December 9, 2025

Tuesday - Sunny in the am, rainy at night

After last night’s scary excitement I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep, but I did. I even had a good sleep! I woke up this morning and did my usual thing of going downstairs and then going back to bed. I watched a few videos and I may or may not have fallen asleep on one of them!

I got up later, dressed and went downstairs to get my breakfast. I had a quiet morning and early afternoon. I did get another postcard in the mail via Postcrossing from Lithuania. 

I went down a little early to get my lunch and when I came back to the room watched another episode of MobLand. It was good, Tom Hardy is amazing and Helen Mirren is excellent as a weird matriarch of the family. The cast of the show is pretty darn good too.

Around 5:30 F called to say he was on his way so I eventually went downstairs to get a start on dinner. Tonight I did the pork stir-fry with a mix of seaweed and cabbage, plus some chikuwa (fish paste in a tube form). Everyone here likes it a lot. We had that with salad and rice. I didn’t do a lot of side dishes today. Everything disappeared for a change!

I did the dishes and because we didn’t have a lot of extra dishes, I finished the dishes quickly. Yay for that! I let F know that I was done and we headed out to get groceries. 

I got to go in the store and do the shopping and it was nice to be able to get my stuff done without F getting in my way. I know he means well, but I prefer to do it by myself. I paid afterwards and went back to the car.

We came back to the house and I put the groceries away. I had asked F to make rice for tomorrow so he did. I went upstairs and checked our heater in the room. The tank was nearly empty. I brought it downstairs to fill it and started the pump into the tank and…the tank was empty. I checked the others and they were all freaking empty. I wasn’t too pleased. F had filled his mother’s kerosene tank earlier tonight so I knew she was okay. F was all for going out immediately to get more (which I would have appreciated), but I did find a small tank in the back of the cupboard with kerosene in it. I was able to fill up the tank for my heater. F swears he’ll get some tomorrow. I brought the heater’s tank up to the room and turned on the heater.

I had a quiet evening in. I watched some YouTube and then an episode of FBI: Most Wanted. Tonight was about a killer who used knitting needles to kill. I use wooden ones usually, I couldn’t do that!

And that’s about it. F bummed a cup of cocoa off me, and that was fine. He’s sleeping now and I’m going to try and get to bed soon for a change. 

We are lucky enough to not have felt any aftershocks, but a friend of mine wrote that she experienced a few last night. I think we’ll all be 

worried for a few days until things calm down. 

Anyway, I’m done. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow…

December 8, 2025

Monday - Rainy all day

Well, a little after 11:00pm tonight we had a pretty big earthquake. It was offshore in Aomori I believe. I was watching a drama from Canada and it was at a scary moment when all of a sudden my phone alarm started shrieking and the room started shaking. Yikes. I turned off the heater and unplugged my water pot and waited for the shaking to subside. 

It was quite strong here, but obviously not as strong as it was in Aomori. My fellow club members were saying that they felt it in Tokyo too. 

Anyway, we are fine and I’m hoping that everyone else is too. I haven’t heard of too much damage, but we might not know much until daytime.

I got up this morning when my alarm went off. I went downstairs, came back to the room, sorted my laundry and then went back to bed! I slept a bit longer than I meant to, but it was fine. I did have a call from F telling me that he was planning to take a day off later in the month. Okay then.

I got up, dressed and then took my laundry downstairs. I started a load and then made my breakfast which I took upstairs to eat. I had breakfast and then it was time to swap out some laundry. I did a couple of loads today so that was good. My basket is nearly empty now and that is a good thing!

I had a quiet afternoon, I went downstairs a little early to get my lunch then came back upstairs to eat. Today I watched another episode of Matlock. It was quite good. I’ve been trying to get back to the programmes during my lunch time. I need to use the streaming services more!

I watched the news at 4 pm and snorted through some of the most egregious interviews. The reporters were fine, it was the people being interviewed that were to blame. I also wrote up a card for Postcrossing. Yay me!

F called a little after 5 pm and said he was on his way back. After a cup of tea and some thought, I went downstairs and got started on dinner. F came back about the same time. We had a nice reunion. 

Tonight’s dinner was quite good. I did my favourite toaster oven chicken…tonight was garlic pepper flavour, we had a baby leaf salad, potato salad, cabbage in sesame oil and rice. It was very nice overall. A lot of the food disappeared so that was good.

I did the dishes and then headed upstairs to relax. I even wrote another postcard and then I scanned both of the ones I wrote tonight.  Around 10:30 I went downstairs and took a shower. F was still downstairs so I said hi and checked he was okay. He was, he was just watching TV. After my shower, I headed back upstairs and settled in with some crochet and put on Cardinal, my Canadian drama. Well, just as they were recapping last time’s episode, my phone’s alarm started wailing and the room started shaking. It was a long earthquake, probably lasted for a couple of minutes, if not longer.

F came upstairs a few minutes later and we chatted for a while. He kept telling me things about the earthquake that my apps had already told me! Poor dear!

I watched my show and I finished my dishcloth too, so that was good. The show was good, but a bit dark and sad as well. 

And that’s about it for my day. We’ll find out tomorrow about injuries, tsunamis and other problems from tonight’s shake up. I’m hoping it won’t be too bad. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

December 7, 2025

 Sunday - Rainy and cloudy

I slept in today and it was lovely. I had set my alarm for 10 am and I was surprised that F was still in bed when my alarm went off. He got up right away to make his mother some breakfast. I went downstairs to use the washroom and then came back to bed!

I snoozed for another couple of hours and then got up and dressed myself. F and I talked about lunch and since we had a tight budget I suggested Arpeggio. He liked the idea, actually called them, and made a reservation. 

We headed over and had a nice meal. We had both thought about having the soboro, but today they were out of it. We both had the chicken tenders which were very nice as always. 

After lunch we went to a drugstore and bought a few things there. I got some more pasta sauce as they have some groceries in the store at a reasonable price. We paid and then left.

We had decided to go over to the Chido Museum to see the displays. I have a membership so we can just go in without paying today. Yay.  We had a look around. I didn’t go over to the garden area as it was really wet and my shoes aren’t waterproof. 

After our visit to the museum, we came back to the house. I used my computer for a few minutes and then went to bed! I slept for a couple of hours. I had a snuggle-bunny friend for a bit too. 

I got myself out of bed around 6:30 and discussed with F what to do. We decided that we’d go to the grocery store and get bentos for dinner. I was a bit sad as I don’t really love bentos, but okay. We went to the grocery store, chose our bentos and one for K, then we went through the store and bought our other groceries. We came in under budget so that was great. I didn’t think we would, but the bentos were just marked down to half price so that was nice for us. 

We came back to the house and put away the groceries. F got K up and I heated up the bentos. We ate and it was okay. I had a kara-age bento as did F, K had a saba bento which she liked. I was a tad ticked, so I went upstairs after washing my glass and bento box. 

I had a quiet evening in. F came up around 10pm. I decided to watch something off the Fire Disk, so I put on the next episode of Down Cemetery Road. It was really good. The plot threads are coming to a head. Emma Thompson is amazing of course!

And that’s about it. I had a good day and it is setting us up for a good week. I’ll be doing my normal stuff tomorrow, oh well. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

December 6, 2025

Saturday - Sunny in the am, clear at night

I went to bed late last night so I slept in later than usual this morning. I did make a trip downstairs after F took his mother to the Day Service, then went back to bed for a couple of hours.

I dragged myself out of bed finally and F and I talked about what to do for lunch. I suggested an Indian restaurant. They are cheap and you get a lot. He was okay with that today and so off we went.

We had a nice lunch, we both had the same thing, a  saag keema curry with naan and chai afterwards. It was good. 

We went over to Musashi to get K some more tissues. The woman is addicted to tissues. We got a huge bag of them, about 24 bags of them. They’ve started not using cardboard boxes for tissues here, and it’s kind of nice. We also bought some big batteries and a new box of masks. They sell the ones we like. 

Then, we hit up Daiso at the PAL shopping center. I was looking for big Christmas platters for my table, but the only ones they had were all Coca-Cola themed and I’d rather not. They may be Christmassy, but they are more commercial than I like!

We went to S-Mall next since I had seen some platters when I was there on Wednesday. I couldn’t find any. Sigh. They’ve either sold out or they moved them. I ended up buying some big white plates, but I can use them in the microwave if necessary, so that’s good. White disposable plates are fine. I can use them anytime if there are leftovers. I got another tablecloth and a few smaller Christmassy plates and bowls and cups too. 

I took F downstairs to Doutor and I bought him a cup of coffee. I had some decaf cafe latte, but the clerk must have been new as he didn’t seem to understand the decaf bit at first!

We sat and relaxed for a while. Around 4 pm we headed out. I made another quick trip through Jupiter to see if they had any Christmas Puddings or Mincemeat Tarts yet and the answer is no. I may have to check Kaldi in Sakata soon. 

We left the mall and drove back to the house. We made it back a few minutes before 4:30 so we were safe. We weren’t too late for K. I put away my Christmas stuff and then headed upstairs. F stayed downstairs and a little later made dinner for his mother by giving her the lunch she didn’t eat on Friday….a.k.a. the lunch I packed for her on Thursday night. Oh well.

We relaxed upstairs for a bit and then decided to go out for our dinner. I suggested the newish Taiwanese restaurant we found a couple of weeks ago and F was cool with that. We headed over and despite the parking lot being nearly full, got a table immediately.

We ordered our dinner. I had the yurinchi set meal. It’s basically thin fried chicken in a very crunchy coating, covered in mayo. It’s not what most places call yurinchi as it tends to be in a sour sauce. It came with rice, soup, pickles, spicy tofu, salad and dessert. F had a chahan set, fried rice with shrimps, soup and a piece of fried chicken. F also ordered us some gyoza that were pretty good. I didn’t need them, but it was nice to try.

After our meal, we sat there for a while and then headed back to the house. We had a quiet evening in. I watched a bunch of YouTube and then I put on Criminal Minds: Evolution and it was good but unsettling. I am not really enjoying this series. I did see one interesting thing though, they showed someone’s nameplate on their desk and it was Spencer Reid’s. He hasn’t been in this newer season so I’m wondering if it is an Easter Egg for the longtime viewers or a hint of what is to come. Everyone is so deadly serious in this show, even Penelope. It’s a tad sad!

Anyway, that’s about it for me. I have been watching YouTube for a while and I have enjoyed myself. 

I’m not sure what we’re going to get up to tomorrow. Come back later if you like and find out! Until tomorrow….

December 5, 2025

 Friday - Clear today, but last night thunderstorms

I got to bed a few minutes early last night which I’m sure F appreciated. He did manage to get a bit of sleep. When I woke up this morning he was gone and I was worried about him. The weather reports had not been good. 

I went back to sleep for a while and then woke up earlier than I have been lately. I got up and dressed, then went downstairs to grab my breakfast. I brought it upstairs to the room to eat. 

I decided that I should set up my tree today so I sorted my laundry and brought down a full basket of it with me. I started one load and then got started putting the tree together. I finally figured it out and then started putting my lights on the tree. I decorated my tree, stopping once to put more laundry in the machine. I finished laundry about the time I decided to stop decorating the tree!

I took my laundry upstairs, grabbed my bread, extension cord, and a star for the top of the tree and went downstairs. I used the extension cord to plug in the tree lights and put the star up on top. Then, I went into the kitchen and made my lunch. 

I took my lunch upstairs and then I ate. I didn’t have a ton of time so I watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory. It was okay, it wasn’t a great episode. The news later was okay, I tend to tune some of it out at times.

While the news was on, I finally hung up my laundry. I also got a call from F. He was going to stop by the house for a minute or two. He came upstairs and we spoke for a couple of minutes. He had to go back to work soon after. I was glad that he’d made it back from Yamagata safely today. 

I went downstairs around 6pm to get a start on dinner. Tonight being Friday I did pasta again. We had it with a Tuna Mayo sauce and it got good reviews. We all had seconds!

I did the dishes and listened to some of my podcasts. Oh, I forgot to say that I listened to my big movie podcast while I decorated the tree. I finished the whole thing. That’s unusual for me to finish it on Friday, but it’s okay. 

After dinner, I washed the dishes and then headed upstairs. I watched a bit of YouTube and relaxed with some Royal Milk Tea without caffeine. Then, I took a shower. The water was hot enough tonight so that was good!

I came back to the room and watched another episode of Lazarus while I did a bit of crochet on my dishcloth. It’s going well and I’m about half done.

After midnight I chatted with F a bit about tomorrow. He said he didn’t have any ideas about what to do tomorrow. K is going back to her Day Service so we have the daytime to ourselves. I’d like to do a bit of shopping but I’m not sure if we can or not. I had hoped to go to a movie tomorrow night, but F is not on board at the moment. Sigh. 

Come back later if you like and hear about my Saturday. Until tomorrow….

December 4, 2025

Thursday - Snowy but sunny in the morning, rainy later on…with snow!

I woke up with my alarm this morning, made a trip downstairs. I found F’s breakfast sandwich and a bottle of coffee and a bill in a bag in the bathroom. I took it upstairs to the room. I discovered that the bottle of coffee was leaking all over the place. I took the bill out of its envelope and hung them both up to dry. I cleaned up the coffee, got a new bag for him and put the bottle up on a shelf so it wouldn’t spill.

I went back to bed and I think I went into hibernation zone because I completely overslept. I woke up much later than I had planned. Yikes. 

I dressed and went downstairs. I put my breakfast together and then came back upstairs and dressed. I ate and then spent a bit of time on YouTube. Oh, I did go out for a couple of minutes and shovelled a tiny bit of snow. There wasn’t that much on the ground, but I wanted to clear the steps of the house.

I went downstairs to get my lunch, but decided that I really should go upstairs to the garage. I took my fan up to the second floor of the garage and then pulled the tree and the decorations over to the top of the steps. I brought both boxes downstairs and into the house. I left them near the genkan where I usually put my tree up. 

I made my lunch and took it upstairs to eat. I did see K and offered to heat up her lunch for her. I think she liked it. She ate it all anyway.

I watched the news at 4 pm and then after 5, F called. He let me know that he has to leave early on Friday, really early for work. He’s thinking 5 am. Yikes.

I went downstairs and made dinner. Tonight we had ginger pork with salad and broccoli. I added in the leftover macaroni and cheese from last night, plus the last bit of the potato salad. It was good. There were still a few leftovers afterwards, but most of the food disappeared. 

I went into the kitchen and did the dishes and packed up the leftovers for my lunch. I had packed K’s before dinner. When I finished the dishes I went upstairs and relaxed for a while. 

F went to bed a bit early and seemed to sleep for a while. I watched The Rookie, it was the last one of the season and was quite good. I had made some popcorn before the show so I got to munch on some of that. It was really nice.

Since midnight I’ve been watching YouTube and doing my end of day stuff. I’m a bit tired so I’m going to try and get to bed a little early for a change. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

December 3, 2025

Today worked out rather nicely. I really had a good time!

I woke up in the morning, went downstairs and then came back to bed. I snoozed for a bit, but dragged myself out of bed at a reasonable time. I got dressed, went downstairs and made my breakfast. I brought it back up to the room to eat, then I had my morning set of pills for my cold!

I went downstairs around 11:15 and left the house around 11:25. I walked over to the bus stop and I was really glad that I had taken my umbrella with me. It was pouring!

The bus was on time and I rode it all the way to S-Mall. I got off the bus and went in. I headed up to Daiso first and got the things I was planning to buy and a few other things too. Next up I went to the now re-opened grocery store and bought a few things for lunch. I had hoped that I’d be able to eat something in the bus depot, but that place was busy today. I couldn’t get a seat.

My bus back to the cinema came in, I got on and about 3 stops later I got off. The bus was quite busy too. It was the bus to Mt. Haguro so some of the people may have been tourists or pilgrims I guess. I walked over to the cinema building and went in. Just inside the front door there is a bench so I sat down and ate one of my lunch things fast. 

I went into the cinema and bought my ticket to see The Sound of Music. It’s the 60th anniversary and it has been digitally remastered. I was surprised how busy the theatre was. There were a lot of people there.

How was the movie? It was great. I’m sure that there were scenes in the movie that I’ve never seen before. Also, the movie just looked amazing. I think this was my first time seeing it on the big screen too. I just loved it. I’ve read a lot lately how Christopher Plummer was embarrassed by the film and thought it was beneath him, but honestly…why? It’s such a wonderful film. It’s over the top romantic, but the music is excellent and most of the songs are so memorable. 

After the movie, I headed back to the bus stop and waited for the bus. It was dark and raining when the bus arrived, I almost didn’t see it! I had a pleasant ride back to my stop. I got off the bus and walked back to the house.

I went upstairs and changed into house clothes and spent a few minutes on my computer. F called to say he was finished work and to check where I was. I had told him if I missed the bus or something came up I might need him to pick me up. 

I headed downstairs and into the kitchen. I had started the kitchen’s heater when I got back, so I turned it up. I started the dishes and about the same time F arrived back from work. He headed upstairs, I got to work. 

Tonight we had the coro-coro steak. I had marinated it last night, so it had a lot of time for the garlic to steep! I also make some 4 cheese macaroni from a mix, and we had that with salad, potato salad and a tiny bit of the onion dish from last night. Dinner was good and got good reviews, but there were tons of leftovers.

After dinner, I cleared the table and put away the extra food. I washed the dishes and listened to my podcasts while I worked. Then, seeing as how it is Wednesday, I did up the burnable garbage. Not my favourite job, but I like having things cleaned out and starting from zero again.

I went upstairs to change and a few minutes later F and I went over to Mina to get our groceries. F came into the shop with me which wasn’t my favourite thing, but was fine really. We picked up a few things for dinner tomorrow and Friday and breakfasts, the usual. F was a little annoying, but not too bad! Usually he goes walkabout and then I have to find him to put things in the cart. He was well behaved tonight!

We were on our way back to the house when I reminded him that he needed to buy gas for the car! The gas station he uses is on the other side of the city so we drove over there and F did all the work. I just came for the ride!

We came back to the house afterwards and I put away the groceries. I had asked F to fill up the kerosene tank for our heater for me, but he became indisposed, so I finished it. He started it. I went upstairs carrying the very heavy tank and put it in the heater and started it going. It was cold in our room so we needed it.

We had a quiet evening in. I showed F how to get his iPhone to play Ambient Music for sleeping. I had watched a video from Proper Honest Tech that explained it. I had no idea that was even a possibility. This morning when I had my snooze, I actually played one of the tunes and it was relaxing.

I watched Wild Cards in the evening and enjoyed it. There was a bomb under the captain’s chair and Max was trapped in the building with him. It was quite a cool episode. 

And that was it. So, I didn’t get the tree down yet. I hope to work on that tomorrow….Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….