Happy New Year everybody!!! : )

Happy New Year to all our family and loved ones! It is wonderful to start a brand new year! Although last year, was really fantastic for us, as a family. We started to build our house in 2005. Our little baby Noah, was born in 2005. So our year was chalk full of blessings. Also, dad had some health issues, which I won't discuss on this forum. But he is fine now. So, we had one heck of a good scare with dad, but other then that, 2005 was a good year and our family is looking forward to roll into 2006 and see what this year will bring to us and our family! Hopefully we will all stay healthy and all have each other for many years to come! Plus the new house is coming this year! So, here's looking at you....2006!

On December 31st, we stayed home. And rented DVD's. And ate good yummy food. Noboru, worked until 9:00 pm. And he got home at 10:00 pm. We all were awake and had a very late snack (me and the boys, ate a real supper earlier and Noboru ate dinner at work with his coworkers). We watched Japanese New Years TV programs that he looks forward to all year long. I grinned and bared it, because, I know how much Noboru likes these boring New Years shows. LOL. We watched the New Year count down and then we got in the car at 12:05 am. And we drove down to the public bath (sento) and we took our first bath of the year. Noboru and his family had this tradition growing up. I am not sure, if this is an Osaka thing or what. But his whole family likes going to the public bath for New Years and Noboru told me that the sento is opened on New Years actually 24 hours for that special day. Because people like to go and take their "first" sento of the year! Go figure! I didn't mind because I love going to the sento anyways. Noboru and Branden went to the guys side and Noah and I went to the girls side. I sat in the aromatherapy bath and the regular hot bath and then we sat in the outdoor bath (rotenburo) and looked at the stars and the night sky totally naked with a bunch of old Japanese grannies! LOL. It was honestly? Really cool and very nice! My tense muscles were nicely melted away and relaxed, I felt like a gumby bendable doll afterwards.

The boys both got their jammies on at the sento. And I put on my fleece pants and sweatshirt and then we sat in the dining area of the sento and I had a lemon shave ice (kakigori). Branden had a choco,vanilla twisted ice-cream cone, and Noboru had a beer. It was really nice. We went home and went fast asleep.

Oh yeah, also in the morning of January 31st. The blinds people called us from Guam. We have been communicating by emails since we went to Guam about 10 days ago. We have been busy ordering which this took forever to order by email. Here's what we got. Noboru likes blinds. I wanted curtains originally but later changed my mind. But then we checked out a United Home model house and they actually replaced their curtains with blinds. Not cheap $5.00 type blinds. But really nice expensive ones. We actually wanted the actual ones hanging in the model house. We looked at the blinds and read that it said Graber. So, we asked United Homes to quote us a deal on those blinds and they gave us a high quote. And we researched it and they are expensive but they weren't nearly the price United Homes was asking! So, because the blinds looked *that* nice. I agreed, yeah let's go for it, since Noboru wanted them to begin with. And we went to the place in Guam, they said they'd ship to us. We looked at the Graber samples they had. Picked out a color called "snowflake" that I chose and liked. And they are actually like 2-inches wide and wood so they aren't thin type cheap looking miniblinds. These are nice and even have cloth ladder tape (okay maybe nobody knows what that is, lol nevermind) Plus we had to get the vertical ones for the big sliding glass doors, besides the horizontal ones for the rest of the house .

Questions like do we want the turn wand on the left or right side. The up or down pull thing on the left or right. Ahhhh questions and more questions. This week was really quite busy. So many tiny details, have to be decided. Also, do we want inner mounting or outer mounting? Hello! I swear if I ever got a friend or loved one, who needs blinds, I have now become an expert and can help! Ha ha ha.

All decisions were made and all measurements given. And then we gave him our number and he called us, January 31st morning and we placed our order and gave the go ahead! They are being made in the mainland US and being rushed to Guam, special order, since it's still US postal rates. Then he is either going to ship them on to us or Noboru will fly to Guam and pick them up. Since he can have them go into the cargo part of the plane for free. But either way, we'll get them in only 2 weeks. Not bad. Our price for our blinds for all the windows we have? A grand total of $3,000 US. Yup, 300,000 yen! Just for flipping blinds! But, hey we want quality ones and not cheap yucky stuff. My good friend who bought a new home last year here in Japan told me last year...."don't buy cheap window treatments", she said. I paid attention to her advice. She is also the one who kept telling me. You should get a big American oven. I was thinking that too. But, I was sorta on the fence about it, at the time. But she gave me that shove in the right direction, I needed. She also told me, warned me actually. That many Japanese dishwashers don't hold big plates and don't hold many dishes. Her advice was priceless. I seriously think, when people have gone through the same thing just before you....be smart. Take notes, even if they're just mental notes! And listen! Because you can learn a lot from them. I learned a lot from my friend who bought her house before me.

Look at me know? Look at all the stuff, I've learned since last year? So much about houses and stuff relating to that, but before I had no idea. Who knows, maybe I can pass whatever I know to someone else someday in the future.

Happy New Year everyone. We love and miss you all.