December 31, 2014

Wednesday - Rainy and then Snowy

A good day.

When I last left you all, I had been having a horrid day.  It continued for a bit on Tuesday, but F came and nicely asked if I’d like to go out for lunch, which I would. Did? 

Today, we ended up driving to Yuzu, a town a little north of Sakata for lunch.  There’s a place that has a lunch buffet that is really nice, so F invited me there.  I had steak as my main dish, F had sushi.  After that, we drove back into Sakata and visited the new Starbucks.  We had a fun time trying to find it though!  F had us on the wrong side of the city entirely!  We got there finally, and F waited through the huge line while I saved us seats.

After Starbucks we drove back to Tsuruoka and did a few things.  We got food for F’s dog, we got food for us and then we came home.  

F took the food over to his mother’s house and I got caught up on email and did a bit of work on tonight’s dessert.  I washed the strawberries and then mashed them a bit.

F came home, announced that he’d misplaced his cellphone and headed back to his mother’s to look for it.  Egads!  Oh, and by the way, there was now snow and lots of it.

He did find his phone, but it was in front of his mother’s house, under the snow.  Thankfully it wasn’t damaged and still works!

 When he came home, we vegged for a while and then decided to have dinner.  We had bought some food from the grocery store so there was no cooking involved, yay.

After dinner we watched Return of the King on NHK and it didn’t finish until well after midnight.  At 12 I wished F a happy new year.  We did talk about going to the shrine but there is 5 cm of snow out there and neither of us felt bothered about going! 

I made our dessert and some tea for us around 2 am.  I made an Eton Mess and it was fabulous.  I would have quite easily eaten F’s helping too, if he would have let me! 

Eton Mess

Extreme close-up!

We ate happily and watched a Top Gear compendium.  (Big thanks to my friend that gave me some meringues from her Christmas preparations!)

And that was how I wrapped up the year.  It was rather nice!  I feel like I should be very introspective and write about how I changed over the year, but I’m not really that kind of person!  

Gotta go...Happy New Year!  Night. 

December 29, 2014

Monday - Clear

A pretty horrible day all round.

Last night before bed I made a bread pudding up for this morning.  I left the recipe on the table and told my husband that if he wanted to cook it before I got up he could.  I also told him that I would be up to watch X-Files as it was the end of a multi-part episode.  

I got up this morning and my husband was making bread.  The machine was plugged in instead of the microwave/oven and was in the way of the oven anyway.  I objected and he moved the bread machine to another room.  Then, we basically got into a yelling match about my bread pudding and how I always become nervous when I cook. I changed the TV to X-Files and watched it while I baked my pudding.  When I took it out, the show was over so I gave him the remote and told him to watch what he liked.  Then I took a shower and then went back to bed.

I lay in bed for ages and slept for a bit.  I got up around 1 pm, just in time for someone to discover the first of a six movie in a row Rocky extravaganza.  Sigh.  So, from 1 until after midnight, I was forced to listen to the Rocky movies.  F didn’t start talking to me until much later in the evening.

I got so upset that after my dinner, which I made for myself, thank you very much, I went out for a walk.  It helped me a bit.  Just getting out of the apartment was nice.  It was warm outside and I just needed a change of air.  Of course, it didn’t do my lungs any favours. 

I’ve tried reading, but F had the TV on so loudly that it was hard to concentrate on anything.  

Anyway, I’m going to go to bed soon as I feel pretty horrible.  I can’t believe I have another week of this crap.  

Oh, and that nice restaurant he promised to take me too…apparently he had made a reservation there last night as he called to cancel it today.  He asked me if I’d still go and I told him I wouldn’t.  I probably would have if he hadn’t been shouting at me all morning, so it is a shame that he cancelled it, but whatever.  I don’t care that much really.

Night. 

December 28, 2014

Sunday - Clear, but I didn’t go out

A pretty crap day to be honest. 

When I finally got up this morning, about the first thing F said to me was, “Do you want to go to a Japanese restaurant?”  Of course I said no because it’s the last thing I want.   Tonight, when he decided to talk to me again, he explained that it was a really nice, new place…I asked him why he didn’t say that this morning!

He got mad at me and made himself some food and then went to bed.  For hours.  I fixed myself something light and then watched some TV.  I tried to go in and talk to him later, but he didn’t want to have anything to do with me.   And so the rest of the day went.

He made himself ramen around 7, I made myself pasta.  He watched a ton of crap TV, I had to DVR mine.

During the evening I made a bread pudding. I’m going to cook it in the morning for breakfast.  I think it’ll be nice.  

Things got friendlier during the evening, and F went out to get us some yakitori.  He brought some back for us and we ate it and the chicken I had asked for.  I put on Project Runway All-Stars and then Under the Dome and watched them.  

I did about half of my Journal Column and it’s okay.  It’s my year wrap up, so some of it is pre-written.  Hurray for me.  

I’m not sure where I’ll be tomorrow, if I’ll be home or out.  We may go out again tomorrow night, if we do there won’t be an update, so don’t wait up for me!  Talk to you later!  Night.

December 27, 2014

Saturday - Sunny and warmer

A good day.

We decided to spend a night out of town last night, so there was no update last night.  Hope you didn’t miss me too much.  

This morning we drove to Sakata.  We were really too early for our lunch date, so we asked my iPhone’s Siri to find us a coffee shop.  She found us one, and gave us directions to it.  We had a nice cup of tea or coffee there.  After that, I suggested going to the Sankyo Warehouses in Sakata.  I could buy more postcards and we could spend a bit of time indoors and yet be near our lunch place.  F liked that idea, so off we went.

I found a few postcards I didn’t have yet, got them and enjoyed looking at the wooden chests and pieces of furniture.  After a bit it was time to drive over to the hotel.

We met up with some area teachers and their spouses for a nice lunch.  It was a buffet, and there were about 12 of us, so we took up 2 tables in the room.  It was nice getting to know some of the other people there.  There was a couple there who got married a couple of weeks ago.  I felt a little sorry for them!

After the party broke up, F and I, and my friend and her little boy drove over to the brand new Starbucks.  We were so excited!  First Starbucks in Shonai!  Woot.  We managed to get a good table.  Ordering was a bit of an ordeal…you had to line up to order and then line up (in a huge line) to pick up your order.  Ack.  Still, I grabbed a table, F got our drinks and I looked after my friend’s little boy for a couple of minutes.  We managed to have a bit of chat time, but the little boy was tired and in need of some TLC.  Some of a drink was spilled and we decided we had to break up the party.  

F and I drove to Mikawa Mall and I bought another ball of combination yarn for my scarf.  I decided that I’d rather buy another ball than rip it down again and re-knit it!  Luckily, I got one from the same dye lot.  Hurray.  

After that, F wanted to buy some liquor making supplies.  He’s going to try and make some alcohol.  We found the jar to make it in, then had to get the liquor and the rock sugar.  Around the time that we found these things, I realized I just wasn’t feeling that well.  When we went out to the car, I told F I felt a bit off and so we went home for a while.  I’m still getting over my cold and it was hot in the mall.  I was wearing a big coat and heavy boots…I was probably overheated too.  

We came home and I vegged for a while in front of my computer.  That seemed to help a bit.  F suggested that we go to our favourite keiten sushi place which was fine, except it was only open for another hour and his uncle phoned him about a personal matter.  F used his earpiece and kept talking to him in the car, all the way there.  He never did tell his uncle that we were going for dinner, he just kept talking until we were in the lobby of the restaurant! 

We had a nice dinner and then we came home.  I was feeling quite a bit better and I knew that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D was on tonight, four hours worth of it.  I wanted to watch it, and did.  I knitted for a couple of hours of that time too.  

So that, was my day today.  It was rather nice, but it’s nice to be home again.  I have to go.  Night!

December 25, 2014

Thursday - Sunny, with snow and wind

A lovely day.

I got up this morning, but it was tough!  Bed was nice and warm, the living room was cold.  I forced myself up as I didn’t want to be late for my friend and if I overslept, I would be late.  

I watched X-Files, did a little computer stuff and then took a shower.  I even blew my hair dry today.  I found some clothes and then waited for my friend.  

She arrived right on time and I joined her outside.  I handed over a big bag of books to her and she gave me a bag with lots of goodies in it.  Yum! 

We had lunch at The Grand El Sun and it was nice.  Local pork, plus gorgeous salads and soup, bread and great company.  We stayed for a while after we finished just chatting.  Then, we went over to S-Mall to walk off some of our calories before heading to Baskin-Robbins to indulge in a few more.  Sadly, it was time to go home after our ice cream. My friend dropped me off at home and went back to her family.

I went in and spent some time looking up cooking methods.  I made a mental game plan of what I was going to do and then did it. I decided to prep the potatoes and sit them in the pan on the stove until I was ready to cook them, and then prepare the cauliflower.  I could let the cauliflower sit in the garlicky oil mixture for a while.  It would just marinate and get more delicious.  I still wasn’t sure when F would come home from work.  

At his normal finishing time, F called to say he was done and would go and pick up the chicken.  I decided to start cooking.  I soon had the potatoes boiling away and the cauliflower roasting in the oven.  When he came home, the veggies were half done and I kicked everything into higher gear.  

Soon enough, it was all done and ready to go.  I carved up the chicken and helped F have some of the potatoes and gravy.  It was yummy!  The extra garlic I’d used in the cauliflower was perfect and the marinating had helped them become super yummy.  We drank some sparkling apple juice with our dinner and it was all very nice.

 

After dinner I put the extras away (and there wasn’t much of the cauliflower left at all!)  F started the dishes and I helped by drying a few things for him.  Then, it was dessert time!  I got out the pudding and heated it up.  We had that with a little bit of cream.  So yummy!

We opened our presents from my sister and my friend while we had our dessert.  We both were very lucky and got a lot of great things.  I got mostly clothes, work out style clothes from my sister and a new robe and a skirt from my friend.  I also got what I asked my sister for, a pastry cutter!  It comes in so useful and I’ve never seen one over here.  

 We relaxed and watched a bit of TV.  I went over to the couch and knitted for a couple of hours.  It was therapeutic.  I’m debating redoing my scarf again, or just leaving it.  I think I might just leave it, especially if I can get a third ball of yarn for it.  

A little after midnight, I called my sister on my computer.  She was up, but the craziness of her Christmas day hadn’t really started yet.  I was able to talk to her and my niece for a little while.  That was great!  I couldn’t find out if they liked their presents, since they hadn’t opened them yet!

Anyway, that was my day.  It was quite low key, but what with my cold and all, I didn’t mind at all.  We have lots of lovely leftovers, so I hope to have some nice chicken for lunch tomorrow.  Wish me luck with that!  Night.

My Little Christmas Tree

December 25, 2014

A few days ago I finished my Christmas project for this year.  I made a Christmas Tree from a design that I came across on one of my Crochet sites.  It turned out very well I think.

Vintage Granny Square Christmas Tree

It's basically green and white granny squares folded and joined to resemble a tree.  I used beads from the 100 yen shop to complete the look, other crafters used small circles that they crocheted.  They have quite a range of looks from different crafters.

I enjoyed making this!

A little Christmas craft for you :-)

December 24, 2014

Wednesday - No idea, didn’t go out!

A good day.  I got up on time today and watched X-Files.  I also wrote some email and knitted a bit.  It was nice.

F called to ask me out for lunch, but I said I didn’t want to go.  He then said he’d come home and eat his bento, and that’s what he did.  It was nice to see him.  I watched a bit of Heartland while he was here. I don’t know if he watched it too.

I had a quiet afternoon.  I wrote some email and watched a movie. I also printed out a few more nengajo.  During the movie, the doorbell rang.  I checked it out and it was the post office with a big parcel for me from my best friend.  Yay!  Just in the nick of time!

In the evening before F came home I started to get things ready.  I was doing pasta with shrimp and garlic alfredo sauce.  After F came home I kicked things into higher gear.  It didn’t take long until we had dinner on the table.  It was really good too.  

I let F do the dishes tonight and I went back to my computer.  I wrote my last few nengajo and asked F to translate an address for me.  Then I was done.  Yay!

I watched a bit of TV tonight and also did a bit more knitting.  I’m  really enjoying doing this, even though it is very basic stuff.  I’m not even sure if I’ll have to frog it again though.  It might be a bit too wide for my yarn length.  

That’s really about it.   Tomorrow I should be going out with a friend for a nice Christmas lunch and then maybe come home and start cooking and preparing Christmas dinner. After dinner, F and I will open our presents for our quiet little Christmas.

I’m still coughing a lot. It’s quite annoying and worrying too.  I have to get over this darn cold.  This is the second week and I’m still blowing my nose all the time.  Sigh.  

That’s it from me.  I’ll most likely update tomorrow night, although I might take the night off.  Have a Merry Christmas or a good whatever event you celebrate at this time of year.  Night!

December 23, 2014

Tuesday - Cold but clear

An okay day.  

I overslept this morning. Part of it was on purpose.  When F got up, he watched something.  It wasn’t X-Files, so I stayed in bed! When I got up later we had an argument about where to go to for lunch.  I am so over that.

F wanted to go out for fish, so I said okay, then he changed his mind when we were in the car.  We went to a Japanese place finally.  He had udon and I had a vegetable stir-fry that was pretty good.  

We came home via the drugstore.  At home, I printed out some nengajo for him and more for me.  F ran a few errands while I did that.  After a while, I got really tired and went back to bed.  After an hour or so, F came in for a snooze too.  We were sleeping when the doorbell rang.  I answered and it was a big box from Canada.  Yay!  My sister’s presents to us had arrived.  Close, but not a problem!

I stayed up then and worked on nengajo.  I wrote a few and printed more.  

We had dinner at Cocos tonight.  I wanted to have their Christmas Mud Pie.  Of course we had regular food first!  F had his rice gruel and I had a burger with veggies.  The Mud Pie was nice.  We split it, because it’s too big for me right now.  That made it a nice treat for us both.

We bought a lot of groceries tonight.  It cost a lot!  I got stuff for tomorrow night and a few things for Christmas dinner.  I decided to add cauliflower to the Christmas meal.  Yum.  It’s all white though.  Sigh.  Mashed potatoes, chicken and cauliflower.  Good job the salad is green though!

I put away the groceries and F picked up some more kerosene for us.  We were right out.  I wrote out a bunch of nengajo, I only have a few left now.  Woot!  

At 10 pm I went over to the couch to knit during Grey’s Anatomy.  It was therapeutic!  My new and improved scarf is going quite well. I do hope I have enough wool though.  I’d hate to have to re-do it!

Since then I’ve been relaxing or writing cards.  It’s nearly time to go to bed.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow!  Night. 

December 22, 2014

Monday - Snowy

An okay day.

I woke up quite early today.  Poor F had to go out and shovel snow for ages before he could even go to work.   Then at work, he had to shovel snow for most of the day too.  Urgh.  

I got up to stay around 9 am and watched X-Files.  I was quite busy this morning so I had an early breakfast.  F asked to come home and offered to bring me lunch.  I turned him down for lunch, but did ask for some bread.  The loaf that F had made in the bread maker didn’t turn out this morning.  

F came home and I gave him some tea! He gave me bread so it was a fair trade.  He ate his lunch and then headed back to work.  

I got out my old computer and hooked it up to my printer.  I ran off some nengajo using it and they looked so much better than the ones from my new computer.  I’ll have to print some more tomorrow, but I did a few to make sure it would work.

I started dinner a little early.  I started by making some soup.  I combined two different kinds of soup making stuff, threw in some pasta, and let it simmer.  In a little while, there was some nice chicken vegetable soup.  The other things I took a little more time with.  I peeled some potatoes, and prepared the chicken for baking.  When F called me to say he was coming home, I turned up the heat! 

Dinner came together fairly fast, although I had the usual problem of getting F to the table.  He never wants to come over, it is so annoying.  Dinner was great.  The soup was good, and so were the mashed potatoes. I put a bit of cheese in with them tonight.  Yum. F was absolutely shattered after work today, so I gave him a break and let him off the dishes.  He watched some old Japanese stuff on TV and then took a bath.  He’s in bed now.

I wrote a few nengajo tonight and picked some more patterns that I want to print tomorrow.  I hope I have time.  

Tomorrow is a national holiday so I think that many of my friends in Japan will be celebrating Christmas.  I hope that they have wonderful celebrations!  I’m going to wait until Christmas for mine though.  

No idea what we’ll get up to tomorrow.  Come back and find out.  Night!

December 21, 2014

Sunday - Snowy

A good day.

We both went to bed rather late last night, so I knew I wouldn’t get up early.  I didn’t want to anyway.  I dragged myself out of bed around 11:30.  F was all for setting out for a fish restaurant within five minutes of that, but I wasn’t ready and said so.  Finally  I was ready for lunch and a little worried about going for raw fish.  However, I kept my mouth shut and F’s restaurant was closed, so…we went somewhere else.  We went to Simon, a French-Japanese fusion place.  We had a nice meal there.  I chose…fish, believe it or not.  The meat dish was in a tomato curry sauce and it’s nice, but not what I wanted.  The fish was light and cooked and I liked it.  

After lunch, we came home for a while.  I suggested to F that he try and get a massage.  He did try, but the masseuse was in the hospital! Oh no.  We relaxed for a bit and I tried to print out some of my nengajo.  Oh dear, not a rousing success.  The new driver for my printer didn’t get the colours right at all.  The cards look faded and that’s a huge problem for me.  I might try using my old computer to print them out tomorrow if I can get it to work properly.  

And the nengajo book?  Turned up this morning.  F had hidden it in our tatami room. At least the second book we bought wasn’t too expensive.  Men!

F wasn’t doing well with the bad weather and even tried to go to bed at one point.  I suggested trying to get in at the Internet Cafe which we did try.  However, they were busy and all the chairs were taken.  

We went to have dinner and then planned to go back later.  Of course we didn’t!  Dinner was at an izakaya. It was really good, but as usual we ordered too much food.  I’m dieting and trying not to eat a lot of fried food, but F really seems hellbent on making me eat too much.  

We bought groceries and that wasn’t much fun.  F followed me and hovered over me, which I loathe.  There were no interesting vegetables at all, so I’m not sure what we’re going to have with our meal tomorrow.  Sigh.  I got some potatoes, but I’m not sure I’ll do them tomorrow or not.  

We came home and relaxed again.  I wrote three cards for postcrossing. I’ll scan them tomorrow and hopefully I’ll feel like walking them to the post office in the afternoon.  

I took a break to watch Downton Abbey.  I did some crafting too, which just felt lovely.  I sewed in some ends and then worked on my knitting.  I’m re-doing the scarf and I like it better this way.  I’m actually doing it as ribbing.  It isn’t curling up and looks rather nice so far.  

And that’s my day.  I’m looking forward to having a day to myself around the apartment tomorrow.  F asked if he should come by with a bento or to take me to lunch but I told him not to.  With the roads as snowy as they are, I think he’ll arrive home and then have to turn around again and go back to work!  Besides, I’d like a little bit of me time!  Gotta go.  Night!

December 20, 2014

Saturday - Rainy but warm

A good day.

I slept in this morning.  I am blaming the medicine that I had to take for that!  

However, once I woke up, I got up and got dressed.  F wanted to go out for lunch right away, to a fish place.  Sigh.  I couldn’t face it, so I acted like I hadn’t heard him and suggested someplace else.  We went to Restaurant Futaba and both had a nice meal there.  I had pork and F had a paella with seafood.  He liked it.  

We popped home for a few minutes and then went jeans shopping.  F’s usual jeans have a hole in the back pocket now, so he really shouldn’t wear them anymore.  They look rough!  I suggested that I buy him a pair of jeans for Christmas since he couldn’t think of anything else that he wanted.  

We went to S-Mall first and went to the jeans shop.  F grabbed a couple types of jeans and went to try them on.  They looked terrible!  I’m not sure if it is possible, but they gave him a camel toe and were entirely too small in the butt.  He was a bit put out that I wouldn’t settle for those ones, but they were bad.  Both pairs he tried were the same, and they didn’t have any bigger ones.  

We drove out to Mikawa and had a look there.  We tried Jusco, but their jeans just weren’t right.  I told F that they had to look good on them, since I’m the person who has to look at him in them! We went to the Amerikaya jeans shop and had a look round.  We found a couple of pairs that might do, and F tried them on.  I liked them!  We found a pair that satisfied me, and _F_!  Woot!  We also spent a few minutes and bought another nengajo book.  Why?  We have no idea where the first one we bought is.  Gah!  I’ve looked, F has looked, but nada.  They have to be in the mail by the 25th.  

After we did our shopping, F took the stuff to the car and I looked in a store.  I was feeling better today, but I found that walking fast made me feel off-balanced and a little dizzy so I took everything at my own pace.  

F came back in and we had a small dinner.  I had a tuna crepe and he had some ramen.  Then, we went to the movie.  We went to see The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies.  I liked it, but I wasn’t thrilled by it.  At the end, I just felt like something was missing!  

We came back home after the movie and spent a quiet evening in.  I watched Under the Dome and later on Miss Marple, which was great!  I adore Geraldine McEwan and have ever since I saw her onstage in London.  She was amazing there and darn great as Miss Marple.

That’s really about it for my day.  Oh, F helped me order a couple of books from Amazon, so I’m a little excited about that. Tomorrow I’m not sure what we’ll get up to, as F has to spend time with his family.  I hope we are able to enjoy the rest of our weekend though.  Night!

December 19, 2014

Friday - Rainy and warmer

A good day.

Yesterday I felt terrible, but today, I felt quite good!  I had a good night’s sleep and in the morning felt better than I had in days.  Hurray for that.

I got up, watched my telly and did some computer stuff.  I took a newspaper/breakfast break from 10:30 on and also watched The Walking Dead.  Fox channel-spreading Christmas Joy and zombies. 

I took a quick and needed shower and then F came home to eat his bento.  I’m not sure why my husband needed to come home and eat here, but what the hey….  I think he was checking up on me.  I was fine luckily.  

He left and I got on with my afternoon. I watched some telly, and did a load of laundry, or tried to.  I might have put too much stuff in one load because it got to a certain point in the cycle and just stopped itself.  Sigh.  That was annoying!  I had to take out some of the wet clothes and dump them in my sink. Sticking my hands in that freezing water wasn’t fun. I got the machine to work again, and then I had to do the clothes in my sink too.  Still, they were done and hung up.  Hurray for that.

I had a substantial lunch today too.  I haven’t felt much like eating the last couple of days, so today I ate rather a lot.  It was good though.  I finished up my quiche.  I watched some of Hotel Hell today too.  It’s scary to hear about some of those hotels.  

When F came home he was odd.  He’d taken some time off and the original plan was to take me to the doctor if I still felt bad.  But, I felt pretty good.  He then decided he needed lottery tickets! Okay.  He went for them.  He came back and wanted to go for dinner.  It wasn’t even 5 pm at that point.  I wasn’t hungry yet.

We did end up going around 7 or so.  We went to Jiro, where we haven’t been for ages, so it was nice.  I had chicken and F had curry, so we were both happy.  We came home again afterwards.  I wouldn’t have minded going elsewhere, but F only suggested the grocery store.  He was tired today. I think he’d probably had to shovel snow at work today.  

He went to bed fairly early on, and I stayed up watching telly.  I feel almost normal again, except for the plugged up nose and cough.  

Tomorrow I think F wants to see his doctor and then I’m not sure.  I’m hoping we’ll go to see The Hobbit, but I’m not sure if we will.  Hopefully, I’ll update tomorrow and fill you in.  Night!

December 18, 2014

Thursday - Cold & snowy

A not very good day.

I got up this morning and crashed on the couch.  I basically didn’t move for hours.  I watched X-Files and then The Walking Dead.  I’m not sure why Fox keeps starting it from the very beginning.  I really wish that they’d show some of the newer episodes that I haven’t seen!

I finally did my computer stuff and had breakfast.  In the afternoon, I was feeling bad so I ate lunch, took my medicine and went to bed.  I slept for a couple of hours.  When F came home I was still in bed.

I got up around then.  I had hoped to go out for dinner, but I knew the cold air would freeze my lungs so I asked F to pick up some food at the grocery store for me.  I wrote him a list with three things on it.  Yogurt for my breakfasts, pumpkin salad or potato salad and some kind of cooked chicken.  He forgot to buy the chicken for me.  I was a bit upset, but there wasn’t much I could do.  He offered to go back and get me some, but I didn’t want him to do that.  He did bring me a chawanmushi which was lovely and made me a soup so I managed to have some kind of meal.  

I watched quite a bit of TV tonight because it’s my night.  I enjoyed everything.  

Anyway, F is bound and determined to take me back to the doctor tomorrow if I’m not much better.  Thing is, now I feel much better than I did earlier on.  I get into coughing jags where I just can’t stop, and that’s painful and annoying.  

It’s latish and I’m  tired, so I think it is an excellent good time to get myself to bed.  Talk to you tomorrow.  Night!

December 17, 2014

Wednesday - Windy with a bit of snow

An okay day.

I slept reasonably well last night.  I had some stop coughing medicine and it worked for the most part.  I got up and watched X-Files, did some computer stuff and then went back to the couch.  I spent a lot of the day on the couch!

I heard from F in the middle of the day, he was checking up on me.  I told him I was fine.  I was mostly.  I napped a little, watched TV a little, and had lunch too.  After lunch I rallied a bit and decided to get a start on dinner.  

Tonight we had orange sriracha glazed green beans, with spaghetti and pesto sauce and smoked duck.  It was quite nice and got good reviews.  F did the dishes and we had a quiet rest of evening.  

I worked on my Christmas craft again. I’m almost finished it, I just have to make a loop on the back to hang it from and then I’d like to take some photos of it.  I might even post one here!

I’m going to do one of my household chores and then I’m thinking about going to bed.  I’m not sure if I will this early or not, but I might! 

That’s it for me.  Got to go.  Night!

December 16, 2014

Tuesday - Warmer, clear in the daytime, rain at night

An okay day.

F and I slept in this morning. I was glad as I really didn’t sleep that well last night. I kept waking up to clear my nose or to cough. Yuck.

I had a shower, we had breakfast and then made our way over to the doctor’s office.  It wasn’t my usual guy, it was his son.  I got poked (OW!), prodded and generally pissed off! In fact, when I got there, we were segregated from everyone else in case I had the flu.  I understand why they did that, but it still annoys me! I got some cold medicine, enough for five days.

After we finished there, we went to the gas station to get gas, then had lunch.  I let F pick the restaurant so of course he went for a fish place again.  I had chicken!  

After that, it was to the post office and we mailed off my Christmas cards for inside Japan. And a cute little nephew’s birthday card.  

When we finished there, I asked F to take me home.  I was beat.  I went to bed and stayed there from 2:30ish to 7:00 pm.  I didn’t expect to sleep that long, but I can’t say I didn’t need it.  

For dinner tonight I was supposed to cook, but I was a bit  groggy at 7 and begged off. Instead, I suggested getting food in from HottoMotto, the bento shop.  We went on line and checked the menu.  F called them and then he went to pick it up.  I had sukiyaki, he had a stir fry.  

That was about it for my day.  I watched Grey’s Anatomy and did some more work on my Christmas craft.  Only one more level to go.  Woo hoo!  It is cute.  Tomorrow I hope I’m feeling more like myself.  I have to go.  Night!

December 15, 2014

Monday - Cold but fine —I didn’t go out

An okay day.

I got up in time to watch X-Files and did so.  It took me a while to get moving. It was so cold in the apartment I was debating covering myself with a blanket on the couch or going back to bed.  I decided to stay up.

A little after 10, F called to say he was stopping by.  He’d had to drive someone to a place nearby and was waiting for them to finish. He told me that he was going to take tomorrow off so he could take me to the doctor.  At first I was a tad put out by that, but then I remembered how sick I was a couple of years ago and thought I’d really rather start getting better before the big holidays when there aren’t doctors around!

I watched America’s Next Top Model with him and it was rather fun.  I think he was bewildered by it.  I was too in the beginning.  He left to go back to work just after it finished.

The rest of the afternoon I just took things easy.  I watched some TV, nothing too great and then around 4:30 started getting ready to cook dinner.  I was going to make a quiche, but wanted to cook it so that F would get it hot.  I prepared all the ingredients, but didn’t cook it.  F called before 5 and said he’d be late. I asked him to call me before he came home so I could start it in the oven.  

He didn’t call for a long time. It was after 7 before he called and I had given up at that point and started it cooking anyway!  When he came home I had just taken it out.  I was able to put dinner on the table fairly quickly, which was great.  

We had bacon and mushroom crustless quiche, salad and hash browns and they were all darn yummy!  Dinner got great reviews.  F did the dishes and I relaxed.

We spent a quiet evening except that P!nk was on WOWOW in concert and I really wanted to watch her.  I did and it was great.  I hope that I’ll be able to see her live sometime, but the chances are pretty slim I think.  I always sing her at karaoke because she’s cool.  The language isn’t always for everyone, but I like her!  It’s funny to think that my niece is the one who introduced her to me.

And that was my day.  Tomorrow I’ll go to the doctor and hopefully get some medicine so I’ll start feeling better soon.  I don’t mind feeling a little bad, but this came on so quickly and I worry I could get worse.  

I’ll update you tomorrow on what I get up to, unless the medicine is the kind that puts me to sleep.  If it is, you’ll have to wait!  Night.

December 14, 2014

Sunday - Cold and snowy

Not a great day…but better than yesterday.

I woke up this morning when F’s cellphone rang.  His uncle was calling him for advice.  They talked for a while.  The apartment was really cold, so I was surprised that F didn’t turn on the heater.  I realized that my voice was damaged too.  I’m only   guessing that my lungs must not like the sudden change in temperature.  

Anyway, today, I’ve been coughing a lot and drinking a lot to ease my throat.  Fingers crossed it doesn’t get any worse.  

We went out in the early afternoon for lunch.  We tried to go to F’s other favourite fish restaurant, but it was closed on Sunday.  We ended up at a place we went once before, a sort of Japanese place.  They do sara udon and pasta.  I had pasta for lunch, which means I have had pasta every day for the last 4 days! I’m going to try and avoid it tomorrow though!  After lunch, we drove to the electronics shop.

F has been thinking of getting a new DVD player for Christmas.  Our other one works, but it was far too complicated for me to use, kanji challenged as I am. It also wouldn’t let us record tv shows in the language of our choice, which for me would be English. He had done some research and even found the price online in another store, so was able to ask for a discount.  I got some ink for my printer because I’ll have to start making nengajo soon.  We also bought a hand mixer, because F had a hard time whipping cream last month!  It’ll come in useful in other circumstances, I’m sure.  

We came home and F spent ages (poor guy) setting up the new machine.  Because of where it is in our apartment, we couldn’t use the heater so I began to get really cold.  Although I wrapped up, I decided to just go to bed.  I was in there for a while and even took a nap.  

Finally, F was done.  Ta dah!  It worked.  I even used my noodle and figured out how to change languages with it.  Of course, the first thing F wanted to watch was skating, but that’s okay! 

Dinner time was next.  F asked if I’d like to go for Korean food.  I said sure, but when we got near the restaurant all the parking spaces were being used.  We decided to go to a Taiwanese place instead.  It’s not great, but it is convenient for some other shops I wanted to visit.  We had an okay dinner there and then we went to Yamaya.  I got some drinks for Christmas Day (sparkling apple juice) and some pasta sauce.

We visited the big MaxValu grocery store and I picked up a few things for tomorrow’s dinner.  I think I’m going to make a crustless quiche again.  It’s really nice and easy to digest too.  

We came home and had a pretty quiet evening.  F watched the TV about the election results, and then I put on Project Runway Allstars.  I enjoyed it.  

That’s about it.  I’m coughing and my throat is sore.  I’m hoping its a stupid cold, but worrying that it might be more.  Fingers crossed I’ll feel better tomorrow.  I’ve got to go.  Night!

December 13, 2014

Saturday - Snowy

A not very good day.

We have a lot of snow. It arrived today between 5:00 am and noon mostly and is heavy and annoying!

Today wasn’t a good day.  F and I didn’t get on very well.  He started in on me before 11 am about where I wanted to eat.  The answer was nowhere right then.  I took a shower and came back to the living room to find that he wasn’t there. He’d gone back to bed.  I left him alone for a while but he came out.  He wasn’t feeling well, and basically spent the entire day in that mode.

We went out to the car and had to shovel snow for a few minutes.  It took both of us working fairly hard about 15 minutes to clear enough snow in our parking spot.  

We finally left for lunch, to the Daiichi Hotel for their lunch. It was nice.  F had a beef stew, I had beef cream pasta.  After lunch we tried to do some shopping, but didn’t really get much.

We finally went to the butcher’s shop and ordered our Christmas Chicken.  It was expensive, but not as bad as the place in the mall.  They wanted 3000 yen for an uncooked chicken.  Goodness me!

We came home again for a bit and relaxed.  F got a delivery and I just tried to relax myself.  I wasn’t really able. 

We drove out to F’s favourite fish restaurant for dinner.  I really wasn’t that hungry but somehow ended up with a huge dinner.  Most of it was really nice, but I wasn’t in the mood.  

Next, we drove out to Mikawa and got there around 7.  I tried asking F what he wanted to do for the next hour, but he wouldn’t answer, he just got mad at me.  Then he decided to leave the mall.  I stopped him and said I’d like to look at craft stuff.  He followed me there and then disappeared.  When I was done I couldn’t find him.  I sent him a text, which he answered.  He said he was in the washroom.  I waited outside the most likely one, and when there were only 10 minutes before the show I texted him again and asked him if I should go and get the tickets.  He wrote back that he was in front of the theatre.  So, he knew I was looking for him and he just buggered off to the movie theatre and didn’t bother to tell me?  Nice.  I walked along there and met up with him.  We almost didn’t go in.  Honestly, when he said, “Let’s go.” I thought he mean “Go home,” and I would have been fine with that.

We got our tickets, F got us drinks and himself some popcorn….I was still too uncomfortably full from dinner to have any…and we went to see Gone Girl.  By the time I finished in the washroom, the movie had started, so I honestly didn’t want to go in.  I HATE missing any of the movie.  

However, I really enjoyed the movie. I hadn’t read the book and I had no idea what would or wouldn’t happen.  Ben Affleck was just about the right sort of actor to play the smarmy husband! A good film in my opinion.

After the movie, I didn’t bother talking to F, I just left. We were the last people to leave the theatre and he could have talked to me, but didn’t.

I went to the washroom.  After that, I waited around the hallway for a minute or two, but realized I had no idea where he was.  I thought he’d probably buggered off again, so I left the mall and went over to the car.  He wasn’t there.  I went back in the mall and was going to text him, when my phone rang and I saw him in the distance.  Apparently he’d been in the washroom too.  Oops.  Too bad, so sad I missed ya!

We drove back to Tsuruoka in silence. We came home and I offered to make tea, which he accepted.  We talked a little to each other, but again, he’s “not feeling well” which apparently gives him the right to be a jerk. 

I have no idea what we’re going to get up to tomorrow.  I wouldn’t mind if we stay home and  rest, however he did talk about going to karaoke at one point.  I doubt he’ll really want to do that.  I need to get ink for the nengajo that we have to send out. 

Anyway, I’m done for now.  I’ll fill you in on the horribleness of tomorrow when it’s over.  Night.

PS...Added later...we spent the first part of the night in bed holding hands.

December 12, 2014

Friday - Mostly clear, drizzle at night

A good day.

I got up on time this morning, and stayed awake!  I watched X-Files (and it was darn creepy too).  I don’t know if I’ll look at an escalator the same way for a while.  

I had breakfast and tea, and while I was preparing for that, F called with an invitation to have lunch.  There wasn’t much in the apartment to eat, so I accepted his invitation.  

I met him outside and suggested that we go to Cocos.  It’s quite far in the opposite direction, but the service during lunch time was quite good and we got our food quite quickly.  It was quite a nice lunch too.  I had a chicken creamy pasta that was basically just what I wanted, F had some fish so he was happy too. F drove me back, but had to drop me off on the way as time wasn’t great for him.  I walked home.

At home I did a bit of computer stuff and also watched the movie Burlesque on NHK.  It wasn’t terrible, it wasn’t great either, but I enjoyed it in sort of a guilty pleasure way.  

I scanned the postcards I wrote last night and then prepped a Christmas card for a friend.  I needed to take the stuff into the post office as I had to buy replacement stamps.  F called to say he was coming home early today, so when he heard I was going to the post office offered to drive me.  I told him I really wanted the exercise, so off I went.  

I got my stuff done in the post office, but there might have been a mistake happen there. I’m really not sure, the guy at the post office had a lot of things going on at once.  I hope I didn’t rip him off!  

Anyway, F didn’t come home right away.  He took his mum out and then he took the car in to have it’s headlights seen to.   There was a loose connection or something and he was worried about them. It took quite a bit longer than he thought and it was about 7 pm before he came home.  

He was in the mood for some Japanese food and suggested a place we like for soba or udon.  I was fine with that, so off we went.  I had meat soba, and F had an ume soba.  He liked his, I liked mine.

We bought a few necessities for the apartment at the grocery store nearby, then came home.  I suggested watching the first couple of episodes of Orphan Black so that F could get up to speed with the show.  He said he liked it.  

He went to bed fairly soon afterwards.  I watched TV for a bit and then got busy on my computer.  I’m hoping that tomorrow we’ll go to Mikawa and see a movie or something, I’m just not sure when or what.  You’ll have to come back tomorrow night and find out how it goes.  Night!

December 11, 2014

Thursday - Rainy

A good day.

I overslept today!  Recently I’ve been waking up around 8:30 and getting up and snoozing on the couch.  Today, I decided to go back to bed and it wasn’t until after 10 that I woke up again.  I slept through my alarms too.  Sigh.  

Anyway, I got up, checked my email, and then had breakfast and tea.  After my show I had a quick shower and got stuck into my computer stuff.

When I finished looking at the things I had to do, I wrote a few more cards and then got them ready to take to the post office. The last couple of times I went, I asked the staff to put real stamps on to make up the extra postage I needed, today, I bought the postage and put it on myself.  It wasn’t fun, but it was okay!  My cards have a bunch of stamps on them but I think it is fine.

I walked to the post office in the rain. It was nice to get out of the house under my own steam.  I was there for a few minutes, the clerk checked them for me and I walked home.

F wasn’t late today and when he came home I got dinner underway fairly soon.  It was just pasta and a chicken roll with a side salad, so it came together quickly.  We had a nice dinner, but F wasn’t feeling too good.  He went to bed right after dinner.  I did the dishes, but I had to wear a glove on my right hand.  I’ve got a really bad crack on my right index finger because of dry skin and when I get it wet it is very painful. 

After I finished I checked a few websites and then decided to do some postcrossings.  I wrote up 4 cards tonight.  Yay me.  It’s been a while since I’ve had the real urge to do any.  I still have to do Christmas cards tomorrow too. I have to send to my friends inside Japan.  

And, at 11 I went over to the couch to watch Once Upon a Time and do more work on my Christmas craft.  It’s looking quite nice, although I think I should get some distance from it to really see.

F had got up earlier but still wasn’t feeling well.  He went to the grocery store to get some more food.  He brought me some cheese, which was nice of him actually.  After I ate that, I ate some chips.  Not exactly a health food, but I don’t do it every day.  Now I’m really thirsty.  

That was my day basically.  I got a few things accomplished, so that was nice.  Tomorrow I have to go to the post office again, but I also have to finish up the cards and get them ready to go.   I hope I get everything done. Night!