October 31, 2013

Thursday - Cooler and a little rainy

Happy Halloween!

An okay day.  I woke up late this morning. I had decided not to set my alarms.  I needed the sleep, and the cold medicine made me a little bit groggy.  

I had a good but quiet day around the apartment.

I didn't do a lot around the house, but I took care of myself!  I had some tea, toast and yogurt for breakfast, watched some TV and just enjoyed myself.  Later on I even wrapped my sister's birthday present which I have to send tomorrow.

In the evening, F and I went to his Taiwan restaurant for dinner.  Because he'd had noodles for lunch, he didn't need ramen again for dinner.  We got an assortment of dishes and it was nice.  I wanted soup, so we had egg soup, plus garlic fried rice, bifun…sort of a rice noodle dish, plus sliced fried chicken.  It was quite good.  I liked it more than their "set" dinners, but I'm not sure if F did or not.

We bought a few groceries in our home grocery store and then came home.  We had a mostly quiet evening until someone (not me) decided to noisily look for something.  He didn't find it.  Later I went over to the couch to do a little crochet, but had a few problems at the end.  I decided to leave it for the daylight so I can think about it harder.

Tomorrow I have to finished my Area Report, perhaps send a postcard or two and do some crochet.  The fun never ends!  Got to go.  Night.

October 30, 2013

Wednesday - Rainy with clear patches

A good day.

Last night before bed, my nose started to run and wouldn't stop.  It was very annoying.  I took some medicine but it took a while to work so I fell asleep on the couch before I went back to bed.

This morning I was very groggy, but managed to get up and do all I needed to do before my friend picked me up.  She did and we drove to Sendai.

We made good time and were only a little late for the get together.  We had a good discussion and were able to settle a couple of matters.  After a while, we had to break up our meeting, so we went our separate ways.  We had a little refreshment via Starbucks and a little foreign food shopping via Jupiter and then we began the long trip back home.  

We ran into a bit of a storm, so had to drive a little slower, then but made it safely.  I got out of the car with my stuff and then my friend left for her home.

F and I had a nice reunion, but decided to go out for drugs and dinner!  I needed some medicine, so we stopped at the drugstore, and then we went on to Cocos.  We both had chicken and it was quite nice.  After that, we just came home and have spent a quiet evening together.  I watched some of my favourite TV programmes tonight, but I'll probably go to bed soon. I'm quite tired, probably due to the medicine that I took a few hours ago.  

Hopefully I'll be over this cold soon, and it won't get worse than it is now.  Wish me luck with that!  I have to go.  Night.

October 29, 2013

Tuesday - Sunny but cool

A good day.  I got up this morning and F was still here.  He didn't have to leave until 10 as he wasn't going to work, he had a meeting.  It was nice to have him around the apartment.

I spent a relaxed morning and early afternoon around the apartment.  I didn't do a lot really, but I did start my Starbella Scarf.  It's quite cool honestly.  I have a few inches of it done.  I also prepared for my meeting tomorrow.

In the afternoon I took a shower and then went out.  I was tired of being in for so long, so I went off to a drugstore and then to S-Mall.  At S-Mall I didn't buy anything, but I did have a cup of salty caramel latte and a sandwich.  

When I left the mall it was dark.  It was only 5 so I was quite sad about the whole thing.  

I came home and received a call from F.  He said that he was just going to start on his way.  I suggested he have a coffee or a snack so he didn't get too sleepy on the way.  I relaxed, watched a bit of TV, sent some meeting related email and then finally started dinner.  

F called to tell me he was on his way, so I moved a little faster, got the water boiling, that kind of thing.  We had whole wheat pasta with different sauces, plus salad and last night's leftover veggies stir-fried.  It was nice really!

We had a quiet evening. I watched some TV, did some printing on my computer and had a relaxing time of it.  Tomorrow may not be so relaxing.

That's it for me.  I'm off to bed soon.  I have an early morning tomorrow.  Wish me luck.  Night.

October 28, 2013

Monday - Sunny and gorgeous

A good day.  I got up late this morning.  Woot!  I felt a bit like I was back to "normal".  Still, I was up around 9 so yay for me.  

I had a busy morning.  I did 3 loads of laundry and put away some of my clean clothes.  I had breakfast which was some of F's delicious walnut pain de campagne --so nice, and yogurt.  

In the afternoon F kept popping in as he was waiting to drive some people nearby.  It was nice to see him.  I wrote a few Postcrossing cards, scanned them, and eventually took them to the post office.  I am so loving having my scanner by my computer.  It makes my life so much easier.

When I came home I got an message from F saying he'd be a bit late tonight, so I got busy.  I went into  the kitchen and started prepping for dinner.  We were having yakiniku so I got out the grill and washed it, then cut up a bunch of veggies.  I was just finishing up when F came home. 

We had dinner soon afterwards and it was nice.  We'd only bought a small thing of meat last night, F had also given me some gyutan last week when he came back from Sendai.  We had that too. It was all lovely.  The veggies were very filling and that was why we didn't need so much meat.  

F did the dishes and then much later we ran to the grocery store to get milk as we were almost out of it.  F was so slow in the store it drove me a little mad! I decided to get a couple of things for tomorrow night's dinner too.  We'll likely have pasta.

We came home and I watched tonight's episode of Scandal and worked on my shrug.  It's going very nicely.  I also attempted to start my new scarf with the Starbella yarn, but decided to leave it for tomorrow when I can listen to the video out loud.  

I've got F for a couple of hours tomorrow morning as he's got a meeting he has to go to in Yamagata.  He doesn't want to go, but he has to!  I'm hoping the weather will hold up as I'd like to go out for a bit and have a tea or something. Just make good use of the lovely weather before it gets too cold for me.  

That's it for me.  I'll probably blog a little early tomorrow night as I have to go out of town on Wednesday morning.  However, if I don't catch you, don't worry about me!  Night.

October 27, 2013

Sunday - Rainy then clearing

A mixed up kind of day.

I woke up this morning because F started listening to stuff on his computer.  I was quite annoyed.  He has headphones, he chose not to use them.  

We had lunch at a soba restaurant, it was okay.  F was in a horrible mood all day.  His neck was really bad with the weather today.  He couldn't get comfortable and wasn't afraid to let me know it.

After lunch we drove around a little, but then came home.  We spent the next few hours at home on our computers.  F took a nap later on, so we didn't go out for dinner for a few hours.

We had dinner at our local favourite, Jiro.  I had my usual pork sautéed in garlic oil with tons of onions.  It was so good tonight.  I really enjoyed it.

We bought a few groceries for tomorrow.  We're going to have yakiniku and veggies I think.  I'm rather looking forward to it. F brought me some gyutan a few days ago from Sendai, so we'll have that with it.  

We had a fairly quiet evening at home.  I dished up some more apple crumble and we had that with ice cream.  It was really much nicer tonight than it was yesterday!  I'm not sure why that was.

And that's about it for me.  I have a fairly busy week coming up.  I have a deadline to write for, plus a meeting in Sendai that I have to attend.  I'll talk to you tomorrow night about my day.  Gotta go. Night!

October 26, 2013

Saturday - cold and rainy

A mostly good day.

I got up fairly on time today and discovered that my lovely husband was making bread.  I was a tad annoyed as the place that we plug in the bread machine blocks the microwave/oven.  I had planned to make up the rest of the mini-quiche this morning, but instead I'll have to just throw the mix out.  Sigh.  It's always something.

We went out for sushi for lunch. It was good, but a tad expensive as we didn't go to our usual place.  After lunch we went to my craft store, then went driving.  I wasn't really sure why as I didn't want to go anywhere at all.  We drove along the coast, F got out to see if people were fishing.  They were, and apparently the stormy seas were good for fishing.  

We stopped for ice cream and a drink and then went to Mikawa Mall.  We had to get my sister a present for her birthday.  I think we got something nice.  My original plan was to find her something in Canada when I was there, but we didn't have time to go shopping together.  We got something nice, I hope she'll like it.

We drove back to Tsuruoka and when to the Internet Cafe.  I had asked about karaoke, F wanted massaging chairs.  We did both, but it wasn't enough massaging! We had dinner there and it was okay, but not great.  I was really enjoying the massaging chairs and was sad when they told us our karaoke room was available.  Maybe next time I'll have more massaging done.  

We came home via the grocery store where we bought a bit of ice cream.  

At home, I brought the apple crumble up to room temperature and then baked it.  It was pretty good, except the top burned a bit.  I covered it with foil, but the foil came off too.  Ack.  

I watched Elementary tonight, and later Project Runway All-Stars.  I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Some of the people are very wacky!

And really, that was my day.  I got knitting needles for my Starbella scarf, got crochet cotton for my project and had fun at karaoke.  What else could I ask for?  Night.

October 25, 2013

Friday - Rainy

A good day.  I woke up when F got up this morning, but was able to fall asleep again and slept until 8:45 or so.  Yay for me.  

I got up and had a quiet morning.  I watched some TV, made the bed, got dressed, that kind of thing.  I had breakfast today, which was lovely.  I had a couple of reheated mini-quiche and a hash brown patty.  It was lovely for a change. I also watched The Beaver, the Jodie Foster/Mel Gibson movie.  It was very different than I thought it would be.  Dark, dark, dark.  But, with Anton Yelchin and Jennifer Lawrence.

Later on I took a shower and then started on my apple crumble.  I was creaming the butter and sugar together when F came home.  He was in a horrid mood, didn't want to talk to me, but did want to go out. We'd sort of planned to go to a nice place tonight, but he didn't really tell me that he still wanted to go.  I reasoned that it must be the bad weather that was bothering him, but he didn't show any interest in my day at all.  

After a bit of a mini fight, I put the uncooked crumble in the fridge, did the dishes, changed and then went out with him.  We parked and then went into the new premises of Bistro Des Pointes "Bis".  We had a nice few plates of food.  Some of it was expensive, but it was all very good.  F had some wine and proceeded to get very happy!  It was a nice change. I had a good time with my husband but all too soon it was time for us to leave.  We came home by Daiko, the "we'll drive your car for you" service and had a quiet evening at home.  

I've watched a bit of TV tonight, starting with Shameless.  I have to get to sleep soon though because I am finding it so hard to stay awake!  I'm not sure what I'll get up to tomorrow…come back and find out.  That's it for me.  Night!

October 23, 2013

Wednesday - Sunny

An interesting day!

I got up this morning after F left for work and stayed up.  I had a shower, read the paper, ate breakfast, the same old thing.  Around noon I decided to do something different.  For weeks, ever since I closed my school, I have thought about setting up my photocopier near my computer so that I can scan cards without moving my computer over to F's seat.  It took a while to do as I had to clear a walkway and clean the shelf, but finally I got everything set up.  I had to download some software too, but eventually I got everything to work. Yay me!

I had a quiet afternoon. I had lunch today, leftover cauliflower and cheese, plus chicken.  Yum.  I never did get around to going out.

I spent a lot of time writing emails today.  There is a bit of a situation with a project for next year.  I hope that everything will work out well.  I just hope that I didn't put my foot in it too much.

When F came home he wasn't feeling well again.  Sigh.  We chatted today and talked a bit.  I prepared supper, which wasn't too difficult.  We had hash browns which I did in the toaster oven, and chorizo and cheese sausages.  We also had some of the leftover cauliflower plus strawberry and rhubarb tea.  It was nice.

F took a nap after dinner and got up a few hours later.  He seemed a little bit livelier.  He's not having good days lately.  Poor thing.  

That's about it for my day.  I hope to be able to get out of the apartment tomorrow.  I'd like to run a few errands and see what is going on out in the world!  I have to go.  Night!

October 22, 2013

Tuesday - Sunny with a little cloud

I woke up in the middle of the night all hot and sweaty so I kicked off most of the covers.  It didn't help a lot and so I wasn't able to sleep well for the rest of the night.

I woke up again when F was getting ready for work.  We talked a little, which was nice.  I did almost get a charley horse this morning, but managed to flex my muscles before it got really bad.

I got up a little after 8, watched some TV and ended up watching a movie about an art heist on WOWOW.  It was quite good and I enjoyed it.  

I had some breakfast, read the newspaper and watched Jamie Oliver.  In other words, it was a good morning!

In the afternoon I watched Ringers and then some CSI.  I also wrote a few postcards and around 3 started to scan them.  I had a total of 10 cards to do, so it wasn't a quick prospect.  I also saw the season finale to The Following.  I'm glad I saw it.  Scary.

When I had the scans done, I uploaded the scans and posted the cards to the websites.  Then, I biked off to the post office and mailed my cards.  I also bought a few new stamps.  They are gorgeous-animal ones!

I came home and waited for F to come home too.  He did, but almost immediately went to bed.  I decided to go in and talk to him and things got better.  We went out for dinner to his local Chinese restaurant.  The food was pretty good and we enjoyed ourselves.   

We bought a few groceries for tomorrow and then came home.  F watched some TV and I did after that, so it was nice.  

I'm still really sleepy and jet-lagged.  It's almost a week that I've been back now, but I'm still not able to stay up late or sleep in.  I hope I switch back soon!

That's about it for now.  Not sure what I'll get up to tomorrow, but it'll be fun finding out.  Talk to you then.  Night.

October 21, 2013

Monday - Sunny and warm

A different kind of day.

I woke up very early and I got up before 7:30.  I said goodbye to F and then worked on putting the garbage together.  I said a few nasty words as I found out what F had been doing over the last couple of weeks while I was away.  Maybe I shouldn't have, but I was annoyed. Big-time. I took the garbage out, then did a load of laundry for myself.  

I had breakfast, checked my emails and then got ready to go and meet my friend.  She picked me up on time and we went to The Grand El Son for our lunch.  It was mostly a business lunch as we spent a lot of time on an upcoming project.  

We did a few other things today too.  We visited a shop and then had dessert in Bikkuri Donkey.  That was rather nice.  All too soon it was time to go our separate ways and I came home.

At home I discovered 5 postcards waiting for me to register.  Wow! I also decided to get dinner underway.

I prepared everything…I made cauliflower in cheese sauce, fried chicken and salad, and then as usual, F threw a fit and refused to eat dinner with me.  I was rather upset.  The cauliflower was lovely and a lot of work to put together, so I was miffed.  He really didn't do well for me today.

I did the dishes after I ate, and then watched a bit of TV.  I got very tired in the middle and I'll likely go to bed fairly soon.  It's so depressing when F comes home and acts like a dick.  It really makes me wonder why I bothered coming back to Japan at all!

Anyway, that's it for me for tonight.  I have to go.  Night.

October 20, 2013

Sunday - Rainy and cold

An okay day.  I woke up and got up early today…damn jet lag!  I arranged breakfast for F and I, from the stuff that we bought last night.

We vegged at home for a long time, and then went out for lunch.  We went to Komagi for the buffet, then did a little driving.  F wanted to take us to Atsumi to look at fish in the river, but we decided to go to the Chido Museum instead.  I think it was a wise decision.  I didn't want to look at fish and it was really wet out today.  

After the museum, we went to S-mall for a drink at Doutors and then a short and fruitless hack through the 100 yen shop.  After that, we just came home for a while.  

At home, I downloaded some of my photos from Canada, but it took a while to get everything ready.  I also uploaded one of the photos to the Kirriemuir group. It's a group picture from my dancing school.  

We had dinner in Gusto. I had another Canadian burger, F had a noodle dish, and true to form he didn't like it.  We bought a few groceries and came home.  

That's what I did today basically.  I will add in a few photos from yesterday, it's funny how the weather changed. Yesterday was lovely, today was cold and rainy.  

That's it for me.  Got to go.  Night!

October 19, 2013

Saturday - Sunny and warmish

I woke up early this morning but was able to go back to sleep and didn't get up until after 9:30.  F was at the doctor.  I got up, watched a bit of Nigella and then had a shower before watching Elementary.

After a while I woke F up and suggested lunch.  We went to Grado where we both had the salmon in a spicy oil sauce.  It was really nice. We set out after our meal to look at the fall leaves.  We didn't really see any, but ended up looking at the 16 Buddha statues on the coast in Sakata.  They were very cool.  

We drove around for a while and then drove back to Mikawa and stopped at the mall.  I was feeling quite tired and I had a headache, which I've had most of the day.  We had dinner in a mall restaurant and then went to see Diana.   It was okay.  It wasn't great, but I'm not sure it deserved as many bad reviews as it seems to have received.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to stay awake as I was really feeling the jet lag.

After the movie, we drove back to Tsuruoka and bought a few groceries.  We came home then and I watched the new season of Pretty Little Liars and then the Project Runway Finale.  I think the right person won!  Yay!

And honestly, that's about all that happened to me today.  My headache is still with me, I'm really tired and now I'm going to take a pill and go to bed!    I'll try to download my pictures from today soon.  Night.

October 18, 2013

Friday - Sunny but cold

A good day. I went to bed early last night, well before 11:00 pm, then woke up around 5:45, got up at 6:30 and finished my book (Death Comes to Pemberley) before 7:00 am!  F hadn't woken up yet and I knew he had an early start today, so I leaned over him to wake him up.  He was quite surprised to see me.  I checked later on and he'd set his alarm for PM instead of AM.  Good job I was jet-lagged!

I had a quiet day at home.  My suitcases arrived on time but I never did go out for the meal I promised myself.  I had some of the bread F made for me and it was nice.  I did a spot of tidying, and unpacked one of my suitcases.  Until I cull some of my clothes I have nowhere to put my new clothes.

I scanned some cards in the afternoon and considered sending a Postcrossing or two, but didn't.  I have no travelling cards at the moment.

F was late today and didn't come home until after 7:00 pm.  When he came home I gave him his real souvenirs and he was quite pleased with them.  I got him an Edmonton Oilers hoodie and some socks.  He got three pairs of socks, two with copper ion yarn.  Those looks nice and cozy.  

We had dinner in Bikkuri Donkey tonight and it was nice.  By the end of the meal though, I was yawning steadily, and am still doing it.  I wanted to watch Shameless tonight, but am not sure that I can!  

I really hate jet-lag!

Tomorrow I'm not sure what I'll get up to.  F wants to go to the doctor in the morning and I'm hoping to sleep a little longer than yesterday.  Come back tomorrow and check me out!  Night.

October 17, 2013

Thursday - sunny and warm

Sorry, too jet-lagged to write, but wanted to say that I'm back in Japan.  I'll try and write more tomorrow.

Night!

October 13, 2013

Sunday - Cool but sunny

We had a nice and relaxed day today.  We got up late, had a late breakfast while Joe worried about our lunch!  He did most of the cooking today.

I helped Zach with homework in the afternoon.  After that, he had to leave to go to the rink.  Van, Kate and I left a little later.  We went to the game and it was fun!  Zach played well, but sadly his team didn't win.  They lost 3-2, but it was close at least.

Van drove me to the bank for a few minutes and then we came home again.  I relaxed for a while, and then went up for dinner.  It was great!  We had roast turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, brussels sprouts, and roasted yams.  Joe is a good cook!

After dinner I helped Zach with his homework again.  He wouldn't do it, so his dad took over.

I came downstairs and packed part of my suitcase, then went upstairs again.  The family watched a movie and it was Total Recall.  It really was a lot more fun than the remake that came out this year!

I came downstairs and have been blogging or emailing ever since.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Canada.  I may be here for most of the day, or not.  I'm not sure.  I'm not sure if I'll update tomorrow night or not. It's quite important that I get a good night's sleep before my trip home.  

I'll either blog quickly tomorrow night, or when I get back to Japan! Wish me luck! Night.

October 12, 2013

Saturday - Cool and a little windy

A good day today.

We all were able to get up late today. It made a nice change for everyone.

After breakfast, Van and Zach drove Kate and I into the city.  I bought a new suitcase and then they took charge of it.  Kate and I had a Subway lunch and then headed off to the LRT station.  We boarded a train for downtown.

We got off at Churchill Station and found the entrance to the Art Gallery of Alberta.  We paid and went in.  We had a great time in the Gallery.  There were some photographs of up north,  an exhibit of watercolours from the V&A, and a spooky exhibit called something like "The Lady Spider".  That was really cool and kind of scary!

After we finished looking at the galleries, we went to the gift store and then over to the mall.  We found the movie theatre and found that if we went in right away, we could see Runner, Runner.  We did!  It was quite a good movie actually.  It had Ben Affleck, Gemma Atherton and Justin Timberlake.

When the movie finished, we headed back to Edmonton Centre and looked at the bookstore. I bought Katie a new book and then we started to head home.  Kate called her mum to let her know we were on the way, and we caught a train back to Century Park.  We were just pulling into the station when Van called to see where we were.

We drove back to Beaumont and Van & Joe made dinner.  We had home made healthy chicken nuggets and French fries.  It was really nice.

After dinner, we watched a movie, Men in Black 3.  I fell asleep a few times, but rallied near the end and stayed awake.  After the movie, we all were tired and headed off to our beds.  I'll be in bed in just a few minutes!  Good night!

October 11, 2013

Friday - Sunny but cool

A good day.

I got up this morning and had my breakfast. I'm finally starting to sleep in a bit.  It's sad as I'll be going home next week.

I helped Katie with her banner for Cheerleading.  I got glitter all over my new PJ's.  That didn't exactly make me happy! I hope it'll wash off.

After Van came back from work, she drove me into the city and I went to Southgate mall.  I did a little banking first and then headed over to my meet-up place.  I didn't see Loreen, but luckily she saw me!  We chatted for a few minutes and her husband left us to do some shopping elsewhere.  Loreen and I had lunch at State and Main.  It was okay.  We had a very chatty waiter, which was a bit annoying as we wanted to chat to each other!  We haven't seen each other since I got married, but had kept in touch at Christmas and when I visited Canada.  I had Fish Tacos.  It was the first time I had had them, they were good, but the fish didn't really have much taste.  Loreen had a chicken Caesar salad.

We did a little shopping through the mall.  We didn't buy a whole lot, but it was fun to be with another woman looking for stuff.  She bought perfume, I looked for a suitcase and something for my husband.  I didn't buy either.  We both got some tea and I got a calendar for myself.  Loreen's husband called us after 5 and we met up and went for dinner.

We had a lovely dinner at Tony Roma's.  I haven't been there in ages.  I had ribs and didn't finish them. Loreen had another rib dish and her husband had chicken.  We left the restaurant and they drove me to Beaumont.  We weren't entirely sure of the way to Beaumont, so we went via Nisku.  We made it and we had to say goodbye.

I got home and Joe and Zach were home.  Joe had installed the new dishwasher for Van.  We watched a little TV and when Van and Kate got home watched a movie.  We saw The Amazing Spiderman.  It was a repeat viewing for all of us, but it was fun.  After the movie, I came downstairs and as I am yawning up a storm, I'm sure I'll be sleeping soon.

That's it for me now...come back tomorrow to see how my day goes.   Got to go.  Night!

October 10, 2013

Thursday - Sunny and warmish

A good day.

I woke up this morning a couple of hours after kicking the covers off myself. I was cold, but that wasn't why I woke up.  I had been having a cool dream where I was in the same restaurant or bar as Michael Caine. He was at the next table with some other actors, and waved hello to me and introduced me to his friends.  I was so thrilled that he knew who I was that I just woke up!

I had a nice quiet morning at home. I had breakfast and tea, then went out to Edmonton with Van.  We went to a craft store, an electric shop and a grocery store.  We came back to Beaumont afterwards and had lunch.  Van left to pick up Zach and I did more scanning of photos.

I scanned a lot of photos today, I did 40 pictures today, which was rather good.  I scanned some interesting ones today, my grandparent's grave, my mother before she came to Canada, my sister and I as children...it was all cool.

After 40 pictures I was tired, so put everything away for today.  I had dinner with everyone upstairs.  We had macaroni and cheese, plus crackers and garlic sausage and cheese.  It was nice.  I also did some laundry tonight, and helped Zach a bit with his homework.  That was fun!

I came up with the idea tonight that I might take Katie to the Art Gallery in Edmonton on Saturday.  Neither of us have been and it would be something a little different to all of the shopping I've done already.  If she can get her homework done, then we'll be able to go.  We might go to a movie too, if there's a suitable one, and if we have time.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting up with a friend from college in Southgate and we'll do some shopping and lunching.  I haven't seen her since my wedding, so I'm really looking forward to it.  Come back tomorrow and see how I got on!  Night.

October 9, 2013

Wednesday - Sunny but cool

A good day.

I didn't sleep that well last night. I kept waking up but managed to get up before 8 am today.  I was able to say bye to Zach before he went to school.

I had my yummy yogurt and pita bread breakfast.  I had chai tea with it too.  A very nice meal.

I spent most of the day at Van's. I did some scanning of the photos that we sorted the other day.  It was a bit hard as I wasn't familiar with her program and the computer seemed to get caught up in itself.  I did get a few done though and by the end I could make things go fairly quickly.

I was meeting a friend for dinner and he called to see if he could come earlier.  It was fine with me, so I changed and waited for him.  He was a tad late, but it was fine.

We went to a Vietnamese restaurant and it was nice.  We had a couple of appetizers and some main dishes.  We drank some jasmine tea and enjoyed ourselves.  We had some great conversations. After we left that restaurant, we went to a frozen yogurt store and had some of that.  It was fun!  He drove me home and then I went into Van's house.

I watched an episode of Criminal Minds with Van and Joe and then decided to come downstairs and watch a bit of TV before bed.  Unfortunately, my bedside lamp burned out tonight.  It was strange as I'd just helped Joe replace a lightbulb upstairs and Van had offered me another lamp earlier in the day.  I'd said no, but maybe I should have!

That's about it for me.  Not sure what's on the agenda tomorrow. I may go into the city with Van or I may stay home, I haven't really decided.  Come back tomorrow night and find out what I get up to.  Night!

October 8, 2013

Tuesday - Cloudy, windy and colder

Woke up last night at 1 am with the TV blaring away and the lights on in the room.  I sheepishly turned everything off and went back to sleep.

This morning I got up, ate breakfast...Greek yogurt and pita bread...yum...then showered and dressed for going out.  Van took me over to South Edmonton Common and we ran a few errands at London Drugs and Staples.  She dropped me off at Joeys to meet my friend.  We were quite bemused to see her husband's vehicle parked outside!

I went in to my table and in a few minutes my friend Teresa joined me.  We worked out that it had been 21 years since we'd seen each other...and she hasn't changed very much at all.  We caught up a bit and had a nice lunch together.  After lunch, she very nicely drove me to Southgate Mall before heading on her way.

At Southgate I only intended to do a little shopping in the dollar store, but I somehow ended up in Sears trying on a garment...and then buying said garment.  Yay.  I had a drink and an order of onion rings too.  One of the few things I look forward to when I come to Canada.  Japan hasn't figured out onion rings properly yet .

I headed up to Whyte Ave by bus around 4 and then spent a couple of lovely hours walking along the avenue.  I didn't buy much there, but was surprised by all the changes that have happened in the last 3 years since I was here last.  I even wandered past my old apartments to see if there were any changes...just cosmetically I think.  The house that I had a basement suite in was repainted, but the garden looked rather neglected.

I met Massie at Continental Treat and we had a lovely dinner.  The food was amazing as always...dill pickle soup (I'm still burping!), the Polish cutlet and dumplings, and even the dessert was great.  All too soon, our time was up and I had to call for a ride home.  Luckily my BIL was nearby and picked me up.  We drove home to Beaumont.

At "home" Van, Joe and I watched an episode of Elementary and then I came downstairs to do my computer stuff.  I needed to check Facebook and also blog!  I will probably fall asleep soon too. I'm yawning away.

Tomorrow night I'll have dinner with a friend in Beaumont and may do more of the photo sorting if I feel like it.  That's about it for me.  Night!