March 28, 2024

Thursday - Sunny and windy


My alarm went off this morning and woke me up. I made a trip downstairs and while I was there, I heard someone unlock the door. I thought F was back for a visit and prepared to say hi, but it was F’s sister. She had a reason to be there, but I didn’t find out about it until later. I find it annoying that she just comes into the house without ringing the doorbell or whatever. She was taking K to the doctor for a checkup or something. I said hi and then went back upstairs.


I got dressed and then went back to bed for a little while. I didn’t really fall asleep although I did try. 


When I got up I went downstairs and grabbed my breakfast. To be honest, I didn’t really grab it today, I made it. I had porridge again and it was lovely. 


I had a quiet afternoon today. I watched the news and some YouTube. When I went downstairs to get my lunch, I had my usual food. I came back upstairs and, you guessed it, watched another episode of Fringe. It was good!


F called a little after 5 pm to say he was on his way back. I went downstairs to start dinner and did a bit of prep before I started cooking. I also had to clean up the area around the sink as there were many things not put away. 


Tonight’s dinner was a pork stir-fry with rice, salad and spaghetti salad. Unfortunately, when I went through to the living room to check on the rice, I discovered that F had set it all up, but he hadn’t hit the start button. Oh dear! Luckily, we still had some bachelor pack rice left, so I used that instead. 


I called F down and we had a nice meal. No one had seconds which made me a little sad, but I thought the meal was good. 


I did the dishes and listened to my podcasts. When I finished, I said goodnight to K and F and went upstairs. I watched some YouTube and then at 11pm watched The Rookie. It was quite a good episode and I think they closed off the storyline of the young female cop that Nathan Fillion is training.  I also kept my hands busy while I was watching. I started a hat! I’m going to try and knit a hat using a pattern I found ages ago. I cast it on tonight, I hope that I can do some work on it over the next few weeks. My hands aren’t enjoying it as the needles are tiny, so they are cramping a bit.


F didn’t come upstairs until midnight or thereabouts. I was starting to worry about him if I’m honest! He went to bed, but he wasn’t sleeping yet. Well, he might have dropped off finally.


I’m not sure what I’ll get up to tomorrow. I’ll probably cook dinner and after that, we’ll see. I’d like to relax a bit before the weekend. 


Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow…. 




March 27, 2024

Wednesday - Sunny and warm


I woke up a couple of times this morning. F got up around 9 and said he had to go to the bank. Then he asked me to phone him. He couldn’t find his phone. I was sleeping and I didn’t have my glasses on so it was very hard to make my phone work. Finally, it did, but we couldn’t hear his phone at all. He found his phone later. It was outside! He must have dropped it when he paid the taxi last night, and then someone saw it on the road and put it on the neighbour's fence so it wouldn’t get damaged. Whew!


F went off to the bank and left me alone. I went back to sleep. Yay me. I finally dragged myself out of bed and I got dressed. F came back and was going to go to bed. I asked if he wanted to have lunch or if I should go and have my breakfast. I was okay either way!  He chose to take me out for lunch. He suggested one of the restaurants along the shore so off we drove.


And…when we got there…both of the restaurants were closed.  We drove back into Tsuruoka and went to the Grand ElSun. Unfortunately, F didn’t feel like eating, so he had coffee and nearly fell asleep. I had the grilled pork lunch. It was very nice.


After lunch, F was still feeling bad, but he very nicely agreed to drive me to the Main Post Office. I went in and was able to send my parcel quite quickly. However, I also wanted to make a deposit at the post office account, so that took ages. The bank in the post office doesn’t seem to be the most efficient place I’ve ever seen. To be fair though, I’m sure they were doing other work when customers weren’t in front of them. 


I finally made my deposit and went back to the car. We were going to go back to the house, but I reminded F that he was supposed to pick up his new glasses today. He checked his receipt and I was right. He decided to drive out to Mikawa and pick them up. 


We had a nice drive except near the mall, someone made a turn and went too far. Instead of going to the other side of the island, they went into our lane. That meant all of a sudden a car was coming towards us. F slowed and stopped, honked his horn and the person must have twigged about what happened. Anyway, they turned their car and went behind a bunch of people and went in the right direction in the far lane from us. Yikes. 


We parked at the mall, F went to get his glasses and after that, I asked him what he wanted to do. He wanted some ramen! What could I say? I got an expensive nice lunch, so I told him to go for it. He got some and I decided to go for ice cream at Baskin Robbins. The line was so long that it took ages. I felt a bit sorry for their staff.  I got my favourite Jamoca Almond Fudge and tried a new-to-me flavour, Chocolate Mousse Royale. That was very nice. I would have it again if I could. I grabbed a drink from a vending machine and then we drove back to Tsuruoka. 


We came back to the house for a while and F took a nap. I spent time on my computer and I watched the news that I had recorded during the day. 


F finally went downstairs and made something for K’s dinner. He seemed surprised that she was hungry but I pointed out that he hadn’t brought her any lunch like I had suggested!


After she ate, we decided to go out for dinner. I suggested maybe going for Keiten sushi. F still didn’t want to eat a lot of food and didn’t feel like anything heavy. We went and had a few dishes of sushi. We had some tempura too and also shared an order of fries with mayo and rayu oil. 


When we left Kappa Sushi we went to the grocery store and I went in and did a bit of shopping. I needed to pick up a few things and did. F waited in the car, which is something that I really prefer! 


We came back to the house and I put away the groceries. I went upstairs, changed and then did the garbage upstairs in our room. I had a bit of trouble with F trying to do some annoying stuff with the garbage, but whatever. 


I did the garbage downstairs too which wasn’t too bad, just annoying! I think I got it ready. I left it in the genkan for F to take outside later. 


F noticed that a bill needed to be paid right away, so he went off to the convenience store. I took a shower while he was away. I needed one!


Back in the room a bit later, I watched an episode of Fringe tonight. It was a good one if a little bit sad. I turned off the TV when it was over. 


I spent a couple of minutes with F a bit later and then came back to my computer and watched some YouTube. I’ve been working on my blog and a few other things. 

So, that’s it. I’m out of things to say for a change! If F is still feeling bad he might take the day off. I hope he does go to work as I need a bit of me-time! He’s a dear, but I need a little break from him.


Come back later if you like and hear all about my Thursday. Until tomorrow….

March 26, 2024

Tuesday - Rainy and dark and gloomy


I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I went downstairs and used the washroom and as I came out I heard someone come downstairs from upstairs. I was alone when I got up so F must have come in and sneaked upstairs. He came to get his breakfast which he left upstairs. We chatted for a few minutes and I asked for some money to pay for the dinner tonight! He obliged me. 


After F left, I went upstairs and got dressed. I sorted my laundry and then went back to bed for a nap! I didn’t really sleep much, but I did relax a bit.


When I got up, I took a load of laundry downstairs and put it in the wash. I grabbed my breakfast and went upstairs to eat.  I ate and then spent the next few hours doing 3 loads of laundry and then hanging it up in my room. I am glad that I got a lot done today. 


F showed up again in the afternoon. He was able to stay for a little while so I gave him some coffee. I grabbed my lunch and then when I came back upstairs it was time for him to leave again! I ate lunch, which was very nice. I also watched an episode of Fringe. I’m very into that show!


I watched the news at 4 pm and a bit later F called to say that he was on his way back, but he’d already booked a taxi for himself! I went downstairs a little before 6 pm and the taxi was outside the house, just as F arrived. He still had to dress for the party! He did that quickly and left. 


We had booked dinner to be delivered between 6 and 6:30 so I waited downstairs for it to come. I got some dishes ready and some hot water ready, but the food didn’t come. Finally around 7 pm I texted F and asked if he could call the place we ordered from to see what happened. He did and called me back a few minutes later. F had told the guy the wrong date! He told them to deliver it tomorrow night! Ack.  They told him that they could deliver us a food order tonight and they did. It was at our door in less than an hour, bless them! I could have done pasta for us if they couldn’t deliver tonight, but they managed. 


We had a lovely dinner of tuna sushi. It was very nice. It came with a packet of clear soup, which I made up and I added on some mugi-cha. 

My dinner. 


After we finished eating, I washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. After that, I said goodnight to K and went upstairs. 


I registered the parcel I plan to send my best friend for her birthday next month. I had to weigh the items and write up what they were made of and where they came from. It’s a bit of a pain, but not that difficult. I was planning to take a shower, but I didn’t. Oh well. At 11pm I watched FBI: Most Wanted and it was okay. Last week’s episode was better. 


Around midnight, I started to wonder where my husband was. He didn’t come back until after one. I wasn’t worried about him, but I was more worried that K might come looking for F. She’d done that before, called me down and told me to call him and tell him to come home! It’s ridiculous really. He’s a grown man!


F was quite drunk but very happy. I advised him to drink some water, but I’m not sure if he did. He seems to be sleeping now, but he was talking for quite a while. 


F has the day off tomorrow but I’m not sure what condition he’ll be in. I’m hoping things will go well with him.  I only have to get to the post office so I can mail off my package and then I’ll be happy. After that, it’s all gravy. 


Oh, and I just remembered that I need to write this. I left Canada 27 years ago today. It was quite the adventure, and it continues to be one!


Come back later if you like and find out what I will do on Wednesday. Until tomorrow….

March 25, 2024

Monday - Sunny, warmish


I woke up this morning when my alarm went off. I didn’t wake up when F left for work and I was so pleased! I went downstairs, came back up and got dressed. Then, I went back for a nap. I didn’t sleep for long, but it was nice.


I got up later, went downstairs, grabbed breakfast, and brought it back upstairs. I had a fairly quiet morning, I watched some YouTube and the news. 


I went downstairs in the afternoon to grab my lunch and brought that back upstairs. Instead of watching Fringe today, I watched the Saturday episode of FBI and it was quite good. 


F called me after 5:20 and said he was on his way back. I went downstairs and got started on dinner. Tonight I made chicken wings in my air fryer and served it with some spinach, salad and gobo salad. F and K got to have rice too. Hurray for them!


Dinner was really good but there were still a few leftovers. I had made a plate for K’s lunch, and there was also enough for me to have a few leftovers too. Yay for me. 


I did the dishes and then closed the plastic garbage bag and left it in the genkan for F to take out in the morning. I said goodnight to K and told F that I was going upstairs.


I had a quiet evening upstairs. F came up a bit later. I watched some YouTube and then watched Project Runway. I was sad that one of the female designers was sent home today. 


Anyway, that’s about it for today. Tomorrow I have to do a bit of laundry and F has a party tomorrow night. K and I are having dinner delivered which should be nice. I’m hoping to have a quiet evening until F comes back.


Return here later if you like and find out about my Tuesday. Until tomorrow….


March 24, 2024

 Sunday - Sunny and warm


I went to bed very late last night and then F woke me up again this morning. I was not pleased. I went downstairs and then came back to the room and went back to bed eventually. F had asked me to tell him when he got out of the hospital last summer. I had to read back in my blog to check the exact date!


I slept a little longer and then F came back to the room and we relaxed for a bit. Then, we talked about where to go for lunch. We didn’t really get out of the house until 2 pm so I suggested going to Cocos. F agreed since most of the places we wanted to go afterwards were in the same general area.


We went to Cocos and had a pretty good meal. We both had burgers, drink bar and we shared an appetizer of baguette, chopped tuna and avocado paste. That was nice. It took ages before we were able to leave the restaurant, but no worries. 


We headed over to Musashi and F got the parts he needed for a new light fixture in the house. I followed him around the store basically. After that, we did some of my shopping. I checked out a moved-around Daiso and bought a few things there. Then, F and I went to the grocery store. Yes, F came into the store with me today. Oh dear. I’m afraid I really wish he wouldn’t. He isn’t interested in things that I need to buy, he spent time looking at stuff that I don’t want to buy at all and it was just painful. He also does this thing where he thinks I’m going to bump into people or they’re going to bump into me and then he yells at me. I’m usually a nervous wreck when he’s in the store with me. Yuck. 


We came back to the house after we bought groceries and I put them away with a bit of help from F. My only problem with him putting them away is that he doesn’t always put them where I would. I headed upstairs and spent some time on my computer, he stayed downstairs for a bit. Around 6:30 he asked about his mother’s meal, I reminded him we bought her something when we were out. He heated it up and gave it to her.  He came upstairs again and suggested that we go for dinner. We had a couple of ideas and discussed them. We ended up going to the Chinese restaurant on the other side of Komagihara Park. 


We had a pretty good meal there. I ordered kara-age again, F ordered yakisoba, but with crispy noodles and we also ordered an egg dish with shrimp. We were given some soup by the restaurant too, so it was a decent meal. We ate everything!


I reminded F that we hadn’t bought kerosene today like we planned, so we drove over to that side of the city again and he filled up the tanks. Then, we made a quick stop at Yamaya. F got some adult beverages, I got a spice mix for eggplant and we both got some snacks. Then, we came back to the house. 


I went upstairs fairly soon. F had a yelling session with his mother about why she was watching TV in the dark! I have no idea. I thought F would come up soon, but he didn’t. An hour later, he was still downstairs, so I went downstairs and took my shower. I turned everything off in the room. I didn’t want to leave the heater or the water pot on while no one was in the room. He was still downstairs after I took my shower. I turned down the hot water and went back upstairs. 


I decided to watch an episode of Slow Horses tonight and I did. It was the final episode of season two and it was a humdinger. I have really been enjoying this season. I know there are more episodes to look forward to. F came up to the room and was his incredibly annoying noisy self. He kept trying to talk to me about something, but I’m afraid I wasn’t listening. He does this quite often recently, talks to me when I’m involved in something that I can’t miss and I get rather annoyed. I’m not allowed to talk to him when he’s reading something in Japanese but he gets to talk all over my programmes? Hmm. Don’t see the fairness there.


Anyway, I turned off the TV before midnight and F tried to go to bed. He’s been tossing and turning for ages. He says he can’t sleep, but he was sleeping noisily earlier. No idea what’s up with him. 


He should be back at work tomorrow and I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to. I have to cook dinner and if I’m smart I might wash some laundry, but lately, I haven’t been smart. I also might get a start on packing my friend’s present so I can take it downtown and mail it to her. We’ll see. 


Come back later if you like and hear all about my Monday. Until tomorrow….

March 23, 2024

Saturday - Rainy and clearing later on


I went to bed quite late again and then slept in this morning. Or, I tried to. The house that is being built nearby…the workers started around 9 this morning. It was so noisy and it woke me up. I went downstairs and then came back to bed and slept on, or tried to. F came back up to the room around 12. I was still in bed but got up just after that. He fell asleep and was very soundly asleep for almost two hours. I let him sleep because I thought he needed it. He’s been getting up early every day this weekend, and every day during the week. 


Because he slept a bit late, it was a bit hard for us to decide where to go for lunch. Once again, I suggested a place I wanted to go to and F ended up taking us somewhere else. We ended up at Cafe B-Flat and had an interesting meal. I had their chicken and avocado plate lunch. It was actually really good. It was in an oily sauce and came with some multigrain toast and some potato soup. I added a cup of Darjeeling with my lunch. F had a dry curry, but it was different than most dry curries served here. It was like a curry on white rice. He said it was okay, which is his nice way of saying he didn’t like it! He had coffee with his meal. 


We came back to the house after lunch. I didn’t really want to, but whatever. F wanted to be at the house when his mother was brought back by the daycare people. There was a lot of “Bye-bye” going on down there when she got back.


F went out to get his mother a bento and to get us some onigiri to have as a snack. We were going out and didn’t have time to eat a full meal first. He came back with a couple of onigiri for each of us. We had a nice little snack. We left the house around 6 pm and drove to Machi-naka Kinema. Tonight’s movie was What’s Love Got To Do With It?, a British Rom-com about a woman who makes a documentary about her friend going into an arranged marriage. Halfway through she realizes that she’s in love with him. I think. It was fun. It wasn’t the best movie ever, but it had moments. F liked it too, so that was good!


He brought me back to the house quickly after the movie. He had booked himself a massage at 9 pm. Eye roll. It is so annoying. I spent a good hour and a half by myself at the house. I caught up on some internet things and then F was back. 


We went out for a quick dinner to a gyudon shop. I had kara-age and fries, and F had katsudon. It wasn’t too bad. We came back to the house via a convenience store. I went online when I got back and watched a few videos on YouTube. 


I had a quiet evening. I had planned to take a shower tonight, but I skipped it tonight. Oh dear. 


I’m not sure what we’ll get up to tomorrow. F has a few things planned, and I have to do a lot of grocery shopping too. I do plan to sleep in tomorrow morning! Yay me. 


Anyway, I’m done for now. Come back later if you like and hear about my day. Until tomorrow….


March 22, 2024

Friday - Snowy, rainy, cold and windy


I went to bed quite late last night and woke up early this morning. That did not make me terribly happy!  I had gone to bed thinking that I would be getting up to leave the house before 10 am…F told me in the morning that we had to leave before 9 am. I’m still not convinced that he was right, but whatever. I had left my clothes out last night so I didn’t have to take a lot of time to get dressed. 


We left the house just before 9am and went over to Gusto to have breakfast. We got there just before they opened. I had my usual scrambled eggs and bacon and sausage with salad and toast. It was quite nice, but felt a little small.


After breakfast, I got F to drop me off at S-Mall so that he could go to his doctor. I went upstairs to Daiso and looked for knitting needles. They didn’t have the right size. I did get a few things, including a computer case. It’s quite a nice one and it wasn’t too expensive. While I was in the shop, F called to say that his doctor told him that he was very busy and that he should come back around noon. He said that he’d pick me up. I suggested meeting me downstairs in Doutor. I paid for my stuff and went downstairs to wait. I bought a decaf coffee and found a good seat in the coffee shop.


I read a book on my phone and a little later F called to say that he was going to go to the bank, before coming to the mall. I didn’t hear from him for ages and I was getting tired so I checked the next bus time back to the house. There was one in about 15 minutes. I texted F and said that if I didn’t hear from him I was going to catch the bus. I made a quick washroom trip and of course, F called. He said he was on his way to the mall. 


F picked me up and drove me back to the house. After that, he left and went back to his doctor. He had woken up with a cold this morning. 


I came upstairs and spent some time on my computer. F showed up after a bit and wanted to go to his eel restaurant for lunch. Okay then.


We have tried to go there a few times, but we haven’t been able to. Today we were. F parked across the street and we crossed and went in. We had a nice and actually huge meal. It was too big really. We had tonkatsu and salad plus hokke, a grilled fish, tofu, miso soup, and rice. It was too much and I couldn’t quite eat it all. 


After lunch, we went and did a little shopping. We hit up K’s Denki and I bought some ink for my printer there. Then, we went over to Shimamura and I did a little bit of shopping. F got himself some socks and undies, I got socks for myself and I bought some stuff for my best friend’s birthday. 


I did a quick run-through of the nearby Seria and found some small knitting needles so I bought them. They aren’t really small enough for my project, but I might try them.


We were both stuffed full from lunch and I was still really tired, so we came back to the house. It was around 4 pm then. I knew the news was on, but I didn’t care. I took off my outside clothes, got back into bed and went to sleep. I woke up around 6:30. F had left the room but didn’t turn off the lights. I think if he hadn’t left the lights on, I wouldn’t have woken up!


I got up and got dressed. A little while later, F came upstairs and we talked about going for dinner. Neither of us could think of a good place to go. I didn’t want a lot of food since I was still a bit full. F was the same. We tossed around a few ideas but neither of us was too enthusiastic about anything. 


Finally, F suggested trying a new-for-us place that we’ve tried to go to for lunch. We ended up doing that. The parking lot was full, so F parked close by and we went in. They said they were full, so we left and came back to the car to leave. However, the waitress followed us out and told us that some customers were leaving soon, so if we waited a few minutes we could go in.


That’s what we did. We waited and then F was able to move the car and park properly. We went into the restaurant and were seated.  We ended up ordering a few dishes and a couple of drinks. I had a real “drink” and then F had oolong tea! We shared a starter plate and also had a plate of deep-fried oysters and a serving of gnocchi in a gorgonzola sauce.  After we ate these foods, F ordered us some nama ham and that was lovely too. The food was excellent and we didn’t have too much so we were happy.


We came back to the house after our dinner and came upstairs. I watched a couple of episodes of Fringe and then turned off the TV and got on my computer. 


And now, you are up to date!


I’m not sure what we’re going to get up to tomorrow. I hope that we have a relaxing morning and then maybe go out and see a movie or something. 


Come back later if you like and I’ll fill you in on my Saturday. Until tomorrow….