Since the rain we've had where I live in Chiba, has seemed to delay my schedule of cleaning up my backyard and winterizing it. Grrr! Ha ha ha! But today, although it was chilly, there was no rain and the sun was shining, so I went out in the backyard and began cleaning things up as soon as I got Branden sent off to school this morning. Yuppers, my day began at 6:30 am. Ha ha ha. Oh well, life of a mom, so I won't complain I guess. Anyway, at around 8:30 am, we headed out back. Noboru's shift was from 3:00pm today, so he was home with me in the morning and he wanted to do the backyard as much as me, he had his own stuff he wanted to cleanup in the backyard. Thank god, we are always on the same page, with respect to stuff like this. He he he. So, we threw on a sweatshirt on Noah and he got to play outside all morning long, while us, his parents worked and started to winterize stuff. I got out the broom and started sweeping off the big playground. Any cob webs? Well, if there were any, they got all knocked down today! Ha ha ha! And the swings, the pull up thing, I pictured, all got a severe wiping down with a wash cloth and some Orange Clean. The entire playground of ours, was spic and span before I knew it. But yup, it was work and it took time, I didn't wanna do a. half assed job, and it took me, nearly an hour to finish it properly. But I can safely say, our playground is superly clean now. No grime, there! : )
I flipped the table and chairs over next and gave them a proper sweeping down with my broom. And with rain and stuff expected all winter. And of course we don't want "wood rot" to happen to our table and chairs, so we would be packing them safely away into the shed. Next I swept off our entire terrace, as it is a huge patio to begin with, it was work. And my broom sucks, because it's teeny tiny. Note to self, buy a bigger broom pronto! But, I was glad to get it done. Nonetheless! : )
All these little toys, digging toys, tricycle and Anpanman car etc, all had to be cleaned by me first and then packed away safely in the shed until Spring. Sheesh, a lot of work this morning. But the backyard has been looking like crud lately and it needed to be done before winter really kicks in full force. And that old, 100 yen soccer, ball that looks halfway deflated. It went into the garbage bag immediately!
I am sure many of you will know what exactly I am talking about. Do you know how freezing cold the water from a hose is in the winter time? I'll give you a hint, it's freaking cold, cold as heck! : )Yes, I froze my ever loving hands off this morning. This morning with the cleaning of my two sons backyard toys. I brought out my kitchen soap and got an old rag and started cleaning one by one. I was happy to get them clean. I felt better making sure they were clean before I put them into the shed, but sheesh my hands were cold! Ha ha ha! : )
Lot's of soapy water and lot's of scrubbing by me and it came out squeaky clean. I let them sit on the terrace for a while to dry a bit before I put them into the shed. All the toys are now put away for winter. : )
I had bought these 2 roasted chickens right before Halloween and they were in my freezer. I took them out in between cleaning the backyard and getting a drink in the kitchen, the chickens needed to start defrosting a bit. And I have made the offer once before, but I will offer it again, just in case. If anyone ever needs a whole chicken. I have access to them. They are really cheap. You can see by the pic, the bigger ones are 680 yen and the smaller one is 398 yen. If anyone ever wanted or needed one, I would be happy to send them. And if you wanted, I could send them COD, or whatever, if that made you feel better. Whatever is fine. But I just wanted to offer once again. I know many of you have easy access to Costco, but many of you do not, just like me. So, anyhoo, just trying to help, is all! : )
See all the work I was doing on Thursday? I had it all done by noon, seriously, yes all this was done in the early AM. Okay what did I do next? Wreath, yes the wreath. I further did more winterizing. And I got my Spring and Summer wreath that usually hangs up beautifully on my front door and I packed it away. I also got all my bright pink flowers that usually hang nicely in my 4 hanging flower pots on the front porch and I took them all down and I put in my winter red poinsettias instead. Yay! Now my hanging flower plants are all ready for winter now! He he he! : )
I put up my Christmas wreath on our front door instead. Each week, of November I will slowly do one thing to get ready of Christmas. Oh my gosh, I just love the holidays! They make me so happy! : )
Okay after my switching the wreaths and the flower pots out front. I went back in the backyard and got to work yet again. Meanwhile Noboru was just as busy as me. He was doing all the edging. He edged around the jungle gym. He edged the entire yard actually. And then he mowed the lawn, as well.
Next was the rearranging of the shed. We took everything out. I swept everything. And odd because not one single cob web in our shed. Hmm. Really clean. I think the nice thing about living in Japan, is people tend not to collect too munch stuff. Or keep unnecessary crap. Mostly because they don't have the room for the excess junk. But I like that. And yes, I have seen some old houses while driving that have junk all the way to the tippy top in rooms. They must be like old pack rat types, ha ha ha. But as a whole, people seem to be more minimalists here and I love that. We do the same. And if you have read when we cleaned stuff out 6 month's ago or so on my blog, in our attic and shed both, and when we drove to the dump to trash some old stuff, you will know I am not full of crap. Our family really does do a massive twice a year clean up and throws anything away not in use anymore. We just don't wanna keep unneeded junk laying around. Plus it looks junky and messy. So anyway, we looked through things. Stuff we need, like the inflatable pool in the Summer, my red bike, the 3rd car seat we use for travel. The bubbles, we kept. Other stuff we never used we trashed. 21
The result? A very clean, extremely organized shed. With just the basics. And absolutely nothing in there we don't need. Really minimalist type and we like it that way! Bring on the winter now! We are ready for it now! : ) Razor scooter, electric car, our fav BBQ, all safely inside the shed now. Man, it was work! : )
Table also safely inside.
There's my lovely wreath that usually hangs on my front door in the Spring and Summer months. And there's the boys bubbles. And yup that's their toy lawn mower below the wreath. And yup, those are my spring, pink flowers all safely tucked away for the winter! He he. I hate to say it, but with regards to cleaning up the backyard, we kicked ass today! Ha ha ha! : )
A perfectly swept terrace. Just the extension cord sat on it, because Noboru was gathering all his extension cords, to make sure he would be ready for the Christmas lights he will be putting up in a few weeks. And then he put them into the cupboard into the shed for easy access.
The yard looks amazing now. All the edging is done. Even around the jungle gym. And the yard has been properly mowed and now it was time to come inside. We went inside. We each had some lunch. Noboru had an instant noodle and I had an instant UFO, yakisoba that I shared with Noah. I also had a mikan. I had an hour of nothing to do, and I took an hour nap. Noboru and Noah did the same. Before I knew it, the alarm was ringing and I had to go and walk down the street and pick up Branden. I was exhausted, I won't lie. I made sure Branden changed his clothes from his uniform to his regular clothes. He had 2 mikans and a glass of milk, odd combo I know. And he grabbed for his Kumon bag and Noah and I hopped into the car and I drove B to Kumon. I came home and I spoke to my dad on the phone for about 10 minutes. I had told him how I had a splitting headache. I took an Advil and I got the chicken prepared before I went to go and pick up Branden from Kumon.
I got my margarine mixture, garlic salt, pepper, parsley. The same way I always cook it and have blogged about it before. It's nothing fancy just a simple basic recipe, not frills. But it always comes out really good.
I put my herbed margarine between the chicken breast and under the skin. Chopped my whole garlic and after I salted the cavity, I placed a couple cloves in each chicken. Rubbed the extra margarine mix on top of the chicken.
And then I added some additional black pepper and parsley. And chucked the chickens into the oven.
I glanced at the time. And I still had a bit of time left, but just barely. So I got out a roasting pan and washed some potatoes and some sweet potatoes. Threw them into the oven as well. And then I drove Noah and I, back to Kumon. By now, I had an absolutely killer headache. I mean it was killer, you guys. It was throbbing, pulsating. It was almost like my head was going to explode. I sat in the car for about 5 minutes and then Branden came down. Thank god he did, because I just couldn't handle my headache anymore. I wanted go to home. Oddly enough when we got home, in about 5 minutes. And we came into the house and got our comfy clothes on. And relaxed some. My headache went away. Perhaps the Advil kicked in or what. But I felt better after we got home. Not a dot of work for me for the rest of the night. I just relaxed and we ate.
The broccoli boiled and steamed on the back burner. Meanwhile the potatoes were cooked. One tiny baked potato broke up in cooking. Which was fine. I had tons of extra anyway.
The chickens came out perfect, nicely brown, crispy skin. Crunchy skin actually, ha ha ha. And the meat inside was really tender and the flavor was infused with all those different spices and flavors and it was great! I was starved by now. Shoot, I only had a UFO instant noodle all day long. No wonder I was starving! And I was exhausted! Man, was I ready for dinner. Meanwhile my hubby was working until 11:00 pm tonight. So I fixed him a plate so he could eat when he got home.
Here are the kids servings. Branden's servings are growing bigger and bigger as he gets bigger, ha ha ha. Also, after he finished. And he ate every single bite by the way. He asked for 3 more potatoes. I said 3 was too much for his tummy. But I gave him 2 extra bakes potatoes and so he had 4 buttery baked potatoes total. Plus the veg and the chicken. And they even shared a hot buttery croissant. They were both stuffed to the gills. Oh also, B noticed I switched the flowers and the wreaths right away. He got so happy about that. : )
My serving. Garlic herb roasted chicken. Super crispy skin, tender meat. White rice, broccoli. And croissants. I warm the croissants in the toaster oven before dinner and butter them. Dinner was excellent. I know it's only Thursday night. But the week is winding down and I am looking forward to the weekend so much! Because I wanna do absolutely nothing all weekend long! Ha ha ha! And I won't feel a dot guilty about it either! Come on weekend, where are you? : ) Anyway, that was my busy Thursday! : )
The boys got good and squeeky clean. An so did I. And I soaked in the hot bath for about 30 minutes. Oh man it felt great! My muscles felt all rubbery and relaxed. I felt refreshed. From the start of my day at 6:30 am until now. And now was my time for some much deserved rest and relaxation. The boys got their jammies on. And I got on my jammies on too. Mine were pink fleecy type PJ's, with penjuins on them, ha ha ha! And I had my freshly washed and blow dried hair in a pony tail. No makeup obviously, just a soapy smelling girl. Sitting on the couch. Noah zonked out and then I carried him to the bed upstairs. And Branden and I spent some one on one time with one another. We each sat in our jammies on the couch and watched TV together and munched popcorn , then he got quiet. I looked and he was fast asleep. So, then I carried him upstairs to bed as well. Boy is he getting heavy by the way, sheesh! I came back down the stairs. Got my pillow all fluffed up, curled up on the couch with my blankie (my blanket obvously, he he) and I munched some popcorn and had a glass of peach tea with ice. And watched TV until my hubby came home. I warmed up his food for him, he ate. And then he took a shower. I felt sorrier for him, since I knew he was even more tired then me. He sat in his jammies and joined me and the bowl of popcorn and we watched TV. We both watched TV together for an hour, before we both got too exhausted to stay awake anymore. : )
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