Christmas 2008

Yep, it was pretty much like this yesterday (and today, because Boxing Day is just a repeat performance).

Dashing through the bush, in a rusty Holden ute
Kicking up the dust, esky in the boot
Kelpie by my side, singing Christmas songs,
It's summertime and I am in my singlet, shorts and thongs

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute

Engine's getting hot, we dodge the kangaroos
The swaggie climbs aboard - he is welcome too
All the family's there, sitting by the pool
Christmas Day the Aussie way, by the barbecue

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute

Come the afternoon, Grandpa has a doze
The kids and Uncle Bruce are swimming in their clothes
The time comes 'round to go; we take a family shot
Pack the car and all shoot through before the washing-up

Oh! Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way
Christmas in Australia on a scorching summer's day, hey!
Jingle bells, jingle bells, Christmas time is beaut!
Oh what fun it is to ride in a rusty Holden ute

from "Aussie Jingle Bells", by Colin Buchanan and Nick Bland
book and accompanying cd given to K from Auntie L and Uncle A, Xmas 2008.

all sausaged and shopped out

First a quick review of the past few days:

Sunday was a crazy busy day. We went to breakfast with friends of my parents from 8:30am (although we were 10mins late since Sunday was the ONLY day so far that K decided to sleep in.) Then we got home at about 11am, only to pack our esky up to go to my brother's house for a bbq. Since he lives over the other side of town, it takes about an hour to get to his place, so I was plying K with all the sandwiches and snacks about the place that I could find to try to keep her quite for the whole trip, so that for whatever reason, she fell asleep like 2mins before we arrived!
We had a nice drink and bbq around their pool area/outdoor deck. K was well behaved most of the time (except when she was "riding" the paper mache zebra, but that was probably my brother's fault for showing it to her) and fell asleep in the car on the way home at 6pm. I was nearly falling asleep driving home too. What a big day.

Monday my friend H came up from the coast, and we left K at home with mum to go to see a movie, "Four Holidays". It was entertaining and I enjoyed it. And the half-dozen cinnamon donuts we shared during it. After the movie, another friend met us and we did their Christmas shopping, had lunch at a cafe in the shopping centre, did more shopping, walked around more so that our feet hurt, so we indulged in a little pedicure (was lovely) and yet again was buggered by the time I got home near 6pm.

Today a friend I have known all my life (really, her parents live around the corner and they knew me when I was a bump!) and I caught up. We had a fantastic tapas lunch/glass of wine/cappucino then cruised around her favourite dress shops, where she bought a lovely dress, and I tried on 4 but bought none. 2 of them were ok, 1 was really nice, but I couldn't justify it - I really have nowhere to wear it in Japan. And it was $175(on sale!) That is too much for a dress to wear once on Xmas day then forget. It *was* a cool dress though, longish with a fab pattern in brownish almost paisley pattern that reminded me of a peacocks feather for some reason!?, halter neck type top with a band of glittery bling under the bust. It matched my toenails too (painted purple yesterday @ pedicure). Got home and skyped J which was nice, and just fell asleep before in front of the TV because I was stuffed yet again. I did manage to wake myself up enough to watch "Judging Amy", my latest TV addiction. I am gonna miss THAT when I leave. I doubt they have it at my local video rentals place.


*********************************************************************************

I love bbq sausages, and miss them when I am in Japan. There is something about the bog-standard aussie bbq sausage that floats my boat. But after having had sausages 3 days in a row since Friday night and the 2 bbqs on the weekend, I think I am a bit over them. Luckily Xmas here is not a bbq. I will probably ask for one more sausage sizzle before I go back to Japan though, just for good luck.

As for the shopping, all I have actually bought since back here is 1 singlet top and 1 tshirt, a pair of togs for me, a pair of ugg boots for K and several Aussie animals reading books for K. Even when I can go shopping without K I do not really find myself that interested in it. Even when I find nice clothes/shoes I can't bring myself to buy them, because a) I already have so many clothes that I never wear and b) I honestly can't see myself wearing the clothes once I get back to Japan. I have no need for strappy high heels and slinky dresses there. I used to think it was because people in Japan are more varied in their fashion (as in it is acceptable to go out to an izakaya in a t-shirt and jeans where as in Aus I would want to dress up to go out) but I think it is more my mind set. I don't want to dress up, I don't feel the need to dress up in Japan. Does that mean I have become fashionably lazy, or just fashion lazy?

addicted to blocks of Cadbury Chocolate

Was it always THIS good!?!?

the week that was

On Wednesday we (me, mum, K, niece and nephew) went to Australia Zoo (was gonna link to their site, but it was one of those that come up automatically with audio and it was of Terri yelling out "crikey". Not what I needed to hear. I could't turn it off fast enough. I wont - put anyone else through the trauma, so no link here). It wasn't too hot a day, nor were there too many people there, suprisingly for beign school holidays. We walked around all day, watched a crocodile and animal show, saw all the animals and ate our picnic lunch in the sit down food court area because we couldn't find any grass (that didn't have kangaroos lazing around on it).

K loved patting the kangaroos, although I think she may be a *bit* confused as she kept calling them "hippos". We are reading Sesame Street Little Ernie's ABC at the moment, and "H is for Hippo"!

Wednesday night I left K at home with mum and niece and nephew while I went out for dinner with friends for one of their birthday. We ended up at the same cafe we always go to when I come back, sitting in the same seat as last time too, al fresco out on the sidewalk and spent a great couple of hours chatting and laughing. K was an angel for mum, she went right off to sleep, most likely as she was tired from walking around Australia Zoo all day - man I was tired too!!

Thursday and Friday we didn't do much, just stayed around the house, went across the road to the park to play, and napped. It was nice to just enjoy the afternoon seabreeze we get at my parent's house (they are across the road from the water, and we always get the lovely breeze)

This morning we went Saturday morning shopping, a ritual in our household. We started off at the farmers market (which is only on once a month) down on the waterfront, enjoying some Andes music as we bought up yummy fresh fruit and veges. Then we went to a small shopping centre, where we bought the rest of the essentials. We used to go to this particular shopping centre every Sat morning (and every Thursday night for a while after Thursday night "late night trading" came in about 25years ago!)and I remember buying cinnamon donuts there often. I was gonna buy some today, but resisted.

This afternoon I went over a friend from high school's house today for a bbq. We had a fantastic reminiscing session, watching videos of one of our 21st birthday parties and reading through old letters we wrote to each other when we were at high school. My sides split from laughing so hard at some of the video footage (of us dancing at the party!!)and all the memories that came with the people in the video.
My friend has 2 gorgeous dogs (labs - one gold, one black), and K just loved playing with them all day (at one point she was "riding" on the back of one of them, like they were a horse. She enjoyed it so much so that she didn't have a nap, but she was so happy playing that she was ok without a nap. She crashed tonight though, haha!

Now I am listening to the 'carols by candelight' on TV as I type this up. Only 4 more sleeps 'till Christmas, wow! We aren't doing the Christmas gifts this year, except for the kids, which I think is good, as it is soooo hard now to buy stuff for people - even buying for my 8 year old niece and 12 year old nephew is hard enough: they just have EVERYTHING already. But I just realised I have only got some boxer shorts for my nephew, and nothing for my niece yet.....what to do?? Probably end up panic buying next week. Along with 1.5 million other Brisbanites.

more things from "home" that I realised I miss, now that I *am* "home"

salad sandwiches with beetroot, made on yummy fresh brown or multi-grain bread (that was today's lunch)

sitting on the front or back verandah all day, doing nothing more than enjoying he breeze (that was yesterday's line-up)

so many different birds, all squarking at the same time (outside now)

the fact that everyone is so friendly, almost to the point of being loopy (because you actually talk random stuff to people in the queue in coles, who by the way, are standing well out of your personal space)

and some things that I don't miss

repeats of "alf" - I can get that on nhk educational on Monday nights in Japan, I sure don't need to watch it here!

being woken up at 7:05am on my 2nd day here by the neighbour mowing the lawn....did you know you can make noise after 7am on a weekday?! Well, it is light by about 4:30am, and already near 30deg by 7am, so I sorta understand, but still.....

today

was hot. it still is actually.
I am sweating as I type this out, as everyone else has gone to bed and all the windows are closed!!

Today was a birthday party for my nephew, who turned 12 on Thursday. I sooooo didn"t know what to get him, so I just got a voucher for a boating/fishing shop as he is really into fishing with his dad. He said he wanted a family party this year, I think because K and I are here for it, so we all went over today for a bbq and swim. When I finally got K down for a nap at 3:30pm (rolls eyes) I spent some quality time alone with nephew and his turtle, "squirtle" out on the front lawn as squirts had his run for the day. It was nice. And despite K's late nap, which she didn't wake up from until 5pm (when I "whispered" in her ear to wake up) she went down easy for bed time tonight so all is good.

Today I watched an episode of "Desperate Housewives", and set the video to record Grey's Anatomy - I am not sure what series/episode it is, but I am so hooked, I am gonna take it home with me and work it out!! I am soooo having "Grey's" withdrawals.

Tomorrow is a lazy day, perhaps a trip out to the farmers markets in the morning, then a friend with her 2 labs might come over to visit. From Monday we have my neice and nephew here most days as school holidays have started, so we are going to go to "Australia Zoo" probably on Wednesday, which will be hot (and crowded) but hopefully fun for the kiddlie-winks!

oh, and one last thing:
Today I realised one of the things I miss about Australia - washing that has been dried on the hills hoist washing line, outside. It feels so fresh and warm and like something straight out of a washing powder ad. I DO miss that in Japan.

checking in

Well, a week has passed since we got on the plane for Aus. The flight over was surprisingly easy, I managed to get K to sleep (yay for my ergo!) after the meal was served, at about 11pm, and she slept through until I had to wake her up for landing at 6:45am. how cool is that!! The train ride out to Narita was memorable (K in ergo on my front, 50L backpack full of nappies on my back, lugging along a 23kg suitcase - my fault for choosing a mid-day flight when J couldn't take us to the airport,) but it worked out in the end as we had 3 seats to ourselves for the pretty empty weekday flight, and both K and I were lying down most of the flight over.

Spent the first few days seeing family (nieces and nephews, bro and sis) and just lazing around really as last week was quite hot. I also had a bout of reverse culture shock/why did I want to come home again? feelings over the weekend, but am happy again now, and settled in to our "summer niiiiiiiiiiii-ights"! This week has been more bearable heat wise too.

I even got my first K-free day yesterday, when mum minded K while I went shopping with my friend (and despite my will not to buy anything, I came home with two shirts, nothing fancy, just a tee and a light cammi type thing). It was sooo nice to have some girl time with a friend, without K ( only really my 2nd ever K-free time). Today mum and I went shopping at a local shopping center, where we bought not much, but spent about 4 hours there (most of it trying to get K to sleep in the stroller so we could actually LOOK at something in the shops)

The fam and I went to a local Japanese restaurant tonight, and it was an interesting experience to see how Japanese food is presented here in Australia.

We had:
a tuna and cucumber sushi roll, for K
yakitori - which turned out to be chicken on a skewer, served with a soupy type of sauce
*karaage - which was just like tempura chicken
*takoyaki - very nice!
*yakiniku - which was like a korean bul gorgi dish
*roast duck - at a Japanese restaurant?!? hehe. It was delish, though. in a yummy ginger soy sauce
*sukiyaki calamari (!! what the...?) - it tasted like a chili sauce/chow mein style sauce over veges and calamari
*curry - can't go wrong there
*rice - long grain, just not the same

We enjoyed it, and the meals were huge, so we all rolled out. K was great, sitting up at the high chair for almost 2 hours during dinner - she got given a hello kitty sembei near the end form the lady in the shop! she was SO stoked!

Haven't been online much as pretty worn out after long hot days of family fun, followed by a few days of not being able to access a computer, but hope to blog a few more times over the next few weeks here.

Tomorrow is my nephew's birthday (happy birthday!). In the morning, we are off to see auntie L and uncle J for morning tea. Probably end up going shopping somewhere on the way home, as we ave the kids next week once school breaks up for Xmas, so we have to get all our retail therapy out of the way before they are with us, as a 12year old boy and 7 year old girl and 20month old K will probably not be that much fun to take out shopping.

thanks

this morning I said "thanks" to my parents for having me when they rang me at 8am (!!!that means it was early, we don't wake up here until about 7:45am when J leaves to go to work), on skype. (sounds all very lovey, doesn't it, haha! Their response was "thanks for leaving the house before you were 35years old" - a long running family joke about my brother who lived at home until his late 20's - us Aussies have been known to exaggerate a bit every now and then)

this morning was spent running errands (returning an unwanted shirt to costco, and picking up some car parts to take back with me for a friend of dad's.)
I had the remainder of yesterday's lasagna (it was lovely having you over, Sara, we enjoyed it - next time I will be a real hostess and actually MAKE something, rather than just reheat, lol!) for lunch, then spent a few hours on the sofa fuelling my Grey's adediction with an appropriately timed Thanksgiving episode from Season 2.

J is meeting us tonight at a shopping mall nearby for dinner (haven't decided what yet, but California Pizza Kitchen is definately on the list) and there is a rumour that J is getting me a bread maker for my birthday (yay!) but I said we should wait until I get back from Aus, as don't see the point in it sitting around the house for over a month while we are away, which would mean it is just like the sewing machine!!!haha.

Anyway, K must have her "blogger radar" on. As soon as I sat at the computer, she woke up from her nap. Better go - walk R, return "the Grey" dvds and get ourselves ready to go out tonight.

p.s. had to count through the years to work out how old I was becoming today. My parents only knew because it came up on my skype profile. haha. thank goodness for technology.

a bullet kinda day

It has been a while since I have done a proper post, but in the meantime, a bit of a random list, in point form.

you know when you go to the shops for like some bread and milk and come out with 3man yen worth of stuff? well that was me today at costcos. oops. Accidently found myself scouring through the clothing section, and couldn't resist this cute little costume piece for K -
getting ready for next year's halloween!, as well as 2 jumper type jackets for J. I usually am pretty controlled at costcos, seriously, as it is pretty close, I only buy milk, some meat/chicken and bread there, so I usually get out of there under 1man yen. But today K was a good girl sitting up in the shopping trolley so I took advantage of it and walked through the middle aisles. A bit of impulse buying never goes astray, right!?? And I DID get a bargain, just hope J likes it now. If not, I am gonna take it back on Friday (and probably pick up something else instead, haha)

so yes, that means that J and I have made up (I didn't blog about it, but we had a little one day spat on Monday.) Thanks to gaijin wife and all my playgroup mummies on Tuesday who listened to me diss him IRL, a lot. By the way, gaijin wife, I won't be cancelling his ticket home anymore, hehe!! We are both soooooooooooooooo pig-headed (頑固) that it is usually the little things that end up in big rows. I felt humbled listening to a playgroup mummy talking about how she can't be bothered arguing any more - that it is not worth it. I so need to grow up and become like her!

I haven't been blogging much recently , and I think it is time to fess up as to why - I am addicted. This time, it is Grey's Anatomy. I found a video store about 5 mins walk away that has 200yen rentals every Tuesday and Thursday. And I am hooked. I am already on season 2 and I only started a few weeks ago. I actually have the box set of season 3 sitting here at home waiting to be watched, but I put it off until I had seen the fist 2 seasons. glad I did. I watched another 4 episodes this week already.

I now GET all the "McDreamy" references. It is nice to be up with pop culture again (yay)

I am also enjoying ironing these days..... that is because I have started doing the ironing during K's afternoon nap, while I watch Grey's Anatomy - that way I don't feel like I am just bludging on the sofa. Of course, it now takes me 2 hours (well, 2*45mins episodes) to iron 2 shirts, haha

K has been much easier to deal with on trains and going out recently. The stickers are a great diversion, and I am a bit less uptight about taking her out, so I think that helps. I am also learning to deal with the in and out of the stroller dance (the chorus of which is usually "I want to be carried now".)

K is on fire with talking lately. She has a pretty big vocab list,both in English and Japanese. She has spent the last week or so throwing her Curious George toy on the floor and saying "ita~i" (it hurts). She is also now starting to call J by his name (as well as Daddy. She uses both). It was funny when we were in a shop the other day, and we went down a different aisle to J. For the next 5 minutes, K was calling out "J" throughout the store until we found him again. It was quite cute.

I think that is all I have time for today. As soon as "Inai-inai-ba" is over (K's absolutely favourite tv show) we are off for a walk with R. Our walks are getting earlier these days, as it is like dark by 5pm. Only a week until we are home!

my butt's on fire!

well that is what it felt like this morning on the way to playgroup coz they have the seats heated on the train- its not THAT cold yet!! and I am from Brisbane (I never even owned a coat or scarf until I came to Japan) so i feel the cold (though I have gotten more resiliant - my first year working here, I used to wear 5, yes 5 layers of clothes to walk the 5mins to work - one layer for each minute!?) actually today is a lovely day- I am only in a jumper and that is enough. Of course all the people around me are in parkas and long coats - why do japanese people dress for the season as opposed to dressing for the actual weather?
only a week and a day until we head off for our summer paradise, yay! can't wait!

the definition of 暇

making individual origami style "sheaths" (for want of a better word) for toothpicks!!!! made out of supermarket specials チラシ, of course.
this example of having too much time on your hands was seen today at a surprisingly busy restaurant (when do they have time to make all those toothpick sheaths?) at a michi-no-eki halfway down the boso penninsula in chiba where we are spending our long weekend on a drive/camp/make it up as we go weekend away. we are currently asleep (well, J,K and R are asleep anyway) in the back of the minivan beachside bcoz we couldn't find anywhere suitable (free) to pitch a tent! tomorrow i think J wants to do some fishing. either that or surfing with the surfboard i am currently pressed up against! talk abt "sleep tight"! ni-night!

grateful....

couldn't resist this.
I just love the shirt the "onesan" on K's favourite morning tv show was wearing today (bit hard to catch in a photo though...)
Great message for all the kiddies, to remember to always be grateful, I guess?

Grateful Dead

I did this

Saw this on Illahee's blog, and couldn't resist. I got a bit caught up in memories though...or should I say, got a bit caught up because I COULDN'T remember half of the places/times/names etc. So I took a while searching through my photos, asking J about things we have done together to get the details. I ended up going overboard with comments in brackets, but hey, gotta write these things down while I remember them, lol!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland (Tokyo)
8. Climbed a mountain (Major ones are: Mt Fuji overnight to see the sunrise through the clouds; several on the Incan trail to Macchu Pichu; several in Patagonia's Torres Del Paine national park on a 5day 4night 70km hike; Kumotori-yama, Tokyo overnight; Yakushima, overnight to see the Jomon-sugi pine trees; day-hikes to Gassan in Yamagata, Hakoda-san in Aomori, Mt. Kuju in Oita and Mt. Takao, 857m in Tokyo!!)
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables (oooh, cherry tomatoes when I was at uni. Planted them, ate a few then promptly forgot about them.They still pop up every yeat though, hardy fruit!)
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (no, the line up was too long to get into the Lourve, so I ate ramen at a nasty shop across the road with a Japanese lady who was showing me around Paris)
20. Slept on an overnight train (too many times maybe!? China: Shanghai to Nanking, overnight; going from Beijing to Ulan Baatar, Mongolia, through the Gobi Desert AND BACK, 3days 2nights, Japan: Kansai to Fukuoka, overnight 2003 to start my job in Beppu, Australia: Northern New South Wales to Albury/Wodonga on the Vic/NSW border, overnight when I was a littlie)
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (only mini-marathons, longest 10km, does that count? Also have done mini-triathlons with swim 800m, cycle 20km, run 3km)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise (Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand about a week; Chilean Fjordes, 3 days)
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language (Spanish in South America while travelling. Una cervesa, por favor!)
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (often, and often badly)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance (not for me though, my boyfriend during uni broke his arm - a complicated break at that- in several places while we were skiing at Perisher/Smiggens at the end of a ski season. We had to get the ambulance to drive the 3hours to Cooma, and I missed out on half the ski trip, boo-hoo. By the time we got out of hospital, there were not more skiiable slopes)
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (Scuba-diving (introductory dives) here in Japan - in Oita at fishing port!, The Red Sea, Egypt and Phi-phi island in Thailand; Snorkelling Great Barrier Reef and Galapagos)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (ET with my older brother when I was just a wee tyke still at primary school; a few grown-up drive-in dates when a bit older....)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China (2002; walked 10km along it!)
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (hmmm, seen whales while out on the sea, does that count?)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy ("doll", who was a doll and "pinky" who was a doll with a pink dress on. Original names, right!)
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar (only cheap stuff though)
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (well, it felt like it was speeding when I was only 10years old and on the back of it)
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous (The drummer from "Greenday", after a concert he came back to my friend's house!!!! We drank beers on the sofa together.)
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

"Losing Kei" continues it's blog-hopping

(my goodness, I blinked and turned around and the next thing you know it is Wednesday morning - how did that happen?!?!Hasn't even been *that* busy a week.....speaking of which, K was a near angel on the train to playgroup yesterday, actually, she has been better when we go out recently too. Must be *my* attitude to it has loosened up!?!?haha)

So over the weekend, I got K to pull a name out of the hat, or in this case, the rice-bowl:


And the new home for Losing Kei is:


Congratulations! I'll drop you a line to get your deets.
Hope you enjoy it!

I'm red

Spending the whole day wasting time, I succumbed to the crayon test.

You Are a Red Crayon

Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy.

What Color Crayon Are You?

Hmmm, red IS my favourite colour, how freaky. And I do OVER-react to everything, lol. There might be something in this crayon test after all.

failure and 焼き立て success

A quick trip to Donkey Hote for some butter this morning (to re-make the cake) ended up in me somehow spending 5000yen....on "essentials" (a-hem) I came back with cooking oil, 2*konbu tsuyu, 3*butter, 1*margarine, 2kg of brown rice, AND a new pair of pjs, 5 pairs of socks and 2*onesies for K that we bought at the Nishimatsuya on the way home (since I was out in the car anyway, may as well make a day of it, right!?)

We got home about 11:30am, so I quickly threw some rice in the cooker to have a simple lunch of natto-gohan (K's absolute fav! she loves Natto; and Vegemite for that matter!). There was some rice in a plastic bag lying around that I think was the left over from the rice J took camping - he cooked it up at the campsite, so I didn't know, but when I opened the rice for lunch, I realised that it must have been 新米 because it was super soggy, as I had added the normal amount of water to cook it in. Ooops! Failure!!!

But the average lunch was well and trully made up for by the yummy banana cake that I did make this afternoon (supposedly during K's nap, but since we all got woken up before 6am when J left to go to Narita for his 2day trip to Hong Kong, and then K and I actually fell back asleep and didn't wake up until nearly 9am, with a phone call from J saying he was about to get on the plane! haha). Success (thanks to using butter that had been left out for a while before mixing)!! Although I did cut the amount of sugar I put in by half, and found it to be a bit plain tasting(K didn't seem to mind the less sweet cake), so I sprinkled the freshly baked banana cake with cinnamon sugar for me to make up for it. Went down lovely just now with an afternoon glass of cold milk for us both. Ooh, it would be nice with some vanilla ice-cream too, hehe. I can see me gaining another 3 kgs this weekend polishing off the cake now!!

success and failure

Saw this recipe (in Japanese only, sorry. If anyone wants an English version, I can put it up, but can't be bothered with it right now, lazy me!!) for "Chicken soboro on steamed pumpkin dumplings" on daytime tv the other day, and it looked so nice, I managed to scribble most of it down. I made it up last night and you know what? it turned out just delish!

I don't know if the photo does it justice or not. They steamed the pumpkin dumplings in the fry pan, after rolling the mix into balls and wrapping in glad-wrap. It was so cool!

I made the pumpkin dumplings without nuts for K and she just gobbled them up too!

Thought I was on a roll, until I attempted to use up the excess bananas we bought (got a bit carried away when we saw them on the shelves and bought 3 hands the other day...) in a banana cake using this recipe..... If you check out the first comment on this, it says what to do to avoid what happened to me, which meant that I had to chuck the butter/sugar/egg mix out because I didn't cream it and mix it properly. I would have started again, but we had no more butter. I used to be an ok cake maker too, and now I am stuffing that up, lol. Oh well. Might try again tomorrow.

Also bought some apples cheap so I want to make stewed apples tomorrow. Seems like I have got a busy day ahead of me.

bleughhh!

is that how you spell the word for "my goodness what was I thinking? 'japan' and 'winery' do not mix!"

I am not a wine expert but the wine we tasted at the winery in Yamanashi was pretty bad. We actually ended up buying a bottle of south african red wine at the supermarket for about 800yen and it was way nicer.

This round up of our camping trip was stuck in my keitai draft box for the last few days(as I fell asleep in the car on the way home writing it, haha), but am finally getting it posted!yay.

So, sat night's camp food was delish - whole chicken stuffed with frozen えびピラフ cooked over coals in the dutch oven. There was yummy vege & chicken & bacon soup; sanma and oysters and other random stuff I can't remember. And the photo is a bit crap, but you can just see the boys preparing something in the dutch oven!


K crashed after a big day of playing with the goats and sheep in the paddock - the camp site we stayed at was part of a farm! She spent the whole time patting the goat on the nose saying "good girl", and feeding it dead leaves, which the goat was not so impressed with. She also made friends with one of the other campers, 3year old (turning 4 in Dec) A-chan, who kept on trying to pick K up "抱っこする" . She was a good kid though, and it seems that K really likes playing with お姉ちゃんs.

After K went to sleep, I went back to the "party tent" to polish off the red wine, however a few glasses and I was ready to curl up with Nora in the tent.
Here is our campsite: car, our 3-man blue tent and the "party tent" looking out over the valley and mountains of Yamanashi.


Unfortunately, K woke up SCREAMING at about 11pm, and there was NOTHING I could do to console her. She I ended up grabbing her and two sleeping bags and heading for the car, where I thought at least if she was screaming all night, the other people at the campsite would be able to sleep. We didn't get much sleep, and it was FREEZING. Found out the next morning when the sun came up that J had left the front driver's side window open.　No wonder I was cold all night *sigh*.

Sunday we decided to go to the onsen around 11am. But K fell asleep in the car on the way there, obviously from lack of sleep and waking up at 6am (her normal wake up time is 7:30am). So I missed out on the onsen, as I stayed in the car with K. We did come back, just the two of us in the afternoon for an onsen while the boys prepared Sunday night's dinner of curry, penne pasta and more sanma (one of J's friend's works at the fish markets, so gets really good fish cheap - he always brings it along for our camps). K was pretty tired by about 7pm, so we put her to bed early, I finnished off the rest of the wine, and a few chu-hais, ate more food (yummy chicken marinated in rosemary!) and then crashed at about 9pm. It was not as cold as Saturday night, so we all slept well.

Monday morning after breakfast was clean-up time, and we left the camp site at about 11am. Again, K fell asleep pretty much straight away in the car (no lunch!) and then so did I. We got home by 2pm, did several loads of washing to get the charcoal smell out of all our warm clothes and then I ran down to KFC for dinner! I reckon I must have eaten about 3 whole chickens over the weekend...and put on about 3kg because of it.

But it was a good camping trip in the end, probably (well, almost definately) our last for the year. We only had 3 this year anyway - 3days over Golden Week, our mini-road trip over O-bon (where the tent never saw the light of day as we stayed in the car) and this one.

山ありyamanashi

thats where we are now、 山梨! and there are plenty of mountains!we arrived at about 10:30 this morn (yes, that means we left home at 5:30am - we swang by friend's house b4 getting on the highway) Have set up tent and are now at a michi-no-eki getting supplies b4 hitting a winery! I am waiting in car with a napping k. J gets his turn to wait next while i do some serious taste testing hehe.

book 'em, Dano

Several months ago, I was the lucky winner in a competition on Nay's blog in a book giveaway. I read the book almost straight away after getting it (thanks Nay's mum for sending it to me, hehe) and then lent it out to a friend IRL to read....well, I finally have it back, and now, 5months later (embarrassed giggle) it is time to pass it on in the blog sphere.

I am not too sure if there is even anyone who reads my random rambling, uh, I mean blog who hasn't already read the book, as I believe it came down through the blog ranks through people like Lulu and Sara before Nay. But, I am gonna take a chance and see if anyone wants to be the next one to read LOSING KEI.

I am also going to add a special set of classic Nora (Roberts)

that I got from Gaijinwife many moons ago too.... I have only read two so far, but I promise that when I read more, I will pass them on too!


Rules of the game:

Pretty basic, if you are interested, then simply leave a comment on this post saying if you want to be in the running for A) "Losing Kei" and/or B) Nora.

I will send "Losing Kei" anywhere in the world, but I am restricting the Nora selection to within Japan, as I figure us lovely ladies here have more of a need for trashy English novels than people who can buy them at a whim in their own country (hehe).

Looking forward to hearing from y'all.

and the prize goes to Asshole B

We had to go out today to get new photos for K's passport, as the photos we submitted were too small (since they changed the size requirements in the time between we took them and applied for the passport *sigh*) so we headed out about 10am, managed to keep K entertained and in the stroller for the first leg of the trip (only 6mins by train) until we changed trains. We walked through the ticket gate, found what platform we had to go to and headed over to the elevator, where I pushed the button and took a step back to wait. I accidentally stepped back into a lady walking past me, so I turned around and apologized ("ah, sumimasen") then all of a sudden some old fart (Asshole B) pushes into me with crossed arms and yells at me to "doite-yo!", which I am going to translate as "get outta my way". Now, it may be a bit hard to explain in words what the situation was, but I was about 1m away from the elevator, which has a huge walkway about 20m wide one side , and a small pathway down the other side of it (probably about 3m wide) where people walk to get to the escalator to go to the platform. Asshole B was trying to get past me down the 3m side walkway. There was no one else around. I am sure he had enough room. And it wasn't like he was running to catch a train and I got in his way, he was sauntering over to the escalator. I felt wronged. My instinct made me yell out "Excuuuuuse me" then I changed to Japanese and said(loudly haha) "そこまで言わなくていいでしょ！" ("there is no need to go that far"). He was at the escalator when he turned around and the woman that I bumped into and apologized to was there with him (musta been his wife) and she was like asking him "what is all that about". I turned back and there was a young lady with a baby in a stroller waiting at the lift too. She asked me what happened and I explained. She was like "some people are really rude, I am sorry. I often get people give me dirty looks when I get on the train with my child".

Isn't it disgusting! Now, I know that not everyone is a child-lover. I FULLY understand it. I even admit that in the days BK, I would have gotten a bit antsy if I went into a restaurant etc and there were screaming kids running around etc. I never really knew how to treat other people's kids - you know when they stare at you on the train, like K does to people all the time, hah! But I would NEVER give them a filthy look or say something. C'mon, they are just kids. And HELLO we are on the train you know (or AT THE STATION in this case).....surely I am allowed to be there? I am not even sure if he was anti-kids now I think about it, he might have just been anti-me?!

So I really think that Asshole B "takes the cake".

But why is he Asshole B?? Well, this little incident follows hot on the heels of Monday morning's incident, where the main player was Asshole A. We were on our way to meet some friends, we had a long train ride, about 30mins or so. It wasn't peak time, and in fact the carriage I was in had about 1/4 empty seats. We sat down in the regular seat area, and K wanted to get out of the stroller, so I let her out and she sat on the seat beside me. There was plenty of room. Ok, my fault here, I should have moved over more to the right when K started stretching out (head on my lap, legs out to the left). A couple of times her feet (which only had socks on) kicked (softly, just when she was wriggling around)into the guy at the end of the seat on the left, a.k.a Asshole A. He must have got the shits with it, because all of a sudden, he grabbed his backpack, and slammed it down in between him and K, which happened to be exactly where her feet were. I was livid (again) and turned and said to him "C'mon man, she is just a kid" (ちょっと、やりすぎじゃないの？子供ですよ！）He has headphones on and didn't hear me, or pretended not to.

Again, I admit that I should have been more careful with watching K's feet, but I really think that was OTT. Or maybe I am too caught up in my own (and K's) world now so that I am seeing things skew-whiffed? Are they assholes or do I need to be more vigilant? I wasn't even gonna write about Asshole A, because his crap was totally wiped away by the lovely lady who offered to carry the stroller up the stairs, over the overpass and down the stairs to the other side at the train station we got off at where there is no lift or escalators because she saw me holding K's hand in one hand, and the stroller thrown over my back as we tried to get up the stairs.

Everyone seems to be just so oblivious to what is going on around them. Young guys "sleeping" in the priority section of the trains, baba-tariaons pushing past to get the broccoli that is on special ("hello, there are still about 100 bunches left, no need to rush, baba"), the idiots who insist on parking their bikes in front of the elevator entrance at our station, so that people with strollers, let alone people in wheelchairs can't get to the lift, etc etc. I know that I am oblivious to it all sometimes too, but I try to be socially conscious...hold doors open for people rather than slamming it in their face, let older ladies through first, etc because that is the way I was brought up. Ba-hum-bug for Japan, the country that is supposed to be so respectful. What happened? Is it only in Tokyo? I somehow doubt it......Can't wait to get outta this country for a bit. Only a month and 2 days to go!

where is pumpkin〓〓

I got some "trick-or-treats" (I guess that is what I can call them?) for Halloween from a friend. We don't do Halloween in Aus, so I never really get into it, but this year K has 2 parties at playgroup for Halloween - she is going as a black cat to both (one was on Sunday, next one is this Thursday) I am going as cat woman, minus the black leather body suit, of course.

Anyway, my friend came over with these american candies for Halloween, and they are DISGUSTING....

DISGUSTINGLY addictive, that is.
They are called "Candy Corn", and all I can equivalate them to is "Jersey Caramels" from home. They taste really plastic-y but my goodness, I still managed to gobble them up! There were even some Hershey's kisses in Candy Corn flavour, which were so sickning they were delish.

My face has even broken out, like a teenager!

"Confucius say....

......that toddler going through "a phase" and mummy with PMS do not make for good shopping partners"

*sigh*
We have had a long week. K is 18months old, and until now I have somehow managed to keep her entertained enough on trains/at restaurants etc with lots of little snacks, toys, raisins in a cup whatever to keep her attention and keep her sitting down in her stroller/on the seat for the duration. But this week, well, I think she has finally realised that now that she can walk properly, and mummy has been taking her for short walks to the park and the bread shop etc, that she wants to be doing this walking thing a lot more often. She wants to be doing it every time we leave the house. The ol' bribe of a snack or some milk to get her into the stroller is wearing thin too. On Tuesday we went to playgroup, the one that takes us about 45mins to 1hour to get to. It is the playgroup we used to go to before we moved here. We live about 4mins walk from the train station, but before the train even arrived, K was standing in her stoller wanting to get out. I managed to keep her in until we got on the train, but then she wanted to sit on the seat. Luckily the train was pretty empty, so we could sit in the priority seat, look out the window etc. But we still had to change trains along the way, and get on to a busy train (standing room only). So when we got to the station to change trains,I tried nicely (I swear) to get her to sit in her stroller. The banana bribe didn't work. The milk bribe didn't work. The carry strap didn't work. There were tears. There were screams. But we couldn't get on the train unless she was "contained", I only have 2 hands and trying to manuever her and a stroller on a packed train is not easy - she would only want to get down as soon as we were on the train too. These days she even hates being held. She somehow sat in the stroller, but then started to scream blue murder as we got on the train. The whole way. No consoling her. She finally gave up when some nice old lady took to her and started playing peek-a-boo or something.

After playgroup, the same issues, she didn't want to sit in the stroller. But by this time she was also super tired, and about to pass out asleep, so after a bit she sat in her stoller, and within 5 mins was sound asleep.

Then yesterday, we went to a closer playgroup. Only 13mins by 2 trains. BUT as soon as we got on the train she wanted to get out of her stroller. But we had to change trains in like a minute, so there really wasn't time to get her out, put shoes on, adjust the balance of bags hanging off the back of the stroller etc.... so there were tears. LOTS of them. And screams, PIERCING screams. When she gets like that, there is just nothing I can do to calm her down. (Of course, before the tears started, I pulled out all the snacks/toys/is there a doggy? tricks, to no avail).

So I end up frazzled and frizzled by the timke I get anywhere these days. I asked some other mummies for advice, but they all suggested the avert attention with toys/snacks method. What do I do when that doesn't work?? One mummy said it was just a phase...she will grow out of it, in about a year, lol...about the time she realises that sitting in the stroller is a lot easier!

This is not really meant to be a whining post - I know that she doesn't do these things to frustrate me (though somtimes...aaaarrrrrgggggghhhhhhh) . A bit of an internet search last night ("how do I deal with my 18month old!?!?") and although there was no new techniques per say, the best advice I saw was that I can't keep on using the old method and expecting her to fit into it anymore. It is time for me to adapt to her current sitation and try to combat this, pre-empt any "attack" and get through this stage with as little frustration for both of us as possible. Big sigh.
I don't know how you mummies with 2 or 3 even get out of the house - supermums, all of you!I have sooooo much to learn.

aaaarrgh

having one of those days.
repeating mantra to self:breath deeply, don't sweat the small stuff...
yaddi-yaddah

giggling over bananas

was wondering why K was so quiet while I was writing that post, but put it down to her just being a good girl......

Just found her sitting on the couch, eating a banana.

I never gave her a banana.

I don't know where she got it from.

But she managed to peel it and is chomping away happily now.

My stomach hurts from laughing.

playdate and mummy's purse

I managed to get a teeeeny-tiny amount of housework done this morning before we were out the door on our way to a play date. K was packed up with salmon and tuna/mayo sushi rolls (one of each) that I whipped up with a pack of microwave rice (naughty mummy!?!?). Forgot to take anything for me (oops). So came home to make a bit of cheese on toast, only to find the cheese sorta mouldy (that white furry type, only on some of it)...ssssh, don't tell the fridge police (a.k.a. J) about that one.

So, back to this morning....a bit of a struggle trying to get K into the stroller to go to the train station, but I even left home 5mins earlier than needed to account for this! So we made the train, and arrived at our playdate on time. After some playing and some lunch, K was relatively easily bribed back into the stroller with a drink of milk (loves her milk, this one). She was getting sleepy, so I thought I would spend a bit of time looking at the shops, and maybe even get something different for dinner at the nice supermarket with some foreign stuff in it. I loaded up my basket with taglatelli and ravioli, Time-outs (which I was craving last night, but J came back from local 7-11 with a "crunky", which did the job, I admit, and some pumpkin kit-kats, for Halloween I guess - they even taste nicer than it sounds, too!) and a few other carefully thought out items and just as I put the basket down at the checkout and reached into my bag, I realised that I had forgotten my purse!!!! Nooooooooooooo! So I had to leave all my precious goodies at the checkout (I waved them goodbye, seriously!) and come home empty handed. Then when I scanned through the ticket gate at my train station, I saw that I had only 40yen left on my passmo!! And my keitai had died before I even got ON the train this morning. I wonder what would have happened if my passmo had run out before I got home? I had no money, and no keitai. Would we have ever gotten home????

So now I am gonna sit on the sofa for a bit and reflect on just how lucky I am to be back in my own house.....and chomp through a few pumpkin kit-kats, while dreaming of time-outs.

This is my first post from my computer for a while - after our busy week last week, I have hardly been on the computer to check (or reply to) e-mails, let alone blogs. And both J and I crashed early over the weekend.....actually, an afternoon nap would be nice too...shame K woke up as soon as we got home this afternoon.

girls nite in & peanut butter

k-chan & I had a lovely bubble bath tonight. I bought the bubbles (?!) at one of those "everything for 315yen" shops. It is supposed to last ten baths...but I had to use 3 times the amount to get any bubble action, hehe.But it was nice to have a bubble bath and K loved it!
As for the peanut butter, I was just getting a drink out of the fridge when the peanut butter took a kamikaze dive at me- landed on a bone in my hand and nearly broke it! ouch.

busy bee with insomnia?

we have had a big week, hardly been home- flittering around the place doing all sorts. the only time this week I was home for more than a few hours at a time, I ended up power napping with K. fell asleep putting K to bed last night too- only to wake up at 4am on a Sat morn! Cant get back to sleep for some reasom either. Just spent last half an hour playing a game on my mobile- at this time of day! Am shocked at self - what happened to the gal who could sleep through hours of mum, niece & nephew pounding on door to wake me up for uni? 

*sigh* another round of ぷよぷよ〜ん(mindless keitai game) I guess. am probably not gonna be a happy camper in the morning though(;_;)/~~~

mags

When J went to the US, I requested mags, like always, but this time I specified: mummy mags! He did well- Parents, Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, self, cooking mags...oh and a Marie Clare for good luck.So I brought the pile of mags down to the holiday house (we are here for the long weekend)and am gonna try not to move from the couch all day and read them. maybe even get some ideas for a Halloween costume for k, who has 2 parties to go to!

Have to admit I am enjoying them much better than vogue and the fashion mags he brought back last time - u just have to look at my "natural look" (no make up and tracksuit apparel) to realise that I am probably not trying to win any fashion contests.I am not even that interested in clothes shopping anymore- a few years ago i did make a concious decision not to just buy things, which started out because I was moving again and already have so much stuff! But now I am just not that into clothes shopping (actually even just going to the shopping malls wears me out and makes me cranky  -  too many people!) of course, not working means I dont need piles of clothes.

Anyway, I'm off as there are mags to be flicked thru.

in other news...

K is now an Aussie citizen. Well, actually she has been for more than a month. Apparently. Sheesh, she is only 1 year old and already I am losing touch with what is going on in her life (lol). So while I was waiting twiddling my thumbs for the embassy to contact me to tell me her citizenship certificate had come through, they were obviously thinking what a wierdo I was for not coming in to pick it up - it came back at the end of September, and the officer on my case supposedly contacted me to come and get it, but I didn't get any email that I can find. Oh well, it is all ok in the end. So I am going in on Wednesday to pick it up and apply for her Aussie passport now!

So J got back from Las Vegas with presents for K and me. K got a whole heap of clothes from Gap, a jacket, a cool burgandy tracksuit set, a gorgeous little purple cardie with just two buttons on the top. And I got a bag from Abecrombie and We don't have them in Aus, or here in Japan for that matter. So I puller out the first item, a cool hoodie with sheep skin type lining. The size looked about right, but then I checked the tag on the hoodie - it said "L".
Me: "Its really small for an L, isn't it?"
J: "Yeh, they were all like that. That is the fashion these days"
Me: "hmmm. How about these pants.....they fit, but I obviously can't go outside in them can I?" I say trying on a pair of yoga pants (even I wouldn't buy them for myself because I know they do nothing to flatter a big rump.)
J:"hehe, no, you can't go outside in them. I guess I should have bought the LL size"
Me: (starting to feel a bit deflated,finds the shop tag on the pants..) "J, these are L size alright, GIRLS LARGE!!!"
aaarrrgggh.
I don't know if I should be flattered that J thinks I am hip enough (and tiny enough) to fit into girls clothes (even though he bought them by mistake) or if he is secretly trying to tell me to lose weight to fit into them, lol!!
So anyway, what am I supposed to do with all the clothes?? A hoodie, yoga pants and a long sleeve top. There is no shop in Japan, but apparently they do ship here. Should I ring them and ask if I can send this stuff in to be excanged for GIRLS LL (which probably would fit, I hope, hard to judge the size) or wait until he might go back to USA to change them, or inlist a friend in the US to change them for me?? Shipping costs alone now will kill us. *sigh* what to do. You gotta laugh though, right?

found out there is no such thing as the good karma fairy. J ended up having to work last night, and tonight, so won't be home for dinner. So all my pre-made dinner from Mon night....I have been eating it breakfast lunch and dinner for the last 2 days to get rid of it.

I guess my housewife hat is still on but it seems to be tipping procariously to one side. I am still making a list every morning, but the list is getting shorter....haha! 頑張ります!

hang 10

So I am thinking that good karma comes the way of those who clean.

Yesterday afternoon I did a relatively big clean (for me) and then, instead of actually sitting on the couch with Nora for an hour, I grabbed a gossipy mag from home and flipped through that for 20 mins or so. It was enough of a break for me, and I thought, well J gets home from his week long business trip, and all I have ready is niku-jaga, so I should probably try to find something else to go with it, right!? So googled away and found something I could make with leftovers in the fridge (I know, I am SO on fire at the moment) so I made up one dish, and was just about to make another when I realised I was missing one ingredient, so put it aside to wait until K was awake to go to the shops. Anyway, J rings when he gets in to Narita, blah blah blah, he will be home about 6pm. So I start to vacuum coz K is now awake, and then I see there is a msg on my keitai from J - he suggest sushi-ro for dinner! God, he is SOOOOOO Japanese, hehe. One week in the US and he is craving his sushi. But we like it there, so I am like, cool, added bonus, if we go there tonight, then I have dinner already for TOMORROW night now too, which is good because today was playgroup, and I didn't have to worry about cooking up something when I got home AND to boot, the place looks nice and clean and tidy(ish) when I walk in the door!!! WOW. I wonder if this is the same awesome feeling surfers talk about when they catch the wave!! Hang ten, dude.

forging ahead on the cleaning front (maybe)

Well, despite my best intentions (honestly) to spend Sunday cleaning up, we (being me and K, because J is still o/s in Las Vegas, probably collecting his winnings as I.....)had to drive over to the PILs place to drop something off (only an hour each way, rolls eyes). They weren't supposed to be home, so I didn't even take anything for K, just strapped her into the carseat about the time of her a/noon nap and prayed that she would sleep on the way there and back. When I had done the business, I rang the PIL just to tell them I had dropped the stuff off, and mil said that they were nearly home - just 15mins away so I should wait because they had stuff to give K (some slippers they bought her coz she is going through her Imelda stage at the moment). So we waited, and rubber arm that I am, ended up staying for dinner. Didn't get home until 8pm, at which time K crashed after her big day of playing with "jiji" and "baba" (which she can now say!)
Since J gets home today, I wanted to at least get rid of some of the junk around (you know, throw it in the cupboard so he can't see it, lol) so I did a bit of a "martha on speed" last night. Ended up making some niku-jaga for tonight's dinner, ironing some shirts, folding AND PUTTING AWAY the washing (you go girl!) and that was about it, but it was enough to get the place looking ok again.
Today, I was supposed to go out for a play date, but it got cancelled due to rain, so, in my new improved state of being a good housewife, I DID NOT simply spend my time on the internet or the couch, but I got in to do the tasks that were left over on my to-do-list.
You know, it is amazing how many things you can find to do to clean around the house when you actually write them down. I would never think to just get up and clean the airconditioner filters before. But today, I sat down and thought of things that I could do, and it was one of them! Hmmm. I am sorta liking this list business.
I also took some time in the kitchen today, cleaned the grill (ガスコンロ), tidied the area above the sink, decluttered basically. It looks good! And writing it down, means that I know when I did it last, so I can schedule when to do it next time (I am a big fan of scheduling, oooh, and excel sheets.......now THAT might be an idea, or is that procrastinating again??)
Anyway, I am taking a break now, because all work and no play makes T a pissed off mummy, and that is not nice, so I am about to join Nora Roberts on the couch for some hot and steamy stories about people named Rainbow and Storme and Victor, most likely. Will probably just get into when K wakes from her nap (lol!)

falling out of the closet

Recently on some of the blogs I read, I have seen people "come out" with their vices - need to diet, bad with money, etc etc. Well, as embarassing as it is to admit this to absoluterly everyone (or no-one - I don't really believe that I have a fan-base like my hilarious gaijin wife friend....) but I am going to come out with it: I am a bad housewife. There, I said it. And the reason I know this, is because I looked up "how to be a good housewife" on google, and this is what I found. I fail on every count!! (haha)

But seriously, this last week I have come to really really realise that I am a crap SAHM. The mum part, I am fine with - not perfect, and not good sometimes even, but I am learning that as I go, and find no need to beat myself up over THAT part of it! It is the housewife bit that lets me down, terrible. I am a hopeless clutter-up-er-er. The area around the phone (that tiny area of about 10cm by 10cm) that I decluttered just a month ago has taken on a life of its own again. Not to mention the rest of the house. *sigh*. But more than just realise it, I am at the stage of being embarassed by it, and also dissapointed in myself for not being able to do the housewife job I am supposed to do. Now before I get bashed for living in the 1950s, and told that women and men are now equals, we don't have to slave over the kitchen stove 24/7 just to make our man happy, I have to say that it is NOT about him. It is about me!! I think that until now, when I was working in an office situation, I used to take pride in my work - always try to go the extra step, naturally finish projects in a timely manner and all that jazz. So why do I feel that I can let my "job" as a housewife slide, and procrastinate the day away with blogging/internet googling/just another 5 minutes on the couch....etc etc. I am ashamed that I have gotten to the point I am at. It also has nothing to do with K. I am not at all concerned about the mess of toys and clothes that she pulls out of her drawers and flings around the room. That is just to be expected, and I can deal with that - a quick 10mins of picking up after her is easy. No, it is just about me and MY clutter and cleaning.

In my defence, I will say that I think there is more to it than just being a good (great acutally!!) procrastinator (and a lazy one at that). I actually think I have issues with cleaning. Does it sound strange to say that I do not know HOW to declutter? That I can vacuum the whole house, but not *think* to dust down the window sills and skirting boards? I can wash and hang out the laundry, and even pull it in, but folding it and putting it away...geesh, I can't stand that part of it, so I usually just let the clothes hang there until there are no more pegs available for the next wash!! I realised that I am seriously cleaning-challenged. So I did what any cleaning-challenged housewife would do - a google search to find a way, a method to get me to become the housewife I WANT to be, and learn how to "keep my home"

I have known about FLYlady for a few years, even getting the daily email from her telling me to "go to bed" (haha). Actually, since we moved here in April, I have been pretty good at keeping a shiny sink, at least it is a start?!? But now I need to go that extra step - I want to know how to actually be a good housewife (not in the 1954 sense, but in the 2008 sense!!) I found some other sites too, The Queen of Kaos, and chore-buster which gave me some hints. But I also realised that I have to start this myself. And now is the time.
So I put a self-imposed ban on the computer from 9am-2pm for every day last week. Although I was itching to get to it to check emails 20 times a day, you know just in case someone had mailed... I basically managed to stay away from the computer for most of the week. It was refreshing actually!! I have also begun recording my day in 6min blocks, just like lawyers do (haha) well, not quite, but I started the first day by writing down things that I wanted to get done, then ticking them off (and writing the time) as I went. At the end of the day, I then saw what I had achieved (not much) and what I still needed to do, so I made up a to-do-list for the next day, and accomplished most of it!! I am going to try this "calorie-counter" style for a bit longer as I think having it in writing there in my face is a great way to see how much I am slacking off.

It probably doesn't sound like much, but I feel that I have started something. Although the house fell into disaster zone again after a chaotic day yesterday trying to get out of the house on time to meet a friend, I am going to take the rest of today (after of course R-chan's walk) to try to get some order back. Baby steps, right!?!

teary on the couch on a saturday night

I just finished reading "My Sister's Keeper", by Jodi Picoult.
And I am still blubbering.
At one stage I was reading through tears streaming down my face.
When I first started reading it, I was shocked, and almost appalled by the book. But I couldn't put it down. I want to recommend it, but I also don't, as it made me upset in lots of ways, and I don't want anyone else to get upset reading it too, But that is such a part of how compelling, heartbreaking and believable the book is that it can make me feel these things, right? I am glad I read it. I wonder if anyone else has read it and felt how strong it is?

My words are not making much sense. I would have failed English with Mrs Tierney for my book review. But hey, I still cry whenever I even think about the movie "Beaches" with Better Midler, and that song, "The wind beneath my wings" get me choked up every time too.

A bit of a weird post after being AWOL for almost 2 weeks, hey.
My AWOL had nothing to do with the book, FWIW, I "just wasn't that into it" - it being posting. But I think I have some things I want to write about again now, so I will post again tomorrow, I think.

auto-reply

tj-injapan is out of the blogsphere for the next week.

Yes, she did survive the weekend with the PILs (although day 3 did bring about many more 'grit teeth and bear it' moments than the previous day and a half....)

She is now entertaining her own parents who have "dropped by" on their way home to Oz, after a 2 week cruise up "the Danube" (last stop - Amsterdam!).

Will be back in full swing next week, when not only the parents are gone, but J is away AGAIN for work!!

not so bad

day 2, night 2 of weekend with the pil- it's not actually that bad. omg - I think all the recent days & nights alone with J on business trips has sent me bonkers, to say that (lol). I have to admit though that K is just loving it (all the attention) and the pil are enjoying & being entertained by K! And I must have mellowed in my loneliness- i only had 2 grit teeth & rolls eyes moments so far!
right, sending the pil off to bed so i can watchエンターの神様

Hasegawa-san, I hate you!

Well, hate might be the wrong word to use - Hasegawa-san, I have HAD it with you.
I can't really hate Hasegawa-san, as I don't know who they are. Except, that they were obviously the previous owners to our landline phone number. And they left a lot of people in the lurk when they changed phone numbers, because we must get at least one phone call a day with someone looking for Hasegawa-san. Ok, a phone call a day doesn't sound like much, but they are the SAME people ringing all the time, SAME company etc. I wonder if they think I am lying when I say that I am not Hasegawa-san, and try to ring back straight away to catch me out.

The other day, I answered the phone in English, as I was expecting a call from my parents. The guy on the other end even replied with a smooth "Hello" but it didn't sound right, so I quickly threw in a "moshi-moshi" and he got straight to it - "Ah, moshi-moshi Hasegawa-san"... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

me: you've got the wrong number. This is not Hasegawa-san
him: well, who is it then?
me: It's NOT Hasegawa-san
him: when you answered the phone, you spoke in English. Are you a foreigner?
me: that is none of your business.
him: none of my business (said with a smirk, I am sure) oh, ok.

Then the other day, I got another call. I thought it might have been J's parents, so I answered.
me: moshi moshi
them: I'm calling about the something or other...
me: are you looking for Hasagawa-san?
them: yes
me: look, this is not Hasegawa-san's phone number any more. It hasn't been for the past 5 months. I am sick of getting phone calls all the time for Hasegawa-san, so can you please make a note that the number has changed and not ring me again.

I thought I had made it pretty clear. Then, yesterday afternoon. 3:54pm. It happened again. The phone rang. I answered it.
them: Hasegawa-san?
me: NO! (CHIGAIMASU!!) and I hung up on them. Slammed the phone down on them, actually. Fingers crossed they get the messsage this time.

Later last night, about 11pm or so, I was putting out the garbage for today's rubbish collection, in the big industrial type bin at the front of the apartment block. Some random suit walked past, and was seriously staring at me. I gave him the evil eye back, then turned to walk up stairs, but noticed he was still staring at me, so I called out to him "WHAT?" and he said "NOTHING" so I am like, "well stop staring then." I actually said that, hehe. Think I might have scared him off too!

nostalgic music

I wrote this post last night, when I was feeling *obviously* feeling all nostalgic, and a bit melancholy too perhaps. 2 chu-hais and a can of beer later, and this is what I came up with, although I somehow forgot to actually post it last night...hiccup!

(cue long unnecassary blurb about to simply explain that I was listening to some old CD of mine...)

It was raining this morning, so our playgroup outing (a picnic to a garden) was cancelled, and we all gathered at a free community playroom.
As it was "respect for the old day" yesterday, and we hadn't seen the PILs for aaaaaaaaaaages, I thought we might drive to playgroup, so we could see them afterwards. I rang to check they were home, and MIL said to bring R over earlier, so I went there first, and was then about 30mins late for playgroup. Also, the car stunk for the last half hour of the hour drive there, as K thought she was playing an extra part in Lethal Weapon 21, and she packed a VERY loaded weapon(euphemism for a big old bog!). Anyway, after playing with her friends (and even calling one of the kid's by name!!)we drove back to the PILs for a cake and iced tea. In the 2hours we were gone, R had been pooped and piddled several times, and had taken up her royal place on the couch (have given up telling them that R is not allowed on the chairs...). We chatted, K entertained us all, and somehow I managed to agree to going with the PILS to the holiday house this weekend, with no J, who is away yet again on business. He will actually be in Hokkaido playing golf with clients about the time on Saturday evening that I am pulling my hair out and grimacing, wondering why the hell I agreed to go alone with PILs......

Anyway, K fell asleep almost immediately on the car ride home, so I did a brazen thing and took out the already well worn nursery rhymes CD, and threw in a CD I had burnt off of random songs.

(right, back to the main story then....finally!)

It was like going down memory lane! All the songs had a little anecdote to go with them, and it made me think back about songs that reminded me of previous boyfriends (haha!!) and the like. These are the songs I was singing with tears in my eyes in the car:

Kissing you - Desree. That was the song my boyfriend from when I was at uni and I were going to play at our wedding reception....until I dumped him to come to Japan on JET. We were together for about 4 and a half years, but from the very start I always knew I wanted to come to Japan, and so did he. He was a really nice guy, always buying me flowers (and sending them to my work sometimes to my utter embarrassment aarrrgh!)
Anyway, the song is from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack, one of my all time favourite movies and soundtracks!!

(editor's note: Yes, I realise it is a sad song, but I was really set on having it at our wedding for some reason(that obviously never eventuated)!)

Going slightly off subject, another song from that soundtrack that was on the CD was the You and Me song, by the Wannadies. I lurve this one too!Definitely an up-beat song.


Fukuyama Masaharu - Squall (song words)
Is it just me who thinks he is sexy, in an oh-so-boyish way in looks. But that voice, aarrrrrrrrrrr!
This song reminds me of a (J) guy I dated very briefly, about 3 months. It just happened to be the exact 3 months before I finished my JET contract, and had to leave Japan. It was very full-on. We had been friends (used to go out in a big group often) for the whole 3 years I was working there, and about 5months before my contracted ended, we started working together on a project. When we got together, we had to keep it all hush-hush, but the electricity in the room (he was at the desk beside me) was probably pretty obvious and most people knew in the end anyway. Anyway, just before we got together, he sang this song at Karaoke - I swear it was for me!! Surely anyone would melt if this was sung to them at Karaoke!
I still love this song anyway. My favourite lyrics:

探してた、あなただけ
"It was only ever you I was searching for"




And then all this tripping down memory lane made me sad when I started thinking that J was away AGAIN for the whole week. So I will finish with the song that we used as our song to walk-in to our wedding reception:

Crazy in love by Beyonce.

Yeah baby, yeah. It may not be all rosey all the time (a lot of the time?) but I would like to think that we are back on track and if not "crazy in love" then at least a little "crazy" for the rest of our lives!

PS I am really enjoying this music talk - think I might post some more about it another day too!. I was so into my music when I was in Uni, but coming to Japan, well.....I lost touch. Now I feel like my older sister. Whenever I was young, she was ALWAYS listening to the likes of Abba, CCR (you know, the creed? no, do I have to spell it out for you? ok, Creedence Clearwater Revival...c'mon, you know you know them!) and other 70s and 80s stuff. Her radio was always set on FM104! And my brother, always with a Chisel (Cold Chisel, that is) LP on. I used to think that they should SO get with the times. But hey, now I still enjoy all that good ol' Aussie Rock, and my songs from high school and uni days. Coming up next time: "Catholic School Girls Rule", and other favourite songs from my seishun/youth.

sooooooooooo

I bought the sewing machine today.

It is still sitting in the box at the front door.
It may never see the outside of that box.
I haven't the faintest how to use it.
I vaguely remember the apron we had to do in grade 8 (Mrs Trudjian, our home ec teacher, and yes, the name fits the image of her.)

I need to hem a dress of k's and take up a pair of pants I bought. So I bought the cheapy sewing machine to do that, basically.(The ones at the local janome store had too many extra zeros in the price tag....they could probably cook up a roast at the same time as overlocking though. Well, they would want to for the price!)

I am not having second thoughts, just letting it sink in for a while.
I mean, I bought an iron earlier this year, and now a sewing machine.

Since when did I become so Martha???

we're goin' on an airplane

just payed for the tickets. (on J's credit card which is why I am still so jovial, haha).

I originally found a cheap direct flight with one of those random travel agents on yahoo travel. (why are they all located in Tokyo kanda area?) Anyway, I was a bit stumped because they didn't quote a fuel surcharge price for K. Last year when we went home (with her being only 5months old) I was charged the full adult fuel surcharge price, so I didn't want to make too much about the fact that there was no surcharge price listed, just in case it was a mistake on their part. So I went to the JAL site, just to squiz, and found the direct flight available for only 1000yen more than the hole-in-wall travel agent was quoting. So I reserved on-line at the JAL site, thereby holding my seat, while I reconsider everything, make sure dates are ok, etc etc (warning - worry wart alert, haha!!). I check the on-line reservation every day this week (to make sure what, I don't know). I snatch J's credit card off him as he leaves for his island getaway, as I have to pay by Monday 15th and my credit card limit is a piddly 10man.


So I get the courage tonight to actually plug the credit card details in and push the little button on the screen to make that 14man purchase, not bad really for direct flights to Bris, returning Jan 4th, just in case J can get time off work over Xmas/New Years to come over for a few days.... I live in hope! Lucky I had reserved my seat earlier this week, the ticket price for the same day has now gone up about 6000yen - they automatically adjust the price based on how booked the flight is, the more booked it is, the dearer the fare, it is called "dynamic pricing" I think.

But as I was about to push the buy button, I had a sinking feeling that the price quoted from the travel agent was actually 13man (ok, only 1man difference, but it all adds up - and I always try hard to get the best price, and every yen counts, right!?!) But I double checked, and I was mistaken - they travel agent had quoted my fare and K's fare (about 7000yen, only 10% of the seat price, plus a bit of tax, and no fuel surcharge)separately. phew.

So I bought the tickets - yahoozies! And the countdown to take off begins. Can't wait. Although I am sure as soon as I get home, I will be pining (sp?) for Japan and J, lol!

born to shop

Had 2 funny little experience in a shop today.

It all came about because J is going away for the long weekend to a tropical island resort (uuuuh, actually more like a volcanic island resort!) and he wanted a frisbee to play with. That sounds quite ridiculous now that I wrote it, hahaha, but last weekend we were at a picnic for our playgroup families, and he was playing frisbee with an American daddy, and he was like, wow, I haven't done that in ages, it was fun! And since he is going away with his mates for a wild (as in natural, in the bush type) weekend, he thought a frisbee would be just the thing to take with him.

So I said leave it to me. I went down to the local k-mart style store, and found one there, but I knew that he would be stoked if I got him the Patagonia one he searched on the internet for (and left the page open for me to see). So after lunch today, I loaded K up into the stroller and we headed off to the Patagonia shop, which by chance(!) are having an end of season sale. I wasn't really planning on buying anything more than the frisbee, and maybe a shirt or something for J (he's been working hard, he deserves it! And every time we go out lately, we end up with something for me,so I guess it should be his turn once and a while, haha). But you know when things are on sale..........

I still managed to be sensible about it, and even refrained from picking up the fleece vest I have been wanting for ages, but I did end up coming out with a reversible jacket for K, that will hopefully last this winter AND next winter (am I crazy to think that?); 2 base wear shirts for J, the type that take the sweat away from you and keep you cool/warm whatever the case may be. and of course the main reason I went there:

Tried to take photos of the actual clothes, but K wanted to wear it all, and got upset when I took it off her, haha. And I couldn't let her have them, because I am not sure I got the right size for J or not (gasp! she doesn't know her hubbys clothes size! double gasp!!!)

Anyway, the funny experiences:
1) The staff must have thought I was a freak or something, going up and down and around the aisles, but it is hard with a baby in stroller and tiny shops with lots of people eager for a bargain. Finally one staff member had enough courage to ask me in English if I was looking for anything in particular. She guessed my accent when I said "a frisbee" - turns out she lived on the Gold Coast for 5 years, and I was like, well, I am from Brisbane. Then we were talking about some things, her hubby is a kiwi, my hubby is Japanese, yaddah-yaddah-yaddah, and as we were rounding up the small talk, we both said "excellent" at exactly the same time. That really made me giggle. But I am wondering now, if "excellent" is actually something I caught off J and my kiwi friends? Do Ozzies say that? Hmmmmm.

2) I go up to pay for the goods, and pull out the money I have stashed in an envelope for our weekly shopping (actually, it is supposed to be enough to last for the next 2 weeks) and would you believe that it was almost the EXACT amount, only 40yen out! It was a sign from the shopping gods that I was MEANT to buy all those items. That money was born to pay for the patagonia goods.
I was so happy walking out of the shop, probably the happiest and most satisfied I have been when shopping recently (I seem to have lost my shopping groove).

When J comes home for the 1 hour family visit between his business trip last night and heading for erupting island tonight, I will first bring out a frisbee I bought at the 100yen shop - can't wait for his reaction (bet he is totally pissed off). Then I will bring out the shopping bag. Hehehe!

how to walk the dog

I read a book last year, a friend who has been involved in seeing eye dog training and dog obedience recommended it : The dog listener, by Jan Fennell. It was quite a fascinating read, explaining how dog have descended from wolves, but still their inherent behaviour is like that of wolves. Wolves have an alpha pair (the two leading dogs in a pack) who all the other wolves obey, you know, by eating after the alpha pair, walking behind the alpha pair when going out hunting etc. So...(Ok, I am simplifying it from my memory but) all we humans need to do is become the alpha pair in our dog's eyes, and they will WANT to cooperate with us. We won't have to yell and scream and pull and push. But because wolves are always vying with each other to see who is the strongest, and are often changing the alpha pair status, you have to continually reinforce your status as the leader to your dog (can be done by simple things such as always making your dog walk out the door after you, never before you).

E.g. in our case - actually, R has very sensitive skin. She is a Jack Russel Terrier, and apparently they are prone to it. Probably one of the major things that aggravates it, is the fact that she still thinks she is the leader and I am her pack dog. So she likes to lead me off on our hunting adventures, aka morning and evening walks, pulling so much that her lead rubs on her neck. I did try the methods suggested in the book last year, and we came some way to improvement in R's overall behaviour, but I admit to being lax and just letting her pull sometimes. So we are back to the situation where she has a very sore looking neck from pulling on her lead. Sooooooo, today I have been trying to follow the Dog Listener's methods again, and whenever R pulls on her lead during our walk, I simply stop dead in my tracks, ask her to sit down, then when she has done that, I take a step forward and she follows me, knows I am the leader. Sounds all very peace-loving and hippy, but it works. But my goodness, it takes FOREVER to get 100m down the road doing this every 2 or 3 steps, which is how much she is pulling!! So today's walks were a bit stressful. And as I was doing my take one step forward, make R sit routine tonight, a stupid woman comes out of some shop and goes "oh, she is so cute".
Now, our little R-chan understands the word "kawaii" (cute) and she laps it up whenever anyone tells her she is kawaii. I said to the woman, "I am in the middle of training at the moment" and she was like, "oh, but the dog is wagging her tail, she wants to play" and starts patting R. I was sooooooooo livid. I wish R was a more aggressive dog and I could have used the "sic 'em" command, hehe. So I still have a lot of work to do with R. She is still only just over 2 though, and as a Jack Russel is probably quite high strung anyway. Hopefully tomorrow's walks will be better though.

Now if I could only find a solution to her freaking out whenever I even touch the vacuum cleaner. I currently put her in the toilet while I vacuum or else she would destroy everything in her site - she just goes ape. It is not the sound that bothers her, I think she may want to play with the vacuum head? Whatever it is, it is annoying!

But we still love ya, R-chan.

And K just *adores* you!!