October 2, 2023

Monday - Warmish and sunny

Yesterday, after a large lunch with my nephew I got to relax a bit at the house. In the late afternoon, my sister made guacamole from scratch and I volunteered to help her. I think I helped, I scooped out the avocados and mashed them a bit. We had to make two different types. Her husband likes his with tomatoes and jalapeños, but my sister and I are sensitive to tomatoes, so skipped them. Neither of us like it as hot as he does. We sat out on the deck for a while and munched on some tortilla chips and guacamole. 

A little while later we had dinner. I was quite stuffed yesterday. We had steak again yesterday, with mashed potatoes, veggies and some bread. It was all lovely.

My nephew introduced me to a show he liked on Netflix in the evening and it was fine. I wasn't as interested as I should be. I don't have Netflix so won't be watching all of it.

We went to bed at a fairly decent time. My nephew and I had been watching the first two Iron Man movies, it was fun to see them again. My sister and her husband had to be up early today to go to the airport. He's off on a business trip. They've changed the airport and now we have to walk to a shuttle bus just to get into the airport. I'm not looking forward to that next week with two suitcases and a backpack. Sigh. 

I went to my bedroom and finished the book I was reading, Memory Man. It was a novel I borrowed from a "lending library" box next to the house next door. It was so nice to be able to grab a book and not pay for it. I really had to finish it before I left though.

I did a little crochet last night too. I haven't done too much lately as the light in my room isn't very bright. It's my own fault as my sister offered to give me a stronger bulb in the beginning.

This morning I was first awakened by my phone. I got a text from my husband. He was going to bed soon, but had gone to work today and it was okay he said. It was his first day back. I hope he'll be okay. 

I got up before 9 and had breakfast and then took a shower. My sister and I had a bit of lunch and then headed out to look for Thanksgiving food. We looked for a ham at Costco. It was insanely busy there. There must have been a lot of people on holiday today. After Costco, we dropped the ham at the house and went into the city to look for a turkey. We were under strict instructions from her hubby not to get a frozen one. Between the first store and the second my sister had a good go at me about my weight and starting to exercise again. I've been in a lot of pain this holiday and the more walking I do the worse it gets. I'm not sure if it is a knee/leg problem or a shoe problem, but I really didn't appreciate her interference. I think she means well, but it isn't something that I wish her to harp on me about.

We got back to the house finally and I took the book and magazine I had borrowed back to the lending library. I didn't take anything else as I likely wouldn't have time to finish it before I leave.

And that's it. I'm not sure what's going to happen around here tonight. 

I'm going to meet up with an old friend tomorrow and see another friend on Wednesday, so I probably won't be able to update for a few days. Don't miss me too much!

Come back later if you like and hear more about my exciting time in Canada. Until next time.... 

March 19, 2023

Sunday - Warm and sunny, with dark clouds

Well, we didn’t go to Costco today. I woke up with my alarm in the morning. F hadn’t slept well and said he was tired. A few minutes later he said that he wasn’t feeling well and didn’t go. No worries. I would rather not get in a car and drive for 2 hours when I’m under the weather, so I can’t expect F to do that either. 

I went back to sleep and slept quite late today. Oh well, we had no other plans. I got up around 12:30, filled up the kerosene tank and started up my hot water. F and I had some hot drinks a little later and then he went downstairs to make lunch for his mother.

By the time he finished, it was after 3 pm and I hadn’t eaten. I wasn’t too happy with that. He demanded that I tell him where I wanted to eat and I suggested the tonkatsu place at the bus depot.  F suggested some “Michi no Eki” in the boondocks. I said no because I wanted to eat soon and I reminded him that many places close early these days because of the pandemic. 

We drove over to the bus depot and of course, the restaurant had closed early for a change. F pushed the idea of his road-stop place and against my better judgment went along with his idea. He swore it would take 20 minutes to drive there. [Spoiler Alert] It didn’t. It took 30 minutes.

We drove out to the middle of nowhere. Honestly, it was a beautiful drive, but there was nothing out there. We reached his Michi no Eki and….it was closed. Of course. I was pretty ticked off but tried really hard not to get upset. I asked him to drive me back to the last convenience store that we passed and I would buy food there. That’s what we did.

F said that he didn’t need any food, but would take a drink. I picked up a couple of onigiri, a sandwich and a drink for F and a piece of chicken for myself from the display case. Back in the car, I started with the chicken. I gave F one of the onigiri and he did eat it. 

We headed back to Tsuruoka and F asked if I wanted to go for yakiniku.  I said maybe later. I had just eaten and didn’t want to eat too much right away. 

When we got back to Tsuruoka we went to the grocery store and I picked up some ingredients for dinner tomorrow night and a few other things. After that, we went to the gas station and F picked up kerosene and also gas for the car. 

We came back to the house and I put the groceries away. I heated up the bento I bought for K and gave it to her. I went upstairs and a few minutes later F came up too. We talked about going for dinner right away so we did! We went to Togashi for yakiniku and I asked F to call and make a reservation, which he did. Hurray!

We had a lovely meal. We had a combo plate plus a veggie mix to grill and a kimchi combo. We both had two drinks tonight which is quite unusual for us!

After dinner, we just came back to the house. I watched The Black Phone and did some crochet on my blanket until my ball of yarn finished. I enjoyed the movie a lot. I had heard that it was good, so I was glad that I finally was able to see it. 

Oh and during the day, I finished my book. It was Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs. I really liked it. 

So, today was an odd one. We didn’t go to Costco, but I’m okay with that. We might go next weekend, it depends on how F is doing then. 

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

February 28, 2023

Tuesday - Sunny and warmish

I woke up this morning when F was getting dressed in our room. I made a trip downstairs and then came back to the room and went back to bed. I woke up next when my alarm went off to remind me to take my medicine…at 11 o’clock! Yikes!  I sat up in bed and immediately the room started spinning. Oh, dear.

I made my way downstairs and then came back upstairs with my breakfast. I was feeling much better by then. I ate and decided to get stuck into my column.  I actually got it done and sent in as well. Hurray! It took most of the afternoon to get it done though.

I watched the news and then a bit after F called, went downstairs to start dinner. Tonight I made a pork stir-fry and basically just served that with rice and a salad. Oh, and some instant soup I found. It actually was a pretty good meal. All of it disappeared!

I did the dishes and listened to quite a few podcasts tonight before I was done. I checked the fridge and also grabbed the trays to be recycled by the store.

We went to Mina, the closest grocery store. F took care of the recyclables and I did the shopping. Unfortunately, they didn’t have some of the stuff that we needed, so F and I went to another grocery store. I managed to get something for K’s and F’s breakfasts for the next couple of days, so that was good.

We came back to the house and I put the groceries away.  I went upstairs and read a bit of my novel. I started a novel on the train back to Tsuruoka on Saturday and got it done just after midnight tonight. It was by Felix Francis, writing in the style of his father Dick. I liked the novel but didn’t love it.

I watched my FBI show and then turned off the TV and watched a bunch of YouTube videos. No big deal really. 

Tomorrow I hope I wake up on time! I also should do some laundry tomorrow. I haven’t done any in a while. Come back later if you like and find out about my day. Until tomorrow….

February 18, 2023

Saturday - Warm but rainy

I woke up this morning around 9 am and got up a few minutes later. I got dressed and was ready to go to the doctor’s office at 10 which is when F said that we’d leave. 10:25 we finally drove out of the yard!

It was raining so F let me out at the door and I went in. The visit to the doctor was fine today. It wasn’t as busy as it has been lately and instead of waiting an hour to see the doctor, it was only half an hour! I even managed to finish the book I've been reading in the doctor's office for the last year plus! We picked up our meds and then went to a grocery store to pick up food for K. The original plan was just to get her stuff for one meal, but I suggested to F that we get her two meals' worth of food so we don’t have to go shopping twice. He saw the point in that so we did that.

We brought the food back to the house and F got K up. I took our medicine upstairs and a few minutes later we were off again.

F and I had lunch at The Grand El Sun today. It was very nice. I had salmon today and F had the pork. He doesn’t like salmon but I do! 

We came back to the house for a while and relaxed. F snoozed for a while since he was in a lot of pain and not feeling well. I did a lot of crochet and finally took a short nap. I didn’t really sleep, but I did relax so that was nice. 

At 5:30 we left the house and went out to Mikawa. F was having a dozy day and kept missing turnoffs. He didn’t go the usual route, but that was okay.  We went to see Don Quihote and picked up a few things. I got a new long i-cord for my phone and F got some mochi and ramen. Eye roll.

We went over to the mall. I suggested to F that we go and park out back behind Aeon so we could go there first. He started driving quite far from the door but I made him go back. F can barely walk and he’s making things even more difficult for himself. He parked and then we went into the store. I tried to find a good packet of masks to take on my trip, but they are really cutting back on masks. I couldn’t find what I wanted. We did get our usual masks for the house though, and I told F that I wanted to go upstairs and look for socks. He went off to get money and a coffee!  

I was able to find a few pairs of socks that I think would work for me, and happily, for me, they were on sale. Yay! I bought them and then went downstairs and met up with F. He was having a coffee from Mr Donut. We stayed there for a few minutes before we left and went out to the car. F drove around to the front of the mall and parked near the cinema.

We went in, bought our tickets and then went and got our dinner. We had bibinba again and it was quite good. It wasn’t quite hot enough for either of us, but really we enjoyed the meal.

After we ate, F didn’t want to move. I went over to the washroom and when I went into a stall, I knocked something off a shelf. Someone had left their phone. I took it out to the sink area, but the lady I asked said it wasn’t hers. I left it on the shelf above the sink and when I came out, it was gone. I’m guessing the person came back for it?

F and I went over to the cinema and got some popcorn and drinks, then went in to see Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. It was okay. I wouldn’t say it was as good as the last Ant-Man film, but I didn’t mind it at all. There were a few characters that I would like to see more from.

After the movie, we left Mikawa and drove back to Tsuruoka. We came back to the house and just relaxed. F went to bed a couple of hours ago, but I don’t really think that he slept much. I’m still up of course, but that’s me. 

Tomorrow, I think F has a morning massage so I’ll probably get up and go to the mall. I’ll get him to drop me off and then I can do a little bit of shopping. Will I pick up more yarn? Unknown!

So, that’s about it for me for now. I’ll be back tomorrow night and fill you in on all the things we get up to. Come back later and find out. Until tomorrow….