May 31, 2019

Friday - Cooler and a bit rainy

I got up this morning and snoozed on the bed for a while. I got half-dressed in case I had to go downstairs, and then got dressed completely later.  I watched ER as usual and it was a good one. Abby and Luka left for Boston. Wah!  

I had a quiet morning and afternoon. I didn’t see or bump into K at all. I think she had a late start herself. I wrote 3 postcards today, scanned them with my phone and then sent them later tonight. 

I watched quite a lot of the shows I had DVR’d today…it was rather enjoyable. F called tonight to say he was on his way, he was a tad late, but nothing too serious. 

I went downstairs a little after 6 pm and started the water in the pot.  I got a few other things done that could be done in advance.  I was halfway through boiling the spaghetti when I remembered that I was supposed to cook some vegetables, but decided not to bother. Good call really. 

Tonight’s dinner was simple and pretty stress-free. We had spaghetti with basil sauce, salad with mini-tomatoes and smoked duck breast. It all got quite good reviews, so yay.

F gave me a hand with the dishes and asked if I’d like to go out to the Internet Cafe. I was fine with that, so off we went. We spent the next 3 hours in the massaging chairs. Hurray. I watched a little telly, and then some YouTube. I also did a bit of knitting. I’ve been making this scarf for years and I just want it done. I think I’m nearly there, so thank goodness for that!

After our time was up, F wanted to have something to eat. He suggested Gyudon, so I said I’d go if we went to Yoshinoya. They have a riceless dish there that I wanted to try.  We went and I did have the dish. It was good actually.  We also sat at a big table at first, but there was something slippery on the floor. It looked like someone had either spilled their drink or their egg on the floor. It was a horrid, slippery mess.  We moved to another table and told the waitress who had to clean it. I’m sorry. I didn’t do it. 

On the way back to the house we made a detour to a conbini and mailed off my postcards.  Whew! I made ten this month, but only just. 

We came back to the house and F went to bed and I watched Lucifer from my desk and started to blog, with many distractions.  At the moment there are forest fires raging throughout my province back home. The pictures my friends and family are sending me or posting on Facebook are quite horrendous with all of the smoke.

Well, that’s about it for me for tonight. Tomorrow F plans to go and see two doctors and I’m hoping to go and see a movie or something. Wish us both luck! Come back later if you like and see how we do. Until tomorrow….

May 30, 2019

Thursday - Sunny and mild

I overslept a bit this morning, but I did get up and shook a leg when I did!  I didn’t get really busy today, I just had a quiet day of catching up with my DVR and Postcrossing. I decided to do a bit of a catch-up today so wrote three cards. If I do three tomorrow I’ll make my goal. Yay.  My scanner still isn’t working, so I’m using my phone. It isn’t bad if I use a plain light background. 

I made a nice sandwich at lunch with the leftovers of last night’s meal plus some cheese. I even made a half sandwich for K which she ate.  I hope she liked it.

After work, F tried to go to the eye doctor but it was too late. He quizzed me about places to go and then when he got back basically demanded that I tell him where we should eat. I listed off five places and he wanted somewhere else. Don’t blooming ask me if you have somewhere in mind. He did choose one of my places, the one near the post office.

The three of us had a pretty good dinner there. I had chicken steak, F had fried chicken and K had fried fish. We were all quite pleased. 

After dinner, we dropped K off at the house and then F and I went off to the onsen. Sigh. I enjoy using the wifi and furniture, but to be honest, I don’t really enjoy going there. I can’t help thinking how stupid it is to spend 500 yen or so to take a bath with other people. 

After F came out, he used the wifi for a bit and then asked if I wanted to go somewhere else. I needed a grocery store so suggested going to Gusto for a dessert and drink bar since it was close to the grocery shop. That was acceptable. 

We went to Gusto and both had the same thing, a mango sundae and drink bar. We had really cheap coupons for drinks so that was good. The sundae was nice, lots of fruit with the ice cream. As usual, it was hard to drag F out of the place. He starts watching videos on his phone and won’t leave. I am getting rather annoyed with him. 

We went to the grocery store and F got mad at me when I asked him if he wanted to go down the fish aisle. He usually does, so I thought I was being nice.  He got all whiny at that. I walked off and decided to buy what I needed. We got our groceries and didn’t get back to the house until 11:30 or so. Unbelievable. 

I took a shower and then came back upstairs. Every time I’ve talked to F he’s either ignored me or hasn’t heard me. I can’t tell the difference anymore. 

Anyway, that’s it for me for tonight. Just think, I get to cook tomorrow’s dinner too, and I’ll probably have the pleasure of cleaning up afterwards too. Oh lucky me!

Come back later if you like and listen to me complain some more. Until tomorrow….

May 29, 2019

Wednesday - Sunnier, but cool

I managed to get up at a fairly reasonable time this morning, did my usual stuff and watched ER. It was such a good episode, the one where Pratt dies.  I cried twice at it and I have seen it before. It is just so well done. 

I had a look at my printer in the daylight but couldn’t do anything to fix it. I think I’ll have to ask F to take it into the shop. I used my phone in the daylight to rescan my postcards and it did quite well. The scans were better than last night’s.

In the morning K had a visitor, her brother came by. I didn’t know until I went downstairs to grab breakfast! I did say hello but left them to it. 

In the afternoon I didn’t postcross, but I did watch a couple of shows from the DVR. Yay me. I also got a bit of a head start on dinner when I did my lunch dishes. Oh, and lunch today, was a cooked one. I had some “instant” pasta with the leftover stew. That was good!

F called me around 4 and said he was back in Mikawa but needed to stay late and do some work. It was fine, but I wanted to wait for dinner with him. I ended up going downstairs around 5:30, but he didn’t come back until almost 7 pm. K was even wondering where he was.  I was a cooking fool though.  I made cucumber sticks with the last cuke, I fried a spinach cake (like onion, but green), I made a couple of sauces and I had also marinated the coro-coro steak earlier. Yay for me. When F called I started heating up the toaster oven for the asparagus (roasted), fried the coro-coro steak and set the table and plated the food.  

Dinner tonight got good reviews and I have to admit, I liked it a lot too.  There are a few leftovers, but a lot of it went!  

I did most of the dishes afterwards too.  I was tired, but I knew that F was too.  He came to the kitchen just in time to wash the frypan.  I’d done almost everything else. He went out to the garage and worked on raising the board he put in the sink for us. The sink is so low that I get a backache every time I do the dishes. I can’t even imagine how it is for F.  

We talked about going out, but F didn’t want to. I understand. Dinner was late, and F had an early start.  I went upstairs after I finished in the kitchen, F was a bit later.

I had a quiet evening. I watched a little TV and drank a little bit of decaf tea. 

Not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m not going to cook tomorrow night so I hope we don’t have a fight over dinner.  

That’s it for me. Come back later if you like and see how Thursday goes for me. Until tomorrow….

May 28, 2019

Tuesday - Rainy, cloudy and cooler

I got up at a semi-decent time today and did my usual morning stuff. I did a load of laundry today and when I hung it up I watched Pretty Little Liars. That show is such a guilty pleasure. 

In the afternoon I did a couple of Postcrossings after lunch. I got the cards all ready, but when it came time to scan them, my printer/scanner wouldn’t work. Sigh. I couldn’t get it to work. I decided to leave it for now. I scanned my cards with my phone.

F called around 5:30 to say he was on the way home. I asked him to pick something up, which he did.  I went down to the kitchen and started to get dinner underway. We were having leftovers so I just had to heat up the stew, but it took a while. I’m not like F, I use low heat to bring things up to temp. I’d rather not burn my dinner.  When F got here, I made a cucumber dish with spices. It was one where you bash the cucumber to pieces. Very therapeutic!

After dinner, which was well received, K offered to help me do the dishes, but I turned her down.  I have a hard enough time getting F to do the dishes my way, no way I could with K! And I’m very picky. 

F did come and help. He said he’d like to get a massage or go to the onsen. He settled for onsen and so we went off to Haguro.  We did stop in at a drugstore but didn’t get anything.

While F was taking his bath, I checked my phone, did a couple of rows of knitting and even read a bit. F came out and bought me a drink from the vending machine. We headed back into Tsuruoka and to the grocery store. Boo!

F sort of asked me to make dinner tomorrow night. In the car, he said something about breaded fish, but I told him I’d never cook fish for him and his mother. It’s mostly true. I don’t like the Japanese way and I’m not confident enough frying or roasting fish. 

We came back to the house and I took a shower.  I came back upstairs and watched a show on Australian travellers in Tokyo. Some of it was really dumb, but some of it was quite funny. I haven’t spent a lot of time in Tokyo so can’t really be sure where they went or what they did.

Anyway, that’s about it. F has to go to work early on the morrow so has gone to bed already. I really should get there soon too.  Come back later if you like and see how Wednesday goes. Until tomorrow….

May 27, 2019

Monday - Hot and sunny

I woke up early this morning then fell asleep again. Of course, I overslept and was really surprised when I looked at the clock and saw it was almost 9am. Yikes.

I got up, made the bed, sorted my laundry and took the time to have a cup of tea. I went downstairs, said hello to K and started my laundry and grabbed my breakfast. 

I had a quiet day really. I didn’t start F’s pants, but I did do a couple of Postcrossings in the afternoon. I’m trying for ten this week. I watched quite a bit of stuff off the DVR and I caught up with Facebook and such.

Around 4:30 I went downstairs, started a jug of mint tea steeping and got started on dinner. I expected that F would call a bit after 5 to say he was on his way and would be glad that I had moved on it. Well, 5:15 came and went. So did 5:30, 5:45 and even 6:00pm.  Where was my hubby?  I was making a stew and had brought it to a point where I couldn’t really do anything else. I could hold it or add the other ingredients.  Just as I was about to add the ingredients, he called to say he was on his way.  

He arrived and I sent him off to change his clothes. After that, he came to the living room. Tonight we had a 4 cheese pork stew on rice with a side salad. Dinner got good reviews. I really liked it, and so did everyone else, which is good because it is tomorrow’s dinner too.  

After dinner, F and I did the dishes. What a rigamarole. F washed the lid of the stewpot and got water under the lid handle. I couldn’t get it out so he took his screwdriver and undid the handle to get it out. I’m worried that it just won’t stay closed in the future now. Time will tell. 

We went out for a drink tonight. I chose Starbucks since there was a drugstore nearby it and I wanted to grab something there first. We did that and then had our drinks at the coffee place. F sucked up the wifi and didn’t want to leave, so it was close to 11 before we left for the grocery store. We picked up a few things for tomorrow’s dinner and then came back to the house. F unpacked the groceries and I put together the garbage for tomorrow. 

The rest of the evening was quite quiet. I watched So You Think You Can Dance and F took a shower. That kind of thing.

I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to tomorrow. I’ll hopefully do more Postcrossing and maybe something else a bit fun. Fingers crossed. Come back later and find out. Until tomorrow….

May 26, 2019

Sunday - Blazing hot and sunny

I went to bed quite late last night and slept in until 9:30. I made a run downstairs. F had set up a loaf of bread overnight and I could smell it. I hadn’t worn my glasses downstairs, but it looked like the bread was finished. I came back upstairs and woke F up to see if the bread was done. It was and happily for me, he dealt with it.  He even gave me some an hour or so later, the next time I woke up!

We went out for lunch today. I had suggested a good restaurant near the centre of the city, but it wasn’t open today. Boo! Instead, we ended up going to the butcher’s restaurant. It’s a tiny place with great, meat-based food. Recently, they’ve had hamburgers on offer. Good hamburgers!  I had one today too, and F had the roast beef lunch. We were both pretty pleased with our meals.

After lunch, I suggested getting a drink or something, but F countered with going to the aquarium. As he pointed out, it would be cooler there.  We drove down to Kamo and spent the next hour or so looking at underwater creatures, but especially the jellyfish. It was great.

We came back towards Tsuruoka. F had suggested walking along the beach and I was fine with that, but  I kept falling asleep.  He changed his mind and we ended up in the Mikawa Mall instead.  Newsflash, there’s going to be a Post Office inside the mall. That’ll be cool.  

We had a coffee at the coffee shop (mine was decaf and iced) and used the wifi for a bit. F fell asleep at one point. We were on comfy couches and he was sitting there with his head thrown back. I think if I hadn’t woken him, he’d have started snoring soon!

We decided to buy things for dinner in the grocery store in the mall, so walked down and had a look. We picked up a treat tray with some deep fried shrimp, some meatballs, some gyoza and some spring rolls, a sushi assortment and I suggested a crispy noodle salad. We brought it all back to the house and while F washed his winter tires (?) I got dinner on the table.  I didn’t have a clue what he was doing. It was strange!

Dinner was nice except we were watching the news and it talked a lot about Trump’s meeting with Abe. Neither person is very popular amongst my friends.

After dinner, F washed the dishes and I dried them. He wanted to go to the onsen so I said I’d go to, and if we stopped at the grocery store afterwards, I’d buy stuff to make dinner as well. 

We went to the onsen. I sat in the lobby and read my book, I drank a couple of drinks from the coffee machine and ate a few senbei. F came out and vegged for a while too, but we left just before the place closed. 

On the way back to town, he suggested more coffee, so we went to Komeda and I tried their decaf iced coffee. It was good, not sweet either. Yay. F had his regular decaf. 

We finished up by going to the store and getting things for tomorrow’s dinner. I’m going to make up a stew packet and hopefully cook enough for two days.  

We came back to the house and I did up the kitchen garbage and the upstairs's too. I took a shower as well.  F has finally gone to bed and I think is sleeping. He’s tired, but doesn’t really want to go back to work I’m sure. I asked him if he had a good weekend but he said he didn’t know. Sigh. That makes me sad as I had a pretty good one overall. 

Not really sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow as I have a few things I need to do and even more that I want to do! Come back later and see which wins out!  Until tomorrow….

May 25, 2019

Saturday - HOT and sunny

I slept in a bit today, but F got up quite early. I finally got up and dressed in time for F to come in and demand to know where I wanted lunch. Since my stomach was still sore from last night I didn’t really want to eat for a while. We did end up going to Futaba just up the road and had quiche, which was lovely, and quite nice for sore stomachs.

After lunch, F wanted to see the parade, but I’m afraid I didn’t. It was so hot, I wasn’t feeling great yet and I just couldn’t be bothered. He suggested going to the bookstore, but then drove into the parade zone. I could not believe it. Every freaking road that he drove down was blocked off, and I TOLD him that it would be. It took ages to get to the bookstore. 

We spent a bit of time in the bookstore. It’s a bit boring for me because they don’t have English books so I spend my time looking at DVDs, CDs and crafting books. F picked up a local eatery magazine because it featured hamburgers and sandwiches. Yum.  We went over to Starbucks then and had a couple of cold beverages. I had iced coffee, F had a frappuccino. It was really busy there, so F got me to find a seat and then he got the drinks. I found one that was in the sun and was quite hot really. After a while a group near us moved, so F and I changed our seats.  The ladies that had been sitting next to us decided to take our old seats but we warned them about the sun so they changed their minds.  Good call!

We went back to the house for a while and then popped out again to get something for dinner. F wanted an hors d’oeuvres platter, but we couldn’t find one. At the third grocery store, he found a very expensive sushi tray and got that for us. It was really good, but a little small. When we brought it back to the house we all enjoyed it a lot.

We stayed in tonight. There weren’t any movies still so F and I watched a couple of shows off the DVR. We finished up Castle Rock tonight and started the second season of The Good Doctor. We enjoyed the shows.

F had a snack and then fell asleep, I had a snack and used my computer a lot!

I do feel a bit sorry that we didn’t see the parade today as I know that F wanted to see it. However, it was really hot this afternoon, F said his car thermometer said it was 34 degrees. That is much too hot for me. 

Tomorrow I have no idea what we’ll get up to. Come back later and find out. Until tomorrow….

May 24, 2019

Friday - Hot and sunny

I woke up around 8 this morning and got up to make a trip downstairs. I saw F in the living room with his mother.  They’d had breakfast together. I came back upstairs, watched some of the news and then ER of course. F came back upstairs and went back to bed. I did go over for a cuddle until I had to get up again.  F snoozed a bit and didn’t really move again until the afternoon.

I found a new place on Facebook so I suggested going there. They only had a few things on the menu, but it sounded like a neat place. F decided it was a good possibility too so off we went.  It was a “Share Cafe” and it was really good!  We were the only customers but enjoyed ourselves. We both had the lunch set of curry and bread. It was great, even though the curry was tomato based.  We had bread with the curry, and also herb tea. It was really nice. I bought a few postcards there too as they were unusual. They were more expensive than the ones I usually get though.

After lunch, we went to the new concert hall to check out the activities. There weren’t many. There was a Marche or sale of goods going on. We bought some chiffon cake for K and for us too. We took it back to the house and we had our snack.  Yum. 

F had booked himself a massage in the afternoon, so I asked to be dropped off at S-Mall. He did, although we had to take a detour due to the road being blocked for the festival. At the mall, I hacked around the hundred yen shop and then got my picture taken in the photo booth at the door. I have to renew one of my living in Japan cards soon. 

I went to Doutor and had a drink and read part of my book today. I very nearly finished it before F showed up to meet me. 

We bought a bento for K’s dinner at the grocery store and then delivered it. She’d already made herself something. Oh well. 

I changed my shirt to something warmer and F called a taxi. We had decided to go to the Korean izakaya we like for our dinner.  We arrived there and had a good meal if a bit meat based. I didn’t order the food, it was all on F. He’s the one who doesn’t want to eat meat usually. 

When we had eaten too much there, we just came back to the house. I would have liked to stay out a bit longer, but F was tired. Unlike me, he had a couple of drinks. We came back to the house by taxi and just relaxed.  I did take a late shower as I really felt I needed it.

F is sleeping away now and I’m still up. My stomach is acting up a bit, I’ve no idea why. Hopefully, things will recover soon.  

Tomorrow is the Tenjin Matsuri Parade. I’m not sure if we’ll go and see it or not. F wants to, but I need my stomach to be better, and somewhere shady to stand!

That’s it for me. Come back later if you want and see what I get up to.  Until tomorrow….

May 23, 2019

Thursday - Sunny and warmish

I woke up quite early for me this morning, I did snooze a bit until my alarms went off, but I also watched some of the news I’d recorded. I was up for ER and went downstairs and got my breakfast. I didn’t do laundry like I had planned. Oh dear.

I spent quite a long time on my computer this afternoon. I was trying to get enough points at something, I finally managed it, but it took ages.  

I caught up a bit with some of the stuff on the DVR, I had a fabulous lunch too. I ate a bunch of the leftovers that I had been leaving for K. She left them there for days, I was going to throw them out after today!

F phoned to say he’d be late tonight but would try to call me to tell me he was on his way. He managed too.  When he called me around 6 pm he said he was on his way. I went downstairs a few minutes later and started to work on dinner.  Basically, I was going to make the same as I did on Tuesday, yakisoba, but I was changing it up a tad. Today I didn’t have mushrooms, so I used an onion. I also put a fried egg on top of F & K’s plates.  I’m ahead of myself.  F arrived at the house and I started frying things. He came downstairs and showed me his glasses. One of the lenses had come out. Oh no! The glasses shop closed in a short while, so he decided to race over there to see if they could fix it. We decided that I’d cook the meal and K and I would eat. 

I put things out in the living room and stir-fried the yakisoba. I had just put everything on plates when F arrived back.  Yay!  He got to eat with us after all. Dinner got okay reviews.  F and I did the dishes afterwards. 

We had a little chat after dinner…I was lying on the bed for a change and we decided to go to karaoke. Yay. I had asked last night if we could, but I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to. 

We drove downtown and went to my usual karaoke box. We got a room, but at first, we went into room 5. We couldn’t get the TV to work, so F talked to the front desk. It turned out that we were supposed to be in room 6. Oops! One of the TVs in that room worked! The slip of paper was a bit confusing. It looked a bit like this:

6 RM  [5]

I just glanced at the paper on the way to the room, and I thought I’d heard him say it was room 5, so….

We got things sorted and for the next 3 hours sang a lot of songs. F tired out near the end, but he’d had an early start and had worked all day, so it was understandable. We left a few minutes before our time ran out. 

We drove back to the house and F went straight to bed, where he still is. I have just had a quiet late night by myself. It’s been nice.

Tomorrow F has the day off. He wanted to see some of the Tenjin Matsuri things, so I’m not sure how that is going to work. Wish us luck and good humour tomorrow! 

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

May 22, 2019

Wednesday - Cooler but sunny

I got up quite early this morning and watched a lot of news! Last night I set the DVR to tape 3 news broadcasts from NHK so that I could compare them and see which one would let me see more news in English. I think I have mostly decided that I need to switch the one I record as there isn’t nearly enough news that I want to watch. The one I’ve been recording has only 4 minutes of BBC news and then about 12 minutes of German news followed by a lot of Russian news.  If I knew either of those languages I’d probably be delighted, but I don’t and I’m not.

I did a load of laundry today and hung it up. It took me a while to actually hang it, I was feeling guilty for a bit. I did see K this morning when I was downstairs and said hello. She offered me some popcorn! Obviously, she doesn’t know that I’m a popcorn fiend and should never be offered popcorn. Don’t feed the bear sort of thing.  

I didn’t prepare dinner at all today, so when F called he was a bit whiny about where to go or what to do for dinner. When he got here he said he wasn’t feeling very well and only wanted ramen. I suggested a place that does ramen and some other stuff, he didn’t like it but did go along with my idea. Honestly.  I told him that if he liked he could take his mother out for ramen and just drop me off somewhere else but he didn’t like that idea. Why not? It sounded like a good solution to me. That way I wouldn’t have to put up with a person who couldn’t be bothered to talk to me during dinner. Which is what I got anyway. Boo.

We went to the restaurant with his mum and the food was okay. I had a fairly expensive curry with chicken, he and his mother had ramen and gyoza.  We came back to the house but as we arrived, F said he’d like to go to the onsen and would I go with him. I said I would.

We picked up our stuff and left. I had an hour to myself and it was nice. I checked my apps on my phone, I knitted a bit and changed the circular needle as the cord on the old one was breaking, and I even read a bit of my book. Yay. 

On the way back to Tsuruoka F wanted to go to the grocery store so we did. I didn’t get anything for myself tonight, just suggested some barley tea for our dinners.  He got himself a few things, no big deal.

We came back to the house and I let him put the stuff away. I came upstairs and got ready for my shower. And that was about that. I watched a little bit of TV and spent more time than I should have on my computer. 

Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow, so you’ll just have to come back and find out. Until tomorrow….

May 21, 2019

Tuesday - Rainy then clearing

I got up this morning on time but watched the news from the bed. I had to watch the DVR News though. I realized after the BBC update had finished that it was only 4 minutes of English news. Not really acceptable to me. Tomorrow I will check out some of the other broadcasts to see what my options are.

I watched ER and then The Black List and did a couple of loads of laundry. I had them hanging in my room for most of the day.  I saw K at one point and did say hello. 

Today was kind of a nothing day, to be honest. I didn’t do a lot of anything. I planned to Postcross, then didn’t. Sigh. 

F called around 5:45 to say he was coming back to the house so I went down and got a start on dinner. Today I made that old Japanese standby, yakisoba. It’s sort of fried ramen noodles with a bit of meat and some vegetables.  I served mine with a side salad and in the yakisoba, we had sausages, mushrooms and cabbage. It was actually pretty darn good.  I even served dessert today, my mincemeat tarts. They weren’t quite a month past their date!  Still, they were nice. 

F and I went out after we did the dishes tonight. We went to the drugstore, then to the coffee shop.  We went for a decaf each and some wifi, but F wouldn’t leave!  When we were there for an hour, I thought it was time to go, but it took F another 25 minutes before he’d put his phone down. So annoying. He is so addicted to his phone, I wonder if he has any idea how bad it is.  Admittedly, I spend a lot of time on my phone too, but I would like to at least have a conversation with my husband. I look around and other people are talking to each other, he just doesn’t look up or talk to me. And he wears an earphone too, so it isn’t like he’s even listening to me!  He isn’t. 

We picked up a few groceries at MaxValu and then came back. Oh yeah, there was some nonsense over the recycling of the supermarket trays they use. They were in a bag and I was taking them out in handfuls to pop in the box. I thought F suggested that I just put the whole bag in the box, so I did. Then he got annoyed at me for doing that. I don’t understand what he wants. I grabbed the bag back since it wasn’t what he meant. 

We had a quiet evening in the house. I watched some TV and F did his thing, no big deal.  

That’s about it really. I’m a tad late for bed, but not too bad. If I go soon I can get enough sleep for the night. If!  Come back later and see what’s new. Until tomorrow….

May 20, 2019

Monday - Sunny and warm

I got up this morning at a good time, but it was a bit difficult!  I watched some news, dozed a little too, before watching ER and getting dressed.  I ended up having a quiet morning and afternoon really.  

I probably should have done laundry today but didn’t. I just didn’t feel it. I managed to watch quite a bit of stuff off the DVR though, so that was good. I did say good morning to K today when I grabbed my breakfast, so that was good too. I worry that she expects me to hunt her down to say good morning. I’m not going to do that. If I see her (and she sees me) I will say good morning, but I’m not going to chase after her or start yelling good morning at her!  

In the afternoon I did my dishes and got a start on dinner. I made more hibiscus tea and set up the garlic soy marinade for the pork.  I combined those and put them back in the fridge for a while. 

When F called to say he was coming I finished what I was doing then went downstairs to start dinner prep. I think he was surprised when he arrived at how far I was and how organized I was. I was surprised that he kept standing IN MY WAY! I don’t have time to stand and chat when I’m cooking.  I set the table tonight along with all the other stuff I did. We had a nice meal. We had garlic pork, marinated mushrooms, broccoli, salad and F and K had rice too. I didn’t.

F washed the dishes and I dried them, so no arguments there. F took in the sink board out to fix it and I washed the frypan and then went upstairs for a rest.

When F was finished, we went over to Yupoka, his spa. F took a bath, I spent some time in the lobby reading my book and trying to get the wifi to work. I didn’t manage much.

After F was finished, we came back to Tsuruoka and went to MaxValu. We ended up getting something for dinner tomorrow night, yes, I’ll be cooking two nights in a row!  We came back to the house after that.

I had a quiet evening in a way. I took a shower and F walked to the local convenience store to pick something up. He couldn’t drive as he’d already had a drink. I watched So You Think You Can Dance and was a bit surprised at the results.  Two of the most talented dancers on the show were eliminated…the one the judges kept warning got to stay on. It wasn’t fair. 

Anyway, that’s about it for me. I’m tired as these hot days are making me rather drained.  What will it be like when summer gets here? I don’t want to think about it.  Come back later if you like and see how Tuesday goes. Until tomorrow….

May 19, 2019

Sunday - Sunny and hot

F and I slept in a little this morning, but when I got up to make a run to the washroom, he was downstairs with his mother eating. He’d made her some breakfast.  They ended up going out to the onsen while I slept a bit late.  I did get up though and just relaxed a bit. 

We went out for lunch, the two of us, around 12. I asked for Futaba, but when we got there, they were booked for a private party so we didn’t go in. I then suggested Hyakkenbori by the lake. We went there and had a lovely meal. At first, F was quite nasty about choosing a place to eat at. He gave me a budget and I try really hard to stay in it. My two restaurants were super close to the budget, and he knew it. I was told not to worry about what he can eat, so after a bit, I decided to just please myself. Anyway, I had herb chicken and F had the daily fish which was trout today. We got to use the wifi there and the atmosphere is so nice that I don’t really understand why he doesn’t like the place. 

After lunch, we ran a few errands. I needed to get a new circular knitting needle as I noticed last night that mine’s cord was breaking and soon wouldn’t be much good for me. I got that and a few other little things like crochet cotton. After my shopping, we went and had some coffee in Doutor.

We picked up our groceries for the next couple of days too. I will probably do some garlic pork again, plus a veg or something out of the freezer. I got stuff for my lunches too. We also picked up a bento for K’s dinner. 

Back at the house, I had a break. F, on the other hand, cleaned the car. Earlier in the day he had cleaned out the outside, now he washed the car.  Yay for him.  

Around 5:20 I changed and F and I left for the meeting place.  

We met with some of my friends and then drove off to a house off in the boonies. The view was gorgeous. We went to celebrate Iftar with some of the local Muslims in the area. It was my second experience and my husband’s first and it was quite different than my first.  Still, it was a lovely time and it was great to be able to eat so many different foods. The prayers were upstairs and done in shifts I believe, as the room was very small and not everyone would fit in the room at once. 

We left around 10 pm and drove back to Tsuruoka. We dropped people off at the meeting place and said goodbye to them and my friends.  

F and I were going to drive back to the house when he decided he needed to buy gas.  On the way, we stopped into a grocery store and bought a few things.  We got the gas and then came back to the house.

I prepped the garbage for tomorrow’s collection and left it by the door for F. I watched a little bit of TV but had missed most of the programme, so I checked when the rebroadcast is and set my DVR for it. 

And that’s about it. It has been quite a lovely weekend, but it passed so quickly! F complained that it was so fast he didn’t feel like he had a full weekend at all. 

Tomorrow I will likely cook dinner again and I’m hoping to do some of the things I’ve been neglecting over the last few weeks. Come back later and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

May 18, 2019

Saturday - Warm but a little muggy

I got up this morning a bit late. It was nice to be able to sleep in a bit. F went out early and saw a doctor about his eye. He got some eyedrops I think.  We had a fairly quiet morning and early afternoon. I read some of my book, F was on his phone on the bed. It was relaxing. 

We had some of K’s bamboo stew for lunch and it was nice.  After lunch, we relaxed a bit more, but then F started to get ready to go fishing. We’d talked about going yesterday and I was fine with it. We drove to the port and kept on going. The first place we went to was busy, and it took us a while to find somewhere we liked.  

We ended up in Yura Port and spent about two hours trying to catch fish. Unfortunately, they weren’t biting, so we gave up!  We bought K a bento, dropped it off, and then went out for our dinner. We were supposed to go to a street festival at one point, but I think we both decided not to go. 

We had dinner at Kula Sushi and ate too much. It wasn’t too bad tonight. I had an iced caffe latte tonight and proceeded to spill a lot of it all over the table. Sigh. 

We came back to the house and watched a couple of episodes of Castle Rock. Only one more to go!  

F is in bed trying to sleep now, I’m up much too late watching the Oceans movies.  I really wish they weren’t on in the middle of the night.  

Tomorrow could be an interesting day. You should come back later and see how things go. Until tomorrow….

May 17, 2019

Friday - Hot and Sunny

A good day!

I got up earlier than the last couple of days and started getting ready to go out. I had breakfast early today.

I watched ER and got myself ready to go out. I had a mission!  I left the house at the correct time for Google Maps, but I had really wanted to leave early.  I didn’t.  I did make the bus, but it was a very close thing.  I relaxed on the bus and also started a Mercy Thompson novel that I’m digging now. 

I got off the bus in Sakata and went into the mall. I went to the craft corner and had a snoop, then decided to go back to the middle of the mall. As I was on my way I saw my friend coming towards me. We hugged and then decided what to do with ourselves. We each suggested a couple of local restaurants but ended up in Nalanda, the Japanese run Indian restaurant in Sakata.  

We had quite a nice meal. We both had the tandoori lunch with naan, so we had some spicy curry with chicken and meat plus salad.  We both got lassis to drink. 

After lunch, we went to Mikawa and did a little shopping at a new shop there and then went into the mall proper. We had a treat at the ice cream shop and then sat and chatted for a while in the lovely cool air. Sadly, our time was starting to run out so we did a little grocery shopping and then she had to leave.

I spent some time in the mall too.  I bought some proper sashiko thread for mending F’s second pair of jeans and had a look in the clothing department. I tried a few things on, but the only thing I liked enough to consider buying was a pair of leggings and they were polyester so I decided not to get them. 

Finally, I was really thirsty so I took myself off to Doutor and had a drink and a cookie.  I knew that F would be a little late but he met me before 6 pm so he didn’t do too badly.  I handed over the card and got him to buy us both drinks. I’d already finished my first one. We had a nice drink and chat and then decided to go to the grocery store and get a few things for dinner from the deli.

We bought a few nice things from the deli like chicken wrapped with shiso, corn and bean fritters, sushi, sashimi and a salad.  

We brought it all back to the house and had a little feast with K as well. The food was good and got a good reception from all of us!

After dinner, F washed the dishes and I dried them.  Sad to say, one of our glasses got chipped, but since it only cost a hundred yen, neither of us is concerned. We’ll try and replace it soonish. 

I came upstairs and watched some TV, and F came up a bit later. It’s been so hot today that I am exhausted and can hardly keep my eyes open. 

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m hoping that we both have a good day. Come back later and see what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

May 16, 2019

Thursday - Warm and Sunny

I didn’t get up early again today. In fact, I very nearly overslept. I’m not sure what I’m doing that for. I finally did get up, dressed and watched ER. 

I had a fairly quiet day. I didn’t run into K at all during the day. I think she might have been resting, to be honest. I spent a couple of hours this afternoon fixing F’s jeans.  I finished them today and gave them back to him. I have no idea if the mending will last, but I quite like how they look. 

The jeans went from this...

...to this. I had to patch a bit too obviously.

When F came back to the house we talked about dinner. We had a few ideas, but when F asked K where she’d like to go, she wanted soba. Boo.  We piled in the car and went off to find her some. F’s first choice was closed for a private party, so we went to another place he took me before. We all had the same thing, soba with tempura and it was good. F and K had coffee afterwards, I didn’t. 

We dropped K off at the house and I told her that I was going out tomorrow.  After that, F and I went out.

We just went to McDonald's for a bit of wifi. I couldn’t get any at first, but finally, someone must have stopped hogging it!  I updated apps and put my mending pictures up on ‘gram!

We picked up a few groceries for K for tomorrow and then came back to the house. I took another shower and then watched NCIS and Grey’s Anatomy. That was it! It was actually quite a boring day.  I am glad that I finished mending my hubby’s jeans though. I think he has another pair that needs doing, although they aren’t in such bad shape. Easier for me!

Tomorrow I’m off in the morning to Sakata to meet a good friend. We have a wonderful lunch planned, but I don’t know where!  Come back later and find out all the details. Until tomorrow….

May 15, 2019

Wednesday - Sunny and warm

I had a hard time getting up this morning. I got up early, went back to bed and slept in a bit. It was nearly nine when I dragged myself out of bed. Sigh.

I watched ER, had breakfast and watched Major Crimes. When that was over I did a bit more work on F’s pants. I am now doing horizontal lines. I hope this work is worth it!

I had a quiet day. I didn’t see K face to face for a long time. I took my dishes downstairs around 4 and while I was there got a head start on dinner. I started marinating some meat.

F called to say he was on his way back to the house. I went downstairs just as he arrived and got started on dinner. I roasted some asparagus, cooked some pork and plated some salad.  We also had miso soup and F and K had some rice too. I put the last of the lovely alfredo sauce on our asparagus and I used it to dip my meat into too. Yum.

I did the dishes afterwards. K offered to help which was nice, but to be honest, I don’t like the way she does dishes. F said he’d help but took off for the washroom. Then when he came back, he wanted to wash the remaining 5 things while I was expected to do all the drying and putting away. I was doing that anyway, so it wasn’t very helpful. If he’d just grab the towel and dry the dishes it would be nicer.  Giving me double the work isn’t really helping. We used to have a one person cooks, the other does the dishes rule in our apartment, but F doesn’t seem to remember that. Or a lot of other things either.

He was quite mad at me for a bit and stormed off as usual.

I went upstairs and pouted a bit. I got changed around 8:30 as F had earlier made an appointment for a massage and had offered to take me out with him. I eventually asked him to drop me at the Internet Cafe, which he did.

I spent about two hours there and I had a great time. I watched some YouTube videos and relaxed.

F messaged me to say he was finished at the massage place and so I cleaned up my space and paid up.  He arrived a couple of minutes later and we went off towards the house. On the way, I mentioned that we didn’t have any bread, so we went to MaxValu and picked up a few groceries for the house. We did a little driving around after that so F could find the place he has to drive to tomorrow and then back to the house. 

It was too late for Grey’s Anatomy so I just took my shower and spent time on my computer. That’s about it.

Tomorrow, I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to. I’d like to do some laundry, I have that mending to do, and perhaps I might do a little Postcrossing, although I’m not sure about that! Come back later and see!  Until tomorrow….

May 14, 2019

Tuesday - Warm then rainy at night

My day started a bit oddly. I didn’t hear F leave this morning so when my alarm went off I was quite startled that it was morning. I got up and made a trip downstairs. I saw K cleaning away, but she had her back to me so I couldn’t really say good morning to her. (She’s quite deaf, she wouldn’t have heard me.)

I went into the washroom, but when I came out, the closet near the toilet room had been closed and she wasn’t around. I could hear her muttering away and she sounded angry. I think that she was mad I didn’t say good morning to her, but I really needed the loo! I really didn’t see her again until F came home.

During the day I did some stuff on my computer and I worked on F’s jeans again. It’s going fairly well, I’m not sure if it is really messy or just sort of cool.  If he didn’t put his wallet in his back pocket so much, I wouldn’t have to do this mending!

Lunch was quite good, I had a bagel today with some chicken and some of the leftover guacamole!  It makes a nice sandwich topping!

In the evening I wasn’t sure what F wanted to do for dinner. When he got here we ran through our repertoire of places to go that are open on Tuesday. F suggested a lot of bad places but did come up with a good suggestion, Misono.  We all bundled into the car and went.  K had udon, F had ramen and I had pork piccata so we were all fairly happy. We were nearly back to the house afterwards when I asked F if we could do some shopping. I’d remembered that I needed groceries.

We dropped off K and then F and I went off. First off he suggested a drink and Starbucks so that’s where we headed. It was a little busy in there, but we ordered and had a seat. I do find it annoying that they made us pay extra twice for decaf coffee in one order. Couldn’t they just put extra coffee in the machine?

We got a table but were able to move to comfy seating later on. We spent quite a bit of time there, I was ready to leave long before F was. 

We left the coffee shop and went to the grocery store. I grabbed a few things and F grabbed a few things and we went through the checkout. At home, I remembered that I hadn’t bought bread, so I took out a couple of bagels for myself. Yum.

I watched a bit of TV, the Travel show from Australia was on. It was rather funny as the people went to Sri Lanka. The show made it look rather amazing, so now I’m wondering how much it would cost to go and spend some time there. Probably too much!

And that’s about it. I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m hoping to work on F’s pants again, but we’ll see. Come back later if you are so moved and see what happens. Until tomorrow….

May 13, 2019

Monday - Sunny

I woke up around 6 this morning, went downstairs and then back to bed. I did wonder if F would get up on time, but when I woke up again the room was empty so he must have made it. I did think I heard him bumping around the room. 

I had a very quiet morning except the doorbell rang early on and I ran down to answer it. Just before I got to the door K stopped me from answering it. I have no idea who was at the door!  Missionaries? Bill collectors?Nosy Neighbours? I’ll never know.

I did a load of laundry and watched Pretty Little Liars while I was hanging it up. That’s a little tradition that won’t last too much longer. Silly show, but I enjoy it.

I gathered up the plastic bottles that I had in my side of the room tonight and crushed them. I also got them ready to go out. There was so many! I really do try not to use them, but when I’m at the onsen I need to drink something and their machine only sells coffee or high sugar drinks in cups.

Around 4 pm I went downstairs to wash my dishes and then I washed the lettuce from Friday and made guacamole with the last two avocados. I put it back in the fridge for a while.

I came downstairs around 6:30 tonight. I hadn’t heard from F so I thought his phone might have died again.  I got started on dinner. Tonight I made broccoli, salad, hash brown patties and teriyaki chicken.  That one took more effort but went well.  F came back just as I was wondering whether to feed his mother or wait for him.  We all ate. The chicken was good, the guacamole was great, but the chips I’d chosen to use turned out to be sweet!  Yikes. That wasn’t what I wanted.

I got a start on dinner dishes afterwards, but F took over and washed the rest of the things and the stove too. 

He asked if I wanted to go to the onsen and I said I’d go with him. We left here around 9:00 pm, so I knew that we’d be late. F was able to have a bath for about 40 minutes or so. He said it was enough time.

I updated apps and Facebooked, I never did open my book or do my knitting. Sigh. 

On the way back to Tsuruoka, F asked if I’d like to go for coffee and I said I would.  We went to Komeda and both had a cup of decaf coffee and then left. 

We came back to the house and I bundled up all the pet bottles and then I took a shower. 

I came back upstairs and watched So You Think You Can Dance. It was okay tonight.

And now you are up to date with me.  Come back later if you’d like to find more. Until tomorrow then!