December 28, 2024

Saturday - Cold and snowy

Today turned out to be a good day. Woot.

I got up this morning quite early, and then went back to bed. F got himself up and made K her breakfast and then took her off to the Daycare. 

I dragged myself out of bed and then went downstairs. I found F. He was hard at work fixing the shogi (paper screens) again. I told him there was no hurry so I went upstairs again and got dressed. I waited for him to come up and he offered to take me out for lunch. Unfortunately, his idea was to go to a Japanese restaurant. I didn’t want to go for noodles, but since I hadn’t let him pick a place for a while I said it was okay. And…it was. I had planned to wear one of my new shirts, but I just couldn’t do that for a noodle restaurant. 

We got to the restaurant, got our usual table and had a nice meal. F had soba, I had an udon nabe and we shared an order of tempura. 

After our lunch, we went over to Komeda and got a table. We went in and had a new drink, a cafe chocola. It was basically a mix of coffee and chocolate. I enjoyed it a lot, but it was a bit sweet.

After our break, we went back to the house. I shovelled a little bit of snow so that K would be able to get in easily when she got back. 

We spent quite a while in the house. F did more of his shogi work, K came back and then F came upstairs and asked what I wanted to do. We had talked about going to see a movie, so he decided that he’d make dinner for K. He did that and then we went out.

We went to Kappa Sushi for dinner. We didn’t eat a huge amount which was nice. F tends to over-order a lot of stuff that I don’t really want. Tonight he didn’t. 

After dinner, we scooted over to Machinaka Kinema and went to see Billy Elliot. I had seen it a couple of months ago in Tendo and loved it. I had no idea it was coming to Tsuruoka. It’s a digital remaster, so it looks lovely to watch. F had never seen it before! I am quite surprised. As I expected, he loved it.

When we left the movie we went to the 24-hour grocery store. F wanted some mikan for K and I wanted some snacks.  We went around the store and it was fine. F got a lot of stuff that I wouldn’t have bothered with, but that’s okay. 

We came back to the house but it was quite late. It was after 11pm. F put away the groceries and also was nice enough to fill up the kerosene tank in our room. 

I’ve spent most of the night watching YouTube and doing various internet things. It was quiet but nice.

I’m not sure what we’ll be getting up to tomorrow. I’m hoping things will go well though. Come back a bit later and find out about our Sunday. 

Until tomorrow….

December 21, 2024

Saturday - Rainy and a bit cold

I woke up fairly early today and went downstairs. I came back upstairs and went back to bed. F got up a little later and went downstairs to make breakfast for his mother and to take her to the daycare.

I snoozed on for a while but dragged myself out of bed eventually. I dressed and went downstairs and checked on F. He was hard at work on the shogi again, and doing a good job so I left him alone. 

I went upstairs and spent time on my computer until F was ready to go out. We talked about lunch options and decided to go to Tai. It’s a combo ramen and curry restaurant. We drove over there and then had lunch. It was okay. Unfortunately, the food is not our favourite. I had wine and cheese curry with chicken cutlets and F had the curry ramen. We were full when we left.

F wanted to go to a hardware store, so off we went. I decided to stay in the car and so F went in by himself. He came out a few minutes later. We got almost all the way to the house when he realized that he hadn’t bought something that he meant to. We turned around and went back to the store! he went in again and got his stuff, then came back to the house.

I did think about napping, but I didn’t. I offered to help F but he said it was okay. I came upstairs and watched some YouTube and such. 

A little before 5 I went downstairs. We had an appointment with K’s caseworker today. She came and talked to K a little and talked to us a little. It wasn’t very enlightening for me anyway. She’ll be back next month.

F made dinner for K and I went upstairs again. I chilled for a while, and then F came up. He relaxed too. I suggested that since lunch was a little expensive, we should maybe have a cheap dinner so we went to a gyudon shop. It was okay. It wasn’t great!

We drove over to a grocery store and F went in again! He was buying some fruit for his mother. He came back out to the car and then we were off to Machi-ne Kinema. 

Tonight we went to see Hit Man with Glen Powell. It was fun. We were in the big cinema for a change and it was fairly quiet there. The movie was quite fun. We both enjoyed it. I quite like Glen Powell and he is very easy on the eye!

We came back to the house. F put away the groceries and a few minutes late we came upstairs. I changed into my PJs and then watched FBI. It was quite a good one tonight. 

F went to bed a little after midnight and I’ll likely go soon too. We’ve talked a little bit about tomorrow. I’ve asked that we try going to the mall to get Christmas presents for each other. For the last few weeks, F has not been cooperating on that. He’s finally agreed. It’ll be gift-giving without surprises really. I don’t mind. At least we’ll get things that fit and that we like. That’s important too!

Anyway, come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow…. 

December 7, 2024

 Saturday - Rainy, cloudy and cold

I woke up around 9 this morning, went downstairs and then went back to bed for a short time. F fed his mother and then took her to the daycare service. 

I dragged myself out of bed, got dressed and checked in with F. He was almost ready to go to the doctor’s office. I was too, and around that time we left and went over to the office. We registered at the desk and had a seat. I got stuck into my book and read quite a bit. We waited for a while. We had our 3 minutes with the doctor and then we got our shots. We got one in each arm. We had to wait in the lobby for a few minutes to make sure that we didn’t have a bad reaction to the shots. We didn’t, so then F paid and we went to get our prescriptions. 

We decided to have yakiniku for lunch today so we drove over to Togashi. We made a quick washroom break first and then went to the restaurant. we sneaked in just before last order, so we had to cook and eat quickly. Our lunches were nice!

After lunch, we went over to Komeda Coffee and had a coffee. We have some coffee tickets so we need to spend them soon. It was busy again, but we did get a table after a few minutes. 

We came back to the house around 4 pm to be here for K’s return. When we parked the car, I said to F that we should take in the solar lights that we put around the yard. They should be taken in before it snows and snow will be coming soon. We spent a few minutes and did that.

F stayed downstairs in the house and I went upstairs. I turned on the heater and my waterpot and relaxed for a bit. I had wanted to go and see the movie tonight but I wasn’t sure if either of us would feel like it. F said he was still game but wanted to go for dinner first. 

I got onto Google Maps and an interesting suggestion came up. Entrance Bagel and Diner. I’ve been to Entrance Bagel before. It’s near the river. Last year, I took a bunch of friends there to buy lunch and everyone enjoyed it. We had to get takeout as they didn’t have an eat-in area. They did have a rooftop area, but it was a hot sunny day so no good for me!

This was a new place. We drove over there. We missed the turn the first time, so had to go around the block again. We did make it and went in. We were the only customers. We looked at the menu and decided to order. F had an Asian Seafood Pilaf and I had Fish and Chips. Mine came with 2 pieces of fried fish (probably cod) and lots of chips and a lot of homemade potato chips. It also had ketchup and tartar sauce…a nice one. F and I shared our food, I didn’t want to as usual, but it was fine. Often when we share, F ends up eating more than his fair share of mine and I don’t get enough of his. 

Dinner was very nice and I enjoyed it a lot. I want to go back and have their hamburger and fries. I’m always looking for a good burger but tonight I felt like fish. Lunch was a lot of meat after all!

After we left the restaurant we headed out to the mall in Mikawa. We bought our tickets and then F wanted to visit a hundred yen shop. F wanted to, not me! He bought a pants hanger, and I bought a bag of tea bags so I could have cups of tea upstairs. The tea bags are empty. Most of the tea I buy is loose, so tea bags are very useful.

F took our purchases out to the car and then we went back upstairs and bought our concession goodies. We got drinks and popcorn. Finally were were able to go in and we saw Moana 2. It was good. I wouldn’t say it was great, but we did enjoy ourselves. The original Moana was only shown in Japanese at the cinema, so it was a nice surprise that it was playing in Japanese AND English. 

After the movie, we drove back to Tsuruoka and to the house. We came upstairs and just relaxed. I didn’t watch my episode of FBI, but I’ll try for next week. 

I’ve been blogging and watching YouTube until now. I should go to bed soon as I’ll have a lot of things to do tomorrow. My left arm is quite sore, but my right one is mostly fine. I’m sure it’ll be worse tomorrow which is not great to think about!

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

November 23, 2024

Saturday - Rainy and cool

Today was an interesting day. It was F’s birthday but it didn’t get off to a great start. Last night, F realized that he didn’t have a black tie. He did have one before, he lost it! We thought about where he might be able to get one and before I went to sleep, I started Google Mapping Daiso stores to see if they would be open on time for F to get one there. (No)

Luckily, he got up and went out early this morning and found one at a 7-11. It cost him ¥2000 yen or so, but he got one. He picked up even more envelopes, which was kind of funny to me.

I woke up around 9 and went downstairs. I took the bag with the onigiri in it for F and K’s breakfast and then I went back to bed for a bit. I stayed in bed until K and F left, then got up. I took care of a personal chore that I’ve neglected in ages and then went upstairs to wait. I had thought about going downtown for lunch, but I missed my bus time, so decided to wait. They came back around noon.

As usual they brought these big trays of food from his uncle’s family for going to the event. They wanted me to have lunch from them, but the idea just turned me off. The food is usually very nice, but I don’t like sharing food, especially with K. I told F I wasn’t going to eat any and I had a cup of tea in our room. Then I decided I’d go and see what was on offer. I went downstairs and they were munching away. F told me to grab a plate and take some food from the box on the table. Well, I opened it and there was NOTHING I wanted to eat. I put my plate away and went upstairs. I had a cup of instant pasta and then decided I’d take myself out for lunch. 

I went downstairs in my coat with my bag and F saw me. I told him I was leaving and he said he’d come with me. I didn’t really want him to come. I opened the door and as I was locking it from the outside he opened the door and said that he’d go out with me. I waited until he was ready. 

I felt really bad that it was his birthday and I was acting like a brat. I just don’t like cold Japanese food. We went out to the car and F asked where to go. I suggested going to Cocos since they have free desserts during your birthday month and I could get something I liked. F was okay with that.

We went into the restaurant and were seated right away. We ordered his birthday dessert, I ordered a salad and a baked potato, F got himself some roasted chicken. I added on a special dessert for today’s holiday and we both had drink bar. We had a nice meal. F’s birthday cake and ice cream was really nice looking. It’s funny, this family restaurant gives a free dessert, another one in time “gives” you a reduced price on an ice cream sundae! 

He got chocolate cake, ice cream, frozen fruit and a macaron. Free!

I paid for lunch because I was sorry about earlier and it was his birthday!

We decided we’d go to the Kamo Aquarium after lunch, so drove out there. We didn’t get to park very close to the building, but at least it wasn’t in the back 40. We spent around an hour or so looking at the jellyfish and the other creatures. It was rather nice. As it was late in the day, there weren’t that many people around so we could take a bit of time and get decent photos.

We left the aquarium and decided that we’d go to the house first. F had to prepare dinner for his mother. It was more food from today’s boxes. That was fine with me. 

We decided we’d go out to Kushibiki and see if we could get into the Chinese style restaurant there. It was still open for a change so went in and could even get a table. We both had mapo-dofu things, F had mapo-dofu ramen and I had mapo-dofu yakisoba. It was good, nice and spicy.

We drove back to Tsuruoka and F bought gas for the car. Then, we had some time, so we went to S-Mall and bought masks in the drugstore. I’d managed to lose mine between the house and the car. It turns out it was in my purse, but we won’t mention that now!

We also hit up Daiso and I picked up some snacks and a couple of thick coat hangers for drying laundry. We left the mall and drove over to Machi-kinema and went to see The Iron Claw. It was really good. It wasn’t a “feel-good” film, but the acting was great and the story was quite sad. It was loosely based on a true story. We came back to the house after the movie and relaxed. 

I watched FBI and then turned off the TV. F went to bed ages ago and is sleeping now. I hope he’s had a good day. I think he liked the movie, but not as much as I did! I was impressed by Zac Efron in this one. 

And that was my day. It turned out rather well. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

November 16, 2024

Saturday - Sunny and warm

I woke up fairly early this morning. F forgot to turn off his alarm again. That’s so annoying. I went back to sleep for a while but woke up again around 9 am. I went downstairs and it was a little odd because F and K were just leaving. F was shouting at K so that she could hear him, but of course she couldn’t. It’s rather funny, but it isn’t.  

I went back upstairs and slept on for a bit. Or, tried to. I got up a bit later and started to get dressed. F came upstairs and asked about going out for lunch. He suggested an eel restaurant, I countered with an Indian restaurant. That’s where we ended up going. Yay.

We went to the newest Indian place in the old Jiro restaurant. It was busy!  I had chicken curry today and F had the saag keema curry. We both liked ours but wished we’d asked for them to be spicier. We had a nice cup of marsala tea afterwards.  We left and paid. 

We went to Yamaya after our meal and bought a few things at the store. I got some tea and snacks, F bought a few things that I’m not really sure why! F wanted to go back to the house after we finished in the store but I wasn’t sure why that was. He drove all the way back to the house and then when he asked me if I wanted to go somewhere else I said yes! 

We ended up going for a drive in the mountains to see the autumn leaves. It was lovely to be honest. It did take a bit of a weird turn though when F decided to follow a road on Yudono-san. It was narrow but paved. It was on our GPS as well, so that was good. However, he decided to keep going on the road. We ran out of pavement and according to the GPS we weren’t anywhere. We were climbing the mountain and the road was getting very bad. I basically asked F to turn back as soon as possible as I was getting scared about what could happen if the car got stuck or something. He had to keep going until there was a place to turn around. We did turn around finally and started down the road again…and met a car with two people in it on the way up. I wonder if they were just like us, sightseeing.

We got back down the mountain and drove back to Tsuruoka. We stopped in Kushibiki at a Michi No Eki and F bought his mother a snack and then we got an ice cream each. That was quite nice.

We went back to the house and went in. F waited downstairs for his mother, I went upstairs to the room and spent time with my computer. I watched a bit of YouTube and caught up with some of my favourite sites. 

We decided to leave for the mall around 6:30. K was happy with her snack tonight and didn’t want dinner. We left for the mall.

We bought our movie tickets first and then went to the food court. I ordered a bibinba and F picked up some yakisoba for himself. We had a drink with our meal. I really liked my bibinba, it was good. F said he liked his noodles, but I didn’t think they looked very nice. 

We went to see Gladiator 2 tonight. It was okay. I think the original Gladiator was better, but tonight’s movie was enjoyable somewhat. I didn’t love it, but I did like it. F was about the same I think, except he hasn’t seen the original Gladiator.

On the way back to the house, I joked to F that it felt like a lot of popcorn was in my bra. I expected him to make a joke about it as usual. Instead he said it was embarrassing that there was so much popcorn on the floor when we left. It was a dig at me because I’m the one who eats most of the popcorn. I don’t actually get to hold the popcorn though. It’s on the arm of the seat between us, so it is quite easy to drop the popcorn. Besides, their staff doesn’t have much to do, just a bit of sweeping. We aren’t talking about buckets of popcorn, just a bit. 

I was really hurt to hear that I embarrass him. I didn’t want to talk to him anymore. I tried to see if I could find a nice place out of town for next weekend but I couldn’t. Sigh. Next weekend is a big family thing that I no longer wish to attend since I’m such an embarrassment, and his birthday which I don’t feel like celebrating anymore. I’ll probably be fine, but he really is a bonehead sometime. 

We came back to the house and I went on my computer and ignored him for the rest of the night. He’s snoring away now. I should head to bed soon. 

That’s it for me. Until the ride back to the house, it was a good day. Come back later if you like and hear all about Sunday. Until tomorrow….

November 2, 2024

Saturday - Rainy and cooler

I did make a brief trip downstairs around 8 am this morning, but came back to bed and fell asleep again. F came in around 11 and asked if I’d like to go for lunch to one of a couple of places. One of his ideas was a place I didn’t want to go again, and the other was a place we’d never been. I picked that one. 

Honestly, I wasn’t too excited about going to this place, F tends to pick horrible places for me to eat when I let him. We went and were able to get in. It was busy, so that was a good thing. If a place is busy, it is generally good. At least, that’s what I think! I ordered a katsu-don and F ordered niku-don and we decided that we’d share a little bit of each other’s meal. I liked mine, F thought his was too sauce-y and salty. The store did have a picture up of the shop’s outside from 100 or so years ago. That was cool. Not sure if we’ll go again, but you never know.

After lunch, we made a quick stop at K’s Denki. I tried to get F to buy a disk drive for his computer but he wasn’t really into it. After buying ourselves a bottled drink at the store, we headed over to Shimamura. We went in and I started looking for nice things for my friends and family. F went back to the car as he was feeling a bit dizzy. It took a while, but I finally found a couple of things that I liked so bought them. I went back to the car.

F started driving back to the house and then asked if I wanted to go to the newish bakery we have found. It was fine. I did say to him that if we buy stuff there, we should actually eat it the same day. He laughed, but we have NEVER done that! It took a long time before we could go in as they have such a tiny space they only allow one group at a time. They didn’t have too much on offer, but we bought a walnut bread and half a fruit loaf. 

We came back to the house. I wasn’t best pleased if I’m honest. I was hoping we’d spend more time outside, but if F wasn’t feeling that great it wasn’t fair of me I suppose.

We stayed at the house for a while. K came back and a little later F made her dinner. We decided that we’d go out to Mikawa to see a movie and would eat at the mall. 

We left the house around 6:30 and got to the mall a bit before 7. We bought our movie tickets and then I went to the bibinba place and placed my order. I tried a new one, miso bibinba or something. It was very nice. F went to the place next to it and got himself some premade yakisoba and okonomiyaki. We ate and enjoyed our meal. 

We had a little bit of time before our movie so we walked down the length of the mall. I suggested going for a massage. They have space age massage chairs, only ¥300 for 12 minutes, and they have two of them in the mall. We paid our money and then had 12 minutes of being pummelled. It was mostly good, but for me, being short, my feet didn’t fit firmly in the bottom of the chair. Instead of massaging my feet, the chair tickled my feet. I spent a lot of the 12 minutes laughing!

We went back to the cinema and went to see Venom: The Last Dance. It had got terrible reviews, but we both enjoyed it and laughed a lot at it. It wasn’t the best film, but it was fun.

After the movie, we came back to Tsuruoka and back to the house. We both came upstairs. I brought in the baked goods and left them in F’s care. As expected, we did not eat any of them. Why does he do that? We could have eaten some of the goods in the afternoon. I don’t get it, I really don’t!

At the house, I watched the last episode of CSI: Las Vegas. It is sad that it ended. I quite enjoyed the programme, but I guess the CSI programmes aren’t as popular anymore. 

At midnight I turned off the TV. F has been asleep for a while, but he did wake up for a few minutes. 

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I hope that things will go well. Come back later and read about our Sunday. Until tomorrow….