November 30, 2024

Saturday - Rainy with hail, cold

Today started out rather well, but sad to say, it has ended badly. 

I woke up this morning and got up a little later. I got dressed and in a little bit, F and I were on our way. He’d gone to a restaurant way, way out of the city yesterday and wanted to take me there today. I was fine with that. I want to encourage all his plan-making! We were halfway through the city when someone phoned F. He’d completely forgotten that he was supposed to meet up with his insurance lady. Oops. We turned around, went back to the house and had a meeting with her. I have no idea what they were talking about, but I was there. 

We started out again and after 50 minutes or so of driving, we arrived at the restaurant. It was busy so we couldn’t get seated at the moment. They seated us in another room and we ordered. We waited for ages and ages. They asked us to move back to the main dining room. We waited a whole lot more. Finally, F’s food arrived and then after about 5 minutes more, mine did. It was nice, but by then I was so hungry. It was a Korean restaurant and the food was good. I’m not sure I’d want to go there again until spring or summer though.

We drove back to Tsuruoka and honestly, came back to the house. I checked my email and then went to bed for a while. F came in twice and the second time I just ended up getting up too. 

F and I decided to go out for dinner a little after 7. We tried the Chinese place across the park but it was closed. F suggested another place which was fine. We ended up at China House. I had Yurinchi (a sour fried chicken) and it was nice. 

All day we had planned to go to Costco on Sunday. Next weekend we’re getting vaccinated so probably won’t feel like a road trip, so tomorrow makes sense. We decided to go to MaxValu and get K some food for tomorrow. That went fine. We picked up some dishwashing soap and a pair of socks for me too. Yay.

It was a really windy day. When I got out of the car I couldn’t keep my hand on the door and the door was caught by the wind. It bent a bit far back, but didn’t hit anyone/thing. F yelled at me.

When I got back into the car after shopping, I got one foot into the car and I was trying to bring my other leg in while hanging onto the door so I couldn’t let it go. If I closed the door, I wouldn’t be able to get my leg in as my feet wouldn’t fit. I got yelled at and F proceeded to tear a strip off me about how stupid I am to not know how to get in a car. I asked him if he’d prefer that I shut my leg in the door? He said yes. Halfway back to the house, he ordered me out of the car and I said no.  He said that he wasn’t going to go out tomorrow and he didn’t want me to get in his car anymore.  Whatever.

We haven’t spoken since we got back. He’s sleeping now and since I’m sure I’ll be woken up whenever his honour decides to get up, I should get to bed soon too. I’m not sure what exactly I’m supposed to do to get into the car. I considered asking him to come around to my side of the car and open and hold the door for me each time, but I’m sure he wouldn’t like that either! It would work though!

Anyway, come back later if you like and find out what I get up to. Until tomorrow…. 

November 29, 2024

Friday - Rainy, Hail, Thunder and Rain

I went to bed quite late again last night. F woke up, which is sad. I don’t know why he can’t just go back to sleep afterwards. He does, but it takes him a while. This morning I woke up to my alarm and went downstairs. I sorted my laundry when I came back and then I went back to bed for a while. It was so dark outside and my alarms were so quiet that I didn’t hear them and I didn’t wake up until I heard some low music coming from my phone. I dragged myself out of bed finally. 

I picked up my breakfast and then came back to the room. I ate and then watched YouTube and the news. Same as usual! I did a final read-through of my column and got it sent off to the editor. Yay.

Around 2 pm I took my laundry downstairs and put it in the washer. I went back upstairs and took down my dry stuff. I went downstairs a little late to make my lunch, but I timed it so that my laundry was ready to take out. 

I came upstairs with my bagel, my leftovers from yesterday and my salad and watched So Help Me Todd. It was rather cute today. The mother was representing a man injured in a plane crash and the son had major car problems! 

F called me after 5:30 and we talked about his shopping needs! He was on his way back, so a bit later I went downstairs and washed my dishes. I also washed the nabe for him and then he came back. He wanted to start work while he was still in his uniform, but I suggested that he go upstairs and change first. I reminded him that our soup was a curry soup and if it spilled on his uniform it might not come out. No one wants a brownish stain on their clothes!

When F came back, I left the kitchen after asking him if he wanted me to do anything for him. He said no, so off I went. Woot. And then I did something rather crazy. I posted a message on my women’s group asking them if anyone would like to take part in a Christmas Card exchange. And…now I think I’m leading one! What was I thinking?  I’m hoping it’ll be fine!

F called me down and I went to have dinner. Now, I don’t want to complain, but I got out my own chopsticks and I supplied the table with glasses and tea. How was the nabe? Really good! It was so nice to have a nabe with a taste! It also didn’t have all the usual ingredients, which I appreciated too. I like F’s nabe most of the time, but this one had kabocha and wieners and broccoli in it too. Yum. After dinner, I even gave F a hand to take things to the kitchen. I actually said to him that I helped him a lot more than he ever helped me!

I went upstairs and worked on my computer for a while. I decided that I’d lead the card exchange so did some investigating on how to do it. Then I went to take a shower. 

When I came back from my shower I learned how to make a Google document and then I uploaded it to the group. One person besides me has used it, so I think it works. Woot!

I had planned to watch something on the Fire Stick tonight, but I didn’t. I was too busy with Google and trying to sort things out. Oh well, it is good to learn something new at least!

So, that’s it for me for today. Come back later if you like and hear all about my Saturday. Until tomorrow….

November 28, 2024

Thursday - Rainy with Thunder, Hail and Lightning (Very, very Frightening…)

I woke up quite early this morning and looked at my phone. It was so early that F hadn’t even woke up yet. I went back to sleep and when I woke up a bit later, I was alone. I went downstairs and then came back up to the room. I was lying under the covers and watching videos on my phone when F came in. He had come to put on a shippu, the medicine-infused bandages he uses for his back. I helped him do that and a few minutes later he was off again. I fell asleep!

I got up later, went downstairs and set up the meat for dinner in the kitchen with a marinade. Then, I made my breakfast. I went back upstairs to eat, and watch YouTube and the news.

I worked on my column a couple of times today. I wrote the final paragraph and made a couple of tweaks too. It’s all but done.

I went downstairs, made my lunch a bit before 3, and then came upstairs and watched Bake-Off and the news. 

F called after 5 pm and then I went downstairs to start on dinner. It was dark downstairs. I think K had spent most of her day in bed. She did eat at least, her food was gone from the fridge. 

Tonight I made a pretty good dinner, at least I think so. We had coro-coro steak, (excellent) boiled potatoes, salad, asparagus, potato salad and one of the smokies from last night. It was pretty good and most of the food disappeared. 

I did the dishes after dinner. It took a while, but it got done finally. I have asked F to make dinner tomorrow night, he’s going to do a curry nabe since we have a soup that we bought a few weeks ago. It’s a different type of nabe for us, so I hope it goes well. 

We went to the supermarket and tonight we both went in. I didn’t mind as F is the one cooking tomorrow night. We picked up his stuff and I got a couple of snacks for myself. 

We came back to the house and put the groceries away. We came upstairs and then at 11pm I turned on the TV and watched Yellowjackets. I think I missed the beginning so I should try and watch it again tomorrow. It was quite the episode…it also seemed to be the last one in the series. I really enjoyed it, laughed a bit and was sad a bit. It was great.

I turned off the TV when the show finished and then I got stuck into YouTube and doing my end-of-day stuff. And that is where you find me now. I’m going to go to bed soon and then when I wake up, it’ll be Friday! (Well, technically it is Friday now, but….)

Until tomorrow…. 

November 27, 2024

Wednesday - Cloudy then rainy at night

I went to bed at my usual time and woke my husband up. I don’t think I woke him up, I think he just wakes up these days! I did my reading and then went to sleep, I think he did too.

This morning F woke me up while he was getting ready for work. I managed to just roll over and not wake up fully. I woke up later when my alarm went off. I went downstairs and F was there at the bottom of the stairs! He’d popped in to get some masks and pick up some other stuff. We had a nice meeting and then he was off. I went back to bed and slept a bit late again.

I got up later and went downstairs. I brought my breakfast upstairs and ate while watching some YouTube. I had a quiet afternoon again. I worked on my column and got it close to finishing.

I went downstairs to get kerosene and then downstairs to get my lunch. I brought it back upstairs. I was a little surprised in a bad way to see that K hadn’t touched her lunch. That is getting to be a thing. She’s eating so much fruit, someone keeps giving her fruit to eat. Her thing is to leave all the peel and garbage from it for ME to clean up. Gee, thanks.

I ate my lunch and watched another episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer. It was okay. I dunno. I guess I’m not far enough in the series to get all the love for it. It’s only okay in my opinion at the moment. 

I worked more on my column and got it to where I could finish it tomorrow. I watched the news and then a bit later, F called to say he was on his way.

I went downstairs to get a start on dinner. Tonight I air-fried some French fries, and also some smokies from Alberta. I steamed some broccoli and we had that with salad and potato salad. Dinner was good, but the smokies were so hard to eat! The skin was hard. Poor K had a really hard time. I got a knife from the kitchen and got F to cut his and then his mother’s for her. That helped, but I do think they were a bit tough for her. They were nice, but I’m sad to say I wouldn’t buy the smokies again as they shouldn’t be that difficult to eat!

After we finished dinner I cleared the table and did the dishes. They weren’t too bad tonight as I did the smokies in the air fryer with the fries, so I only used one cooking thing. 

I had to do the garbage in the kitchen too as tomorrow is burnable garbage day. There was so much. On the weekend F made a ton of garbage this week. I don’t know if it was just him, I think his mother threw a lot of stuff out too. I’m not sure why or how!

After I finished, I left the bags in the genkan and went upstairs. I relaxed for a bit and basically finished my column. I still have to proofread it and add the outro but I think it’s nearly ready to send in to the Journal Editor. Woot. 

F came upstairs as I was getting ready to go downstairs to take a shower. I dropped off K’s breakfast for her in the kitchen. When my shower was over I came back upstairs and watched Grey’s Anatomy. It was mostly about the residents again, it was a good episode. 

And that’s about it. I asked F if he’d like to make nabe on Friday night if he isn’t too tired. We bought a curry soup a few weeks ago and it has a recipe on the back. I think that would be fun to have if he’s okay with it. He said it would be fine, fingers crossed that it really is.

Until tomorrow….

November 26, 2024

Tuesday - Cloudy, with rain at night

I went to bed at my usual time last night and slept well. I’ve been sleeping with earplugs and it has helped me sleep longer as I don’t wake up from our noisy downstairs person or my lovely noisy husband. Except I did today. I woke up around 7 am when lovely noisy husband was up and getting dressed for work. I had to go downstairs and when I came back for the room, F was just about ready to leave. I waited for him to go before I went back to bed.

I slept for a while, watched some videos and even went downstairs again for a bit. I overslept and then got my breakfast. I also took some laundry down with me to start it washing. 

I ended up doing two loads of laundry today, it was good to get it done. I had a quiet afternoon. I did a little bit of writing on my column, I think I can finish it either tomorrow or Thursday if I try hard.

I made lunch around 2:45 and ate it while watching the last episode of Elspeth’s first season. It was rather fun. I hope WOWOW brings more… F called after 5:30 and said he was coming back and was tired. 

I went downstairs to get started on dinner and F came back. I had a fairly stress-free cooking session tonight. I made toaster oven chicken that I flavoured with a lemon pepper spice packet, bibinba rice using the leftover rice from yesterday plus a bit of extra from the bachelor packs of rice. We had salad and potato salad as well. For a change, most of the food disappeared as well. I was quite surprised.

I did the dishes while listening to my podcasts. I was done fairly soon, so I reminded F that we needed to go out. I also asked that we go to the drugstore as well. I’ve been looking for my low allergen detergent but for some reason I can’t find it!

I picked up food for tomorrow’s dinner and also for Thursday. I got a few other things for F and also for the house. I paid and went back to the car. F drove us over to the drugstore and we both went in. I couldn’t find my detergent again. That’s two drugstores that didn’t have it. I picked up some snacks and some cereal for myself. F got a couple of things too and then we paid and left. We came back to the house and I put the groceries away. 

F went upstairs first and I followed. I relaxed and at 11pm I watched FBI. I was quite surprised to see that Patrick Bergin was in the show. I used to really like him a hundred years ago!

Anyway, that’s about it for me. F is sleeping and I should head off to bed soon. I haven’t tried to get to bed early this week yet. 

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

November 25, 2024

Monday - Sunny and warmish. Cloudy too.

I went to bed at my usual time last night. F woke up before I went to bed and didn’t go back to sleep for a while. I was in bed and his computer was on shining in my face. I wear an eye mask, but I can still sense that light!

I woke up this morning around 7:30. I went downstairs and returned to bed. I watched a few videos on my phone but fell asleep while watching them. 

I woke up much later when my alarm started going off. I got up, went downstairs and made my breakfast. I brought it upstairs to eat, which I did while watching some YouTube. 

I worked on my column during the day today and got a bit done. I don’t think I’m going to be writing a long one, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing!

I grabbed lunch around 2:30 and watched an episode of Major Crimes. I think I’m around where I was now when I first started to watch the show. Lunch was my usual open sandwiches and salad, it was nice not to have to fight with anyone for it!

After lunch, I watched the news and then I did a little more work on my column. F called after 5 and then I went downstairs to start on dinner.

Tonight I made a stir-fry. I had bought some precut veggies at the store and I added a few more here. When everything was ready to cook, I couldn’t get the stove to work. I called F down to help me. He said that the burner was wet. He’d probably overboiled something yesterday. That’s what usually happens. I also noticed an actual hole in the stove next to the burner. I didn’t do it, I don’t know who did!

Dinner was okay. I missed most of the Japanese news, and after it was over, F changed the channel to something with one of those ghastly eating contests. I told him that as usual, I think it is disgusting and he told me that I didn’t have to say that every time. Actually, I think I do. I can’t help thinking how many people who are starving could be fed with that 3 kg of food that one person was eating for “fun."

I did the dishes and listened to my podcasts after I finished eating dinner. I just went upstairs and didn’t bother saying anything to F. I was still rather annoyed with him. When he came up later I did finally talk to him, but he didn’t stay up that long.

I took a shower after 10:30 and then came back upstairs. I decided to watch something off Apple TV, so chose Bad Monkey. It’s quite an interesting series and I’m wondering just where it is going to end up. 

And that’s about it. I’ve been working on blog stuff and internet stuff ever since midnight. I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to tomorrow. You really should come back later and find out!

Until tomorrow….

 

November 24, 2024

Sunday - Drizzly, cloudy and cold

Today wasn’t the greatest day. It wasn’t a bad day, it was just frustrating for me. 

I woke up a bit late because I didn’t set an early alarm. No big deal, it is Sunday and F had plans of his own for the morning. He was planning to change the tires on his car today and then he had talked about going to the onsen. I thought it was great that he’d made plans for himself. Except, he didn’t do it that early. He did change the tires between 9 and 10:30 but decided not to go to the onsen. 

He came upstairs seeking lunch and also bringing some cakes from the memorial service. I made us some coffee and we each had one, then we went out for lunch. The original plan, which I hated if I’m honest, was to go to the Bussankan (the big tourist and souvenir area in Tsuruoka) and have lunch there. I don’t like any of the restaurants there except for the tonkatsu one. The one that F doesn’t like at all. I said it was okay as long as we didn’t have to sit on tatami. We got most of the way there and F changed his mind and decided to go to his favourite soba shop. I don’t mind it, so said it was okay. It was closed. 

Regroup. Then F decided he’d take me to a soba place near his favourite onsen. I reminded him of the last (and only) time I went there. There was another table in the restaurant and they had lots of side dishes. When they left, they paid our bill. When we got ready to leave, the restaurant gave us their bill, which was a LOT more expensive than ours would have been. Of course, we didn’t pay that, but it wasn’t a happy thing. 

We got in, got seats and ordered. I had hot soba with duck since I often have that at another place. It was tasteless and the duck was tough. I would say that for me, lunch was just a waste of time. 

We did a couple of things in the afternoon. Earlier, we had discovered a little bakery that is only open on the weekend. We thought it was a cafe too (Thanks Google Maps) and went in. It wasn’t a cafe, not really. They had two chairs we could use, but would have to go to the nearby 7-11 to get ourselves drinks. We bought a treat each and left!

We ended up at Starbucks for a while to get a drink and relax. I had a chamomile tea latte, F had a cafe mocha. His was a bit too sweet. 

Next up we went to the grocery store and I bought the groceries. F came in and got himself some saké which came out of the grocery money. It was a horrendous price to get the groceries today. I wasn’t impressed. 

We went back to the house and I put the groceries away. F buggered off upstairs. I wasn’t too pleased about that. I took our stuff upstairs. We relaxed for a while and then F wanted to have dinner. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a big budget for dinner. He wanted more Japanese food…udon this time and I told him flatly that I didn’t want anymore noodles and definitely not Japanese food except for maybe sushi. I suggested three different types of food and F wouldn’t pick one of them. He could have picked anything out of the three or something else, but he wouldn’t. So, I picked Gusto.

We went out to Gusto. It seems like they have given the menu a bit of an upgrade. There was a very nice looking set menu on offer that the waitress called our attention to, but it wasn’t cheap. F said I could have it if I wanted to, but if he wasn’t going to have it too then why would I do that? We were trying to keep to a budget. I ended up with a mixed grill and a bun with the drink bar, F had chicken with rice and the drink bar and we shared an order of fries that were hot out of the fryer. Dinner was quite good. 

We came back to the house and F went to bed almost right away. He had the nerve to say to me that he hoped I’d go to bed soon so I would be with him. The funny thing is that he was on his phone during the entire meal and barely talked to me. He had me with him for the hour plus that we were in the restaurant and couldn’t bother talking to me. I told him I wouldn’t be doing that.

I watched another episode of The Devil’s Hour. It was quite a good one, a bit weird. I’m wondering where it is going to go from here. 

After the show was over, I turned it off and got onto some YouTube and blogging. So, that was my day. It wasn’t great and I’m quite glad that F is going back to work tomorrow. I’m not looking forward to trying to clean up the kitchen tomorrow night though. 

Anyway, that’s it for me for tonight. Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….