March 31, 2019

Sunday - Rainy with hail and thunder too.

F and I slept in this morning, but F got up earlier than me and went off to his wrestling club. He bumped into his old teacher a few nights ago and wanted to go and help out again. I don’t really mind, in fact, I sort of encouraged him to go, but it sounds like he wants to go for 3 hours in the morning on Saturdays and Sundays. That’s a bit much in my books. We’ll see how it goes. I got up, dressed and even had breakfast. I waited for him to come back. He was in a good mood when he did.

F invited his mother out for lunch with us, but she’d already eaten. That meant we could go anywhere. F requested the Stamina Yakiniku place, aka The Evil Place. It was a bit expensive, and a bit busy. It also wasn’t that great! The meat was fine, but they seemed not to have a lot of the other dishes they used to have. The salad bar was light, and so was the precooked foods. Still, I did fine. F ate a lot of their sushi, I didn’t have any and didn’t overdo the meat either. 

We left right on time and didn’t want to move very much! We decided to go to S-Mall and check out the bookstore there for something. The mall was quite busy so we parked upstairs and went to the bookstore. They didn’t have what we wanted, so we ordered it, they’ll call F tomorrow about it. 

We had a coffee each in Doutors and used the wifi, then visited the hundred yen shop. I’d popped in earlier but hadn’t bought anything. I was surprised to see that F had a smartphone holder in his basket—I’d looked at it earlier and considered buying it for him! Great minds think alike.

The view from the top of the Mall's building. A storm approaching.

We left the mall and went and got K something for dinner and my shopping for dinner/lunch tomorrow too. I am going to make dinner again. It’s going to be simple again, but I think it’s okay really. I am also going to make soup. Yay me.

On the way back to the house I suggested that F take K to the onsen as she hadn’t been out all weekend. He liked the idea and said that they should go soon before she ate. That’s what they did. I had the house to myself for an hour and a bit. I didn’t do much, just relaxed and used my computer. 

When F came back he said he hadn’t bought kerosene and also needed to buy some treats for his new co-workers. Did I have any ideas about where would be open?  Not really.  We were going to try Yamaya but noticed a Japanese cake shop was still open after 8 pm, so went there. F got his treats and then we went for dinner. He didn’t quite believe that I was ready for more food, but I pointed out that I hadn’t eaten as much as him so it was time!

We went to the nearby Gusto and had an okay meal. I had a baked curry dish that I liked, F had a spicy noodle dish that he didn’t. Quelle surprise!

We drove off to the gas station and F got a few tanks of kerosene for the house. With the weather being so goofy it is hard to know how long we’ll be running the heaters. Up north they are having tons of snow, here it is just spotty, but we are forecast for some soon.

Back at the house, I got the room up here warmed up and then took my shower. F got himself ready for tomorrow’s work. That entailed finding his suit and checking that it still fits.  I hope it does!

My schedule might change a bit from tomorrow too. NHK in their infinite stupidity has changed their news programming. At 8 am instead of international news broadcasts they will put on a curated news broadcast, so “important” stories from around the world. That they choose. There are only so many cat-up-a-tree stories that I can bear to hear about. 

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

March 30, 2019

Saturday - Cloudy and overcast, rainy

We slept in this morning, but I got up after 11 and F was already downstairs. He made his mother breakfast and I checked my computer and websites, then got dressed. We were going out today!

We drove to Mt. Haguro again to see if the way to the pagoda was free from snow. It wasn’t! I’ve got friends coming next week to see it and they’ll have to bring sturdy shoes or boots.  It was lovely down there. Because the weather wasn’t great, it was fairly quiet. F and I went as far as the pagoda which was looking as lovely as ever. 

Quite a definite line between snow and no snow!

The Pagoda. So lovely.

Selfie of the Pagoda and me.

The steps. We had to climb down them first and then climb back up to the road afterwards.
Not steep, but can be tricky.

After we climbed back up to the road from the pagoda we went for lunch. F found a soba restaurant nearby and we tried it. I thought it was okay, but he complained that it didn’t sell “real” soba. Sigh. He’s such a purist that it is annoying really. I enjoyed my meal!  

I asked F to show me the way to go to the top of the mountain and we got halfway along a road and he thought he was going the wrong way. I got quite annoyed at that. He was right though! We passed the gate and then went to the Gassan Visitor Centre. I’m not sure why that was on Haguro though, but…It was nice and had a few brochures in English too. 

We drove back towards Tsuruoka and then detoured to Matsugaoka. Last time we went there it was under a lot of snow and the sidewalks were being put in. Everything was closed before. Well, today, the sidewalks were done and most of the snow was gone. A couple of the buildings were open and we went into one of them. Yay us. I wanted to know how to get to the area in case my friends want to go next weekend.

We drove back to Tsuruoka and went to Komeda Coffee. We both had coffee and some chicken nuggets as we were both a bit peckish. Then, we visited Yamaya to get some food for the pantry and MaxValu to get a bento for K. F was so tired in Komeda that he was falling asleep so my plan was to feed his mother and then the two of us would take a nap and then go for dinner afterwards. His plan when we got back to the house was to go for a massage around 9 pm, so we had to go for dinner right away. Sigh. 

We went to a local Korean place and it was quite good. We had a lot of nice food, but it was a bit stodgy. It was also a bit spicy!  We came back to the house afterwards, F took a shower and then headed out.

While F was out I sewed a button back on the shirt I wore tonight. I’d lost it just before dinner. I also sewed a couple of buttonholes to make them a little smaller and less likely to come undone. I watched Agents of Shield which was great of course. F came back a bit after 10 and was feeling much better. Yay for that.

He went to sleep an hour or so later and I am still up. I enjoyed today a lot. It was cold on the mountain, but so beautiful in the area. I love going there, I just wish I was in better condition for the steps. With my painful hip, I’m a bit worried that I might have overdone it, but let’s keep our fingers crossed shall we?

Not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. F will likely take his mother out in the morning and after that who knows. I’d like to wash the bedding and change to the summer sheets, fingers crossed we do that!

Come back later if you like and find out what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

March 29, 2019

Friday - Sunny but cool

I had an okay morning today. My favourite news had been taken off due to sports so the DVR gifted me with news from another time. It was quite good and at least I got my fill of Brexit stuff. 

I dragged myself out of bed to watch ER and then a bit later downstairs for breakfast. I thought about doing laundry and then didn’t. Sigh. 

I had a fairly quiet afternoon. I thought about Postcrossing but didn’t, thought about reading but didn’t, thought about watching a movie and did. It was one I’d seen before, The Consultant, but I like it. I did send some email that I’d been putting off and I also got an email from an old friend from high school that I haven’t heard much from lately.

F had popped into the house in the morning for a few minutes, but since then I hadn’t heard from him at all. I didn’t know if he was on a driving assignment or not, so I didn’t call. Around 6:45 he still wasn’t back so I decided to go downstairs and make dinner for K and I. I made what I was planning to make for the three of us. I reasoned that when F came back I could just boil more pasta for him. It came together fairly simply, we had basil sauced pasta with broccoli and smoked duck breast on the side. I was rather amazed at how much of the duck breast and broccoli K ate!  Much more than me, of course, I ate a bit more pasta. 

When we finished I cleared the table and did the dishes. It was getting on for 8:30 and I thought that F might prefer going out when he finished work to my pasta, so washed up everything.

I went upstairs and it wasn’t until 9:15 or so that he called to say he was finished and on his way back. Poor thing.

We went out for dinner. I was just going to keep him company really. He looked for a ramen shop, but they’d mostly closed by this time. Finally, he decided on a keiten sushi chain and we went in. It wasn’t that great and F kept complaining about the food. I had a few pieces of sushi or some onion rings, but I didn’t eat too much. F kept asking me to have more stuff, but I didn’t want it. 

We came back via the convenience store. F got some beer and snacks and then we came back to the house. I watched some TV and F ended up going to bed fairly soon. He’s very tired and in a lot of pain so didn’t want to stay up. 

We should have a bit of a busy weekend. I have to do a few last minute things for my mini-con, in fact, I spent much of the evening working on a playlist of tunes for us all. I hope everyone likes it!

Come back later-on to see what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

March 28, 2019

Thursday - Cloudy and cool at night

I woke up early and then had a hard time getting up when it was time! Normal then. I watched ER and The Mentalist, I almost said hello to K but she didn’t hear me at all. 

In the afternoon I wrote a couple of postcards and watched all of the programs that I had left on the DVR. There is a series that F and I are watching together, which will probably never get finished. Sigh. It’s taking up my precious space.

F and I went out in the evening after he finished work. He wanted to buy some cake for his co-workers as he’s being transferred. We went to S-Mall and he bought something while I went to the mailbox to mail my postcards.

We picked up some food for K and I basically volunteered to make dinner tomorrow night. It’s going to be pasta so hopefully not too stressful. I do wish that F would have an opinion about what I make. I feel a bit sorry for his mother as I never make Japanese style food. Not sorry enough to learn how to make Japanese food though.

We delivered K’s food and then went out again. We tried to go to one restaurant, but it was closed. We decided on another one but remembered that we had to run an errand for K. We thought we could go to a store near the place we wanted to eat, but it was already closed. We went over to a hardware store and got the requested item (plastic booties to wear when you go in the bathroom…yeah, I don’t get it either. I mean, just take off your socks if you are afraid of getting them wet!) We also picked up a bunch of other stuff that we really didn’t need. Normal again.

Then we went for dinner at Sashimi-ya. We both had the same thing, a bowl of tuna and negitoro on rice. We shared a salad and everything was very nice. 

We hit up the drugstore nearby when we were done, then came back to the house. F wanted to get a massage, but the place was busy until 11:30pm so he said he’d skip it. Poor thing. 

I watched some telly and wrote a letter on my computer.  I’m just about ready to go to bed. Everyone is getting excited about making the trip up here but I am getting rather worried about the weather. The forecasts aren’t looking good, sad to say. 

Anyway, that is it for me to tonight. Tomorrow I might do more laundry…I did some today, and might even start thinking about packing my suitcase. Come back later and see what happens eh!  Until tomorrow….

March 27, 2019

Wednesday - Cool and rainy

I woke up early this morning but did manage to get back to sleep. F left and I didn’t hear him, my alarm woke me soon afterwards though. 

I had a very quiet morning and basically didn’t see K at all until F got back to the house in the evening! I didn’t take a nap today and I did do some of my sashiko, so that was good. It’s early yet, but I think it looks okay. 

I watched a couple of episodes of This is Us today. I have seen the first season already, but I really enjoy watching it. The only thing that really bugs me, if there is anything, is the character of Kate. I’m a fat woman, I’ve been fat most of my life but I don’t obsess about it all the time. It is a bit like she has nothing else in her life. Okay, I know she’s got a guy, but what else is important to her? Fat people are rarely just fat. They tend to have to be hard workers and have developed good coping skills. Just my take on it.

F came back to the house around 6 and I was in the kitchen getting things ready. I did a mish-mash of things today and it mostly worked. From the freezer, we had a spinach cake (like an onion cake but with spinach) and some cauliflower.  We had bought some teriyaki marinated chicken yesterday so I baked that, and I also made some tiny pancakes inspired by Mark Bittman from his old column at the NY Times. He called them tortillita and he was inspired by ones he had in Madrid. It’s basically an eggy-floury pancake that you put stuff in and fry it. I had some leftover broccoli and mushrooms from Monday’s dinner, so put them in the pancakes and it was nice. Most of them disappeared!

F and I did the dishes and after a few minutes decided to brave the rain and go out. We went to the bookstore and then to Starbucks where we had some cake with our decaf coffee. Starbucks charges us a 50 yen surcharge each for decaf coffee. Not sure if that is a good deal or not. 

We stayed for a while and then came back to the house. I put the garbage together to send it out and then took a shower. I plied F with some tea and did a little research on the internet. There’s a sashiko exhibit a bit north of here and I was wondering if I should ask my friends if they’d like to go and see it when they come here. However, I’m not sure if I should. I did find out that this area is quite famous for the type of sashiko so that is a point in my favour I think!

Anyway, that’s it for me. Tomorrow I think I’ll try for some laundry and maybe start packing things in my suitcase. Wish me luck with that. Come back later if you like and see what happens here. Until tomorrow….

March 26, 2019

Tuesday - Windy, rainy, with thunder, lightning and hail in the afternoon.

I had a quiet morning today. K had vanished so I just carried on as usual. I was so sleepy during one of my morning dramas that I actually went for a nap during it. I got up a bit later feeling much refreshed.

Today, I actually did do some Postcrossing!  I wrote up three cards. I’m trying hard to write ten this month as I haven’t been working very hard at it lately. I seem to have so much else I need to do. Two more to go. 

Lunch was fine, and quiet too. F called around 5:30 tonight I think and I told him that I wasn’t cooking tonight, so would he like to get bentos?  He came here, changed and we went to the grocery store. I bought a few things for tomorrow’s meal and also got some bentos for the three of us. We brought them back to the house and ate. It was nice.

F and I did the dishes quickly and then went out to the onsen. He lost his tickets and his point card and was all worried about it, but I told him to just get one ticket for tonight, that his stash was probably back at the house. Of course, I was right!

I didn’t knit tonight at the onsen, but I did read a few pages of my novel, so that made me happy. I really almost need to schedule my reading these days. I don’t do enough. 

On the way to the onsen there was the body of a tanuki in the road. When we passed it on the way back, F started to tell me about the stories of tanukis and how they were supposed to be able to turn into humans. I told him about the selkies in Scottish mythology and how they would shed their seal skins and become human. It was actually a really interesting conversation, one that we haven’t had before!

We had a quiet evening back at the house. I didn’t take a shower as F did laundry and I didn’t want the water to cut out on me when I was soaking wet! I watched a bit of telly, F watched sports on his phone and then made himself some noodles.

Today is the 22nd anniversary of the day I left Canada to come to Japan.  I can’t believe that I have lived here for so long. I’m not even sure that I have lived in Canada for 22 years!

That’s about it for me. It was a quiet day, except for the hail and thunder mentioned in the weather report above. I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow, but that makes life exciting doesn’t it? Come back a bit later to find out what is new and exciting on Wednesday. Until tomorrow….

March 25, 2019

Monday - Sunny and but cool

I woke up this morning before F’s alarm and made a run downstairs. I came back to bed and F was getting up. I got back into bed and put my eye mask back on as he had the light on. I snoozed for a few minutes.

I had my usual quiet morning except I had a video chat with a friend around 10:30 this morning. That was really good and we talked up a storm for the hour we chatted for. 

After the chat, I took a nap. I didn’t mean to, but I was so very tired that I couldn’t stay awake. It didn’t last for that long, but longer than it should have.

I had lunch and watched a bit of the stuff on the DVR. Somewhere along the way, I watched a friend’s podcast and a few other podcasts.  F called me around 5:45 and I went downstairs and started dinner.

Before lunch, I had made up a marinade for the meat we were having for dinner. I put it on the meat and then prepped my lunch. When I went down to the kitchen tonight I just had to get things together. I did some frozen broccoli, some mushrooms in a marinade and fried the pork. Oh, and I baked a few hash brown patties too. I had asked F to bring back some soy sauce and some cold tea for us, which he obligingly did. Yay.

He got in my way a bit while I was prepping but actually ended up being helpful by taking things to the table. That was really nice of him. However, I still did the majority of the work and spent the first 5 minutes of dinner running back to the kitchen for things we’d forgotten. 

Dinner was good and got okay reviews. It came together rather well I thought. Afterwards, I cleared the table and F showed up to help in the kitchen. He washed the dishes for me, and then I dried and put them away. I don’t really approve of the way he washes dishes but didn’t want to have another fight.

Around 8 pm we went upstairs and then talked about going out. I wanted to go to the drug store for a few kitchen things.  I think it was me who suggested the Internet Cafe, so we went there for 3 hours too. It was nice to get my back worked on by the chair! I watched a little telly, had a little snooze, and did a little knitting. I also watched a few YouTube videos on different topics.

We came back to the house after the 3 hours were up. F went to bed fairly soon and I watched a bit of TV and then did this. 

I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m hoping to do a Postcrossing or two, but I don’t know if I will. Come back later and see what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

March 24, 2019

Sunday - Snowy then clear and sunny

We woke up to a world of white this morning. The snow wasn’t very deep, but it was coming down quite fiercely. 

View from just outside my bedroom

F went downstairs and fed his mother then we decided to go out for lunch. I wasn’t feeling my best and asked for simple food, nothing fancy or raw (as in fish). I suggested Cocos and then F suggested going to the one near Mikawa Mall. It sounded fine. However, he had to get money first!  He went to a bank machine in the mall and then we went over to Cocos and had a fairly decent meal. 

I had chicken with a bun added on, F had a Japanese style meal with fish and we shared an order of fries because they have good ones. 

We went back into the mall after lunch and bought some socks. I’ve worn through a couple of pairs of socks recently and since the only place I can get decent socks is the mall, had to go there for them. I got a few pairs that were on for half price so that was good! And yes, I had to buy men’s socks because the women’s ones are too small. 

We walked around the mall a little and I suggested getting a drink. F wanted to go to Doutor, so we did. I gave him my card to get the drinks with and found a seat. Today my sciatica was really bothering me and F is a great one for making me walk all over malls. 

After our very long tea/coffee break for wifi, we went back to the grocery store and got some food for dinner. F got a combo udon and sushi for him and his mother, I picked up some chicken and some salads that were potato or pasta based. 

On the way to the house, we stopped into S-Mall. I wanted to talk to the restaurant in the hotel to see if we could arrange a meal for a friend who is vegetarian. It was quite annoying as F insisted we talk to the front desk clerk and then seemed to be telling him the entire story of our group. I just wanted F to ask if a vegetarian dish could be had easily, but apparently no it couldn’t. We’d have to “negotiate” (how F translated it) with the chef. That would be a no then! Okay, guess the hotel won’t be getting our dinner money. 

We came back to the house and got things on the table quickly. F was being really annoying and taking things out to the table before we’d even put away the groceries. He has the weirdest way of doing that. Instead of doing it methodically, he spreads all the new stuff out on the table and I’m expected to just grab my stuff and put it away. 

F & K’s bentos didn’t need heating up, but mine did. I dished mine up in the kitchen and then went out to the living room, making runs back for glasses for drinks, and the salads which I was sharing. After dinner, I got the joyful task of clearing the table and then doing the dishes. F threw a tantrum at me about me being polite to people (I never understand what he’s on about….he does know that I’m Canadian, right??) and yelling at me that he shouldn’t have to say “excuse me” or “please move” to me when I’m in his way. Dude, whatever.  So, after he stormed off, I got to wash and dry the dishes. There wasn’t much or there would have been a bigger fight.

I went upstairs when I was finished. He had the TV on blaring away and I couldn’t stand the noise. I put my headphones on and listened to P!nk for a while. She’s always good for lifting my mood.  I offered him tea or coffee later on, and then just after nine was asked if I’d go to the onsen with him.  I would and did. 

We got there just before 9:30 so F was okay to go in and take his bath. I sat in the lobby and read some of my book and then it was time to go. 

F asked if I’d like to go somewhere else and I said it was okay, so we went to Komeda Coffee for almost an hour. F wanted to use the wifi and so did I, I think.

We came back to the house and after midnight I took a shower and brought you all up to date on my life. It’s so exciting!  

The snow is mostly gone but there is a bit on some cars and there are some big lumps in the middle of roads where it has come off other cars.  Better now than when my convention happens!

That’s it for me. I’ll be cooking dinner again tomorrow, so I hope things work out. To be honest, I’m getting really tired of F not keeping up the balance of the domestic work. I know he’s tired, but so am I, and these days with my hip being so painful am not enjoying all the running back and forth I have to do around here. 

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

March 22, 2019

Friday - Rainy but I didn’t go out

I tried to say a sleepy goodbye to F this morning as he left, but I’m not sure that he heard me. 

I had my usual morning, I did a couple of loads of laundry today too. I didn’t see much of K today, except when she called me down to give me a couple of postcards I received.

In the evening I started one of my coasters in the sashiko kit I bought. I didn’t finish it, but what I did looks cool. I heard something come to the door while I was making it and ran down to answer the doorbell. It was our dinner.  

F and I had ordered dinner for K and me last weekend, and it arrived at about 6:15.  I paid and then got it all set out for us. It was really good. I had a chicken cutlet and sushi, K had tempura, sushi and soba. She didn’t eat her soba as I think she had already eaten before our dinner came.

After dinner, I did the dishes and packaged them up to be put outside tomorrow for pick up. I came upstairs and watched a bit of TV, then went off and took a shower. I came back to my computer and spent a bit of time on it and watched more TV. 

F called me to say goodnight around midnight and we chatted for a few minutes. It was nice to hear from him. I miss him, although I am enjoying having some quiet me time. 

Around 1 in the morning I decided to put on a movie and watched one of the X-Men films. It was fun and just what I wanted.

And that’s it for today. Tomorrow we have doctor’s appointments and then F has to help me with my mini-con by making reservations. Isn’t he lucky?

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

March 21, 2019

Thursday - Overcast and a little rainy

We slept in this morning which was very nice. When I got up, F was having breakfast with his mother downstairs. He came upstairs a few minutes later and asked if I’d like to go out for lunch. I said yes.

We went to Futaba and had a lovely brunch. I had the pork special which came with soup, salad and some vegetables. F had the pork donburi and said he liked it. 

After lunch, we went to his house again. Today is the day that his mother usually goes to his father’s grave and the temple. I suggested that F take his mother there and I’d wait at the house. I spent my time catching up on my daytime TV!

When F and K got back a bit later, F and I decided to go out. I suggested coffee and he suggested Starbucks. We went and both had tiramisu frappuccinos. It was freakishly busy in the cafe and I had to wait for 15 minutes or so to get our drinks. F had grabbed a seat. While I was waiting I saw an ex-student that I didn’t like. Yikes.  I really didn’t want to bump into him. 

After a while, we left Starbucks. Since we had no plans I asked F if we could go to the craft shop. I’ve been looking into trying Sashiko, a Japanese embroidery craft. It looks pretty interesting and I haven’t tried it. I don’t like cross-stitch, but because this is mostly running stitch thought it might be cool. After looking all through the store I finally found some kits, so I got a small one to make coasters. 

F and I came back to the house via the grocery store. On the way to the house, he suddenly asked me if I’d like to go out this evening. I had no objections, especially when he suggested going to the Korean place his friends run. We even drove by and saw the owner outside the shop and it looked like he was opening up for the evening.

We got some food for me for tomorrow and then some bentos for K. I worry she doesn’t have food in the daytime. Tomorrow night K and I will have our food delivered since F is having an overnight party. Yay us.

F gave his mother the food and I changed my jacket. He called a taxi and then we drove to the Korean Izakaya. Which was closed! Oh no!  We got the taxi to take us somewhere else, but F then asked him to let us out and we walked to a place that I wanted to try. Sadly, when we got there it was full. It also looked more like a restaurant than an izakaya. F suggested a burger place we’ve tried to go to before and I was skeptical but thought it was okay. They were open and we were the only customers!  We had burgers and they were quite good. I was happy that Agents of Shield was on the big screen, but it was from the first series. I had an avocado and bacon burger, F had avocado and cheese I think. They were big and hard to eat, but pretty good. F had a beer, I had drink bar.

After we left, F wanted to go to another place, a yakitori shop. It was fine with me. We didn’t need more food, I don’t think he was ready to go back to the house yet. We ate a bit of yakitori which was quite good, and then called a taxi to go back to the house.

At the house, F took a shower first and then I did. I watched a bit of TV, F tried to go to bed. He is having a hard time sleeping.  I have to go off to sleep soon too.  Tomorrow he has his overnight party so I’ll be alone in the evening. Woohoo!  Oh, the things I’ll get up to. Snort. 

And that’s it for me. Check back later if you like and see how things go over here.  Until tomorrow….

March 20, 2019

Wednesday - Warm and Sunny

I had a short morning at the house today. I got up and watched the news and then ER. I went down for breakfast which was two pieces of toast today. We didn’t go out last night to get yogurt for me so I couldn’t have cereal. 

I watched The Mentalist at 10:30 and while it was on I started to get ready for my outing. I got properly dressed and around 11:45 I left the house. I didn’t see K at all this morning.

I caught the bus to the station and then looked through Foodever. My favourite place was closed today, so I skipped eating there. I walked up to the post office and did a little business there. After that, I went to the mall and put my backpack and winter coat in a locker. It was so warm today, I really didn’t need a warm coat.

I had a yummy lunch at Pizza Hut Express. After that, I did a little walkthrough of the mall. I bought some water at 2:45 and then headed over to my hairstylist. 

We got started fairly quickly and she did her usual terrific job. I chose a style that is really short this time, so I keep searching the back of my neck for my hair! I like it so am pleased.

When my hair was looking the way my stylist wanted I was done. I walked back to the mall and did a little window shopping. I hacked through the hundred yen shop and bought a few things. I checked out the DVD shop but didn’t buy anything although I am sorely tempted by The Grand Budapest Hotel’s DVD.  I love that film. 

I had a nice ice cream at Baskin Robbins before having an iced tea at Doutor. F called me while I was reading and I invited him to join me. He did.

We got K some food and then went to Foodever for ourselves. We both went to the Donburi place and I had chicken and mushroom tempura on rice. F  had kaki-age on rice. After dinner, we talked to the cooks at both open restaurants to see about vegetarian food. A friend is coming in a few weeks and is a vegetarian. We’re wondering where she can eat. One place was okay with doing substitutions, the other is going to play around with them to see if it’ll work.

We picked up some kerosene and then went back to the house to give K her food. F and I went upstairs and wondered about the rest of the evening. I had a little think and said that if we left immediately we could go to the cinema and see I Feel Pretty again since we both wanted to see it.  F agreed and soon we sped off.  There were 3 people in the cinema tonight, but F and I enjoyed ourselves a lot. I liked it just about as much. There were a few scenes where I laughed out loud and a few where I winced a lot.  It was fun.

On the way back to the house, F suggested going to a Korean Restaurant/Izakaya. I was fine with it but did say that I thought it was a bit late. It was. They were closing soon. We looked at another couple of places and even though tomorrow is a holiday, they were all closing before 11 pm.  Insanely early. 

We picked up some munchies at the convenience store and came back to the house. We ate our food and then F fell asleep on the bed. I watched a little telly and then started doing things on computers that needed doing.

I’m virtually asleep at my computer now, so I’m going to end this now.  Come back later if you want and see if I blogged about my day. Until tomorrow….

March 19, 2019

Tuesday - Sunny and warmish

My alarm woke me up this morning and it was a good thing it did as F was still sleeping. I’d turned on his alarm before bed, but I think he’d hit snooze one too many times. He did get to work on time happily.

I had my usual sort of morning today. I watched my shows, had breakfast and did some laundry. I watched a bit of the stuff off the DVR and then went downstairs to make my lunch.  I got out the soup and decided that I’d ask K if she’d like some. I got it heated up and then asked if I could give her some. She said yes, so I took it and a slice of buttered toast into her living room for her. She, in turn, invited me to eat my soup with her. I was a tad glad about that as I wasn’t sure how I’d get it upstairs without spilling. We had a nice lunch together. I usually eat more, so afterwards I took my salad upstairs and had that. I did all the dishes of course too. 

In the afternoon I decided to write a couple of postcards for Postcrossing. I haven’t been making myself send any for ages. I just did two, but some are better than none!

F came back around 5:45 and was tired. He’d stayed up much too late last night. I told him I wasn’t cooking and he suggested going to Kintaro Sushi with his mother. It was a good idea, so off we went. We had a nice meal there and then came back to the house.

F had promised that we’d go out later but when he got into bed fully clothed I had my doubts. Sure enough, at 9 pm when I went to see how he was doing, he didn’t want to go out. I said it was okay and then he said he’d go. I told him it wasn’t necessary so I took my shower. He got up for a bit but has gone back to bed.

I watched a bit of TV and picked a couple of hairstyles that I like from Pinterest. I’m off downtown tomorrow to get my hair cut. I even managed to explain to K about it earlier! 

That’s really about it for me for now.  Come back later and see how things go when I go shopping and beautifying myself! Until tomorrow….

March 18, 2019

Monday - Sunny and warmish

I got up this morning under a bit of protest! I really didn’t want to get up at all. I finally did, then did my usual things of watching the news and ER. I even had some decaf coffee before breakfast for a change. 

I got three Postcrossing cards in the mail today, all from Germany. One woman sent me a card with a picture of her grandson on it eating spaghetti. Apparently, she’d read on my profile that I wanted cards with food on them, but not the bit where I asked for no children. Sigh.

After my morning drama finished, I went downstairs and worked on my soup. I got a lot done and soon it was bubbling away in my slow cooker. Today I just made a straight vegetable soup, no meat at all. 

I had a quiet afternoon. I was late doing things as I had been in the kitchen making soup. 

F had some baddish news today. He’s going to be transferred to another office in the area. He’s worked there before and it was horrible for him, so he’s not a happy camper. I’m really sad for him. 

I had a bit of a late start to dinner tonight. I went downstairs around 6:00 pm and started peeling potatoes for dinner. I also prepared the chicken for dinner too. F came back in the middle of the prep and spent time with his mother. I finally got things done. We had tandoori chicken from the toaster oven, anchovy potatoes and vegetable soup. It went over fairly well. F wanted rice or noodles, but I sort of explained to him that we rarely have potatoes and rice together.  F and I had two bowls of soup and we all seemed to agree that it was good. I should be able to have some for lunch tomorrow too. Yay. I’ll probably share with K if she’ll have it. 

I washed the dishes and was going to dry them too when F came in. I got him to dry the dishes and put away his dishes from the weekend. Hurray for that.  He wanted to go out, I wanted to go to the Internet Cafe for a massaging chair. He also wanted to go to the onsen so we did a bit of both. We went to the onsen and he took a bath, then we went to the Internet Cafe for a couple of hours. We left early tonight as F has to work tomorrow. 

We came back to the house and I did up the plastic garbage for tomorrow. F nicely filled up the kerosene in the heater for me as I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to lift it tomorrow. My hip and sometimes back have been quite bad today. I tried taking a Tylenol in the evening which helped, but when it wore off the pain seemed even worse.

We had a quiet evening in. I watched So You Think You Can Dance and enjoyed it, F was on his phone again. 

That’s about it for me. I probably will do some laundry tomorrow and I’ll see what else I can get up to. Come back later and I’ll tell you all about my day. Until tomorrow….

March 17, 2019

Sunday - Muggy and a bit rainy

I woke up fairly early today because F was getting up to go to the onsen with his mother. I got up too and then after they left I took care of a couple of personal things. I had a whole whack of messages on my phone to deal with too, so I did. After that, I went back to bed for a bit and fell asleep again.

I woke up after 1pm because of the noise that F and K made when they came in. F came upstairs and I found out that he’d had a small lunch with K, but would go out for lunch with me. I came up with a couple of possible places and then we decided on the Grand El Sun. We got there and noticed that their lunch service finished at 2 pm…which was 5 minutes earlier. However, one of the waitresses told us it was okay as they’d seen us coming! I had their pasta special lunch which was great. It was pasta in a spinach and ham garlicky sauce. It was great. It came with a lovely salad, bread and a few appetizers, a small dessert and a drink. F had a vegetable curry which he really enjoyed. 

When we finished lunch we popped over to S-Mall to see if we could see the menu for the restaurant in the hotel. I wanted to be able to post the evening dishes for my mini-con. It wasn’t posted yet, so we went through to the hotel, but still no joy. F ended up holding the sign that they hadn’t flipped over yet so that I could get a good look at it!

We picked up some kerosene for the house next and then a few groceries. We delivered them to the house and then spent some time upstairs. F was thinking about getting his hair cut, but seemed too attached to the videos on his phone. I went downstairs to wait for him and it took a while. He’d said two minutes, but it was much longer.

He dropped me off at S-Mall and then went off to get his hair cut. I went upstairs and checked out the hundred yen shop. I got a few things for a new hobby I’m thinking of taking up (I know, another one, right?!) I looked in another shop, then went downstairs and as I was on the escalator, I saw F walk by. Just then my phone rang…

We decided to go and have dinner but weren’t sure where. I ended up suggesting Jiro, the place near my first apartment and F liked that idea. I was worried as they serve a lot of meat, but he said it was okay for him. He had our usual pork with garlic onions and I had beef stew with buttered rice. Mine was good.  

We came back to the house after dinner and I did a little work in the kitchen. I’m thinking about making soup in my slow cooker for tomorrow, so I peeled a couple of potatoes and a carrot or two. I left them in the fridge overnight. Then, I prepared the garbage for going out tomorrow. It’s not a hard job, just not a fun one. 

That done, I came upstairs again and F and I watched an episode of Castle Rock. I watched and did a few rows of knitting. I took a shower after that. 

When I came back, I finally persuaded F to move a couple of movies to DVD for us. Unfortunately, however he did them, he put them on two separate dvds instead of one like I had asked him to. I think he doesn’t know what he’s doing. I think he needs to make a list and then record the list, like on iTunes but he’s never done that and has no idea what I’m talking about. He is probably right, but it doesn’t make sense to me!

And that’s about it for me. I’m tired and I’d like to go to bed soon, so I’ll end this. I should be back tomorrow for another oh so interesting update! Until tomorrow….

March 16, 2019

Saturday - Muggy, but also sunny and warmish

We both slept in a bit this morning, I finally got up before 11, F got up a few minutes later.  He went downstairs to make brunch for his mother, I computer surfed.

F was very sweet this morning, he brought up a couple of pieces of toast for us. Unfortunately, he’d spread them with my Mango Chutney, rather than my Pineapple and Mango JAM.  Silly husband.  It tasted pretty good anyway, but I did laugh at him for doing it. He doesn’t understand that Chutney is eaten as a pickle…

We went out for lunch to Sukaze. I’ve been trying to get him to go there for a while. I like the place much more than he does, not sure why he doesn’t like it. We both had the same dish today, fish in a white sauce. It came with gorgeous soup, a lovely salad and bread or rice and coffee and a mini-dessert.  It was great! 

After lunch, we went to the Chido Museum to see the Hina Matsuri displays. There were some lovely doll sets. We also saw some art that was created by the family who owns the Museum…they were the local “Lairds” of the area. Of course, we stopped by to see the garden. I’ve recently found out that the Garden has two Michelin Stars. At least I think it does!

A sleepy duck

From the museum, we headed over to the sushi delivery place to make an order. F has another overnight party next week so we ordered in some nice bentos for K and I. We don’t have to pay for them until they arrive, but they look good. K and I had them before and I really enjoyed the food.

Then, we went to Foodever’s coffee shop area and had coffee or iced tea and a pastry. We sat for a while and played with our phones. We had a really nice pastry, it was “Framboise with rose”. It was cheaper than some of their cakes. They look amazing though.

Around 6 I made F shake a leg. We were planning to go to a 7:50 pm movie and still had to get dinner for us and K and then get to the cinema. I suggested bentos since we had had an expensive lunch today. F liked that idea, so off we went. 

We picked up three bentos, two with tempura for F and I, and one with chirashi sushi for K. I suggested some gyoza too since everyone likes them. We went back to the house and F got things on the table quickly. I helped a little, but he did most of the work today. Dinner was nice. F was watching some fishing show, so I did the dishes when I finished and then came upstairs to register the postcard I received today from Bulgaria. 

We sneaked out of the house and got to the cinema just in time. We bought our tickets and then some drinks and popcorn and went to see Captain Marvel. I really liked it. I wasn’t sure what I’d think of it, but I enjoyed it a lot. It was lovely to see Phil Coulson (one of my favourite Agent of Shield characters), even though I prefer the slightly older and more weathered version on the TV show, and seeing a younger Samuel L. Jackson was cute too. It was fun, I had a good time, I laughed a lot and liked the more feminine take on the superhero genre. I still liked Wonder Woman more, but I really enjoyed this.

After the movie, we drove back to the house via the long way. F took a detour saying he wanted some ramen. I told him I’d come and watch him eat, but he didn’t stop anywhere. When we got to the house I started up my waterpot and he was trying to get water before it was ready, for his instant ramen. 

Then, he went to bed!

I’m still up. I’m in a bit of pain these days as my sciatica has come back. It’s switched sides this time, but getting up and the first few steps are really painful. I’m trying to move more and get up more often, but it’s hard to remember. I may have to set my alarms to remind me to move more. 

And that was it for my day. It went rather well and I enjoyed it. I really hope that Sunday is good too. Fingers crossed. Come back later if you will and see what happens. Until tomorrow….

March 15, 2019

Beware the Ides of March!  Friday - Sunny and warm

I got up early this morning and checked the heater. It was nearly out of kerosene, just running on fumes really. I turned it on and hoped for the best. There was enough to heat the room for an hour so that was good. I watched the news, then went downstairs to do a few things. I cut some bread for K to have, I filled up the heater’s kerosene tank and put the now empty plastic tank in the genkan to go out to the garage and I got my breakfast ready. I went upstairs to get dressed and watch ER. It was a good one today. These ones are all about Abby and Luka, Neela and Michael.  

I did a bit of posting on my mini-convention. I posted info about restaurants and asked people to say if they’d come with us or not. I have to make reservations soon and I need numbers. 

My friend came to pick me up around 11:30 and we went off to Pisolino. We spent a couple of hours there and had a decent if not terrific meal. I had pasta and it was okay, but not great.

After lunch, she had to run a couple of errands so I came along for the ride. We went to a hundred yen shop in Voice and I only bought a couple of things.  She had to pick something up at the men’s clothing store there and after that, we decided to have a quick Starbucks since we’ve not been to the one in Tsuruoka together!  All too soon she had to go back to her city to take care of her family and we hugged goodbye.  

I did a little window shopping in a drugstore, then walked towards the mall. I decided to detour to my hairdresser to see if I could make an appointment for next week. She looked tired and busy when I arrived, so didn’t ask for a cut today.

I walked to S-Mall and spent a little time in the hundred yen shop there, plus a quick visit to the music/DVD shop. I found a DVD that F might like on for not too much so maybe one day if he’s good he’ll get it. Ha! I went down to Doutor and had an ice tea. I was just going to start sipping it when F called to say he was finished work. 

He joined me in the mall and I bought him a coffee with my card…and a couple of cookies for us! We used the wifi there a little, chatted a little, and caught up with the world and the terrible shooting in Christchurch. I hadn’t known anything about it as it hadn’t made the international news that I watch yet. (It’s behind us by at least a day I’d say.)

F wanted to go to the hundred yen shop, so we went upstairs. He got a few things and then I picked up one more thing. We drove back to the house then.  

We took K out for dinner to the Kushibiki restaurant that we like. We didn’t share parts of our meal this time. K had chahan, I had the egg/black fungus/meat stir-fry done as a set meal, and F had his favourite yakisoba. The food was good and we enjoyed it. 

We came back to the house and dropped K off. F wanted to go to a drugstore, so off we went. At the first one, I didn’t find what he needed, so we tried another and got it. I picked up a few things as did F. We came back to the house after that.

Back at the house, I watched some TV and relaxed, as did F.  He’s off sleeping now and I need to get some sleep soon too.

No idea what we’ll get up to tomorrow although I hope to go and see Captain Marvel. That would be really fun. Come back later if you dare and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

March 14, 2019

Happy Pi Day! Thursday - Rainy and cold

F woke me up this morning. I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt and thinking that it was an accident, but it was annoying since I had 10 minutes of dream time left!  After he left, I set up to watch the Foreign News. I tend to snooze during the non-English ones. I snoozed through half of the US news today though…had to hit rewind on the DVR and watch it again. 

I went downstairs to get my breakfast and do laundry around 10:30. I was late for everything today. F had asked that I cut the bread we bought at Gyomu Supa, so I cut a few slices. K came into the kitchen while I did that and I told her to please have some bread. 

I did two loads of laundry and hung them up in my room. With the heater on most of the day, they got fairly dry.  Yay.  I did no Postcrossings again today, although I did register a card that arrived. Sigh. In the afternoon I watched a bit of stuff off the DVR and then had lunch. I did my dishes a bit late, but it wasn’t a problem. 

I got a call from F around 5:15 and I thought he would say he was on his way back to the house. Nope. He was still in a town a couple of hours away. He said that he’d hopefully be back around 7:30, but I should go ahead and make dinner. Except, HE was supposed to make dinner tonight. It was nabe night and that’s his job!  He asked that I make it for his mother and me and I said I’d try.

I went downstairs around 6:30 and started on the nabe. I cut veggies, piled them in the nabe and put the tofu in too. I even cut the meat into smaller pieces. It was all a bit white in colour so I washed and sliced up a carrot very thinly for the colour. I set the table and put the nabe out on the little “conro” and started to cook the nabe.  As I was doing that, F called to say he was finished work and was on his way back to the house. 

When F arrived, the nabe had just finished cooking. He had great timing.  The nabe went rather well and we all liked it. We’d used a bought soup this time, a sesame-flavoured one, and it was really good. I made F keep a bit of the nabe for his mother’s lunch tomorrow since I won’t be around and there’s not much else. K is going to have it tomorrow with rice I think.  

I cleared the table and did the dishes. I knew F needed some downtime so I didn’t mind. Besides, there wasn’t that many. I’d done a lot before I cooked the nabe.  

F and I went out to Starbucks tonight for a little rest and relaxation. I had a tea latte and F had a decaf cappuccino. I didn’t know that Starbucks made them! We had a nice time there. F had given me some chocolate last night before bed, so when I had a good excuse to walk by the counter I bought him a couple of things for his White Day present. He got some instant coffee for weekends, a chocolate bar and a chocolate waffle thing.  The clerk offered to wrap them, so I accepted. I took them with me when I left and then gave him the goodies when we got to the house. He was pleased.

I took a shower and afterwards watched Killing Eve. I love that show. It is so twisty and turny. While I watched it I scanned some flyers and my incoming postcards. Yay!

That’s about it for my day. Tomorrow, I’m having lunch with a friend. I may try and get my hair cut afterwards or just chill out at the mall. We shall see. Come back later and find out what I get up to. Until tomorrow….