November 5, 2018

Monday - Guy Fawkes Day - Sunny and warm

An okay day.

Last night I just wasn’t feeling that well. I didn’t have any specific thing wrong, I just didn’t feel right. I had a bit of a temperature and wanted to get to bed early, didn’t really manage it. 

Today, was about the same. I didn’t feel terrible, just not great. I had an okay morning and then F called. He said that he was going to try and take the afternoon off. He wasn’t feeling great either. Poor thing.

He came back to the house and debated going to the doctor. He didn’t go in the end. He rested, I had lunch, then he had something to eat.  Finally around 4:30 I decided to take a nap. It was awful!  F made a bunch of noise and then started playing around with the DVR. To be fair, he was setting our old one up for me to use, but he left a movie playing when he left the room. I couldn’t find the remotes to turn it off.  I wasn’t too happy around then.

F came back and wanted to know what I wanted for dinner. I didn’t want anything then!  After a while, I asked him to bring me back a bento because I was really a bit blah about food.  

F went to see his mother, but came back and said that she didn’t want any food. He said he’d go to the onsen and I could come with him and we could eat somewhere. I suggested just eating at the onsen so that’s what we did. 

We drove out there, F took his bath and I did a little knitting and internet stuff, then we went and had dinner in the onsen. I had the yakiniku meal without rice or miso soup, F had curry and rice. It was quite nice, to be honest.

We left the onsen and drove to Tsuruoka. K had asked for a snack so we went to Mina, the grocery store and picked up a few things. I was surprised that F wanted more to eat. No worries though.  We picked up his mother’s snack, then some sushi for us and a few other things.

We came back to the house. I asked F to help me check the DVR. It was working, hurray for that. I watched a show, and had sushi with F. Around 10 I went downstairs and took a shower.  

Soon after I came back, F went to sleep and he’s been sleeping fairly soundly ever since.

If I’m feeling up to it tomorrow, I might go out shopping. If I’m not, I won’t! I’m not sure what is wrong, I hope I haven’t got something like the flu. Probably not. I’m hoping it is just allergies.  

Come back later and see how my Tuesday goes. Until tomorrow….

November 30, 2017

Thursday - Rainy early on, clear later on.

An okay day.

I got up this morning and did my usual stuff. I had some tea, watched my show, and then went down for breakfast. We had our usual things this morning, I heated the milk for K’s cereal too. 

After breakfast, I did three loads of laundry and also got my first Christmas card of the year. Yay! 

I didn’t see K for a while when I was moving around the house, so thought I would wait a bit for lunch. I think it was an okay call as I finally did hear her downstairs a little later.  I asked her if she’d like some lunch and she said she would.  I had bought kara-age yesterday so I reheated that.  We had the fried chicken with salad and macaroni salad and onion soup.  It went over a treat to be honest.  I had some bread and jam at the end, K didn’t want hers.  

I did the dishes and then went back upstairs. I put some clothes away and I also got my Christmas cards ready to go to the post office. Around 3:30 I left and made a mad dash. I got there on time, just. I mailed out all of my cards and things went a little smoother today too. On the way back to the house, I popped into the convenience store for some drink and then walked back to the house again.  

When I was back at the house, I put all the Christmas presents I have bought out on the bed. I weighed the pieces and wrote down the prices too.  It’s a little chore, but it is necessary too. I was able to see who needs more presents and who has too many!

F came back to the house around the right time.  I suggested making nabe, so we went to the grocery store and got the ingredients.  When we came back he got to work. I did too, but doing different things. I set the table and kept offering to help, but it wasn’t accepted.  Sigh.  He didn’t want the soup that I made last time either, which is too bad.  In fact, F was quite grumpy and didn’t even like me talking to him.  Grr.  

We got the nabe on the table and cooked it.  F kept lifting the lid to check and of course it wasn’t done.  It wasn’t going to get done that way either.  Finally, it was ready and we ate.  It wasn’t his best effort as the soup he used was that tasteless stuff he uses…some kind of dashi. It is so bland.  Still, it was okay and we all had a nice meal.  

I did the dishes afterwards.  I couldn’t get K out of the kitchen fast enough. She was trying to “help” but kept getting in my way and not using hot water to wash dishes with.  F beetled off too when I suggested he help me by putting the leftovers in a small container.  He couldn’t understand why I might want a couple of small containers, rather than one big one. 

By the time I finished washing all the dishes and the nabe pot, the air in the kitchen was quite tense with the sound of the many F-bombs I was dropping.  I wasn’t too happy at all.  

I came upstairs and F was in bed in his pyjamas.  A few minutes later he went downstairs and took his shower, without telling me.  Nice.  Over the course of the evening, things did get a bit better, but still not happy. I took my shower, had some tea and that’s about where I’ll leave it. 

Other things today, the person I sent my decorations too received them and liked them, which is great! I’m so glad. I’m debating bringing over my Christmas tree from the garage, but I’m not sure where I can put it. I don’t want to leave it in the living room really.  

Anyway, I’m tired and it is late. Tomorrow I’m going out with a friend for lunch, so I’ll likely stay out of the house too. I don’t want to be here at all.  Come back later and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

November 29, 2017

Wednesday - Rainy and then clear

An okay day.

I got up this morning on time and did my usual stuff. I went down to have breakfast, but K wasn’t around. I decided to just make my own breakfast and not worry about it. I had my usual, and enjoyed every bite!

I came back upstairs and did some Christmas card writing and some internet checking too. I ended up going down early-ish for lunch. By now, K was up, so we ate together. We had some salad, some tongue, an open-face tuna-melty thing and then some jam and bread for afters. Oh yes, and a cup soup too. It all disappeared and I didn’t feel like I was giving her too much food.  The tuna-melty thing was serve-yourself, as was the jam and bread. 

I did up the dishes and then came upstairs and finished writing up my Christmas cards. I have one more that I may write, my friend may prefer a New Year Card instead.  I was thinking about running the cards to the post office today but ran out of time. I will hopefully do it tomorrow.

F called me a couple of times. The first time was to tell me he’d be late, the second was to tell me he was finally on his way back to Tsuruoka. However, he was an hour or more away. I went down to tell K, but I thought she was half asleep and she didn’t hear me when I called her name.  I decided not to bother her.  

When F came back he wanted dinner fairly soon. I suggested either going to Gusto or going for sushi.  F chose sushi. We invited his mother, but she didn’t want to go. We went to the supermarket to get her something for her dinner and for our lunch tomorrow, then went to the sushi place.

F had made a reservation, so we got right in. He wanted to order a couple of the new specials which was fine of course, but he suggested one of them for me. I said okay if he shared it with me. Well, it arrived, he opened it and then put all the spice on it. I gaped at him in disbelief.  He knows I don’t like things as spicy as he does.  As he did that, I reminded him that the dish was for me, and that his one was still coming. His being noodles in soup dish, mine was noodles without soup.  He mixed mine up, took some of it and left the rest for me.  Well, of course it was too spicy and kind of bland at the same time! I wouldn’t have it again. The sushi was okay tonight, not bad, not great.

After we finished at the restaurant, we went to McDonald to get a bit of free wifi. We both had coffees which means that I’m now a bit wired. 

We came back to the house and I did up the garbage for taking out in the morning. Five seconds later, F put a shrimp tail in the clean bag, despite there being a still open outgoing bag on the floor. Just dumb stuff really.  I went upstairs and brought down my garbage, the water bottles I use to fill up my water pot and the kerosene tank for the heater. He was supposed to fill it for me. He took so long and didn’t do it, that I started it. It was a new pump to me and while I figured out how to start it, I didn’t know how to stop it. He showed up around then and told me to push the button. I did, but nothing happened. Just frustrating.  I asked him to show me the written English instructions for the device but he ignored me. I made him take the tank back upstairs since I needed to wash my hands. 

Anyway, he went to bed fairly early thankfully and I stayed up and wrote this.  

I had other frustrating things happen today too, something about a Christmas Card exchange.  I was going to participate, but it seems to be quite complicated and the people running it are people that I’ve had run-ins with before, so I think I will bow out now.  I also feel a bit like I was told off for wanting to send my friends and family nice cards, not cheap crappy ones, so, I am out.  

Tomorrow I hope to get to the post office and perhaps do a bit of wrapping of Christmas presents.  Even if I just do the laying out of gifts and deciding who still needs something, it will be A Very Good Thing!  

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

November 27, 2017

Monday - Sunny and warmer

A good day.

I dragged myself out of bed this morning, but it was a nice, sunny day, so it wasn’t too bad. I did my usual morning stuff and then went down to see about breakfast. K was around today and I asked if she’d like cereal and she said yes. No big deal. We had breakfast together and it was rather nice.

I did three loads of laundry after breakfast. Some of it got hung in the garage, some up in my room.  I also made up some labels with the label paper that F bought me yesterday. I got it to work after a lot of effort! I was a little late asking K if she’d like lunch, but she said yes, so I fixed that up too. I didn’t cook but made us some steamed veggies in the microwave, some salad and some chicken roll. For a hot liquid, we had some onion consommé. Most of it came directly from the supermarket. I also did a piece of F’s bread with some jam on it for our “afters”. K ate everything, although it took her a while.  

I did the dishes and came back upstairs. In the afternoon I finished another of the Christmas tree ornaments. This one turned out even better than the first one. I’m almost sorry to have to give them away! They are darn cute.

I did some computer stuff during the afternoon too.  

When F came back to the house after work, he wanted to make dinner at the house as his sister had given us some fish and we’d bought gyoza on the weekend. I told him it was fine, as long as we picked up a few additional things for us. He had this menu of gyoza, miso soup and fish planned for us, plus rice but no veggies. We went to the store and we bought a couple of veggie things from the deli part and some drinks too. He ended up buying some soba for him and his mother too.  She had told him that she wasn’t very hungry as lunch was big.  Well, dinner was going to be huge.

F cooked the gyoza and the fish and did bachelor packs of rice for him and his mother too.  I heated up one of the veggie dishes, set the table, made the instant miso soup and tried to make F see that there was too much food for his mother.  He didn’t believe me.  

I didn’t have any rice or soba at dinner and I was full, and that was after I’d asked F to keep back a few gyoza for our lunch tomorrow.  His mother was really full and I felt bad for her.  F just doesn’t have a realistic idea of what she likes to eat.  

After dinner, I cleared the table and did the dishes.  Although I had told F that he got to clean the fish grill, he buggered off and I did it.  It wasn’t too bad, but I was annoyed with him.  I also prepared the garbage to go out tomorrow, so I was quite busy.  

I went upstairs and F came up a few minutes later.  He asked if I’d like to go for a walk and I said I would because I’d been thinking of asking him if he’d like to go. It was a nice day and didn’t seem that cold out.  

I got all kitted up in some workout gear and a warm jacket plus hat and we went out. It was cold.  Really cold. It was a lovely clear night, however, and when we were moving it wasn’t too bad. We ended up at the Komagi Spa and went in, but left right away. All in all, we walked a couple of kilometres tonight. Yay us. I suggested that we go home as I was worried about my lungs as it was around 0℃ outside.  

I half-watched a Mission Impossible movie and had some tea. F took a shower and then went to bed after a bit of a drink. I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow but I hope I’ll be writing Christmas cards and sending them and my Christmas Ornament away.  

Come back later and see if I manage to get it all done. Until tomorrow….

November 26, 2017

Sunday - Rainy all day

A goodish day.

I slept in very, very late this morning and it was wonderful. I was asleep! I hadn’t set any alarms so when F woke me up I was surprised. His mother had gone out with his sister for a little treat, so we were guilt free!

F woke me up, but then we couldn’t leave for lunch because he was making bread. Honestly, couldn’t I have slept a little longer? I was hungry when I woke up…let sleeping Helen lie, say I. After 1 pm we were able to leave. Our first restaurant choice was closed because of a power outage, so we went on to Cafe Irodori. I liked it today. It wasn’t too busy, although they had sold out of at least one dish today. I had the baguette set which was clear soup, baguette and my choice of two of their main dishes. I had the vegetarian curry and the chicken keema curry. F had the genmai set with pork nankotsu and the chicken keema curry. We both had coffee afterwards. Yum.

We drove back into Tsuruoka afterwards and went to the Chido Museum. Today’s exhibit was all about things from 50 years ago. Most of it was quite interesting. There was even a little room set up for picture-taking, which was quite fun. Of course, we went to the garden too, but it was getting dark and it was raining really hard, so didn’t stay very long.

F in the museum.  He fits in, doesn't he??

It's the wrong kind of tea for me!

The trees are already prepared for winter snow.

After the museum, we went to the electric shop. I needed new ink for my printer. I also got some labels to [try to] make address labels for my Christmas cards. We had a good snoop around, hurray for us.

We came back to F’s house afterwards and saw his mother. She’d just returned too. We talked about going for dinner, I suggested an udon place. We were all getting ready to leave when K said she couldn’t find her glasses so we had a search for them. No luck. F called his sister and even a store his mother had been to, just in case, but nothing.  Finally, they were found in her bedroom. Second time this has happened.

We went to the Udon restaurant and had a nice meal. I suggested a salad too, so we had that as well and it was good. After dinner, we went to a grocery store at my request so that I could get some food for me, and for K if she’ll have it.  

We came back to the house and I tried to get the labels set up. Unfortunately, as always happens, F can’t help me. I got things mostly set up, but then I got the spinning beach ball of death on my browser and I had to junk the whole thing. Working in a language that bears no resemblance to my own is very difficult. 

Also of note tonight, F cut his thumb quite badly. He claims it was a paper cut, but it is a “V” shaped cut. He’s had to change the band-aid a few times already. Yikes.

I tried to watch Crimson Peak again tonight, but with the label thing, I wasn’t able to pay attention to it.  

Anyway, that’s about it for me. Tomorrow, Christmas cards, putting together my Christmas project and hopefully getting those labels done. Wish me luck with it all! Until tomorrow….

November 25, 2017

Saturday - Cold and snowy

(Should I point out there is only one month before Christmas?No?)

A good day.

I slept in this morning, but did set my alarm to get me out of bed. It mostly worked. F took his mother off to the onsen, so I was able to take care of a few housekeeping things I do.  

He didn’t come back for ages, and then when he did, he took off again to see his doctor. He didn’t get back until after 1 pm. Of course he wanted to eat and as usual, asked for suggestions. I had one for him. The Daiichi Hotel has a Japanese restaurant on the 9th floor and they have a reasonable set menu. We all went today. F was champing at the bit to get to the restaurant, but his mother was walking quite slowly. I suggested that he go ahead and see if we could still get in, and I’d make sure that K could get there too. That’s what we did basically.

We had a fabulous view of the city, and it was quite different from usual. We were often put in another room on the other side of the building so we were really seeing things differently. The meal was quite good too. It was a hamburg and chawanmushi, miso soup and rice. We all enjoyed it. I suggested a bit of shopping to K, but she didn’t want to at first, but then saw the grocery store and went for it! We picked up a few things and brought them and her back to the house.  

F asked me if I’d like to go out again and said yes. K told us she didn’t need dinner today, so we went off quite guilt free! We picked up some snacks over at Mina, hit up the new hardware store, where I bought something for a friend, and then the hundred yen shop. We each got a few small things, nothing too exciting. 

After all of this, I was getting thirsty, so F suggested coffee. The first place we looked at was closed, so we went to Cafe Studio Cinq. I had a soy latte, F had a coffee. We made use of their wifi and had a nice time there for a while. 

F wanted dinner and suggested one place, I countered with a different place. We went there, but it was really busy, so they seated us near the door. F ordered a fish donburi and I ordered a fish nabe because I wanted something cooked. After 15 minutes of waiting, the waitress told us the nabe was just for two people. I was really disappointed and decided not to have anything then. Of course, F got his pouty-face on, so I got worried and had something to eat. I had the salmon and salmon eggs on rice. It was fine, but really not what I wanted.  

After all of this, we just came back to the house. We were back rather early for us. We watched a movie on WOWOW that we’d seen on my birthday this year and enjoyed it.  

I took a shower and we have just been relaxing ever since. It turned out to be a fairly decent day.  I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow, I hope it goes well though.  Come back and see.  Until tomorrow….

November 24, 2017

Friday - Snowy and cold

A good day.

I got up this morning to a sea of white.  It had snowed overnight and it was sticking around this time.  Sigh.  I had some tea and watched the news, made the bed, the usual.  I got dressed too. I went downstairs to have breakfast with K, but she wasn’t there again.  Oh well.  I grabbed my granola and yoghurt and brought it upstairs again.  

I drank a lot of tea this morning, so spent too much of the day running downstairs to use the washroom.  How much tea is too much?  I think I had 4 or 5 cups in a couple of hours, so that was probably too much for me!

Around 1 I went downstairs and had lunch with K.  I had bought food for our lunch today at the big mall yesterday, so I heated it up and we had that. It was very nice.  There was tofu hamburgers, a potato/salmon/broccoli with cheese grill thing, salad, and I also served some onion consommé on the side.  It got great reviews and was pretty good.  I didn’t do any real cooking, but I chose things for her that we don’t eat every day.  

In the afternoon, I worked on getting our Christmas Letter ready to print out.  It was a tad complicated and I had to learn to use a programme I don’t usually use.  Yay? I even wrote a couple of my Christmas cards.  Hurray, I started them.  

After F came back from work, we talked about what to do tonight.  First, he wanted to have dinner here at the house.  We went over to the grocery store and picked up some food for all of us.  We got a few different things to share. I picked 3 mushroom pasta and some roast beef, F picked some ton-don for his mother and also some gyoza with spicy sauce and a couple of other things.  We finished up some salad too.  At the end of our meal we ate the last of his birthday cake, it was still good!

F washed the dishes, I dried and put them away, and then we went out to the Internet Cafe for a few hours.  I was trying to watch Castle, but I fell asleep on it.  I can’t believe it. I was so tired.  At the end of the show, I woke up and wondered what happened. I had DVR’d it at the house, so will watch it later.  For the rest of the time there, I decided to read my book and finally finished it.  I have read it (Fear is the Key/Alistair MacLean) before, but lately, I haven’t found much time to read anything. It’s rather annoying. 

We came back to the house and had a quiet rest of evening.  F is in a lot of pain from the changing weather so took some medicine and went to bed.  I stayed up for a bit watching TV and playing on my computer.  I’m not sure what we’ll all get up to tomorrow, but I’ll tell you all about it later!

Until tomorrow….

November 23, 2017

Thursday - Cold and rainy

A good day.  

We slept in this morning so had to hurry and get dressed.  F had made a reservation at our favourite restaurant for noon, but it isn’t in Tsuruoka.  We both hurried to get dressed and then headed out.  K had food leftover from yesterday so she was fine.

We got to the restaurant and had a fabulous meal.  There was a couple of slight hiccups, such as the waitress (who was young and nervous) giving my entree to the people at the next table, but generally, we had a fabulous meal.  I had duck and F had pork stew…we both had dessert too.  

Salad and suzuki marinee

Kabocha soup

Fumihiko's main dish, pork stew with beer sauce

My main dish, roasted duck

Our desserts and coffee.  I had pear tart plus strawberry ice, F had tart tartine plus yogurt ice.

After the meal, we drove to the Mikawa Mall and I bought us tickets to see Justice League.  I was treating F to it since it was his birthday.  We looked in a few shops as we had some time, and then went to the bookstore. I was looking for a nengajo book, F was just looking.  I had nearly decided on a book when he came over with a book and asked me to buy it for him as his present.  Hurrumph.  I had just bought movie tickets, he had said for weeks he didn’t want a present and now he did!  Of course, I did buy it for him, and the nengajo book too.  

We went to see Justice League and it was great.  It was fun.  It’s been a while since I could say that a DC Comics film was fun, (excluding the fab Wonder Woman of course), but this one was.  F didn’t fall asleep and there were a few laugh out loud moments which I got better than the other people in the cinema.  Ezra Miller proves once again that he is an actor to watch.

After the movie, we went to the grocery store in Aeon to pick up stuff for K’s dinner and my lunch tomorrow. I also bought a cake.  My original plan was to buy 3 pieces of cake, but F picked a cake.  It was probably cheaper in the long run, but not what I planned! We then drove back to Tsuruoka.  F was asking me to pick the place we had dinner and was getting a bit stroppy about it too.  It was his birthday, I had hoped he’d pick a good place.  Finally, I came up with a plan.  We’d go to FoodEver and see what was open.  If there wasn’t anything good there, we’d either go across the street to the izakaya/fish restaurant or to another fish restaurant.  

We delivered the food to K and also had cake together.  I think F’s mother forgot it was his birthday today.  I think it isn’t a big deal to many Japanese people anyway.  

F's birthday cake. It was choco-chip and very nice!

After cake, we went out to have our dinner.  We did go to Foodever, and although one restaurant was closed, the others weren’t.  We went to a fish restaurant, but it was a mostly cooked fish place. Hurray.  We had a big starter plate which was lovely. It had lots of little things on the platter, then some eryngii and octopus ajillo.  Our entree was local roasted fish and roasted potatoes.  It was so good!  Not a grain of rice in sight.  Hurray.  They served the fish with lemon too, which isn’t common here.

When we finished F paid.  It was a little pricey, but honestly, not as much as lunch was.  It was pretty darn good too.  F hadn’t wanted to go there originally, but I think he was glad that he did.

We came back to the house via the convenience store for some drinks and snacks.  At the house, I watched a little telly and F had some beer and then went to bed.  I showered too.  F thanked me a couple of times for us having a good day. Hurray.  That does mean a lot.

So that was it.  My day. Come back in a bit and see how Friday goes!  Until tomorrow….

November 22, 2017

Wednesday - Sunny and clear

A mostly good day.

It was a little sad today, both my sister and my best friend sent me word that David Cassidy died. He was the first pop-star that I ever fell for.  I remember when we lived in Britain saving up crisps wrappers (potato chip bags) so that I could send away for a poster of him, and how happy I was when it arrived.  I do still listen to his old music and have been known to do a couple of his songs at karaoke.  I had read that he was ill so it wasn’t entirely unexpected, but it was still sad.

I had another quiet morning today. I got up, had some drinks and then went down to have breakfast. However, K was nowhere to be seen.  Another granola & yogurt brekkie for me. Yay.  I like that anyway! I did have to clean up the kitchen though as my dear husband had made bread and sliced it on the kitchen table. He hadn’t cleaned up after himself though and there was machine parts to be cleaned and crumbs to be wiped up. I supposed that is the price I have to pay for fresh bread!

I brought in my laundry from the garage and hung it in my room up here. It was mostly dry, but would take forever over there in this season.  

K was up and around at 11 something, I heard her banging doors in the house. I said hello when I was downstairs for something else.

We had lunch together around 1 pm and we had a sort of clean out the fridge thing. We had leftover nabe, some leftover duck, salad and basically anything I could think of that would work. It was quite good though. I did the dishes after we finished and then went back upstairs to get ready.

I left the house promptly at 2:30 and walked to the bus stop. I was still a little early and the bus was 5 minutes late, but it was fine. I got to S-Mall, got off the bus after I paid and then walked to the hair salon I go to.  

I got a good cut, another pixie, but I like it a lot. We had a couple of misunderstandings so I didn’t get my hair washed, but it’s okay really. When I was finished, I paid and then walked back to the mall.  I did a little window shopping and no buying then went to Doutor for a cup of Soy Latte. I had just sat down when I saw an ex-student from Sakata and waved. She came to sit near me and we chatted a little. She is in the process of moving and had asked me to visit her in Sendai after her move. Since I’m going to Sendai next month, I suggested that it might be too soon to visit and she agreed. I’m glad that I brought it up with her though because I might have felt a little guilty if I hadn’t.

F joined me and then she had to leave. F had a drink too and then we went for dinner in the mall.  F suggested the restaurant upstairs so we tried it. I had my usual pasta, which was good tonight, but not great.  F complained about the ramen as usual, so no big deal!  We tried to get his mother something for dinner, but the store was out of pre-made stuff, so we went to another grocery store.  F picked up a few things for his mother and then we took it back to the house.

K had a bite of dinner, but I think she’d already eaten before going to bed. F decided to go out and buy kerosene tonight and asked me to accompany him. I did but it wasn’t a big deal at all.

We had a quiet evening in the house. F was tired, I wasn’t and watched quite a bit of TV. After midnight I gave him his birthday card. Yes, the lucky bum has a national holiday on his birthday every year!  

Tomorrow we’re supposed to have a nice lunch together and perhaps see a movie if we both feel like it.  F’s not doing well these days, so I hope the day off is good for him. Come back later and find out what we get up to. Until tomorrow….

November 21, 2017

Tuesday - Rainy and cold

An okay day.  

I got up at my usual time, did my usual stuff, had some tea and then went downstairs.  I was planning to make porridge this morning, since K had complained a bit about the cold cereal.  However, she wasn’t there!  Much as I like porridge, granola and yogurt is much easier, so I just had that as usual.  I did my dishes and then did a couple of loads of laundry too.

I did hear K in the later part of the morning, she said she was fine.  I had watched some telly upstairs between loads of washing but decided to do lunch around 1 pm in case she was hungry.  

F had made bread overnight, so we had some bread with duck slices on it, some soup, cabbage salad and hot salad too.  I made us a slice of toast with jam on it too for a little treat.  I think she liked it. I’m sure she’d rather have rice, but I wouldn’t so she can bring her own if she’d like!

I did the dishes and headed back upstairs.  I was on my computer for a while. I watched a couple more TV programmes and then the news.  

F called to say he’d be late, so around 6 pm I went downstairs and started working on the nabe.  It was my first time trying to make it, I usually let him do it as it is his thing.  I washed and cut up some veggies, cut up the meat and cut myself in the process, and tried to put it all together.  He came back to the house around 7 and laughed at my nabe attempts.  Hurumph.  People who want to eat said nabe shouldn’t make fun of it.  That is the reason why I don’t try to cook Japanese food…I don’t like being criticized by the peanut gallery.  F gave me some more “advice” and then after he changed, helped me set up the table.  

We took the nabe out to the living room and cooked it there.  I also put out some kimchee and F gave him and his mother some rice.  We had the nabe and it wasn’t bad at all.  F kept eating it to the point where I had to tell him to stop!  It was supposed to be lunch for K and me tomorrow.  I’ll have to supplement it I think.

I did the dishes too.  F said later that he would have done them, but had made no move whatsoever to do so, so I did them.  Besides, I like to wash them in hot water and both him and his mother use cold water. Yuck.  

F set up the bread maker again for tomorrow morning and I came upstairs to watch TV and use my computer.  Both of us took showers tonight and had a cup of decaf coffee.  I made a duck sandwich after my shower which I shared with F.  

That’s about it really.  Tomorrow I’m going to get my hair cut, but later in the afternoon.  I’ll most likely have breakfast and lunch here at the house before catching the bus downtown.  Wish me luck with that! 

This is the first year for a few that F and I haven’t had a big trip planned for the next day or two.  His birthday is on Thursday, and this year I couldn’t get him to think about going away.  Sigh.  It would have been fun, but possibly quite dangerous too.  For many of the last few years, we have had earthquakes around this time.  Yikes!

Well, that’s it for today.  Come back tomorrow and hear all about my day.  Will I have a good day?  I’m not sure.  Until tomorrow….

November 20, 2017

Monday - Rainy and cold, some snow

An okay day.  I got up a little later than usual this morning and did my stuff.  I was was a little worried that K would be in a mood still, but she was fine.  She did sort of mention that breakfast was cold though.  Well, yes, yes it is.  It is also easy and cheap.  I have basically decided to make oatmeal for us tomorrow though.  Hope she likes it!

I didn’t do any laundry today, although I probably should have.  I’ll do it tomorrow, or some of it.  I had a quiet morning and early afternoon, I went downstairs at 1:00 to put together lunch for us. We had a fabulous lunch of salad, smoked chicken sandwiches, Chinese style instant soup and a piece of bread with jam on it.  I found some raspberry jam in the fridge so used one of F’s homemade bread to have it on.  It was nice!

In the afternoon I watched the last, or second last Twin Peaks.  It just got more and more bizarre.  Sometimes I really loved it, other moments I didn’t.

I watched the news and a little later F came back from work.  He was tired, but I had a plan or two.  I suggested us going out for Sushi tonight like we’ve done a few times, then, tomorrow night making nabe at the house.  We’re going to do that.  There should be leftovers for K and I on Wednesday and since I’m going out in the afternoon, that’s a good thing.  Not too much clean up or fuss.  Also, I won’t have to worry if I decide to go early. K was invited to sushi, she chose not to come.  Part of her saving money plan I assume.

F and I had a good evening and ate a lot, but not too much sushi.  I discovered that the sushi shop had a frozen soy treat, so I had that and it was good.  I’m waiting to see if I get my dreaded nose plug up or not.  

After dinner, we went to another grocery store to pick up stuff for the nabe and for K and I.  We came back to the house and F set up the bread maker and I set up the plastic garbage for tomorrow.  

Later I was watching TV when I found that The Mummy Returns was on, so we watched that instead.  Fun!

And that’s about my day.  It was okay.  I’ll be a bit busy tomorrow I think, but come on back a bit later and find out!  Until tomorrow then….

November 19, 2017

Sunday - SNOW!!!

A good, productive day.  

I slept in this morning.  It was Sunday and I didn’t feel like getting up. I didn’t go to bed until 3:30 or something, so needed the extra sleep anyway.  F came back to bed about the time I started to get up.  He had made bread overnight and asked me if I could give some to his mother for her breakfast/lunch.  

I got dressed and then went down and had a bit of lunch with K.  While I was in the kitchen I turned on the overhead light and she came in and told me off.  Whatever.  It wasn’t dark in there, but I like to be able to see when I am making food! I made some open-faced sandwiches on F’s lovely homemade bread and also served us a chawanmushi each, plus some cup soup.  I liked it!

After I did the dishes, I came back upstairs again and started to move a lot of the stuff in our rooms.  I made room for our kerosene heater and cleared out the boxes from in front of it.  It took a while as we had a lot of DVDs there. I got the idea to move a DVD rack into the hallway so we could at least keep some of the best DVDs close by.  We did that and I sorted through the DVDs and put favourites in the racks and ones that we rarely watch to go to the garage and probably never be seen again.  

F brought up the kerosene heater and we switched it on.  Warmth, hurray.  He also told his mother off for yelling at me and not using the lights.  Honestly, she’s terrible.  She’ll sit in the dark rather than “waste” the energy to have the lights on.  I figure that I am important enough to have the lights on.  I try not to be wasteful and leave the lights on when I leave the room, but I am going to use them if I deem it necessary.

We went out around 4 and picked up something for K’s dinner.  F wasn’t going to, but I told him we had to be the adults here!  He said he wasn’t an adult…. After that, we went out.  He suggested a nice, spendy restaurant first, and then a crap one that I hate.  We ended up going there and it was as bad as I remember.  Sigh.  Big food that is bad isn’t a good thing.  

He was hemming and hawing about putting on the winter tires but hadn’t done it.  First, he said tomorrow, then he said tonight, and so on. He started to do it but didn’t have the right tools, so we had to go and buy them.  When we came back, I helped him move the new tires, and then came into the house to do garbage duty. K got up to see who was in the kitchen so I told her what F was doing.  By that time, I was putting away the clean dishes, so it was obvious that I was doing something.  Also, the lights were on!

When F finished, we left the house.  I wasn’t sure if we would go for a drink and some wifi or to the Internet Cafe.  We ended up at the Internet Cafe.  I watched a little TV and then some YouTube.  I started to watch Jann Arden on YouTube and she is so darn funny that I was laughing out loud at some of the things she said.  

When it was time to go, we paid our bill. As F did that, I looked outside and gasped.  There was a lot of snow outside.  It had snowed and there was probably 5 cm of snow on the car and the ground.  Yikes.  I still haven’t found my winter boots.  

We got back to the house and came upstairs.  F took a shower tonight and I didn’t.  I’ve been on my computer for a while, in front of the heater. Yay for that!  It’s nearly warm enough in this room.  

Tomorrow I’m not sure what I’ll get up to.  I hope there isn’t any more fallout from the “Lightgate”.  Time will tell.  Come back later and find out all about the happenings here in Tsuruoka.  Until tomorrow….

November 18, 2017

Saturday - Cold and rainy

A good day.

It is so late that I don’t have time for a full update. 

Basically, F and I went to see Logan Lucky after lunch at The Grand El Sun. I enjoyed it, he fell asleep.  

We went out to Mikawa Shopping Centre and did a lot of Christmas shopping. I got quite a lot of things for the people in my life, which was really good.  

We came back to Tsuruoka and F went to bed quite a while ago, and I spent too much time on my computer! 

It was a good, but seriously cold day.  I think I might turn into a popsicle if we don’t work on a proper heater for up here.  

That’s it….come back later for all the Sunday news….until tomorrow!

November 17, 2017

Friday - Cold 

A mixed day.

Last night I was so pleased that I was able to go out and to talk to my sister that my day was great.  Today, my day just didn’t feel as good.

I got up at my usual time and watched a bit of telly before going to make breakfast.  This morning I decided to give K some warm milk with her cereal so that she wouldn’t get as cold.  I think it was good for her. I enjoyed my breakfast as much as usual.

Upstairs I relaxed and watched some more videos from the DVR. I watched an episode of Reign again. I have rather a lot and I want to clear some room from the DVR.  

I went downstairs around 1 to offer K lunch. She accepted and I made her some open-face ham sandwiches, plus a hot salad.  It’s some veggies in a pack from the store that you microwave and then put a dressing on.  They were good.  We shared the meal and had a cup of diced peaches each afterwards.

After lunch,  I vacuumed the stairs and also a bit of our room.  I got the worst of the foam that F had left lying around.  

There wasn’t much on the TV and since I had a couple of hours I decided to watch Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  I must say that I quite enjoyed it!  I haven’t told F that I watched it yet. I might let him in on it, but I’m not sure. He’s not really watching things with me these days.  

F came back to the house a little after 5:30.  At first, he was in a good mood.  We asked his mother if she’d like to come out with us, but she said no.  We got out to the car and F did the thing where he demanded I tell him where to go.  I suggested a couple of places but he didn’t like them.  I asked him and of course, he said a ramen shop.  When I said I wouldn’t go he got all mad and told me never to ask him again.  I can’t win.  I don’t eat ramen, but I suggested places where he can get ramen and I don’t have to, but they aren’t good enough for him.  Sigh.  

He decided to take us to a bento shop which I agreed to, and then he changed his mind.  As he drove out of the parking lot, I suggested going to Gusto again and then ordering a take-out bento for his mother at the end.  He seemed to like that idea, so we went to Gusto.  

The food at Gusto was fine. I had a roast beef and rice meal, F had a rice gruel thing that he often orders.  He got a bento for his mother and we left.  I had requested that we stop at a drugstore and he followed me doggedly through every aisle, despite me suggesting that he wait in the car.  Finally, I told him we might as well just leave because I wouldn’t buy anything with him looking over my shoulder.  He finally backed off.

We came back to the house and he immediately changed into his pyjamas, although he didn’t go to bed yet. It is very cold in our room up here, sadly, a portent of things to come. I am not looking forward to this winter at all. We had some tea and then F went to bed and is sleeping away.  

I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. F has a busy morning planned with his mother and going to the doctor. I’m hoping to see a movie and perhaps do a bit more Christmas shopping. Wish me luck with that. Come back later and see what happens.  Until tomorrow…

November 16, 2017

Thursday - Cool, rainy

A good day.  Also, happy birthday to my younger sister!

I actually slept in late a few minutes this morning.  Since they have shuffled the foreign news broadcasts in the morning, I haven’t had the same reason to get up for 8 am on the dot.  Still, I got up and had my tea and did the bed and got dressed, the usual.

I went downstairs and had breakfast with K.  We had some tea, but a little after we finished our breakfast as the water wasn’t on.  It was nice.  I did the dishes and then went upstairs.  I watched an episode of Reign. I enjoy it, but it bears no resemblance to actual history.  Megan Follows is pretty great though.

I looked at the clock and realized that I had to move my butt if I was going to get out of the house on-time to catch my bus.  I really was quite ready to go, so it wasn’t a big deal.  I left the house after saying goodbye to K.

I caught the bus easily. I was a bit worried because the front of the bus didn’t have the right number on it, but figured that it was a mistake on the driver’s part. It seems that it was as the bus went exactly where I needed it to go! 

I got off at the station and walked back to the post office.  I was looking for Gotochi cards for a swap I’m doing.  I went in and the first person I saw was a worker from my old branch.  I think she’s a floater as I’ve seen her in another branch too.  Anyway, her face lit up when she saw me and we were both pretty happy to see each other!  I don’t know if she understands English, but she seems to, although she hasn’t spoken any to me.  Anyway, I got the cards I wanted and then I was off again.  

I walked back to S-Mall. I passed a new shop on the way and discovered that it was a tarot reading place.  That was interesting!  I was hoping it was a new coffee shop.  At S-Mall, I did a little pre-buying, or window shopping until it was time to go outside and meet my friend.  She picked me up and we went off to Anmol, the Indian restaurant.  We had a lovely lunch and lots of conversation.  Sadly, around 3 we had to leave the restaurant and she had to get back to work.  She graciously left me off at the mall again.  

I walked to my hairdresser to see if I could get a haircut today.  She was busy and asked if I could come back tomorrow.  I said I couldn’t, but made an appointment for next week.  I’ll go back again on Wednesday.

I walked back to the Mall and did a little shopping.  I bought a couple of small things for presents and then went to Doutors and had a lovely cup of coffee.  F came and joined me when he finished work. 

We picked up some food for his mother there and then delivered it to the house.  I did a quick email thing I had to do and then the two of us went to the Internet Cafe for a little massaging chair action.   We both had dinner there too.  Afterwards, F used our points to pay for the evening, so we only owed about 500 yen.  Woot.  

We came back to the house via the grocery store. I’d forgotten to get a few things that I needed earlier.  I got things that I can share for lunch tomorrow if necessary.  

We had a quiet evening in.  I did manage to FaceTime my sister to wish her a happy birthday. It was lovely to see her, although the phones kept cutting out.  

And that was my day. It was a good one, but now it is over and I have to get to bed.  Come back later and see what I get up to!  Until tomorrow….

November 15, 2017

Wednesday - Rainy, very rainy

A good day.

In the morning, I did my usual things and went downstairs and had breakfast with K.  It was quite nice, but also not a big deal.  

I watched some of my shows off the DVR and decided to bring in some of my laundry.  I brought some stuff back in and hung it over my heater so that it would dry.  It was at the stage where I wasn’t sure if it was dry or just cold.  It worked and I was able to put things away later.

I went down a bit after 1 to see if K wanted to have lunch with me.  I felt terribly guilty yesterday when I didn’t go down until almost 2:30.  Anyway, she did want lunch.  We had the leftover chicken and salad from yesterday, shared a piece of bread, and had the rest of the nabe from last night.  It was quite good. Also, I managed to tell K that I wouldn’t be around tomorrow afternoon.

I did the dishes and then went upstairs again.  I worked on my little Christmas ornament that I’m making for an exchange and got it done. Yay!  I think it turned out rather well.

I brought in the rest of my laundry and again, hung it up to warm up and dry.  Honestly, today my day was quite boring. I kept planning to do a Postcrossing or two, but never got around to it. I also didn’t get around to my Christmas Letter either. I’m debating not doing one this year.  It hasn’t been the best year for me after all.

F came back to the house around his usual time and was tired.  We talked about dinner and I suggested going back to the chain udon shop.  He liked that idea, so we went.  I had the same dish again and was pleased with it. I also had a couple of pieces of tempura too.  F didn’t really like his dish though. It looked okay, but mine was good.  He should have had it!!

We bought a few groceries at the store. We picked up stuff for K’s dinner and her lunch tomorrow.  I’ll probably have breakfast with her again and then leave just before noon. We came back to the house and had a quiet evening in.  I watched some telly and then took a shower.  F and I both had some decaf coffee which was nice too.  

Tomorrow I’m going to catch a bus downtown and then meet a friend for lunch. I have a few other things that I’d like to do afterwards, so come back and find out if I get them done! Until tomorrow….