November 17, 2019

Sunday - Sunny but cool

Yesterday wasn’t a great day, but today wasn’t bad at all. I didn’t go to bed until very, very late, and slept in quite late as a result. F was in bed quite late too.  I went back to bed and slept for a couple of hours.

F and I went out for lunch after he’d given his mother some lunch. She’s still a bit under the weather.  We went to Arpeggio, the place he’d wanted to go to yesterday. They stay open fairly late. We had a nice lunch, I had soboru don, a chopped meat on rice thing and F had a ton-don, slices of pork on rice. It was fairly basic Japanese stuff but done well. It was fairly reasonable too, but we didn’t add on coffee or dessert today. 

After lunch, I had asked that we visit a store that sells larger sized clothing. I wanted to see if there was something for my nephew.  I found him a couple of things there and I bought them and paid for them. After that, F started driving! I wasn’t sure why, but he drove off towards Kushibiki (a suburb of Tsuruoka) and took us up past the ski hill. It was lovely up there and the trees looked lovely in their colours. We came back because someone had set the bread maker to come off at 5 pm and needed to take the bread out.

From a lookout point.  It was near sunset.

We got back to the house and there was lots of time left. Oh dear. Finally, when F did take the bread out I pointed out the nearly complete loaf of bread on the table. He hadn’t seen it earlier. Still, he’d made raisin bread and that was very nice!

We were planning to go and see the 8:05 movie tonight but had to do some grocery shopping first. We went to Mina, the nearby big grocery store and I got a few things for dinner tomorrow night, plus my lunch.  Then, I tried but failed to find a loaf of French bread so I got croissants instead. I hope they’re okay. We left the store and F realized he forgot to get his rice! We delivered the groceries back to the house. No, dear husband, I don’t want to leave some raw meat sitting in the car, even though it is November and getting colder.  We put the groceries in the house and left again. We visited the local closest grocery store and picked up some rice. That can be left in the car no problem!

We drove over to the cinema. We were quite early, so had a seat in the lobby. We got some popcorn and drinks and went to see Us.  I liked it a lot. It was quite spooky and a bit scary. It was a bit gruesome, but not over the top or anything. 

We came back to the house after the movie. K was up having something to eat, so F chatted with her. I came upstairs and checked my email and such. My BFF was on-line and we had a chat about my trip to Canada. We’re hoping to get together and maybe have a night or two together if we can swing it. We usually manage, but Christmas makes it difficult because we’ll both have family obligations.  

And that’s about it. I took a shower and then came upstairs to blog. It was a much better day than yesterday, probably because we didn’t have to get any kind of shot and the weather was good.  

Come back later if you will and see how my dinner-making goes. Until tomorrow….

November 16, 2019

Saturday - Clear and sunny until it started to rain!

Happy Birthday little sister!

I had a horrid night last night. When I wrote, F and I were fighting. He finally said that he was planning to go to his other doctor in the morning before our mutual doctor. I really didn’t understand why he wanted to go to the second doctor so early, especially since the first is hella busy always. I said if he phoned me from the first doctor when he left, I’d be ready to go to the second one then. I tried to sleep, but he had his bedside light on for a while, and then his computer, so the room wasn’t dark enough. Yes, I was wearing an eye mask, I always do. 

In the morning, I wake up and he’s gone.  I got up, dressed and then tried to check my email. Except, there was no internet. I checked and it was a month since the last time this happened. He’d not sent the forms in to get the payment from his bank account so they’d cut us off again. Sigh. We went off to the doctor’s office. No big deal. We got our flu shots, a couple of tests and our two minutes with the doctor. 

After the doctor and pharmacy run, we got K a bento and dropped it at the house. She’s a bit under the weather apparently.

We went to have lunch and the place that I wanted had no parking available. We took a pair of my shoes to be repaired and then went into the restaurant. It’s a nice place with great food. However, F started complaining all the way up the stairs and even into the restaurant about the price and how the food wasn’t that good. He wanted ramen. He said as we went in that he wouldn’t eat. I was sick and tired of that crap and said that we could leave, but he wouldn’t. Then I basically told him to get out. I didn’t want to see his face while I ate. He threw some money at me and left. 

I had a lovely solo lunch. I felt bad about taking up a whole table, but they always had an empty table so not too bad about it. I had a side salad and shrimp and orange bouquet (a type of cauliflower) cream pasta and it was amazing! I also got a nice piece of cake and a cup of coffee for lunch. It wasn’t a cheap lunch, but I definitely feel I got what I paid for. I left and walked to the car. 

As I had thought, F was in the car. He’d eaten, but didn’t say what. I think he’d gone to the grocery store and taken something out and eaten it in the car.  He was in the process of calling the internet provider and finding out how to make a payment! We went to a convenience store and he made the payment, I mailed my postcards from the day before. Done!

We went back to the house and I took a nap. I was out for about 20 or 30 minutes. We had planned to leave for the aquarium at 4 pm. We were a few minutes later than that, but we were at the aquarium in lots of time.  We went and looked at the beasties and then had a drink in the lobby. We were a tad late going downstairs to get seats for the concert. F was quite annoyed with me, but when we got downstairs, there were tons of empty seats available!  We got a couple of good seats and were able to enjoy the show. Today it was a local contrabass player and a guitar player duo. We liked them a lot. I said afterwards that they weren’t really main event performers, but they’d be great for background music.  

We left the aquarium and drove back to Tsuruoka. F wanted food, I wasn’t too fussy honestly. He made me choose the place and I suggested sushi. Our favourite place would be closing in 45 minutes, but we could probably get in.  We did.  We had a bit of sushi each, but many of my favourites were already finished for the evening. Sigh. 

When we left, we headed back to the house, or so I thought. On the way there F said he wanted to take a bath…he didn’t do that this morning. I said it was fine. I wouldn’t take one, but I would go to the onsen and read on my phone.  

We went to the onsen which was really busy tonight. He went off to the bath, I got a chair and vegged. I caught up on Facebook and read some of a book.  

When he was done, we just came back to the house. He checked his mother and she’s mostly the same, but she did eat something so that is good. 

Upstairs, he went to bed with his computer and I went to my computer. I spent a few minutes talking to my sister about her birthday and my upcoming visit. It was nice! 

It was a long day and I’m feeling quite tired.  Is anyone still there? Oh, F left the first doctor’s office before he was quite done! He was supposed to get a shot for pain but didn’t. I think that is probably why he was so grumpy today. But, for me, the best part is I was right!  I had told him that he wouldn’t be back from the first doctor in time to go to the second as early as he wanted. He kind of cheated didn’t he?

Anyway, that’s it for me. Come back later and see how Sunday goes. Until tomorrow….

November 15, 2019

Friday - Rainy, dark and cold

F woke me up again this morning, but I somehow managed to fall back asleep again for a few minutes. I got up and did my usual watching of the news from the bed. 

I had a quiet day today. I spent some time doing my declutter, got a few more things chucked. I threw out a pair of socks that are just too tight on the top.  It felt good to get rid of them.

In the afternoon I did a bit of Postcrossing and wrote three cards to send. I haven’t sent many for ages, so it is good to get some sent.

F called around 4 to say that he’d just been tasked with a road trip for work so he’d be late back. I told him I’d let his mother know and I’d do dinner. I had planned to do pasta for us, as he knew.

Later, when I went downstairs to do my dishes and start dinner, I made an executive decision to change the menu. I took some stuff out of the freezer and prepared that instead. K and I had a mushroom burger patty, some fried rice, some butternut squash and lettuce. It was all very nice.  I did all the dishes and went upstairs afterwards.

F called a few minutes later to say he was nearly back to the house.  When he arrived, I heated up his dinner. He had plain rice instead of the fried rice. He was being rather a pain and added some fishy egg stuff to his meal, so I went upstairs and left him to it.

I thought and hoped if I’m honest that we’d go out tonight, but F came upstairs and went to bed. That put paid to that.  

I watched some of my late-night Friday TV and then remembered that we had to fill in a questionnaire about our health to get the flu shot. F filled his in, and then when we went over mine, got in an argument about when we should go to the doctor. They told us that the last entry was 11:30, but we have a few things to do there tomorrow, so F wants to go early. That’s fine to a certain extent, but he wants to go too early. He wants to show up at 9 am, which is completely insane. That’s when everyone goes so we wouldn’t be able to get in, even if I wanted to go that early. And I don’t. 

I suggested going a half hour before we usually go, and by that I mean, arrive there but that doesn’t please him.  Too bad.  What might happen now is that he goes when he wants and I’ll ride my bike over when I want to go.

It’s a pity that he’s decided to fight with me about this. It puts a damper on the whole weekend and honestly, really upsets me.  I’m quite sure that he doesn’t care about that. 

Well, hopefully I’ll be here tomorrow. Come back and see and hear how things go. Until tomorrow….

November 14, 2019

Thursday - Rainy, dark and cold

I woke up this morning when F got up. I tried to go back to sleep, but he was not quiet and I needed a trip downstairs first.  I snoozed a tad when I came back, but got up and watched the news after that.

I had a fairly quiet morning. I was going to do a bit of laundry at 10 am, but I discovered that F had left his load of laundry in the machine. I think K usually takes them out and hangs them up in the garage, but not today. Oh well. I took the stuff out and hung it up in our room.  I watched NCIS: LA while I did that.  

In the afternoon I watched a few more things off the DVR and quite enjoyed them. I watched Criminal Minds, more Killing Eve, Bake-off and possibly something else. No big deal.  F called to say that he’d be late after all. He’d had a late driving assignment.

Around 6 pm I went downstairs to start heating up the stew. I washed my dishes from the day and then decided to wash the shelves in the fridge. Dear F had put a bottle of syrup for a drink he likes in the fridge but hadn’t closed the lid properly. It had leaked all over the bottom three shelves. I figured that he should clean it up, and to be honest, I use the top shelf, so it doesn’t usually bother me. However…I had time to kill in the kitchen while the stew heated, so I took the shelves out one at a time, washed them, dried them, and put them back in. It’s a LOT less sticky now. 

I got the stew warmed up and served some to K and I.  We didn’t have anything else to go with it, we just finished up the small amount of salad leftover from last night. The stew was still good, in fact, it was really good. We both had a little bit more!

I was in the kitchen doing the clean up when F called. He was finished work. I let K know he was coming back and finished up the dishes so far! When he came in I gave him his stew and he liked it too.  I stayed to clean up his stuff as well, then went upstairs while he talked to his mother and drank his drink.

Around 9 pm I went downstairs again. I thought that we were going out, actually, we had to go out. I needed some food for tomorrow. He came up and changed. We went to Komeda Coffee and had a cup of decaf each. We used the last of the tickets we had bought in the summer so we didn’t have to pay money today. Woot.

After an hour we went to the grocery store. They didn’t have anything that I wanted to cook tomorrow, so I went to Plan B. I’m going to do pasta again, with the duck breast from the top of the fridge and a salad. I think it’ll be okay. 

We got a few things and then came back to the house. I watched a bit of YouTube and then a bit of TV.  

I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I would like to do more decluttering. I had to do two day’s worth today to catch up. I’m quite enjoying the process. I should do more laundry and work on some stuff for Christmas. Wish me luck with that! Come back later if you want and read all about it. Until tomorrow….

November 13, 2019

Wednesday - Sunny and Warm. 

I had a good and quite different day today. I got up this morning, watched the news, but also started putting together a few things for my outing. I had an early breakfast for a change. I washed my bowl and let K know that I was going to Mikawa and would be back with F tonight. I’m not sure how, but she understood me…yet other times she has no idea what I’m trying to tell her!

I walked to the bus stop. It’s over a kilometre away, so I walked briskly. I only stopped to buy a bottle of water.  I got to the bus stop at the time the bus was supposed to be there, but it was a minute or two late, so I was fine.

The bus wasn’t crowded, so I had a pleasant trip out to the mall. It was hot though! I got on and found a seat and it was so hot I took off my jacket. Then I found the vents in the ceiling and opened them so I got a bit of cooler air. 

I got to the mall on time I think. The bus arrived at 11:17 or so. I got to the important business of shopping.  I searched for a few things for myself, but I mostly was interested in finding things for my nephew and other people on my Christmas list. I got some things today, but I’d like to get a few more really. I stopped for lunch around 1:30. I had pasta at the pasta restaurant I often go to. It was nice. I had a salmon and ikura cream pasta with mushrooms. I made it a set with drink bar and a side salad. I was very pleased with the meal.

I went into quite a few of the shops in the mall, but I didn’t find everything I wanted. Some of it is size problems, but other things are that North America and Japan have such different lives that things don’t always translate. I did end up getting a few stocking stuffer kinds of things for the people on my list.  

Around 4 pm I think, I went to the McDonalds and tried their new treat, Double Chocolate Melts. They were not what I hoped. I do wish that I had been able to share them with someone as I didn’t like them as much as I thought I would. In fact, I didn’t eat the last one, I binned it.

Sounds good, eh?  Last year's cinnamon melts were amazing...

These don't exactly look appealing and they aren't very Insta-friendly either!

F called me around 5:30 and we made arrangements to meet up. His work is about 5 minutes away from the mall, so I got to the mall entrance at the same time as he did. I’d wandered down the mall before he called. We met up and had a couple of cups of cafe-au-lait at Mister Donut. F had a donut, but I didn’t. I didn’t need it after all.

We talked a bit about what we wanted to do. F kept suggesting that we have dinner in the mall, but I wanted to take bentos back to the house and have dinner with K.  That is what we ended up doing.

We bought a few groceries and then drove back to Tsuruoka. K was still up when we arrived so we heated up the bentos and had dinner together.  Afterwards, F and I did the dishes and came upstairs. 

I remembered that I had to do the garbage up for tomorrow, so I did that.  With my decluttering, I’d filled my bag, so F had to have his own gomi bag tonight.  I went downstairs, took care of the kitchen stuff and then took a shower.

I came back upstairs, watched New Amsterdam and the news from earlier in the day. F and I chatted a bit, but he’s on his computer, I’m on mine, so we’re a quiet bunch. 

I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I should do some laundry and I have to do two days of decluttering, plus put away some of the purchases that I made today. 

Oh, if you are remembering…it has now been one year since the Starbucks opened in Tsuruoka. Woot! We don’t go too often, probably more than we should, but it can be really busy so there aren’t enough seats for us. 

That’s it for me. Come back later if you like and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

November 12, 2019

Tuesday - Clear and Sunny

Today was a quiet but good day. I got up when my alarm went off, watched the news on TV and then roused myself and got dressed.  I had breakfast and a cup of tea then took a nap again. Sigh.  

In the afternoon I had a hard time getting motivated. I did a few computer things, watched a bit of YouTube but didn’t really watch anything I should have. After lunch, I did watch Killing Eve, so there’s that.

I knew that F would be late tonight because of his schedule, but I also knew it would take me a while to cook dinner. I went downstairs around 6 and got started. I made a Japanese style “cream stew”. It took a while but turned out really well. K came in around 7 to find out when F would be back, but I didn’t really know at that point. He’d told me he was scheduled to finish at 7 pm, but…. He ended up calling me about 20 minutes later saying he was on the way back.

The stew was basically done as he arrived so I sent him off to change and started to set the table. He heated the rice for me and I dished out the stew. It was great!  It got rave reviews from K and from F, so that was nice :-) We all had seconds. I think there is still enough to have for dinner another night. Yay.

I started doing the dishes and listening to a podcast when F came through to help. He washed the rest of the dishes and I dried them. He had wanted to take a bath at an onsen, but it was late and he decided not to go. I sort of wanted to go out for a coffee or something, but F didn’t want to, so I didn’t push it. 

I made an attempt or two to start my Christmas Ornament tonight, but it hasn’t gone very well yet. I’ll have to see if I can do a little better later. The yarn I’m using is a bit slippery. It is cute though and I hope it’ll look good.  

I have decided that I’m going to go out tomorrow though. I’ll catch a bus over to the Mikawa Mall and do a little Christmas shopping. Even if I don’t get to buy the presents tomorrow, I’ll get to have a good snoop around the place and see what’s available to me. I might even get to have lunch with myself :-)

I do have to get up on time and get myself out of the house fairly early…hope I can actually do that!

Anyway, that’s it for me then. Have a great day and I’ll most likely catch you later. Until tomorrow….

November 11, 2019

Monday - Remembrance Day - Rainy, stormy at night

I woke up quite early this morning and even got up then. I watched the news that I had recorded and had a bit of a hard time getting motivated!  I went downstairs just before 9:30 because F had made some bread and I was supposed to take it out of the bread maker. When I got to the kitchen I was surprised as the bread maker wasn’t working. I touched the outside and it was cool. I opened it up and the loaf was tiny! I think it had come off hours earlier for some reason. Tonight F said he thought he might have forgotten to put sugar in. Oops.  I cut the loaf and even made some toast with it for K and me. 

I took my breakfast upstairs and had some tea as well.  I relaxed for a bit, checked email and FB and then got really, really sleepy. I took a nap. I set my timer for 20 minutes and snoozed. When the timer went off, I reset it and snoozed longer. And repeat!  I had to get up after that, but no worries.

I watched three episodes of Killing Eve season two today. They were great fun. The two actresses, plus Fiona Shaw were excellent.  Did I ever mention I saw Fiona Shaw on stage in London? She was in The Rivals by Sheridan. 

Around 4 pm I watched the news and did some computer stuff. I went downstairs after 5 pm and washed my dishes, came back upstairs after that. 

F called me around 6 to say he was coming back but he was already halfway to the house. He got back before I was ready to go downstairs to make dinner. He said he was fine and we hugged and things were good.

I went downstairs, started things in motion and then remembered that I hadn’t brought my cup down. I went back upstairs for it and F was in bed. He told me that he didn’t want dinner. Sigh. His stomach wasn’t feeling up to it. 

I got my cup and went downstairs. I made taco rice for K and I. It was just a boil in bag thing from Costco, but I added rice, cheese and lettuce, so I did a little work for it. I also had made us some hibiscus tea with it, hot today, not cold.  When we went to the great Mexican restaurant in Niigata they had hibiscus tea on the menu.  It went well with the food and did tonight too.

I did the dishes after the meal and listened to a couple of Canadian news podcasts. While I was washing dishes, K came in the room and told me off for using the lights in the room on full strength. She yanked the cord to change it from four fluorescent bulbs to two. The room noticeably dimmed.  She started yammering on about the cost and how expensive it is. Egads.  My eyes are more important lady, and just because you can’t see anything doesn’t mean that I want to be like that! I told her off in English which didn’t really do much and she couldn’t hear me anyway.

I checked with F after finishing the dishes and he rolled his eyes and said I was okay about the lights. We waited a while and then went out to the grocery store to get stuff for tomorrow’s meal.  We went to the grocery store and once again, they were out of meat!  Oh, they did have meat, but really, nothing that would make good stew. F suggested getting some very lean and expensive pork but I tried to get him to see that it wasn’t good for stews! We picked up most of our other needed groceries though. 

We drove over to another grocery store and this time found some stewing meat. Yay. We got that, F got an onigiri for his breakfast and then we were on the road back to the house. 

At the house, we put away the groceries and then came upstairs. I got ready and took a shower, F did the computer thing for a while. When I came back upstairs F was half-watching The Phantom of the Opera. He did say I could change it, but I got sucked in a bit and didn’t. I did change the channel  when it was done. I’ve been watching The Good Wife and they’ve just hit a storyline that really crackles. I didn’t want to miss it!

I watched my show, then relaxed for a bit. I just finished watching an episode of American Idol. I like some of the show, but to be honest, I liked the longer versions better. I think I really miss Simon!

Anyway, that’s it for me. Tomorrow I have to make stew for dinner. I’m not sure what else I’ll get up to. If you are interested too, come on back and find out! Until tomorrow….