July 29, 2017

Saturday - Hot and sunny, a little muggy

An okay day.

I got up this morning after a bit of a lie-in.  That was nice for a change.  F went to run an errand and brought us back a chocolate bagel each. Yum.  Then, we went to the doctor’s office.  No big deal.  I did some crochet in the cool air conditioned room, finished the band I was working on.  

We came back to the house to see if K wanted to have lunch with us.  I was hoping she wouldn’t since I felt a bit like she’d been with us all week.  However, she wanted to go.  Then F got all naggy with me about where to eat.  He wanted ramen…I didn’t.  I suggested a place where he could get ramen, but he wasn’t happy with it.  Still, he agreed to try it.  We got there and it was full. We’d have to wait for 30 minutes.  Nope.  So, F took us to the Udon shop I quite like.  That was fine, but on the way he said something to the effect that he always tries to make me happy with restaurants.  I nearly cackled in his ear.  He never tries to make me happy, and shoots down most of my suggestions.  He acts like a jerk most of the time when it comes to food…only wants to eat in cheap, horrible places…only wants me to eat Japanese food…I could go on, but why?

We had an okay meal at the place, I worried a bit about being hungry later on, since I had only a little protein.

We got back to the house and almost immediately F asked me to go out for coffee to get some wifi action.  We were driving around when I remembered a place with decent coffee and good parking.  We went to Cafe Studio Cinq. I got my apps updated and we had an okay time for a change.

We came back to the house and I got started in on opening boxes.  I had asked F to help me put some of the stuff away, but of course he had to run more errands (also known as beetling off).  He went, I found some stuff.  I found the crackers I got for Christmas that actually expired today, some beef curry, and my tea.  Hurray!  I brought most of it upstairs.  The tea and coffee I mean, not the other stuff.  

F and I went out for a movie and dinner a bit after 7.  We drove to Mikawa shopping centre and had bibinba.  That was good actually.  They got them really hot today, so the rice burnt in the bowl.  Hurray.  I picked up a ball of yarn at the store for edging the blanket and F bought himself a couple of shirts for work.  

We went to see the movie at 8:55. It was The Mummy and it wasn’t great. I didn’t hate it as much as the critics did, but it wasn’t good either.  We came back to the house via the convenience store and that’s about it.  

I’m quite tired so will be going to bed as soon as possible.  I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow, I think you’ll just have to come back and find out!  Until tomorrow… 

July 31, 2016

Sunday - Hot and humid

An aggravating kind of day.

I woke up late this morning, but because it was Sunday I didn’t care.  I was actually up earlier than F was.  We went to bed around the same time this morning and I got up first.  I was hoping for a few minutes of piece around the apartment, but alas, it was not to be.  

He got up and wanted to go and have lunch right away.  I didn’t really.  He wanted Unagi since yesterday was the “Unagi Day”.  I was okay with that, I like Unagi, just don’t get excited about it.  We got dressed and went off to the restaurant that he likes.  Unfortunately, their parking was full, so we ended up going to Hykkenbori instead.  I was much happier there, and had teriyaki chicken.  F had Hiyashi-chukka. He complained non-stop about it, so nothing new there.  

We went to the Chido Museum today to see an exhibition of Koji Ikuta’s work.  If you like cats and owls you’d probably like his stuff.  I liked some of it, but found myself quite underwhelmed. He doesn’t really seem to have a dedicated website that I could find, but this one might give you a glance at his work. (Link may not work over time, but does at the moment.)

We did a little shopping after the museum.  We went to Shimamura, a sort of cheaper clothing store to see if they had a waist bag for F for our upcoming trip.  They didn’t have one he liked.  I tried on some clothes and even though they fit me, I didn’t buy anything.  I felt like F was rushing me, even though he wasn’t really and I didn’t want to buy anything today.  Besides, I have so many clothes I really need to get rid of a few first. 

We drove over to another part of the city and went to two more stores.  Success!  F found a waist bag that he liked and bought it.  In the adjoining store, I found a couple of birthday cards for my stockpile and a small present for a friend.  

We had a drink at MosBurgers, we both had iced cafe au lait.  It was nice, not earth shattering.  After that, F wanted to come home and watch a video.  I thought it sounded okay.  I really had wanted to do something more fun, but it was less money and I couldn’t argue with that.

We went home, and I suggested watching the last of the Hunger Games films.  I made some popcorn, got us drinks, even put on the film.  Part of the way through the movie, F got up and grabbed the empty popcorn bowl and started to wash it.  Well, it was nice of him and all, but he was making too much noise and I couldn’t hear the movie.  I asked him to stop and the next thing was he had gone into the bedroom and closed the door.  Huh?  I asked him if he wanted me to stop the movie and he said that it wasn’t interesting.  I let him be.  

A few minutes later, he left to see to his mother.  He hadn’t been over there all day so it was a good thing.  I stayed home, finished the movie, washed the dishes and put away my popcorn maker.  The movie was okay.  I liked it, but I had read the books, F hadn’t and he didn’t like it I guess.  

When F came back I had a couple of ideas for him for dinner.  I suggested walking to one of the two local places that have unagi on their menu, but he didn’t want to have it there.  Apparently the only place that can cook it properly in the whole city is the place we tried to go this morning.  Snort.  

We ended up walking to Gusto and having dinner there.  I had chicken again, and F had noodles again.  He didn’t like them very much as usual.  

We walked home and detoured through the grocery store.  We got a few things for dinner for tomorrow and the next night and finished our walk home.  It’s been fairly quiet tonight.  I watched a spot of TV and then F watched a bit.  

Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow.  I should do some laundry and I have to create something for dinner tomorrow night.  Wish me luck with that!  Come back in a bit and check out my next day.  Until tomorrow….

July 30, 2016

Saturday - Hot and muggy and humid with a spot of rain

A good day.

Guess what?  It’s terribly late again and I would like to get to bed before 4 am.  I probably won’t make it, but I’d like to be off my computer before then.  So…the bareish bones.

I got up a little late today and took a shower. When F came home we talked about lunch and today I suggested going to Kitchen Futaba.  We went and had a lovely lunch.  I had their meat plate, which was sautéed pork with salad, vegetable soup, scalloped potatoes and a baguette.  It was very nice.  

After lunch, we went to Yamaya and I picked up 4 cans of garbanzo beans and a couple of cans of tomato!  I’d better do a bit of cooking with them soon.  We got some drinks and F picked up some beer for himself. Next up we visited a drugstore and then went back to a DIY shop.  F bought something for work and then we were off again.  I suggested a drink, but also a trip home to change my shoes.  I’d worn a new pair this morning and my feet were a bit sore. 

We came home and instead of leaving again right away, ended up taking a long afternoon nap.  I got up a couple of hours later, F was a bit longer.  

We drove out to Mikawa in the evening.  I had suggested having dinner at the cheap and cheerful pasta place, and that’s what we did.  It was made even more cheap by my full point card, so yay for that.  We both had some nice pasta.  I had one of their cold ones, it was shrimp with asparagus, red peppers and tomatoes.  F had a peperoncino and seemed to like it.  

We did a little walking along the mall, visited Aeon but only bought some earplugs for me.  I don’t like the soft ones and need some earplugs.  We had a drink in Seattle’s Best and then went upstairs for the movie. We went to see The Legend of Tarzan and it was quite fun.  It brought back happy memories of my mum taking my sister and I into town to see Johnny Weissmuller Tarzan movies in Stavanger when we were kids!  Alexander Skarsgard is pretty hot and Jane wasn’t annoying.  The scenery was gorgeous too.

We came back to Tsuruoka afterwards.  F was being a tad annoying.  He asked if I wanted to eat anything (I didn’t) and I said I’d like a drink.  I suggested either going to the convenience store or the Don Qihote nearby for cheaper drinks.  He ignored both ideas and drove back to Tsuruoka.  When we got nearer I thought about suggesting Mos Burgers, but he went another way.  Then he proceeded to drive past each and every convenience store on the way.  Then he asked if I wanted to go to the grocery store.  Nope.  They have crappy drinks there.  We went to a convenience store that was further away, but we had already passed a couple on the way home.  Why?  I don’t get it!  

We came home and I watched a bit of TV and then F watched a bunch of local stuff.  He did put on Countdown TV which was very “natsukashi” for me.   I used to watch it when I first came to Japan to hear what music was popular in Japan at the time!  Now, I don’t really care that much.  

And that’s about it really.  I don’t have any idea what we’ll get up to tomorrow.  I hope it might be a quiet day.  Come back in a bit and see what happens.  Until tomorrow….

July 29, 2016

Friday - Hot and humid

A good day.

I overslept again this morning but I don’t care!  Well, I do, but there wasn’t anything I could do after it happened.  I got up, made the bed quickly and was just about to start eating breakfast when F popped home bearing ice cream!  He ate his, I ate my breakfast.  Overnight oatmeal again, it was nice.  I’d only put half of the amount of yogurt in this time and it wasn’t as sour.  Unfortunately, F left to go back to work and also left his phone behind him.  I tried to run after him, but I was still in my pyjamas and there were two young boys in our apartment building’s lobby.  

I had a semi busy day around the apartment.  I did a bit of cleaning and got the shock of my life when I was vacuuming and F came back to have lunch and get his cell phone.  

Lunch today for me was nice. I had some of the curry and quinoa, plus a small bun we had bought yesterday.  It was very nice.  

In the later part of the afternoon, I scanned my cards and then fast walked them over to the post office.  I came home and began preparing for dinner.  

Tonight I made Migas again, and we had that with the last of the curry, quinoa and rice for F.  I managed to get the eggs just about perfect tonight…and of course F wouldn’t come to the table for ages.  I decided that I would start without him, and did.  Eggs should be eaten right away.  I wish he knew that!

I ended up doing the dishes tonight too.  I started them because F was deeply involved in his computer and then just when I get to the last thing, the frying pan, F acted like he had no idea what I was doing all this time.  Our living room and kitchen is only separated by an island, not a wall.  I knew he was tired so I didn’t care too much, but I do wish he wouldn’t act like he was surprised I did the dishes!

We took a walk tonight.  It was okay.  We went a different way than we’ve been going lately and it was hard to get into it.  My foot was acting up towards the end of the walk, and it was so hot and humid outside that I wasn’t feeling too happy.  Still, we went.  Yay us.

We came home and I relaxed, made some tea for both of us and ate the ice cream F brought me this morning.  It was nice.  

And that was just about it for my day.  I had to turn on the AC this evening as it was just too hot and humid for me.  I think I could stand the heat, it was just the humidity what done me in!

Come back in a while and find out all about my hopefully fabulous Saturday.  Until tomorrow….

July 28, 2016

Thursday - Hot and humid, sunny

A good day.

I finally didn’t oversleep.  However, I didn’t sleep for much of the night.  I went to bed late, but all the coffee that I drank at dinner, plus the excitement/horror at killing a mukade before going to bed meant that I wasn’t able to sleep until a lot after it started to get light.

I had an okay morning.  I ate my overnight oatmeal and decided that it was a bit sour.  I’ve tried it again tonight, with half yogurt and half soy milk.  I hope it works.  

I took my shower in the morning and had lunch at home too.  F came home for his lunch and then popped out again.  He didn’t come home again until 2ish.  We went over to city hall and got the tax paper that he needed.  Yay for that.

Then we had some time so went to East, the Grand El Sun’s cafe and had a drink and some gorgeous cake.  It was to die for.  Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate.  Yum.  We went to the Internet cafe for a few hours.  F needed the massage and I just didn’t have anything pressing to do.  I was watching a documentary and fell asleep on it.  I woke up about 30 minutes later, groggy and not really sure where I was!

We left after our 3 hours were up and went for dinner.  We went to a fish restaurant and it was quite nice, just noisy.  In the evening it becomes more of a drinking place and there were some younger ladies making a lot of noise.  F and I each had raw fish on rice dishes, he had a mixture and I had tuna, and we shared an order of pad thai.  It wasn’t great, but it was okay.

We visited the nearby drug store and then our grocery store.  Tomorrow’s dinner will be eggy and leftover-y.  I’m looking forward to it.  Too bad I’m the one that has to cook it!

We didn’t walk tonight.  F is tired and hurting, and my semi-recurring foot problem is bugging me, so decided to take a night off.  When we came home, F put away the groceries, hung up his laundry and went to bed.  That was a tad sad, but understandable. I stayed up and watched some telly and wrote up a few postcards.  

Now then, I hope you’ll excuse me.  I am still tired and I need my beauty sleep.  Come back in a bit and we’ll see what kinds of excitement I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

July 27, 2016

Wednesday - Rainy and very humid

An okay day.

I overslept AGAIN.  Yikes.  I have no idea why.  I am blaming the hot weather. It is so draining, although I feel much better this year than I usually do.  No idea.  

I got up, had breakfast and tea, then did all my morning things in case F came home for lunch.  He did.  He was tired and told me that he’d take off some time tomorrow afternoon so that he could go to City Hall with me and take care of some tax stuff.  Yay him! Except it isn’t for me, it is for him and his work. 

He went back to work and I got on with my day.  I had lunch fairly early for a change…some of my leftover curry and quinoa.  Yum!  The only bad point about it is that the canned tomato in it causing my itchy skin allergy again.  Boo. I watched an episode of Once Upon a Time and enjoyed it.  I scanned my postcards and then ran them over to the post office.  Okay, not “ran” technically, but I did fast walk them over.

I came home again, washed the day’s dishes and then F came home soon after.

We discussed dinner and he wanted to go out and have ramen.  I didn’t.  I finally suggested a place that he could get ramen and I could get not ramen.  I got curry instead which I could have just had at home with not as many calories and I would have preferred.  But…

We came home afterwards and I did a little bit of Moderating on one of my groups before getting ready for walking.

We went out again tonight and it wasn’t bad.  F still stops too many times for me, but he didn’t do it too often tonight.  We had a pretty good walk.  He did mention tonight how he doesn’t have to slow down much for me.  Snort.  Thing is, these days, I have to slow down for him when he takes pictures.  I do ask him to start more slowly than he wants to so we can warm up and I also try to do a cool down pace at the end, but he’s kind of a one speed person!

Came home and watched some TV and then gave him the remotes.  Watched Grey’s Anatomy tonight and quite enjoyed it.  I am wondering what is going on with the characters, but I always wonder that!

So, that was my day.  It wasn’t bad at all really.  Tomorrow I hope to get a few things done in the morning before F comes home.  Once he’s home, I won’t get much peace and quiet.  

Come back in a bit for the next update.  Until tomorrow….

July 26, 2016

Tuesday - Rainy in the morning, hot and humid 

A good day.

I overslept again.  I woke up early enough, but instead of getting up, decided to snooze for an extra 20 minutes.  That turned into two hours, so that isn’t good. Sigh.

However, I had breakfast and tea and then got dressed, made the bed, the usual.  F came home for lunch today, which was odd as he hasn’t come home in a bit.  In the afternoon I took a shower and did a few computer things before running off to the post office and then grocery store.  

I had found a recipe last night and decided to do it today since I had almost all of the ingredients.  I picked up a few at the store and then came home and started to make it.  

F came home just as I had started to cook it, but it didn’t take that long to finish.  I also made a big pot of quinoa for myself too.  Tonight’s dinner was an almost vegetarian dish, Easy Chickpea and Potato Curry.  If I had a different kind of stock cube, it would be vegetarian…probably even vegan.  I served it up to F and he seemed to like it.  I liked it a lot too. I’m just glad that I didn’t use all the cayenne pepper that was called for!

A little bit after dinner, we went for a walk.  We tried a new route tonight and it was quite good.  F wasn’t feeling that great again.  His accident seems to have caused some extra pain in his back. We stopped in at a convenience store again for treats.  Sigh. 

We came home, had our treats and a little while later I watched some TV.  I wrote a few postcards tonight too.

Soon, I’ll be going off to bed and that’ll be it for another day.  Tomorrow I hope to get out of the apartment, although I might not do all that I’d like to.  We’ll see.

Come back in a little while and see what my Wednesday is like.  Until tomorrow….

July 25, 2016

Monday - Hot and sunny

A goodish day in which I rant about my husband. You have been warned!

I slept in a little bit this morning, probably too many late nights lately.  Still, I got up, and made breakfast and my tea, then got on with my day.

I had a quiet day at home. I even found time to eat lunch and watched a couple of episodes of Once Upon a Time, plus The Fosters.  I was glad to be able to take them off the DVR.  I recorded the Hunger Games series yesterday so that F and I can watch the last film in the series. I still haven’t seen it yet.

I got dinner prep started early tonight.  I was making pancakes and I had a plan that I didn’t exactly follow.  My plan was to make plain pancakes for dinner and then a couple of sweeter ones from a mix for dessert to have with some fruit cocktail we bought yesterday.  Well, F only had a couple of regular pancakes and didn’t want the other type, so I didn’t make them.  I’m thinking I could always make them for myself some day!  I got out our griddle, and set it up on the kitchen table.  I made most of the mix up first, just didn’t combine the wet and dry ingredients and then when F finally arrived I started cooking.  We had pancakes done Scandinavian style, with bacon in the pancake, plus salad and after the fruit cocktail.  It was quite nice, but why oh why does F feel the need to use metal on my lovely non-stick goods?  I’m getting rather upset about it…I had a plastic turner at the ready, yet he chose to scrape his table knife over the grill.  Then when I tried to protest, HE got mad at me.  Umm….I guess I’m not allowed to have nice things. How stupid of me to forget. 

We had some fruit cocktail afterwards and F did the dishes.  He kept harassing me about going for a walk, which I said I would, so I’m not sure why he was being a pain.  Then he tried to print something out with his computer and printer and couldn’t do it, so I told him to email it to me.  The thing about F is that he just doesn’t try things on his own.  I have to go to his computer, do it for him by trying to figure out what the Japanese means, and then letting him think he knows what is going on.  Ha.  

It wasn’t quite that bad, but he does have a way of talking to me like I’m an idiot at times.  

So, after his thing was printed out, he started in again about the walk.  I went to the bedroom, closed the door and changed into my walking gear.  When I came out he seemed surprised to see me. 

We did go out, did about 4 km actually.  I would have happily gone further, but he was a bit under the weather so it really wasn’t fair to ask it of him.  He does do something that irks me while we are walking.  He stops to take photos.  There’s really no point.  He’s using his iPhone which is hopeless at night and I’m trying to keep my heart rate up.  That means I have to walk in place or as I did tonight, keep going.  

I didn’t really mean this to turn into a rant about my husband, and yet…here it is! 

On the way home, we stopped at a convenience store for ice cream and then came home and ate it.  I just got a small one that’s under 100 calories so not too bad for me really.  

I watched a little TV, but not all that much.  F went to bed fairly early.  Hurray for that.  Oh, and about the car.  It’s away being repaired so he has a loaner at the moment.  I haven’t seen it yet.  Also, the insurance companies are supposedly working things out, so I hope everything goes well.  

And that’s about it for me.  Bit of a mashup today, but ended with ice cream, so that’s not all bad! Come back and see what I get up to later.  Until tomorrow….

July 24, 2016

Sunday - Warm and Sunny

An oddish day.

I slept in this morning because it is Sunday and I always do AND because I didn’t go to bed until very very early this morning.  I woke up a few times but one time I woke up because F called me. He was calling to say he’d been in an accident and was okay, but he might be home a bit late.

He arrived after 1 pm and I was up by then.  He told me that the person in front of him had stopped her car, so of course he stopped too.  The problem was the person behind him didn’t stop her car in time.  She rear-ended F’s car and caused quite a bit of damage.  Sadly for us, it seems like she doesn’t have complete insurance coverage, so I’m not sure what is going to happen about that.  F’s insurance will likely have to pick up the balance.  Sigh.  

We had a late lunch at Bikkuri Donkey!! which was nice for a change.  It’s so close, but we don’t go much as they don’t have a drink bar, and they don’t have a lot of food that F likes. 

When we finished lunch, we visited a camera shop so we could have some photos of the damage done to F’s car developed.  We were there for a few minutes, but not long really.

We wanted to have a drink, so ended up going to Doutors again for a drink. Before the drink, we popped into Baskin Robbins for some ice-cream. After we had our drink and our ice-cream, we headed off to the theatre.  Today’s movie was Youth with Michael Caine, Harvey Keitel and Rachel Weisz.  Neither of us liked it!  It had too many characters with pointless stories and never seem to lead anywhere.  Yesterday’s movie was so very much better.

We had a quick dinner at Cocos tonight.  I had chicken and F had a noodle dish.  I almost had one too, but I was wearing a shirt that is a bit of a pain to wash as it has to be laid flat to dry. I can’t eat noodles without splashing myself with soup so decided not to go there.

I bought a few groceries and then we came home.  We went for a walk and took a few pictures of the moon.  Sadly, they didn’t turn out well.  The moon was big and bright tonight. When we came home, F did some prep work for meeting with the insurance people tomorrow.  I hope things go well for him.  I feel a bit sorry for the woman that hit his car, but more sorry for his car!  

And that’s about it.  Tomorrow I hope to get a few things done around the apartment, and I’d like to get out for a little if I can.   Come back later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

July 23, 2016

Saturday - Warm and sunny

A good day!

I woke up a bit late this morning, but nothing unusual really.  I got ready to take a shower and just as I was going to, F came home.  I showered and then we did our usual fighting over where to eat.  F wanted gyudon, I didn’t really, but said I’d go.  We went to the car and then he said that he’d go somewhere else.  I tried to suggest a couple of places that he might like, but these days it is almost impossible if they don’t serve ramen.  Finally I decided to please myself and suggested a place in S-Mall.  We went there and I had my favourite tuna and mushroom cream spaghetti and it was as nice as ever.  I didn’t have any sides with it like I usually do. F had cold ramen salad. He said it was okay.

We had an iced coffee downstairs after a quick run through the hundred yen shop, then came home.  I went into the apartment, F went over to check on his mother.  He came back a few minutes later and then I took a nap.  

F has been in a bad mood for a while now.  It’s the rainy season so his back is really bad and his medicine doesn’t seem to cut it.  I think I just have to have patience with him (or try anyway) until it is over.  

I got up a bit before 6 and we began the whole rigamarole about deciding where to go for dinner tonight.  We wanted to see a movie, and were planning to walk to the theatre so wanted something on the way.  I came up with a few ideas, like stopping at the grocery store for a couple of things and eating there if there was a table area or a restaurant or two that F didn’t like.  We ended up going to a little casual restaurant near the main post office.  They serve local food and it wasn’t bad.  I had chicken steak and F had some kind of pork dish.  

After dinner, we still had an hour before our movie, so I suggested we do a little walking around.  Well, there was a festival on just down the street, so we went and had a look.  F being F, we didn’t buy anything and I didn’t really ask to look at anything, although I would have if given half a chance.  It was a really nice night out and the festival was quite fun.  

We went to see 45 Years with Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay and it was fabulous.  Looking at IMDb, it sounded boring but with good performances.  However, I forgot that most of the fanboys that comment on that website are into superhero movies and don’t like cerebral British dramas.  Okay, maybe I exaggerate, but the movie was really good.  I didn’t think F would like it, but he did AND he “got” it.  We left the theatre and chatted a bit about the movie.

We decided to go to a bar or an izakaya for a drink.  F’s first choice was busy, so we went to another one down the street.  After dinner, and popcorn I didn’t really want much to eat, so we stopped at a Fish Izakaya and had a drink each and a little food.  It was quite nice and then we walked home.

At home, F went to bed, and I stayed up and watched a little TV.  When the TV I wanted to watch finished, I put on a movie.  Yes, I am that crazy.  And now I’m watching videos from the 90’s.  Right now it is Alannah Myles and Black Velvet! And Right Said Fred!  Do not believe his jumpsuit!  It leaves very little to the imagination!

Okay, I have to get some sleep. The sun is coming up and I know that F will be getting up in a couple of hours!  I’ll probably talk to you again in a few hours.  Until…later today…?

July 22, 2016

Friday - Sunny and Hot

A good day.

I got up on time this morning, had some breakfast and tea and a while later started to do some laundry.  I did a couple of loads today, along with putting away some of the dry stuff.

In the afternoon I watched a bit of stuff from the DVR and then cleared it off.  Yay me.  I had lunch and it was very nice too.  It was mostly leftovers, but I like leftovers a lot.  

Around 5 pm I started to get the kitchen ready for dinner.  I got the ingredients ready and when F came home a bit after 6 I was ready to cook.  I made Migas which I first heard about from a reader to this blog (Thank you!!!)  I didn’t have anything spicy to put in, but the tortilla chips and a bit of cheese were well received.  

After dinner F went to bed and that’s where he still is.  He’s been sleeping for 6 hours.  Obviously he got out of doing dishes and even though he said he’d go for a walk, he didn’t get up, so no walk tonight.  Sigh.  

I spent a quiet evening by myself watching telly.  It wasn’t bad, but it was a bit lonely to be honest.  

I really have no idea what we’re going to get up to this weekend.  I’m hoping to be able to see a movie, but I don’t know if F will be up for that.  You’ll just have to come back later and find out.  Until tomorrow….

July 21, 2016

Thursday - Sunny and hot

A good day.

I woke up early so that I could go to a movie if I wanted to, but decided to skip it and sleep a bit more.  I ended up sleeping a lot more instead.  Sigh.  Still, I got up and had my breakfast and tea, and that was great.

I decided that today’s project had to be my niece’s birthday present, so I wrapped everything and then boxed it up and then wrapped the box. That took a while.  Then, I still had to scan the postcards I wrote last night.  I was trying to get them all done, but realized that I wouldn’t make it before the post office shut.  I decided to ask my husband to take me to the main branch if he finished work in time.  

Luckily for me, he did finish in time and graciously took me there.  We sent off the package after the woman checking very thoroughly that I hadn’t packed any dangerous goods in it.  (I hadn’t!  I like my niece and have no wish to send her something that would harm her!)

We came home afterwards.  F called his mother to see if she needed him tonight, but she didn’t.  I took a quick shower and then we talked about dinner. We both had the same idea, so went to Kintaro Sushi tonight.  

I didn’t have a lot of sushi, I had the sashimi plate and a few bits of sushi and miso soup.  It was nice.

We hit up the grocery store for a few things and surprisingly, they were selling cartons with a dozen eggs in them! I’ve only ever seen cartons of 10 here, or 6 occasionally.  I was quite surprised.  I got one as I’m planning eggs for dinner tomorrow.

We came home and F wanted me to go for a walk.  I said no at first because I’m finding that I need a break sometimes, but decided that I’d go for a shorter walk.  Last night we were out for almost an hour and walked a long way, tonight was closer to 30 minutes and walked a couple of kilometres. We didn’t go to a convenience store either.  

At home, I watched most of Bones while F had some snacks.  I decided that I’d make myself some popcorn, so did that.  That’s really about it.  Tomorrow I’m hoping to do a bit of laundry and try and stay cool.  I also have a project that I need to start for my woman’s group.  And the table runner for my sister needs to be finished as well! 

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

July 20, 2016

Wednesday - Sunny and warm

A good day.

I got up early today, but fell asleep on the couch.  Sigh.  I had a really bizarre dream that woke me up, and I was shocked to see the time.

I had a late breakfast and some iced tea and then got on with my day.  F didn’t come home for lunch which did surprise me a tad.  

I watched most of a movie on NHK this afternoon while I set up my slow cooker for tonight’s dinner.  I was trying a new recipe, lemon chicken in the slow cooker.  It turned out okay, not great though.  F liked it, I wasn’t so sure.

After my quick lunch of cucumber sandwiches I took my big bicycle over to the drugstore and bought a few things.  I came home afterwards and started thinking about dinner.  F called to say he’d be late, but of course, wasn’t that late after all.

Still, dinner was good and on the table fairly fast.  I served him up quite a few leftovers with the lemon chicken.  I made “Buddha Bowls” for dinner though…I made a pot of quinoa and F had some rice with his and we topped them with the chicken and whatever toppings we wanted from the table.  Dinner was quite good.

When F finished the dishes he started chomping at the bit to go for a walk.  I really wasn’t that into it tonight again.  I guess I am really feeling the need to have some peaceful time after dinner to digest and relax.  I might need to talk to him about that actually.  

We went for a really long walk, it took almost an hour and of course we went through a convenience store for ice cream and in my case, a sports drink.  

I watched a couple of TV programs, while F vegged, bathed and then headed off to bed.  I stayed up as ever.  Sigh.  

I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow.  If I can drag myself out of bed I might go and see a movie or two at the local theatre.  That depends more on my budget and whether I can get to the theatre before the movies start or not!

Come back in a bit and see what I manage to do on Thursday.  Until tomorrow….

July 19, 2016

Tuesday - Warm and Sunny

A good day.

I woke up late this morning but got up, made the bed, and got dressed so that was good. I made some breakfast and tea. 

I had a quiet morning really.  I didn’t do a lot, but along the way I did some laundry, put some away and got a start on dinner.  I also wrote a couple of gotochi cards and ran them off to the post office.  I just missed the last mail though, so they won’t go out until tomorrow most likely.

I came home and started putting dinner together.  I had decided to poach the salmon that we bought last night, so prepped for that, plus steamed some broccoli and made some potato salad.  When F came home, I started the salmon.  When we were ready to eat, it was really good.  F seemed to like it, but he was surprised when he saw it in the pan.  Dinner was really nice.  I probably will poach the salmon again.  I liked it a lot and I’m not a huge fan of grilled fish, believe it or not!

After dinner, F did the dishes and then set the bread maker.  He promised some bread to his mother and we need a bit too.  He wanted to go for our walk right away so that he could be back when the bread was finished.  

I really wasn’t feeling the walk at first, but as always happens, I got into it and it was nice.  I’m glad I went.

We came home and relaxed a bit.  At 11 I watched Suits and finally finished the crocheted runner I’m doing for my sister.  Except, I’m just not sure if I am happy with it.  I think it’ll be fine and I should block it first and then have a look, but right now I’m just happy that it is finished!

And that’s about it for my day.  I’ve been wasting time and watching much too much TV (Macbeth was on, and I just have to watch Macbeth, y’know!)

Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow.  I’m supposed to be cooking so I’ll likely do something in my slow cooker.  Yay for me!  Come back later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

July 18, 2016

Monday - Cloudy in the morning, Sunny in the afternoon

A really great day!

Today didn’t start out that well.  I woke up early and tried to get up, but didn’t.  F came back to bed and slept, I got up a bit later, went back to bed.  Finally I dragged myself up around noon, and F came through a lot later.  I sent him over to his mother’s house because he hadn’t even seen her yesterday. I took a shower while he was gone.

When he came back, it seemed like he just wanted to go back to bed, but I was hungry!  I asked about going for my picnic, but F said that he didn’t want to as it would be too wet.  I suggested Gusto as a quick alternative for lunch, but when I finally got outside to jump in the car, the weather was looking up.  F agreed to the picnic idea, so we jumped in the car and went to the grocery store. Over at Pal, their grocery store has fabulous sandwiches made with decent bread, so we grabbed a couple there, plus a few other things and something to drink, then we drove out to Oyama.  We sometimes go to the bird sanctuary, but today we went up the hill near it.  We parked the car and found a stone table and ate our yummy lunch.  I was so happy.  I had been wanting to eat outside for a while and this was lovely. Good food, nice weather and views, and not many bugs!

Our food- Camembert Sandwich, Fish Sandwich, Katsu Sand, Soba and Mugi-cha.  So nice!

One of the views from our picnic table

Gorgeous lilies growing almost wild

A modern version of an old fashioned bridge

We walked around the hill and did a bit of exploring.  We saw a couple of old temples and some lovely flowers growing almost wild.  It was fabulous really.

When we were done there, F wanted to drive out to the ocean, so off we went again.  We stopped in Yura and walked over to the little island.  The last time we went there, we came just after they had closed off the walkways for the evening, but today they were open.  We climbed a bunch of stairs, which didn’t make me very happy and then found a whole lot more stairs!  Still, we were committed and I took them slowly and carefully, and it was fine.  When we made it around the island I was so proud of myself!  

View from the island of the mainland

In a lull between the stairs!

The walkway we had to use.  There were bits where we looked down into the ocean.

Gorgeous views!

We drove back to Yunohama with the plan to go to the cafe with waffles, but when we got there, they had just called last order and wouldn’t let us in.  I was a bit ticked at that since the sign on the door said they were open, but whatever.  We drove off to the Farmers Marche and had a lovely cup of iced coffee there instead.  We left just as they closed!

We came back to Tsuruoka and had dinner at our old favourite Jiro.  It was great.  We decided to do a little shopping, so went to Gyomu Super for some nice stuff.  I bought the last two packages of frozen tortillas…I like these ones because they are smaller, better for my diet.  We got some oatmeal, some ice cream and some frozen foccaccia.  I’m looking forward to trying some of this stuff.  We brought it all home and put it away.  

We went to the drugstore next and got a few things for the apartment.  I needed detergent, and we also found some lavender tea in a bottle. We got one for each of us.  We went to Gusto for dessert.  I wanted to try their “Stone-Bowl Desserts”. It is sort of like a cold bibinba….the one I ended up having had ice cream, whipped cream, cheesecake and berries.  You mix them up and then eat them.  It was pretty good, but a little expensive for the amount of food!  F had a kakigori which needed more milk he said.  

The Stone Bowl Dessert...with F's Kakigori in the background.  Yum!

We bought some groceries for the next couple of days and then came home.  We put away the groceries and then got changed and went out for a walk.  We did a shorter one than usual, but actually it wasn’t all that short!  It was good and we avoided the convenience stores though.

At home again we relaxed.  F got himself ready for work tomorrow, I texted with a friend who had to cancel our plans for this week.  

Honestly, it was such a nice day.  I am really glad that I pushed the idea of the picnic to F, I’m not sure he was really looking forward to it, but it was fun.  Tomorrow, sad to say, we’re back to normal. The weather is supposed to be bad again so I may just stay home.  

Come back later and see if Tuesday was as good as my Monday was.  Until tomorrow….

July 17, 2016

Sunday - Rainy and cloudy

A good day.

I slept in because it was Sunday and that’s what I do!  When I got up, F went and had a nap for a bit.  We talked about going out for lunch and then I asked F if he’d like me to cook us brunch instead.  I had bacon, eggs and hash brown patties in the fridge….pretty easy to pull something out of that! He said yes, and so I cooked.  We had bacon, scrambled eggs and the hash browns and it was nice.  We had a couple of mini tomatoes in the fridge, so they went on the plates too.  There were even a couple of plums for afterwards.  

After our brunch we went out.  F wanted to go to the Internet Cafe which was fine.  I had a bag of stuff with me, but when we were on our way there F asked if there were any movies.  We drove to the local theater to see, but nothing was on for a while.  

The parking lot at the Internet Cafe was full, so we couldn’t park there.  We looked at the times of the Mikawa movies and we had a scant 20 minutes to make it there to see a movie.  It usually takes 20 minutes just to drive out there.  We got to the mall and went up to the theater, but decided to wait and do a little shopping first!  

We looked at handbags for me, bought some socks for F and me, and I looked at the craft work stuff, but didn’t buy anything except socks.  We had an iced tea and a doughnut at Mr Donut.  I even did my good deed for the day when I asked F to move down a chair so a lady at the next table could have a seat.  

We finally went to see the movie, Independence Day: Resurgence. It wasn’t great.  I didn’t like it very much. I was mildly entertained by it, but really wouldn’t recommend it unless people are desperate to see a movie.  

We left the mall after the movie and drove back to Tsuruoka.  I suggested to F that we get something from the grocery store for dinner since we weren’t terribly hungry, and that’s what we did.  We picked up some sushi, tempura and bifun and came home.

We waited for a while to eat and started watching a film called Child 44.  It was about a murder investigation during the start of communist Russia.  Of course, there couldn’t be any murders happening in the heaven that was Communist Russia!  It was quite engrossing and even managed to suck F into it too.  We ate our dinner and had a quiet evening in.

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to on Monday.  It’s a long weekend here, so F will be around.  We may do a version of a picnic or if we have time go and do a little sightseeing.  You’ll have to come back later and find out!  Until tomorrow….

July 16, 2016

Saturday - Cloudy with a bit of rain later on

A good day!

I got up this morning quite early for me, but not as early as my hubby.  He was up around 5 he said.  Not just up, but out too!  He went to the grocery store, then to his doctor’s, his mother’s and back to his doctor.  He came back home just after I had begun to prepare for my shower.  Weird!

I had a quick breakfast and tea before we popped out to my doctor’s office.  Of course it took an hour before we got to see him, and we really weren’t even seeing him, I was seeing a man about a machine.  I got a new one.  I won’t let you know if it works better!

We had lunch at Naa, the farmer’s restaurant and it was quite nice.  After that, we went to an electronic shop where F bothered me by following me all around the store thisclose to me.  He looms over me by about 15 cm anyway, so I dislike it intensely.  I feel like he’s following me because he thinks I’m going to shoplift something.  I tried following right behind him for a while, but I couldn’t do the looming bit, so it just didn’t have the effect I was hoping for!

We drove around looking for another coffee shop, but the one Siri directed us to had closed.  Instead, we finally went to the same one we went to last week, but had kakigori instead of drinks.  I had coffee milk shaved ice and it was yummy!  F had coffee with azuki beans.  He liked it, but I think mine was much better.

We came home for a while and then discussed going for dinner.  We went to Fireball at my suggestion and it was really good.  We had the set dish, F ordered off the specials menu, me off the regular one.  I picked cold pasta with shrimp, raw tomatoes and avocado.  I think the base was a soup, maybe fish or chicken?  I’m not sure but it was good.  F ordered smoked salmon and uni in a tomato cream sauce and his was really good too.  

We were quite stuffed afterwards.

We came home and watched the third Hunger Games movie.  I liked it, but thought the pacing wasn’t great, F said he liked it, but really fell asleep in the middle!  When it was over he stumbled off to bed.

I stayed up and watched some telly, including the finale of So You Think You Can Dance.  There were some great dance routines tonight.  I also caught the end of The Machinist with Christian Bale.  Weird movie…not sure if I’ll bother seeing the whole thing sometime since I know the plot now.  

And that’s about it for today.  I have no idea what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I think a lot depends on the weather, and how F and I are feeling.  Come back later, I’ll most likely update but if I don’t, don’t wait up too late!  Until tomorrow…. 

July 15, 2016

Friday - Warm and sunny, bit muggy

A good day.

I got up early this morning, earlier than I even meant to!  I got dressed and did a little last minute straightening up.  The Gas Guy came just after 9 and was in the apartment for quite a while, doing whatever it was that he was doing with the gas!  

He left and I went back to my normal day.  I had tea and breakfast, watched Castle for the third time and saw F when he came home a couple of times.  

In the afternoon I did some computer stuff and also  watched a few shows off the DVR.  I had a yummy lunch of leftovers and then scanned my cards and stamped them.

I ran off to the post office and was able to buy the newest series of the Gotochi cards.  I bought a few for keeping and for sending too.

Ginzan Onsen - The newest Gotochi card from Yamagata

I came home and started getting ready for dinner.  I sautéed some mushrooms and set the table, got a few ingredients out of the fridge to warm up.  When F came home I kicked dinner prep up a notch and we had a nice dinner of cheese and mushroom omelettes plus hash browns and salad.  It was all quite nice.  F did the dishes afterwards, which was nice for me!

We went for a walk tonight and ended up at the convenience store for some ice cream again.  It’s hard to resist when it is summer.  We came home, had our ice cream and some blueberries and settled in for the evening.  I watched a couple of programmes and just finished a Daniel Radcliffe movie called Horns that was rather odd, but interesting!  

Tomorrow I’m off to the doctor’s office again to pick something up, then I don’t know what I’ll get up to.  Hopefully I’ll be able to update, so come on back and find out!  Until tomorrow…

July 14, 2016

Thursday - Cloudy, muggy, hot

An okay day.

I had a usual sort of morning today.  I got up, made myself some porridge which was lovely and some tea too.  In the early afternoon, I turned off the TV and did some vacuuming and tidying up.  I was sweating by the end of it.  It was a humid day.

In the afternoon I had lunch and also watched a bit of stuff from the DVR. I enjoyed myself.  

Around 5 I started to get the kitchen in order for dinner.  I did the dishes from the day up and started prepping the food.  F came home a bit later and I got dinner into higher gear.  I made some chicken in the toaster oven, and some anchovy potatoes from a spice packet.  I asked F to come over to eat but he wouldn’t.  I didn’t say much, just decided to have my own dinner.  That done, I cleaned up after myself and then asked him if he’d like to have anything for dinner.  He said no and apologized.  He wasn’t feeling that great.  I’m sorry that he wasn’t feeling well, but was quite happy that he didn’t get mad at me and told me the reason why.  

I cleaned up everything and put the rest of the dinner stuff away.

In the evening we went out for a walk.  We did go a little longer than the last couple of nights, but it still wasn’t long enough.  On the way back we stopped into the convenience store for a couple of things.  

I watched a couple of shows tonight and did some crochet and postcrossing too.  That was fun.  

Tomorrow I have to be up early as there is a person checking our gas around 9 am.  Also, it is a long weekend so I’m not sure what is going to happen around here either.  Come back later and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

July 13, 2016

Wednesday - Cloudy and rainy

A good day.

I got up this morning, made the bed and then took a shower.  I had a quick breakfast and some tea and then finished getting dressed.  I met my friend S and we went to her apartment.  She made lunch for us there.  It was simple, but so good!  We had baguette sandwiches and dessert.

We chatted for quite a while, but finally she had to get ready for work, so I asked her to drive me to S-Mall.  I was going to meet F there after he finished work.  She drove me, and I hopped out of the car.

I walked around the mall, found something for my niece and walked around some more.  I went back to buy the something for my niece and got myself a little something too.  

I went to Doutors and had an iced tea.  I sat at a table and finished reading a book on my phone.  It was a bit silly, but okay really.  F called me to say that he was going to his mother’s place.  Then, he called me to say it was Obon and he was going to take her to the temple.  He’d forgotten that it was Obon…and so had I!  

I finished my tea and was just deciding which book to start next when F called again.  He was in the mall looking for me.  He came over and I used the card we have to buy him a drink.  Then, I got myself another one too.  

We talked about dinner and decided to go to an udon restaurant.  Off we went.  We both had the same thing and we shared a spicy salad.  We had a spicy cabbage salad, then each had a bowl of udon and some tempura on rice.  It was good, if a little greasy.  

We went to a grocery store, the nice new one that I like, and got something for dinner for the next couple of nights.  

We came home and were going to go for a walk, but then F got wrapped up in computer stuff and it was 10:00 pm before he knew it.  I didn’t really want to go out so late, but REALLY wanted a walk, so changed my mind and asked if we could go.  He didn’t want to go too far again, but we did walk a couple of kilometres so not too bad!

We came home, I watched Grey’s Anatomy and did a little crochet.  

That’s about it really.  I had a good day, I didn’t spend much time at home.  No idea what sort of things I’ll get up to on Thursday.  Come back and find out!  Until tomorrow….