October 31, 2022

Monday - Sunny and warmish

F did not wake me up this morning, I’m happy to say. I woke up just as my alarm started, it might have been a second before in fact. I got up, went downstairs, came back and turned on the TV and watched the news. I snoozed quite a bit afterwards.

I got up after a while and went downstairs. I didn’t see K at all. She’d had some of her breakfast, but not all of it so I didn’t worry. I went back upstairs with my breakfast and had a quiet morning. I watched some YouTube and debated taking a nap, but didn’t. Around 2 pm I went downstairs and grabbed my lunch. I had a little look around and noticed that K’s shoes were gone. She wasn’t in the house! I decided that she must have gone out with her daughter and could be back at anytime. 

I finished making my lunch and then I went upstairs. Sure enough, a few minutes later, I heard K come in the house. Well, I’m glad that she went out….

I watched The Walking Dead from last week and then the news from today. The Walking Dead was good and many things are brewing.

The news, well, it’s been a bad weekend for news.  Around 150 people died in a crush in Seoul and around a hundred or so on a bridge collapse in India. I didn’t find out about these things until quite late. 

When F called tonight I went downstairs and got started on dinner. I tried a recipe I made once before. I had got it off Cookpad, the Japanese (but in English) Cooking site. The person who submitted the recipe underestimated the length of time that the eggplant had to be cooked. On the other hand, I did use more than she suggested, so maybe she was okay. It was a mushroom and eggplant saute and it was okay, just took longer than expected. 

I also prepared some chicken wings and baked them in the air fryer. When F got back, I had dinner underway, but I ended up taking longer than expected. Still, it was good. The eggplant/mushroom thing was nice and the chicken wings were delicious so that made me happy. We also had salad and F and K had rice too. A lot of our meal disappeared. 

I cleared the table and got started on the dishes. It seemed to take ages tonight. K went to bed quite early and a bit later F came in and said that his sister wasn’t feeling too well. K has started sneezing and coughing so I do hope that they aren’t going to get sick. I catch everything that goes around so I’d rather not get sick right now, thanks very much. I didn’t get sick at my convention…I diligently wore masks and tried to social distance where possible, so it would be ironic to get sick here. 

When I finished the dishes, I went upstairs and relaxed for a bit. I thought that F would come upstairs, but he didn’t. I watched a bit of YouTube and then decided to go downstairs and take my shower.  I checked the garbage and it was okay so I’m not sending it out tomorrow. 

I had my shower and then turned off the hot water afterwards. I came upstairs and set the DVR to record Killing Eve tomorrow and Wednesday. That should be good. I hope.  

And that’s about it for my day. Tomorrow I hope to get started on my next column or even on my Christmas craft for the exchange that I signed up for. I hope that I manage to get something done, besides the usual dinner thing. 

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

October 30, 2022

Sunday - Sunny and warm in the morning, torrential rain at night

I went to bed around 3:30 last night, a little bit later than usual, but it was Saturday night after all. I had forgotten to set my alarms this morning, so when I woke up just before 11am I was very surprised! I asked F if there was still time to go to Sakata and he said there was. I got dressed and we set off a little over half an hour later. 

It was a bit hard finding a parking space, but we did. We went to the restaurant and…they were sold out of the dish that F wanted. We ordered other things and they were fine, but…I don’t really see what all the fuss was about. F liked it, but I think he really wanted that sushi. Sigh.

We hit up a drugstore on the way out of town and then drove out of Sakata.  At Mikawa we did go into Nitori and that’s where it started to go wrong.

Nitori had some Christmas trees up on display, but they didn’t have any of the 2-meter ones. F showed me one that he liked. It was a plastic (I mean that literally) tree and was only a foot high.  He meant he liked that style as it wouldn’t shed over the years, but I didn’t. Not only that, but NONE of the other trees had that type of needle. If F liked something, I didn’t. Still, I decided that I really didn’t want a small tree, I wanted something a bit taller. F said no to everything, and I realized that I did in fact want something not in the store. He suggested looking online for it and I reminded him that many times I have asked him to help me do online shopping and he’s never done it. He was insulted (even though it was the truth) and walked out of the store. 

We drove back to Tsuruoka in silence. I was really upset. I wanted a tree last year but we left it too late, this year we actually go shopping in time to get one and they don’t have what I wanted. 

F dumped me off at his house and took off in the car. He wouldn’t even let me get my shopping out of the car. I don’t know where he went but I was very upset. I went upstairs and pouted for a while.

He came back after a while and even came into the bedroom. I asked after our shopping and he went and brought it upstairs. After a bit, he called me over to his computer and showed me a website with some Christmas Trees on it. They were okay, but not great. I suggested looking at IKEA’s website. I found one there that I really loved and we tried to order it, but it’s out of stock. F put his name down to get an email if it comes back in. The first website that he showed me had a tree that was okay but was also out of stock until the middle of November. If IKEA doesn’t get their one back in, I might go with the Japanese one. I’d rather not as it isn’t my preferred type of tree, but we’ll see. Or once again I won’t have a tree and will mope around on Christmas Day. 

After a little while, we decided to go out and do our grocery shopping. By now it was around 4 pm so about time. We drove to the grocery store and F came around with me. I’m not sure if it was a good idea or not. I never seem to have enough time to get what I want when F is around. He’s interested in food that I would never buy. I got chicken wings for tomorrow’s dinner (F doesn’t like them…or so he says) and stir-fry ingredients for Tuesday. I picked up a few other things too, nothing majorly exciting though.

F was all set to go for dinner, but I reminded him that we needed to take some of the food back to the house! It had to go in the fridge. We ended up staying at the house for a while. I finished up a little ornament that I was trying out for myself. It’s very cute!

K didn’t need any food from the store today as she had leftover food from yesterday. She spent a lot of the day in bed. F did get a bit annoyed with her. When we came back to the house, the outside light was off. I had turned it on before we left as I know it gets dark quite early these days. I know she wants to save money, but having that light on is a nice thing for us trying to find the keyhole!

F and I went out again around 7 pm. Our first plan was to go to China House. On the way, F suggested the Kushibiki restaurant. I was fine with that too, but we didn’t go. The last few times we’ve gone, it’s been closed when we got there. China House had its lights on, but…they had closed early. Sigh. 

F suggested another restaurant near our old apartment so we went there. We were able to get in and had a pretty okay meal. F wanted yakisoba. I like yakisoba, but I don’t like shrimp much and starchy sauce not at all. This yakisoba had both. We also tried a new-to-us meal of battered chicken with sautéed veggies, which was okay, but it was covered in a starchy sauce too. Not my favourite. The best dish was one that I insisted on for my veggie count of the day. It was seasonal green veggies in a salt-garlic sauce. It was nice. We were both quite well-fed when we left. 

We came back to the house after our meal and relaxed for a while. I watched an episode of Bad Sisters on AppleTV+ and then turned off the TV. F watched stuff on his phone or computer. I made some microwave popcorn, something I haven’t done in ages.

And that was my day. It was a bit of up and down, the bad weather in the evening didn’t help much. I hope that tomorrow’s weather will be a tad better. Fingers crossed that it is. 

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

October 29, 2022

Saturday - Clear in the afternoon, cloudy in the evening

I woke up this morning, went downstairs and then came back upstairs and went back to sleep again. F didn’t really get up today at all until just before he had to leave.

I stayed in bed much too long, but did finally drag myself out of bed around 11:30.  I stayed up for quite a while, but I might have gone back to bed for a bit longer. Or not, I can’t remember.

I grabbed my very late breakfast and ate. I reminded F of the time and he was a bit surprised. He got up around 1:30 and got dressed. He left a bit before 2pm.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen him stay in bed so long!

While he was gone, I watched a bit of TV. I caught up with some news and some other things off the DVR. I also watched a bit of Ghostbusters which was on in the afternoon.  F called me while I was watching Ghostbusters 2. I suggested that he bring his mother a bento to eat and if he was up to it, we could go out for a late lunch/early dinner.

He came back and gave his mother her bento. I’m glad as I was worried about her.

He came upstairs and we had a nice reunion. His thing at the doctor’s office went well and he was okay. Whew!  I suggested going out for a meal and he was okay with it. I asked to go to Cocos as they have their Halloween Cake on special this week, and then I said that if he’d rather go to his favourite fish restaurant in Tsuruoka that would be okay. It wasn’t quite open yet but would be soon. F was game but then changed his mind. He started talking about going to Sakata to a place near the port for lunch tomorrow. My heart sank and lost my appetite. F knows that I hate going anywhere near the port. The restaurants there are crude and we always fight every time we go to one. 

I said that I wouldn’t go, but he should. He said he would.  A few minutes later I asked if I went with him would he stop in at a store to look at Christmas trees with me on the way back. He said no. He didn’t want to go out for dinner with me tonight. He kept talking about going out for ramen. 

We did go out, and we did go to Cocos. We were early enough to get in right away and got a good table. F looked at the whole menu and decided that he didn’t want anything because it was too expensive. Sigh. I’d already ordered something, and I ordered something that wasn’t too expensive. He did order something, a porridge sort of dish made with rice which was actually a great choice for him. I ordered the cake as it was on for half price, plus we both had drink bar. 

Halloween O-Ba-ke cake...cute!

Dinner was fine, I really don’t know why he hates the place so much. He takes all the enjoyment I have about going out away. 

Rather than going straight back to the house after our meal, I requested that we go to the Daiso across the street. He grudgingly agreed. He came into the store at first but left after a while. I bought a few things and then paid.  That was an experience. They had brought in self-checkout in the store and I had to use it. I put it into English, but it was a new machine to me, so it was a bit of a learning curve!  I bought a few things that were the same so the machine kept telling me that it was. I didn’t know if it was okay or not, but the sales clerk helped me and things went fine. 

On the way back to the car, I suggested getting K another bento in case she was hungry tonight. We went to the grocery store and picked up a few things. I got myself a burger and a salad for later because my Cocos meal was basically a late lunch. 

We went back to the house. I came upstairs and watched Ghostbusters: Afterlife and quite enjoyed seeing it again. It was so nice to see small-town Alberta again. It wasn’t the greatest film ever but was fine. I worked on a bit of crafting while I watched the movie.

After a bit of a rest, I watched my show off WOWOW and then turned off the TV. I started blogging a little later.  And here we are. 

I’m not sure if I will get up and go out with F to his sushi restaurant in Sakata. I really don’t want to if I’m honest. However, I really do want to go and look at Christmas trees, so I hope that happens.

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

October 28, 2022

Friday - Sunny and cool, rainy at night

I got up this morning after my alarm went up. I did the go downstairs thing and then I came back upstairs and watched the news. I did take a snooze afterwards. 

When I woke up I went downstairs and did the first of 3 loads of laundry today. In the middle, I saw K looking for food in the fridge. I pointed out the plate that I made for her two days ago and she took it. 

I took my clean clothes upstairs and hung them up. I had a bit of a draggy morning and afternoon.  When it was lunchtime, I came downstairs and started to put my lunch together. I was going to heat something up and discovered that K had left her plate in the microwave. I heated it up for her and put it on the table in the living room.

I ate lunch and watched another episode of the Real Estate show and another episode of Bake-Off. When it was finished, I watched the news.

F called a little early tonight to say he was on his way back. He needed to finish eating before 7 pm tonight so I was a bit worried about whether he could make it back to the house on time. I went down soon after his call to get started.

I went into the kitchen with my dishes….and there was K. She was making okayu on the stove. Ack. She left the room after a few minutes. I think she asked me to keep an eye on it. Considering I have no idea how to make it, I thought that was a bit funny, but whatever. I did call her back a few minutes later when I couldn't hear the pot bubbling anymore.

I got started with my potatoes. I scrubbed 6 potatoes, coated them in oil and salt and pepper and then I started them in the air fryer. 

After they were in, I did my dishes and started preparing other food for dinner. Tonight I made baked potatoes, scrambled eggs, tofu and salad for K and me. F didn’t get back to the house until 6:35 or so, so I asked him if he was ready to eat. He was. The baked potatoes were done and I just had to do the eggs. I scrambled them, put them out on our plates and ran them to the table. I told F to start eating as soon as possible. 

I had done 6 smallish potatoes, thinking there’d be one or two leftover…but they all were eaten!  I’m rather happy in one aspect, but sad in another. I love cold baked potatoes the next day. I use them to hold things like tuna salad or other food before I pop them into my mouth. 

Dinner was great and everything disappeared. There was no food left!

I got to do the dishes as usual. I listened to my podcasts and quite enjoyed them. I was fatigued tonight and it was a bit of a drag to do the dishes.

I went upstairs around 8:30. I told F I was going upstairs and he came up a little bit later. I relaxed a bit and watched some YouTube. I took a shower after 10 pm and then F took one a bit later.

I watched a bit of TV tonight. I watched The Tick and then WOWOW had The Grand Budapest Hotel on so I had to watch it. It feels like a couple of years since I watched it last. It was lovely to see it again. 

And, that’s about it. I’m not exactly sure what’s going to happen tomorrow. F will be out of the house for quite a bit of the afternoon, I’m not sure how he’ll be in the morning. He can’t eat so he might not be too happy. 

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

October 27, 2022

 Thursday - Sunny but cool

I woke up a few minutes before my alarm this morning. I got up, went downstairs and then came back and watched the news. 

I did snooze for a few minutes afterwards, but got up fairly early and even grabbed my breakfast. I came back upstairs, ate and then rewatched some of the news from earlier. I also watched the early morning news.  

I went downstairs a little early to get my lunch and brought it up and ate!  I watched a couple of shows off the Fire Stick this afternoon. Of course, there was an episode of Bake-Off and another reality programme, something about Real Estate Agents in Sydney. It was a little interesting, not sure if I’ll watch more of it or not. The views were amazing though and I knew some of the places in the background.

After 5:20 or so, F called me to say he was on his way back. I went down to the kitchen and started getting ready for dinner. I defrosted a couple of packets of fish and then cooked them. Tonight, K and I had salad, and we all had fish, plus some vegetables and tofu. I had to be careful not to give F certain foods so it was a tad tricky. 

After dinner, I did the dishes and then came upstairs. F and I went out to the grocery store to get a few things for him and me too! We drove to Mina. F came in today and I sort of wish that he didn’t!  It’s hard to keep to a budget with F around. He kept adding things to the basket, things that I would never buy. Bananas for example. Yuck.

We came back to the house and put the groceries away. I had to bring some of the stuff upstairs. I told F that he had to hide some of his stuff so his mother doesn’t find it. She eats a lot of stuff that she finds. 

We came upstairs and relaxed. I watched some more stuff off the Fire Stick. Tonight it was another episode of The Boys and then I put on Physical from AppleTV+.  I enjoyed both shows although I wonder if I should like The Boys as much as I do!

F went to bed and I put on some YouTube and got started on my end-of-day stuff. 

I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to tomorrow…except for laundry. I have to do some of that. I also need to cook dinner a bit early as F can’t eat after 7 pm. I did tell him that if he’s going to be late, he might want to pop into an udon restaurant that’s on his way back to the house to have his meal. 

So that was my day. Come back later if you like and hear all about my Friday. How will it go? Until tomorrow….

October 26, 2022

Wednesday - Cool but sunny

I woke up with my alarm this morning. F had already left for work. I went downstairs then came back up and got dressed. I did take a bit of a snooze in bed, but I got up earlier than usual.

I grabbed my breakfast and brought it upstairs. I ate and then I relaxed in front of my computer for a while. 

I texted my friend to see if we were still on, but sadly, she’d had car trouble and wasn’t able to come over. It sounds like she had trouble getting to work. We were both disappointed but things like this happen.

I had lunch and it was good.  Today, I started another series of The Great British Bake-Off, so that was fun. I also watched another episode of Shakespeare and Hathaway. That was rather funny. 

I watched the news as usual and then looked up a few recipe ideas afterwards. F texted me and said that he probably wouldn’t be late after all. That was good.

I went downstairs around 5:30 and started to get ready for dinner. Tonight I baked chicken in the toaster oven and also sweet potato fries in the air fryer. The sweet potatoes came from my friend’s husband and they were really nice. I made some smoked paprika aioli and also fried a few mushrooms. Dinner was pretty good. Oh, we had salad too of course. I always serve salad!

After dinner, I got to do the dishes. There were a few tonight as I had a frypan, a tray and my air fryer to wash. It wasn’t too bad really as I had my podcasts, but I was a bit tired at the end. I did the garbage up in the kitchen and put it in the genkan, then went upstairs and gathered up my garbage too. I left the bag for F to do up his garbage and add it in too.

When F came upstairs he did his garbage up and then asked if I wanted to go to the conbini with him.  I was okay with that and got dressed to go out.  I grabbed some snacks while I was there, F paid for a bill. I’m glad that I got out of the house today!

We came back to the house and I tried to check my planned menu for F tomorrow night. I asked him about toppings for tofu and he started listing off about 5 different toppings that he wanted. I told him that he could do that for himself and he got snarky. He’s the one that has to eat a very restrictive diet over the next couple of days, not me, so I think he went a bit far. If I cook dinner tomorrow night and he doesn’t eat it, it is on him. 

I watched an episode of Good Omens tonight and liked it a lot. I cracked up in a couple of places at the dialogue. The Walking Dead was being recorded but I just can’t watch it late at night these days. 

Oh, in other news, the new neighbours came over to introduce themselves. I was busy in the kitchen so I made F go to the door. They are staying in the house tonight!  Good for them. I hope that means it’ll be less noisy outside for a bit. 

Anyway, that’s about it for me. Tomorrow I’m not sure what I’ll get up to, but hopefully, I’ll get to enjoy myself a bit. Come back later if you like and hear all about it. Until tomorrow….

October 25, 2022

Tuesday - Cool and sunny

I went to bed at my usual time last night, or actually a few minutes early. However, F got himself up and did something for a little while. He came back to bed but I was really sleepy!

I woke up quite early this morning and had to go downstairs. I came back and went back to sleep again. I woke up with my alarm, but I didn’t wake up properly.  I snoozed a bit. I was surprised when F returned to the room and went back to bed. He’d called in sick to work today. His back was in major pain today so he slept a lot of the day. I slept a bit longer and got up finally. 

F was in bed for a lot of the day. I finally decided that I was going to have my breakfast, so I did. F did suggest later having sushi delivered for lunch, but I thought it was too late for that. I suggested doing that for dinner. 

In the afternoon, F went off to the doctor about his back. I stayed here and watched the news and some Bake-Off. When F came back, we ordered sushi and later it arrived. I spent a bit of time getting the table ready and then we ate. The sushi was pretty good, but I felt like there wasn’t enough!

I nicely did the dishes and then reminded F that we needed to go out. He took ages to come upstairs. We went to Mina and I got food for the next couple of days. 

We came back to the house and I put the groceries away. I watched a little TV and then turned off the TV and put on some YouTube. F has gone to bed. I think he’s going back to work tomorrow.

I’m hoping to go out with a friend tomorrow if she is still free. I’ll be cooking dinner again tomorrow night too, so it should be a good day. I need to consider a new column as I have to write it next month. My brain feels tired!

Anyway, come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow…. 

October 24, 2022

Monday - Cool and mostly clear

I went to bed a little late last night but did get to bed finally. F had fallen asleep, he’d been up too late as well. This morning I woke up when he was getting ready to go to work. I tried to go back to sleep, but I wasn’t able to. I got up and went downstairs, then came back and went to bed again. After a few minutes, I did go to sleep again. I decided to turn off some of my alarms because I didn’t need to wake up early today. 

Of course, I woke up late but got up right away. I got dressed and went downstairs and grabbed my breakfast. I was a bit surprised to see that K had eaten not only her breakfast but the thing I bought for her lunch too. 

I spent most of the day upstairs. I was a bit tired and I didn’t feel that great at times either. For lunch today I had some of my regular stuff, but also a bit of taco salad. That was good and I’m planning to have more tomorrow too. I watched my episode of The Walking Dead from last week. It was rather good, and a bit scary. I also watched a bit of The Great British Bake-Off, the explanation shows. 

I went downstairs around 6 pm to start dinner. F had texted to say he wouldn’t be too late tonight.  He said that he was on his way back when he called but didn’t get back to the house for almost an hour. I was making a stir-fry. I had bought prepared veggies but wanted to add a little bit to them.  I got on with my prep while he was driving back.

After he arrived, I got dinner underway and of course, it didn’t take very long at all. I had set the table a bit too, so I called F and….I couldn’t hear him. I went upstairs and he said that he couldn’t eat. Sigh. He was in bed too.

I went downstairs and K and I had dinner. It wasn’t a very lively meal and she ate a lot. I guess she didn’t eat since early on. She finished the salad and ate quite a bit of the stir-fry. I didn’t mind too much though.

After dinner, I did the dishes. It didn’t take too long but I was listening to my movie podcasts so it was interesting. I came upstairs when I was done and F was asleep. His lights were on, so I turned them off, and turned the light on over on my side of the room. 

I watched a bit of YouTube and then went downstairs and took a shower. K was up for a minute while I was getting ready, I wasn’t sure what that was about.

When I came back upstairs, F had rolled over and turned on his alarm, so that was good. I talked to him a little, but he wasn’t really too awake. 

I could have turned on the TV and watched something, but I decided not to do that. I watched a lot of YouTube videos. Nothing too exciting, but kind of fun.

I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to tomorrow. I will have to cook dinner again, and maybe go out for groceries tomorrow night. Apart from that, I’m just not sure.  

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

October 23, 2022

Sunday - Cooler and rainy

I slept in this morning, and it was wonderful! I got myself up before my deadline and checked on my computer and such. I started to get dressed, little by little!

F came back into the room and basically went back to bed. I was a little perturbed. Finally, around 12:50 he started asking me if I wanted to go out for lunch. He always does this, waits until the last moment, it is so annoying. 

After a bad minute where I kind of yelled at F and told him I needed a minute. I was watching some YouTube videos and wanted to finish the one I was watching. 

We finally decided that we’d try a restaurant in Foodever, so we got in the car and drove there. F parked the car, and we went down in the elevator. However, the restaurant had already closed. Sigh. Well, there were some other restaurant stalls open, so we split up. F went to a donburi restaurant and I went to the meat restaurant and had pasta. It was really great. It took a little while to arrive, but it was very nice.

After lunch, we tried to go to the Art Forum but we couldn’t get any parking. The handicapped section was full and so was the regular section.  I told F that we should just come back later. Happily, he finally agreed with me.

We went to do our grocery shopping. F stayed in the car and I went inside. I got most of the things I needed I think. Tomorrow and the next day I’ll be making chicken or a pork stir-fry. I hope it’ll go well. 

We made a quick stop at the house to drop off the groceries. F didn’t get out of the car, I thought he was going to but no! 

When I put things away I went outside again and we tried going to the Art Forum again. Success! We were able to get a good parking spot for F. It was raining so I brought my umbrella and locked it in the holder at the door.  We were able to go in and see the fans.  The exhibit celebrated the local silk production and the 400th anniversary of the local area’s lord.  I was really impressed that there was good English on the signs. Usually, there is no English at all so this was nice.  After we finished with the fans, we went upstairs and saw a stained glass exhibit. It was by a local group. Some of the work was really nice, but some of it wasn’t to my taste.  

I *think* the one in the front represents asparagus!

I *think* the one on the left is called Red Round.
Although this exhibit celebrates the local silk industry, 
many of these fans are made from cotton!

We came back to the house via another grocery store. We decided to get K a bento for her dinner. F always forgets that she needs to eat!  He feeds her early and then wants to make her wait really late for her next meal. I don’t think that is fair at all. 

I had to wait for quite a while for my next meal, but that was okay. I wasn’t too hungry. Finally, around 7 we decided to go out. I suggested Gusto because it was cheapish and not too stressful. F was okay with it. 

We went there and had an okay meal. F had some kind of yakisoba and I had chicken with vegetables. Mine was okay, but nothing too special. I got F his soup and drinks. 

After the meal we just came back to the house. There isn’t much to do at that time of night anyway. At the house, I watched another episode of Bad Sisters on AppleTV+ and really enjoyed it. I gotta say that if JP was my BIL, I’d want to kill him too!

I turned off the TV then and turned on some YouTube. I watched my usual stuff and now I’m watching what is supposed to be Canada’s Top 40 for this week. I haven’t heard a lot of these songs, but that isn’t surprising. 

And that’s where I am now. I should get myself off to bed and get some sleep. F is still awake which worries me as he has to drive for work in the morning. 

So, come back later if you are up to it and find out what I get up to on Monday. I bet it’ll be quite boring! Until tomorrow….

October 22, 2022

Saturday - Clear and sunny in the morning, rainy in the afternoon and evening

I woke up around 9:30 this morning, went downstairs, but came upstairs again and went back to bed. I woke up more around 10 and suggested to F that he make his mother something to eat since he hadn’t done it before. He did that and I got up and got ready for going out.

Today we had a doctor’s appointment and we left nicely on time. While I was there, the doctor asked me about my next COVID shot. Although F had booked my shot, he had something come up on the same day and wanted to move mine.  So, we booked my shot with the doctor’s clinic. 

We went to Amarume for lunch for yakiniku again. It was nice actually. We got their salad bar today so I went and got F’s salad for him and drinks etc. We had a nice lunch and then toured the shop area. We didn’t buy anything so we came back to the house. 

F called and cancelled my original COVID vaccination and then we just relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Sometimes I asked F if he’d like to make something for his mother’s dinner. He very nicely did. 

We went out for lunch. We first thought about going to Futaba just down the road but when we arrived we saw a note on the door telling us that they were only accepting patrons who had pre-booked. That wasn’t us then.

We ended up at Kintaro Sushi. We had to wait a bit but did get in eventually. We had an okay meal. Some of our favourites were already sold out, but what we had was good.

After dinner, I suggested to F that we go to Komeda coffee and have coffee!  We still had a couple of tickets so we didn’t have to pay money.  We drove over there and were able to get seated right away. We were there for a while before F wanted to leave.

We came back to the house and relaxed. I took a shower and then watched a little TV. F went to sleep a while ago. 

And that’s it. Really. Nothing too exciting today. If F is up to it I might ask that we go and search for a Christmas Tree, but I’m not sure. I think it is a little early. 

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

October 21, 2022

Friday - Cloudy and a bit cool

Today was a quiet day. I woke up this morning when F was getting ready to go. I made a quick trip downstairs and then went back to sleep. I overslept my alarm and didn’t drag myself out of bed until an hour after I usually get up. Surprisingly, I didn’t mind at all!

When I got up, I dressed and then did a load of laundry. I brought it back upstairs when it was done and hung it up of course. It took a while.

I was a little quiet this morning and afternoon. I was supposed to watch this week’s The Walking Dead, but I just couldn’t do it. I’ll try next week! I went downstairs to grab lunch around 2 pm and I made myself a taco to go with lunch. That was lovely!

Around 5:30 F called and said he was on the way but he had to buy gas for the car before coming back. I decided that I should get dressed while he was on his way back so I didn’t have to rush last minute. I went simple tonight, just a pair of pants and a nice blouse. F, when he came, dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. 

We all piled into the car a little late and F drove quite fast to Mikawa. He was on a lot of small side roads so I was a little nervous. We got to the restaurant just a few minutes late.  We had a set meal and it was lovely. We had fish and salad, soup, grilled fish and then our main dish was a steak.  F asked to have K’s steak cut for her in the kitchen as she isn’t good with knives and forks. We even got dessert and coffee at the end. We had chocolate cake and banana ice cream. I don’t like bananas but the ice cream was okay. Japanese people LOVE bananas. I don’t. 

We came back to the house and K went to bed and F and I came upstairs. I watched a new show to me on my Fire Stick, Shakespeare and Hathaway. It has potential. I also watched another episode of The Boys and it was as rude and violent as ever. I still liked it. 

F went to bed. I did ask if he wanted to watch something with me, but he didn’t. He fell asleep quite early.

Anyway, it was a quiet day but it was quite nice. 

Tomorrow F and I are off to the doctor and then I’m not sure. There’s a movie from India playing at the cinema but I don’t know how much English it has. Unfortunately, my reading of Japanese isn’t good enough to understand the subtitles. I’m not super fast and I don’t know that many kanji. We’ll see if F is interested in it tomorrow night. 

So that was it for me for today. It was a very boring read I’m sure.  Come back later if you like and hear about my Saturday.  Until tomorrow….

October 20, 2022

Thursday - Sunny but cool

I didn’t hear F leave this morning, or I did but didn’t wake up. Yay. I went downstairs after my alarm rang and then came back upstairs to watch the news. I fell asleep but ended up snoozing to a channel I never watch. They were showing videos about relaxing and healing and it was just nice. 

I did get up a bit earlier than yesterday and went downstairs again. I did a load of laundry and grabbed my breakfast. 

I had a fairly quiet morning and afternoon. I didn’t hear much from K at all. It’s cooling off again, so she stays in bed a lot.

I grabbed my lunch, scrubbed the curry pot and then came upstairs to eat. I did watch most of an episode of Bake-Off. It was one with Paul and Mary telling us how to make stuff. I watched the news and then finished the episode after it was over.

F called just at the regular time to say he was on the way back so I went downstairs and got started on dinner. 

Tonight I made tacos and they went over very well. Unfortunately, F chose to have a huge first taco and seems to have made himself a bit sick. I hope he’ll be better tomorrow. K enjoyed herself too and even took a second tortilla and made herself another taco with it. Yay her.

After dinner, I did the dishes of course. It wasn’t too bad really. I only had one pan and a few dishes. 

F and I went out to the grocery store where I got things for the kitchen and F and K’s breakfast. Come to think of it, I got something for my breakfast too!

We came back to the house. F said at first that he’d take a shower, but then he changed his mind. I needed a shower, however, so I went down and took one. 

I came back upstairs and watched the last episode of Wolf Like Me. I rather enjoyed it and I hope that they continue it. The first season was just six episodes.

I turned off the TV and turned off F’s overhead light for him. He’s off in dreamland at the moment. 

Tomorrow night I am not cooking. Woot. We’re taking K out to celebrate her birthday. F made a reservation at our favourite restaurant. I hope K will have a good time. 

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

October 19, 2022

Wednesday - Rainy and cloudy

I woke up too early this morning. F had already left, he may have woken me up first, but I’m not sure. I don’t think he meant to do that! I went back to sleep and even turned off a few of my alarms so that I could sleep a bit late. I needed it!!

I didn’t really drag myself up and around until late, but I was pretty tired. I grabbed breakfast and came back upstairs to eat. I didn’t do any laundry today, although I should have.

I spent a quiet day upstairs. I didn’t see K at all during the day. I grabbed lunch a bit later on and realized that I had forgotten to buy myself some sandwich meat. Oh well, I managed.  

F called me around 5:30 which surprised me. He had said he’d be late tonight, but he wasn’t. He asked if I wanted stuff from the store. I told him yes, but he asked me to text him. That’s a good idea really. I forgot to put eggs on the list, however.

I went downstairs to get started on dinner. Tonight I made lemon pepper chicken, broccoli, mushrooms in mayo and soy sauce, and some spring onion cakes. It was pretty good. 

When I started doing dishes I noticed a pot sitting on a low table with a ladle’s handle sticking out. Hmm. It was the rest of my curry. I have no idea how long it had been sitting out. It was starting to turn white in places. All I could think about was how long it took to make it and all the nice ingredients that I used that were wasted. There was possibly a quarter of the curry left. I’m glad most of it was used, but honestly…. I asked F about it later. I told him that when I removed the curry from the pan, the bottom of the pan was burned. He told me that he didn’t use the pan on the stove, he ladled the curry into a bowl and heated it in the microwave. Hmm. It sounds like K tried to heat it up and burned it. I don’t know why she put it where she did, but whatever.

I scrubbed the pot, but couldn’t get all of the black gunk off the pot. I left it to soak overnight. I hope that helps. 

I did up the garbage downstairs, then I came upstairs and did up my garbage here. I left the bag for F to fill up with his stuff too. I think he took it out tonight too. 

I had a quiet evening in. I watched Bad Sisters off Apple TV+ and enjoyed it. I am really loving the drama. I recorded The Walking Dead and will watch it tomorrow as I can’t do it late at night anymore!

I watched some YouTube and worked on my blog and such. That’s about it. Tomorrow I have to do a little laundry and I’m cooking dinner again. Tomorrow night is tacos. Woot. I hope they turn out well.

Oh, and lest I forget, here are a couple of pictures of my headband. It turned out rather well and even with the safety pins holding the leaves on, was quite comfortable. I wore it further back on my head. I originally planned to wear it around my forehead, but I liked it better further back.

I used leftover variegated yarn for the headband and just finished up the ball. I made two ties and sewed them onto each end in the middle. I safety pinned the leaves to the band. 

Left to right, the leaves are...
random green leaf, a birch leaf, two maple leaves, another maple leaf -- different pattern and 
an oak leaf. 

Until tomorrow….

October 18, 2022

Tuesday - Cloudy and then rainy

I’m back!  I had a fabulous time in Toyama and an okay couple of days in Niigata. My travels went incredibly smoothly and the only problem I had was with my Niigata hotel. 

Convention was fun, I made some new friends and spent a bit of time with some old ones. I did have to sit at a table with an enemy one night though, that was horrible, but the people near me were okay. 

On the second night, the headband I ended up making with my leaves on it was quite popular. Quite a few people had made headdresses with artificial leaves, but mine was handmade so it was a bit different!  I even won a door prize, but I think I’ll give it to a friend as it doesn’t fit me that well.

Today, I took a bath in the hotel’s onsen bath around 2 am and then went to bed. This morning I got up eventually and checked out. I went over to the LoveLa buildings and had lunch and then did a little window shopping. I didn’t do much real shopping today. I had dessert in one shop and then a tea latte in another so that I could spend some time relaxing.

I walked back to the hotel to pick up my bags and then went across the street to the train station. I caught my train handily and had a quiet trip back to Tsuruoka.

F came into the station at the same time I did! We had a quick hug…it was too hard to kiss with masks on! After that, we went back to the car. F suggested going to Nagomi, a Japanese Soba/Udon restaurant that I actually like, so I said it was okay. I did suggest that if it was closed or too busy, we could go to another restaurant in the vicinity. We were able to get in at Nagomi and had a good meal.

After that, we went grocery shopping. I hoped F would stay in the car, but he came in. I’m going to do chicken tomorrow night, and then tacos on Thursday I think. I asked F if we needed any staples like eggs or milk, and he said no. Of course, when I got back to the house, there was only one egg left. Ack. I asked!! I put away the groceries and then I took my suitcases upstairs. That was hard. 

I unpacked tonight, I should do some laundry tomorrow too. I watched FBI International. It was okay. 

And that’s about it for my day. I’m quite tired tonight so I think I’ll head off to bed soon. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my Wednesday. I’ll try and find a pic of my headband too, or I’ll take one!

Until tomorrow….

October 12, 2022

Wednesday - Cloudy and cool, a little rain

I woke up early this morning and had to go downstairs. Unfortunately, K was in the washroom already. Maybe I heard her bang the door through my sleep? When I came back upstairs I went back to bed and F was awake. He started asking me what time my train leaves on Friday! It was 6:30 am. I told him I’d tell him later!

When I woke up the next time, F was gone. I overslept a little, and dragged myself out of bed before 9 pm.  I had a quiet morning, I watched the early news on the DVR and then I got up and went to do a load of laundry. I grabbed my breakfast too and then came upstairs again.

I had a quiet morning. I did watch the final episode of the Great British Bake-Off for season 4 and then a few minutes later I watched one of the How-to videos. 

I had lunch and after lunch spent a bit of time on Twitter and Facebook. I discovered that Angela Lansbury had died. That was very sad to read. Of course, I know she was rather elderly, but she was such a class act and I’ve always enjoyed her performances. I’ll miss her. 

Around 3 pm I realized that my friend would be by soon, so I hurriedly changed into some outside clothes and grabbed some stuff and went downstairs. Of course, she was already there!

After a brief attempt to tell K that I was going out with my friend, I left the house. We tried to go to B-Flat for coffee, but it was closed today. Darn. 

We ended up at Komeda Coffee where she had a milkshake and I had an iced decaf coffee. It was great to see my friend and we had quite a deep chat about husbands and marriages and such. All too soon, she had to be on her way, so she brought me back to the house and then left. It was sad to see her go. 

I went back into the house and came upstairs and watched the 4pm news. They had an interview with Geena Davis which I liked and then a tribute to Angela Lansbury at the end.

F called me around 5:30 and I headed downstairs and got a start on dinner. Dinner tonight wasn’t too difficult. I did roasted chicken in the toaster oven and French fries in the air fryer. We had some leftovers from yesterday plus a salad and I made a tomato salad with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. There might have been too much vinegar!

I did the dishes but there weren’t that many tonight. I hadn’t used any pans, just the toaster oven tray and my air fryer, so I finished the dishes before 9 pm. However, I had to send out the burnable garbage tonight too. 

It took a bit of time, but I got it all done. I put it in the genkan for the time being. I reminded F that we needed groceries so we had to go out. 

We did up the garbage in our rooms and then I took it downstairs with my stuff. I took the garbage to the gomi station and left it there. I thought F didn’t need to be doing that with his bad knees.

We first went to Mina at my request, but they didn’t have anything that I wanted. There weren’t any onigiri, not enough of the right kind of meat and hardly any salads.  I texted F and asked if we could go to MaxValu and he said we could. I just left the store. I did go to the drugstore next to the grocery store to buy a few things for my trip. I got us a couple of bottled teas as well.

We drove over to MaxValu and I went in. They had the right cut of meat, onigiri and salads so that was good. Usually, when I go to Mina in the evening it was a different night, so it could be that they were out of the things I wanted just for tonight?

After a few minutes, I finished shopping so I went through the checkout and paid. I went back to the car.

Our next place to go was the local taxi stand. F will be at work on Friday so I’ll need a taxi to take me to the station. I prefer to go early. F was all for booking the taxi a scant 20 minutes before my train, but I suggested 40 minutes early. This taxi company is the one that drove me to work last year and they didn’t always show up on time. That is so annoying. I’d rather not rush and sweat at the start of my trip.

We came back to the house and I put away the groceries. I came upstairs. Tonight was the first episode of The Walking Dead in ages, but I couldn’t watch it. I have recorded it and will try to watch it in the morning. Instead, I watched Bad Sisters on AppleTV+ and enjoyed that. I like murder mysteries. 

And that was about it for my day. Oh, I did finish the maple leaf and it looks pretty cool. I hope to iron my leaves tomorrow and see what I can magic up for the convention with them.

Tomorrow is the last day before my trip. I have to do laundry and I have to do a final pack of my suitcase that is going with me. It’s mostly empty. 

In all likelihood, I won’t update tomorrow or for the next few days. If all goes well I may update on Tuesday if I’m not too tired, or on Wednesday next week if I am. Don’t miss me too much!

Come back next week and read all about my trip! Until next time….