February 8, 2026

Sunday - Cold and snowy

I had hopes that this would be a good day, but it wasn’t. Sigh.

I got up late because it is Sunday and we didn’t have any plans at all. I got dressed and waited for F to come upstairs and say what he was planning for the day. He came up and said that he’d had lunch with his mother so he didn’t need to eat. I was a bit surprised, but went downstairs and got some yogurt and had my cereal and yogurt upstairs. 

After I finished eating F came back upstairs and asked if I wanted to go out for lunch. Huh?  I said yes. Since F didn’t really need to eat I suggested going over to Gusto. He could go the the nearby hardware store after, I could go to the import food store. 

We drove to Gusto and after a few minute wait, we went in. I had my favourite mushroom pasta with a side salad and the drink bar. I also ordered my birthday dessert…unlike the other place, they make you pay for the dessert! F just had dessert and drink bar. 

Our meal was fine. My pasta was delicious and afterwards my ice cream was good. We paid and left.

F went to the hardware store, I went to the import store and F met up with me later. I only bought some tea, F came in and got some calpas…a sort of spicy snack sausage. 

We drove over to Mina and bought some bentos for dinner. F picked up a couple of other things too, and so did I. He got stuff for himself, I got a sandwich for tomorrow morning.

We relaxed at the house for a while. F did some snow shovelling, I put away the groceries. I went upstairs and F came up later too. 

A little before 7 I went downstairs and started heating up the bentos. I washed some glasses and also set up the table and turned on the heater in the living room. F came down a few minutes later and got his mother up. We ate our bentos while there was a review of the Japanese skaters at the Olympics. They did pretty well.

After we finished eating I offered to toss a coin with F to see who did the dishes and he got really angry with me. I was really surprised. I mean…what the heck? He thinks that it is my job and well, I’m not that impressed with him at the moment. 

I did wash the dishes and bento boxes, but I went upstairs and didn’t talk to him the rest of the night. He came up a bit early and didn’t talk to me either. 

I watched a show off the DVR, the one I missed last night, The Hunting Party. It’s okay, I’m not sure about that show really. I’m only in about 3 episodes today. 

Since I turned off the TV I’ve been watching YouTube and doing my end of day stuff. 

Tomorrow F, K and I are going over to City Hall to get my MyNumber card and to register K for a card. We need them now for going to the doctor or getting medicine at the pharmacy. I think they are horrible if I’m honest. The system still isn’t perfect and there have been cases where people get the same number and things like that. 

I’m not sure what is going to happen, I hope that things go well in the morning. To be honest, I’m really looking forward to F going back to work. Unfortunately, Wednesday is also a national holiday, so he gets another break then. Sigh. When do I get a break from him? I know, I know…he’s usually a good guy but too much togetherness drives me nuts!

That’s it for me for today. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

February 7, 2026

 Saturday - Colder and snowy

I woke up early this morning when my alarm went off. I got up and went downstairs slowly as I could hear that F and K hadn’t left yet. They did leave before I made it downstairs so that was good. I didn’t get in their way. 

I went back to bed and slept for a while. When F got back, he came upstairs and I said, “Hi” but went to sleep. He left the room. He came back upstairs a couple of hours later and we started to talk about lunch.

I got up, then dressed. I went over to my computer and F went to the bed and ended up falling asleep. He slept for a couple of hours. I didn’t want to wake him up as I thought he needed his sleep. Finally, around 2 pm I woke him up/he woke up and we decided to leave. I listed off a couple of places and we decided to go to Kissa Marina.

Kissa Marina is a little restaurant near our doctor’s office. I like it, F isn’t a huge fan. We went there and were able to get in. The waitress told us that they only had one serving of pasta left. Since my favourite meal there is curry on rice, I bagged that one! Then, F tried to order pasta too. The waitress told him he couldn’t have it! I was surprised because I understood basically what she meant, why didn’t he?  He ended up having their soup curry. He actually liked it, or said he did!

After our lunch, we really didn’t have much time before K would be back, so we came back to the house and waited for her. I filled up the kerosene tank for upstairs and took it up the stairs. We prepared for going out a bit later too. 

After K came back, we went out. We went to the grocery store and picked up some bentos for dinner and then a few other groceries. Then, we went to the gas station and F filled up the kerosene tanks.

We came back to the house and I heated up the bentos. We had a pretty good meal. F and I had kara-age bentos and K had a fish bento. We all shared some yakitori too. 

I asked F about the movie tonight but he said he didn’t feel like it. No problem. Then, he changed his mind! I quickly did the dishes/washed the bento boxes and then we headed out to Mikawa.

We left around 8pm and the movie was at 8:35. Normally it wouldn’t be a big deal, but the roads were a bit slippery. F drove carefully and we got to the mall in about 20 minutes which was really good!

We went in and upstairs. We bought our tickets and then some popcorn and went to our theatre. We went to see The Running Man tonight. I liked it a lot, F wasn’t so fond of it. He’s not into action movies like I am. I’m not sure if I enjoyed it more than the Arnie one in the 80’s but it had its moments. 

After the movie we left the cinema and drove back to Tsuruoka. We talked about stopping at a conbini but decided not to do that. Back at the house we went in and F heated up a couple of nikuman which we ate upstairs. We bought them at the grocery store earlier. 

F went downstairs after a while and watched some Olympics, I stayed upstairs and watched YouTube and also had a little text session with my Bestie. I actually wrote and mailed her a letter today so I had to be careful that I didn’t tell her all the stuff in the letter!

And that’s about it for me for today. I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

February 6, 2026

Friday - Snowy and cold

Well, for all of our lovely time yesterday, last night after I posted did not go well. F had gone to bed and was sleeping. I was up doing my blog and other things, then F sat up in bed. He went downstairs, he didn’t say much. When he came back to the room, he brought a bucket with him.  He said that when he was downstairs, he’d thrown up. He proceeded to throw up a few more times in the room. Oh no! He said that he’d call in sick in the morning. He was sick a few more times I think and he had other troubles too, so calling in sick was a good thing.

In the morning, I got up when my alarm went off. I went downstairs and then I went back to bed. F did come back to bed for a while after he called in to work. I think he also made breakfast for his mother in the morning. 

I overslept a bit, then got up and dressed. F offered to take me out for lunch, but honestly, I just wanted my usual breakfast! I got some yogurt and cereal and ate that and was happy! 

F was still not feeling great. He wasn’t vomiting anymore, but he felt a bit off. I tried to make sure that he hydrated and ate plain food.

I ate my lunch and watched an episode of One Mississippi as I was late getting my lunch. It was fine. 

I watched the news and then a bit later I went downstairs to make dinner. Tonight I made pasta as usual, we had that with salad and bacon. I also made F some scrambled eggs as I thought that might be good for his stomach.

I did the dishes afterwards and then went upstairs to relax for a bit. F came upstairs after a bit too. We talked about the water. It’s going to be colder overnight so we should turn it off before bed. 

I went downstairs and took a shower. Before I got in the shower K came by on her way to the ‘loo and asked from outside the door if I was Fumihiko. I poked my head out and said no! She went on her way, I jumped into the shower. 

When I came out of the shower and dressed, I was on my way to the kitchen to turn off the water. K came out of her room and I thought she was on her way to the toilet, but she came up to me and started talking to me. Unfortunately, I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about. She went on and on and finally I had to call F downstairs to talk to her. They argued for quite a while and then finally he was able to talk to me. She went off to bed or wherever! Apparently, K is upset that my lights are on upstairs until late and claims that people are talking about it. Now, K never talks to any of our neighbours so she’s just making that up! And, we have another neighbour whose lights are on very late too. F and I have talked about it, but really it’s no big deal if that’s what they want to do! The only thing I’ve ever worried about is if my light kept F from sleeping, but it doesn’t. If the roles were reversed, it would. I can’t sleep with lights on and I have to wear an eye-mask in bed. 

Anyway, F and I chatted on and off upstairs. I watched another episode of Pluribus. This was an odd one really. Carol seems to be softening towards the others. I hope she isn’t. 

I’ve been watching YouTube and doing some of the end of day things that I usually do. I’m not really sure what we’re going to get up to tomorrow. There’s more snow again so we’ll probably stick fairly close to Tsuruoka. 

Anyway, that’s it for me. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow…. 

February 5, 2026

Thursday - Sunny and warm

I woke up this morning before my alarm. I went downstairs and then came back to bed. F was still in bed when I came back to the room. It was so unusual for that to happen, but he got up a few minutes later. 

I slept for a little longer, but then got up around 9:45 and got dressed. I ate my sausage dog as my breakfast and a few minutes later F and I were out the door and over to Machikine Cinema. When we were nearly there, we were blocked by a snowplough! We had to go the other way, but did get there on time.  We went in, bought our tickets and went to see The Penguin Lessons. 

The movie was quite good, loosely based on a real story and was about a time and place that I didn’t know much about. F liked it a lot more than I thought he would. 

After the movie, we went over to Cocos and had lunch. During the week they have some nice specials at lunchtime. They also have very nice free desserts for people with a birthday in the month. We got a table right away and ordered a few minutes later. I had the chicken salad which came with two tortillas and shared a small order of fries with F. He had a hamburger with shrimp and rice. He liked his, I liked mine. We also had the drink bar and I had the birthday dessert. We enjoyed our meals. 

Cocos Free Dessert

After lunch, we went across the road and went to Daiso. F needed something and I always enjoy visiting Daiso so it was nice.  Then, we went to the grocery store nearby. We picked up a few things that we forgot on Tuesday, plus a bento for K’s dinner. F got her a sushi dinner and then we came back to the house.

We put away the grocery and then came upstairs to relax for a while. I watched the news and then chilled out. 

I decided to change my top and wore a much dressier shirt to go out. F didn’t but that’s okay. We drove out to Mikawa and went to Bistrot des Ponts. We were the only customers tonight, but had a lovely meal. We had fish, lovely buns, bear and wild boar or deer hamburgers and a very nice dessert with rooibos tea. It was a very nice meal. They brought out a sparkler and dimmed the lights before they brought out the dessert, it was sweet. 

Flatfish mariné with salad

Kabocha Soup

lovely crusty buns. The little dish has a dish made out of bear! It was surprisingly good!

We’ve been customers there for a long time, but recently we haven’t been going there much as it is more of a splurge place than an every weekend thing. 

We left the restaurant and drove back to Tsuruoka. We just came back to the house where we relaxed more. We were both quite stuffed. 

After a bit of YouTube I watched another episode of Evil and then one of The Box. That last one I lost the plot a bit, but I’ll probably watch another episode at least. 

I’m just about ready to get myself off to bed. Tomorrow I’m back on kitchen duty and then there’s the weekend. F is off work on Monday too, as we have an important errand to run at city hall. I hope we can have a good time doing something then. 

That’s it for me. Come back later if you like and hear all about my Friday. Until tomorrow….

February 4, 2026

Wednesday - Warm and sunny, rainy at night

I woke up a bit early this morning. I went downstairs and checked out the snow outside. There wasn’t any on the path, but near the door, there was a ton. The snow had fallen off the roof and was just outside the front door. Sigh. 

I went back to bed!

I got up a bit early, dressed, and then went out to shovel the snow. There was a lot. I worked for ages and finally got the snow cleared up by the door. Then, a big machine came down our side road and left a lovely wall of snow in front of our parking area. Hurray! I spent quite a bit of time clearing that area too. It was hard as there is just no place to put the snow. I had to try and put it up on the top of the other piles, but it was already so darn high. 

Some of the snow off the roof. 

The "rocky-looking" wall of snow, plus the side road and snow.

I went in when I finished and was surprised that I had been outside for more than an hour. I got my breakfast and took it upstairs. I had breakfast and watched last night’s episode of Project Runway. I wish I could enjoy it a bit more than I am.

I went downstairs around 3 to get my lunch and brought it upstairs again to eat. I watched the next episode of The Good Fight. It’s all about the January 6th event so it was quite interesting. 

F called after 5:15 and then I went downstairs a bit later. I did the dishes and started getting ready for cooking dinner. F came back from work and we had a nice reunion. I got on with cooking and then setting the table. I noticed that the lights on the rice cooker weren’t on so I checked it out. The plug had nearly come out of the wall socket. I texted F to let him know. I was rather worried that the rice wouldn’t be good. F came down and looked at it. He said it was okay, but I told him that he and his mother could eat it, I wouldn’t. He threw one of his stupid tantrums and refused to eat with us. He went back upstairs and that was that.

I cleared his plate off the table and got on with dinner. K did ask where F was, but was okay with eating dinner. We had a nice meal. We had chicken drumsticks, potato salad, salad, and galettes. Everything was very nice. 

After we ate, I washed the dishes as usual and put everything away. I was trying to say goodnight to K when I was finished, just to have the kerosene heater announce that it was empty! I filled it up for her and restarted it. I went upstairs.

I ignored F completely. He was in bed with the quilt up to his chin, but the lights were on and he had his phone in his hand. I started the heater and watched some YouTube and just relaxed for a while. I went downstairs at 10:30 or so. F was in the kitchen making his dinner so I just kept ignoring him. 

I had my shower, but came out when someone kept using the hot water so I was getting a bit cold at times. I went back upstairs and watched The Irrational at 11pm. 

After midnight, F came over to me and gave me my birthday present! He got me a very nice little blue handbag. I think I’d use it for special dress up occasions when my purse/backpack style isn’t appropriate. We kissed and made up, and then talked for an hour or so about different things. He filled up our kerosene heater’s tank for me too. 

So, tomorrow we’re going to have a nice dinner out. F has the day off and I’m hoping we’ll go and see a movie in the morning. I’m not sure what we’ll do in the afternoon, but dinner is planned. 

I’m not sure if I’ll update tomorrow night. I might like to spend the night relaxing! Don’t miss me too much. 

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

February 3, 2026

Tuesday - Warmer and not snowy!

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I made a quick trip downstairs and then did the back to bed thing. I overslept and didn’t get up until a bit late. I went downstairs and made the executive decision not to go out and shovel snow. I wasn’t sure where I’d shovel anyway. 

I did a couple of loads of laundry today and I watched some YouTube. I also worked a bit on my loom knitting. It’s growing nicely. I’m trying to keep it in blues, but I’m using scraps of yarn. I like it so far. 

Lunch was had and I watched another episode of The Good Fight. Mandy Patinkin, Wallace Shawn and Mamie Gummer were in this one. The first two were kind of a The Princess Bride reunion! 

F called after 5:25 and I ended up going downstairs a little early. I had turned on the kitchen heater early but when I was going down the stairs, K was in the kitchen with the door open and then she left, saw me, and left the door wide open. ARGH! I get so annoyed at her. She has no concept of closing doors and keeping heat in the room.

Tonight’s dinner was another stir-fry with seaweed, fish-paste and pork, plus we had some galettes from the store, potato salad, spicy cabbage and salad. Dinner was good and most of it was eaten, so that’s good. 

I did the dishes and listened to a couple of podcasts about movies afterwards. I got done a few minutes before 9 so I let F know I was finished and then went upstairs. I changed and a few minutes later F and I went out to the shop. The roads around us are a bit hard to navigate. The snow is mushy so they’re hard to drive through, and the snow is piled up at both sides so the roads are really narrow now. 

At the store, F came in with me. Sigh. It really annoys me. I’m not sure why he did that. I don’t really want him to come in with me. However, I think tonight I managed to buy most of what we need. I did forget one salad for myself for Friday. I’m hoping to skip the store on Thursday because…..

Back at the house, F had most of the groceries put away before I had even got my boots off. That wasn’t annoying or anything! I hope he didn’t “lose” anything for me.

We came upstairs and I watched some YouTube and then went downstairs. I made a bowl of popcorn and brought it upstairs. I watched the last episode of FBI: Most Wanted and it was okay. At least they ended it properly. Resident Alien will be back next week so that’s cool. 

And that’s about it for my day. I’ve been working on my loom knitting and it’s coming along nicely. I will have to figure out how long to make it. My original plan was to make a long tube and have a double knit hat, but I’m not sure I’ll do that now. I’ll think about it!

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