September 7, 2020

Monday - Hot and Sunny

It was another really hot day today. The typhoon that is causing problems in southern Japan is pushing hot weather up here. It has been much too hot for me again.

I woke up early this morning and couldn’t just go back to sleep. I went downstairs and then went back to bed for a bit. I ended up waking up about 2 hours later. Yikes. 

I got up, got dressed enough so that maybe my MIL wouldn’t notice that I had overslept and then went downstairs again. I grabbed my breakfast and then came upstairs and did a few things and then had breakfast.

I had a quiet day, but a good one. I had to use the AC up here, it was 28 degrees at 7:20 am, so I’m not kidding about the heat. 

I watched the third film in the Hunger Games series and quite enjoyed it. I’ve seen it before, but not for ages. It wasn’t the best film though because it was a bit of a time-filler before the last film. 

I also did a little bit of work on my mask this afternoon. I finished one side, next time I’ll try and finish the other side.

I went downstairs to start dinner and do my dishes. I was quite disappointed to see that F hadn’t cleaned the stove as I had asked him to do. He cooks for his mother but leaves the stovetop a huge mess. I have to clean it before I start cooking on Monday so I’m rather annoyed with him.

Today I made chicken with lemon pepper flavouring, stir-fried mushrooms with butter and soy sauce flavouring, garlic rice with some stir-fried mushrooms in it. I also served a salad with dinner.  F came home before I got going, so I told him I thought it would be about 30 minutes and I was about right. Of course, he came downstairs and plunked himself down in the living room and didn’t help with anything. I was rather miffed. 

Dinner did get good reviews. It wasn’t too heavy, it wasn’t too many wild flavours, so I think it went over well. Yay me.

After dinner I cleared the table and surprise of surprises, F came and “helped” me.  He washed most of the dishes. I was both glad and irritated by him doing that. He never washes dishes in a way that makes sense to me and he kept using the cleaning stove sponge to wash the dishes with. He did change when I asked him to though. 

We had a quiet evening upstairs. I tried to spend some time chatting with F but he wasn’t really into it tonight. I know he was tired.

While I was upstairs tonight I wrote a couple of postcards for Postcrossing. One will go to the US, one will go to Germany. I hope to write more tomorrow. Fingers crossed anyway.

That’s about it for me for tonight. Tomorrow I will be cooking dinner again, but I don’t know what else I shall get up to. Come back later if you like and hear what happens. Until tomorrow….

September 5, 2020

Saturday - Hot and sunny

Today was mostly a wasted day if I’m honest. I slept in and got up around 11:00 or thereabouts. I got up and F asked if I’d like some somen (Japanese noodles). I said no of course. F went downstairs, made the noodles and then went back to bed. He wasn’t interested in going out and doing anything. 

I spent most of the afternoon inside at my computer. I did watch a little TV, but honestly, this did not please me at all. 

The two of us went out for dinner though. It was just Gusto, but it was fine. They didn’t seem to close early this week so I was quite glad about that!

We came straight back to the house. I contacted a friend to see if we could get together tomorrow. F wants to go to a fish restaurant in the next city and the only thing that would make me feel better about that is if I can see my friend!

I watched a couple of shows on TV tonight and then turned off the TV. I enjoyed that, and I even worked on the mask that I cut out a couple of days ago. I’ve got it almost sewed together on one side. I hope to work on it soon. 

So that’s it for me. If I don’t get some sleep soon, I’ll never get up tomorrow…or if I do, I’ll be so grumpy that no one will want to be around me!

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

September 4, 2020

Friday - Hot and muggy

I woke up again when F left but fell asleep again. He’d turned on the AC so I ended up being quite cold!

I had a quiet morning, I did a load of laundry and hung it up, and I watched part of a movie and then watched another one. I ended up watching 3 movies over the day today. Crazy!

I had a nice lunch, I asked K if she’d like to share the leftovers from last night’s dinner and she would. I had them plus a bagel so I was quite happy.

F called during the day to say that he’s booked a restaurant for our anniversary dinner. Yay him. It isn’t on our anniversary, but that is okay really.

I made dinner tonight. It was a simple one, just pasta and shrimp with a side salad. F wasn’t doing well at all tonight so he went upstairs to bed after we finished. I did the dishes and then came upstairs and relaxed.

I watched the third film while F snoozed. I watched The Hunger Games. Earlier today I watched the second Hunger Games, and then I watched something else, The Darkest Minds. That was rather interesting. Probably should have been a series of films.

F woke up for a while and we chatted a bit. I also took a shower tonight and watched a couple of hours of TV. That was nice. 

It’s been a decent day, and I’m tired. I should get some sleep soon. I have no idea what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I hope it’ll be something rather fun. Come back later and see! Until tomorrow….

September 3, 2020

Thursday - Hot and sunny, muggy

F woke me up again this morning but I fell back asleep almost immediately. When I did wake up I was cold! F had turned on the AC and since the room was in its smallest configuration, I was freezing! I got up, turned off the AC and then proceeded with my usual day.

I watched the news and ended up having a snooze. It wasn’t planned, it just happened!  I went downstairs at 10:30 and started on dinner. I took some chicken drumsticks, peeled the skin off them and then marinated them in my tandori mixture. I stuck them back in the fridge for later.

I went upstairs and watched some stuff on YouTube for a bit. I did some internet stuff and then came downstairs to get lunch for myself. While I was downstairs, I gave K a drink, and I suggested that she turn on the AC. She refused. She did have the fan on to her credit, but I think she really should have used the AC.  I gave her a freezie pop thing too, trying to keep her hydrated and cool.

When I brought my food upstairs I decided to watch the last episode of Downton Abbey. It was wonderful. All happy endings and love and babies and good things like that! I even cried a bit at the end. 

After 5:30 I went downstairs to start dinner. I washed dishes first and then prepared some carrots for steaming, then grilled the chicken. F came back here just before the grilling started and we had a nice reunion. He went upstairs and I texted him a couple of times!  He came down and when the chicken was cooked, we ate. 

Dinner was really nice! Most of the chicken and carrots disappeared, and it got good reviews. Halfway through dinner, F said he’d like to go to the onsen with his mother and I was a bit annoyed. That usually means I don’t get any help in the kitchen afterwards. 

K and I kept eating a bit, and F disappeared…to the kitchen.  He washed a bunch of the dishes, bless him. He didn’t do them all of course as many were still on the table, but it was a big help and I told him so. 

F and K left and I got stuck into the dishes. I listened to some podcasts and it all got done. I even washed the grill and made more tea for tomorrow.

I came upstairs and basically stripped! I was quite wet from the sink edge and such. I put on a lounging dress and relaxed for a bit. 

I had a fairly quiet evening until F and K came back. Later on, I watched the new Nathan Fillion show, The Rookie. It has potential, I hope it keeps it up. It isn’t instantly a favourite like Castle was though. 

And, that’s about it. It was a quiet day today, but times were quite busy. Tomorrow I’m cooking dinner again, but I’m going to be doing pasta and shrimp. I haven’t decided if I should do cold pasta or not. Today has been so hot. In one of the suburbs of Tsuruoka, the temperature reached 39.1 degrees Celsius. That is really hot. Here it was a mere 36, which was blooming well hot enough for me!

Come back later if you like and see what’s happening with me. Until tomorrow….

September 2, 2020

Wednesday - Hot and Sunny, windy too

I woke up early because F was making noise. I tried to go back to sleep but didn’t. I went downstairs and bumped into F.  We had a little kiss goodbye, so that was nice!

I changed the alarms on my phone and went back to sleep for an hour. I got up, watched the news and then watched a little bit of an odd movie. I had my breakfast and I even watched a movie. It was I Kill Giants and was interesting. I think I need to rewatch it to be honest.

It was a terribly hot day today. I used the air conditioner up here most of the afternoon. I tried the open windows thing, it didn’t help. I didn’t see K at all. I think she was sleeping most of the afternoon.

I found time to iron the lining cloth for my mask, so I did that, and even cut out the piece that I’ll need. If I get any time I can start sewing things together again soon. I also did a bit of crochet on my basket. It’s going quite well! 

F called me a bit after 5 to say he was on his way, so I went downstairs and got dinner started. Tonight I did a stir-fry from the grocery store. It had vegetables and salmon included. I’ve never had the salmon ones before and it was okay. I think I like the other fish stir-fry better, but in general, I like salmon a lot. I also cooked some okra and some cheese-potato patties and we had those along with some salad. When I put everything on the table F was all about the rice…and I informed him he didn’t need it because…Hello, POTATOES! Honestly. We didn’t have miso soup either.

F seemed to be in a bad way so I got to do the dishes afterwards. It was fine. I hadn’t used a ton today and I had cleaned up after myself as I went along, so it wasn’t too bad. I listened to a couple of podcasts so I almost enjoyed myself!

I went upstairs when I finished and then F came up too. I gave him a couple of minutes and then let him know that we really should go and get a few groceries. He was okay with that, so a few minutes later we left.

We went to the grocery shop near our old apartment and got a few things for dinner and lunch for the next couple of days. We came right back to the house afterwards.

I’ve noticed that a lot of restaurants are closing really early these days. I’m not sure if it is because people aren’t going out or if it is because their head offices in Tokyo are telling them to do that! It is so hard to get F to go out at a reasonable time for dinner and now our places are getting even fewer. Ack. 

Anyway…

My sister just posted on Facebook that today is her 25th anniversary! Yay her. The two of them lived together for a few years before they got married, so they’ve been together for more than 30 years I think. Amazing!

That’s about all I have to say for tonight. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

September 1, 2020

Tuesday - Warm and Sunny

I got up this morning around 8, went downstairs, came back and watched the news and then watched a bit of TV. I had a pretty good morning and didn’t do my falling asleep thing. Yay for that. With it being cooler I think I slept better. 

I saw K when I went downstairs to get my breakfast and said hello.  She had a drink so that was good. 

I checked out a couple of things for dinner tonight and made sure I could figure them out. I changed my plans slightly, but that was a good thing!

I went upstairs and watched Spider-man, the first one with Tobey Maguire. It was good and I enjoyed seeing it all the way through. I had my lunch and then watched an episode of Downton Abbey. I’m down to the last one now. I hope I can watch it this week, although, I might keep it a while. 

I went downstairs to start dinner after the 4 pm news finished. I washed some dishes and then started getting things ready to go. F called to say he was on his way back, so I kicked things into a higher gear. I cooked one of the dishes early, just so that I didn’t have to wait for it. I got the chicken coated and I cooked some rice. When F arrived, I told him dinner would be in about 20 minutes and I think I was pretty darn close to that. I baked the chicken and made some garlic rice. I set the table and F even carried a dish out for me. Woot. Dinner was good, except I had to ask if it was okay because no-one said anything!. It was pretty damn good in my humble opinion!

F surprised me by helping wash the dishes. It was nice. I had done a little pre-washing before dinner so that there weren’t a lot of things.  He finished and then I finished up the few things he forgot. I also set up a couple more jugs of tea for tomorrow. 

I went upstairs and F was on the bed as usual. Apparently, he wasn’t feeling well now. Sigh. Since I didn’t need to go out tonight I let him know it was okay to relax. I had a mostly quiet evening. I did cut out a mask front. I want to put a gauze lining in it so I’ll have to iron the gauze tomorrow. It has become rather wrinkly in the pile of cloth I have. This is a new pattern for me, so I’m not using my “good” material until I know if it will work or not!

I noticed tonight that my phone’s corner is coming up again. The last time that happened it meant that the battery was in trouble and I got a new battery. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to do that again. I told F and he didn’t seem to be very happy about it. I’m not happy about it either. It is quite an old phone now and I can’t really complain about the phone. It has served me well. 

Anyway, tomorrow F is off to work again. He has to do some driving so he’ll be happy. I will be cooking dinner again. It should be a salmon stirfry and I’ll have to see what I can put with it. Come back later if you like and find out more about my day. Until tomorrow….

August 31, 2020

Monday - Warm and cloudy, some rain

I woke up early but didn’t get up that early today. Around 10 am, F told me that his mother wasn’t doing too well and he was going to take her to the doctor. I was afraid of that yesterday, but I thought it was a good idea to take her to the doctor.

While F and K were gone, I had breakfast and I got dressed for the most part.  When F came back, he said his mother was mostly okay but the doctor thought she was probably dehydrated. I’m glad that I made us come back yesterday to give her some drinks and ice cream!  She spent most of today in bed I think.

F and I went out for lunch. He wanted to go to his fish restaurant and was all excited about going. To be honest though, I didn’t want to go. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been yelled at for wanting to go to “expensive” restaurants for lunch but he hasn’t gone to any place I’ve really wanted to go for lunch in ages. I tried really hard to keep my mouth closed so was surprised when we got to his restaurant and it was closed for lunch today. We went to a nearby alternative place. I like it a bit more, still Japanese but a nice place.  F had the set lunch (that was priced a scant 25 yen less than the lunch sets at the places I like…and coffee was not included). I had the set that was in our discount book. Since I’d had breakfast just before we left, I really didn’t need a big lunch. 

We stopped into a post office as well to pay for a book I bought from a friend and to buy stamps. I got some lovely stamps so I hope that I’ll be doing more Postcrossings soon!

We came back to the house to check on K for a few minutes. She seemed to be doing okay, just resting a bit. F and I relaxed for a while and then went out again.

We hit up the hardware store and got some of the drink that K really likes. After that, we went to Starbucks and had a drink each. We didn’t go for the pricy drinks today. F had a drip coffee and I had a cold brew coffee. It was almost cheap that way! We sat and used our phones and vegged again. 

We went to Gyomu Supa to pick up a couple of things…somehow it morphed into a bag full of stuff, but oh well. Then, we hit up the grocery store for the washroom and to get money from the ATM!

We came back to the house and put away the frozen food, and the other stuff too then checked to see if K would like to come out for dinner. She wouldn’t. 

F and I went to Coco Ichibanya and had curry. I had the Spice Curry of course. Today was the last day, so that was good timing! It was spicy but nice. F had pork curry with liver which is wrong on so many accounts…in my humble opinion!

We bought some groceries for dinner tomorrow night and then came back to the house. We had a quiet evening in. I had a shower tonight and watched some YouTube, F watched a lot of YouTube I think!

And that was my day. I hope that K is okay. I think I’ll have to keep an eye on her tomorrow. I hope she gets up and that it isn’t so hot again. Today’s slightly cooler weather made it almost nice to be in Japan again, even with the rain.  

Come back later if you will and hear all about my Tuesday. Until tomorrow….

August 30, 2020

Sunday - Hot and humid

I overslept this morning. Oh, I got up a couple of times and then went back to bed for 5 more minutes of snooze and woke up over an hour later. When I woke up F suggested going for yakiniku. He wanted to go to a not-great place, I countered with a great place, so we ended up going there. It was really good, just hope that it was okay for F’s stomach.

We checked out the Chido Museum this afternoon. They had an exhibit about the local area. It didn’t do too much for me because there was no English, oh well. F seemed to like it. When we first got there, there was a presentation going on, we waited a few minutes and then wandered around to see the exhibit. We visited the garden and one other building too.

We were at a bit of a loose end afterwards, so I suggested going back to the house with some ice cream or drinks and checking on his mum. We stopped at the grocery store and bought some ice cream for all of us.

When we got to the house, F suggested to his mother that she get up, but she was dizzy. She did get up though, and soon enough the drinks and the ice cream, and more importantly I think, the air conditioning we made her use, helped to cool her down.  She’s so cheap, she will not use the air conditioning when she’s alone.  F got a call from the grocery store to say that they found his wallet! He must have dropped it getting into the car. He zoomed off to get it and was back quite quickly.

No one was moving after the drinks and the ice cream so I guess it was my job to clear up. I did, and even started a new jug of mugicha, but then I just left the glasses in the drainer and went upstairs and turned on the AC up there! Ha!

F came up a while later and we both relaxed for a bit. After 7 I started talking about dinner and we talked it over. I still wanted Gusto and a drink bar, so we headed out to go there. Unfortunately, they’ve changed their hours and the place was closed. Sigh. We ended up going the long way round to a Chinese Restaurant near where we used to live. We had an okay dinner there. They had 4 specials listed on the table and I would have been pleased with 3 of them. They had seafood bifun noodles, half a chicken deep-fried, and seasonal green veggies in a salty garlic sauce. F didn’t want the vegetables and ordered yakisoba instead. I didn’t want to have yakisoba and so when it came I didn’t have any. He didn’t get mad, I think he was rather sad about it. Honestly, though, the stuff is disgustingly stodgy, the noodles are limp and the sauce is thick…I just don’t like it. He loves it. I had chicken and bifun. I missed my vegetables though. 

We bought a few things at the grocery store in case K wanted something for dinner. She’d gone to bed before we left, so she didn’t have a chance to eat. Oh well. I think F will make her noodles for breakfast. I think it may be all he knows how to cook since he never cooks anything else!

It’s been another fairly boring night in at the house. I watched a movie called Little Monsters that was rather amusing. It starred Lupita Nyong’o and was about a Kindergarten teacher protecting her students during a zombie attack. Nyong’o was so lovely and sunny during this film, and it was quite offbeat and not terribly scary. I enjoyed it!

So, that’s it for my day really. It has started to rain tonight, so hopefully, it will cool down a tad. When the weather advisory place is telling you that it is dangerous to do any activity, it makes it hard to want to go out. 

Tomorrow, I’m not exactly sure what we’ll get up to. Come back later if you like and read about what happens. Until tomorrow….

August 29, 2020

Saturday - Hot and Sunny

I went to bed terribly late last night but slept reasonably well until my phone rang at 9 am. It was F and I’m not sure why he phoned me. I think he asked if he could bring something so his heart was in the right place, but he woke me up!

I slept on and he arrived somewhere around 10. My alarm had just gone off. I tried to sleep a bit more but didn’t really manage. A little later, I tried to get F interested in lunch, but he’d fallen asleep! He didn’t wake up for hours. I grabbed a cheese toast for myself for lunch and brought it upstairs to eat. I even did more of the crochet on my basket. I finished the bottom of it. Woot!

F finally woke up around 3:30 so I suggested going to the mall and getting Doutor sandwiches to tide us over to dinner. He liked that idea, so off we went. We both had shrimp and avocado sandwiches, with either iced tea or coffee. It was rather nice. We stayed in the mall for a bit too long. I wish F wouldn’t zone out on YouTube so much. I do it too, but not to the same extent.

We came back to the house and decided to go to a local restaurant. F had asked to go there last week, but I really didn’t want to then. We decided to pick up his mother and then go.  

We went to Misono which is a family-run restaurant. F had a ramen-type dish, K had niku-soba and I had chicken curry. My curry was great! I was quite impressed. It wasn’t a boxed curry roux type. It wasn’t too spicy but was different than what I expected. It came with salad and soup. 

We came back to the house after the meal and just had a quiet evening in. I wanted F to watch a movie with me, but he wasn’t into that. He was still tired. 

I took a shower and somewhere over the evening, we shared the Pepsi Sweet Cinnamon bottle that was in the fridge. It was okay. I’m not really a Pepsi fan so I don’t need another one, but it was nice to try it out!

I watched a little bit of TV tonight, nothing too exciting. I had thought about watching Black Panther today because I found out that Chadwick Boseman died. It is so sad. I didn’t watch it, but I will try and do so next week when I’m here by myself. Boseman seemed to be so talented and it is really sad that he is gone. 

That’s about it for me today. We don’t have any plans for tomorrow and are both still up quite late. Not as late as last night, but late enough!

Come back later if you like and hear all about what happens on Sunday. Until tomorrow….

August 28, 2020

Friday - Hella hot

When I woke up this morning it was already 29 degrees in our room, and that was at 8 am. My sweet husband had set up our new cooling box on his side of the bed and it was trying valiantly to cool me down! I was quite touched at that. 

I got up, watched the news, napped a bit and then did a couple of loads of laundry. Done!  In the afternoon I watched some stuff off YouTube and grabbed my lunch at the right time. I had seen K a little in the morning but didn’t make eye contact with her in the afternoon. I wanted to make sure that she drank a lot. I wanted to suggest that she use the AC too, but never got the chance. I was definitely using it upstairs! 

I restarted my crochet project and with the washed yarn, it is going better. It is quite hard to work with three strands of yarn all at once, but It’s okay. I have to count a lot. 

I went downstairs around 5:30 to wash my dishes and keep an eye out for the delivery from the restaurant. I was rather pleased to find that I’d received a book in the mailbox. I got one from a friend in my woman’s group. I have to pay her for it now.  I must remember!

Our meal arrived fairly close to on time so I paid up and then set the table. Luckily I had heated up the kettle earlier so making soup was easy. I had also prepped the cutlery so no problems there.  We had tuna on rice bowls and the restaurant gave us some clear soup and a small chawanmushi each. After we ate, I offered K some ice cream and we had that too. I cleared the table and washed the spoons so that we could eat the ice cream!  Oh, and the best part was that K turned on the air conditioner in the living room while we ate! A big surprise, but a nice one.

After our meal, I did up the few dishes and washed the recycling stuff too.  I went upstairs afterwards after saying bye to K.  

While I was upstairs I watched Labyrinth off the DVR. I have the DVD somewhere, but it was on my cable channel recently and I haven’t seen it in ages. I still love the movie and know most of the songs. 

I had a fairly quiet evening. I texted a bit with F and he’s had a good time at his party. I shall go to bed in a minute or two, I’m yawning away rather fiercely.

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I hope that we’re able to stay cool, however. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

August 27, 2020

Thursday - Hot and Sunny

For some reason, this didn't post when it should have. Apologies to anyone who missed me!

I woke up before my alarm this morning. The room was hot, too hot already. It was something like 28 degrees at 8:00am. Awful. I got up, opened a window and then went downstairs. 

When I came back, I watched the news I had taped and somehow ended up falling asleep. I didn’t wake up until 10:30 or thereabouts. I was stunned. The room was sweltering. The thermometer said that it was 30 degrees and I was really sweating. I grabbed my breakfast and when I came back upstairs I turned on the AC. It was necessary today. 

I had a pretty good morning into afternoon. I watched RBG, which was a documentary about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It was quite interesting and I liked the fact that she was in it and giving her opinions and speaking. She’s brilliant.  

I had my lunch and then since I had some time watched an episode of Downton Abbey. It was so good. Mary was a cow again…it was the one where she tells Bertie about Edith’s….well, I don’t want to spoil it for you, but Mary was awful. Lots of other things happened too of course and in the end, Mary married her handsome beau, so she’s all smiley now.

After the 4 pm news and a little longer break, I went downstairs to start on dinner. Tonight was my Izakaya night, which basically meant that I didn’t have a theme to the dinner, I just made a few dishes and put them out for people. We had sautéed spinach with ham, bean salad, salad, couscous, spicy cucumber, yakitori (with pork not chicken) and F made us some gyoza from the freezer. They were curried flavour and I really liked them. 

Sadly, F wasn’t feeling well and had to leave and go upstairs so I ended up doing the dishes. However, I’d done a bunch earlier and F had washed a bunch too, so it really wasn’t all that bad. I did have to wash the fish grill thing as that was where I cooked the meat. 

I went upstairs when I was done and stripped off my soaking wet clothes. I am sweating so much right now that it is a little scary. After a few minutes, we went out to get some groceries.

I had hoped that we’d go to the grocery store that we usually go to, but it was a bit late when we left here. We went to the 24 hour one. 

Shopping was fine. F has booked dinner for K and me tomorrow night, so I don’t have to cook. Yay. I needed stuff for lunch and we needed some bread since we finished it. It wasn’t a big deal or anything. Oh, and batteries! We bought batteries.

We came back to the house and both of us took showers. I went first, then F a lot later. I watched a little YouTube and then started to blog. 

Tomorrow night I’ll be doing the K thing by myself. I hope she remembers that F is away. In the past, she’s asked me to phone him to come home when it is 9 pm!  I just laughed, but tomorrow he’s going to be in Sakata meeting friends.

That’s it for me. Come back later if you like and find out what I get up to as a solo gal on Friday. Until tomorrow….

August 26, 2020

Wednesday - Hot and Sunny

I got up this morning and discovered that the DVR hadn’t recorded the news for me. Wah! There was a message but I have no idea what it said. I hope it works tomorrow morning. 

I had a fairly quiet morning. I had breakfast and then I undid the hanks of yarn I had washed and I balled it into centre pull balls. I watched a little YouTube while I did that.

It was so hot today that I turned on the AC around noon. It was already 30 degrees in my part of the room, so almost a necessity. The news has said that approximately 12,000 people have gone to the hospital with heatstroke. I don’t want to make it 12,001. I didn’t see much of K in the morning so I worried about her a little. I did see her later though. 

In the afternoon, I went downstairs around 2 to make lunch, but also to make a bean salad from a blog I follow. I think it might be the first recipe I have made of theirs. I could get most of the ingredients so that was rather nice! While I was down there, I got a text from F, then something was delivered, then I texted F, then F’s sister came over for a quick visit to her mother, and I just kept getting interrupted!  Still, the Mediterranean Bean salad was easy to make and I just put it in the fridge to chill and for the dressing to soak in. I grabbed my lunch and went upstairs. 

I ended up watching a bit of Lord of The Rings today, but not too intensely. I’ve seen them before of course and I knew I had to leave again in the middle. I watched the news at 4 and went down to get dinner sorted around 5:30. F called me when I was starting putting things together and said he’d be back soon. He was!

While I was preparing stuff, he was opening the box and checking things out. He’d bought a mini cooling box for me to use in the kitchen. There’s no AC in there and K doesn’t like to use the one in the living room, so I have been a sweaty mess during/after dinner prep. It works a bit, but what was the nicest thing was that I didn’t ask him to buy it for me. He thought of me and got it for the house!  He wasn’t half getting in my way while I was preparing though. If I needed to get a plate, he was in front of the cupboard. If I needed into the fridge, he was rummaging around in it for something! Ack.

Dinner, when I got it done was quite nice. We had lemon-pepper chicken again, plus the bean salad, plus a lettuce salad with green onions and cucumber. I had couscous and F and K had rice. Everyone seemed to enjoy dinner and the biggest surprise of the night was that F washed the dishes for me! It was wonderful!

I dried them and cleaned the stove. I made some more tea for tomorrow. We’re going through mugi-cha like crazy because of the heat. Actually, I’m trying to make sure that K is drinking. She’s in her 80’s and has had heatstroke before. She’s too stubborn about using the AC so could be a prime candidate to get it again. Hence, I give her mugi-cha every time I see her!

After I finished sorting out the kitchen I went upstairs for a bit. F and I chatted and decided what to have for dinner on Friday. He’s got a party and won’t be here. He’s planning to order some food delivered for us. Yay!

I did the garbage up for F to take out tomorrow morning. Lots of stuff today. Hurray. 

That’s about it for today. I watched Grey’s Anatomy and then turned off the TV. I did a little YouTube too. 

Tomorrow night’s dinner is something I’m calling Izakaya dinner, so we’ll see how that goes. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

August 25, 2020

Tuesday - Hot and sunny

I had a decent day today. I got up a few minutes late and went downstairs. I spent the next couple of hours watching the news and relaxing. I went downstairs and put in a load of laundry and grabbed my breakfast. I came back upstairs and watched a bit of TV.

I realized that I had time to watch a movie today, so I did. I put on Spy from my DVR and it was just what I needed. It was silly and funny and had Jason Statham in it, so what else could I ask for?  Nothing, that’s what, nothing!

I stopped the movie to get my lunch and then I came upstairs and ate. I really had a good afternoon. I even did another Postcrossing and then scanned my outgoing cards and all the incoming cards that I had received. I haven’t done that for 2 or 3 months. Sigh. But, I’m caught up and I even wrote an entry for my Postcrossing blog. 

I went downstairs after 5:30 to get ready for dinner. F phoned soon after. Dinner tonight was quite easy. I did a fish stirfry from a grocery pack, reheated yesterday’s vegetable side dishes and then got some rice for K and F. We had everything with salad too. Dinner was pretty good and got okay reviews. 

F wasn’t feeling well again so I did the dishes myself. To be honest, it wasn’t a big deal tonight as there weren’t a whole lot of dishes. I finished and went upstairs. When I was there, F came in and we discussed going out. We went out fairly soon.

K had asked F to get her some elastic, but the shop I thought would sell it was already closed. We got some at the hundred yen shop, but it probably isn’t what she wanted. We made a quick trip over to Yamaya to get some feta and then did our regular shopping at MaxValu. 

We came back to the house. I checked on my yarn upstairs in the garage and decided it was dry enough to bring back in the house. I did that. I helped F with the groceries and then went upstairs. I took my shower first and watched the last episode of Killing Eve in Season 3. I loved the show.

So that was about my day. I wasn’t terribly busy, but I got a few things done that needed to be done so I’m fine with that. I’ll be cooking dinner again tomorrow night, come on back and see what happens. Until tomorrow….

August 24, 2020

Monday - Hot and Sunny

A pretty good day.

I first woke up at 6:30. F was talking to me and saying that he didn’t want to go to work today because he didn’t feel good. I mumbled something and went back to sleep. When my alarm went off over an hour later he was gone. I actually sent him a text later to find out if he was at work or at the doctor's office. At work. He’d remembered that he’d taken Friday off, so went to work today.

I had a bit of a lazy morning but got moving around 10. I took my yarn downstairs and washed it and rinsed it. I hung it up in the garage as F said it wouldn’t matter if the yarn dripped on the floor. 

I came back in and grabbed breakfast, then came upstairs again for a little bit of American Idol and then Fleabag. I really enjoyed it. I think that’s the second or third time I’ve seen the second series. I enjoyed it.

I made my lunch and a couple of pots of tea for later. I used one of my new teas that I bought in Yamagata. I made Lemon Pie tea. I came back upstairs with my lunch.  I watched a bit of Lord of the Rings but didn’t really get stuck into it. I turned over to the news at 4 pm.

I watched the news and then went downstairs around 5:30. I got a bit of a start on dinner and F called to say he was on his way. I had already started the chicken marinating in the tandori paste, then I worked on the vegetables. I made an eggplant stirfry again and also some okra cooked in the microwave. F actually helped a little bit with dinner and even washed the dishes afterwards. I was really pleased. It made my evening so much easier.

I did a few things in the kitchen, like make more tea and cleaned up a few things. Then I came upstairs. F asked if I wanted to go out tonight. I didn’t really need to, but he wanted something so said I’d go along for the ride. We went to the closest drugstore, but it was closed. We went to our usual one and picked up a few things. I had a discount coupon and used it, so that made things nice. We came back to the house and had a relaxing evening. I even wrote two Postcards for Postcrossing. Woot! First time in ages. 

F has gone to sleep I think, and I’d like to get to bed soon too. This heat really takes a lot of my energy. I am glad that I did things today, I didn’t just hang around and wait for other people. I need to do more and remember how nice it feels to have a few things done at the end of the day. 

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

August 23, 2020

Sunday - Hot and Sunny

I woke up a couple of times this morning, mostly because F was making all sorts of noise. I do wish he’d stop that. 

Around 11:00 he asked me if I’d like some hiyashi chuuka, the cold noodle dish he makes. I said no, thank you. The first time he made it, he had burned the egg and didn’t have enough sauce. It was horrible. I nearly vomited. The second time it wasn’t quite as bad, but I really don’t like his version of the dish. He seems to use the same horrible sauce that he uses for nabe, and I dislike that a lot.

Anyway, when he left the kitchen and came back upstairs I went downstairs to get something to eat and of course, K was in the kitchen. I came back upstairs and grumbled a lot to myself. And anyone who would listen, which wasn’t F.

I finally went downstairs and grabbed some cereal. If I wasn’t going out for a proper meal then I was darn well going to get something I liked to eat. I ate and also offered F some coffee, which he did accept today. 

We had a very quiet afternoon in our room. For most of the time, F had the air conditioner on. I noticed that he was using a blanket. That seemed a bit ridiculous, so I made it less cold in here. Later on, we just opened the window and it was okay. 

Finally, around 6:30 I requested that we go out. F did suggest a place, but I think it is a bit expensive, so I suggested one or two others. We decided on Kula Sushi.  We booked a table online but it wasn’t for an hour or so, yet, both K and F got ready to go right away. Then we were there miles too early. 

We ended up trawling the drugstore near the sushi restaurant. I decided not to buy my expensive stuff there as I had a coupon from another chain and I could make it cheaper for myself. 

F bought a few things then we put them in the car and K and I walked over to the restaurant. F tried to move the car, but another person “stole” his parking space! He had to park back at the drugstore.

We went in and waited a bit, then were seated. It was okay today. F and I had a few different things that we tried. Some of them were good (nama ham with avocado) and some were bad (shrimp caramelizee - don’t, just don’t!) We got our fix of fried food, onion rings and french fries so I was happy, but didn’t get a drink which is something I really wanted.

We brought K back to the house and then F and I went out for groceries. We picked up stuff for the next couple of days and then came back to the house via the gas station. 

We had a quiet evening basically. I took a shower early on, then F. I asked him to help me take stuff off the DVR which he did.

And that was really it for me. I do feel it was a big waste of a weekend though. This afternoon F asked if there were any movies on that we could see, but there haven’t been any for weeks. Since my favourite cinema closed, pickings have been slim. The Cineplex seems to focus on Japanese Tweenies. I miss Machi-Kinema. 

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

August 22, 2020

Saturday - Sunny and warm

I could tell you I had a great day but I would be lying to you. Sigh. August is a hard month on all of us. It’s too darn hot here.

F and I stayed up very late last night. It was almost 5 when I went to bed, F went to bed at the same time and got up earlier than me. I don’t know how or why he does that.

K went out today with her daughter. She was going out shopping and to have lunch. I thought it was a good idea, as long as she wore a mask!

When it was time to decide about lunch F asked my choices and I rattled off about 4 restaurants. Apparently, they were all too expensive. He likes to go to cheap places. I do not so I am obviously a terrible person who likes to spend all his money. That’s pretty choice. He went on and on and on about how I never choose “good” restaurants and how the ones I like cost too much. [For the record, I’d like to say that the ones I like have lunch entrees around 1000 yen, some have a few dishes under that, some have dishes more than that.] He announced that we should go to a soba restaurant. I didn’t want soba, couldn’t think of much worse for me at that time. Finally, I told him I’d go with him and he said he wouldn’t go. I’m not sure what the point was. He tried to give me a 1000 yen note to go and have lunch with, but didn’t want to take me anywhere. I gave him back his money and went downstairs and had my leftover pasta from Thursday night in the kitchen. I enjoyed it so much more than going out somewhere with him because I got to be alone and he wasn’t there. 

I went back upstairs and shut myself into my side of the room. I closed the doors and only went out when I needed a washroom break. It was such a wasted afternoon. I tried to offer him a nice drink but it was all refused…to be fair, not rudely.

Somewhere around 5 pm, he asked me if I wanted to go out. I said I did and we went out for a bit to get a few things for the house. We picked up some eggs and then went to the drugstore for some things like caffeine-free diet Coke and detergent. F decided that we could get bentos for dinner so I chose the best place not the cheap place. 

I got a bibinba, but sad to say it wasn’t very good. It was the first not great bento I’ve had from this place. I ate with F and his mother. F stormed off first, washed his own stuff and left me to deal with his mother’s stuff too. How nice of him. I washed the stuff and threw out the miso soup that he’d made me. He never asks if I want it, and I didn’t tonight. I made up some mugi-cha and also some rooibos tea and got those cold-brewing away. It’s a way to cut costs a little and save on all the plastic bottles. 

I came back upstairs and started my latest crochet project. I’m making a basket out of three strands of yarn. It is very pretty, but hard to work with because you have to crochet tightly. Also, I noticed that one of my fingers was turning purple. One of the yarns doesn’t seem to be colourfast. Oh no! I’m not sure what I should do. I’m thinking I might want to take it back and start again with another colour of yarn, or make the basket and try to wash the extra colour out before it is used. What should I do?  Oh, dear. I think I shall consult my friend Google.

F and I aren’t really fighting right now. He’s feeling quite bad these days. It doesn’t excuse him using me as someone to take out his bad temper on and I’m not really too happy with him. Does he really think that living in this house with his mother is a paradise for me?  Nope. To be fair, his mother is usually a lot easier to live with than F is. She just ignores me all the time rather than F ignoring me most of the time. 

I have no idea what’s going to happen tomorrow. If he starts up on me I think I’ll see if I can spend the day out and away from him. He needs to miss me a little. 

Anyway, that was it for my day. It wasn’t a good one, which is rather sad as they have been good mostly. Come back later if you want and hear what I’m complaining about on Sunday. Until tomorrow….

August 21, 2020

Friday -  Hot and Sunny

I got up a bit late this morning as F was off this morning. I got up around 9 this morning and watched the news.  It was almost all bad as usual!

F went off to the doctor and I got dressed and relaxed for a while.  I was texting my friend and then my sister which was enjoyable. For some reason I sat on the bed and then the next thing I knew, F was coming through the door and I’d slept for an hour or thereabouts! Weird!

F and I went out for lunch today. We went to his favourite fish restaurant and had their lunch special. It was rather funny before we ordered, F read the menu and told me that I had to pick either mixed fry or sashimi. I chose one and then F chose the other one. When the waitress came for our order F ordered one of each and the waitress told us that they were both included in the lunch!  We both had both and they were nice.

We went to Starbucks for a while and had a drink, then went to S-Mall and had a romp around the hundred yen shop. I bought some budget yarn and a few other things, F bought a plant.

We came back to the house and relaxed for a few hours. That was very nice. I was also able to watch the afternoon news. 

Around 7ish we went out for dinner. We took K out with us to You-me Shokudo. It was okay. I had chicken and F had fish, K had pork.  We came back to the house as soon as we finished and there we stayed. 

I took a shower before I watched The Affair and then something else afterwards. F has been on the bed for ages, he’s probably YouTubing, as am I. I’m watching interviews with Emma Thompson and Kate Winslet. It’s been fun!

That’s it for me. No plans for tomorrow. I’m not sure what we’re going to get up to, come back later and find out. Until tomorrow….

August 20, 2020

Thursday - Sunny and HOT

I got up this morning at my usual time, more or less. I watched the news and then fell asleep again. I was rather annoyed with myself, but it has been so hot lately that I do feel a bit drained. 

When I got up, I did a load of laundry and grabbed my breakfast. When I was downstairs I also gave K a glass of barley tea. I worry that she might not be drinking enough. 

I went upstairs again and watched a little TV. I ended up watching Spider-Man 2, the Tobey Maguire one with Doc Ock. It was my favourite of his films and I rather enjoyed it.  I haven’t seen it in ages. 

I also found the last half of Papillon, so I watched that too. I’m rather glad as I only watched the first bit on the weekend before asking F to record stuff for me. 

I went downstairs around 5:20 or so to start dinner. I decided that I’d cook cold spaghetti for dinner tonight. I needed to cook the spaghetti early so that it could cool down properly. I did that and got it in the fridge fairly soon. 

F came back from work and brought some salad that I had asked for. That was nice. We had a pretty good meal when I was done. We had cold pesto pasta with cold duck breast and onion salad on the side. We had lots of tea to drink as well. There is a little bit of the pasta leftover, and a bit of duck, but that’s a good thing. I enjoyed dinner a lot. 

Of course, F had a little nap on the floor before running off, so I got to do the dishes alone again. Oh well. I hadn’t used a ton of dishes tonight and had already washed the spaghetti pan before dinner, so I was really fine.

I came upstairs and stripped off my sweaty clothes again. It was so hot in the kitchen.  K did leave on the AC in the living room, but it just doesn’t reach the sink area of the kitchen. F had the AC on upstairs so it seemed really cold. I loved it!

F hasn’t been doing well at all tonight. He’s off work tomorrow and will be going to one of his many doctors. I’m not sure what I’ll be doing around this time, I hope to just stay here and relax and then go out in the afternoon. I am not going to cook tomorrow. I’m tired of doing all the work and having no help whatsoever. I’ve decided that if I have to do all the work by myself, then I’m going to blooming well cook what I want and the heck with everyone else! 

That’s what I say now. Tomorrow who knows!

I spent the evening YouTubing and relaxing. I should be crocheting, reading or doing Postcrossings, but I’m not doing any of that yet. Sigh. 

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

August 19, 2020

Wednesday - Hot and sunny

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off and got up and made the trek downstairs. I came back to the bedroom, watched the news from my bed and then decided to put my head down for 15 minutes. After 15, I decided on ten more minutes. I woke up about an hour later. I’d been having a really odd dream about a city that I’ve dreamt before. I was trying to find somewhere I think, but I never did. 

I got up and dressed quickly, grabbed my breakfast and then watched the episode of FBI from the weekend. It was a preview of another new show and one of the actors was Canadian, from my city! He used to be in Heartland so that was really cool. 

After FBI was over, I watched the rest of the movie I started yesterday. It was as much fun as ever. I like any movie with Oliver Platt and don’t get me started on Kurt Russell. He’s just too cool! Executive Decision was the film, a lot of fun.

In the afternoon I got really hot in the room so I turned on the AC. It was well above 30 degrees in here. I also tried on a few clothes that I found in a drawer that I don’t get into often. Most of the stuff fitted me. Woot!

I watched the news around 4 pm and then somewhere around 5:20 or so went downstairs to do my dishes and get a handle on dinner. That was the original plan but I ended up starting dinner then doing dishes. It’s all good. 

I made a cold pea salad (from Simply Recipes—divine!) and then I made up some couscous and pilaf. There wasn’t a lot of the pilaf so I thought I’d let F and K have it and I’d have the couscous and then have the extra for lunch tomorrow. 

F had told me he’d be late, so when I found a message on my phone knew that he must have finished a bit early. I called him back and he was on his way back. 

I started cooking some lemon pepper chicken and boiling some water. I decided to also have miso soup with our dinner. 

F came back and I told him dinner would be soon. He went upstairs to change and relax a bit. I got the table set and then we ate fairly soon after that. Dinner didn’t get reviews at all, but almost everything vanished! I let F and K have some of my couscous and they left me 2 tablespoons for my lunch tomorrow, so I just ate it! The pea salad that I thought I’d have for lunch also disappeared. It was amazing though. There was one piece of chicken left afterwards and that was it!

I washed and dried all the dishes. Luckily there weren’t all that many, but it still took a while. I came up to the bedroom before F tonight and basically stripped off my wet clothes and put on my pyjamas. 

Around 10:30 I did up the garbage for the house and then took a shower. F took one a bit later too. He’s not doing well tonight. His stomach is acting up and his back is too. Sigh. 

I watched Grey’s Anatomy and it was okay tonight. I’m not sure what’s going on with that show. It was doing great for a while, but it is getting a bit soapy again. Maybe the season is coming to an end?

Well, that’s about it for me. It’s late and with it being so hot, I’m quite tired. Come back later if you like and hear all about my Thursday. Until tomorrow….

August 18, 2020

Tuesday - Hot and sunny

I had a bit of a hard time getting to sleep last night. F couldn’t sleep and he sat up in bed for a while with a light on. I managed to fall asleep but he woke me up in the morning too. I did fall back asleep then. 

I had a fairly quiet day today. I didn’t do any laundry today, I didn’t watch too much on TV, just a bit of YouTube. To be honest, it was hot, but there was a breeze so I didn’t turn on the AC until quite late. I took a nap between noon and 1. I didn’t sleep for an hour, just part of the time. I went downstairs, grabbed my lunch and then came back upstairs.

During lunch and for a bit afterwards, I watched Executive Decision, the old Kurt Russell film on a plane. I really enjoyed it, but F called in the middle to say he was taking the rest of the afternoon off. I stopped the movie when F appeared.

He came by the house to change and then left to go to the doctor, I watched the news instead.

I watched the news and then the documentary that was on afterwards. It was about the Ringed Ladies of Malaysia. It wasn’t all in English so I missed a bit, but it was fascinating to see such a different style of life from mine.

I went downstairs to start on dinner. F was just back and I checked with him that he did want dinner. He said he did. 

Tonight I made “breakfast for dinner” so we had pancakes and bacon with fruit salad for dessert. It was really nice, but the problem with pancakes is that the person making them doesn’t get to eat until all the pancakes are done…unless someone takes turns cooking them and ….well, of course, that would never happen here. It went over quite well. We had some of the pickles from last night on the table and also there were some mini-tomatoes.

F came when I asked and I think he helped a bit. I plunked the glasses on the table with ice in them and the tea bottle and asked him to pour. That was helping, right?

It was all quite friendly except the others were done eating long before I was. F rushed out and upstairs because he wasn’t feeling well again. If he’d given an excuse I’m sure that would be it. 

Never mind. I cleared the table, put away any extra food and then did the dishes. I listened to a couple of podcasts so at least I wasn’t bored. To be fair, K doesn’t go to bed while I’m doing the dishes and I appreciate that. Of course, she doesn’t help and I don’t want her to because we have very different styles. 

When I finished I went upstairs and stripped off my wet and sweaty clothes. I put on a housedress and relaxed until I felt better. I went over and asked /demanded that F take me out shopping. He acted like he’d never heard of the concept. I reminded him that I told him on Monday that we needed to go out. I reminded him before dinner too, but he doesn’t listen/remember.

We went out to MaxValu and got most of the groceries we needed. I got something for dinner tomorrow night and have decided that I might cook on Thursday night and I might not. It is to be decided. 

We came back to the house and I put away the groceries. F wasn’t doing well and went upstairs again. 

When I came upstairs I watched Killing Eve, I was just in time for that. I enjoyed it as always. Is it bad of me that the worse Villanelle gets, the more I laugh? Maybe. Afterwards, I went over to talk to F. He’s not having a happy summer. Work is difficult and his health isn’t great.  It was nice being with him but he had an earphone in and when I tried to tell him that I have an ankle that hurts when I go down stairs, he didn’t say anything. I don’t think he even heard me. 

Tomorrow I have plans for things I want to do, but I have no idea if I’ll get anything accomplished. It is still really hot in the afternoon, tomorrow is supposed to be a scorcher, so we’ll see. 

Come back later if you like and find out how my Wednesday goes. Until tomorrow….