losing stuff and moving stuff

Sitting here having an ume-shu minus the "shu" (guess that makes it ume juice) and racking my rains trying work out WHERE THE HELL my sunglasses might be. I definitely had them on yesterday afternoon on way home from playgroup (because I basically cannot see without them, even on a cloudy day the glare usually gets me) since I don't remember squinting all the way home. But they are now no where to be found. And I have even gotten well into the habit of putting them in their mega huge sunglass case, so it is not like they wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb anywhere.....

This follows high on the heels of a lost camera batter charger - we have been looking for THAT for 3 weeks now. I cannot find it anywhere. Also, can't remember where it would have been last. Obviously, it is not in all the usual places. gaaah.

And it doesn't help now that we have started packing - I am constantly wondering if I might have put it in with such and such in this box...but I guess it will either turn up before we move, or come out of some random box once we have.

So yes, we are moving, next Saturday actually.

Into a house.

That we bought.

Crazy stuff. It started out as a simple observation that we could *buy* an apartment for the price we are paying each month in rent, but then of course we thought about it and realised that we don't like the apartment lifestyle (what with dog, and kid, and camping/surfing trips, having a car park miles away i.e. not in the front yard is a bummer....) so we started looking at houses. Again, I say crazy - looking for a house in metropolitan Kanto!!!! I don't know how many times we found a great place in Chiba or some other inaka town and said to each other "man I wish we could live here!" but one of main conditions with moving was that J would be able to commute within about 30mins, door-to-door. We figured there was no point living in a great place that HE never got to be in, or got to see us in!!! Cut to 7months later, after searching on the internet every night for houses, spending weekends out looking at houses only to be bitterly disappointed when they are located beside a shinkansen line/factory/cemetery etc etc, or are built on a block the size of what we would use to park the car on in Australia, getting well and truly over the whole househunting biz, and we found a place that we like. It is not our dream home, but it is hopefully ok for now. Saving graces of the house are undercover parking for 2 cars, 4 min walk to train station, and a very teeny tiny, but definitely existent back yard!! We spent the last 2 months sitting on the edge of our seat waiting for loan approval (it came through last week) and J signed the papers yesterday. We have to push the moving to make it by the end of the month, because all of us - me, K, J and his parents - are going o/s on Sept 2nd. We are spending a week in Cairns, then K and I are going down to Bris for the rest of the month (thank you jetstar!!) So basically I will move into my new house, then 4 days later go o/s for a month. Yay.

So I am trying to use up everything possible in the fridge/freezer before the start of next week. I had a pile of capsicums in the fridge for some reason, so last night's dinner was: Spaghetti bolognaise, with red and yellow capsicum and 100% beef mince. Yum

On the menu for tonight:

goya champuru (still got some goya to get ride of)

chili prawns (prawns found in the freezer)

nira egg roll (left over nira)

wakame miso soup (tons of wakame still)

vine-ripened tomatoes (without lettuce because it is so expensive at the moment, and would cause more stuff to go INTO the fridge if I bought it)

Tomorrow night:

pork chops with shiitake mushrooms and onions

asparagus

mashed potatoes

pumpkin

We have one room already full of boxes, and still piles of shit everywhere that needs to be packed, but I am very much a last minute doer. I can't get myself motivated to pack ages in advance, as I am always worried I will need that random object we haven't used since we got here sometime between packing it in a box and moving. J is on my case to do it little by little, which I know I should, but I have assured him that I will get there. I am already having trouble sleeping (must be the excitement) so figure I won't sleep much next week before the move.

One good thing, I have a feeling that the little amount of pre-moving cleaning and packing I have been doing has somehow helped me lose a few grams.... I feel slightly less stuffed into my clothes. Probably the 10000L of sweat that I am outing every time I move an inch. Also have less of an appetite (especially for snacking) so am looking forward to what the scales say at the end of the move! I am already down 3.5% on my starting (over)weight. My goal is to get about 7% off, which would put me back to where I was pre-K. That's too cryptic, isn't it. Basically I have lost 1.5 kg, and need to loose another 2.5kg.

So I guess I should at least attempt to get one box filled while the monster is asleep - yesterday's effort ended up in K packing up half the cutlery in with the winter clothes....note to self, don't take eyes off boxes while K is around. We would have had to eat with out hands until December if I didn't catch her in the act!! hehe.