November 30, 2013

Saturday - Rainy with thunder

A quiet day.

I got up late this morning because we both went to bed very late last night.  This morning I took a shower after I got up and then F fed me some of the bread he made!  We finished up the soup from yesterday and it was great.  Too bad it's gone now.

After lunch, F went to bed and fell asleep.  After a little bit, I went in and slept too.  I got up around 5 and F slept on for a bit.  When he got up, we went out for dinner.  It was just Gusto, but it was okay for a change.  F had oysters so he was happy.

We went to the internet cafe to use their massaging chairs.  We were able to get them, but there was a problem.  The internet part wasn't working.  I didn't care much, I had planned to do some reading anyway.  They did have D-Life again, the channel with lots of shows in English, so I watched a bit of that and read my magazine.  

When it was almost time to go, I took off my headphones.  There was a huge crash of thunder and it sounded right above my head.  Yikes.  Then, the rain started.  I went to F's cubicle…he was asleep and snoring.  He wasn't that loud, but it was funny.  I woke him up so that he could decide if he wanted to go or not.  We gathered our things, paid, and left.  

We went to a convenience store for F to get something and I got chocolate too.  Then we came home and relaxed for a bit.  F kept saying he'd be going to bed soon and didn't!  He didn't go to bed until after 2.  Me?  I'm still up, but will go to bed soon!

That's it for me for now.  Tomorrow, I'm not sure what I'll get up to.  Come back and find out!  Night!

November 29, 2013

Friday - Rainy and snowy, cold

A pretty yuck day.

Got up this morning and had a pretty good time of it until I turned on my computer.  Things quickly devolved with the situation I mentioned yesterday and the upshot is that I and my friend have removed ourselves from the situation.  I wish I could say that I have no hard feelings but the sad fact of the matter is that I have many hard feelings.   I will not be able to completely withdraw from the situation until April, but after then I will make a decision on how I want to proceed with the organization that I am in.  

F called me when he was leaving work and asked if I wanted to go to the post office.  I did.  Luckily, I had wrapped my nephew's birthday presents in the afternoon, so I got really busy.  I scanned some postcards I was sending, gathered up the presents I was mailing and when F came, got him to help me carry them to the post office.  We had to buy a box to send some of them, but got it mostly filled up! We took ages in the post office but were quite organized and managed to send everything off tonight.  Whew.  Big relief.  

We bought a few groceries and came home for dinner.  I had things on the table fairly soon.  Tonight we had soup again, plus the leftover chicken.  I heated it tonight and made up a packet of gravy, so we had hot chicken sandwiches with soup.  Yum.  It was nice.  F did the dishes and then we decided to go out.  F wanted a massage, I wanted to get away from my computer.  When we got to the internet cafe all the karaoke boxes and the massaging chairs were in use, so we went somewhere else.  We went to the karaoke box near the grocery store and got a room.  We spent about 3 hours there singing away.  It was rather fun.  I did a bunch of my favourite songs, but the best was the first song I did.  They finally released Eartha Kitt's version of Santa Baby!  EXCELLENT!  It was lovely to do.  

And that's about that.  We came home around 2 and have been at our computers since then.  So, the day sucked in the middle, but I did get my first Christmas card of the year today, AND mailed off my big scary presents too, so…Yay! Anyway, I must get some sleep soon.  I have no idea where tomorrow will take me!  Got to go.  Night!

November 28, 2013

Thursday - Rainy, snowy

A busy day.

I got up this morning, did my computer stuff early and then got stuck in on my soup making.  It took hours today, I'm not sure why!  I used my slow cooker and got things going in it.  I also steamed two chicken breasts for dinner on the stove.

Around 4 pm, I was done enough to sit down and put my feet up!  They hurt.  And then I made a mistake.  I went on-line and read through one of my groups.  Someone is trying to change something that I have been working on and thought was settled.  It has had me worried for the rest of the day.  

F came home a bit late again, and didn't want to eat right away.  I set the table and asked him to let me know when he was hungry.  It was after 7:30, but it was fine.  

He sliced some bread, I ladled out the soup, and cut the chicken.  We had chicken vegetable soup with chicken sandwiches.  It was lovely!  We used both white and brown bread, and made our own sandwiches so could have them exactly as we like.  

After dinner, F took a long vacation from doing the dishes, but finally did them about 10 minutes before the movie (Lilo and Stitch) we were watching ended.  I was surprised how much I enjoyed the movie.  For some reason I have never seen it before, but it was lovely, funny and a little sad too in places.  

I did a crochet square and made tea during Once Upon a Time.  F and I drank our tea after his bath and relaxed a bit.  He'd had a bad day too and wasn't doing well.  He napped on the couch before going to bed.

That's about it for me.  I hope that my worries will be for naught, but I don't know.  I'm tired and should try to get some sleep if I can.  Tomorrow, no idea what I'll get up to, it's supposed to snow.  Bleck!  Night.

November 27, 2013

Wednesday - Rainy, with thunderstorms

An okay day really.

I had a quiet morning around the apartment.  I watched Veronica Mars, showered and then in the afternoon got stuck in with wrapping the presents for my sister's family. I did all but my nephew's birthday presents, so I think I did quite well.  

While I was wrapping I had lunch, watched a bit of TV and a movie as well, J. Edgar.  It was quite good and I was surprised how many people I recognized from the cast.  I'm glad I didn't pay to see it, but I enjoyed it on TV.  

When F came home I was just finishing up my wrapping for the day.  We chatted and relaxed.  After a bit we decided to go out for dinner.  We went to the Chinese restaurant where he takes me for lunch sometimes.  It was okay.  I had a pork-kimchee stone-bowl rice dish.  It was hot in temperature and spiciness.  Yikes.  

After dinner we bought a bit of food for dinner tomorrow night. I'm going to do chicken vegetable soup and then sandwiches.  I hope it's good.  

Had a quiet evening in. I did a little crochet while I watched TV, then prepped the garbage for F to take out in the morning.  He made two loaves of bread.  One was for breakfast, one is for dinner.  

Anyway, that's about all I have to say for now.  It was an okay day, but I'm quite tired already.  I have to go.  Night!

November 26, 2013

Tuesday - Rainy with hail and rain

An okay day…

Today I slept in a bit late, I didn't mean to but I was rather tired.  When I got up I just didn't feel like I had any energy at all.  Sigh.  

I had a late breakfast and then I watched a bit of TV.  I spent most of the day at home rather quietly but did go to the post office for another frustrating visit.  Today, I had to send something to another group member and I had forgotten the proper way to do it.  I ended up spending 1400 yen, when it should only have taken 500 yen.  I am so annoyed.  I have pretty much vowed not to go to my local branch anymore unless that woman isn't there anymore.  I know I should have looked up what I needed, but honestly, the woman who used to be reasonable has become a complete idiot in the last two weeks.  

I came home and was quite upset.  I ranted and raved to an empty apartment….when F called to say he was coming home fairly soon, I was only starting to calm down!

After F came home, which was after 6:30, I started dinner.  Tonight we just had pasta, sauteed chicken and salad, but it was nice.  F did the dishes, I'm happy to report.  

Both of us felt really drained tonight, so F went to bed quite early, and was deeply asleep.  He'd fallen asleep in the middle of the bed, so I had quilts piled up high on my side.  I ended up waking him up around midnight to move him over and cover himself up.  

Tomorrow I hope to finally get my Christmas cards started.  I never did get around to writing a Christmas newsletter…I should probably try to do one!

I'm feeling under a huge amount of pressure at the moment.  Most of it is self inflicted, but I'd really like to decompress.  I thought this weekend would help, but it's really just made me more uptight!

That's it for me.  Tomorrow either cards or present-wrapping and maybe laundry!  It must be done.  Talk to you then.  Night!

November 25, 2013

Monday - Cool, and in Tsuruoka, rainy

A good day.  Heck, a good weekend!

Saturday was good, we went out in the evening to celebrate F's birthday and had a lovely time.  We did try to get to bed early though…I stayed up long enough to start the VCR taping Project Runway then went to bed.  F was a few minutes more.

Sunday we drove to Sendai at an extremely early time for me.  Bleck.  Still, we got there in a goodly amount of time and then F dropped me off at the ETJ Expo.  I spent most of the time there.  I did a lot of talking to ladies (and some men) about AFWJ, the organization I belong to for foreign ladies married to Japanese.  I had help for most of the day, so it was fun.  Around 5 pm I decided to knock off and go to meet F.  

I called him and we arranged that I would meet him in the hotel's lobby so I could get my own room key.  However…when I got to the hotel, he wasn't there.  I called him and he was waiting for me at the train station!  Crossed paths most likely, but the station was busy as always!

We had dinner in the hotel's fish restaurant.  It was okay, I would really have preferred the yakitori place we originally planned to go to…except there might have been a lot of smoking there.  We did a little shopping at the import food store on Saturday night and I got my mincemeat tarts and my Christmas pudding.  Yay!  I missed out on the pud last year.  

We had a fairly early evening in the hotel.  I stayed up a little later than F, but I turned off the light at 1:22 am…so early for me too.  

This morning, we slept in a bit, then had an okay breakfast in the fish restaurant.  They had odd stuff for brekkie like deep fried gyoza, and hamburgers, but overall it was okay.  

After I watched Veronica Mars in the hotel, we checked out and did a bit of shopping.  Or a lot of shopping, it depends how you want to say it!  I got a lot of books, postcards and a couple of magazines, which is daft as I haven't finished the ones I have a subscription to yet.  

We had lunch at the gyutan restaurant, finished up our shopping and then left Sendai.  We had an okay drive home, it was cold and rainy along the way.  We stopped in Yamagata for dinner, then drove home from there.

We unloaded the car and then picked up a few groceries for tomorrow night's dinner.  We then had a fairly quiet evening catching up with emails.  I also received about 7 postcards so I had to register all of them.  I haven't scanned them yet though.  

That's about it.  Not many plans for tomorrow.  I should go out and send a bit of mail, after that, who knows?  I have to go.  Night!

November 22, 2013

Friday - Rainy with some clear patches

A good day.  

I got up a little late this morning. It was so dark out that it felt like it was still night.  I watched Veronica Mars this morning, good as always.  I also  watched Jane Eyre this afternoon.  It was great.  I did some laundry and also prepped for our trip this weekend.  

I had lunch and finished up the stew.  It was so good.  I really enjoyed it.  It was a good one.  

When F came home he was tired.  He'd gone over to his mother's to check on her and then came home.  We went out for dinner to Kintaro Sushi and afterwards F did a little driving.  I suggested going to the internet cafe, which F thought was a good idea.  

We made a quick trip home to pick up my crochet and then drove over to the cafe.  We were able to get chairs tonight and went in.  I watched a couple of movies, one of which was the last bit of the one I'd watched last time, plus Colombiana. I quite enjoyed the Colombiana, although it wasn't a great movie. 

We came home via the grocery store to pick up a few things.  We had a quiet evening just watching TV.  Tomorrow is F's birthday, so we have dinner reservations, then on Sunday we're leaving very early to go to Sendai for the ETJ Expo.  We'll be in Sendai for a night and will return on Monday evening.  I won't be blogging tomorrow or Sunday night unless I use my cell phone and I don't plan to at the moment! With that in mind, I'll wish you all a good night and a good weekend!  Night.

November 21, 2013

Thursday - Rainy with a few clear patches

Odd day, but okay.

I got up fairly early this morning, but it was dark out, again.  I hate that.  I'm not good at getting up when it is dark outside.  

I had a quiet morning around the apartment. I watched an interesting fashion documentary about Diana Vreeland, showered, breakfasted and watched a bit of other TV.  I wrote a couple more postcards and then scanned them all. I decided that I'd try and get one of my packages in the mail as it was easy to get ready.  Of course I had to find a box and wrap all the contents too! I was lucky in that I was able to watch Children of a Lesser God in the afternoon. It had been years since I saw it, and Marlee Matlin was excellent in it.

At a few minutes to 5 I zoomed over to the post office, only to have the post office lady refuse to take my parcel because, well, I'm not a hundred percent sure why, but I think because she didn't know if my country would accept one of the contents. Gah!  Since I don't know what she was on about, I'll just try another post office and this time I won't mention that item.  I'm not sending anything illegal through the mail, and I brought the same thing into Canada in person two months ago.  Sigh.

I brought my big heavy box home and then a few minutes later F came home.  After he changed, we ran a few errands.  I got some things for dinner tonight, and the apartment.  Then we went to the drugstore and got more apartment stuff, plus some drinks, then F bought gas for the car.

We came home and I commenced getting dinner ready.  It was so nice to be able to just heat up the stew, not having to cook something from scratch.  I made myself some couscous, F had rice, and we both had salad with our dinner.  It was yummy!  I really enjoyed it again.

F did the dishes and then we settled in for the evening.  I watched Avengers Assemble and then flipped over to Once Upon a Time when it was over, so I had a good evening of TV.  After that, I caught the end of a documentary about the hatred that Star Wars fans have for George Lucas.  It was quite amusing and in good fun really.  

I did a bit of crochet and a bit of knitting today too.  It wasn't a bad thing at all.  I still haven't started my Christmas cards or wrapped all my Christmas presents yet.  I have to get on that.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get a few more done? That's it for me.  Night!

November 20, 2013

Wednesday - Rainy

An okay day.

I had a pretty good day today.  I got up early again, stayed up, but did try to nap a tad on the couch.  

I had a little bit of a relaxing morning, then in the afternoon I started making the stew.  I started earlier than I planned to, which was a good thing as it took most of the afternoon!  Just peeling all the veggies took a while.  I got it done and cooking away on the stove.  It smelt good!  

When F came home I made up some dumpling batter and then put the dumplings on the top of the stew.  15 minutes later, we were ready to eat.  It was good!  And, yes, we do have leftovers for tomorrow, so I will either serve it tomorrow with pasta or couscous and maybe a salad if I can get F to get us one before he comes home!  We didn't eat our dessert today as F wasn't feeling well.  I didn't think he'd be able to eat as much as he did.

F went to bed for a while, so I watched telly and wrote 3 postcards up.  I'll have to try to get out tomorrow and mail them.  The weather today has been horrible.  We had thunder during the day and the rain hasn't let up much.  

He did get up later and watched a bit of TV and played with his computer for a while.  I was a tad disappointed as I planned to wrap presents when he was gone, but glad he felt well enough to get up.  At 11 I watched the newest Grey's Anatomy and started the table runner that my sister commissioned me to make.  The first square is done!  Yes!!!

That's about it really. It was a quiet day, I didn't go out, and I didn't get anything really important done, with the exception of making the stew.  I love the results, but the effort is quite large.  That's why I wanted to make enough for two nights!  Tomorrow I need to wrap presents, run to the mailbox/post office, and maybe get a start on my Christmas cards.  Wish me luck with that!  Night.

November 19, 2013

Tuesday - Rainy, with thunder and lightning

A good day.

I got up early this morning and stayed up. I thought I'd take a nap later on, but I never did!  I had a fairly busy day today.  I vacuumed, I did some laundry and I even wrapped a few Christmas Presents.  It was a fairly nice day.

When F came home tonight we talked about going out for dinner.  He suggested a place that I liked, but thought he said he wouldn't go there anymore.  I suggested a place, but he doesn't want to go there now, so we settled on the tonkatsu restaurant.  We went there and had a nice meal.  

Afterwards we bought some groceries. I'm going to try and make stew tomorrow night. I want to have enough for a couple of nights.  I'll put it together tomorrow and hopefully we can have some on Thursday too.

In the evening, F watched boxing and so I missed a show that I wanted to watch. Oh well, if it was a must-see I would have asked, and he doesn't get to watch a lot of things he likes on TV.  We had a nice big snuggle before he went to bed.  He's having a bad time with the weather being this bad.  

Oh, hey, I forgot.  The power went out at 2 pm today.  It was only out for 10 minutes, but it was quite surprising that it was out at all.  Apart from earthquake related outages, I could probably count the outages I've experienced on one hand.  On the farm, the power went out fairly often, here in Japan, it never does!

I must run. It is still pouring outside and the hour is getting late.  Tomorrow I'll be a bit busy.  Wish me luck!  Night.

November 18, 2013

Monday - Rainy and cool

A good day. I got up this morning, took a shower and had a quick breakfast.  I got dressed and then did a little bit of printing on my computer.  When I looked out the window, my friend was here.  Yikes!

I finished up quickly, went out and then we drove over to Grado and had lunch.  I had salmon meuniere and it was very nice.  After that, we headed over to S-Mall and met up with the lady from the hotel.  We had a long meeting and worked out a few things, got a bit more information and generally had a good meeting.  

Afterwards, my friend and I had a cup of tea and decompressed.  We discussed a few things about life in Japan and how to deal with things.  Sadly, it was time to leave all too soon.  She drove me home and then drove off.  

I came in the apartment and relaxed a bit. I registered a card I received and then spent a bit of time on my computer.  F called me at his usual finishing time, but said that he'd go over to his mother's house for a while to do a chore she's been asking him to do for a while.  While he did that, I got ready for dinner.  I cleared and set the table, started some water on the stove heating up and generally just did my pre-prep.  

When F came home, around 8, I kicked dinner into higher gear.  We had pasta with sauteed chicken, plus salad.  F had mentaiko sauce, I had basil.  It was really nice.  I knew that F's back was really bad tonight so I volunteered to do the dishes while he relaxed.  There weren't that many anyway.  

The rest of the evening we spent relaxing.  I did a little knitting and crochet at 11 while I was watching Scandal.  Oh, correction, I didn't actually crochet, I darned in some ends.  I did a bit of the scarf knitting though. I got some sparkly buttons the other day at the hundred yen shop, I hope that they will be strong enough for my shrug.  They are very pretty!  I have to do my edging soon though. 

Tomorrow I'm not sure what I'll get up to.  I should do some laundry as I'm way behind, and I should do some Christmas wrapping and such.  Wish me luck with all the things I have to do.  Got to go.  Night!

November 17, 2013

Sunday - Clear and sunny 

A good day.

I overslept today.  Even for me on a Sunday.  I couldn't quite believe it. Still, I finally got up, got dressed and then F got dressed too.  We went to The Grand El Son and had a lovely lunch.  We both had chicken stew in a cream sauce with salad bar.  We had different side dishes though.  I had bread and carrot soup, F had rice and minestrone soup.  It really was delicious.

After lunch, we visited the Chido Museum.  They had an exhibition of farming in the Shonai area.  It was really fascinating!  As the daughter of a farmer in Hicksville, Alberta, there were similarities but a lot more differences in farming methods.  Of course, we didn't farm rice, but we did bale hay and stack it up.  

After the museum, we drove to the coast and walked along the beach.  We watched the sunset and we took a few photographs.  It was nice.  I didn't think it would be, but it was.  It was also quite chilly.  

F walking towards the water.

We came back to Tsuruoka and had cake sets at Doutor.  We both had their Houji-cha tea and a salty caramel cake.  It was nice, but didn't have enough umph for me really.

We came home for a while and relaxed.  After a while, we went out for dinner.  I suggested his favourite fish restaurant, and he was happy to go there.  I had a gindara set meal, and F had a tuna bowl plus some anago.  Dinner was quite nice.

We came home again, but stopped at the grocery store for tomorrow's dinner.  I'm going to do pasta with chicken and different sauces for each of us.  We'll have salad too.  It should be simple and easy. That's my hope anyway.

This evening at home we just relaxed a bit.  It has been a fairly nice evening and fairly quiet too.  

Tomorrow, I have a lunch date and then a meeting with a hotel.  I hope it goes well!  Wish me luck.  Night.

November 16, 2013

Saturday - Warm and sunny

An okay day

I got up a bit late this morning, I just wasn't feeling it.  I got up, checked my email and then basically went back to bed.  I had a headache and just felt bleck.  When I got up later I took a shower and felt a bit more awake.

In the afternoon, F and I missed the lunch deadlines for all of the restaurants and he got stroppy when I asked him where we should go.  He of course wanted ramen, I didn't.  I told him I was going out for a walk (because I needed fresh air) and he buggered off for his ramen.  I walked around the block and came home.  

When he came home, he went to bed, but I made him get up and take me to Uniqlo!  I needed to get little somethings for Zach.  We got some nice stuff for him and his family and then we hit up the hundred yen shop for wrapping paper.  It's easier to carry wrapping paper in the car than on a bicycle!

We came home via the tai-yaki shop, and after a few minutes at home, F asked if we could go to the Internet Cafe.  His back was bothering him and he wanted a massage.  I loaded up a bag of stuff and we left.  We were able to get in and spent the next 3 hours getting massages while we watched junky movies and ate not terribly healthy food.  I started a new scarf and got about half way done.  It would have been more if I hadn't had to frog it when my food arrived.  I lost a stitch and couldn't find it.

We came home via the grocery store and then had a fairly quiet evening in.  I watched Elementary and then Project Runway All-Stars before calling my sister and wishing her a happy birthday.  We talked for quite a while.  Apparently there is a lot of snow in Alberta just now.  Kind of glad I'm not there.

And that's about that.  I had a pretty good day, except for the stupid fight with my husband.  Then again, most of the fights we have are stupid fights! Oh well.  No idea what we'll get up to tomorrow.  Come back and see what we get up to.  Got to go, night!

November 15, 2013

Friday - Rainy

An okay day.

I woke up early this morning but decided to go back to sleep so of course I overslept. I woke up and discovered that Veronica Mars was on, so I was rather sad to have missed most of it.

I had breakfast and read the paper.  I watched a bit of stuff on TV.  I was just watching the start of The Hunger Games when F called to say that he wasn't feeling well and wanted to come home.  

While he was finishing up, I decided to have my lunch, so I did.  It was yummy.  I had an omelette with leftover chicken and broccoli in it, plus I finished the salad and the cucumber salad.  F came home just as I was going to start eating.  He watched The Hunger Games with me.  (Is it me or was that an oddly-named choice to watch over lunch??!)

F went and had a long nap and I watched more TV and generally kept fairly quiet.  

When he woke up he was wanting dinner of course.  We had to go out, and he chose a restaurant that I hate.  They allow smoking, so the first ten minutes I was there I was coughing, bleck.  Then of course the food was horrible.  There was far too much of it.  I couldn't finish mine. I ordered vegetable star-fry with fried rice. I stopped eating it halfway through and offered the rest to F.  He ate most of it.  I really hate that restaurant and F loves it.  I don't get it.  

At home again, I watched another episode of Call the Midwife. It was excellent of course.  I thought F was watching too, but I think he was watching Youtube.  It's so annoying these days, he wears an earphone for his iPhone all the time and it drives me crazy!

After that, it was back to my regularly scheduled TV.  F seems to have perked up after his nap.  He's still up well after 3, as am I.  I do intend to get to bed very very soon though.  I have to have a good weekend this week.  Got to go.  Night!

November 14, 2013

Thursday - Cloudy, sunny, but no rain!

A good day.  I woke up early again, which really surprised me as I went to bed terribly late.  

I had my breakfast early and also set some yogurt to drain for later.  I read the paper, watched The Dog Whisperer and then did my computer stuff.  

I decided to do something a little different today.  The weather was nice, so I went to the mall.  I biked off, via the post office to mail my postcards.  At the mall, I went to the restaurant upstairs and had a meal.  I had the lunch special so it was bacon and spinach pepperoncino.  It wasn't bad, and the dishes that came with it were good too.  

After lunch I went to the 100 yen shop and did a little shopping for stocking stuffers.  I got some nice stuff I think.  I went downstairs and got a nice surprise.  One of the blocked off areas had a Subway sign on it.  Yes, in December, there's going to be a Subway in S-Mall.  I am so excited!  I'm not really into fast food anymore, but I love Subway.  

I went to Doutor and had a Houji-cha Latte.  It was nice, but a little different for me.  It probably had too much milk in it for me.  I emailed F a picture of the Subway sign so he called me back and we chatted about it!  

I went home soon after my tea.  It was still light out, but around 4:30 it was getting towards dark, and the traffic was increasing.  I had a good ride home and when I got there decided to do a little bike maintenance.  I pumped up my tires and also tried to spray a little of my WD-40 on the chain.  

In the mailbox I found two incoming postcards (yay) and I still had a bit of time to relax.  I put on the TV, and while watching Phineas and Ferb I started to make my cucumber and mint salad.  

I used the drained yogurt, plus the 3 cucumbers I had just bought and put it all together and into the fridge to chill.  I was just going to start dealing with the broccoli when F came home.  

I prepped the broccoli, but F wasn't quite ready to eat yet, so I took a break.  After the BBC news, I started cooking dinner.  I steamed the broccoli in the microwave and sauteed the tandori flavoured chicken for dinner.  It all came together quite quickly as most of the work was done.  We had a lovely dinner.  The cucumber salad was really good. I must remember that one!  Draining the yogurt was a really good idea.  Last time I made one I didn't and it was too runny.  

F did the dishes and we had a nice quiet and relaxing evening.  I even told F about the figure skating that was on in case he wanted to watch it.  At 11:15 I watched Once Upon a Time and enjoyed it.  I'm still wondering about the point of the show.   I enjoy the characters and the modern take on fairytales, but where's it all going?  I did some crochet during the show and finished the main piece of my shrug.  I now have two options.  1) Continue crocheting it until I run out of yarn and sew up the sides, or 2) make an edging on the sides and put buttonholes in it so that it is convertible.  I think 2) is winning, but I'm not sure how I'm going to do it!  

Well, are you still with me?  It was a good day.  No plans for tomorrow yet.  Talk to you then?  Night.

Happy Dance!

Opening December in S-Mall. Yay!

November 13, 2013

Wednesday - Rainy with hail

A good day.

I got up on time this morning and managed to stay up.  I had a quick and nice breakfast and then read the paper.  I even watched The Dog Whisperer this morning.  I took a shower and watched Jamie Oliver.  Yay for me.  

In the afternoon I spent some time on my computer and then made lunch for myself.  I had the rest of the pancake mix, plus I finished up the gyoza skins.  I put some processed cheese in them today, sealed them, and fried them.  They were nice! 

In the afternoon I decided to write a few postcards for postcrossing.  F had a late event at work so I thought I'd have lots of time.  I managed to write four, but actually, F wasn't all that late.

He came home around 7 and we discussed where to go for dinner.  He wanted to go to a soba place and said that he thought I wouldn't want to go.  Well, honestly, it wasn't a place I love, but it's not bad, so I said it was fine.  

We drove there and had a fairly good meal.  We both had the same thing, a tempura-don with a bowl of noodles.  I had soba, F had udon.  It was quite nice.  We bought a few groceries afterwards and I am going to try and make a cucumber yogurt salad tomorrow.  Yay for me.

We had a nice friendly quiet evening in.  I watched my shows, did a little crochet and tried to relax.  I did up the garbage for F to take out in the morning.  Basically, I did my usual things!  That's it for me.  It turned out to be a pretty good day.  

No idea what I'm going to get up to tomorrow. It depends on the weather.  I haven't been able to get out much, but I have cards to mail and I would love to go for a tea at the mall.  That's it for me.  I have to go.  Night!

November 12, 2013

Tuesday - Rainy and snowy, snow didn't stay

An okay day.

I got up as soon as F left this morning. He'd made such a lot of noise that he'd even noticed.  He shut the bedroom door halfway through, but opened it again and made more noise.  The man does not do quiet!  

I got up, turned on the heat and my computer and stayed up for a bit, but decided I needed more sleep and got it.  I'm not saying when I got up again, but it wasn't early!

I had a quick shower, then came back to the living room and Jamie Oliver.  I didn't eat for a while and then I realized that I had a hankering for something. Pancakes.  So, I made myself some.  I had to look up a recipe on-line, but I had all the ingredients and made a half bowl of batter. I cooked my pancakes and also used up some of my past-the-date gyoza wrappers.  I put some bacon and some cheese inside the wrappers, sealed them and then fried them.  Yum.  

I did the dishes, and also washed the nabe pan for later.  I spent a bit of time on my computer sending email and reading blogs.  

F wasn't too late tonight but was tired when he came home.  He was all set to cook dinner right away, but I checked to see if he was hungry.  He wasn't.  I advised him to wait a bit and I cleared off the table and made things ready for him.  

When he was more relaxed he put everything together and then we had our nabe.  It was quite good. He'd put garlic in it, and I added sriracha to mine.  I did have a few of the dreaded oysters and I haven't died yet, so I'm probably good.  I didn't think they tasted like much of anything.

After dinner and dishes (which I quite happily did by the way) we went out to the drugstore and then the gas station.  I tried to get F to let me off at the drugstore while he get the gas, but he wouldn't.  Sigh.  I honestly don't know why I'm not allowed to go shopping by myself.  It must be my long history as a shoplifter/axe murderer/stupid foreigner about town that means I can't go out alone.  

Anyway, he did pay for the shopping I did, so that was nice, but really unnecessary.  We left the store and then bought gas for the car.  

At home again, I asked him to help me order some presents for my family from the Nissen catalogue and he very nicely did.  He has the account, even though I do the shopping!  I hope my family and BFF will like the things I ordered.  I have to get on sending things home soon.  

F made up some bread again for the morning, I did some crochet during the Jean Reno drama on WOWOW.  That was relaxing.  I really need to do more. Speaking of crafting, my knitting is just finishing up the first ball of yarn-net, so I'll be figuring out how to join the new one on soon.  The scarf is looking cute so far.

And that is probably all that I have to write about for tonight.  Tomorrow it depends on the weather if I'll go out or not.  I hope that I can, I'm feeling quite house-bound!  That's it for me. Night.

November 11, 2013

Monday - Rain and SNOW!  Bleck

A better day.

I got up quite early today, well for me anyway!  I vegged for a bit, took a shower and had my brunch.  

In the afternoon I wrote a few postcards and then scanned them.  I was deciding whether to go to the post office or not when I looked outside and saw something that looked suspiciously like snow.  OMG.  

I biked to the post office, going very carefully as it was both dark and snowy out.  I managed to make it there and back.  Whew.  

When I came home, I was cold and wet.  Yuck.  

F came home late tonight, around 7:00 I think.  We talked a bit. He wasn't in good shape, his back doesn't like this weather at all.  Still, we were talking and that was a big thing.  

I suggested going for dinner and we went to Bikkuri Donkey.  I had a salad with burger or vice versa.  It came with miso soup and I ordered some fries to share.  F had a spicy curry plate, which was not too good for him. It bothered him for the rest of the evening.  

We bought some groceries tonight to make nabe for dinner tomorrow.  F wanted to make it an oyster nabe, completely (on purpose?) forgetting that I don't eat shellfish. He did buy some oysters, but we also bought some balls of chicken to put in it for me.

He watched some boxing which happily finished before my show came on at 11.  When it did, I went over to the chesterfield and did some crochet.  I worked on my shrug tonight.  It is so pretty. I'm seriously thinking of making it a convertible shrug.  If I put some buttons in the right place, I could use it as a lap blanket too.  Possibly.  Of course, I'd have to figure out where to put the buttons and make button-holes.  That might be fun!

Tomorrow it depends what the weather is like. I'm hoping the rain and the snow will burn off and I'll be able to get out and do a little Christmas or other shopping.  Wish me luck with that!  Got to go.  Night.

November 10, 2013

Sunday - Rainy then clearing

A bad day.

I got up this morning because my husband was making a huge noise in the kitchen again.  I went back to bed with the door closed.  I woke and got up again.  F didn't say anything to me, so after a while I went back to the bedroom with my newspaper and glasses.  I read the paper, tried to nap again, but couldn't.  I got up and got dressed, went back to my computer. 

For some reason we just ignored each other all day. F made himself some ramen and I was livid.  Not once did he ask if I needed/wanted any food, nor did he get dressed.  He was still in his pyjamas.   Around 4:30 I reminded him that he had an appointment soon, so he dressed and left.  He didn't even ask if I wanted to go out too! 

While he was out I had a couple of slices of toast and cheese.  He came back, again with the silent treatment.  I had enough, so I put socks on, grabbed my purse and went out to eat. It wasn't great, but it was okay.  I hadn't brought a book or anything interesting with me, so I just went home when I finished.

F had locked the door so I had to ring the bell.  Then, he had the TV on so loud that it hurt my ears.  I grabbed a magazine and went to the bedroom.  To do him credit, he came to talk to me but we both got upset and yelled at each other.  He asked if I needed food, but I didn't.  He went out for a while.  

We never really talked much to each other for the rest of the night. It was annoying.  We hadn't made many plans for the day, but it was a wasted day nonetheless.  

And, to make things even better, I shifted my weight the wrong way on my chair and hurt my hip again.  Argh!  

Tomorrow I'm not sure what I'm going to do.  I will probably have to go out for lunch but after that, will I stay out or come back home?  I'm not sure.  Tune in tomorrow and find out what I get up to.  Night.