October 31, 2019

Thursday - Clear and Sunny

I woke up again this morning to an empty room. I didn’t hear F leave this morning either. Some days he is so quiet, others not so much!

I had a quiet morning. I went downstairs around 10:30 to do a load of laundry and grab my breakfast. I heard the doorbell and went to check it out. It was F’s sister. She was looking for her mother, who wasn’t around yet. I invited her in and she woke up her mother who was fast asleep in bed!

I got my laundry started, my cereal poured, and then I headed back upstairs. I watched some of my telly and hung up a lot of laundry too.

I was downstairs getting my lunch things together when the doorbell rang again. It was F’s sister again. She brought her mother a couple of presents and left.

I was horribly angry at my husband last night and then I did a bit of soul-searching and realized that if I was sick I would like the person I’m married to to be nice to me!  I texted him and asked him how he was and that I hoped he was better. He texted back soon after. He wasn’t feeling better. Just a little bit of friendly texting cleared the air for me and I realized what a twit I was last night. 

F called me around 4 I think. I was working on my column.  He reminded me that he wasn’t coming back until late. I reminded him that we hadn’t done any grocery shopping for two days and there wasn’t much food left. Ack.  

After 5:30 I went downstairs into the kitchen and started cobbling a dinner together. I was just going to make a few little things then decided to do a Buddha bowl/donburi type of thing.  I roasted the rest of the butternut squash, opened a tin of tuna, put out the rest of yesterday’s salad and heated up the leftovers from yesterday too.  I put it all on the table and called it “Okonomiyaki-donburi”.  K was very confused, but I showed her how I made the bowl for me and she did get in on the act. It was actually really good. I’d made a mayo/spicy chilli sauce/ mixture and put that on the tuna, a little salad dressing on the lettuce. The squash was excellent too.  

Of course, I got stuck with all the clean up today too, but it wasn’t too bad really. There were no pans to wash or soak and I didn’t go to great lengths for a change.

I told K that F would be back around 8 pm, as that was what he told me.  I went upstairs around quarter to 8 to wait and work on my column.

Earlier in the day, I had finished writing my column. I just had to do a bit of polishing. That done, I was just about to save it for posterity when F called. It was 9 pm and he was wondering why someone had called him from the house phone. Er, that wasn’t me! Turns out, K was checking on where he was since he wasn’t back by 8 like I said. Egads. Work sometimes goes late. I wasn’t worried, why was she?

Between the time that F left work and arrived here, I finished and sent in my column for Winter. Woot. Done done done.

F was tired tonight, but seemed a bit better than yesterday. I offered him some of our dinner but of course, he wanted ramen. We went out together. I told him I really didn’t need to eat anything as I had a nice dinner.

F couldn’t find a place he really liked so he went to the Taiwanese restaurant near MaxValu. I had mentioned to him that I needed to find some wifi so I could check if my phone was completely borked or just a little bit! He didn’t want to go to any place that had wifi.  So, at the Taiwan place he had a big set meal and proceeded to try to get me to eat half of it. Yuck. I don’t like that place normally anyway. I did eat a couple of his gyoza and one huge piece of kara-age, plus the dessert that I ordered. (3 balls of coconut mochi stuff) F ate one of my coconut things, no problem for me.

It was too late to go to the places with good wifi and coffee, so we hung outside the nearby drugstore and checked our phones. Mine worked no problem. Big surprise!  I thought the wifi antenna might be broken.  I updated things and then we came back to the house.

At the house, my wifi didn’t work. I did what a website had suggested to me, I unplugged the wifi equipment and plugged it back in again. Lo and behold…it worked!  Woot. 

F took a shower tonight and I watched a bit of TV. Tomorrow I’m supposed to be meeting a friend and having coffee or lunch, and then I’m not sure. I’m honestly just going to be happy to get out of the house!

Come back later if you like and see how November gets itself started. Until tomorrow….

October 30, 2019

Wednesday - Clear and cool

I had a hard time getting up this morning. The bed was nice and warm and the room wasn’t, so I just wanted to stay where I was. I did get up but found myself back in bed while I watched the news!

I got dressed and had some breakfast, did a couple of loads of laundry too. It never seems to stop and I’m only doing my own clothes!

I did bump into K today, a couple of times really. She even came into the kitchen when I was getting ready for lunch, which I didn’t share with her. I had the leftovers from last night. I thought she’d have some of them earlier, but she didn’t. 

F called to say that he’d was on his way, but I was already in the kitchen getting ready. I prepared half of the butternut squash that I had bought on the weekend. It took a while as I wasn’t sure what I was doing exactly, but turned out okay. 

When F arrived I was quite disappointed. He did one of his “Oh, I can’t eat” things again. He sat on the stairs for a while, then was on the tatami in a spare room. Finally, when it was mealtime, I found him in bed. As I’d gone to all the trouble of making nice food, I was rather perturbed with him. When he was on his way to the house, he sounded fine and had even asked if we could go out tonight. 

K and I ate our meal. It was good. The first lot of the butternut squash was about 3 minutes from perfection, the second lot that finished after we ate was about 3 minutes past perfection. It was slightly charred, but tasted good anyway!

Of course, I once again was treated to doing all the dishes alone. I used my iPhone and played some music to keep me company, so it wasn’t too bad. It was annoying.

I get upstairs and F doesn’t want to go out. He’s in bed with his computer and his phone.  I went to my corner to work on my column a bit. I did but at 10 I went for a shower.

When I came back all, F was getting ready to go out to a drugstore. He asked me which ones were open and I told him. He asked if I wanted to go too, but I didn’t. If he’d caught me before my shower, maybe, but I wanted to watch New Amsterdam anyway.  Then, he was all but ready to leave and he changed his mind. 

That’s the kind of day that I had today. It is now two days since I went outside and my iPhone still doesn’t seem to get wifi. I’ve no idea why. 

F said he’d be late at work tomorrow night and because we didn’t go out, there is nothing for K’s dinner. Mine either to be honest, but I’m quite annoyed with F over this kind of thing. I wish I knew what is going on with him. He goes to the various doctors and all they seem to do is give him more medicines. 

Come back later if you like and find out how my Halloween went.  Was it a Trick or a Treat? Until tomorrow….

October 29, 2019

Tuesday - An okay day.

I slept quite well last night and only woke up when F made a lot of noise in the morning. I managed to go back to sleep and very nearly overslept! Yikes.

I got up and had a fairly quiet morning. I made the bed, I watched the news and then I had breakfast, followed by my medicine. Yummy!

I watched another episode of Mr Robot today. It’s an odd show.  So many different storylines, I can’t quite figure out where it is going to go. Maybe that is a good thing.

I didn’t see K most of the day today.  It’s quite odd really how we manage to stay out of each other’s way. Of course, I’m trying hard not to infect her with my cold, so it makes sense that I avoid her, that’s what I tell myself anyway.

F popped in for a minute this afternoon but was gone like lightning.  I watched the news and then went down to do my dishes. F had said he’d be late tonight, but he hadn’t said how late. When I hadn’t heard from him by 6 pm, I decided to start dinner.

I went downstairs and cooked the really big shiitake mushroom and also boiled some water for pasta. When it was apparent that F wouldn’t be around for a while, I just started cooking. I cooked some pasta for the two of us, some garlic sausages, the shiitake mushroom, and put out some salad for us. When I set the table, K seemed really surprised. She always acts like I’m trying to put something over her when I say I don’t know when F will be back.  

Really big shiitake mushroom!

Anyway, we ate and things were quite nice. I probably should have cut up some of a pear in the kitchen, but I’m not much of a fruit person and it looked like she’d eaten tons of persimmons during the day from the peels she left on the table!

I did the dishes afterwards, and just as I was dithering about washing the pasta pot or not, F called to say he was done. I told him we’d had dinner and asked if he wanted me to cook him some pasta. He said no, so I washed the pot. He said he’d have ramen.  Good, I was off the hook!

He got back to the house in a bit and then settled in. He made and ate his ramen, didn’t have his share of the salad though. We watched the Travellers Show from Australia tonight because they visited Taiwan. They went to some of the same places that we went to, so that was cool. We didn’t have as nice places to stay though. We got a business hotel that was fairly inconvenient. 

And that’s about it. I did have an angry few minutes during the afternoon when I read online that someone was volunteering me for something I wouldn’t do. I spent several minutes composing putdowns and then I erased them. A friend of mine said it best, “I never volunteer other people for things...” 

Tomorrow more work on my column, which I did work on quite a bit today, by the way. I’m nearly done, a day or two more and it should be okay. 

That’s it for me for now. Come back later if you are so moved and hear how I’m doing. Until tomorrow….

October 28, 2019

Monday - Clear and warmish

I did go to bed early last night, but got up at 1 and had a snack so I could take more medicine. After that, I went back to bed and slept quite well. F woke me up in the morning, but that wasn’t a big deal.

I got up a bit late, to be honest, and eventually watched the news that I had recorded and then an episode of Mr. Robot. I’m still not sure about that show.  It’s good, but it is so dark!

In the afternoon I rallied a bit and worked on my column, watched a little more telly and used my computer quite a bit. F took an hour off work and took his mother to the doctor. She needed a prescription renewed.

When they came back, he talked about going out for dinner and suggested a place that has been closed for a while (the owner was in an accident). It has reopened tonight, so we went. We got a table and had an okay meal.  The owner wasn’t there tonight, so the meal wasn’t as good as usual I think. Still, I didn’t mind it at all. And I didn’t have to cook!

After the meal, we brought K back to the house and then F and I went to the grocery store. I got a few things for tomorrow night and for tomorrow as well. I might cook for a couple of days in a row…hope I’m feeling up to it tomorrow night!

F decided to go and take a bath at the onsen, I stayed at the house. I watched Bake-Off and I was about to go and take a shower when I found Captain America, the first one, on the movie channel. I ended up watching it again. I saw it in a hotel before I think, so it was better watching it again at the house. I quite enjoyed it and thought again how sad it was that the Peggy Carter show didn’t find an audience. I loved it. 

F came back to the house and he watched the movie too.  When it was over, I showered and then when I came back, F was mostly in bed.  I should get to bed soon too as I’m tired and I do need to get over this bloomin’ cold!  

Come back later and find out if I get as much done as I hope I do. Until tomorrow….

October 27, 2019

Sunday - Cloudy and cold

I’ve spent most of the day in bed, to be honest.  I got up around 11 the first time, had breakfast so that I could take some medicine and then went back to bed for a couple of hours.

F wanted to go out “to have some fun” so I got dressed and went out with him.  We stopped at a drugstore and I got my lotion tissues and then he proceeded to drive us into the mountains to look at the Autumn colours.  He stopped at a vegetable store in Asahi and we went in.  They had some cool veggies, but when we got to the back of the store, F asked if I’d like to have lunch. Well, not really.  He read off part of the restaurant menu to me, I went closer for another look and of course, it was closed. 

Then he wanted to buy some slimy mushrooms for miso soup, but I said I didn’t like them very much.  He stormed off after that.  So nice of him. I would have bought a cauliflower or a romanesque if I’d had time to really think about it.

We get back in the car and he drives off again. Next, we were going to pass a place that has washrooms, so I asked if we could stop. We took care of business and then went to look at the remains of a museum.  The building is still there, but it is being underutilized at the moment.  We went in. They had some things in English, so I grabbed a couple of brochures, but we didn’t stay long.

Next up was another roadside stop. We went in, and of course, they had finished their lunch service too. I pointed out that there was ramen on offer and F was welcome to have some. He didn’t like that ramen apparently.  Please note, that I was not hungry at all, yet he was upset at me because I didn’t like the food that was on offer.  (I didn’t say anything of the sort.)

I told him if he was hungry we should head back to Tsuruoka and he could get something there. That’s what we did. We did stop at another roadside place, I got a butternut squash, F got some pears.

He went to a butcher’s shop and picked up some bentos for dinner. They were quite expensive but turned out to be quite good.

We went back to the house. F heated up the bentos, I took things to the table at his command. He cut up a pear and split it three ways, so we had the bento and the pear. I ate the bento and a sliver of the pear. I gave the rest of the pear to him and excused myself and came upstairs to go to bed. I took my medicine and got into bed, still half-dressed and slept for a couple of hours. 

F came to bed a little later.  He’s moaning and groaning about his back and his stomach. Sigh.

I got up to use the ‘loo, change into my PJs and to blog.  When I finish here, I’m going back to bed. I’m missing one course of my tablets, but I really don’t feel like eating more.

Anyway, that’s it for me.  I’m off to bed again. I hope I’ll be here tomorrow! Until then….

October 26, 2019

Saturday - Rainy with the odd clear patch

I didn’t really get up this morning. Oh, I rose out of my bed just before 11, went downstairs and made a piece of toast for myself with apricot jam, and then came back upstairs to eat it. I then took my tablets and went back to bed! I slept until 2:30 or so.  F had talked about going to his doctor, so thought I’d go and get some cold medicine too. It would be cheaper than going to the drugstore, and it should be okay with the other medicine that I’m taking. 

We went and sat in the waiting room for a long time.  Finally, we were called into the back. F got to go in first, then me.  As always happens, when the doctor wanted to listen to my chest, the nurse tried to “help” me lift my shirt.  Today, I just told her not to touch me! Yay me.  It just drives me crazy, and the fact that she’s standing right behind me is a bit creepy too.  She did “help” me when he wanted to listen on my back, but I can live with that. I have to train the nurses not to touch me unnecessarily. 

We got our medicine across the street and then left in the car. I suggested going to Gusto for a very late lunch, and F was okay with that.  It was okay. I had their Gusto Burger which is one of those “cheese in burger” things they do.  I took one little bite of the burger and the amount of fat that came out of it was not good. I held it over my plate, and grease and the cheese all dripped out. One happy thing was F’s dish came with a bottle of vinegar, so my chips got vinegared.  It wasn’t a great meal, but it was okay. We also ordered a take-out bento for K because it was dinner time by now!

We went back to the house for a bit.  We had talked about going to the movie but weren’t sure if we would feel like it later or not. We’d missed the 6ish show, so we had to decide before the 8:30 show if we wanted to go.  We did.  

We made a stop at a drugstore for my moisture tissues, but they didn’t have the right brand.  We went to see Gemini Man tonight with Will Smith. It was…okay. Not as good as I hoped, but enjoyable enough.  I was hoping that since Ang Lee directed it there were be some interesting touches, but there weren’t many.

After the movie, we made one more attempt to find the right kind of tissues and then hit up a convenience store for a late meal. I got some pasta, F got a big bowl of ramen. 

We came back to the house and I ate, then took a shower.  And now, I’m at my computer talking to you. Can’t get more up to date than that, can you?

Anyway, I had no idea what we’ll get up to tomorrow. I’m still not feeling great, but the medicine has sort of slowed down the runny nose to a trickle. That helps quite a bit.

Come back later for another scintillating report on my nose-running and any other interesting news that is fit to report. Until tomorrow….

October 25, 2019

Friday - Cloudy, cold and rainy

I got up quite early for me these days, watched the news live and then the recap from earlier in the morning. I made the bed and did my usual thing.  I did a couple of loads of laundry today, which was good for this week!

I had a very quiet day. I didn’t do any of my Journal Column today, sad to say, but I did a postcard blog entry, and folded up a lot of laundry too!

I tried to take a nap around 3:30 and F called me in the middle of it. Denied! Oh dear.  When he called I suggested getting bentos for dinner. My cold is at the runny-stuffy point, I sneeze all the time and I just didn’t think it was a good idea for me to make dinner.  F liked the idea and said he’d pick some up after work.

Around 6:15 or so, F came back from work bearing bentos. Yay. He went to a good place so they were very nice. We had them with a grilled mushroom and some salad.  F had actually plumped for dessert too, so we had some cream puffs too.  We both did the dishes, not that there were that many.

After dinner, we came upstairs. F went to bed almost immediately. I didn’t, I watched TV, a lot of TV.  Still, that means that it isn’t sitting on the DVR for next week, so that’s a good thing. 

I had a very quiet evening.  

I’m not sure what we’re going to get up to tomorrow. I think it will depend if I’m feeling better or not.  We might go and see a movie or we might just stay at the house again.  I’m not really sure.

Come back later if you are up for it and see how and what I do next. Until tomorrow….

October 24, 2019

Thursday - Sunny

I woke up a bit earlier today than I did yesterday, so that was good. I watched the news and then started watching episodes 3-5 of Mr. Robot.  I liked it, but it is a bit bleak. It is nice to see Christian Slater doing work again. He still looks the same as he did when I was a youngster! Oh, and there was that chappie from Bohemian Rhapsody in it too….

I didn’t do laundry again today. I should have, I know, but didn’t. I’ll have to do it tomorrow. 

I did a little work on my column, not enough, but some, plus I went through some of my older yarn today to see what I have. I have a mishmash of stuff. I have a lot of novelty yarns, some soft and frilly, others stubby and soft.  I’d really like to do something with them and use them up, but I probably shouldn’t mix them together in the same project!  Anyone need a cool and colourful scarf?? Or a hat? I could totally loom a hat again.

Since we didn’t go out last night, I didn’t have any salad for lunch and there was nothing new to have with dinner. When F came back, I reheated K’s curry and we had that with rice and pickles. It was fine. I’d managed to get it hot enough for me, so that was a good thing!

Afterwards, F did help with the dishes, so I was glad. I’d done most of them of course, but he showed up for the last few. He makes such a production about washing them though.  

When we went upstairs after dinner, he said he couldn’t go out right away but would go later. We waited for a few minutes and then out we went.  

We went to the onsen and F took his bath. I sat in the lobby and didn’t do any crochet as someone was sitting in my favourite chair. I like it for doing my crochet in! She was still there when we left, so I don’t know why she was in the onsen for so long.

F wanted to go to Komeda for coffee so we did that. We had a cup of decaf each and it was nice. We used the wifi and relaxed a bit. When we left, one of the waitresses chased after us. I’d forgotten my crochet bag in my seat. I’d taken it on the off chance I’d feel like crocheting in the coffee shop. Oops. 

We picked up some food for dinner tomorrow night. I suggested pasta since I have some sausages in the fridge that have to be used up and the package suggested serving with pasta. F was okay with that, but he kept seeing things he wanted to have for dinner instead, things that I don’t like. Things like liver. Yuck. 

We got stuff for tomorrow and a couple of things for tonight too. We paid and came back to the house. 

I took a shower and then came upstairs. I watched a bit of TV, F was on his phone or his computer all night. 

I did wake up with a cold this morning so I’m not in the best health or humour at the moment! It’s at that runny/stuffed up nose bit and is driving me a bit crazy. Boo!

Tomorrow I’m making dinner and hopefully doing a little laundry. Come back a bit later and see what I get up to? Until tomorrow….

October 23, 2019

Wednesday - Sunny and warm

I woke up a few times last night and ended up oversleeping this morning. Yikes. I’ve had 4 days of sleeping in, I suppose it was inevitable!  No harm done.

I had a quiet morning. I watched Mr. Robot’s second episode and then took a nap.  I was cold and sleepy and bed was warm and comfy.  I didn’t do any laundry, I’ll have to do some tomorrow. I wasn’t planning on cooking tonight as we were going to have the remainder of K’s tonjiru.  

I had a very quiet day around the house too. I got a lot of TV watched and I also got into my column. It’s my yearly wrap-up one, so I have a lot of it already written.  It’s nice, but sometimes I have to be more specific in my column.

I took my dishes downstairs around 4:30 to wash and K was cooking again. Oh, good grief.  Like F she had everything spread out all over the kitchen and there was no way I could wash my dishes. I took them back upstairs again. Gah.  

I came down later on and did manage to wash my dishes. Yay. I also washed the rest of the mini-tomatoes that I’d bought last night. I know K loves them and sure enough, she’d been into them already.  It’s fine, but you think she’d ask rather than just help herself.  Of course, that is what _I_ would do, but she’s not me, is she?

F got in around 7:15 tonight and we got dinner on the table fairly soon after that. Well, I did. When he came back I told him that if he came down, dinner would be sooner. Since he wanted to go to the onsen, we needed to get dinner over and cleaned up with soon.  

I heated up the stewy-soup and also heated up the curry a bit more.  I don’t like eating cold food, ever! I set the table and F did nothing except get in my way, heat up the rice and then plunk himself down so he could eat. Nice.  

After dinner, which was okay, but in all honesty, not great, guess who got to do all the cleanup? F made a bee-line for the toilet and wasn’t seen again until after I finished washing and drying all the dishes. I went upstairs when I was done.

F arrived up here a few minutes after that and said he couldn’t go to the onsen tonight. I asked about going out as I had told him I needed some things from the store. He said he couldn’t go, so I watched TV. One of my favourite shows had just started, so I watched it. 15 minutes later he was ready to go out, but I told him I didn’t want to go anymore. I didn’t really. If the weather is nice tomorrow I might just take myself out for a couple of hours or so. 

He went to bed, got up, played with his new phone, then his computer, same old, same old.  Basically ignored me as usual. I did the same to him for the most part, so no big deal. 

Around 10 I went downstairs. While I was there, I realized that I should really do the garbage for tomorrow’s pick up, so I got that all organized. It’s a pain in the butt really. When I came back upstairs I got the upstairs garbage sorted, but F was nice enough to take it downstairs for me.

That’s about it really. I watched TV, grumped around and just hoped that F might want to have a conversation with me. He didn’t. 

So that’s it. At least I worked on my column, I’ll try and do more of it tomorrow.  Come back later if you are in need of some boring text about a whiny, middle-aged woman who likes to complain about everything! Until tomorrow….

October 22, 2019

Tuesday - Cloudy with a little rain

We both slept in this morning, but F was up before me today. He decided to take his mother to the onsen, which was fine with me! They left and I took care of a couple of personal chores including having breakfast!

When F came back we went out soon after with a mission. F wanted to take his phone to the mall’s iPhone Doctor. He hasn’t been able to get it to work for a few days, and he’s tried a lot of things. What he didn’t try, I did! 

We put it in and went to eat.  We went to the new fish restaurant on the second floor. I think our meal was fine, F wasn’t quite as happy with it as I was. During the meal, the iPhone Doctor called and said that he couldn’t fix the phone. Oh no! What to do?

I sent F off to pick up the phone and then I went to the hundred yen shop.  I picked up a couple of things and we paid and left.  We had a drink in Doutors and planned what to do. F decided to bite the bullet and get a new phone. 

We drove to the shop where we got our phones and F spent the next hour and a half getting his new phone. He has a nice new shiny one. 

We came back to the house via the grocery store to pick up a few things. K had decided to cook today and she made some tonjiro or pork stew.  We came back to the house and ate. I wasn’t really into the stew, to be honest. It wasn’t bad, just not what I wanted. I’d already had a lot of Japanese food today, didn’t want any more. I had decided that I would NOT be washing the dishes tonight. I often have to cook and do all the clean up…no blooming way was I doing it alone tonight.  I waited to clear the table until F was ready. He washed, I dried and we were done. He was in a foul mood too.

I came upstairs after I was done and he was already in bed wrapped up like a burrito. I reminded him we had to go and get food and he said he couldn’t. I suggested he take a nap for a while and then see how he felt later.  He did.

Just before 9, I went downstairs for a minute and when I came back, F was getting up. He said he’d go now. We left in the car but didn’t go the usual way. F changed direction a couple of times so finally I asked him where he was going. To Don Quihote in Mikawa! What?  He wanted a case for his new phone and might be able to get one there.  We went and found a few good things to pick up! F even did get a case for his phone. 

We came back to Tsuruoka, got some groceries and then some gas for the car and came back to the house. 

I took a shower and watched The Handmaid’s Tale which is getting quite…hard to watch in places. It’s really well done though.

And that’s about it. F is still up, he can’t sleep or something. I think he’s just not feeling well, poor thing.  

Tomorrow I hope I’ll be able to catch up on some of my column writing and do a little laundry or something.  Come back later if you like and see what happens. Until tomorrow….

October 21, 2019

Monday - Cloudy but no rain

I slept in this morning. I went to bed and F was lying in bed with his computer on his chest. He was watching it. I woke up early and he was still watching videos. I woke up later and he was still watching videos. He said that he couldn’t sleep and hadn’t slept all night.  He wasn’t feeling well, poor thing.

He got up and went to the doctor. He did ask me if I wanted to go with him, but I said no.  He went off and was gone for a while.  I got dressed, made the bed, usual things.  When he came back though, he was as grumpy as heck and asked about going out. I wasn’t sure if he meant just me, or me and his mother, so was non-committal and he got mad.  He said he wasn’t going to take me out after that.  I couldn’t talk to him for ages.  Later I asked him if he would go out to the mall to get his phone fixed or the post office for me to mail a parcel.  He said no.  

Well then.  I got rather annoyed so I went outside, pumped up the tires of my bike and then I went off by myself to the post office. I mailed the parcel to my sister and then I went to a coffee shop nearby and had a small lunch.  I was going to do some shopping too, but I decided not to as I thought F would be leaving for the restaurant soon.  I should have gone! I got back and F wasn’t even thinking about getting ready yet!

After a little while, we did get ready to go. I made F change his T-Shirt because it was dirty, but after that, we left and went out to the restaurant.

We had a lovely meal. K had fish and F and I had roast duck breast. I had bread with mine, the others had rice.  

After the meal, we came back to the house. We all had a lovely time. F and I came upstairs and I watched a bit of TV.  F went out a bit later to grab something from the conbini, but I stayed here.  

And that’s about it for my day. I watched American Idol and tonight was the final 20. It was a bit difficult to watch because it is bad news for so many talented people. 

I have no idea what we are going to get up to tomorrow. I hope that F is feeling better AND is in a better mood.  Lately, he’s been a total grump.  If he doesn’t want to go out, my bike is in good mettle now, so I might just go out for a bit. I’d like to do that honestly!

Come back later and see if the Core Enthronement Day is all that or not!  I’m betting not!  Until tomorrow….

October 20, 2019

Sunday - Clear and sunny, warmish

We slept in this morning, all of us. I got up around 11 to use the ‘loo and grab my breakfast. I heard the door open and I assumed that K was outside. I waited to say hi to her, but it wasn’t K.  It was F’s sister.  She used a key to get in. Huh?  She came bringing gifts and I guess that she took K out for lunch or something. 

F and I had lunch at Hyakkenbori today. I love that place, the view out the window is lovely, especially in fall with the different colours. F is never one to enjoy himself unless he’s eating the cheapest of noodles.  We both had noodles for lunch there, but they weren’t cheap enough for him to enjoy.

After lunch, we went to the Chido Museum to see the latest exhibit. It had been a while since we had been, so it was nice to tour it today. They had some of the swords out so F was happy.  I got to see the garden so I was happy. Yay. I also ran into an ex-student from L’Eikaiwa while we were there. That was nice as I’ve seen her around on Facebook, but we aren’t actually friends.

After the museum, F didn’t want to have a drink or go shopping, so we went back to his house. His mother was back.  We came upstairs and relaxed for a while. His mother didn’t know if she’d want dinner, so we stayed upstairs for a while. I suggested trying to register his computer again, but F got mad at me for talking to him, so I refused to help him anymore. His phone has stopped working completely, so he can’t find any of his info that way either. Too bad, so sad, don’t really care. 

I went downstairs around 6 and the lights were off, so K must have gone to bed. 

We decided to go and have dinner before our movie, so I suggested either sushi or curry. F picked sushi, so we went off to Kintaro Sushi and had a nice meal. It was cheaper than lunch, so that was something! We were oodles early for the movie, so F wanted to go back to the house for his medicine.  We did that, of course, he took ages, but we did have the time.

We went to Machine-kinema and bought our movie tickets. We sat in the lobby for a little and then got our popcorn and drinks. We went to see Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and enjoyed it a lot. Not the best film of the year, but definitely the best one I’ve seen this month!

We came back to the house after the movie via a convenience store. I got myself an ice cream and gave it to F for the basket. He then proceeded to tour the store for 10 minutes looking for “something”. I was quite annoyed. If I had known he was going to do that, I would have waited. 

Came back to the house, I ate my ice cream. I took a shower a bit later and then came back upstairs. F is sort of asleep, but he has his computer sitting on his chest and he’s listening to something.  

Tomorrow is K’s birthday, so we made a dinner reservation for us and we might take her out in the daytime. We might not though, as we both have errands that need to be run.  Come back later if you like and hear how it all goes. Until tomorrow….

October 19, 2019

Saturday - Rainy and cold

I got up before 9 this morning, and on a Saturday too. Yay me.  Actually, we both did!  F suggested that we go for breakfast before our doctor appointments this morning, so we were up and out just after 9 am. Yay for us. 

We had a nice and cheerful breakfast in Gusto. I had my usual scrambled eggs with toast, bacon and sausage, F had a new one for him, a miso soup set. It was a Japanese set with lots of stuff that he liked. 

After that, we zoomed over to the clinic and waited to see the doctor for a while. I got a round of crochet finished and another one started, so that was good.  I did a little self-advocacy today and had a chat with the doctor about the medicine he had given me before and why I was opposed to taking it.  Happily for me, he listened and understood, so we are going to try something else. Woot.

After we got our medicine we decided what to do. I suggested going to the house and checking on K since she wasn’t up when we left.  We did, and she was fine. F had thought she wanted him to take her somewhere, but she changed her mind.  Meanwhile, I was upstairs, getting into bed. I only planned to take a nap for a few minutes, but it turned into two hours of sleep. F got into bed too, but I think he was playing with his computer more than dozing!

I got up around 3:30 and we had to get into action soon. We planned to go to a concert in the aquarium today, so we needed to get K a bento and maybe have something for the two of us. We got bentos at the nearby supermarket and picked up a couple of onigiri for us.  We delivered the bento and then left for the aquarium.  We ate our onigiri on the way and we were both a bit disappointed in them. It was nice, but the filling was terribly small.

We got to the aquarium, went in, had a snoop at the critters…loved the octopi again and the jellies…they undulate and move with such amazing gracefulness. We went into the concert room, found seats and then had a wonderful time today. We saw Teruhiko Saito who plays the contrabass. The concert was so good.  After last time’s concert, I was a bit worried, but this was excellent. It was so good that I bought the cd afterwards! I’m listening to it now in fact.  The only bad thing about the concert was the vent in the floor blew cool air up my right leg through the entire concert. 

Oh, hi there! 

It's like an outtake for Ad Astra isn't it?

After the concert, we left the aquarium and came back to Tsuruoka. I had suggested going to Cocos for dinner, and that’s what we did. I think it was a good idea as I really enjoyed my meal, and F seemed to like his a lot too. 

We came back to the house where K was up. She’d found a TV programme that interested her!  We came upstairs, I watched a little telly, F played with his computer.

It was a good day.

Tomorrow I’m hoping that we’ll go and see Maleficient: Mistress of Evil. I’m not sure it needed a sequel, but it’s here and I haven’t seen a movie in a couple of weeks, so I need to go!  I’m not sure what else will happen, but I will try to fill in the deets tomorrow!

Come back later if you want and see what I get up to. Until tomorrow….

October 18, 2019

Friday - Cool but sunny, rainy at night

I got up this morning when my alarm first went off and stayed up.  I did a load of laundry quite early this morning and also grabbed my breakfast. For some reason, K came in the kitchen, saw me, and turned around and left. I spoke to her and wished her a good morning, but she didn’t say anything to me at all. I was rather surprised since she used to be upset with me for not talking to her first!

I had a very quiet day really. I had to put away the clothes that were now dry so I made a mound of them on my bed and hung up the other ones. I caught up on the last of my shows on the DVR from the week too, so that was good.

Around 5:30 or so F called to say he was on his way, so I went down and got dinner started.  K came into the kitchen and I think asked if she could help, but she didn’t understand anything that I asked her to do, so that was pointless.  I gave her some chips and guacamole to keep her busy!

Tonight I had a big lot of work in the kitchen. I made guacamole and also baked potatoes, baked chicken and it was pretty good. I served a salad with them, and there were some pickles that F had bought last night. I was stuffed at the end of dinner. The baked potatoes were amazing. Really good!

I cleared the table and started in on the dishes.  I fired up my iPhone and listened to another podcast. To do him credit, F came in to help, but I shooed him away as I was half done anyway.

After I finished I went upstairs.  A few minutes later F came in too and we discussed what we’d do tonight. I wanted to go to Starbucks so that is what we did.  We drove there, ordered our Halloween frappuccinos and then sat and actually talked to each other.  F’s phone wasn’t charging and the battery was drained so he couldn’t use his phone.  Would I seem too smug if I was a little happy about that?

We came back to the house before 11 more or less.  I took a shower and then settled in front of the TV to (re)watch The Walking Dead.  Man, that show is so scary and also so cool! We’re still on season one, I’ve seen up to season three I think.  

And that’s it. This might be a busy weekend but I sort of hope not. F is off on Monday and also Tuesday. Tuesday is a national holiday for the Enthronement of the new Emperor. They’ve cancelled the parade due to last weekend’s typhoon though. 

I’ll most likely be here tomorrow night. Come back and see what I get up to later. Until tomorrow….

October 17, 2019

Thursday - Sunny but cool

I woke up to my alarm this morning and for some reason thought that F hadn’t gone to work yet, but when I looked around the room, he wasn’t there. It was okay. 

I got up, turned on the TV and watched the morning news.  I snoozed for a bit after that, but the room was darn cold and the bed was darn warm! After a while, I got up and grabbed breakfast. I started a load of laundry too, so that was good. Today was towels.  

I had a fairly quiet day. I watched a bit of the TV off the DVR AND I got my sister’s present wrapped and nearly ready to go. Yay me.

I went downstairs after 5:30 to start on dinner prep, and a few minutes after that, F called to say he was on his way. I got things ready to go and when he arrived I began to cook.  Most of the things tonight were either precooked or in convenient packs so it was fairly easy, but it is still complicated when you have only two burners and a microwave/oven and a toaster oven to cook with. I reheated a couple of things from the fridge and we had them too.  Dinner was okay. I’d given F and K rice while I had some of the couscous from the other day. 

After dinner, I started the dishes and listened to a podcast of the Canadian news. I was almost halfway through the dishes when F came in and took over washing them. It was nice of him, but annoying too. He talked over my podcast and didn’t wash things in the order that I would have.  When he got to my stir-fry pan, he scrubbed the outside first and then tried to scrub the inside. I asked him to be gentle with it (it is over 20 years old, is Teflon and I have had the pan longer than I’ve had him.)  He got all huffy and left the pan in the sink.  I wasn’t sure what I had done as I had tried to ask him nicely.  

After I finished up, I went upstairs and he came up a little later.  I asked if he still wanted to go out and first he said no and then he said yes. I needed to go out either way for a few groceries. 

While getting ready to go, I remembered that it is the third Thursday today and the onsen that he likes is usually closed today.  I reminded him and after he checked that it was closed, he decided to go somewhere else.  

We ended up driving to Den Den in Mikawa. It’s an older onsen, but still okay. When we arrived there, F realized he’d left his towel back at the house so he had to rent one. Oh dear. No problem though. I sat in the very cold lobby…the front door opens straight into the lobby and there wasn’t any heating on.  I grabbed a hot drink from the vending machine and sat at a chair and did a little crochet.  Yay me. I got a row and a bit done.  

I had two drinks in the time I was there, it really was cold. F came out and we chatted for a little before leaving.

We drove to the grocery store and bought a few groceries. I’m going to be cooking tomorrow night again. I think it is getting a bit complicated, sort of worries me if I’m honest. I’m planning on baked chicken, baked potatoes, salad and…I’m not sure what else. I hope it goes well. 

We came back to the house via a drugstore to get some cold medicine for F. He’s sounding quite bad. 

I watched a bit of TV and then turned it off so I could blog faster. And now, I think I am done! 

On the morrow, I have more to catch up with on the DVR, some cooking, and I probably should try and pump up my bike tires so I could go to the post office and the bank and somewhere else if I feel like it. But, I won’t hold my breath! Or will I?

Come back later if you like and find out what happens. Until tomorrow….

October 16, 2019

Wednesday - Sunny but cool

I got up fairly early this morning, which I am really happy about. I turned on the TV and watched the news “live” on the channel.  I sort of dozed afterwards, but I did get up and that’s a start.

I did a few loads of laundry today. K did some just before I did…she’s been sleeping in a bit lately. I don’t care, she’s an adult, but she does her laundry around the time I’ve been doing mine.  

I had a quiet day, found out that Yahoo Groups is going to change a bit. It is really surprising and since I’m a moderator on a group, not great news.

I went for an early lunch today and didn’t fix anything for K.  I think she’s got food and I never know if she’s glad of the stuff I give her, or just annoyed by it! 

F called me around 3 today to say that he was going to come back from work. He’d got word that a kind of distant relative had died and didn’t know if he had to help out or not.  He came back and sounded terrible. His voice is really raspy like he has a cold.  That could be part of what was up with him last night.

Although I had planned to cook dinner tonight, we went out. F wanted ramen and I didn’t, so we went to the place in Voice that serves ramen and curry. I had their special kabocha and mushroom meat curry and it was really good. The meat was chicken, but there wasn’t much of that! K had curry too, the cheapest one on the menu, and F had his ramen with gyoza and rice.  

After the meal, we dropped K at the house and then went to the drugstore to pick up a few things. I wanted F to get something for his throat. He did, plus we picked up a few other things. 

We came back to the house where I watched my NCIS: LA and then went downstairs to do the gomi run.  I took a long time to do it, but today I tossed quite a few outdated things from the fridge. Some of them were mine, so I can’t complain about K too much, but some of them weren’t!  After I finished, I took a shower and then came upstairs and watched New Amsterdam, which I enjoyed.

It was a surprisingly good day today. I didn’t expect F back early and I didn’t expect to get a day off in the kitchen. I’m not turning it down though!

Not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow, although I’m planning to try wrapping my sister’s birthday present to send off to her.  I’d like to get it in the mail soon.  

Come back later if you’d like and read all the news from my little corner of the planet.  Until tomorrow…. 

October 15, 2019

Tuesday - Cloudy I guess?  I didn’t go out.

I slept in a bit this morning but did drag myself out of bed around 9 this morning. I watched the news and grabbed my breakfast too.  When I sat down at my computer to check my email, there wasn’t any. The reason?  There wasn’t any internet! Of course, there was the Internet somewhere, just not in the place I live! Hrumph. 

My first thought about the internet was that F had used up all of our bandwidth or whatever it is called since he had his computer playing videos all night. I sneaked into the living room to check that things hadn’t mysteriously been unplugged but they looked fine.

I texted F but there was no answer for a while.

I got a bit sleepy so I took a nap. It was cold, bed was warm, and there wasn’t any internet.  

When I got up, I got a call from F. He thought that maybe it was unplugged, but I said it wasn’t. I told him about my bandwidth theory but he said it wasn’t that. I thought maybe the clean up from the typhoon had knocked something out somewhere. Nope.  

A bit later, F came by and checked it. Then he called the company. Big oopsie.  Someone hadn’t been paying the bill!  When we changed providers, we assumed that they would take it out of the account, but it wasn’t set up for that. Oh dear.  F said that he’d try and pay it at a convenience store and they’d reconnect us again soon.  

Happily, in the afternoon, he was able to make a payment and they did connect us again. I had to go into the living room and unplug something, which was actually hard as 1) K keeps the room dark during the day and 2) there were a million cords and it was hard to pick the right one. Finally, I found it and got it unplugged and then I plugged it back in again. I checked my phone a couple of minutes later and it was back on. Hurray!!

I came upstairs and used the internet and got caught up for a while. Yay.  

F called about 5:30 to say he was on his way back, but I didn’t go down to cook dinner for a while. Sigh. I should have.

Tonight I was a little too ambitious and tried making stuffed zucchini cups.  I managed to make them fairly well, but the zucchini cups didn’t work as well as they should have. Despite cooking for more than 45 minutes, they were still quite hard. I also made a stir-fry of eggplant and mushrooms, and a bowl of couscous.  We had salad with it all.  

Dinner was a tad late, but I thought it was good. I had lots of meat left over so I cooked it separately. We ate. K was okay with the couscous, although I’m sure she didn’t love it. F doesn’t like it too much, I know from past experience.  

As usual, I got stuck with clearing the table and doing all the dishes. F came into the kitchen halfway through and put on this big show about having muscle cramps.  I know he wasn’t faking, but honestly, all he was doing was getting in my way. 

I got everything done, washed, dried and put away, and then I came upstairs.  F was on his bed, in the midst of more muscle cramps. I’m afraid I wasn’t the nicest person to him. I can’t do anything for him when he’s like this. 

After a while, he decided to take a bath in the house. I went downstairs with him and checked the bath. It was quite dirty. It hadn’t been used in a while and was in need of a freshening up.  I did that. I took the cover off and scrubbed a bit of the inside, I used some of the bath cleaner I have and got it looking usable.  

F took his bath and I came upstairs again. I did check on him a bit later and he was okay.

I watched some of my TV from tonight.  F went to bed but spent too much time on his computer again. He’s snoozing now.

Tomorrow I don’t know what is going to happen. I’d like to go out a bit in the daytime if the weather is okay. I haven’t been out today and I’m not too happy about that. I have to cook dinner tomorrow night too, but happily, it is an easier one.  I’ll have leftover couscous for dinner, F and K can have rice if they want. There’s also leftover stir-fry, so that’s good. 

Come back later if you like and see what we get up to. Until tomorrow….