忘年会 in Gunma

Although we went last weekend, I never got around to finishing the post. Better late than never, I guess.

Last Saturday we left home around 11am, stopped off for lunch at くら寿司 then headed down the 関越 to Gunma for an end of the year party, staying overnight at a ryokan, with J's friends from when he was on working holiday in NZ. We catch up with these guys several times a year, I guess they are like his "group of friends".

Anyway, Y picked out the ryokan, a place called ひがきホテル at 水上（みなかみ).
It even had a pool in the gardens, pity it wasn't heated...

Apparently Minakami is a pretty well known onsen town. Unfortunately it poured raining most of the way there, so even though we got there at 3pm, we just checked straight into the hotel and stayed in the rest of the day. A bit of a chat, some ocha and snacks with the others, then a dip in the onsen before dinner. The onsen was pretty hot - K and I sat in the "tepid bath". I attempted to go outside to the 露天風呂 but K wouldn't be in it - "too cold" she said, lol. There was still no snow around anywhere, so it couldn't have been *that* cold outside!?!

Dinner was served in a private room, with little trays for each of us set up. K ate a bit, then played with H-chan 一応仲良し....well, there was only tears once in the night, when a fight broke out over the swinging door, and who could hide behind it. After dinner K and I pretty much fell straight asleep, while J and the rest partied on in the part-ay room nextdoor until 1am.

The next morning we had a lateish breakfast at 8am, then J and K went for an　朝風呂 before checkout. We stopped by the 道の駅 and picked up some veges, went for a walk to a bridge that goes over a part if the river that feeds the 利根川,
and they use for rafting, and then had some lunch at a soba joint(そば処　角弥) where the guys shared a 5人前 between three of them....
I think they did a good job!

I enjoyed the vege tempura with zaru soba for 1250yen (K ate most of my soba), and J had the 舞茸tempura with zaru soba,　大盛り for 1500yen.

Then we all drove to our respective homes, with a quick Tulleys stop at 高坂SA on the way home...I tried the tiamisu latte, which was lovely and creamy, but made me feel a bit sick afterwards.

yikes

I am having a bad day of it I think. Nothing major, just little things like, so far this morning I have:

stood in front of the wrong elevator while the other one opened and shut and left without me

when going to get out of the carpark - forgot I had to put ticket in to open the boom gate, so drove car right up the left side to make a big turn, only to have to stop the car, put it in park, with park break, wind down the window AND open the door to put the carparking ticket in.

then I tried to drive out with the car still in "park".

then I realised I had come the wrong exit anyway

got stuck in traffic trying to get back to the road I needed to get to

basically slammed on the breaks to stop at a GREEN light. Granted, it was one of those stupid Japanese lights that has a green straight ahead arrow, with a big round red light above it, so I am giving myself the benefit of the doubt for that one, lol And there were no cars behind me, thank goodness.

mounted the kerb going through the Maccas drive thru (thought a choc mcshake and cheeseburger would "fix" me, I know, I know, was gonna be "good".....no more junky food from tomorrow, I promise, lol)

ok, so it is all basically car related things. makes me think maybe I just shouldn't be driving!!

I had a good sleep last night, first time in a while. I have been having trouble sleeping, tossing and turning trying to get comfy. Lying on one side on the futons was making my legs ache. So last night it was back to the bed, with the nice comfy matress, but less room for us to sleep - futons give us more room to "breath" and escape from K's relentless kicking during the night. I set up a a side-car type bed for K on the side of our bed. It is too cold to be sleeping in different rooms, sleeping together keeps us all warmer, esp K who ALWAYS kicks off the blankets. I bought her a sleeping bag, but she won't wear it, actually, she has started taking her p.j.pants off at night too, which I think she got from J, who sleeps in just undies. Anyways, I have to keep covering her all night too so she doesn't freeze!
Have also been a bit off in general the last few days - tummy is crampy and I haven't had much of an appetite at all. I think I am gonna have a cruisy afternoon, bugger the housework, am gonna put on my uniqlo room pants and read magazines while K naps.

birthday cards

I have been searching for 3 days now for a b'day card for my nephew. He will turn 13 in 10 days, and I have to get the card off to him soon or else it will be arriving with the Xmas post. But I am having a lot of trouble actually finding a card. Just a simple happy birthday card, even. I have had troubles in the past with this too, and even went through a stage of buying up when back in Aus, but this time I am cardless. I know that places like Loft and proper stationary stores have cards, but I haven't been near any of those sort of shops in the last few days - I have been supermarket and 100yen and don-quiote type shopping. Even that takes up all my mornings, and by the time I get home it is nap time, then dinner prep time.....

To get to a store that will possibly have a card involves a trip most likely by train to the big department stores. Not my idea of fun! So I was hoping to find somehting suitable along the way, but nope. Even the 100yen shop(s) have been hopelessly card-less (unless I want to send him a Xmas card instead, lol) So I am wondering if we just make our own card to send. K has done some drawings for him, maybe we could print off a card. I just wish it was as easy as stopping by the paper shop and picking up a card, like it is at home.

*sigh* Must be having a "wishing I was home" moment.

Expat Express

A few weeks ago I was complaining about not having any clothes to wear, and asked for suggestions on how to order from o/s. It started out with me wanting some maternity clothes, so I looked on "motherhood" and while they ship internationally, the shipping cost is determined by the cost of the clothes you buy, so up to $100 costs $55 to ship. We have also bought stuff from REI in the past, and they have the same shipping pricing policy. The only problem with REI is that they wont ship certain brands to Japan. This is probably because the retail price in the US is often half if not less what you pay in Japan for EXACTLY the same items.

Anyway, Illahee suggested Expat Express (thanks!), so I tried them out, and I have to say that I was pretty impressed. You do all your online shopping as normal, pay by your own credit card, and get the items shipped to their US address. You can buy from as many stores as you want, Expat Express will re-pack everything into one box and send it to you in Japan, with the shipping price based on WEIGHT.

This time I bought from Old Navy, Motherhood (cheap and comfortable maternity tees and hoodies, and some cute long sleeved shirts for K) and also from REI (3 pairs of shoes!!!, one for me, 2 for J, and some camping equipment for J). I also ordered a pair of room pants for me, but not knowing American sizes, I messed up and ordered way too big. But I guess that is the risk of buying online. The shirts all fit perfectly, and shoes, I already had the same shoes so just ordered the same sizes and no problems there.

Expat Express charged a flat rate of $15 for each order, then $1 extra for every item over 10items, so for 20 items, we payed $26 handling. The shipping was a mere $47.87, so I think it worked out pretty cheap! We had to pay the customs fees when the box arrived, as COD to the shipping company, which was a bit of a bummer (as sometimes in the past, it has been hit and miss, and we have gotten away without having to pay these fees in some cases) but it was only 10% of the entire order, which I think still worked out cheaper than if we had have tried to buy through each store individually.

If you are looking at buying a few different things, from different shops, I would recommend Expat Express. From the time I ordered until everything arrived only took 2 weeks - a week or so for each shop to send to the US address, then as soon as the last item had arrived, Expat Express shipped it out to us straight away, and it was here in 6 days.

All in all a happy shopping experience! I can see my credit card getting a work out in the future like this...

chocolate, mikan and rugs

I seem to have gotten over my ridiculous cravings, and am now simply craving chocolate, so guess I am back to being usual (not pregnant usual, just T-usual!). It kinda sucks though, cause I bought up lots of salty chippy type stuff, and we still have it left over, but no choc in the house (for obvious reasons - if it is here, it won't be here for long!)

Another weekend of shopping for house stuff. Sat was kinda quiet, PIL arrived in the afternoon with a box of mikan for us (yay) although I was kinda disappointed as they are to Japanese taste - i.e. really sweet. I like a bit of すっぱい in my mikan. Still hoffing them down though - gotta get that vitamin C into me! (speaking of which, just remembered must take my pre-natals....better do that now)

****shudder*****
why do they make the tablets so freakin' big?

So anyway, we ended up going to the new Chinese place down the road for dinner with PIL on Sat night, but it was quite a disappointment. Very small servings (even for Chinese) and expensive, and average taste. We won't be going back. (Or taking PIL back, as I couldn't stand another night of them complaining over the taste of the food, hehe)

Sunday we headed to a friend's house to drop off our old fridge. Then we went to a shopping mall close by - I know, what were we thinking, on a long weekend??? but it wasn't *too* maniac. I suggested that J should look for some shoes, as he has no casual shoes to wear out, only his bright blue running shoes - his other ones have a dirty big hole in them apparently. But he didn't find any he liked. In the end, we had maccas for lunch (J wanted to try the bacon quarter pounder and had a voucher for the set for 500yen) and bought a butter case from Loft then came home (via another sports shop looking for shoes, and a home centre where we bought a bath mat in turquoise blue, K's colour choice, and more brick blocks for the garden.) Wanted to go to sushi-ro for dinner, but K cracked a wobbly in the car (wouldn't keep her arms in the car seat) so I said either she put her arms in or we go home - we came home, and ate ramen for dinner.

Today was a morning trip out to Ikea to return our beloved stripey rug.....
I was talking to my mum recently about how my allergies seem to have gotten worse again recently, and how the rug still sheds a lot, even after a month. I expected it would shed a bit to start with, but when we had J's friends over the other night, I actually vacuumed once as some of them were out of the room, then again in the morning and there was still fluff everywhere from the rug!! I have to empty the vacuum after every time too. I also talked to my brother last weekend, who actually has a rug washing business, and he said that some wool rugs will just continue to shed for their life, it might have just been a bad lot or even just unlucky with that rug. But he reckoned that it would never stop shedding, and we should get rid of it. J wasn't so keen, he didn't think they would take it back, esp after we had used it for the month, but they hardly even questioned it. Thank you Ikea! I am sad to see it leave, as I really think it was the perfect colour/shape/ design for the living room, but I just couldn't have put up with the shedding anymore. We will look around now for a synthetic rug instead, I guess.

K and I are heading out for a playdate tomorrow morning - will catch the train, but will wear our masks, as I am still paranoid about catching the (swine)flu, esp since I can't even get a vaccination.

so much to tell you......

The shift button (that I usually push with my right hand pinky) seems to be playing up, not working half the time and it is pissing me off. I can't manage to switch my (bad) typing style to accommodate using the left hand side shift button. So I am retyping almost everything I type anyway.

I got a shock when I jumped on the scales last night....in preparation for today's doc appt, thought I should pre-weigh just so I wouldn't be surprised when the docs started ripping into me for putting on too much this time. But when the scales were showing that I had put on 3.9kg ALREADY (at week 16!) I was flabbergasted! With K, at around this time, I had put on about 1kg. BIG difference. No wonder I am feeling the need for maternity clothes this time, as I am already so big!
Anyway, a re-weigh in this morning before leaving the house, and I was only up 2.9kg - so it MUST have been the yaki-buta restaurant dinner that we had last night that still hadn't been digested.

Then, when I got to the docs, what would you know, the scales read EVEN LESS again, and I was only showing a 2.1kg weight gain! woo-hoo. Gotta love scales that work the right way for ya! Although it is double the weight gain I had when pregnant with K (so far) I am soooooooooo 納得 of it, because I know I have been indulging, what with french macaroons and chocolates, almost daily butter and french stick eating marathons and the cravings for salty potato chips and maccas.....I was always gonna gain more. I am surprised that it hasn't ballooned out more, ttytt. Now I just gotta put my policeman hat on and not forget that just because I haven't ballooned yet, it does not give me license to keep eating the way I am going. (Although I just had a hot milo, and I am going to have some corn chips tonight after I finish this, because I do feel like it, lol). Healthy eating starts tomorrow!!

Week 16+6days check up. TJ-baby is fine, genki, ぐ～　ぱ～ing and stretching legs when on ultrasound. This time the doc checked out baby's stomach other internal organs and said all are growing normally so no problems there. Baby's head is big, measuring in at that of a 17~18week old in-utero, but doc said that there is 個人差, and the standard measurements are for Japanese babies anyway, so my foreign-blooded baby is sure to be bigger. _(rolls eyes) They said that with K all the way through the pregnancy too, and she was the 2nd smallest in the nursery when she was born, but hey.....My sister and brother were both born small, my sister's three kids were all born small (and early) and K was early and small too. I think it does run in the family, but still, it will be interesting to see what happens this time.
(FWIW, I was born on time and normal weight - how plain, lol)

We had 8 or so of J's friend's over (Japanese people he met when on working holiday in NZ many moons ago) for a housewarming party Saturday night. We snacked on chips, dips, olives, cheeses, salami, and pate (well, I didn't have the last 3) and then had do-it-yourself tacos. It was a really good night! Hopefully next year when it warms up and the grass is ready out the back, we can have some bbq parties too.

We got a new breadmaker!! It was a housewarming present from these ↑ guests. J tried it out straight away on Saturday night, and we had fresh bread at about 9pm, haha. It was sooooooooo yummy. Now I am gonna get some whole wheat and make some even yummier bread! I am so excited because I had wanted a breadmaker for ages, and J's friends remembered I had said that, so it was a really great present. Now the breadmaker is sitting on the shelf beside the rice cooker. Talk about merging of cultures, haha.

and now wouldn't you know it, the whole time I have been writing this post, the shift button on the right has worked fine. It must have been a rogue corn chip crumb or something lodged in there that worked it's way out.

K and I are going for our seasonal flu jabs tomorrow.
There is still no talk about when the swine flu jabs will become available here. My ob. is offering them only to 30week+ pregnant women, as they don't have enough vaccinations available. The other clinics I have tried are still unsure when they will even get the vaccines. It is crazy. Another friend just emailed to say that her daughter has the flu - that is now 3 people I know that have been swined. I am worried that by the time the vaccine becomes available, it will be too late. I am trying to be vigilant with hand washing, gurgling (?)うがい for me and K. And avoiding public transport as much as possible.....but we can't be holed up in the house the whole winter, K needs to get out and play with kids at playgroup, etc. Just hope we can somehow stay swine-free!

I am trying hard to get our new budget/家計簿 working, but it is hard when we have so much stuff to buy for the place. It seems every day we think of things we need to make our life 快適. simple things like towel rails in the kitchen, or cleaning products, or condiments.....stuff that needed to be bought anyway, but still it all adds up when you buy it at once!!! And then this month's electricity bill came in today - wowza. Of course there are more places to use electricity in a house than a 2room apt, but still, it was a shock! The 床暖房 and oil heater we have been using a lot of also adds up. I guess we just have to work our way through things and find the places that we are using up the electricity and then try to 節約 from there. And since everything is all-denka, it is probably more too. Anyway, that is (one of) my aims for the next few months, to try to get the electricity bill down, by cutting down on 無駄使い around the house. They say that even pulling appliances out of the wall over night/when not in use (for e.g. the modem and internet connection) can make a difference too. 頑張ります。

K has been a bit of a pain recently - serious tanty hell going on. This morning there were tears at the breakfast table, I am still not sure why, but it didn't help that we had to be out of the house before 8:30 to get to my docs appt. I was so close to having to throw a half dressed, unfed kid into the car, but she managed to go to the toilet and get dressed just in time to make it! But yeah, some serious terrible 2s going on. Oh, and the major thing at the moment, is her inability to share. No, it is really more of a "pick up everything in the room and hold it to her chest saying it's mine" whenever there are other kids around. Or even better, snatching from THEM. I cannot work out how to teach her to share. It has gotten bad the last month or 2. If we keep going, I am worried that no mums are gonna let us play with them!!!

ok, I have had enough of babbling now. If anyone is still reading, お疲れ様！ I am going to crack open a mitsuya cider and throw some corn chips in a bowl and vege in front of the tv. Remember - healthy eating starts TOMORROW!

LA Gear

I had a giggle to myself yesterday morning on our walk with R (after stopping at Forest for the SAME bread again, and an anpanman custard roll for K, via the local grocers, where we got some fresh supplies for dinner, and before we stopped at the post office to FINALLY post a present I got in Aus for a friend in Oita*)I saw a man wearing an L.A. Gear** jacket. well, it had that written on it - I guess it doesn't mean it was the real McCoy..actually come to think of it, the design was a bit ダサい but still, it made me have a scary flashback to when I was in early high school, and I had an LA Gear watch. I am pretty sure it was pink. Don't know how I got it (my mum would never buy something that expensive, so it might have been from the flea markets or something) but it was my pride and joy for a while.

I always thought that I was never really a "brand-name" type girl. Never been interested in the Louis' or Chanels of the world. But after remembering about my LA Gear watch, I started thinking about all the other fads and name brands I went (and stil am going) through:

the Rusty stage. It was my first ever surf shirt. It was purple with a white and blue raised up Rusty "R" emblem on the back and I loved it. It took me so much courage to walk into the Brother's Neilson surfshop in the city (in the mall I think it was) and buy it! And at something like $55, more than 18years ago, it was a BIG purchase for a part time supermarket check-out chick like me.

the Oakley stage. Again, the "O" mark. I think it was a white t-shirt with the emblem in black, it may have been a rip-off from the markets, though. I still like Oakley stuff - and they are def. my favourite brand of sunnies.

the Nike stage. I remember my first Nikes too. Not what they looked like, but the excitement in buying them at footlocker, again probably in the city, in the Myer centre. I was super excited when I got to Japan and found Nike shoes at such reasonable prices - sometimes half of what we would pay in Australia (depending on exchange rate, of course). Nike are still my preferred running shoes - I haven't had a pair for a while tho ---no running = no need.
Also lurve the Nike outlets here in Japan (like at Gotemba outlet malls). Always get cool tees or 3/4 pants there. Once I am post-baby I plan on hitting them again for some summer gear next year - gives me a reason to get back in shape after tj-baby arrives! Oh, and I also have a bright pink nike hoodie that I love. Yep, am still a fan of nikes, even if I don't "JUST DO IT" that often anymore. (running, that is)

the Salamon stage. I am in this now. Again, it is shoes. Sport shoes for the oh-so-non-sporty me. But I do love these shoes. They have the quick lacing system - I haven't actually tied up a pair of shoe laces in years!! They are supposedly trail running shoes, (which, as an aside, I would love to get into one day, maybe next year....?) but I basically wear them around town, they are soooo comfortable.

So not quite the name brand fashion statements of the modern world, but they keep me happy!

*sorry Gaijin Wife, the present is not for you, it is for my friend, little Junko - you remember her? she has a son now, about 9months old, but he is too big/heavy for her to 抱っこ, lol.
** if anyone is interested in the rise and fall and return of LA Gear, check this out for a brief history lesson!

a few good things

found K's 母子手帳! Had put it in a very safe place, in the wardrobe underneath everything else, haha. At least it is found, now I can look into the vaccinations that she still needs. Oh, that calls for another trip to city hall.....damn it.

found K's winter clothes! in the same wardrobe! This time they were up on the top shelf, but I couldn't get them down. We cleaned out said wardrobe last night so that is why everything is coming out of the woodworks. It now means that I don't have to buy up all the winter clothes for K, as there are still heaps she can fit into (were too big last year) and also found winter pjs I was about to buy more of. Looks like we can hold off on a big shopping trip for a while yet.

stopped by Costcos on the way home yesterday, and bought a turkey!! A whole one. AND (here is the best part) it actually fits in the freezer!! Ok, it is one of the smaller ones, but still, it will also fit in the oven too. Too much excitement. Now I just have to work out what to do with it - have never cooked a whole bird before, hehe.

and K was a really good girl at costcos yesterday. It is the first time in a while that she has been good while out, and it definaltey made the day a lot more enjoyable for all of us.

am super impressed with our fridge. Not only did the turkey fit in the freezer, but so did 3kg of beef mince (we are having a taco party this weekend for J's mates), 1.5kg of pork, about 5 干物 fish (big ones) and all the other stuff I had already in the freezer. AND the costco pizza box fit into the fridge, just like that!! And we can shut the door, lol! Am loving having a bigger fridge.

mikan. We bought 2 big bags while down at the besso over the weekend. And we are all eating them like crazy. I am glad I finally got a craving for something that is healthy. My fingers are starting to go orange, though.....

K can peel the mikan by herself. I think that is cool!

also brought back our doonas and blankets, that were in storage at the PIL's. It has been nice enough weather to wash and hang them out today, so am expecting a toasty sleep for all of us tonight (as opposed to the three of us fighting for the one single doona and single blanket!)

and finally, I have piles of ironing to do, all of J's workshirts. And this is good becau--------------se......... it means I get to sit in front of the computer and watch some english tv shows. I sense a bit of GA viewing this afternoon!

baby fingers, or just gas??

The last couple of nights after everyone has gone to bed, and of course I am still up, lying on the sofa being little miss insomniac, I have had the feeling that I have felt tj-baby moving! Which is crazy, right, coz am still only 14weeks, coming into 15,(tho not impossible, I realise many people feel the baby earlier the 2nd pregnancy), granted, but still... With K I never felt anything until about 18weeks, and then it was the "bubbles" or "tickling of the fingertips from the inside" type of feelings at first. This time, I seem to feel actual baby movements, you know, rolls, jumps, line dancing, etc. Truthfully, I think it is just lots of late night gas action (how romantic) but still I like to sit here on the sofa late at night and pretend that it is baby, hehe. Who knows, it may be!

Anyway, I am feeling less "bleuch" after my last post - I think I was just in a downer over no clothes fitting, having a few chuck-ups, still having headaches (trying to keep up water is helping) and whatever. And my effort to keep meal servings to enough for one and one-in-the-oven only, as opposed to enough for a stable of sumo wrestlers seems to be helping out too. My tiredness remains, but I do indulge in wherever possible daily naps with K, which then only seem to make me unable to get to sleep at a reasonable time at night, but without them, I am a mess, so am gonna stick to this style for a while. I was never one to go to bed early anyway.

Today is Friday - we had a busy week, and the house has suffered for it. Haven't really been home since Tuesday, when the house was pretty immaculate due to PIL visit. Wed we drove out to visit a friend about 40mins away, and yesterday was playgroup. Also haven't been to supermarket all week, so stocks are low. This morning we will walk down to big train station and shop, bank, post office ourselves crazy.

Just remembered that Friday is also bin day - better get our 燃えるごみ out there before we miss the boat, er, truck. It comes only 2 times a week, Mon and Fri. Before we moved it came 3 times a week - one less pick up makes such a difference! Maybe we should just get a wheelie bin? Although it is the plastic rubbish that causes more headache - they only come Thursdays for that, and by then we have a huge garbage bag full! I miss our old place where we didn't have to even separate plastics from other rubbish....

Heading down to PIL holiday house this weekend, mainly to bring back all the winter stuff that, in our wisdom in moving during summer, took down there as we wouldn't need it for a while......and then the cold hits, and we are stuck with one single bed sized doona and one single bed sized blanket for three of us! Cold tootsies! Also wanna bring back the coffee machine, some plates etc so that when we have our housewarming next weekend we will be able to entertain properly.

scrubbing the decks

literally.

PIl are over today - well, only FIL actually. I thought they were both coming, but MIL had some other 用事. We haven't seen them since getting back from Oz, oh well. So FIL is helping J in the backyard, landscaping, and I have just scrubbed the front balcony. Have never done that before, always having lived in rental places, the balconies are so crappy to start with that it was never even worth going out on them, let alone trying to get 50years of crud off them. But of course, in your own home things are different (and the housework list just keeps on getting longer, it seems!!) so after all the wind and rain the last couple of days, the balconies are looking worse for wear, so out with the scrubbing brush (on a long handle). Am taking a slight reprieve after the living room balcony, before I do the bedroom balcony - it is hard work, and I am feeling all ぽかぽか despite it having turned cool yesterday.

So I am at 14weeks at the moment, but I have to say that I think I am not as feeling as good overall this pregnancy as I was when with K. I seem to be in a constant state of headache, crampy, which I am thinking is round ligament pain (well, that is what google came up with anyway) and just blah, though not actually nauseous. Although, in a strange twist of events, I actually threw up for the first time ever with morning sickness on Sunday morning.....as we were out at home centres again looking for kitchen cabinets. K had to go to the toilet, and as soon as I got there, I had to hug the porcelain bowl. I guess at least the timing was good. I hadn't been feeling well all morning, sitting down and resting on various lounges, dining chairs etc in the furniture shop, but still the throwing up part did take me by surprise.

And, thanks to my husband being so lovely and bringing back yummy macaroons and chocolates from his business trips, I have put on a bit too much weight the past 2 weeks. I think 2kg - gasp!! I hadn't put any weight on at 12weeks, so overall it is not that bad, but I know that 2kg in 2 weeks is not the best - and I have to curb that before I explode! Generally my body is pretty good at letting me know when I have stepped over the line, before I get too far out of control. So I am going to hide the (very few) remaining chocolates and try to eat more healthily. I have also been lazy about food the last couple of weeks too, what with J away, and well, lots of other excuses I am sure, hehe. Now we have the bigger fridge, I am slowly building up stock, so hopefully I can start being more creative and healthy in cooking meals from now on too, and stop relying on fall-backs.

Okay, feeling somewhat refreshed, so going upstairs to do some more deck-scrubbing.