May 31, 2024

Friday - Sunny but coolish

I woke up this morning, probably when F left. He was a tad noisy, but I fell back asleep.  I woke up later and went downstairs, then came back to the room. I changed into some fresh clothes and went back to bed for a while.  I was reading in bed when F came back into the room. He was looking for his earphone adapter for his phone. I have no idea if he found it or not. He told me that he did take off some time next week. Woot. 

He left and I tried to snooze more. I got up and then went downstairs with my basket of laundry. I put it in the washer and then grabbed my breakfast. I came upstairs to eat and then cleared away my clean laundry on the hanger in the corner. 

I had a quiet afternoon. I watched a bit of YouTube and I watched the news. Today was a big news day as the jury came in on President Trump’s trial. I went downstairs a bit later and made my lunch. I brought it upstairs to eat and then of course watched an episode of The Closer. This one was about a 15 or so year old murder. It had some good points in it. 

I finished off my column. I read through it again and sent it off to the editor. She acknowledged that she received it, so I can relax for the weekend. 

F called after 5:15 and said that he was coming back but wanted to stop at a store first. I went downstairs after a while to start dinner. 

My plan for tonight was pasta. I had some pasta sauce that needed using up. We had garlic soy sauce pasta and smoked duck breast, plus salad. It went over quite well and I enjoyed dinner.  Afterwards, I did the dishes and was done before 9pm. 

I went upstairs. I was surprised that there weren’t any lights on in the room. F was already in bed. He went to sleep and I watched Blue Beetle at 9pm. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. I do wish that the subtitles for the Spanish were also in English, but I think I got the gist of things anyway. I’m not sure I enjoyed it as much as the first Shazam! movie, but it was good and I liked the whole family vibe of the movie.

After 11:30 or so, I went downstairs and took a shower. I came back up to the room afterwards and started doing my usual computer stuff. It’s been a long day, but a fairly good one.

Anyway, that’s it for me. I’m hoping that on Saturday we’ll be able to go and see Furiosa but you never know. If we don’t go tomorrow I’ll take myself off to the mall next week and see it. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

 

May 30, 2024

Thursday - Cooler and rainy, sunny in the morning

I went to bed a little early last night but I woke up early this morning unfortunately. I went downstairs and then came back up to the room. I did go back to bed but it took a while before I got back to sleep. 

I woke up later and was a bit surprised that it was so late. I decided to do some of the laundry that I needed to do. I did two loads, shirts and pants. The divider between “my” room and the bedroom is full of damp clothing!

I had breakfast and later I went downstairs to get lunch. When I came back up to the room I watched The Closer and also worked on my column when it was over. I think it is finished. I did a few tweaks today, so tomorrow I’ll read it over again and then send it in. 

I knew that F was going to be a bit late tonight, so I went downstairs to start on dinner. Tonight I made a cucumber pickle and then cut up some mushrooms for dinner.  F did get back before 7 pm so I started dinner then. I made the gapao meat mix and asked F to put the rice in the bowls before I added the fried eggs to the meat and rice. Unfortunately, I had accidentally turned up the burner so the eggs were really cooked today. Darn. 

After dinner I did the dishes and then went upstairs. F and I have talked about going away for a night next week, so I made a reservation at a hotel before we went out to get groceries.

Unfortunately, we were a bit late leaving the house so we had to go to MaxValu. That place is such a barn! We picked up a few groceries and then went to the check out. They have the self-checkout machines there so F went to one. He tried to check out and was so bad at it that it drove me crazy! He waves the items over the scanner so fast that it can’t read it. I kept telling him to slow down and he wouldn’t! Of course, he also wouldn’t let me do the scanning either. Still, we got done finally!

We came back to the house via a convenience store to pay a bill. Back at the house we put away the groceries and then went upstairs. I took a can of root beer up with me. I had it and it was lovely. 

I watched an episode of The Rookie: Feds tonight and it was fine. I still don’t think I’ll miss this show when it is finished. I do like the characters though.

And that’s about it for my day. Tomorrow I have a little more laundry to do, I have to finish my column and get it sent in and cook dinner. After that, it’s the weekend baby!

Come back later if you like and hear all about my Friday. Until tomorrow….

May 29, 2024

 Wednesday - Rainy and cold in the morning, sunny in the afternoon

I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I got up and made my way downstairs. I came back up to the room, got dressed and then I went back to bed for a snooze for a couple of minutes. I got up again almost immediately. 

Today I went downstairs and grabbed my breakfast. I went back to my usual cereal and yogurt and it was nice. I didn’t have to worry about it boiling over! I brought it upstairs and ate while checking out YouTube and the news on TV. 

I had a quiet afternoon and was just about to get my lunch when I got a message from F. He asked me to call him at 14:00, but he sent the message at 14:06.  I texted him back,”Now?” and he wrote back,”Soon.” I called him at 10 past, thinking that maybe he wrote the time wrong.  He had decided to take the rest of the afternoon off to go to the doctor. He was having back pain again. Sigh. Poor thing. 

I started my lunch and put on an episode of The Closer again. This one was directed by Kevin Bacon so that was cool. F came back a few minutes later so I stopped the programme to chat with him. He changed out of his uniform before leaving for the doctor’s office.

I finished my programme when he left and relaxed for a bit. I worked on my column and reworked a few paragraphs. I wrote the introduction and then a few outgoing words. I don’t know if this is a particularly good column, but I did enjoy writing it which is good! Tomorrow I’ll have to do a proof read of it before I send it in.

I went downstairs to start dinner. Tonight I made sausages and French fries with some cucumber pickle, radishes and salad. It was actually a salad I had to wash too! Dinner was good. Most of the fries disappeared and I think we all enjoyed it. I didn’t have any freezer disasters tonight.  After dinner, I did the dishes and listened to a few podcasts. 

When I finished the dishes I had to do the garbage bagged up to go out. That took a while and I put the bag in the genkan. I said goodnight to K and then went upstairs. I prepared my garbage and left the bag for F to put his in.  

Around 10 pm I went downstairs and took a shower. I’m glad I went a little earlier tonight because I was able to watch something when I came back to the room.

I did a bit of surfing to see if there was any new programmes I wanted to watch, but decided to watch the last episode of Sugar tonight. Oh my goodness. It was good. I know think I may have to rethink my relationship with Colin Farrell. He probably doesn’t know about it and that’s okay. I know, that’s the important thing! 

Around midnight I turned off the TV and wrote a couple of emails. I hadn’t emailed my bestie back in two weeks so I OWED her an email, and I sent a quick note to another friend as well. 

Tomorrow I hope that I can finish my column and get it ready to send in. I also hope to do some laundry because it is piling up again. Sigh. I will also have to do dinner and that kind of thing again, plus a bit of grocery shopping. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

May 28, 2024

 Tuesday - Cold and rainy all day

I was having an odd dream when my alarm went off this morning. I woke up and got up a few minutes later. I made a trip downstairs and then came back and got dressed. I checked my email and I had received an email from the Canadian Embassy so I sent them the information that they requested. Whew. Then, I went back to bed for a while. I didn’t really sleep, but I dozed on and off for a few minutes.

I got up again and went downstairs. I made breakfast for myself this morning, I had porridge. I made it in the microwave and I made a smaller amount than I usually had. Unfortunately, it boiled over in the microwave and I had to clean up the tray! It didn’t take too long happily, but it was annoying.

I went upstairs to eat breakfast and to watch some YouTube and the news. I had a fairly quiet afternoon today. It was nice and relaxing!

Around 2 I went downstairs and started making my lunch. It didn’t take too long. I came upstairs and started watching another episode of The Closer.  It was good. I must say that the show has grown on me.

I watched the news and also worked on my column a bit. I think I have written about enough movies now, so I should write my intro and outro and hopefully I’ll be able to send it in on Friday so I can enjoy the weekend!

I also asked some of my close friends if they are going to go to our women’s groups annual convention. Looking at just transportation it would be about ¥18,000 each way, and the hotel costs are supposed to be rather expensive too. I think it is a bit too expensive for me. I’d be travelling for 6 or 7 hours too and I’m not sure that I’m up for it. Even if I flew to Tokyo I’d still have a two or three hour train journey after that. I’m a bit sad, but I can’t really ask my husband to pay for me to go away for such a short trip for so much money! I have a bit saved up, but it won’t be enough.

F called me after 5:30 to say he was on his way back. I went downstairs a little later and got started on dinner. I washed my day’s dishes and then I got busy.  Today I made chicken wings and bibinba rice, with spinach and salad. I think dinner was good. I did have some problems though. When I opened the freezer to get the spinach out, I couldn’t close it. Sometimes ice cubes fall over the back. Usually it’s fine and they don’t block anything, but today I couldn’t get the freezer drawer closed. I found one ice cube and took it out, but it still didn’t close. I had to call F down and ask him to fix it. He found the other ice cube and managed to get the drawer to close.

Dinner was quite good and everything disappeared. Well, except for the salad and the spinach. All the chicken wings were gone. We did have a weird thing happen though. F was looking at his fish tank during dinner and he noticed that there was a dead fish on top of the tank! It must have jumped out and not been able to get back in, I guess. It isn’t completely sealed on top. I know that I didn’t have anything to do with it. It’s a bit sad for him.

After dinner I did the dishes and it took a while. Still, it got done before 9 pm so I can’t complain too much. I went upstairs and got ready to go out. 

F and I went to the grocery store and went in. Today, F went to the machine and transferred some credits from his point card to use for our shopping. Yay. The woman in the store told him it was at a large amount on the weekend. I picked up a lot of different things and F got something for himself too.

We came back to the house and I put away the groceries. I headed upstairs after that. At 11pm I watched FBI: Most Wanted and it was an okay one. A woman was kidnapped and the team had to find her. It wasn’t the best episode ever, but it was fine.

And honestly, that was my day. It was a decent day and I’m feeling a bit happier now. I hope it lasts. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

May 27, 2024

Monday - Rainy and cloudy and cool all day

I woke up early and I remember F grabbing my hands and we held hands for a while. I went back to sleep and when my alarm went off later F was gone.

I snoozed for a while, then got up and went downstairs. I came back upstairs and got dressed. I did try and have a nap but it didn’t really happen. 

I got up later and went downstairs to grab breakfast. I came back upstairs and then ate.  I had a quiet early afternoon with my usual YouTube and news.  F called me at one point to say that his aunt or cousin was going to deliver some strawberries to us and they were for us and his sister as well. When I went downstairs to make my lunch, I went outside and checked the garage. There were two boxes of strawberries. As I went outside, F’s sister drew up in her car, so I was able to give her the box with her name on it. I asked if she wanted to see her mother so I went in and found K sitting in the living room watching TV. I let her know that she had a visitor and I think they spent a few minutes together.

I made my lunch and left the strawberries in the kitchen. I don’t really eat strawberries. The acidity in them makes my tongue break out so I avoid them for the most part. 

After I had eaten and while I was watching The Closer F came back to the house. He came up to the room and he stayed for a few minutes. I’m afraid I was more interested in my show than I was in him. I was still angry with him from last night, so I didn’t want to say much. He left after a while. Today’s episode of The Closer was really good. There was a shootout in the room where the police officers usually do their work. It was intense and will probably have repercussions for the gang.

I watched news at 4 pm and then around 5:30 F phoned to say he was on his way. I went downstairs a bit later to start dinner. I also received an email from the Embassy telling me that I didn’t fill in part of my passport form. Oh dear. I didn’t, but I sort of thought that I didn’t have to. Guess I was wrong about that! I emailed them back asking them to let me know how I can correct it.

When I got to the kitchen, I nearly went upstairs again. The stovetop was filthy. F boils things over rather than checking on them, and then he can’t be bothered wiping up the mess. I had to get the pots off the stove so that I could get mine on. I started by doing the dishes and then F came back. I noticed that there was a lot of strawberry tops in the sink garbage. I think K had eaten an entire punnet of strawberries by herself. Wow. I hope she washed them first. 

I got on with my dishes and then cooking. Tonight I made a stir-fry with veggies and a sauce from the grocery store. It was quite popular. I also served a salad of baby leaf lettuce with some wild herbs in it. Dinner was quite popular and we all had seconds, so that was good!

I did the dishes after dinner and put out the plastic garbage for F to take out in the morning. Then, I went upstairs with some root beer and ice! I relaxed for a while and a little after 10 pm went downstairs to take my shower.

After I showered, I came back upstairs and watched another episode of Sugar on Apple TV. The show took a huge left turn last episode and so I’m just dying to know what is going to happen. Colin Farrell is so good in this!

F went to bed and seems to be sleeping. I’m not really angry at him anymore. Well, I am for some things but not for others. 

Tomorrow I have to work a little more on my column and I’ll be doing the dinner thing again. I will also have to go out and get groceries tomorrow night. Wish me luck with that!

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

May 26, 2024

Sunday - Hot and sunny, bit muggy too

I woke up this morning, but managed to fall back asleep for a while. Still, I ended up getting up before 11. F came back to the room and wanted to talk about lunch. I told him truthfully that I wanted breakfast at 11 not lunch. I don’t think he was impressed.

I suggested a few places to him, one of which was a little cafe that does burgers, and farmer plates using local food. He decided that we’d go there. When we got there, we got a table and looked at the menu. They had a lot of stuff that sounded great, but I quickly decided to have a burger. F had the same one. 

It was great. It originally came with a slice of tomato, so I asked them to leave it off. F had his. We had drinks with our food too. I had a hoji-cha latte on ice and F had a coffee. I liked my burger a lot. I thought it was really good, but F didn’t like his very much. I dunno. There were fish dishes on the menu, there were other dishes, so I really don’t know why he had a burger if it wasn’t what he wanted!

My burger, sans tomato slice

After lunch, we went over to Yamada-Denki to price water pots. They had some nice ones, but unlike the other store, there was actually someone nearby to talk to us about them. F ended up getting one for me. He had to sign up for the app and all that kind of thing. It is a very nice one, it’s bright red! It does look very stylish on my desk. 

I was thirsty after our time in the electric shop, so we went to Mos Burger and had drinks. I had an iced tea, F had a coffee again! We spent some time there and I read a bit of a book on my phone since F didn’t want to talk to me. Same old, same old.

After the drink we were going to get groceries but we decided that F would go and get his hair cut, something he wanted to do all weekend. I’d go and spend some time at S-Mall. Yawn.  F dropped me off. I did a bit of shopping and walking around the mall but after a while I decided to go to Doutor. I had an iced decaf coffee and it was just what I wanted. F came to the mall while I was there and joined me for a bit. 

We decided to do some grocery shopping, so we went over to the Mina shopping area. I was surprised to see that Tsutaya has closed. I wonder what will happen to the building. 

I had asked to go to the hundred yen shop to try and get a replacement broom for the stairs. F broke mine a few months ago and hasn’t bothered replacing it. I haven’t done the stairs since, so that was an added benefit. I just wanted a cheap broom since I didn’t want to be upset if F broke it again and they are smaller so they fit the stairs better. F wanted me to buy a “natural bristles” brush, aka a witches broom and I wanted a nylon bristles one. He didn’t like my idea so we left the store. 

I did the grocery shopping. As usual, F went to the wrong side of the store. I don’t know why he can’t get it through his stupid head that I like to start on the other end and do the veggies last. And, of course, I needed to use the washroom again, which was on the other side. 

I went in and did the shopping. I got most of the stuff I wanted and a few things I didn’t want to buy but had to get for K.  I paid and took the groceries out to the car. We drove off, I assumed to the house.

When we sailed past the turn off to the house I asked F where we were going. He wanted to go to a hardware shop to get a broom. He went into the shop by himself and came out a few minutes later with a broom. I won’t be using it, so I hope he enjoys doing the stairs again with it. 

Back at the house I unpacked the groceries and put them away, bringing some stuff upstairs. I left the water pot downstairs because I wanted to wash it out before I used it. 

Around 6 or so F gave his mother her bento but I had to wait until 8ish until he asked if I wanted to have dinner. Not sure what that was about. I suggested either Coco Ichibanya or a gyudon shop. Happily he picked Coco Ichibanya. 

We drove there and went in. We got a good table and looked at the menu. I had one of their seasonal curries, a chicken curry, and F had a pork curry with a huge piece of pork on it. Mine was really good, F kept giving me bits of his pork. It was nice and all, but I really wasn’t in the mood. I wish he’d damn well stop giving me bits of food he doesn’t want to eat. 

On our way back to the house he asked me if I’d like to go shopping and I asked him what for? It was after 9pm, the only things open were grocery stores and drugstores. I’d already done my grocery shopping and I don’t enjoy it enough to go again. I guess I might have wanted to go to a drugstore, but I didn’t. 

Back at the house, he set up the rice cooker for tomorrow and then I opened up my water pot. I used the app on my phone to translate the directions and after I washed out the inside, I put some water in it and brought it up to the boil. I then ran the machine so the water came out and after a bit, dumped the hot water. I brought it upstairs with some water in it from the tap.

The water pot works quite well. I’ll have to get used to how it works which will be a little interesting. Unfortunately, I had asked F to register it for me online and he was such a pain in the butt about it that I’m rather put off. And angry. I mean, he wanted to know the serial number of the thing. It wasn’t on the receipt, which I had already put away. It wasn’t on the box when he went downstairs to check it. It was underneath, on the bottom of the pot. The one that was heavy and full of hot water. I tried holding it up so he could look underneath, but of course, I am much shorter than F. It would have made more sense for HIM to hold it up and let me look underneath, but nope. I suggested using my phone to take a picture of it and that’s what we ended up doing. Honestly though, that was so annoying. I’ve been really stressed all night. 

This evening didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to. I hoped to have a relaxing evening and maybe even work a little on my column. Nope. I tried watching my YouTube videos, but honestly one of them was about a festival in Japan and I just couldn’t take the annoying noises so skipped it. I’m having an I hate Japan moment. It’ll pass, it usually does, but right now, I’d really like to take my passport and leave this country. Unfortunately, I can’t since I just sent it in to be renewed. Wah!!

Well, enough kvetching from me. Things will get better, right?

PS…F has restless legs at night and he’s kicking something next to his bed and making a horrid scratching noise that makes me not want to go to bed at all. 

Until tomorrow….