battle of wits

we are under attack.

the ants are marching 2 by 2, 10 by 10, possible 100 by 100 and they are heading my way.

it started a few weeks ago, just all of a sudden. a few ants here, a few there. I wiped, destroyed, made a more concious effort to keep sink area clean etc etc. But still they came. Today, I think I have made a breakthrough. I knew I was only tackling half the issue with my swipe and kill technique, but I just couldn't work out where the little buggers were coming from...... until today. I *think* I located their port of illegal entry. If I was living in a house, I could pour boiling water down and kill the enemy, but alas, living on the 2nd floor of a 3 story apartment building, well, let's just say I don't want to scorch the downstairs neighbours.
So I sprayed some vinegar/water around and in the hole, and blocked it up with enough talc powder to keep it smelling as sweet as a baby's bottom. Then wiped all the floor and bench and cupboard surfaces I have seen them in. I am waiting for them to send reinforcements and for the cowards left to come out of hiding so I can go on the attack again.

I also think I am going to have to stop singing the "ants go marching" song with K as I don't want to encourage them.

rain is my friend

It's raining again today. which is good- it means that I won't be able to find any excuses to get out of the house, and instead spend the day getting ready for our visitors K and D who arrive sunday night. They got a cheap flight on Jetstar, but have had their flight over here changed 3 times on them already... and no longer have a direct flight, but have to stopover in Cairns for 3 or 4 hours...hmmmm. makes me wonder if it is worth trying to travel with Jetstar even though they are dirt cheap.

Anyway, I have been slowly getting ready anyway- you know, getting all the washing/ironing out of the way, decluttering the living areas, and of course taste-testing the kahlua to make sure it is ok for them (I am still not sure on the last point, so will probably have to do another taste-test tonight - or even around 3pm this afternoon if I do my head in trying to clean K's pigsty tee-hee)

Just having a cuppa to start my engine then it will be all go for me today (positive reinforcement - I am hoping if I keep saying things like this, I might actually get something done!!) Tomorrow is a bbq at a friend's place (on the roof of their bldg) but it looks like rain tomorrow too, so I think K and I will flag it, but J will probably go along. Sunday I thought we might head out to the airport a bit early and check out some shopping around Makuhari - I have seen a Carrefour there (yep, just googled it and it is there, but it looks like it is part of an Aeon mall...hmmmm. I wonder if it is worth even going to??) We might also pick up some important supplies (read: muffins and meat) at Costcos too. We'll see how we go.

J has a work party tonight - they are going to a mexican joint!! He said if it is any good, he will take me there too. First I have to use up the rest of the BOX of refried beans cans we bought at Costcos last time.....tonight K and I might be having mexican at home too. Hmmm - what can I make with refried beans??? better go google that one now......

gracing the table today

yep thats bottle brush

courtesy of mil's garden, yay. btw, am liking my milk bottle for a vase look!

what can you do in 36mins?

* iron 4 and 3/4 work shirts
* watch half an episode of private practise
* put the water on to boil for a cuppa (but not get around to making it)

oh, and if you are a 2yo girl by the name of K, wake up from your nap. I did manage to get her back to sleep (which is why I am now blogging) but still - surely 36mins is too short a nap. yesterday she had none. day before she had a 45min one. hmmmm. it can't be bye-bye nap time yet PLEASE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

the best laid plans....

are usually foiled.

so much for my run this morning. I am going to list the very valid reasons why it didn't eventuate:
1) couldn't find my sports bra. obviously, can't run without it (not that there is much bounce on this body unless you count the wobbly butt. now I am thinking that I wish I had a butt bra actually for when I go running...)

2)it was raining this morning. been raining all day actually. I don't think I need to start my new regime on a rainy day - not THAT into it.

3) slept in until 8:30am. well, this needs quantifying. I was actually awake at about 6am and couldn't get back to sleep for ages, until about 7:45 when I fell into a deep trance. even had to wake K up at 8:30am - strange morning.

4) feel like shit today. but this is perhaps a bit of chicken/egg type thing where I only feel like shit because I didn't run or I didn't run beucause I feel like shit? just blah, feeling unsocial (not good on a playgroup day) and headachy. Also tired. tried to nap when we got home but only got about 20mins siesta in. K hasn't napped today. bugger. am guessing she will be as bad if not worse than last night when she was all tanty-child after a 30min nap.

the rain is supposed to stick around for a bit, so I don't think my run will happen anytime soon. I wouldn't mind biking either, but my bike is in hibernation at PIL's house, where it has been since I was 8mo pregnant with K. I don't even know if the wheels still turn.

just dont talk to me first thing in the morning

I am totally not a morning person. never have been.

when I was at high school/uni and lived downstairs under the kitchen we had a special wake up routine every morning because my alarm would go off, and I would keep hitting snooze (I am one of those people that can hit the snooze button for over an hour) but I wouldn't get up. So mum would stomp on the kitchen floor, and my nephew would yell at me through the kitchen floor that it was 5mins after the time I had to leave home (it never was, it was just a scheme we had set up to scare me into getting up). and of course I was never happy happy joy joy in the morning. don't look at me and don't talk to me if you value your life.

of course, since K was born, the good ol'days of sleeping until 11am on the weekends are gone. Sleeping until 8am is a bonus! I should be used to it by now. but ....

cut to 27th May 2009. everyone awake around me (actually J egging K on to jump on me etc) while I try to hide under the covers. just. 5. more. minutes. sleep.
it is 9am and I am just becoming human. for some reason the last few weeks I have really been dragging myself out of bed each morning, and no matter how much I sleep I still feel lethargic. J reckons I have 5月病 which seems to have presented itself in a physical form this year, where as this time last year I was more anti-Japan and homesick. At least this time around I don't have those feelings (am actually in a "I am ok, Japan is ok" type mood at the moment, god knows why!?) and home life is good, I might have even lost a teeny bit of weight (just jumped on the scales, and yep, looks like I am down 1kg, yay! only 2 more to go until I start to feel normal again. It is wierd, even 3kgs over makes me feel blah, and all my clothes are deemed useless bcoz they just don't fit on my fat days)

just gotta get over this physical feeling of だるい。 there was a very BRIEF period of time when I would get up early in the morning (6am is early for me) and go for a bike ride before work - could only do this when friend L was pushing me to. but i would like to try to get back into some running or cycling. and if I want to do it in the morning, it would have to be before J goes to work, so maybe I need to drag myself out of bed at 6am for a morning jog.
starting tomorrow
(maybe)

what's new pussy cat?

lots of fun things, like:

* mexican night at friend's house on Sat night. we caught the train so we could 'avafew and enjoyed the yummy coronas with lime, a great accompaniment to the soft tortillas with refried beans, home made guacamole, cheese, sour cream, mince and chicken and beef mexican fillings. Ate so much but it was all so goooood! A few bottles of wine over a friendly game of taboo (how much fun is that game! thinking of buying one for when friends come over!). The kids played together well, and K didn't get to sleep until we got home, after 11:30pm, but it was a great night!

* was invited around to a newly found Japanese friend's place today for morning tea, and she even prepared lunch for us. I met her out walking R and over the past several months, we chat when we meet, and she seems really cool. Last time we met we exchanged deets, and today we met up at her house with her and her 2yo daughter and another lady (whose hubby is from the Bahamas) and her 1yo daughter. It was lots of fun, and we chatted about Japan and how cliquey it can be with mama-circles: both of the ladies today had been outed by Japanese mama-cliques at kindy or the park and think it is crazy. They were really cool and down to earth people and I hope we can meet up again soon (probably at my house next time!)

* foreign friend came over with her 2mo daughter this afternoon for a chat. Everytime I have seen baby E she has been asleep, but today I got a little cuddle out of her (yay!). so tiny and light (I am used to lugging a 12kg kid around)

* I made some anzac biccies to take today, and they turned out really nice. The leftovers are running out very quick as I cant stop eating them, though.

right, better get back to dinner prep, hubby should be ringing soon to say he is on his way home. Tonight - alfredo pasta with mushrooms, chicken, asparagus and onion, side salad.

* oh yeah, made a goya champuru two nights ago, reminiscing over okinawa. it was really yummy! I think we will be eating a lot of it this summer. The stuff we ate in okinawa was all quite bitter, so I am ok with it being a bit bitter now. actually enjoying it.

a day at home

finding it hard to drag myself out of bed the last few mornings. (although, somehow K manages to drag me out....) I think the humidity is getting to me.
We also had a big day yesterday - left home at 9am, and back about 5:30pm (sounds like a regular work day, haha) so I just managed to throw on a curry for dinner, which actually turned out to be quite yummy, since the meat was super tender (牛すじ from costcos that we had in the freezer - when we went to costcos on the w/end they said that they are not selling it anymore.....I hope it is not true! that is our curry staple meat, always turns out so tender after you boil the befathems out of it for a few hours, lol) plus we hadn't had curry for a while, so it was enjoyable, and EASY.

am trying a few new things - well, not new as in new, but new again for me:

trying to drink 2l of water a day.
-> have gotten through 2*500ml pet bottles of water the last few days. now just gotta get onto the third and 4th bottles.

trying to be cool, calm and collected
-> ha, this is a hard one. relates mostly to K. like when K won't hold my hand walking across the road (this is a rule I am not going to give in on) or when she throws a tanty in the middle of the supermarket etc etc. Trying to learn to keep my own emotions out of it and just deal with the problem in a happy happy joy joy way.
have got a LONG way to go here. baby steps, baby steps.

trying to be a good housewife - AGAIN.
-> have gotten back to the list making, just gotta do the things on the list

Well, let's see what the day brings.

well, what do you know!

I found one! GAS05E09

Just one eppy to start the day off (while K is watching her morning shows anyway)
yay!

at an impasse

I can't seem to find a free watchable version of GA S05E09 anywhere. My usual site jumps from the 2min mark to the 15min mark, and I cant get it to play properly, and another site plays episode 10 when you click on the link for episode 9. what to do? what to do?

Yes, I am up to season 5 already - wasn't it only a few weeks ago that I was crying over not being able to see season 4? lol. Well, I have been watching the grey on this site, and I just seemed to keep on clicking on the next link, then the next one, until I was halfway through season 5. I can't get enough of it!! (which also explains my lack of blogging recently, despite the two trips that I have to blog about, Okinawa and Golden Week with the PILs; as well as some real progression with K and toilet training)

Well, it's monday again, so I am gonna spend the day cleaning and spic and spanning the joint, and if it is as hot as it was yesterday (30deg!!!) then I might even get more washing done too - lots of rain last week did nothing for our post-holidays overflowing laundry basket. (unless, of course, I can find a good link for ep9 within the next few mins, in which case I will probably spend most of the day watching the rest of season 5 haha)