February 22, 2019

Friday - Warm and a bit cloudy

I had a hard time getting out of bed this morning but finally managed. When I was looking at my computer a friend of mine asked if I was up for a video chat and I was!  I had a quick breakfast and then got my computer moved over to have a good chat. 

After we finished I had a bit of time on the TV and then watched some of the DVR stuff. That was good really. I watched the second part of Counterpart. I like J.K. Simmons, just not sure where this show is going. 

Lunch was a little different tonight. Instead of my usual open-faced sandwiches, I had a meat pie from New Zealand. The Aeon grocery store was selling them and the one I had was really good. I have one left. Woot. 

I put up another list of things to do in this area for the ladies that are coming to Tsuruoka in April. I’ve been putting in quite a bit of work on all of this, I hope things go well.

F didn’t call tonight when he finished work, he just showed up. He was tired.  I hadn’t really planned a “meal” but I made dinner anyway. Tonight we had tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole dip, tuna salad which I made, and a hot vegetable and pasta salad from the freezer.  Things worked out rather well and everyone enjoyed dinner.  I had to portion out the dip and the salsa though. One of our family members double dips and the rest of us don’t like that! I did get a shock though. When I went to open the salsa which we bought last night, there was tomato sauce on the outside of the jar. I was really worried that I’d bought one that someone had opened in the store and not noticed. The plastic wrap around the edge of the lid was still there, but it had a bit of gunk on it too.  I asked F to ask his mother if she’d opened the jar today, and she had. WTH?  Why on earth would she do that? The only reason she probably didn’t get into the guacamole dip was the jar lid was so tight I had to get F to open it! Since I had bought the salsa last night, I didn’t worry about using it, but if the jar had been left out for more than a day I would have had to chuck it. 

After dinner, I ended up doing all the dishes except the bowl that still held a few chips. I left that on the table for K and F to finish. So, when I say that I did the dishes, I washed, dried and then put them all away. F is really letting the side down these days. He doesn’t do any of the work. He did offer to help prepare, but I’ve noticed that when he’s around I expect him to pitch in, but he has no idea what to do and just gets in the way. Afterwards would be helpful though. 

I came upstairs to have a moment of rest and discovered that the kerosene tank in the heater was empty. I filled it up. I was just going to have some tea or decaf when F asked if I wanted to go out. I didn’t mind so we talked about where to go. He wanted to go to the onsen, so off we went. 

F took a bath, and I found a seat and bought myself a couple of snacks and a drink.  I sat in a chair and did a bit of knitting tonight and listened to a podcast. I rather enjoyed myself.

When F finished, we left the onsen and went to Starbucks for some Hoji-cha. It was nice and relaxing there, but we had to leave at 11 pm.  We came back to the house. I watched a little bit of TV and F went to bed fairly soon. 

And that’s it. Tomorrow we have doctor appointments in the morning and may go to a concert at the Aquarium tomorrow night. It really depends on what our day is like. There’s a movie in the mall as well (Alita) so I’m not sure if we’ll go tomorrow or wait for Sunday or another day.  

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

February 21, 2019

Thursday - Cloudy and rainy

I had a quiet but fairly productive day today. I got up on time and watched the news, then I got dressed and a bit later had some breakfast. I vacuumed today, something I haven’t done in a really long time. I did the bit under my desk and also at the top of the stairs. I couldn’t go further down as the cord wouldn’t reach!

I did a bit of tidying up too. I went through a couple of drawers today. I discovered that one drawer holds work clothes so I left it for now and another drawer had two pairs of yoga pants for me, that fit! Woot. I must have put them away when I was smaller, but they fit now. 

I went through a couple of boxes and left one mostly as it was. The other box had some magazines that I have put in the garbage. I don’t have time to read the brand new magazines I get from friends, I certainly don’t have time to re-read old ones. 

I also moved the box with my sewing goods from in front of my closet. One of the reasons I can’t put things in my closet is that I can’t get into it. I’m not at the KonMari stage yet, but I have some more space and I’m happy so that’s a good thing!

I saw K a couple of times. She didn’t say much to me, but that’s okay. She cooked her lunch today, she had fish and it smelt terrible! I was a tad worried that she had burned something.

I didn’t hear from F during the day at all. I didn’t really expect to. When we are fighting he doesn’t call me at all. 

He got back to the house around 6:30 and was quiet. I spoke to him and he did answer so that was good. I asked if he needed a hug and he said he didn’t, then I said “what if I need one?” and so we hugged and it was nice.

I suggested going to Youme-shokudo near the main Post Office for dinner and F was okay with that. We took K along too and had a decent meal. I had Chicken Namban, F had Aji-fry and his mother had Grilled Saba.  We were all quite pleased with our meals.

After the meal, we drove K back to the house and left her. F and I went to Komeda Coffee and made use of the free wifi, then did a little grocery shopping nearby. We decided to have dinner at the house tomorrow. It’s not going to be terribly healthy, but should be fun. We’ve got some tortilla chips, some guacamole dip and some salsa and I’ll heat up something from the freezer so it isn’t completely unhealthy. 

We came back to the house and both of us had showers. F got to watch a little TV so he was happy and I watched a couple of things tonight so I was too.

Not sure what’s going to happen tomorrow. I may do a bit of laundry and I hope to do more sorting or tossing out of things. Come back later and find out. Until tomorrow….

February 20, 2019

Wednesday - Rainy and cloudy

We slept in this morning, but I was up before 11 and stayed up. F continued lying in bed and playing with his phone for a long time. Around noon he roused himself and started demanding that I pick a restaurant to eat at.  Never a good start to a day, is that. I suggested a couple, one in budget, the other not and I thought he was okay with it. Then it turned out that K would be coming too. Surprisingly F suggested a good place and then changed his mind to a horrible place. I said yes to the good place…

We went to Hyakkenbori near the University and had a nice meal. Our meal was the weekly special so it was under budget and quite good too. Afterwards, F dropped me off at S-Mall and took his mum off to his father’s grave since it was the anniversary of his death. 

I hacked around the mall, bought some stuff at the hundred yen shop and then F came back to the mall. We decided to have some ice cream and did. I got my pouch from Baskin Robbins. It’s cute. We went back to the house because F decided he’d go and see his doctor.  He left and I watched the US news on TV.

F came back and had a nap or something.  Around 7 pm I went over to talk to him and he was watching something on his phone. I asked him to pause it while we talked and he said he could keep watching, but I insisted. I feel like I never get his full attention these days. He’s half deaf too, so him wearing an earphone and listening to me means that he isn’t listening really.  

I just wanted to know about dinner, if he wanted to go out or not. He demanded I name the restaurant or type of food so I suggested sushi. He got all angry at that and so I dropped it and left him on the bed. After another hour of being ignored, I had had enough. I went downstairs and got myself a bowl of cereal. I missed breakfast this morning, thought some cereal would be a good thing.

Well, apparently not. He stormed downstairs and made himself and his mother dinner. I don’t know what the hell he was thinking.

We’ve barely spoken to each other since then and it just hasn’t been a good evening. I thought we could still have a nice dinner, but apparently not. I am being ignored.  He’s sleeping/snoring at the moment which is good as I don’t want to talk to him. 

Tomorrow I have no idea what I’m going to get up to. I’m hoping to have a better day, but I won’t hold my breath.  

Until tomorrow then….

February 19, 2019

Tuesday - Warmer and rainy

I got up this morning but it was a tad difficult! I’d been up earlier then went back to bed. I got up and watched the news from my bed though.  That’s where most of the news makes me want to stay…in my bed with the covers pulled up over my head.

I got up, dressed and did a few things around the room. I watched some TV this morning and decided that I was going to send some postcards today. I did in the afternoon.  

F popped back to the house once and was friendly. Later he called me with news about the returned items from the catalogue shopping I did at Christmas. He also told me that he took tomorrow off work. Okay then.

When F came back to the house he asked about dinner and I suggested getting Bentos in. I had thought about cooking but hadn’t made any plans to do it.  We ordered some Bento and had to pick them up by 7:30.

F and I drove over to that part of town and visited the Gyomu Supa. We got a few things for the house, both necessary and not. After that, we picked up the bento and came back to the house. 

We ate and K had some awful program on the TV where “tarento” tried to sing Queen songs.  I was wincing in pain at the horrible pronunciation and the lack of understanding of what the songs were about. I have the crazy idea that if you are going to sing a song on national TV in a language you don’t know, you probably should make sure that you understand the song a bit. 

F washed the few dishes after dinner and then I went upstairs. He spent a few minutes helping his mother with her heater before going upstairs.

When F came upstairs he suggested going to the Internet Cafe. We haven’t been there in ages so I said it was fine. We both got massaging chairs and spent 3 hours there. I watched some TV and some YouTube, did a little crochet and ate some junk food. Sigh. 

We came back to the house and I took a shower. F relaxed for a bit and has just gone to bed. I’m not sure what we’re going to get up to tomorrow. I’m trying to get him to see a doctor tomorrow but who knows if he will.  He has a mind of his own after all!

Come back later if you like and see what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

February 18, 2019

Monday - Clear and Sunny, warm

F didn’t sleep very well last night and as a result, I didn’t sleep very well last night. I was woken up around 7:30 when F got up. He was his usual noisy self.  I said a sleepy goodbye to him and he was off.

I got up a few minutes later to watch the news and then ER. I snoozed through the non-English news but had to rewatch the US news because I snoozed through it too. Oh dear. However, once I was up, I was up.

I had a pretty quiet sort of day. I was fairly busy though. I removed a couple of people from my women’s groups and called the Cull done. Yay. I emptied out a drawer of clothes and went quite Marie Kondo on it. I tossed a bunch of socks that I hated. F sometimes buys me socks that he thinks I’ll like, but they are usually too tight or too high for me. I like soft and stretchy ones, not synthetic tight ones. I was able to put the undies that I wear every day into the drawer afterwards, so that is a sort of progress I think.

I ran into K a couple of times today. It’s unusual as there have been many days when I don’t see her until the evening. She did come up here and sweep outside my door in the late afternoon. I used to go out and make her stop, now I’ve decided it is her way of snooping on me or showing me up, so I’ve decided to just let her get on with it! She didn’t come in and that’s a good thing. 

F came back to the house a little late and we discussed dinner. We decided to go to a curry/ramen restaurant since he had a discount coupon. We invited K along too. F had to run an errand first though. We stopped at a hardware store and F got out. K was all set to follow him into the store when I called her back. I told her it was only F going in!  He could shop much faster without us. He was back in a few minutes and we drove off to the restaurant.

When we got there, it was closed! Oh no! F suggested going to the other curry place, Coco Ichibanya and I was happy with that. We got there, got seated, and all had the same dish, the Grandmother’s Curry. It’s a promotion thing right now and they are giving away spoons in a lucky draw if you order this curry.  Well, F pulled out a lucky ticket. Yay!  I pulled out a lucky ticket. Yay! K pulled out a lucky ticket. Yay!! We were quite surprised.  In the car later F said, “we’ve got four spoons now” but I corrected him. “I’ve got two spoons and you two have two spoons.”  Yep, I keep mine separate.  They are nice spoons though!

I've got two spoons!

We dropped K off at the house and took a few minutes to do a few things. F worked on K’s heater for the living room since it wasn’t working well. He discovered the remnants of a tissue inside.  I filled up the kerosene tank in the heater upstairs and then waited for F.

We popped out for a few minutes to the grocery store. I needed bread, but we got a few things like garbage bags and noodles for F.

We came back to the house and relaxed. I watched some TV and F went to bed. I looked over at him and he was in bed. I think he’s sleeping now which is good as he really needs more sleep.

That’s about it for now though. One thing to mention though. I’ve basically been living at this house for two years now. It isn’t home. I hate it here. I have no furniture except for a bed. There is nothing comfortable to sit on. The desk I use for my computer belonged to F’s sister, as does the uncomfortable hard chair. I never thought I’d get to be in my fifties and not even have a decent chair. 

I just found the box on Sunday that my favourite pots and pans are in, but I have no idea where to store them if I take them out of the box. 

Whoever designed this house was a complete moron and had no idea about safety or comfort. There is a steep staircase up to the second floor with no handrail. There is no heating or cooling in the kitchen. It’s a separate room from the living room so in winter it feels like being in Siberia when washing dishes or cooking meals. There is no light switch in the Genkan for the Genkan light. That means that someone has to put their shoes on in the dark.  

There’s more I could write, but I’m sure you get the picture. So, two years in and I still feel like this isn’t my “home”. Not sure what that is anymore. 

Bah humbug.

Until tomorrow….

February 17, 2019

Sunday - Clear and warm

I went to bed insanely late last night, so when my first alarm went off I ignored it. I suggested to F that he take his mother to the onsen, and then when I woke up again around 11 they were gone.  I took care of a few things and then checked my email.  My friend was on her way to the meeting place, but F was still out. Oh no!  I texted him and then he called me.  He’d taken his mother out for lunch and the place was really slow.  He said he’d come back as soon as he could.

A few minutes later he phoned to say that he was on his way back. He’d cancelled their lunch order as the restaurant had served people that had arrived after them before F and K.  Not good that.  

F and I drove off to Mikawa where we went into the mall and met up with our friend and her children. We had a yummy lunch at Doutors and then walked along to the game centre so her son could play a game for a while. While he did that, her daughter got to ride a couple of rides for little ones. It was rather fun, except when the ride got stuck up in the air!  No problem really, it was an automatic safeguard when someone touched the barrier, but we didn’t know that!

After the games, we went for some ice cream and chatted a bit more. It was lovely to see my friend as it has been a few weeks and she’s very busy these days.

She decided that she had to be on her way as it was getting late and children needed to be fed! We have a date set up already for next month, so I’ll look forward to that. 

F and I spent a little time in the mall. I suggested getting a few things for our dinner since the deli section in the mall is quite good. We decided to do that. We picked up a Chinese style hors d’oeurves tray, some sushi, some chicken wings and I grabbed a salad too. I got something for my lunch on Monday and F picked up some of his adult beverage.  We went through the checkout and drove back to Tsuruoka.

There was a “moment” where another driver waited for F to turn when they should have turned first as they had the right of way. F wouldn’t turn and got a bit annoyed at it. He kind of lectured me about it, but I had absolutely nothing to do with it!

At the house, I heated things up and got the table set and put the food out. F was MIA for that part of the job, which surprised me as he was usually the person doing most of the work. Still, it got done.

Dinner was nice and once again everything got eaten up. I was thinking there’d be a few little things for K’s lunch tomorrow, but she ate them tonight. Oh well.... F and I did the dishes and went upstairs for a little bit. 

We went out again as we had forgotten to pick up kerosene and needed some barley tea for the kitchen.  We went to the drugstore first and bought the tea, a few snacks and some windshield washer liquid that F needed.  We got the kerosene and then came back to the house. 

I waited until our rooms had warmed up and then I took a shower. It was warmer out today and since the bathroom wasn’t freezing I did a little cleaning there.  Yay me.

F had gone to bed, but he’s just got up. He says he has a headache. I really hope that he isn’t sick again. All night he’s felt a bit off and cold. Our room is quite warm, so I’m getting a bit worried about him.  

I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to tomorrow. I have a few things that I’d like to start. I’d like to do a bit of Marie Kondo-ing but I haven’t read her book!  (I looked for it, couldn’t find it.)

Anyway, that’s about it for me. Come back later if you have the urge and see what happens around here. Until tomorrow….

February 16, 2019

Saturday - Clear and sunny, snowy at night

Today was a nice surprise of a day. I didn’t expect it to go the way it did, but I’m happy that it did.

F and I slept in this morning. I was up before 11, but he wasn’t!  We didn’t have plans today so no worries.  F decided that we would take his mother out for lunch and we tossed around a few ideas for lunch. We ended up at Foodever near the station.

It wasn’t too busy today and we each had food from a different restaurant, so it was a good thing we’d gone to a food court.  I had gapao rice as usual, F had a fried chicken donburi and K had soba. We were all quite pleased with our meal. I walked over to the Tourist Information area and got some more brochures for this area.  We left and came back to the house.

We all had quiet time after lunch. I kept meaning to take a nap, but I never got around to it. I was trying to take care of some moderating stuff. I hope it gets done properly.  

F started suggesting things for dinner long before I was even hungry.  He talked about ordering in sushi which I thought sounded good and said so. After a bit, he went downstairs to ask his mother if she wanted food, but she’d already gone to bed and turned us down!

We decided to go out. We planned to go to one place and then on the way I suggested going to our local place. It was an excellent idea!  It was busy. We had to sit at the counter for a while, but it was okay. We ordered an entree each and an hors-d'oeuvres

Yamabushi Pork. Underneath are gorgeous roasted potatoes that were even better than the pork!

platter. It was all fabulous.  I had local pork with a mustard sauce, F had the fish course which was a gratin with cod and mushroom and a bunch of things. We had rice or bread and soup with those.  The hors d’oeuvres had smoked oysters, marinated chicken nankotsu, spicy chicken, marinated vegetables, omelette and some potato salad that we ate like pate on toast.  Everything was really good!

After our meal there, we were a tad surprised to see that the snow was really coming down outside. I had offered to buy F a coffee after our dinner, so we went to Aurora. We were the only people there tonight.  We had a cup of blend coffee and a piece of cake each.  It was a nice way to end our evening.  

We came back to the house and came upstairs. F didn’t feel well all of a sudden and wouldn’t watch a movie with me.  I watched a bit of YouTube and did some crochet for a while. After that, I turned on the TV and watched something and caught up on my internet stuff.  

And that’s about it. We do have plans for the afternoon tomorrow, but bad weather might upset them.  I hope things go well tomorrow, you’ll just have to come back and see how they go.  Until tomorrow….