep and I ate.  The swiss chard was amazing and the chicken was pretty good too.  I ate, cleaned up and washed up too.  

I watched my evening telly and during Once Upon a Time I started a new project.  Or, actually, started something to finish off another project.  One of the little bags I made ages ago needs a long shoulder strap.  The method of making the straps that the pattern uses is long and tedious and I hated it!  Yesterday in the mall, I bought myself a little bobbin knitter thingy and thought I should try and make the strap with that.  I have done a little bit with it.  It’s tricky to get the tension right.  My first attempt was too tight, so I took it back.  I may have to do a couple and twist them, or three and plait them, I’ll have to see how it goes.

F got up after midnight and is still up.  The rain started up too.  He tells me that we are supposed to get 30 cm of snow tomorrow.  I am so not impressed!  I’m off on a big trip on Sunday and I don’t want to take my snowboots!  

Anyway, that is about it for me.  Tomorrow I may start packing my suitcase and deciding what fits me well enough to wear. So many things are too baggy at the moment!  I’ll talk to you tomorrow night.  Until then….

February 25, 2015

Wednesday - Cloudy, then sunny

A good day.  

I got up early this morning.  I did.  I got up, looked around the living room, checked email quickly and got dressed.  I went out a little bit after 9 am.  I went to Machi-kine to see (Don’t hate me) Fifty Shades of Grey(Don’t hate me).  It was beautiful to look at, I mean the gorgeous Vancouver exteriors, and Jamie Dornan isn’t bad either, but overall….I’m so glad I didn’t read the books!  Two hours and it was over!  At the end I was thinking, “Shouldn’t this be wrapping up soon?” and, luckily, it did!  My popcorn and drink were great.  I’m not sure if popcorn will catch on as a breakfast food, but it is a cereal after all! 

After the movie I left the theatre and detoured into the big shrine on the corner near the post office.  As I went in, I realized that it was 30 years since my mother died.  I spent a bit of time at the shrine and felt that my mother would have appreciated the gesture.  It was peaceful in there as I was the only person around and afterwards I felt at peace, and grateful for the time that we had her in our lives.

I biked over to the mall next.  I checked out the restaurant upstairs to see what their specials were. One of them was a pasta I could eat, so I went in and had lunch.  I had chicken and mushroom cream pasta.  It came with a non-alcoholic cocktail, salad, soup, bun and coffee (in my case tea).  It was quite nice.  I really enjoyed the pasta.

After lunch I visited the 100 yen shop and got a few things, then checked out the grocery store downstairs.  I didn’t buy anything there.  I decided to come home afterwards, rather than stop into the coffee shop.  I biked home.

At home I did a bit of bike maintenance and then got caught up on my TV and email.  It was quite relaxing. 

F came home a bit late today and we thought about where to go for dinner.  I suggested a few places, but we finally decided on Bikkuri Donkey!! We went and had an okay meal.  I was miffed because I couldn’t have the meal type I wanted, I had to have the one with rice.  They didn’t have any of the larger sized meat patties.  That didn’t bother us, but I wanted the non-rice dishes.  

We hit up the drug store for a few things, then the grocery store.  I’m going to be cooking for the next couple of nights again.  

When we came home, I watched my Wednesday shows, Once Upon a Time, CSI and Scandal.  Of course, I also caught the re-broadcasts of House and Bones. I did a bit more finishing work on my blanket...still a long way to go.  

I hope to do a bit of tidying up tomorrow and maybe some getting ready for my trip!  Come back soon and see what I get up to!  Until tomorrow….

February 24, 2015

Tuesday - Cloudy

A good day.

I overslept this morning. Oops.  When F got up for work I closed the bedroom door because he was using the light in the living room and it woke me up.  When I realized that my alarms weren’t going off anymore I got up and checked the time…Late!

I watched some of my TV and had breakfast and a cup of orzo.  That was nice.  In the afternoon I took a shower and then did laundry.  I did about 3 loads, but it was needed.  F even came home for a little bit but I was busy and watching my recording of Project Runway.

He left again, I did more laundry and then I had lunch.  Today I had  toast with leftover chicken and broccoli on it.  It was so very nice! 

After lunch I scanned my cards.  I didn’t take them to the post office but I asked F to take them later.  I started to get things ready for dinner.  I washed the dishes and then I chopped up an onion.  

F came home a little later, but I sent him out almost immediately in order to buy kerosene and mail my cards! He left and was back a few minutes later.  

I cooked dinner.  It was a vegetable-pork stir-fry so it came together very quickly.  It was good too.  After our meal, F had a nap because his shoulder was bothering him.  I did the dishes because I’m very nice :-)

We had a quiet evening.  F got up, but went back to bed a bit later.  Then got up again.  I watched some TV, and did a bit of finishing on my blanket.  It was a pretty nice day.  Tomorrow it depends on the weather, but I might go out in the morning, I’m not really sure.  We don’t have much for me to eat for lunch, so I’m thinking I’ll go out in the morning and stay out for lunch.  I hope that works!  Come back and find out what I get up to. Until tomorrow then!

February 23, 2015

Monday - Cloudy then rainy

A good day.

I got up before 9 this morning and went into the couch.  I watched/snoozed through some of the pre-Oscar events on TV, then finally settled in to watch.  It was fun this year.  I had 3 people watching with me in Canada and Japan, so it was nice.  There weren’t to many strange things happening for a change which made it a little boring in a way.  Neil Patrick Harris was a good host, but almost too uncontroversial!

Some of the highlights for me were Lady Gaga singing, Graham Moore’s speech about staying weird, J.K. Simmons entreating kids to call home and not text.  Oh, and surprisingly, Patricia Arquette’s speech about equality for wages.  

The awards went on till quite late, around 2 pm.  When it was over I thanked my friends and then shut down my computer.  I had a huge headache so I decided to go out and have lunch.  I needed to run some errands at the same time so it was a good chance to get out.  

I did a little bit of money swapping between accounts, then had a quick lunch.  I had a tofu burger kind of thing.  It had meat in it I’m sure, but also some tofu. I liked it more than I thought I would.  After lunch I went off to the drugstore then did a quick trip round the craft show.  I didn’t buy anything there.  After that, I just came home.

F was a little late tonight, but not that much.  I asked him to bring home more asparagus, which he did.  I made baked asparagus with parmesan which was a Simply Recipes blog find. F made a Japanese motsu dish that was okay.  Of course we got in each other’s way all the time.  I cooked the chicken, set the table and we had a very nice meal.  The asparagus was amazing and it all disappeared!  

F did the dishes and then we had a quiet evening in.  I watched the Oscars again and tried to get F to watch the good bits, but he wasn’t too interested.  He took a bath and I did some postcrossing this evening too.  I managed to write up quite a few cards.  Yay for that.  

So, basically, today was a good day.  Tomorrow I’ll hopefully do a bit of laundry so I can take some clean clothes with me on my trip!  I’m also cooking dinner tomorrow night.  Wish me luck with that.  I have to go, until tomorrow…. 

February 22, 2015

Sunday - Cloudy and a bit rainy

A good day.

Both F and I stayed up late last night, so he wasn’t able to get up this morning and take his dog for a walk.  His mother managed so that was good.  I got up around 11, checked email and then went back to bed. I was tired and not feeling too great.  Although I set my alarm, I overslept a bit.  

When I got up and got dressed, we talked about where to go for lunch.  F wanted to go to Fujishima to the drive-in restaurant.  We went there and it was fine.  I had a stirfried veggie set meal, F had a ramen set. I think I got the best of the deal.  

After lunch we drove into Amarume and looked for a new restaurant.  We found it right by the station and did a little looking around.  They had a souvenir shop and a little coffee/tea bar.  We had a hot drink and an apple danish that was quite nice.  After that, a quick visit to the train station and then back home.  F had to take his dog out after all.

When F came home, we talked about going out for dinner.  I suggested the Komagi Park buffet with a back up of F’s favourite fish shop.  We got to the buffet, but tonight it was booked up so we couldn’t go there.  We were driving to the restaurant when F asked if I’d rather go to Simon, a French-Japanese fusion place and of course the answer was yes!  

We were able to go in and get seated right away. The meat course had tomato sauce on it, so I decided to have fish tonight and then F followed suit.  We had a lovely meal with trout and flatfish in a brown butter sauce plus salads and soup. It was very nice.  

After dinner, we picked up a few groceries and then headed home.  We watched a bit of TV and then I went over to the couch for Downton Abbey.  While I watched, I did some of the finishing on my blanket.  I switched over to Project Runway Allstars when Downton Abbey finished.  

And basically that was my day.  It was quite nice.  F and I got along well, we had some nice food, and relaxed a bit.  Hurray for that.  Tomorrow though…it is the Academy Awards show and I’ll be glued to my TV for that. I’ll also be Facebooking the show if anyone is interested in following along.  Until tomorrow then….

February 21, 2015

Saturday - Clear and sunny, bit cool

A good day.  

I got up this morning and took a shower.  I waited for F to come home, but I was so hungry I had a bit of breakfast.  Afterwards, he arrived and we decided to go out.  He chose the restaurant from our book of local places and off we went. The book said it was a darts and billiard bar, and it was.  It also served lunches.  We both had pasta, just different types.  I had bacon and asparagus pepperoncino, F had carbonara.  They came with a soft drink, onion rings and a small salad.  It was quite nice.  However, we both decided we probably wouldn’t go there again.  F was bothered by the smoky smell in the place, I was bothered by the lack of tables.  We were perched on bar stools.  However, I might go again if I was ever in the neighbourhood at lunchtime.

We went off to McDonalds for something hot to drink, then to Yamaya for some foreign foods.  We got some soft drinks and a few bits and bobs for the kitchen.  Then we came home.  We relaxed for a while and then F went off to walk his dog.  

When F came back, we decided where to go for dinner.  This time I listed off a few places and we decided to go for curry to the Indian-Nepali place.  We were the only customers there, but had a good meal.  I had sag chicken curry, F had chicken curry.  I didn’t have the rice that came with it, but I didn’t cancel my dessert.  Shocker there!  It was good, but the waitress dropped a few things when she tried to take away our plates.  The staff apologized when we left, but honestly, nothing hit me and it was an accident anyway!

We drove out to Mikawa and went to the theatre right away. We had about 30 minutes before our movie started, so we bought our tickets and then waited for a bit before we got our popcorn.  We went to see American Sniper tonight.  It was a well made film with good performances, but I honestly had a debate with myself a few minutes into it about whether I should walk out or not.  I didn’t, but as I told F afterwards, I don’t need to see it again.  Clint Eastwood is a good director and I think this is a good film, but I didn’t really like it.  

F and I came home via the grocery store.  He wants to do some cooking, and surprise, surprise there was finally GREEK YOGURT in the shop!  Yay!  I’m so glad. I’ve been searching for it for years.  It only comes in tiny little containers though, but it is a start.

We came home and I watched a bit of the Brit Awards, which was actually a repeat from ages ago and then Miss Marple.  It was a pretty cool episode actually.  Amongst the cast was one very good looking young man with an interesting voice.  It turned out to be Richard Armitage, also known these days as Thorin Oakenshield from The Hobbit movies.  

I spent a few minutes trying to find us a glamorous, exciting flight to somewhere in the world, but F wasn’t co-operating.  When I said to name a place he’d like to go, he chose my hometown.  NO! I did find us a flight there for not too much, but probably more than he’d like to pay!  I then tried out for Paris.  We could get a flight from Haneda to Paris….for not too much.  Of course, we’d have to sleep under a bridge somewhere, but at least it would be a Parisian bridge!

That’s about it for me.  I’m not sure what we’ll do tomorrow.  We might see another movie, but I’m rooting for karaoke!  Find out what we do next entry. Until tomorrow….