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.

any suggestions?

SIMWPFWTMTOHH

(Slightly Insomniac Married White Pregnant Female
With Too Much Time On Her Hands)

seeks the following:

a cool toilet mat set for downstairs toilet, and funky bathroom mat set for upstairs bathroom and toilet (all in one). No Hello Kitty or Disney, flowers, pastels or shades of brown, thanks.

maternity clothes (mainly tops) that don't look like potato sacks.Oh, and don't cost a fortune. No tunics, no tartan, and no browns.

kitchen storage unit/cabinet/bench top. White, 120cm wide, 47cm~50cm depth.

don't even get me started on finding a bed frame.......

Any suggestions on where to look are welcome. Shimachu, Rooms Taishodo, Homes, Ikea, Nissen and Nitori are just not showing me the goods.

We spent the WHOLE day at home centres trying to find a kitchen cabinet that would fit in the space beside the fridge. As it is where the power point is, it needs to house all the kitchen electric goods, like the microwave-oven, rice cooker (should have one of those pull out shelves for this), and coffee machine, etc, so it needs to be at least 47cm in depth, so the oven doesn't hang off the edge! All the ones we saw were either the right colour, but wrong width, or the right colour, right width, but wrong depth, or the right colour, right width, right depth, but no pull out slidey shelf for rice cooker to sit on. Aaaarrrggghhh. Is going custom made really out of our budget??? lol.

In the end, we came home with impulse buy cushions and a throw rug for the lounge - 7000yen spent only so we would save 260yen on parking and get an hour free for having bought something, lol! At least it was a quick and painless decision, unlike the epics we are having trying to decide on furniture (and bathroom mats). Maybe sometimes it is better just to rip the bandaid off in one quick yank and get it over and done with.

As for maternity clothes, I somehow managed to get away without buying much when pregnant with K, basically because the only time I went out of the house was to take R for walks, so didn't worry too much about how I looked. This time I have playgroups and playdates to think about, so would like to get a few items to tide me over. I bought some jeans back in Oz, and have some other pants from last time, but am in dire need of tops - I seem to be exploding at an exponential rate this pregnancy, and all normal tops are being stretched to breaking point already. Also some comfy around the house trackie pants that don't cut into my bump would be nice! I have been looking at US sites, but few of them post international...and even if they do, the shipping costs are pretty high - I don't know if I can justify paying so much for shipping such cheap clothes, that I will only wear for a few months anyway!?!? Maybe if money wasn't a consideration, but hey, we just put ourselves into 35years of loan repayment hell, who am I kidding, money is so not growing on trees in this neighbourhood!

So the search continues - slowly but surely we will get the house in order. I am just getting really sick of furniture hunting and home centres about now. And despite coming home absolutely slaughtered from a whole day of being on my feet, yet again I find myself up after midnight, with a headache, and unable to think about sleep....... and the skating is on in the background.

I may be up for a while longer yet.

what a floosie

am quite pissed off today. Spent the morning ringing around doctors (for kiddies and preggo people) trying to find somewhere that offers the influenza shots. apparently I am too late, and every where is FULLY BOOKED. It would have been nice of the clinic I am going to (and paid my deposit too, to make sure I can give birth there) to tell me when I asked about piggy flu vaccinations to have told me that I could have booked the seasonal flu shot then. Or even if they had some information about it around the clinic. But I swear there was no info anywhere. The lady behind the desk only said that I should ring up to find out when piggy flu is being offered. So I waited until now, and of course they still don't even know when they are going to start those vaccinations. So I rang the 耳鼻科 down the road (the one I made an appointment at when K shoved two rubber bands, the small ones we use as hair bands, up her nose while having a good pick on Tuesday. I cancelled the appt in the end as J managed to get her to blow her nose enough to bring the bright pink and bright yellow hair bands down her nasal cavity far enough to grab them with the tweezers). They are taking bookings, but for 2 weeks in advance, on an automated telephone number. When I rang this morning about 9:20am (after having spoken to the lady on the regular phone number first) bookings were already full for two weeks from today. Bugger. I am gonna have to get in before 9am by the looks of it. So I tried the big general hospital up the road too - all the vaccinations for kids are finished already. I asked the lady what the hell I am supposed to do - I have tried several doctors and they are all saying the same thing - she put me through to a doctor or nurse who told me that to "limit outings to short periods of time, use a kid's facemask, avoid mixing with other kids" yaddih-yaddih-yaddah. I meant where the hell can I get the vaccination? I was almost gonna start on a rant "what, so just because we recently moved and I have no idea where the f*")Dng hospitals are around here, and because I don't know the whole procedure for booking 50months in advance for the vaccinations, do we have to miss out and now all die from bloody influenza???" But I bit my tongue.

What I don't understand is how the vaccines have all "run out" already. We are talking about seasonal flu shots here! Another bad for me for not being on top of it, right?!?

Big Sigh, end rant.
I guess we just try again tomorrow to book for 2 weeks in advance. Or keep going further afield to try find some place that will inject us!!

bread and water

I don't think I have ever had so much trouble finding a bread shop as I have around here.

No, wait.

I have found SEVERAL bread shops, all literally within 5 mins walk (different directions, though, of course!) I just cannot for the life of me work out how to get bread from them!!!!

It really all started with J's comment that he wanted to try the butter her brought back from France with a baguette or french stick. I almost bought one yesterday at the bakery in Ito-yokado, but they were 320yen, which I figured would be over the top for a probably dissapointing bread. So I thought of the other shops around:

"Baby Leaf", heading towards the next train station, seems to have erradic opening hours. I still can't work out when they are open. Yesterday as driving past on way home from the supermarket (in the pouring rain) I saw them open so dropped in, at about 11:38am, thinking I could pick something up for lunch. There was about 4 different types of bread available. ONLY. Bought a tuna roll for me (it was yummy, haven't had one for ages) and a custard bread for K, in the shape of a rabbit, which obviously went down well! I asked if they make french sticks, and they said they would be ready after 12noon. So I made a point to go there today, only to find the store closed. Doh!

So I headed instead to "Forest" the bread shop at the bottom of the hill, near the primary school, which was recommended by our neighbour, who was kind enough to let me know that they are closed Sun and Mon. They also don't open until, well, not sure when, but it is definately after 10am as I have been past several times and never seen it open. i thought I would take a chance, and was pleasantly surprised to find it open (and a 6-7space car park facility there!!) So I was obviously excited when I walked in the door.....but was quickly brought down with a thud - there was about 3 different types of bread left (all the others had sold out already!! wtf?? at noon??) Bought a curry-pan for myself as was starving by this time and needed something, and a plain custard bread for K, as well as a mini-sausage in a roll bread for K. I asked them if they make french bread (I am craving it something crazy!!) and they said "yes! at 1pm on Saturday." Once a freakin' week????????? You have got to be kidding me?

On the way home, I detoured via "Rascal" the bread shop on the main road heading towards Gyomu Supa and Sotetsu Rosen supermarkets. There was no where to park, and it was the first time I had seen it open, and, well, it didn't look that inviting (read: clean)

I was almost going to try the other bread shop I tried last week (can't remember the name), which is down past the 100yen Lawson, but decided it was time to give up for today.

How hard is it to get bread? Obviously very high on the too-hard-for-me scale at the moment.

I soooooooo can't wait till I get my home breadmaker!

diamonds are a girl's best friend...

especially when they *do* show up!
I found the missing diamond ring last night. yay. It was not where I thought I saw it last, which now gives me hope for finding the 母子手帳. It was in the same drawer, but not in my jewellery case, but put away safely in it's own jewellery box. I have put my engagement ring now into it's original box, waiting to take it back to the place we had it made so they can fix the claw. I feel better it being off my finger in case the stone comes loose, and I also feel secure in the fact that I will not lose the engagement ring asI have now blogged about where I put it, lol.

Today is another day of rain, rain, rain. 100% chance of rain today - they were right! I was hoping to go down to the main station area and get some library books, halloween related stuff from 100yen shop and do some grocery shopping for dinner tonight, but will not be venturing out in this rain. So will probably have to drive down to a supermarket. Since J brought back the French butter, he tried it out on toast this morning, but said he couldn't taste much difference, and needs to try it on a french stick or baguette, so I am going to get one for tonight. Which means dinner will be something that goes with bread....hmmmm. Still thinking what to do there.

As for the bringing in of cheese, butter and salami....well, it was all very low tech. J bought it at the supermarket just before he was heading to the airport, and put it in those silver coolers-type bags but with no dry ice or anything, just as is, as he put it into his suitcase. Not the best way to transport cool items, I would say, but hey. Lulu, I have no suggestions on what to do for sausages, as you don't want it to stand out that you have them and get them taken off you, right? My parents once brought over prawns - frozen, and put in one of those foam eskies with dry ice in it, sealed and then put inside another foam esky and again sealed with tape and I think wrapped in plastic (flash-backs to "Northern Exposure", hehe) too. But this was obviously questioned when coming through quarantine, but could get through as it was not a prohibited item. Do let me know if your mum does manage to smuggle sausages in to you - it would be a big coup for Aussies all over Japan, lol.