toot-toot

That is the sound of my own horn. And I am a-tooting it!!

I think I have come forward, all be it a few small steps, in my efforts to become a "good housewife". When I set out dinner last night, I noticed that:
* all the plates were hot, freshly cooked (not half cold) which means I am getting my timing (and order) right in cooking things. since we only have 2 gas coils, it means a lot of juggling, but I am getting it!
* there was a huge selection of dishes!!! When J and I first started living together, I was SUCH a one-dish girl. Which is fine with home cooking, but Japanese style, a bowl of rice and ONE main dish just doesn't cut it really, haha. Last night I had a pork and vege stir fry, chinese veges in sweet and sour sauce, renkon kinpira, roasted chicken legs (from Costcos, granted) with fried rice and a side of mini beef udon noodles! Ok, it sounds like a bit of a mish-mash, but it all went together very well, and ALL tasted yummy.
* I am getting my portions right. I used to make MILES of food. Now I try to make enough, but not too much that we get left-overs that I have to eat for 4 days in a row or forget about and simply throw out.
* I am getting better with my flavourings. Everything I used to cook was "aji ga usui" according to J. Last night he even commented that my kinpira was perfect! nice!

Add to that, I am getting better at actually PUTTING AWAY the washing within a day of it being washed...most likely because it is all hanging in the living room (the only heated room) to dry, lol. I actually enjoy doing the washing - sorting it to put in the washing machine, taking it out of the washing machine and hanging it up - recently I don't even mind folding it (although K has taken to "folding" it too, making it 2 or 3 times the amount of work for me, haha) but putting it away has ALWAYS been my downfall. But baby steps, and we are getting there.

And I am keeping all sorts of places around the house spic and span and dust free - places that I wouldn't have even THOUGHT of cleaning a few months ago.

So I just thought I should toot my own horn once in a while too. I know it is all still in housekeeping 101 - "housekeeping for dummies", but to me it is a little achievement. Next, I need to tackle my cluster and hoarding problems. But they are the really big problems....maybe they might have to wait until 2010??

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!?!

Reporting back...

Operation De-clutter:
well, there will be no photos of the declutter, because I am too embarressed to show everyone what a really pathetically small area I am talking about, hahah! But I think it is a great idea, which I will use for my own reference only in the future! On Friday, I actually did manage to get the area around the phone and genkan, and the table all de-cluttered......and all the clutter moved to form another pile of clutter!! Some of the stuff went in the "I will deal with this later" pile sitting in the bedroom clutter. I am trying, but I think my body us not built for keeping a house clean tidy and decluttered, *sigh*. Baby steps, right?!? I still have the area around the TV to do, as that was the most cluttered, and I am going to be brave and post the pre-clutter picture here. The original idea was to keep K away from the TV, by using her playpen, but gradually all the stuff that we didn't want her to touch, and other random stuff ended up there.

Stay tuned for an de-clutter update sometime in the next millenium.

Sew it:
Nothing happening on the sewing machine front yet. I am still thinking of buying a machine, but haven't looked any more into it. It will probably be another dust collector, anyway. I might go into the Janome shop down the road one day this week for a squiz. And I am going to check out that link, thanks illahee.

My time:
This weekend just gone, I had my very first bout of "my time". J looked after K for the whole afternoon, from her after lunch nap until she went to sleep at nighttime, while I was off at the movies (THE MOVIES .... I haven't been to the movies since J and I went to see the documentary movie Deep Blue several years ago. Oh, he did remind me last night that we saw some movies, including DaVinci Code while we were on holidays in South America. But the last movie in Japan was Deep Blue!!)
A friend and I went to starbucks (where I ordered a VENTI (?? the hugest one anyway) sized frappacino and a poppy seed cake) then to see Sex and The City (while pigging out on a L size popcorn and a soft drink) then finished it off with a few chuhais and skewars at a yummy yakitori place. Hehe, I think I got carried away, but I was excited about being "free"!! I really enjoyed SATC, so glad we saw it on the big screen. It was funny, and entertaining and pulled on the heartstrings too.
This is the first time that J has looked after K for such a big chunk of time. Actually, only the 3rd time he has looked after her while I do something other than go to the dentist. One time, was when friends were here and I took them out to TOkyo Tower at night, and the 2nd time was a nomikai with the local mums group, that he rang me up at 2 and half hours after it started asking when I was coming home. Hm. That didn't do down well!
But yesterday, they had fun together, and so I think it was good for him too. Am already planning my next mini-getaway

But can I be a real wuss(and oyabaka), and admit that on the train ride home, I was soooooooooooooo lonely - it didn't feel right just being me on the train, without having to entertain a 1 yo with random songs, or pulling out more snacks etc. I missed K. We have been lazing around all day today, as she wouldn't leave me alone most of the morning, I think she missed me too (haha).

Gari-gari-kun (it's an ice block):
I am eating a cola flavoured one as I write this. Yum!
J always says to get one from the bottom of the freezer because they are the lucky ones. They have had this competition going with gari-gari-kun for like the last 30years or something that you can win a free gari-gari-kun if you get the lucky one, with "winner" on the stick. We got a winner the other day, actually, but that was when J picked it. The last several we have eaten (ok, it is our summer addiction for this year) I picked out of the freezer, and I have no luck whatsoever so they have all been losers. Oh well. Guess it just means I have to buy more!

I've decided

Today is going to be the day that I de-clutter.And I am putting it out there in blog land as motivation for me to actually do something rather than procrastinate the whole day away. (Yes, I realise I am already procrastinating by blogging about something I am yet to do, but it is a start, surely).
There are basically 4 areas that I want to de-clutter: the dining table, around the phone, the genkan and around the TV. Does't sound like much, but if you could see my house....well, let's just say that I have been secretly taking lessons from Granny K.
I hope to report back with a de-cluttered life (or bench space at least) at the end of the day.
But first, a R-chan needs a walk (my 2nd procrastination, and it is still only 8:30am)

nudy run

I am giddy with excitement - they are finally cleaning the staircase! It is worse than disgusting, a layer of dust about 20cm thick adorning it. The guy cleaning it has been sneezing for the last 15minutes! I guess the staircase gets the same status as the gravesites, only being cleaned once a year for obon.

Am actually so excited I am gonna do a nudy run up and down the stairs once they finish. Thank goodness I didn't ever get around to cleaning the stairs myself (gee would I be mighty pissed off about now if i did!), OR writing that "anonymous" letter to the landlords saying "Please clean the stairs, signed, your tenants （住居者一同）"

I've got gas

I was just about to ring the gas company to abuse them, after finding a postcard in the letter box today reminding me to pay for the last 2 months worth of gas bills. I was going to abuse them and say "but how can I pay when I never got the bills in the first place"....luckily I did a quick flick through the bills folder before I rang them. I found not only 2 outstanding gas bills, but also an electricity bill just waiting for it's turn too. Oops. I thought it was strange that I didn't have to pay many bills last month - turns out it was only coz I was hiding the unpaid bills in amongst the paid ones. Must have been when I was overzealously cleaning for my 2 visitors. haha.

And I was telling J that he was loosing it (after the key incident last weekend). I need to be more on-the-ball myself, it seems - and more careful with sorting the mail (flash back to the Losing Kei saga too!!) How long can you blame it all on mummy-brain again?

T does Tokyo, again

am "feverently"(yeh right!) trying to clean the "house"(yeh, mouse-house) before friends arrive from home tomorrow. I went to primary school, high school and university with C. Her and the hubster, L, are stopping over in Tokyo for a week before heading off to the UK and Europe for I think 6 weeks or so of travel! Cool hey. And I am really glad that people are now stopping over in Tokyo to visit. We have had so many visitors the last 2 or so years, that I have pretty much got a "T shows you the highlights of Tokyo" package tour all worked out - taking in a Sumidagawa river cruise departing from Hama Rikyu gardens, where we try green tea, to Asakusa; Meiji Shrine and Harajuku; Tokyo Metropolitan Buildings or Tokyo Tower, etc etc. Even have a few good restaurants up my sleeve to show off the real Japanese cuisine (you know, Okonomiyaki, Sushi-train, Yaki-tori and of course an Izakaya and some ramen joints thrown in there too for good luck)

We will head out tomorrow night to pick them up from Narita (takes about 1.5hours?) around 8pm them arrive I think. So will be bathing and feeding K and walking R before we leave. In the meantime, I really need to stop procrastinating (double yeh-right) and get this place organised.......or at least throw everything hastily into the cupboards out of sight!

Yes, will get onto that - after I polish off this last oreo, lol.