January 31, 2018

Wednesday - Cloudy but warmer

A good day.

F had the day off today, so he slept in.  We actually stayed up quite late last night.  I got up when my alarms went off, he didn’t.  It took a while before he got up. I thought he was going to go to the doctor early-on, but didn’t. Sigh. 

After NCIS (I had to watch it!) we went out for breakfast.  By the time he was ready though, it was 10:30 and there aren’t any good places that do breakfast then. I finally suggested going to the bakery in the Mall as they have a seating area and sell baked goods and coffee. It was a good idea. We went in, bought our stuff and sat and ate.  

After we finished, F went to his doctor and I did a little shopping. I first went and got his Valentine’s Day presents (Shh! Don’t tell him!) and then a little looking around for me.  

F was finished soon and came to meet me. I suggested going to the restaurant in the hotel attached to the mall for lunch and we went to check out the dish de jour.  It was soba, so a big no from me.  Just then, a relative of F’s came and stood near us and had a loud discussion with a woman.  F dragged me out of there. I didn’t know it was a relative and F told me the story of how the man’s wife tried to tell him that after we got married I had to change my nationality.  They apparently had a few arguments, F and the wife.  

We ended up in Foodever again, and this time I planned to go to the meat restaurant. However, it was closed today.  I had fish which was really nice. F had it too but wasn’t as impressed as I was.  I think I liked it because it didn’t taste “Japanese”, he didn’t like it because it didn’t taste “Japanese”.  Maybe.

Sushi, grilled cod with an apple/kabu salad, mushrooms, fish in tomato sauce, roasted potatoes and a creamy cod soup on the side.  So yum!

We walked over to the train station and took care of buying my tickets for my trip to Narita next month. I’m getting so excited. The ticket guy was worried about a bit wait I’ll have in Niigata train station, but I’m not that concerned. As long as I have a book or some juice in my phone battery, I’ll be fine.

We came back to F’s house to check on his mother. She was fine apparently and didn’t need food.  

F and I went off again, this time to the Internet Cafe. It wasn’t my idea really, but it was okay.  We each got a massaging chair and spent the next 3 hours relaxing.  

After our time was up, F wanted dinner. He chose a place out in Kushibiki. It was okay, not great. I think they had a bad night, that’s all.  

On the way back to Tsuruoka, we had a quick stop at the MaxValu and bought a few groceries and a dinner for his mother. However, when we got back to the house, all the lights were off and I think she went back to bed.  

There was a lunar eclipse and a Super moon tonight, but it was very cloudy here so we couldn’t see it at all.  It was a bit sad.  

And that is basically my day today. It went well, and it was really nice to get out of the house.  I am really pleased about getting my train tickets, so yay.  

Come back later and find out all about Thursday.  Until tomorrow….

January 30, 2018

Tuesday - Slightly warmer, mostly clear

A good day.

I got up this morning and filled up my water bottles so I could have my morning tea. I put the water on and then the news. I got my NCIS: Los Angeles fix and then went downstairs to grab breakfast and put a load of laundry in. I did a couple of loads of laundry today and hung most of it in my room. If I hang it in the garage it doesn’t dry as it is too cold over there now.  

I didn’t see or hear K for hours today. I never know if I should go and wake her up or offer her tea or coffee during the day. It is very odd to be living in a house with someone who hides themselves away for most of the day. However, if I was in my 80’s I might just want to spend all day in bed too. I’m not judging, just more bemused than anything else!  

I watched a bit of TV off the DVR and wrote up a postcard, then had lunch. I forgot something for my lunch and ran down to get it. I was on the way out of the kitchen when I heard the heater go on in the living room. I guess that K was up? It was almost 2 pm.  

I did another postcard and then scanned them both, plus the few I’ve received lately. I updated the website as well.  

I took my dishes downstairs to wash and then came upstairs to grab my coat. I went out and did a lot of snow-shovelling. The snowplough must have gone through during the day as we had a wall of snow at the parking space edge. The snow removal people had also changed the walls on the road, so it was much more difficult for me to dump the snow.The walls of snow were much, much higher. I got most of the snow cleared away so that was good.

I went in the house and upstairs again. I watched the news that I had recorded and waited for F to come back.  

He was a bit late tonight, but it wasn’t too bad. F was tired but glad to be off work. F said that K had eaten so we could just go out together and did I want to go to an onsen. I did and I didn’t. I don’t really like going to onsens, but then again, I don’t really like freezing my butt off in the unheated bathroom downstairs either. I said I’d go, and suggested going to Kintaro Sushi.  F liked that idea, so off we went. 

We had an excellent dinner at Kintaro. F was ordering our usuals much faster than I could eat them!  He’d set a budget for our dinner at 2000 to 3000 yen total, well, we came in under 2000 yen, so that was good, plus we supported a local business.  

We drove out to the onsen and went in. The women’s side wasn’t very busy, which I liked a lot.  After I did the whole washing and shampooing bit, I decided to check out the rotenburo. I went outside and it was empty. It was lovely. A few minutes after I got in, someone else came out, stayed a few minutes and then left.  I had the pool to myself. It was snowing lightly, so it was a very Japanese experience, sitting in the warm pool watching the snow fall. It was great.  When another lady came out to the pool, I decided to go inside.  I hope she had as good a time there as I did.

I noticed that time was running out on me, so I had a quick dip in the big pool inside, then rinsed off. I went into the changing room and got dressed, then went to meet F in the lobby.  

We each had a drink and then left as the place was closing for the night.  We didn’t want to go back to the house yet, so we went to Gusto for drinks and snacks. We shared a plate of french fries and F had a dessert too.  

We came back to the house where I watched a bit of telly and then blogged a bit. It’s been a nice day really.  

Tomorrow F is off work to see his doctor. I’m hoping that when he’s done with that, he’ll take me to the train station and help me buy my tickets for a trip I want to take next month. It could be a bit complicated, so I’d like a little help.  

So that’s it.  Come back later if you are so moved and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

January 29, 2018

Monday - Snowy and warmer until the evening

A good day.

F got himself off to work this morning and I slept in a bit. I didn’t really mean to do that, it sort of just happened! Still, I got up just a little bit later and did my usual morning stuff.  I went downstairs for breakfast and didn’t see K.  I grabbed my breakfast and my mail (2 incoming postcards) and went upstairs again.  

I watched some of the Grammy Awards today, but sad to say, I don’t really have much idea who the people are.  Obviously, there are singers that I know, but the ones that are popular now…generally, I have no idea who they are! 

I also worked on the dread cull.  I finished checking the list and then I sent all the people on the list an email to say that I would have to remove them soon.  Still, that part is done and went smoothly.

I grabbed my lunch and brought it upstairs.  It was nice and I watched a little telly for a while.  Around 3:30 I went downstairs to wash my dishes and after that went outside to shovel some snow.  I worked for about an hour and got a lot done.  I cleared the concrete path by the house and garage off. It was hard as the snow was packed and very heavy. I was tired when I finished but when I went inside, K was suddenly there.  She handed me a bucket with F’s wet clothes in it and basically told me to go and hang them up in the garage! Umm…okay.  When F and I lived in our apartment he did his own laundry, now we’re back here, his mother does it.  I know he’s busy, but I still think he should and could do it!

I hung the laundry up in the garage.  Big deal.

Came back in the house and took off my coat and stripped off my hat.  My hair was a mess so it got combed before I went upstairs.  

F was late coming back to the house, he had to drive out of town for work. When he came, he talked to his mother and she wanted to go out with us.  F suggested one of the udon shops, so I picked the best one.  Just one problem.  F had misplaced his wallet.  He searched the car, his clothes, his bed and nothing.  I offered to pay for dinner tonight, so we all went out.

The dinner was good.  We all had the same thing and shared a salad. 

After dinner, we drove to F’s office and he checked in and checked his work car.  Success!  He found his wallet. We drove back to the house.  F had wanted to go to an onsen and he almost talked me into it, but we didn’t finish dinner until after 9 pm and they all close at 10pm.  We really wouldn’t have time for a good bath.  He ended up having a shower tonight.

F and I spent a bit of time sorting out the plastic garbage for tomorrow.  His mother sorts out her garbage but doesn’t always follow the rules, so we need to check her stuff and then do our own.  I do most of it, F takes it out in the morning.  Hurray!

And that’s about it. I watched Project Runway because.  We’re at the end of the season, today was the preview to the runway and it was good.  I missed watching The Great British Bake-off, but may catch up with that tomorrow as I really like it. I DVR’d it.  

Come back in a bit and find out how my Tuesday goes.  Until tomorrow….

January 28, 2018

Sunday - Warmer and not snowy!  Yay!!!

A good day.

F and I slept in again. I woke up, fell asleep again, and then woke up to see him sitting in bed watching videos on his phone.  

We pulled ourselves out of bed finally and talked about lunch. F suggested a restaurant I like and his mother does too, so we called to check if it was open. It was, so the three of us piled into the car to go there. However, when we got near it, there was no parking! There must have been an event at the swim club or nearby as all the spaces were full.  

F’s next suggestion was to go to Foodever. I thought that was a great idea.  When we got there, he and his mum ordered from the donburi place, I ordered from the fish place.  For about the same price as what they had, I had grilled fish, roasted potatoes, bread, salad with local vegetables and a creamy cod soup. Mine took a little longer but was oh so good! Our meal was not without a few problems, K knocked over her miso soup and we had towels offered from a few of the places in the area! Then, she dropped one of her hashi, but a kind restaurant guy gave her another set.  

When we finished our meal we did a little walk around and then had coffee at the coffee/bakery section. Honestly, it was just nice to be out and hanging with my people!

We drove back to the house and were a tad surprised. The snowplough had gone through again so we couldn’t drive into the parking space.  We parked on the road, F grabbed a shovel and made a path through the snow for his mother and me. I unlocked the door for his mother, dropped off my purse, and went to help him clear the entrance. He did most of the work, but I think I helped a bit.  

We had a short rest time and then went out again to buy kerosene.  The place was lined up and once again F got upset that someone jumped the queue. I have the distinct feeling that it was him that jumped the queue, but can’t tell him that.  

We headed back to the house but stopped on the way to pick up some food for his mother.  We gave her the food and then went out again.

F and I went to the Internet Cafe for 4 hours.  It wasn’t bad honestly.  I didn’t fall asleep this time, but I didn’t watch anything of note either.  I wound some yarn and did a little bit of loom knitting.  Winter will be over before I finish my scarf if I’m not careful!

We came back to the house and F worked on a project for his work.  I took a shower and then he took one a bit later.  I don’t think I even turned on the TV tonight!

Tomorrow I have to start the last part of the dreaded cull and then if I have any leftover time, I’m not sure what will happen.  Come back later and find out all the fabulous details!  Until tomorrow….

January 27, 2018

Saturday - Snowy but a little warmer

A good day.

F didn’t get up and go to the doctor this morning.  He stayed in and we both slept late!  

We took his mother out for lunch with us to a Chinese restaurant. The food was okay, but mine wasn’t great. The others seemed to like theirs which was good.  After lunch, we went to the post office and took care of something for me.  While we were there, I suggested taking his mum out for coffee with us.  She was okay with that, so we went to Doutors together.

I got the drinks while F and K sat down.  We had a nice time really.  After our drinks, we went to the hundred yen shop and then the grocery store for K and me to pick up a few things.

We brought K back to the house and F and I came upstairs and had a little vegging time.  After that, we left again to go for dinner.  We went to the restaurant near the post office and had a pretty good meal.  F had pork piccata and I had chicken namban.  

We had about an hour to spare before our movie so I suggested going to McDonald to get a drink.  F was okay with that, so we drove off.  We used our App coupons and got the drink and chocolate pie with hazelnuts in it combo.  The drink was good, but my pie thing was horrible.  It tasted so greasy.  The first bite was nothing but grease, the second bite was oozy and gooey and messy.  I had chocolate paste everywhere and I didn’t really like that!  I finished it, but I probably wouldn’t have another one.  I don’t know if mine was old or had been cooked improperly, but I didn’t like it.

We drove to the movie theatre and went to see Get Out.  It was really good I thought.  Some of it really surprised me, which was exciting.  

After the movie, we came back to the house.  I ended up turning on the TV and catching the end of The Nice Guys, which I had watched in December in one of the hotels I stayed at.  It was much funnier this time.  Then, Trainspotting came on right after it.  I haven’t seen Trainspotting since my best friend sent me the video of it during my first year in Japan!  I hated it then…laughed my head off at it now.  Well, not exactly off…but a whole lot more than I did then. It’s quite amazing how most of the cast is still around and what they have done.  Trainspotting 2 is on tomorrow night, so this was good prep.  

And that’s brought you up to speed more or less.  I should be getting myself off to bed soon as it is horribly late and I’m getting a tad tired.  Come back later and see how my Sunday goes.  Until tomorrow….

January 26, 2018

Friday - Cold and snowy

An okay day.

It was freezing again this morning when I got up.  I also had to fill up the kerosene tank in our room’s heater so I had to be awake for that!

I had my usual sort of morning and had breakfast.  I watched a bit of TV off the DVR and even decided to watch a movie that I had recorded a few weeks ago.  It was okay but not great, so I deleted it after I watched it.  

I hadn’t heard K for a while so when F phoned before 12 I told him I hadn’t seen her yet.  Of course as soon as I rang off the phone I heard her downstairs!

I went down to prep my lunch around 1:30 I think and did offer K some lunch, but she’d already eaten.  Probably just as well then. I came back upstairs and ate and worked on the dreaded cull of my women’s group.

Around 4 pm I went outside to shovel some snow.  The snow ploughs had been out and had blocked our entrance again, so I knew that I had to undo the big piles of snow.  I cleared by the house first and then over by the gate.   While I was working we got two deliveries…one a book I was waiting for from a friend, and one was a box for my husband.  

The snow shovelling was quite nasty at times because the snow would start swirling and it would blind me and pile up on the places I had just finished. Sigh. After almost an hour I gave up!  I had had enough.  And I was done, more or less.

I went in and came back upstairs where I stayed for a bit.  F came back to the house just before six.  His box actually had something in it for his mother so he took it down and spent time with her.

Later he came back upstairs and we decided to go out for sushi for dinner.  We went to Kula Sushi and had a pretty good dinner.  It’s a fun place to go.

After dinner we just came back to the house. It was quite nasty outside so I felt for F, having to clear off the windows all the time.  

At the house, he left me to take a shower, then he went off to have a massage for his back.  He had booked a 90-minute course which meant I had about two hours on my own.  I finished the first part of my cull and then took a shower.  

That’s really all the important things that happened today.  I spent a bit of time on my computer but it went fairly well.  I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. Hopefully, it will include a movie, but you never know.  

Come back later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

January 25, 2018

Thursday - Cold and Snowy..and cold

Happy Robert Burns Day!

An okay day.

I got up this morning at a good time and watched the news, got dressed made the bed and froze!  It was so cold.  I did my usual stuff and around 10 am went down and grabbed my breakfast.  I was rather shocked to see that there was ice in the kitchen sink!  Unbelievable!  It was so cold in there.  There’s no heating in the kitchen. Is that so the little women will work harder cooking the men’s dinners or is it because men think women don’t deserve to be warm while they work?

My basin in the kitchen sink.  The lines in the water...ice.

See!

I rather liked these formations and thought they were interesting.  But ice...in the kitchen. 

I had a quiet morning. I did some more culling work for my women’s group and I watched some of my TV off the DVR.  I went downstairs a couple of times but K was still sleeping.  I went down for lunch after 1 pm and grabbed my lunch.  

It wasn’t until after 2 or so that I began to hear K bumping around downstairs.  I said hello on one of my trips downstairs.  

About 4 pm I went outside and shovelled snow.  It wasn’t as bad as yesterday, but there were some fairly deep drifts.  It was bitterly cold outside and when the wind came up it was hard to see.  I had to dump some of the snow outside the yard and needed to keep an eye out for cars.  

I went in at 5 pm and watched the news. I got a call from F saying he was on his way, so I started to prepare something to take to the post office.  However, the roads were bad and it was the rush hour so it took him a long time to get back to the house.  I also found out I had to do other things with the item I was going to mail, so we decided to leave it for another day.  

K had food in the fridge for her dinner, and F asked me if I’d like to go to the Internet Cafe.  Since it is Thursday and it is blooming cold in this house I said yes!  

We had yakiniku for dinner at F’s suggestion. It was rather nice for a change.  The restaurant was near the Internet Cafe so we didn’t have to travel far afterwards. 

We spent 3 hours in the Internet Cafe. I snoozed and then worked on my loom knitting.  I got a bit done too.  

When we left, we went to the grocery store and then to the gas station.  

When we came back to the house, the water was quite close to being frozen.  Yikes.  We have had to leave the taps running a tiny bit to stop them from freezing.  Let's

hope it works.  As I write this, the temperature is supposed to be -4 degrees Celsius outside.  It’s not much warmer in some areas of the house.  It is supposed to go down to minus 5 in the morning.

Well, that’s about it for me.  It was an okay day. I would prefer that it warm up a bit though, but beggars can’t be choosers I suppose!  Come back later and find out about my Friday.  Until tomorrow….

January 24, 2018

Wednesday - Cold and snowy and cold

An okay day.

I got up this morning and had my usual kind of day.  I made the bed, had some tea and watched the news and NCIS: LA.  I also had to fill up the kerosene tank so that was different.  I went downstairs and grabbed breakfast, and brought it up here to eat.  I ate, watched Pretty Little Liars and then took a half hour nap.  I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

I had a light snack after and then looked at some internet stuff. A little after 1 I heard K downstairs so went down and offered to make her some lunch. She accepted so I made lunch.  We had a nice lunch of salads, soup, chawanmushi and an open face sandwich.  I don’t know if she liked it that much, but she didn’t have to do anything for it, so that might be good!

In the afternoon I did a bit more computer stuff and then around 4 pm I went out and shovelled snow for F.  Oh goodness.  It was deep, cold and very windy outside.  I cleared the bit by the house first, then went to the entrance to the parking lot.  The snow plough had gone through and had left huge walls of snow in the way.  I had to clear the area around the entrance to the house too.  There was a lot of snow, so I worked steadily and carefully and moved quite a bit of it.  I usually like to clear down to the ground, but there really wasn’t enough time to do it this time.  After almost an hour outside, I finished up and went in.  I was freezing!

I came back upstairs and worked a bit on my culling list.  It’s going slowly. I had to thaw out a bit too.  

F called to say he was on his way, but it took him quite a bit of time.  The roads were bad and he needed to get gas.  

Earlier in the day, K asked about making curry and I thought it was an okay idea.  She didn’t have any meat though, so when F came home, wanted to go out and buy some.  The three of us piled into the car and went shopping.  I got some salad for tomorrow and Friday.  

We came back to the house and K cooked and F and I set things up in the living room.  He kept asking me about going to the onsen to take a bath and I’m afraid I got a bit tired of it.  I asked him if I could just relax for a few minutes and he got angry at me. He started complaining that he needed to relax and I told him that taking a Japanese bath is very stressful for me, which it is.  I wasn’t brought up with public nudity, I’m allergic to the soaps they provide and it’s really cold outside, so who wants to drive in this weather?  He did his usual getting angry at me thing and said that he wouldn’t go.  I told him he could go, I just wasn’t sure that I wanted to go with him.  I have other things I need to do after all.

After the meal, I tried to explain that I just needed a bit of time but he was still angry.  Sigh. I asked that he give me some time to prepare my non-allergenic shampoo to take with me and he told me to hurry.  I half-filled a bottle I bought last week with my shampoo and went upstairs to get the rest of my stuff ready to go.  

I am quite upset about this though.  I’ve never said he can’t go, in fact, I encourage him to go on weekends with his mother, but this is not really my favourite thing to do. I just don’t need to be nagged about it from the moment I see him and all through a dinner that I really didn’t want.

We drove to the onsen on the outskirts of town. It wasn’t very busy, probably because people with sense stayed home.  I did take a bath and it was fine. It was actually nice because there weren’t many women there, but honestly, it really isn’t something that I look forward to.  I’m more comfortable about doing the whole onsen thing now, but I’m still not comfortable about it. 

We came back to Tsuruoka and were going to go and have a snack when F realized he forgot his phone at the house.  We drove there first and picked it up, then went to Gusto for a quick bite and some wifi.  

After that, we came back to the house. F went to bed fairly early while I stayed up to do this and relax.  

Tomorrow, the cull continues and I hope to have more time to answer email and maybe do some more on my loom knitting. I haven’t done any for ages.  

Come back later if you feel like it and see how things go.  Until tomorrow….

January 23, 2018

Tuesday - Cold, snowy and thundery (Cue Imagine Dragons)

A good day.

I got up this morning before 8 and did some of my usual things.  K didn’t get up at all. It was fine, I just worried about her a bit.  I did a load of laundry and watched my morning’s TV and then had my lunch around 1:30.  While I was preparing it, K made an appearance so I showed her some of the food she could have and then I went upstairs to eat.  

In the afternoon I got started on culling members from one of my women’s groups.  I took three people off the group, one of which may have been premature.  Sigh.  I had quite an email conversation with her all night.  

When I finished the smaller group, I did another group too on Yahoo, then started the main group.  It has about 3 or 4 hundred members, so it is a lot of work to do. 

Around 3:30 I washed my lunch dishes and then went outside to shovel snow.  Except, when I got outside I discovered an odd thing.  There wasn’t very much snow at all! I think it had made much more noise than we had snow.  I did a little bit of tidying up and then I brought in my towels from the garage.  They still weren’t dry!  I hung them in the bedroom.  

F called to say he’d be late, and he was. He didn’t arrive until almost 7 pm.  

We went out for dinner with K.  F picked Nagomi, the soba and udon restaurant and it was nice. We were the only customers tonight, but the food was excellent as usual.  

We just came back to the house afterwards.  K went into the living room, and F and I came upstairs.  It was cold up here, but we had the heater on and it warmed up a lot.  

And really that is about all that I got up to today.  I sent a lot of emails and watched a bit of TV but nothing else happened with me.  Hope things are just as quiet tomorrow so that I can get more of my culling done.  That’s it for me.  

Come back later and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

January 22, 2018

Monday - Cold and snowy

A good day.

I slept in a bit while F got up and went to his doctor appointment.  I got up, made the bed, got dressed and then he was back! We made plans for the day, but the clinic called and told him that he’d left his notebook there and they had the flu vaccine available.  

We went and had a quick breakfast at a gyudon shop.  It was okay, not really my favourite type.  We then went to the clinic and waited and waited.  We even saw F’s sister there for a few minutes.  We said hello…she’s really nice.  I did some colouring and then we got our shots.  We paid and left.  

I was thirsty so suggested getting a drink and then thought about going to a new place that I’d walked past once or twice.  It was a tea salon.  I wasn’t sure how expensive it was, but F said it was fine so we went in.  It was lovely inside.  It was clean and neat and run by a woman.  We both had drinks, mine was tea, his was coffee and enjoyed them a lot.  It’s only open on weekdays so we won’t be able to go very often, but it was nice.

F suggested going to a movie and there was one playing that we hadn’t seen yet.  I wasn’t really in a hurry to see it since the reviews were terrible.  Still, I even enjoy bad movies at times, so what the heck!

We got his mother a couple of things for lunch and I grabbed my coat to take with me.  I was annoyed since my new coat’s zipper got stuck and wouldn’t come undone.  The teeth had moved off their alignment I think.  I thought I’d see if the place in the mall would replace the zipper for me. 

We drove out to the mall and took in my coat to the repair/alteration shop.  Of course, they managed to fix my zipper without replacing it. I just worry that it’ll happen again though.  I did offer to pay, but they turned me down.  I am a good customer there so I didn’t feel too bad.  

We took the coat back out to the mall and moved the car closer to the theatre.  We went in and had lunch at the pasta restaurant. I suggested a couple of places and F was okay with this one.  The pasta we had was quite nice.  F had a mini dessert pizza with his too, which he shared.  

After lunch, we went upstairs and exchanged our card for a movie ticket.  Yay, free movies!!

We got our munchies and drinks and went it.  We saw Geostorm which was pretty silly but enjoyable if you didn’t think about it.  I of course did think about it afterwards! 

After the movie, we went over to the grocery store and bought a few things for our dinner and for my lunch tomorrow.  I’ll share with K if she is interested, of course.  

We drove back to Tsuruoka and since K had already eaten dinner, went upstairs and ate in our room.  It was nice.  

F really wasn’t doing well for a while. He got really cold and then went to bed after a bit.  During the evening I watched The Great British Bake-Off and then Project Runway.  

So that’s about it for me. It was a pretty good day today.  F is back at work tomorrow and I’m here at the house again with K.  I’ve hardly seen her this weekend, so it’ll be a bit interesting spending time in the house with her tomorrow.  

Come back later and see how things go.  Until tomorrow….

January 21, 2018

Sunday - Colder and snowy

A good day.

This morning F and his mother went to the onsen and then to a place to order her a hearing aid.  Although it is a bit of money, I hope it’ll be a good thing for her. I think she feels a bit isolated because she just can’t hear things.  

When he came back it was ages later, around 2 pm.  I wanted to have lunch, but he didn’t seem that motivated! We ended up going to Gusto and had a nice lunch.  I had stew, F had fried oysters.  

We came back to the house and stripped our bed. I finally got F talked into going to the laundromat.  We washed our bedding…well, put it in the washing machines there.  F bought something for his mother’s dinner and then delivered it. I waited with the bedding and then transferred it to a dryer. While I was waiting, I worked on a huge knot in my yarn. It took ages to get undone.  I don’t have a clue how it got that bad!

When the bedding was dry F and I folded it and then brought it back to the house. We made the bed with our warm and fuzzy sheets, so hopefully will feel warmer in bed. We left again to have dinner.  We had decided on the place near the post office, but when we got there, they were closed for a private party.  We went to Sashimiya instead.  It ended up being a good thing as the fish was good and fresh.  Dinner was really nice.

We bought something for me at the drugstore, and a few somethings for F.  After that, we zoomed over to Machinaka Kinema to see Nocturnal Animals.  It was really thought-provoking.  I really liked it on reflection, but I do wish the ending had a been less uncertain or airy-fairy, and more cut and dried.  Still, it was good!

We came back to the house via a convenience store for a few things.  We had to move the mattress around because we realized that we hadn’t moved it before we made the bed earlier on.  That meant we had to re-make it a little! Oh well.  

And that’s it really.  It was a good and fairly productive day. 

Yesterday was good too. F and I had lunch at an Indian restaurant and then he dropped me off at the mall. He took his mother to a hospital to visit her mother.  He met me and we had a drink in the mall.  We went back to the house and decided that we’d go out for the evening.  F called the owner of a dining/bar we like to see if he was open tonight. He was, but later.  We went to Foodever and had a light dinner with interesting food first.  F had cod soup and we shared a kabu and chicken salad, and an order of fish and roasted potatoes.  Everything was lovely.  We walked over to Bardet and had a couple of drinks and some more great food.  I thought it was enough, but F wanted more!  I mildly suggested karaoke, but when we checked we would have had to wait another hour for a room, so passed on that.  F found another fish restaurant and we went there and had more drinks and food.  I think it should be said that I was trying to get F not to have so much food or alcohol! 

We walked back to the station and took a taxi back to the house.  We had had a really nice time together and since I was tired, I just wanted to get some rest, so went to bed without blogging.  Sorry!

So, if you are still with me, that just about covers the last two days.  Come back soon and see what happens next.  Until tomorrow….

January 20, 2018

Saturday - Warmer and clear

A good day!

To be honest, it was such a good day and I am now so very tired that I am going to skip blogging for tonight and go and get some sleep.  Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow night!

Until tomorrow....

January 19, 2018

Friday - Colder but clear

An okay day.

I got up this morning on time basically, and did some of my usual morning stuff. I cleverly got dressed quite early for a change and that was a good thing!  I decided to watch yesterday’s NCIS: LA instead of today’s “live” and that was good as it was a continuation of Thursday’s.  I also started a load of laundry in the middle of it.  After it was over, I went downstairs, grabbed my breakfast and came back upstairs to eat.  

I was halfway through my cereal when I heard the doorbell ring.  K wasn’t up yet, so I bounded down the stairs.  It was K’s brother and his wife, come for a visit.  Of course, I didn’t know they were coming, and obviously, neither did K!  I woke her up, but I couldn’t remember the name for brother in Japanese…probably because I never have to use it!  Anyway, K got up and didn’t seem upset that they were already in the house!

I filled up the water pot in the living room and made my escape. I took my laundry over to the garage and hung it up, and started another load.  I went upstairs to try and finish my breakfast, but when I had eaten a few bites, K called me downstairs to see the visitors off.  K and I did a little chatting to about the visitors and she told me the correct word to use about her brother so that was good!

We went inside again and I went upstairs and finally managed to finish my breakfast.  However, it was laundry grabbing time!  Between doing laundry and dishes I was quite busy for a bit.

I came back upstairs, watched the second part of the NCIS and a bit of something on TV.  I went down a little earlier than I have been recently and asked K if she’d like lunch.  She turned me down, which was fine.  I got my lunch ready to take upstairs. I had wanted some bread, and even though we bought it last night, I couldn’t find it! A few minutes later, after a frantic search on my part, K came through from the living room, with the remnants of my loaf!  She’d eaten a couple of pieces, which of course was totally fine…I just wanted a couple of slices myself.  I hadn’t expected her to run off with the bag of bread!

While I was preparing my lunch, K turned on the radio.  Surprisingly for me, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody came on and I had a vision of her doing the head-banging bit from Wayne’s World.  I didn’t look, I didn’t want to spoil it for myself!

I went upstairs to eat again and had a quiet time. I watched a bit of TV and worked on an on-line thing that I do.  

F came back to the house around 6 pm and I suggested going out for a drink since the weather was decent.  He begged off as his back was too painful.  I told him I’d run downstairs and check the avocados and would make guacamole with tortilla chips if they were okay.  They were and I did.  I also put out a plate of Ukrainian sausage from Canada and some crackers, smoked oysters and we called it a meal.  It may not be the healthiest thing, but it was pretty good.  K really loves the garlic sausage and eats a lot of it!

F and I did the dishes and then went upstairs.  A friend of mine had some questions about our women’s group and I talked to her via Skype for a couple of hours.  I had to beg off at the end as I needed a break!  While I was on the computer with her, F went to bed and fell asleep. I felt a bit sorry for him. He worked all day today.

So that, in rather long-winded form is the story of my day.  It wasn’t too bad at all.  

I’m not sure what Saturday will bring, but I am hoping for a movie or something. Find out later!

Until Tomorrow….

January 18, 2018

Thursday - Sunny then a bit rainy

A good day.  

F had taken today off work, so he didn’t need to get up early at all.  We slept in a bit, but I did get up around 8 am. Nature was calling and so was the gomi.  I got dressed enough that I wouldn’t be arrested and then took the garbage out to the station.  F usually does it on his way to work, but he wasn’t working this morning. 

I came back to the house and went back to bed for a bit. I had DVR’d NCIS which was a good thing as I had slept right through it. When I got up I had a cup of soup as my breakfast, gave F some coffee.  

My friend arrived right on time and we both went out to meet her.  F took pictures of her and her baby, I didn’t!  My friend and I and the baby, of course, drove off afterwards.

We went to Foodever, the food court near the train station.  It was a good choice as we could walk around and look at all of the things on display and then go back to the food court after we had decided.  We both decided not to go to the expensive pasta restaurant (the set menu was ¥3000 for LUNCH!) and ended up at the food court.  We both had virtually the same thing, gapao rice.  It was nice.  The baby was relatively good and because she’s so cute people made a big fuss of her!  After our lunch, we went over to the coffee shop in Foodever and had a drink and a dessert.  

Sad to say, it was nearly time to go, so she drove me over to the mall and left me.  I called F who was all set to come and pick me up. He told me that he had been planning to take his mother to the onsen but would cancel their trip.  I asked if she knew about his plan, and she did.  I then told him to go ahead and take her.  I had to run some errands and since I rarely have free time out of the house anymore would really enjoy being able to go shopping or whatever.  I finally talked him into that and we rang off.

I went upstairs and bought an umbrella at the hundred yen shop, then went off to the post office.  I bought some stamps and a couple of gotochi cards there.  I walked back to the mall and ended up going back to the hundred yen shop for a few more things.  I got a container for my shampoo.  Because we’ve been going to onsens a lot lately, I’ve been using the shampoos and body shop that they provide. I end up being incredibly itchy afterwards, so have decided that I should really take my own stuff.  Now I have containers to do that in. 

After a little walk around the mall, I went to Doutor and had a new drink, a houji-cha latte.  It was nice, but a tad too sweet.  I waited for F and checked my phone and such.  He finally came and we had another drink together.  He said that his mother wanted to have udon tonight. I didn’t know if he meant at the house or out, but he said probably out. He had found a new-to-us restaurant on the net.  

We went back to the house, picked up K and went to the restaurant. It was quite an old style place and we were the only customers, but it was very good.  We got big bowls of noodles! F thought his were too soft, but I think it was because of his dish.  I liked mine, and K seemed to like hers too.  

After dinner, we drove back to the house, dropped K off and I picked up my backpack.  We headed over to the Internet Cafe and were able to get massaging chairs again. Yay.  I watched a bit of TV and to be honest, did snooze a little for the first hour, but rallied and did quite a bit of loom knitting on my scarf. I’ve nearly finished the first two balls of yarn now.  

We stayed for our 3 hours and did manage to get out before we hit the three-hour mark.  We went to the grocery store where I picked up some bread and yogurt for tomorrow.  

We came back to the house and had to do a few things.  I put away the groceries that needed to go in the fridge, and F started to fill our kerosene tank in the upstairs heater.  I finished that chore, but he carried it upstairs for me which was nice.  

We had a fairly quiet evening here.  F has to go back to work tomorrow, but only for one day and then he’s off for three days.  I hope it is a good thing!

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

January 17, 2018

Wednesday - Rainy but warmish

A good day.

I felt much better today, so that was good.  I had a pretty usual morning except when I went downstairs, K was bopping around.  I invited her to have breakfast and she said yes.  We both had cereal together and some Darjeeling.  Different cereals of course, but it was quite nice to eat with her again.  

I came back upstairs and decided not to do the laundry I should have done.  I didn’t nap today, but I did watch a few TV programmes off the DVR.  I did some scanning of cards for my blog too.  I have a lot still to do, but at least I have done some now.

I did have lunch by myself, but that was okay.  K had already eaten, so not a big deal.  I got a text from F saying that he had taken off tomorrow and Monday…for some reason I read it and thought he meant Thursday and FRIDAY.  Nope.  Just after his text arrived, a friend asked me if we could video chat.  Since I didn’t have anything I had to do right then, I said sure and scoped out a tidy background for the call!

We chatted for 40 or 50 minutes I think and it was fun. 

F ended up coming back to the house around 6 pm.  His mother had food leftover so didn’t need anything and F didn’t want to eat here.  He actually suggested a place, so off we went.  It was a curry/ramen place, so I had curry and he had ramen.  The curry was okay, but not my favourite really.

After that, we went to the Internet Cafe again and spent 3 hours in the comfy chairs.  I did have a little problem getting mine to work properly at first but F got a staff member to come and check it. He unplugged it and then plugged it back in again and it worked.  

I ended up snoozing quite a bit but did work on my latest loom project, a scarf. It is looking very warm and cozy. We left when our 3 hours was up and came back to the house.  That was it for our day.

Tomorrow F is off work, but I might go and have lunch with a friend of mine.  At first, I wasn’t sure as I wasn’t feeling well, but now she’s a little under the weather. I hope she’s feeling better as I would love to see her.  

Come back later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….    

January 16, 2018

Tuesday - Warmer and rainy

An okay day.

I woke up after F left for work and got up. I did my usual morning things, decided that I didn’t feel all that great today, so didn’t do my laundry.  After my breakfast, I took my plate and some other stuff downstairs, washed it, and then came back upstairs.  

I took a half hour nap and it was just what I needed. I felt so much better afterwards.  

I went down a little later to see about lunch. K didn’t want any, so I made it for me. I had some leftover curry on one of the naan bread, that was good.  I had a couple of tofu burgers too, plus some salad.  Lunch was really nice.  

Later on, I washed my dishes and then I went out and did a little snow shovelling.  There wasn’t a lot of it outside, just some snow that had fallen off the roof of the garage or the part near the entrance that hadn’t melted yet.  I moved a lot of it and then came back inside.

When F came back from work he wanted to talk about going for a bath.  I didn’t really want to, but said I’d think about it.  He told me that K had cooked dinner, some kind of pork stew with daikon and konbu. I wasn’t enthusiastic, but F wanted to eat here.  

We went down, and even though K did the cooking, we had to do the serving.  I’m not sure how that works.  F heated up the stew and as always didn’t get it hot enough.  I set the table, made the instant miso soup and tried to help when he’d let me.  The food was fine, just the stew wasn’t warm enough for me and there wasn’t very much meat in it.  Sigh.  

F did the dishes and I dried them.  He really wanted to go to the onsen so I went with him.  I have a huge mysterious bruise on my thigh so I didn’t really want to go, but whatever.  I’ve had to do so much that I haven’t wanted to do since I got married, what’s one more getting naked in public anyway?

It actually was one of the better nights I’ve had at the onsen!  No-one tried talking to me and I got to relax a bit, so that was good.  The only thing is that I am having an itchy reaction to the shampoo at the place. I really should bring my own, and I will if I can get a small bottle for it.  

After the onsen we had a drink and left.  We went to MaxValu and I picked up a few things for lunch tomorrow.  F picked up something for his mother too, and then we came back to the house.  

We had a fairly quiet evening and then F went to bed around midnight. I’m still up.  My nose didn’t run as much today until after the bath. After my nap, I felt a lot better, so that is good.  

Tomorrow I hope to be able to do more laundry, work on my knitting loom project and maybe do some Postcrossing!  Come back later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

January 15, 2018

Monday - Warmer with some rain

An okay day.

I’m sick!  Wah!  A couple of hours after I got up I realized I couldn’t breathe and that has pretty much gone on all day. I am either plugged up or my nose is running. Sigh.  

The morning was good and quiet. I had breakfast upstairs, thought about going back to bed, but did laundry instead.  I did a couple of loads today.  I saw K first thing in the morning, then not again for a while.  

When I went down to grab my lunch, K was up and about, but she was wearing a mask, and I told her I had a runny nose too. I didn’t offer to make her lunch today but I did share some of the food that we bought last night.  She had some food of her own anyway.

I went outside before 4 pm and cleaned up a few bits and bobs around the house and garage.  It started to rain so I gave up and came inside. I wore my new hat and it was lovely and warm.  

F was late coming back tonight and since his mother wasn’t feeling well and neither were we, we decided to stay in and just have the rest of the curry.  We had bought naan last night, so F and K had some rice with theirs, I had naan.  F wasn’t feeling well either and the two of us got into a bit of an argument about something…oh yes, F pretended that he didn’t know how to put curry on my plate because I didn’t have rice on it first.  Umm…what?  I had opened two packets of naan, and then he refused to eat any of it.  I ate the contents of one packet with my (underheated) curry…why can’t he just make the curry hot?  He always heats things up until they are lukewarm.  Anyway.  We ate and things were okay.  

After dinner, I did the dishes and then went upstairs.  I knew F wanted to go to an onsen tonight but I said I wouldn’t go.  I have a mysterious bruise on my leg, plus a cold, I just didn’t want to go to an onsen.  I encouraged him to go, though.  I watched The Great British Bake-Off and he still hadn’t left!  When it was over, I asked if he was going to go out. He was, but to the store. I volunteered to go too, so that’s what we did.

We needed some batteries, but also got some food for both of us.  The curry just wasn’t cutting it tonight.  

We came back to the house, I took a shower and F relaxed.  He went to bed very early, and I think I’ll be close behind him. I’m tired and really not at my best today.  

No idea what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I hope it goes well.  Until tomorrow….