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| As usual, so much to say and stories to share. But so little time to get online and actually say them. Hahaha. : ) But, I'll try my best right now. Everything on this particular post either happened this week or happened last week. Last Thursday, Noboru and I went on an afternoon lunch date, just the two of us. We went to our favorite Indian restaurants and had a curry set, with salad,, naan and chicken. I had the kabocha curry as usual. ; ) This was so good. This week, when we went on our weekly date, we went and had ramen. |
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| Yoyo Market was mentioned to me in one of the posts down below. I think it was in the Gap post. Anyway, I did look over their website and I liked what I saw and I wanted to give it a shot ordering from them. Especially considering the good review, I got in my comments section about them. What did we think of Yoyo Market? They totally rock! Would I order from them again in the future? You betcha! I also like their shipping prices much better then Flying Pig. I also love how their website is all in English. I also felt their website was easy to navigate too. |
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| Noboru's credit card was used so the order came to him, in his name. Which is why the note starts off with "Dear Noboru." But they took the time and wrote him this hand written note. Saying they were very thankful he ordered from them and they hoped he would enjoy the turkey and provolone. This little personal touch, completely won me over. To me that little extra bit of care really got me. In a busy world, when Old Navy and Gap is known to have robots do their packaging for their orders (and if you caught 20/20 last week or two weeks ago, lots of companies in the US do that now). I often wonder in Japan, who packed this? A human? A robot? Or Conveyor belt packaging style. It was nice to get that hand written sentiment in there though. Just a really nice extra touch. : ) |
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| My first order, just kept it simple, just ordered 1 turkey. And... |
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| This was shipped and packed separately and even wrapped in paper. |
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| It was cheese. Provolone cheese for leftover turkey sandwiches. Anyway, 3 cheers for Yoyo Market. And 3 cheers for a turkey dinner and it not needing to be Thanksgiving. : ) |
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| What else have we been up to? Well Saturday evening. The night before the big town marathon on Setsubun/Sunday. After shower and bath time both Branden, Noah and myself played our family favorite board game. We played Sorry! |
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| We have floor heating, so the floors downstairs stay at a constant 40 degrees C all winter long. So it feels kind of toasty good and comfortable to sit on the floor and have a good little board game going. Both boys in their jammies/pjs. : ) |
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| People always ask me. Doesn't matter if I'm Skyping with a girlfriend of mine from back home in Denver. Or if I'm skyping my friend in Osaka. The question always comes up. "Watching anything good lately?" So here's what I have been watching. I am still enjoying the Oprah Winfrey celebrity interviews. 2 weeks ago, I think it was or a week ago. I caught the Drew Barrymore interview! With her husband and adorable daughter Olive! Love Drew Barrymore btw, she seems so down to earth, she's a free spirit and she seems genuine and that's rare now days. She's also beautiful. Plus, all her movies are awesome.Some of my most favorites are, Never Been Kissed. The Wedding Singer. Irreconcilable Differences. Poison Ivy, E.T. Just all her movies but those are my favorites. And I can always tell her voice on Family Guy when she voices the character Jillian, Brian's ex-girlfriend. lol. |
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| She seems like such a cool girl. And I'm so glad she's found happiness, she totally deserves it. Fantastic interview. |
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| The commercials for this interview ran all week. It got me interested. Oprah interviewed, Whitney Houston's mother and her brother. Whitney Houston was warm funny and when I caught her Oprah interview years before she seemed open. Her mother was very different. I remember even during the funeral on TV they mentioned that Whitney's mother was tough. Etc. So anyway I watched the interview. She did seem tough. I forget now what was said between Oprah and her. I believe they were talking about toxicology, what types of drugs were found in Whitney's body. And Oprah said like 4 and she said 3. And Oprah said it was because of drugs that she died and the mother corrected Oprah and said she died of a heart attack. And it was like an awkward 30 seconds there for a bit. @_@ Ahem. And I could tell Oprah bit her tongue on that one. Another time, the mom, said, "Whitney was too nice. Now, I'm not so nice, if you come at me, I'll say something, I won't go for it" I'm paraphrasing but that was the gist of it. Don't get me wrong she wasn't rude during the inetrview. But she was just really different then you'd expect. Then Whitney's brother came out, that's him in this pic. She had 2 brothers and this was her closest. They were often mistaken for twins? I never heard that before the interview. Anyway that's what they said during the interview. The biggest shocker for me, was Oprah asked Whitney's brother point blank. "Did Bobby Brown get her hooked on drugs or was she doing this with you before she met Bobby Brown" Oprah also said, "America's assumption is she was America's sweetheart and she married that very bad Bobby Brown who ruined her, is that true?" ..silence and then.......Her brother said, she was doing drugs before Bobby Brown. @_@ My face was like...what???? That totally took me by surprise completely. A very very interesting interview. Oh and the mom of Whitney said she and Whitney's daughter Bobbi Christina are not very close, when she calls her granddaughter she often can't get her on the phone and she heard Bobbi Christina wasn't too happy the grandma wrote the book. She was on the interview promoting her book btw. Anyway interesting interview. |
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| Apples were 50 yen each. I thought that was a fair deal, for where we live. So I baked an apple crisp, of course. : ) |
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| Oh goodness, it was so good. |
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| Did anyone catch the Super Bowl? How about the half time? Beyonce rocked it! She was freaking amazing! |
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| It was like a mini concert, so many of her hits! And then... |
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| A mini Destiny's Child reunion on stage! Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland. Kelly Rowland is amazing on her own also. She of course has sung hits like the song Dilemma with Nelly a few years back. And she remade that song with Michael Buble, "How Deep is Your Love", anyway was pleasantly surprised by the half time. Beyonce did amazing and happy to see Destiny's Child back, even if it's just for the super bowl. |
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| In the actual football part of the Super Bowl, it came on for us Monday morning Japan time. I had just thrown in my turkey into the oven. And enjoyed the football game. There was a power outage during the actual football game in the stadium. Before the blackout, during the football game, the Ravens were beating the 49ers quite badly. But after the power outage, it's like the 49ers got their power back too. lol. Because they came back fighting! It was an extremely good game and close game after the black out was over. |
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| This player was so happy he made a confetti angel on the field. Sort of like a snow angel. Hahaha. |
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| Pulling the turkey out of the oven Monday evening. |
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| It was not a fancy Thanksgiving dinner. Not that our Thanksgivings are really over the top anyways, but... It was a simple turkey dinner. We had the plastic dinner mats out. Regular plates. Just a regular dinner. |
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| Our dinner from this Monday. Again even paper cups that wink at you! Yep, we put no airs on here! lol. ; ) But gosh was dinner good. Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and gravy, green beans and black olives. |
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| Lunch this past Tuesday afternoon. We have been eating turkey all this week. We're done with it now of course. But yep, that's what we've been doing this week. Finishing up and enjoying the turkey. |
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| Tuesdays lunch done and bread cut and I went on the couch and I enjoyed my lunch while watching Dr. Phil. (talk show) lol. |
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| It's Hollywood Week on American Idol now. If you're in Japan and worried about spoilers stop reading now. : ) Anyway this kiddo was in a group they said which was the youngest bunch, so these kids went on together. |
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| 4 teens, trying their best, they sang the Billy Joel song. "The Longest Time" |
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| They did a pretty good job. I don't show videos too often on here. but it's worth a watch down below of them singing. And it's not too long of a video either. And somebody from the group of young teens did not make it. But to be fair, I am not saying who was cut. : ) |
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| Anyway, that's what we've been doing the past 2 weeks at our place. I'm so happy today is Friday. Yes!!!! The weekend is here. And we have nothing to do this weekend. No community clean up, no marathon to run. Ahhh weekends are bliss, aren't they. : ) Have a lovely weekend all of you. |
Went and picked up another Winter uniform for Branden for elementary school. The sweatshirt and pants.
In 1 size bigger since they do shrink up some in the dryer and they sure have. Funny thing though, I wash Branden's gym uniforms all the time. He has a few sets of the short sleeve and short sets and a few sets of the long sleeved set pictured here. But he does bring his gym bag and switch with a fresh set daily. Anyway you know how in Japanese elementary schools the kids clean the school before heading home. Anyway while Branden was sweeping yesterday, Branden said, 2 of his 6th grade male friends were cleaning in the same hall and they said.... Branden-kun, your gym uniform smells fantastic! @_@ You smell like green apple. In Japanese they say blue apple. But it means green apple. Anyway Branden told me this story when I picked him up from the Plaza yesterday. He said...mommy, I guess my clothes smell good since they mentioned them. : ) I said,baby it's better for people to think you are clean and smell nice and like laundry soap. Then to be dirty and never change your uniform, right? Yes, that's right he said. LOL. But yeah....how funny. I mentioned to Noboru that this morning, he said yeah my coworker mentioned I smelled good a few weeks ago too. I said, Downy laundry detergent. That's what it is. : ) Anyway, yeah I thought that was a funny story thought I'd share. And nope I only use the amount I am supposed to, no more, no less. Go figure. : ) But yeah it does smell awesome though.
3 weeks to a month ago, this was the episode we watched of American Idol. If you haven't caught this episode then you might wanna skip this part of the post. I've just always talked about, what I'm currently watching and I will continue to do so. It's harder for me now that I am not on beat with the what's on Japanese cable or sattelite. But now I can relate or have something to talk to with those of you in the US at least. Sorry I am a bit ahead of you with Japanese cable. And I will try to put a spoiler alert warning when I update what I'm watching.
Jim Carrey's daughter tried out for our American Idol.
A pic of her with her dad.
A more recent pic. She sort of reminded me of Miley Cyrus in this picture. But not on the audition of AI though.
She made it, and she phoned her dad like many contestants often do. : ) Then AI went to my home state but instead of Denver they went to Aspen, and we've now went to 2 different other locations as well after that. This season has been great so far!
In other news, Noboru's mole traps have been delivered and he's set them up but so far he hasn't caught 1 single mole yet. He covers the traps area with upside down buckets, planters etc. And Noah's not allowed in the backyard while the traps are out there. I hope this mole war, Noboru seems to have going ends soon. Even last night he was on his lap top researching more ways to get rid of them. @_@ Anyway hopefully the moles will relocate for Noboru's sake. It's like an all out war right now between Noboru and the moles.
I made chicken parmesan recently, this is one of my family's favorite things I make. I coated the chicken and fried in a shallow skillet with olive oil. Then I drained all the excess oil from the cutlets. And baked them in the oven.
Five cutlets baked in the oven nicely and ready to put over a plate of pasta.
Yumm.
Another night recently, a simple fried pork chop, rice a roni and green beans.
And last week sometime, we had fajitas again. These were perfect in the colder weather. Good for the boys to come home and have a nice warm meal. Very filling.
So, did everyone have a nice weekend? We had an excellent weekend here. Not a whole lot going on, but it was nice to just unwind and chill out all weekend long. On Saturday evening, we had hot (meaning temp wise, as in baked) pepperoni sandwiches. Except Noah wanted a hot ham and cheese instead, so he had that.
Cut the sizes of the bread according to who was eating it. ; )
Sprinkled the cheese on top and whacked in the oven for a bit.
This is what we had for dinner Saturday night. A hot pepperoni sandwich, with hot melty cheese on a crusty baguette with crunchy lettuce. A bowl of pasta and a blueberry tea with ice.
A close up of this little beauty. The pepperoni all crispy around the edges, oh man! Gotta make one of these again real soon!
Sunday morning at 10am the doorbell rang, it was "the boy next door" He's such a good wholesome kid. And since he actually really lives right next door, that's why we call him the "the boy next door" I think you can see the boy next doors legs going down the slide. B meanwhile was on the top of the playground with striped sweatshirt. They were playing beyblades and whoever lost had to slide down the slide. These kids, I swear invent the most interesting games.
There he went sliding. B had to slide down many a times too. ; )
Branden and the boy next door played from 10am, to 5pm when the bell rang in the neighborhood for the kids to go home. Oh yeah at noon when the lunch bell rang, the kids went back into their own houses. For lunch though. : )
Noah meanwhile, played basketball with Noboru. Just dribbling contests. And then finally switched over to playing soccer later. A good day was had Sunday. And the weather heated up to a nice warm 49-52 degrees F. Okay certainly not Summer temps but boy did it feel like a nice change of pace.
The Gap/Old Navy package arrived Sunday. Getting mail on a Sunday always surprises me because we don't get mail on Sundays in the US. So, definitely caught me off guard. Even emailed my dad....."My package came on a Sunday, definitely not in Kansas anymore ; )" He got a chuckle out of that one. And no, I'm not from Kansas, but you kwim. : )
The Gap 3/4 length sleeve cardigan and Old navy dress for myself were perfect fits.
Slipper flip flops. lol.
Noah needed some socks. And the polo's were $6 each before the sale went off, glad I picked those up when we did. 
Noah needed socks. : )
4 polo tops for Branden and 2 pair of flip flops, I was happy to get all of the tops on sale and the flippies were also on sale. Of course the sales off now, but glad we caught it before it ended. Nothing wrong with catching a good deal and getting while on sale. Smart actually. The navy blue hibiscus flip flops were only $2.50 when on sale, and you know in Japan, at shogako they swim and their uniforms are navy blue swim suits/trunks. And a pair of flip flops are also needed. Figured these being navy blue and at $2.50 each were perfect. So Branden's flip flops for shogako this coming Summer are no worries now. That is a load off my mind.
These were all washed on the fast cycle and are now hanging in his closet and same goes for Noah's stuff too. I have 1 last package coming. And then I won't need to get anything else for the kids or myself. So this hopefully is nearly out of the way real soon. 
Baked a homemade cheesecake Sunday early afternoon while the hubster and the boys were outside in the backyard.
And made nikujaga for dinner last night. And cheesecake for dessert.
Dessert for Sunday. My cheesecake this time is thicker then last time and I think I got it down right. I meant thicker as in not talking about the actual consistency of said cheesecake, but am talking about the actual thickness/widthwise of the cheesecake. Last time I split the cheesecake batter between 2 and this time I made 1 big fat cheesecake and we prefer this way. Noboru loved it. So did the kids. Oh yeah and can't forget me too.; ) I liked it too. 
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