February 29, 2016

Monday - Cold and rainy

A good day.

I got up this morning around 9 am.  F already was up and had taken out some garbage and taken the bread out of the bread maker.  I hope he washed his hands at some point in between those! I made some tea and got my breakfast sorted out while I watched the Pre-Oscar show.  As usual I winced a lot when the Japanese reporters made dumb mistakes or asked inappropriate questions.  

The whole show got underway around 10:30 am our time and was okay.  Chris Rock was a good host, but the awards themselves were sort of blah.  There wasn’t a lot of controversy, everyone seemed on their best behaviour and almost everyone looked fairly good!  Ironically, the woman who won for Costume Design was the worst dressed person there…and only because she dressed very casually.  Even Jared Leto looked clean and tidy this year.  

Best points of the Academy Awards this year for me?  Hmm.  Lady Gaga singing “Til It Happens to You”…I got goosebumps, really. The opening monologue with Chris Rock was very funny.  The Memorial section was quite badly done…too fast and the song was by Dave Groh.  Last year wasn’t it P!nk?  She was amazing.  Oh, and Sam Smith winning for the Bond Theme.  Not a great song at all.

I did get to riff with my friends in Canada that watch the Academy Awards but there really wasn’t anything to complain about this year, which made the whole thing a bit boring!

When the thing was over, F and I had some of his bread toasted and then went out.  We went out first to a coffee shop I’d read about.  When we got there we discovered that they didn’t have tea.  Yikes.  I had a mango smoothie and F had a bowl of Hawaiian ramen.  I told him to remember before he ate it that it wasn’t RAMEN…it was noodles from somewhere else.  He actually said it was okay.  I nearly fainted from disbelief.  Yes, did I mention, this little place is a Hawaiian cafe.  They have things like SPAM sushi and loco-moco.  

We didn’t want to go and have a meal yet, plus it was too early, so we went to Yamaya and the second hand shop next to it.  I got a plastic pasta cooker, so I can cook pasta in the microwave.  I might not use it all the time, but it’ll be nice to have.  

We tried to go to a restaurant that F read about, but they only had noodles at that time.  They do a lot of deliveries and didn’t have time to cook other things.  No thanks.  We left and ended up at Futaba.

Ironically, I ended up having noodles…pasta…with bacon and mushrooms, while F had fish.  Futaba doesn’t have “meals” at night, they are more like an izakaya, so I just had pasta.  F had fish and rice and soup so his was more like a meal.  

F asked if after our dinner we could go to the Internet Cafe and I said it was okay.  I didn’t have to be home.

We tried out the Internet Cafe and were able to get a massaging chair each.  For a change, I didn’t try and do craftwork because I didn’t have any with me.  I did a little reading on my book on my phone, and also watched some TV.  I even dozed off at one point.  

At 10:40 we left and came home.  We’ve had a quiet night in ever since.  F is once again snoozing on the couch. He snoozed there all through the Oscars this morning so has slept a lot today.  Tomorrow he is off as well, so we have a couple of things planned, if the weather co-operates.  It isn’t supposed to be nice at all tomorrow.

Well, that’s it.  My day.  It wasn’t bad.  Even the Fire Alarm Inspection went off okay today.  I let F handle it, and they even brought a woman with them this time.  I told F that I dislike having two strange men in my apartment when I’m alone.  I know they are working, but I don’t know them.  

Tune in a bit later and check out my Tuesday.  Until tomorrow….

February 28, 2016

Sunday - Clear and sunny, cool

A goodish day.

I woke up quite late this morning, but before my Sunday alarms.  I got up, got dressed, had a cup of tea and made the bed.  F was quite a while before he came home.  It was after 1 pm.  He’d been out with his mother and they’d gone to a hot spring and also had some lunch.  

We went for our lunch but had a few problems finding a place to go.  Our first choice was closed, our second choice too, our third choice didn’t open today, so we ended up at The Grand El Sun.  The parking lot there was very busy, but we were able to get into the restaurant.  We had a nice meal, but as usual, it was a tiny meal!  I had chicken and it was two small pieces of chicken breast with a tuna sauce.  I wasn’t sure about the success of the tuna sauce, but I did like my meal overall.

F said he was very tired after lunch, iso we came home and he went straight to bed.  I had a feeling he’d pull something like that because tomorrow is the fire alarm inspection day.  I had to clear a path through the junk in the tatami room to the closet.  I moved a few things, sorted out some others and grumped about my husband.  

I didn’t work overly hard on it, just wanted to get it done.  F slept all afternoon and didn’t get up until well after 7:30.  He got up and to his credit did a lot of tidying up and clearing up of his stuff, but I wish that he hadn’t waited until the very last minute.  I’ve told him this was coming for the whole month.  

We did go out for dinner too.  I suggested Coco’s, so that is where we went.  We had a nice meal.  F had a doria with bacon and an egg, I had chicken with steak fries and we split a beef quesadilla.  It was a new dish for Coco’s and it was quite good.

We picked up a few groceries for F afterwards and then came home. F did a few more bits of cleaning up and put on American Sniper.  Since I didn’t like it when I saw it in the theatre, I didn’t like it even more on my TV screen.  I knew he was watching it, so I went into the bedroom with my computer and did a little blogging until it finished.  

I came out of the room and now I’m writing this.  It was a very quiet afternoon and evening really.

Oh! I nearly forgot to show you my new glasses!  Sorry 'bout that.

F says they look like Clark Kent glasses!

Tomorrow I’ll be Facebooking the Academy Awards with some friends.  It’s become our annual tradition and it is a lot of fun.  It will be a little strange because F will be around, but I’ve told him several times that he doesn’t get to interrupt me during the show!

Come back in a bit and see how my day goes. How were the Oscars this year?  You’ll have to wait to find out, until tomorrow….

February 27, 2016

Saturday - Snowy

A good day. I got up later than I planned this morning, but before F came back from the doctor’s office.  I got dressed, had some tea, made the bed.  No big deal.

When F came home I suggested going to his favourite farmer’s restaurant for lunch.  We did, and had a nice lunch.  I had pork and fish and enjoyed them both.  

After lunch, we came home for a few minutes and then went out to my dentist.  She fixed a couple of my front teeth that have become chipped. It didn’t hurt at all, which was nice.  I have to go back in a few weeks.  

When F and I came out into the lobby to pay, we saw one of my ex-students.  One of my ex-students that I didn’t like and have been avoiding for the last 10 years!  Argh.  I couldn’t pretend that I hadn’t seen him, and I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t know who he was.  Gah.  We chatted a bit and it was okay, but I really, really didn’t want to run into him.  He was trying to get me to teach his daughter, but I have no interest in doing that.

After we left and got in the car I let out a few choice words and then we went off to get my new glasses.  We spent a bit of time at the glasses shop and the clerk helped me choose a glasses case and also fitted my glasses for me. Yay.

On the way home, we stopped at the craft shop.  I drooled over wool, but didn’t buy any.  We bought a few things that were on sale, but after that just came home for a bit.

We left the apartment around 6 and went to the tonkatsu restaurant.  We had to wait a while, but got in earlier than some people because we would sit at the counter and they wouldn’t. We had quite a yummy meal.

We went off to the movie theatre after dinner.  F wanted to see He Called Me Malala and I didn’t mind.  We went, bought our tickets and F got our popcorn and drinks.  I warned him to be careful of walking to the theatre with them because he does trip from time to time.  He made it to our seats with no problem.  However, five minutes into the movie, he promptly dropped his popcorn on the floor! I did offer to share mine, but he didn’t take very much. 

The movie was okay by the way.  I think everyone says it is good because if you don’t, you are “against” Malala.  I’m not, I think she’s cool, but the documentary wasn’t brilliant or anything.  

We picked up some kerosene after the movie and then a few groceries at the store.  We came home and had quiet time until F turned on the TV.  I watched Project Runway, which was on very, very late this time.  We’re now watching a show on Hollywood but will be going to bed soon.  It’s terribly late now.

That’s it for me for tonight.  Not sure what I’ll get up to on Sunday, be sure to come back later and find out.  Oh, and do you want to see my new glasses?  I’ll try and get a good picture of them soon.  Talk to you in a bit.  Until tomorrow….

February 26, 2016

Friday - Snowy

A good day.

I got up this morning just in time for my X-Files.  I had breakfast and tea during it too.  That was nice.

I got dressed in my workout gear a bit early and then was able to start my workout before noon.  Unfortunately, F FaceTimed me during my workout.  It wouldn’t have been so bad if he’d called me, but FaceTime takes over my computer screen and I can’t see my workout video anymore.  I rang off rather quickly. 

I finished my workout just as he came home.  Whew.  I had heated up the kettle for him so I wasn’t completely mean.  He was a bit grumpy to me. I think he was annoyed about the call, but eating his meal seemed to help.  He left for work again.

I had a good afternoon.  I did some computer stuff, finished watching a movie I was watching yesterday and had lunch.  I had some of the salmon.  It was very good.  I even took a shower.  A little before 5, F called me and told me that he thought he made a mistake about the hospital tests.  He’d found a note that said I should go on March 29, not February 29 as he told me this week.  He said he’d check.  He phoned back a bit later to say that it was March 29.  Whew!  I won’t miss the Academy Awards after all! They are the TV event I look forward to all year.

F called again later to say that he had left work and was going to his house, so I got to work on dinner.  I washed the day’s dishes and then coated the chicken, found a recipe for the shimeji mushrooms and set the table.  Just a bit before he came home I preheated the oven and started up the kettle.  Tonight we had herb chicken, chawanmushi from a mix, salad and the shimeji in a butter soy sauce.  It was all quite nice and got good reviews.  Yay me.  I’ve decided to just simplify my meals as much as possible.  It doesn’t nourish my soul cooking easy food, but to not get exasperated when my husband won’t come to the table this minute is so much better.  We’re getting on better too.  At least for now!

In the evening, after dinner, I finished writing my column for the AFWJ Journal.  Safe!  Done! At 9:00 I went to the couch and did a bit of knitting during Castle, then went back to my computer afterwards.  I listened to my column and made a few last, last minute tweaks and then sent it to the Editor.  Done, done, done.

It’s been a quiet night. I’m up far too late but will go to bed soon.  F went a couple of hours ago.  

Saturday afternoon I will be a bit busy as I have a dental appointment and also need to pick up my new glasses.  I’m a bit worried about how they’ll look.  I hope I like them! Come back later and find out about my day.  Until tomorrow….

Oh…I promised you pictures of my little hat….

It's quite big on me, so I can wear it a bit slouchy if I want!

February 25, 2016

Thursday - Snowy I think

An okay day.

I got up early this morning, turned on the heater and then went back to bed for a while!  I did get up a bit later but it was cold in the living room.  I was a couple of minutes late for The X-Files, but enjoyed them.  I had breakfast and tea, then did some internet viewing and blog reading.  

I got changed to do my workout, but thought that F might show up for lunch, so held off.  Of course, he didn’t come, so I ended up doing a late workout.  I only did a short one today. I was barely into it when I did it.  

F called in the afternoon with word from the doctor.  He wanted me to go for testing on Monday.  I tried to get the day changed because…Holiest day of Helen, remember…but he couldn’t.  Sigh.  That means that I’ll have to miss most of the Academy Awards and won’t be able to Facebook them like I planned.  Sigh.  I might do a few minutes, but not the in depth coverage I was hoping to do.  

During the day, I prepared for dinner.  I strained some yogurt overnight, and put another batch in this morning.  When I had my lunch, I mixed the strained yogurt with some of the smoked salmon, dill and a bit of black pepper.  I put it back in the fridge to meld flavours until dinner time.  I also cut up part of a red onion.  I soaked it and also put some of it in a vinegar bath to lightly pickle it.  

I worked on my column a bit.  I didn’t have a lot of time, so I haven’t finished it yet.  I must do it tomorrow.  

Lunch was a couple of chicken weiners on F’s nice bread with a touch of cheese and mustard.  Quite nice really.

When F came home we were able to eat dinner quickly. I didn’t really cook today, I just put things together.  We had cheese bagels with smoked salmon salad and red onion and that was so nice!  The strained yogurt worked quite well as a mayonnaise substitute and it was much lower in calories.  We had a salad on the side. I put out the cheese so F could have some if he wanted, but I didn’t.  

In the evening F snoozed on the couch until I made him move so I could watch Bones.  I did that and worked on my knitting AND FINISHED IT.  It is done. Finito-benito.  I’ll try and get a picture of it tomorrow.  It’s a tad too big…okay a lot too big, but since my head keeps getting bigger it might not be a bad thing! It is cute, but I never, ever want to work with this stuff again where counting stitches is important!  I’m also making a cowl out of it and that is fine, but I am basically just winging that.  This hat/toque whatever was hard and I finally finished on my third try.  

And that’s about it for today.  On Friday you can come back if you want to see my lovely hat and hear all about my day.  Until tomorrow….

February 24, 2016

Wednesday - Snowy

A good day.

I got up this morning a bit early and didn’t go back to bed.  I stayed on the couch instead and stayed awake.  I watched The X-Files bien sûr and had my usual breakfast and tea.  Unfortunately, I didn’t quite make it through the infomercial that follows X-Files and decided to take a nap.  I woke up about 30 minutes later and then got ready to do my workout.

I did 30 minutes of walking, including some intervals this morning and enjoyed myself for the most part.  I was sweating quite a bit.  F phoned during an interval and I could barely talk to him as I was quite out of breath!

F came home for lunch, but I was already done, so it didn’t matter.  He had a bento and then left a bit later. 

I did some of my computer things that I do and then had lunch.  I had quite a nice lunch with cup soup and some salmon mixed into some strained yogurt.  It had the consistency of a salmon salad, but was a little more tart than that.  It was good.  I had some of F’s lovely fresh bread too.  

I took a shower and then came back to the living room and worked a bit on my column.  I wrote up a couple more movies.  It’s going quite well, this one is! 

I did the dishes from today, and the few that F didn’t do last night and later F came home.  I suggested going to Fireball tonight and that’s what we did.  We had a yummy meal.  F had some sautéed motsu and we had our usual set meal too.  I went to the permanent pasta menu for my meal tonight and had chicken and vegetables in a garlic cream sauce with penne.  It was great.  F had pork cheek with spaghetti in a tomato cream sauce and his was great too.  For a change I didn’t really have a favourite.

After we finished, we got a few groceries and then came home.  At 11:00pm I did a bit of knitting in front of Scandal.  I’m finally on the double-pointed needles now.  I managed to find my rubber stoppers for the end of the needles, so hopefully I won’t drop any stitches this time.  Fingers are very tightly crossed at that.

And that’s about it for my day.  Tomorrow we’ll have dinner at home, I’m trying to make it low key, since I’m still in column mode.  Come back in a while and find out what interesting stuff I get up to!  Until tomorrow…!

February 23, 2016

Tuesday - Rainy

A good day.

I got up this morning briefly.  F was here, but said he’d go over to his mother’s.  He wasn’t feeling great however.  He told me that he might go in to work anyway.

I got up again around 9 and put on the kettle.  I had some breakfast and tea and X-Files.  Today was the one with Jodie Foster as the voice of a tattoo.  It was a bit freaky really…well, aren’t they all?

I spent time on the couch, reading and catching up and wondering when I’d see my husband.  I didn’t work out and started to think that he must have gone into work, when he came home.  He had taken his mother out to an onsen and they’d had a bit of lunch.  That’s all very commendable, but why couldn’t he have called and told me? 

He came home and basically relaxed on the couch, snoozed away and took up space.  I really didn’t mind as he was on a sick day and I knew that he wasn’t feeling so great.  I had things to do myself, I got about half of my column written.  Yay me!

I finished up my yummy curry stew for lunch and went back to work.  Around 6 or so I started to get dinner ready.  I didn’t have too much to do today.  I reheated the leftover Hasselback potatoes in the toaster oven and made some chawanmushi from a Costco mix.  I set the table and prepared for our dinner.  We had more of the salmon, potatoes, cabbage salad, plus whole wheat toast to put the salmon on.  It was nice.  Simple and nice.  I fancied up the potato for F by putting a bit of cheese in the cuts. 

During dinner I came up with the crazy idea of going to karaoke if F was up for it.  He said he was, so after he did the dishes, we drove off to the Internet Cafe.  We got their last room, a very small one and for the next two hours sang a bunch of cool songs.  Sadly, there was no Elle King, but I managed to murder Adele’s Hello.  I did a couple of David Bowie songs as a tribute, I enjoyed them too.  We stopped just shy of the two hour mark and came home.  F does have to go to work tomorrow after all. 

We came home and had a bit of a relaxing evening.  I did a bit more knitting and even tried the hat on tonight.  I think it might even fit!  Fingers crossed.  I also put a lifeline in again so that I have a place to go if I drop a stitch or something.  

F set up the bread maker for the morning.  I’m so glad.  I asked him to, but thought he had forgotten.  

Tomorrow I have to work on my column again and hopefully finish it.  I’d love to get it in early for a change, since Monday is Academy Award Day, also known as the Holiest Day in the Calendar of Helen. 

That is it for me.  Come back later and find out what I get up to on Wednesday.  Until tomorrow…. 

February 22, 2016

Monday - Clear

A good day.

I got up a couple of minutes late this morning because I heard someone in the kitchen.  My alarms were blaring too, that might have had something to do with it!  F had come home especially to take the bread out of the bread maker….I do not know why! He’d also filled up the kerosene tank in the heater which was very sweet of him.  I was a tad grumpy however!  I wasn’t ready to see him yet.

He went back to work and I stayed up.  I made some oatmeal this morning and put some of the leftover coconut milk in it.  It was good!  I didn’t realize how high calorie that stuff is until I logged it though.  Yikes.  I had tea as well and watched a very creepy X-Files with ex Dr. Romano from ER.  

I was late getting myself motivated this morning and so I had just psyched myself into my workout when F called to say he was coming home.  I put off my workout.  I put on the kettle for him though.  He came home and had lunch.  He’d brought himself a bento, and was back off to work fairly soon after.

I did a two mile workout today and it felt good to be moving again.  I enjoyed it. 

I had a shower and did some computer stuff before 5 pm.  F phoned a bit after and said he was on his way to his mother’s and would be home soon.  I sprang into action.  I got the kitchen ready for dinner, did some dishes and started on dinner.  

I decided to make Hasselback potatoes tonight, since I wasn’t cooking the entree.  They weren’t very difficult, but did look very nice when done.  F was late, so they were in the oven a little longer than they should have been so lost the crispness that I heard they should have.  Sigh.  F said he’d be home soon and he wasn’t.  

We had a pretty good dinner tonight.  Smoked salmon (from Costco), broccoli (from Costco) stir-fried with a bit of garlic, a little leftover spinach stir-fried and a baby leaf salad.  It was all quite yummy.  We’re going to have more salmon tomorrow night too as we haven’t finished the fish yet.  It is so good!

F did the dishes and then vegged out for the night.  I worked on research for my column and think I have finally landed on a topic.  F started telling me that he didn’t feel well and told me he’d take tomorrow off work three times.  I hope he’s okay, but he said he was dizzy.  He’s off to bed now.

So, I have no idea what tomorrow will be like.  If F does take tomorrow off work, I’ll likely have him underfoot for most of the day.  If he doesn’t, then I might be able to get a little work done.  

Come back later on and see what happens.  Until tomorrow….

February 21, 2016

Sunday - Cold with a skiff of snow

A good day.

I slept in today because it is Sunday and I needed to!  No problem though. I got up around 11 and we decided to go to Shonai-Machi to the restaurant near Amarume station. First though, we had to go to the post office to pick up my parcel.  I went in and had to wait a few minutes, but it was mine, all mine soon enough! After that, we drove out of town to the restaurant.

We went to Meet-You(or it could be Meat-You and would be much cleverer!), and had to wait for 15 minutes or so, but got in.  We had a lovely lunch of pork steak.  It was yakiniku style, so we cooked it ourselves, plus had a lovely salad, miso soup, rice and pickles.  We added on a drink and dessert too and were quite happy with everything.  

After lunch we just came home.  F had forgotten his medicine, so we came home to get it and never left.  Grump. I did open my box of presents and got a couple of shirts and a pair of yoga pants from my sister.  Perfect! F ended up falling asleep on the couch and didn’t wake up until 6:00pm when he started talking about dinner.  I suggested going to S-Mall for a tea and a little shopping before dinner because I wasn’t very hungry yet.

We did that, and it was nice.  We had a Royal Soy Milk Tea or a coffee in Doutors and then walked around the shops a bit.  We didn’t buy anything at the grocery store, but got a couple of things at the hundred yen shop.  After that, we left the mall as it was closing soon! I reeled off a few restaurant suggestions for F and he picked one, then changed his mind. 

We ended up going to Nagomi, the little Japanese soba/udon restaurant that we often go to.  It wasn’t busy tonight and when we went they told us they were out of soba.  F had a kaisen-don, assorted raw fish on rice and I had a yaki udon nabe.  We were both really pleased with our meals.  F actually liked the fish in his and I loved my nabe.  It was fun having my own clay pot to eat out of as well.

After dinner, we did some grocery shopping and then came home.  We had a fairly quiet evening.  I tried to watch Downton Abbey, but it wasn’t on for some reason.  Ack!  It was a show about Downton Abbey, but it was dubbed into Japanese. I left it on and worked on my knitting.  I’m trying to get my hat finished before winter is over! I’ve finally started to decrease, but I think my poor hat isn’t going to be very good at all!

And that was about it for my day.  I had hoped to do a few other things today, but it wasn’t to be.  Tomorrow I need to get a start on my column, and figure out what the focus of my column will be.  Come back next time and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

February 19, 2016

Friday - Thundery, but clear in the evening.

A good day.

Today I overslept just a tad.  I was up before I missed very much of The X-Files though.  Yay.  I had some tea and today I made myself some oatmeal, so had that with my tea.

I didn’t fall asleep on the couch today, so watched the shows and then just before 1 I did a two-mile walk/workout.  It felt quite good.  I did it with shoes on and used the band again.  

After I worked out, I went into the kitchen and started preparing my slow cooker for dinner.  I wanted to make a vegetarian stew that I’d seen on Facebook.  I got it started and then put everything in the slow cooker and left it.  It was later than I had hoped by then, but dinner wouldn’t be at an unreasonable time.  

I had a quick lunch of half an avocado and some bacon on toast and read a bit of my book too.  I’m in the midst of The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes.  I’m enjoying it as much as I usually enjoy her stuff. 

I quickly scanned my cards and then walked them off to the mailbox.  On the way back, I popped into the little vegetable shop near the post office and bought some spinach to go in the stew.  

When I got home, F called to say he was on his way home, and I washed the spinach and got it ready to go in the stew.  

F came home around 6 and I told him that dinner wouldn’t be ready until 7 ish.  That’s when we’ve been eating lately anyway.  I looked for our can opener and had a really hard time finding it…it had fallen over the back of the drawer and I had to pull out the drawer and fish around with my arm.  I wasn’t best pleased as I was trying to get things done quickly.  F got a case of the vapors and went to lie down in the bedroom.  

I took some of the towels that had fallen out of the drawer to put in my laundry basket and asked him how he was.  I checked that he would still eat with me and he said he would.  

I opened the coconut milk and added it and the spinach to the stew and then it was just a few minutes until dinnertime.  

We had lemon pepper chicken, curried vegetable and chickpea stew, plus salad and it was very nice.  I really enjoyed it and would like to make the recipe again.  I had to substitute a few things, but overall I think the recipe worked really well.  

F did the dishes and then during Castle I went and sat on the couch and did some knitting.  My hat is going a bit better this time.  F snoozed on the couch after I went back to my computer, and in fact is still there.  He’s tired and achy, poor thing.

Tomorrow I hope we’ll see a movie and we have to go to the glasses shop to see about getting me a new pair of glasses.  I’m wondering about getting a pair of glasses for all times rather than just when I need to read.  I tend to wear my specs all the time at home anyway.  

Come back later and find out what my Saturday was like.  Until tomorrow….

February 18, 2016

Thursday - Clear and sunny

A pretty good day.

I got up this morning just before 9 am.  I came through to the couch and watched The X-Files and made breakfast and tea for myself.  After that, I kind of fell asleep. I didn’t really wake up until quite late.  When I did rouse myself I got up and got dressed.  I did a short workout too.  Today I actually wore shoes while I did it.  It meant I wasn’t slipping around on my sidesteps, but I did make quite a bit more noise.  

I did some computer stuff and watched some old stuff off the DVR, then had a lovely lunch.  I made myself a bacon and guacamole sandwich, with a touch of salsa.  It was good!

I scanned my cards after that, and after 5 pm again, ran them off to the post office.  The weird thing is that I almost did literally run them to the post office.  Since my walk was so fast I thought I might as well try to jog a little.  I didn’t do very much, but I can’t really say I have intentionally tried to run in years!  I also wore an old pair of jeans on the walk. They looked okay and felt good, as long as I was vertical.  When I sat down, the tummy on them was a bit uncomfortable! They are the old kind of jeans, ones without any stretch in them.  

When I came home, I got the kitchen ready for F to make the nabe.  I did the dishes, and even set the table a bit for him.  He was home a bit later and changed and then put dinner together.  He made a nabe and it was good.  We bought the soup tonight. In all honesty, the nabe smelled quite bad when it was cooking, but it tasted good.  We had a couple of bowls of nabe and then I got out dessert.  We each had a container of peach yogurt with a slice of fruit cake shared between us.  It was good.

I did the dishes, which didn’t take long and then settled in at my computer for a bit.  I wrote a couple of postcard blog entries and then asked for a postcrossing card. I went over to the couch for Bones and knitted a bit of my hat.  

In the rest of the evening, I wrote my cards and got them ready to send out.  After that I blogged, watched a bit more TV and ate a piece of Valentine’s Day chocolate from my husband.  Yum!

Tomorrow, I’m not sure what I’ll get up to. Come back a bit later and find out.  Until tomorrow!

February 17, 2016

Wednesday - Snowy but clear

A good day.

I got up at a goodly time this morning and filled up the kerosene tank right off the bat.  I watched The X-Files, had breakfast and tea and read up on my favourite blogs, etc.  Then, I headed off to take a shower.

I got a message from my friend that she was on her way, so I hurried to get ready.  F came home around noon, and looked very nice in his suit.  He came bearing a certificate.  He was at a ceremony commemorating the length of time that he has worked for his employers.  I’ve never had a job that long!  

I went out when my friend arrived and we spent the next few hours together.  We had a lovely lunch at Cafe Ridea.  She had a basil doria and I had spicy chicken coconut curry.  It was good, but was spicy.  The only think that didn’t work for me in the meal was the tomato soup.  I ate about half of it.  It tasted good, but I have the dreaded tongue biting going on, and a little itchy skin.  Sigh.  

We talked about going somewhere to have a walk, but there was quite a bit of snow everywhere.  I suggested going to Komagihara Park, but then I suggested going somewhere for tea or coffee and cake!  I’ve been reading about a cafe that serves gorgeous fruit cakes, so wanted to try it.  We decided to go there!  We were able to grab a table and had a lovely time there.  I had some Darjeeling tea.  We did more chatting and lots of laughing too.  Finally we had to break up the party.  I was putting my glasses away when one of the arms came off them.  Oh no!  Luckily I have a spare pair at home.

She dropped me off and I had a lovely, quiet time at home catching up on things.  

When F came home, I asked if we could take my glasses to the glasses shop to see if they could be fixed.  I really like the frames and use the glasses a lot.  Apparently, they can’t be fixed. Sigh.  The woman did give me some advice.  She suggested that if I am going to use a neck string for my glasses, I should get ones with a stronger frame.  She pushed the store’s own brand with plastic frames, but I’m not convinced honestly.  I want light ones.  

We had dinner in Gusto and it was okay.  I was hoping for something a little nicer, but really I didn’t care all that much.  

We bought some groceries and then came home.  We had a quiet night in.  I did some more knitting and it went quite well.  I also did a couple of postcards tonight. I wanted to do more, but sometimes they take a long time! 

And that is about it for my day.  It was lovely to see my friend again, and also lovely that F is willing to help me get another pair of glasses.  

I’m not really sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow.  Come back a bit later and find out!  Until tomorrow….

February 16, 2016

Tuesday - Snowy, cold, clearing

A good day.

I got up quite early this morning and had some quality couch time.  I had my usual breakfast and tea but I did my workout early for a change.  I decided not to watch the 10:30 drama and did my walking then.  It was a good move and it was nice to have it done early too.

F came home for lunch today. I’m not sure why he does.  He makes himself cup noodles and other not very healthy things and then has to hurry back to work.  Still, it was nice to see him for a bit.  I watched a bit of The Grammys too.  I was sad that Elle King didn’t win as I like her music.  

In the afternoon I had an earlyish lunch (for me) and then did some computer stuff.  I watched some DVR’d tv to clear it off the machine and then scanned my cards.  I was a little late doing them, and didn’t finish until after 5 pm, but I took them off to the post office anyway.  F called me when I was on the way back and had to go to his house and run some errands for his mother first.

When I got home I did the day’s dishes up and then got a head start on dinner.  I made guacamole and then grated some cheese for the nachos.  I got the nachos ready to go in the toaster oven and had just sat down to rest when F came home.  I was able to get things on the coffee table fairly quickly.

Tonight we watched The King and I which was kind of cool.  I had seen it before of course, but it was interesting seeing how much movies have changed since it was made.  

We enjoyed our nachos and I even made a smaller second batch.  Most of the guacamole and the salsa I put out disappeared. 

At 10 I went over to the couch and did a bit of knitting.  I just put in my second lifeline, I really hope this thing works!  If I have to frog this again I’ll probably just toss the yarn.  Or something.

And that was my day more or less.  I’m up too late as usual, but will try and get to bed soon.  Come back later and find out what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

February 15, 2016

Monday - Rainy with a bit of snow

A good day.

I got up a little late this morning, just as F decided to come home for a minute.  Grr.  I really dislike it when he just shows up like that.  Go to work and stay there darn it.  I had to fill up the kerosene tank in the heater too, so I reminded him to buy kerosene tonight. 

He left and I settled in with breakfast and tea to watch The X-Files.  Good stuff.  I snoozed a bit and read blogs and such over the next couple of hours.  If I had known that F was not going to come home, I would have done my workout, but I didn’t.  I waited until after 1 and then did a couple of one mile walks.  Yay me.  

In the afternoon I did a few loads of laundry and took care of my computer stuff.  I also watched the movie I’d DVR’d, 10 Things I Hate About You.  I really enjoyed it.  For some reason, I had totally managed to miss it for all this time.  I was here in Japan, so maybe it didn’t come to Tsuruoka, or I was busy working, or whatever.  Anyway, I liked it.

Just before 5, I decided to walk to the post office.  I did quite quickly and bought a few stamps.  Today I picked up some Miffy-chan stamps, more of the Winnie the Pooh ones, and some 20 yen stamps.  

I came home and took a quick shower and then got started on dinner prep.  I looked up some recipes and then started working on getting them ready.  I didn’t know when F would be home, so it made prepping dinner a bit tough.  I finally decided to cook the fish in foil on the fish grill.  F came home a bit after 7 tonight and then went out for kerosene.  I sprang into action, I heated up the oven to roast some broccoli, I boiled water for pasta and to heat up the sauce, and I put the fish on when he returned.  I thought I had the timing down, but the fish didn’t cook quite on schedule.  We had our pasta and sauce, the salad and the broccoli, but F wanted to cook the cod a little more.  He put mine in the microwave and set the timer for 2 minutes.  I objected since it was nearly ready.  I made him take mine out at 20 seconds.  It was fine.  He did his for 2 minutes and I was quite upset.  I think his must have been like rubber.  He doesn’t like cod anyway, so I think he was being a jerk.  Dinner was good, but I wanted to cry.  

After dinner, I didn’t even offer to do the dishes, just got a verbal response from F that he was going to do them.  I spent time on my computer until a little after 9 pm when I took over the TV for my show and a little knitting.  I did a few rows and also put in a lifeline which I hope I won’t need. When my show finished I wrote up 4 postcards for Postcrossing, as I’ll probably have to skip next week.  

F ate a lot of junk food tonight.  He said his stomach was upset….but he had tortilla chips, ramen and a few other snacks.  I did not.  

Things are fine now and I don’t really care.  I’m trying to get over the fish thing, but I hate cooking fish because I just don’t have the experience with it.  Knowing that F doesn’t even like cod just made it worse.  Last night when we bought it, I was so hoping he’d let me buy chicken, but of course he wouldn’t do that.  Sigh.  

Tomorrow we are going to have a more junky dinner.  I’m making guacamole again, and we’ll have that with tortilla chips.  I’m thinking I’ll make them as nachos, at least that’s my idea now.  Come back a bit later and find out just what I end up doing.  Until tomorrow….

February 14, 2016

Sunday - Rainy but warm

A good day.

I got up this morning a bit before 11. I haven’t slept in this late in days and it felt wonderful! Surprisingly for me, F gave me chocolates as soon as I got up, so I gave him the ones I bought for him! I gave him two small boxes, he gave me one medium sized one.  Yay!  Then, he left for his house.  

I was up and stayed up. I got dressed and then around 1 pm F came back.  We talked about lunch and where to go.  F suggested Kintaro sushi and it was fine with me.  We were able to get in immediately and had a few nice plates of sushi.  

After lunch, we visited the Chido Museum.  One of the halls was off limits today, but we weren’t planning to go there anyway.  Instead we went to the gallery section.  The display was artifacts from the snow country, or from around here.  There were quite a few cool things.  I like items that people have actually used and it made me think of Isabella L. Bird and her crazy trip through Japan.  They had some of the woven horse shoes that she kept complaining about, and also some of the clothing that people wore.  It was interesting anyway.  We looked for upcoming interesting art exhibits in the flyers, but didn’t see any we could get to easily.  We went and had out gander at the garden, but discovered we weren’t alone!  There was a lovely heron taking shelter from the wind.  We both got a couple of pictures of it.  

I rather like this one of F taking a picture of the heron.
It flew up in to a tree just after this.

When we finished at the museum I asked that we get a drink, so F took us over to the McDonalds on the other side of town.  Since we were there, I asked that we go to Yamaya afterwards.  We had a drink at McD’s and then made a Yamaya run.  I picked up my tortillas there, and also some vinegar for my cool cooking experiments! 

We came home for a bit when we finished in the shop. 

F was really tired and went to bed almost immediately.  He had gotten up very early last night and hadn’t gone back to bed.  I’m not sure why.  

He slept until 7:30, when I woke him up and asked if we could go for dinner.  I was getting a bit hungry. I gave him a few choices and he picked Krippa, the Nepali/Indian Restaurant nearish his doctor’s office.  We drove there, were the only customers, but had a pretty decent meal.  We had a set menu, one with Tandori chicken and curry and naan.  As usual, I cancelled my rice because I just didn’t need it.  

We went to Mina, the spiffy new grocery store in our local’s chain on the way back for a few things for tomorrow’s dinner.  I’m going to attempt to cook cod to put in with the pasta and sauces.  And some broccoli.  I’m not sure where I’m going to cook all of these, but I’ll work it out.  

We came home and I watched Downton Abbey and did a little knitting.  I’m very nearly finished the ribbing again.  Hurray for me.  

F went to bed around midnight and I’m a bit tired now.  I think I’ll be off myself too.  Good night internet peeps, good night!  Until tomorrow….

February 13, 2016

Saturday - Clear and then rainy

A good day.

I got up this morning before 9 am which for a Saturday was amazing!  I don’t usually do that at all.  I showered and then had some breakfast and tea.  F was still out either at his mother’s or his doctors.  I knew he’d be home by 10:30.  10:30 came and went.  10:45 came and went.  I finally texted him.  He was on his way home, but there was a bit of a traffic jam since there was an accident somewhere.  He arrived home at 10:50, I was outside waiting for him and we went off to the doctor’s office.  We were a tad late, but were made to wait more than an hour to get my results.  I won’t go into it, but basically the results were about what I thought.  I’ll be going back for more information.  (Please don’t worry about me.  I’m not dying, I haven’t got anything immediately life-threatening and that’s all I’m going to say about it for now.)

We went for lunch.  We first wanted to go to the Komagihara buffet, but got there and discovered that it has closed.  I’m not sure if they’ll ever bring it back or not.  I got the feeling that the vegetable area was closed too, although I can’t swear to it.  Maybe a temporary thing since they were doing some renovations inside? We ended up at a Chinese Restaurant that we’ve gone to a couple of times.  They have ramen and other food too, so I had a vegetable stir-fry set, and F had ramen.  I gave him half of my rice and he ate all my green pepper!

We didn’t have time to go back home for me to brush my teeth so we went straight to the dentist’s office.  I got there and brushed my teeth, since I had brought my toothbrush along.  I had a cleaning done, but the dentist wants to do some other work on me, so that’s going to happen in a couple of weeks.  

We went for tea to Doutors after the dentist’s office.  We also did a little hack around the mall.  I bought some white wine for cooking, and got some coconut stuff at the hundred yen shop.  I need to make something with it! After a few minutes of shopping we drove to the drugstore and picked up some cleaning supplies.  From there we went home.

We spent a bit of time at home before going out again for dinner.  Tonight we had okonomiyaki at Aki and it was good!  F’s was really good, he had cheese and kimchi, I had shrimp.  We both enjoyed them and shared with each other. We had some gyoza too.  They have good gyoza there.  

Next up was the theatre.  We went to see The Martian and both really enjoyed it.  I loved all the disco music but mostly was happy that all the people in the movie were intelligent!  There were no stupid people in the film.  Also, no car chases or guns!  How often does that happen? I like Matt Damon a lot as an actor.  

We came home after the movie and vegged a bit.  F went to bed a while ago and I am starting to feel a bit tired again, so should be off too. I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow, I think it depends how F and I feel or the weather.  Come back later and find out.  Until tomorrow….

February 12, 2016

Friday - Clear and sunny, cold

A good day.

I got up a little early this morning and filled up the kerosene tanks.  I also stayed up and watched The X-Files while I had breakfast.  It was one of the odd ones about the family that couldn’t feel pain.  Unfortunately, I snoozed during Castle.  When I woke up, I realized I had it on the DVR so watched it there.  Yay me.  

I did a two mile walking workout today. It was the first time I’ve done this video and it was quite good.  Some parts were hard, but other parts were fine.  It also used bands so that was good for my arms.  

I was trying to watch something that I had DVR’d when the machine went all screwy again.  It has sound, but the picture doesn’t show.  I’ve tried to turn it off and turn it back on, but it doesn’t help.  It usually comes back overnight, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.

I had a yummy lunch of leftovers and then I scanned my outgoing postcards and walked them off to the post office.  I was glad to be able to get out of the apartment and even more glad because it wasn’t getting dark quite then.  

When I came home, I started working on the guacamole.  Yes, we were having guacamole and tortilla chips for dinner. I made up the avocados and added a little bit of this and that.  I let it sit for a while for the flavours to meld.  I washed the days dishes and left them to dry.  

F was quite late today.  He had to drive to Yamagata, so wasn’t back on time.  When he came home he was tired but he changed his clothes and we sat on the couch for dinner.  We’d bought some vegetable sticks last night to have with the guacamole, however, I unfortunately ended up dropping them on the floor.  I have no idea how I did that.  Sigh.  We ate all of the guacamole and a good deal of the bought salsa.  It was a good dinner and I tried not to have too many chips!

We had a quiet evening together.  During tonight’s Castle I did both crochet and knitting and they both went well.  Hurray for that.  

I am going to try and get to sleep soon as tomorrow might be a bit of a stressful day.  I have a doctor’s appointment and a dentist’s appointment so I don’t think I’ll have fun until they are over. 

Come back later and find out about my day.  Will we go and see a movie?  Will the DVR magically start working again?  You’ll just have to wait, until tomorrow....

February 11, 2016

Thursday - Cold but clear

A good day.

I got up this morning just before 9:00.  F was in the living room so I made him move over on the couch and I watched The X-Files which just started again this morning.  It was great!  He went to see his mother, I had a bagel and then took a shower just after he came back.  

We went out for lunch to Sukaze, a little restaurant nearby.  It was really nice.  F had oysters and I had a shrimp and cabbage pasta that was excellent.  The meal was a little expensive, but the food was great and the service was good so really, I wasn’t complaining.  

We talked about going to karaoke, but F didn’t have his card.  We went to the bank machine first and then I suggested going to the grocery store to get a new card for him, and a first card for me.  Whenever I go to the grocery store they always ask if I have a card and of course I don’t.  I might be losing so much money.  Ha ha ha.  We popped home to pick up F’s Internet Cafe card but by the time we got to the Internet Cafe he had lost it in the black hole of his wallet.  Sigh.  We weren’t able to go to karaoke but were able to get massaging chairs so that’s what we did for the next 3 hours.  

I watched some things on YouTube this time, mostly L.A. Frock Stars and something about L.A. Ink.  It was free and kind of fascinating!

F dropped me off at home and took the car to the repair shop.  He was home within 30 minutes I think.  

He started to talk about going for dinner at 6 but didn’t even move from the couch until 7:45 when I basically said I was starving and needed to eat soon.  He had wanted to go for gyudon and I wouldn’t have minded too much, but talked him into doing the Gusto thing.  We had an okay dinner there.  I had chicken, and F had an oyster nabe.  Yes, oysters twice in one day.  I don’t know why.  

After dinner we bought a few groceries and then came home.  At 10 I watched Bones and did a little crochet, which I enjoyed.  I followed that up with a bit of Bates Motel and Nurse Jackie.  

And basically, that was my day.  I quite enjoyed it.  It was nice getting to spend time with F too.  He’s back at work in the morning and I’ll have a few things to do around the apartment.  I also wrote some postcards tonight, so I’ll have to send them too.  Wish me luck with that.  Until tomorrow….

February 10, 2016

Wednesday - Cold but clear

A good day.

I got up this morning, refilled the kerosene heater.  I toughed it out today, no going back to bed until it warmed up! I watched some TV, had breakfast and tea.  F popped in for a few minutes and said he’d come back for lunch.

I did a few things this afternoon.  I did a load of laundry, then hung it up, I had my lunch and cooked the rest of the pancake batter.  Some of it was for my lunch, some was for later.  I did a workout, although not as long as I planned.  My foot was bothering me too much.  

I did my computer stuff and also scanned my cards.  I ran them off to the post office after 5 pm. I just left the apartment and F called to say he was leaving work.  When he heard where I was going he offered to pick me up and drive me, but I refused!  It was only a few minutes away and I wanted the exercise, and to get out of the apartment.  It was cold and windy though.  Brrr.

I came home and started working on dinner.  I put away the griddle from lunchtime, scrubbed some potatoes and set them to boil, then rinsed the lettuce, set it to drain.  I put the chicken in a bag and poured on the lemon pepper mix, coated it and put it in the fridge to marinate a bit. In other words, I got ready for F to come home and have dinner.  He was a bit late tonight as he had to go to the car shop…there’s a bit of a problem with a headlight. 

When he came home, we were able to have dinner quite quickly, and it was good!  We had some fresh raspberries afterwards, F had a pancake with it, I had a little yogurt.  Very yummy! 

F did the dishes and we had a quiet evening in.  I went over to the couch at 10 for the CSI:Cyber. It was okay.  I did a bit of crochet, I should do some more.  My runner is nearly 1 meter long now!  Yay me.  

And that’s about it for today.  Tomorrow is a national holiday so F is off work.  I’m not sure what we’ll get up to, but I’ll be sure and let you know.  Come back later and find out.  Until tomorrow…. 

February 9, 2016

Tuesday - Cold but sunny

A good day.

I got up this morning, turned on the heater and tried to go back to bed for 20 minutes only to discover that I wasn’t that early.  I got up and got on with my day. I had breakfast and some of my new tea and then got dressed in my workout clothes.

I assumed my husband would come home for lunch so I held off doing my workout, but of course he didn’t come.  Grrr!  I ended up doing it quite late.

I had a mostly quiet afternoon.  I changed the curtain in the kitchen.  I had bought a new cafe curtain in Sendai and changed it today.  I really should clean the window too, but that would involve moving everything in the kitchen so didn’t.  

I had a late lunch with some crackers, chicken and salad and then added on half of a Costco bagel.  Yum.

I took a very late shower, around 5 pm and then when I came out I started my dinner prep.  I rinsed the salad, got the broccoli ready to steam and also mixed up the pancake batter.  Yup, tonight was Shrove Tuesday and I decided pancakes were definitely in order.  I also brought out our little griddle pan and cooked our bacon on that and then cooked the pancakes.  They were quite good and we both enjoyed them.  For his second pancake, I let F make his own mostly.  I was still eating my first.  It was a fun meal.  I wouldn’t want it every day, but for a change it was good.

F did the dishes and I wrote some email and did some computer stuff.  I wrote up some postcrossing cards and another card I wanted to send.  I may send my nephew something tomorrow too.  

Anyway, that’s about it for me.  I had a good day.  Tomorrow I’ll have to do up my postcards and get them ready to send out and then take them to the post office.  I may do a few other things along the way too.  

Oh, wait, I decided to post a few of my photos from my trip to Sendai and beyond.  Enjoy!

A display promoting tourism to Aomori in the train station.

Dinner at Mother Leaf Cafe-a Duck breast salad.  Very nice!

Our hotel room in Sendai-Izumi

There were two arm chairs and a desk and a balcony!

There was a shower stall and a bath.  Quite spiffy!

We had a couple of drinks in the lounge during Happy Hour.  It was 500 yen for each person to drink from a set list.  It was rather nice!

My lunch at Shiogama. At the fish market, you can go to the different fish merchants and buy small quantities of fish.  Later on you can buy a bowl of rice and a bowl of miso soup and have lunch.  It was good!

Basho and I....

The bell tower at Chuson-ji Temple

Apparently, I'm "dressed" like Benkei!