Black Friday...

Did any of you catch any good Black Friday Deals? I did. I placed a small order of DVDs on Amazon.com/USA. Both Branden and Noah love the original Kingsman movie. They've seen it at least 10 times. It's on cable TV a lot. I too, love the original Kingsman movie. It's so funny. They came out with a 2nd Kingsman movie. And both my boys have been dying to see this movie. I made sure to have this DVD in my cart, the week before Black Friday. And then as soon as Black Friday hit and all the good deals and free shipping etc happened. I placed my order immediately. 

I also purchased this DVD for the entire family. But especially for my kids because they loved the new IT movie. I too loved, It. And this is something, I can see us watching a lot. It won't be released until January, but I already pre-ordered us a DVD. I also purchased 2 more movies. So 4 in total. But It... of course won't be coming until January. But the other 3 will be coming here before Christmas. I know my kids will love unwrapping the Kingsman 2. Because I know they really *really* wanted to see it. : )

Also, I placed an order on Sephora.com also on Black Friday too. I had picked out some Sephora travel brushes. And a travel bag for toiletries. And also an eye shadow palette from Tarte. It's not the newest one... because I personally don't care for the new colors on the new palette the whole middle row is pure orangey-brown which I dislike a lot on me personally. I instead picked a palette that I have been wanting for quite some time and it's just basic nude brown shades. But I am really happy because those are the eye shadow colors that I prefer and tend to use.

My Sephora order has already been shipped. And the Amazon order hasn't shipped yet but, they will be shipping soon. I think the 3 movies haven't shipped yet, because they're gonna wait until the Kingsman 2 is released December 12th. Good thing I picked the fast shipping. : )  Anyways, we're not done with our Christmas shopping by a long shot. But, we have started though.

Our weekend. Flu shots taken. The outlet mall yet again. Typhoon Lan with pics. Lots of good meals at home. And a Costco run...

So last Wednesday, as I was at the plaza picking up Noah from school. As you know Branden came home early because of his 3 days of high school tests. So Bran was home and it was now the end of school day at the local elementary school. Wednesday October 18th and as I was standing outside my car and chit chatting with 2 of my mom friends. They were saying, a typhoon is heading our way. It might hit Chiba prefecture hard this time. And the other one was like...say what? When? And so she said it's coming this weekend sometime. Either Saturday, Sunday or next Monday. And so us 3 sat there. Wondering would it actually hit Chiba prefecture or lose it's steam as usual by the time is goes all the way through other parts of Japan first. Like it usually does. So we wondered. But we all said, we would prepare a little anyway, just in case and thanks for the heads up. So, Noah came down the hill that day and said. Our school said a typhoon is expected this coming weekend sometime. I thanked my kiddo for the heads up too and I said...so and so's mama just told me and.... so and so-kun's mom about this too. So...I think we had 8 rolls of toilet paper left last Wednesday. And we had enough food to last our home until Monday October 23rd. So food, I wasn't worried about and drinks...I had 2 cases of mugicha. 5 bottles of jasmine tea. A brand new carton and a half of milk. About 15 eggs left. And tons of veggies and whatnot. But just thinking about it. So Thursday, I ran to Costco in the morning after both my kids went to school. I went for just a case of toilet paper. And another pack of eggs (there's 20 in the Costco egg packs) and that's it. 

I also went into the Matsumoto Kiyoshi near Costco in Inzai and bought a new tin of shea bath powder. I figured what a cozy way to ride out a typhoon. Or a weekend of rain. I made sure I was back in my town by the time Bran got home on Thursday. On Friday, Branden got home super early and he told me. "my teachers all told us that school will most likely be canceled on Monday because of the typhoon, because most of us use trains to get to school and trains are expected to either be delayed or cancelled all together, that day." And sure enough by 9am Saturday, Branden's school emailed and said they decided to cancel school Monday for everyone. Branden was thrilled. 

I baked a yellow cake with chocolate frosting on Friday on Friday morning, sliced 2 rows and as soon as Bran got home, he had a slice immediately. And I made some delicious tacos for supper after everyone came home. For us to really enjoy the weekend about to start. And with a typhoon expected to hit sometime. We were all set. With plenty of food. And we had DVDs and plus we have excellent American cable TV. So we were set. Here at our house. And well prepared for Typhoon Lan/Typhoon 21. I picked up Noah on Friday after school and Noah also said his school might be canceled on Monday because of the typhoon and sure enough by 10am Saturday for Noah's school...they emailed all of us and also said, school was canceled for Monday. So, both my kids now officially had a 3 day weekend. Woohoo.

Homemade shells. I buy the soft corn tortillas from Kaldi and fry them up my own, so super easy. Branden said...store bought shells are good, but nothing beats homemade shells. We had chicken breast tacos and also I made lean ground beef ones too. And we all had yellow cake with chocolate frosting for dessert. Even though the kids had some cake as soon as they each got home from school. : )

The Amazon DVDs got here Thursday night around 7pm. Via DHL. 

We had movie night both Saturday and Sunday night. We watched Spiderman Homecoming on Saturday night. And Transformers The Last Knight on Sunday. The kids picked which movies we'd watch. And I still haven't had my chance to watch The Big Sick or Everything, Everything. : ( But, I will get my chance, I know. So I am just being chill. And I know I'll get my chance this weekend. : ) So it's cool. So Friday was low key. We all were well prepared for the typhoon. Noboru in the day time Friday....went around the yard and put anything that could tumble during the typhoon away. And I put the Fall wreath that usually hangs on my front door and scarecrow in the shed for the weekend. From Friday, until Monday afternoon after the typhoon had left. So we had the house all free of anything that could possibly take a tumble and go flying through the neighborhood. All hanging baskets on the front porch were put safely inside our shed. And we basically did our typhoon prep Friday afternoon. So by the time Friday evening happened. We enjoyed dinner. Cake. And we were all hunkered down and ready for Typhoon Lan!

Saturday morning. We all quickly woke up and got dressed and quickly ready for the day. We all had a quick fast bakery bread toasted with butter and yogurts. We left the house at 9:30am and went to the Ami Premium outlet mall. Gosh are we getting sick of that place! Hahaha. Our nearest outlet mall to our home. We went into the Gap. With the intention to get Noah 2 sweatshirts and 2 long sleeves. And we bought just that. Also wanted to mention everything was at 30% off sale already for that weekend. However there was a "morning additional sale" And for a limited time until 11am, everything in the store was an additional 20% off and they were handing out white plastic Gap shopping bags and they said when they give the last one the sale will be finished. Only the people with the white bags, they were handing out would get 50% off. So whoever was lucky enough to have grabbed a white plastic Gap shopping bag, they got everything that morning for 50% off. A 1 hour only sale. And we caught that. Wow. Right on! Dressing our sons cute plus while still saving tons of cash...so super happy about that!!! Nothing wrong with grabbing a great deal.

One bright green Gap zip up sweatshirt and 1 bright happy yellow pullover Gap sweatshirt. 

Noah is in the largest size for Gap kids. He's not in the largest size for kids at Old Navy however though. 

And 2 adorable long sleeve tops from Gap too. And for 50% off. We got everything for half off. 

I could tell by Noah's face last weekend that he too wanted to be included and get the same sweatpants as Branden and I picked last week. But, I was unsure if they had a size XXS. And Noah's never worn adults sizes yet for clothes. But, I had Noah try on the XXS and XS sizes this weekend. The XS were enormous. And the XXS were perfect. I asked Noah...would you like to be twinsies with Bran and I? Technically triplets... but when peeps dress the same doesn't matter... they call it being twinsies regardless of how many there are. He smiled and said...sure! I always want both my kids to always feel included. 

So 3 of us are twinsies. We did ask Noboru if he wanted to get a pair too? He was like..thanks but I like my Uniqlo pair. LOL. By 11am, we were heading back to our tiny town. With 35 eggs at home. I boiled 10 and made a batch of egg salad. I rinsed some lettuce. And we all had egg salad sandwiches for lunch Saturday. Our flu shot appointment wasn't until 3pm. Although we left the house around 1:45pm. Arrived by 2pm. And we were out of the doctors office by 2:35pm. 

Before we left to the doctors for all our flu shots. I quickly chopped up curry nabe veggies. I peeled and diced up 2 potatoes. A whole small cabbage. A pack of mushrooms. From 11:30am to 1:45pm. I made lunch and did dinner prep. I knew working hard right then, would lead to a restful night later.

I diced up a pack of chicken tenderloins that I had in my freezer since the week before. I buy these from Japan Meat in Inzai. Less than $4 feeds a family of 4, yes. And I also add in 12 chicken meatballs for Noboru since he loves those. The kids and I prefer sliced up chicken sesami though. I put the diced up chicken in a ceramic bowl and wrapped it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until we came back from the doctors from our flu shot appointment. I washed my hands twice. And we left to the doctors office. Flu shots here we come!!!

It's been all over the news but there's a big shortage of flu shot vaccinations in Japan this year. And so whoever waits until the last second will most likely not be able to get one. There are over a million less than less year. Again though, I was glad that I always make our appointment right away for our shots. And so I knew, ours were reserved and waiting for us. It's peace of mind knowing our kids and Noboru and I now have our flu shots. And ours are paid for 100% by Noboru's job. So for us they're totally free. Branden getting his shot Saturday around 2:10pm. And yes, I always have my kids wear short sleeve shirts underneath a sweatshirt. Those poor nurses and doctors always have the darndest time when folks wear long sleeves...yet they need to give you the shot in your upper arm. So...to make things easier for everyone... I always have my kids wear short sleeves. You have no idea how much our nurses appreciate that we all do that, every year!!! : )

Noah getting his flu shot, Saturday about 2-3 minutes after Branden did. I went after Noah and Noboru went last. Flu shots 2017 are done for our family now! Woohoo!

Branden gets about 3 haircuts a month. He loves getting his haircut. He likes his hair looking clean and tidy looking. And plus his hair grows like a weed. He actually needs haircuts that often. Noah's hair on the other hand grows slower than you could ever imagine and he hates going to the barber and he only goes about once a month. But they both go to the 1000 yen barber in the small city nearest our town. Anyways...while at the doctors office, Branden asked. Since we were in the small city anyways...for the flu shots...could he gets a haircut? Honestly...he needed one. And dinner was prepped. The rice was in the rice cooker already set with the timer on. And so...yeah sure. You can go and get a haircut. So, there was no parking space at the barbers because the bakery and whatnot people were parking there, so we parked across the street. However the barber was deader than a doornail. Meaning Branden zipped right in...and got his hair cut. Noboru went with him and waited, Noah and I meanwhile sat in the car and watched TV in the car while we waited. In 10 minutes there they stood together in this pic... about to cross the street and get in our car and go home. Branden was happy with his spiffy new hair cut. And I was happy and relieved we had all gotten our flu shots and Noah now has 4 sweatshirts total. And so...we're getting closer to done regarding our winter clothes shopping. Plus dinner was prepped. And we were already hunkered down at home...all flower planters and whatnot removed and put away. So we were now ready. Saturday around 3:30pm and we were now heading home. 

Sent Branden to take a quick shower since he had just got his hair cut. And sent Noah in after Bran. Meanwhile I threw all the meat and veggies in and things started to boil up quickly and nicely. Before you know it, we 4 were sitting at the kitchen table. Pulling yummy udon noodles out and chicken sesami/tenderloin, potatoes, bean sprouts, cabbage. Noboru was pulling out meatballs and whatever he wanted too. And we sat and just enjoyed the end of Saturday. Sundays plan was to stay home, stay safe. We enjoyed our curry nabe Saturday night. With bowls of rice. We drank mugicha/jasmine tea or straight tea, your choice. I jumped in the shower real quick after dinner clean up. And Noboru went after wards. I popped some popcorn. And when all of us were ready we threw on Spiderman Homecoming. We loved it. A nice way to end Saturday. Sunday. Was raining. And we watched how it was hitting various parts of Japan on the news. It seemed to hit according to 2 of my very close friends who live in Osaka. It seems Osaka got slammed hard by the typhoon. It also seemed to hit Shizuoka quite hard too. I am glad that it did lose steam by the time it got to my particular area of Chiba, near Ibaraki. We got tons of rain. We did. It rained and rained and rained. But, I see no structural damage in my town at all. And on Monday we drove to Inzai to pick up Bran's birthday cake and again...we saw lots of flooded with water areas. But no structural damage like there was in Osaka. So our part of Japan did get tons and tons of water. But...on the news... seems train tracks were broken in Osaka. That was on the news. I hope they got those fixed. Again one of my friends who lives in Osaka saw a shed collapsed. And some roofs torn up. I just didn't see any signs of tangible physical damage here in our area other than gobs of rain. Already harvested rice fields drowned in rain. Smart farmers! But other than that. Nothing really noteworthy around where we live. And that's a good thing!!! Everyone took turns soaking in a hot shea bath at home after showers Sunday evening. I made baked chicken parmesan on top of pasta Sunday night for supper. Comfort food to ride out the typhoon. I also made a delicious bacon and eggs breakfast Sunday morning too. 

We didn't leave our house until Monday. These pics are from Monday. See this picture? Looks like 2 rivers right? Wrong. The water farthest back IS the actual real river. And the 1 closer river is not a river at all. That's flooding. That's usually a grassy weedy area to park your car to go and enjoy the river. And the closest thing to us is a sidewalk.The water should go back down in a day or two. But yep tons of rain in my area.

See the white ripples? That's how windy it was Monday. Monday was super hot weather-wise after the typhoon. I assumed it would be a cool day. I wore a sweatshirt. Needless to say I melted the whole time I was at Costco Inzai. I was not expecting it to feel like summer time outside. @_@  That's Mt. Tsukuba in the background. Yes, I am close to Tsukuba in Ibaraki. In fact the other side of this river is Ibaraki. That's HOW close I live to Ibaraki. I seriously live so super close to Ibaraki. LOL. 

This is sad. Because nobody works harder than farmers in my opinion. Look at the rice fields?!!! Totally submerged. It looks like a lake. It's not. And it looked like that all over my town and all the way to Inzai too. The bright side or silver lining is...farmers are much too smart and they frankly harvested their rice in early September. So their rice fields were flooded yes, but there was nothing the rain could damage. Farmers are too smart. Farmers 1 point Typhoon 0.  The rice had already been cut.  So while other areas of Japan got lots of wind damage and structural damage. We didn't get that. It did lose steam by the time it reached our town. Sorry. However...we did face the wrath of huge rainfall. Flooding types of amounts of rain. Whoever's crazy enough to have built their house at rice field/ lower land level. Perhaps their homes might have got flooded too? I do not know. I honestly do not know. Our housing community is built on a naturally elevated higher part of town. You can see when you see my backyard how much lower and down below the rice fields are. So we're not at flood level/rice field level at all, not even remotely. And our house is not in a mudslide area either. Noboru was really smart when he picked the spot to build our house. The original parts of town/older parts of town are at rice field level. So...hopefully my kids classmates who live near there...their houses are okay. Though I am sure they're old school enough to know to toss sandbags and stuff to prepare by Friday. They're smart folks.So yep...just wanted to share a few pics of flooding. And as for our house in particular. Our house got zero damage. 

Noboru will be working on Bran's birthday October 26th. And Bran wanted a Costco cake versus an ice cream cake. So, I ordered it last week. And 2 weeks ago, I brought home 2 papers and let Bran read his choices and he picked American football. I filled the form out last week and we picked the pick up date to fall on Monday October 23rd. We figured we could take Branden out to dinner at the restaurant of his choice Monday. And we would have cake and ice cream on Monday October 23rd. And considering the cake is ginormous we will be eating cake until the weekend I'm sure. However with the typhoon approaching. Either Sunday or Monday. And not knowing if we would be able to pick up the cake or not. We were relieved that...it did lose steam in our area/part of Japan. Because by Monday 9am it was long gone. Slightly windy Monday and super hot. But other than that not even a drop of rain. Nothing. Our area just got huge amounts of rain Sunday night to Monday early morning ended around 6:30am. And that was it. We were lucky to be able to cruise right to Inzai. Roads were totally fine. And we did grab a weeks worth of meat beforehand at Japan Meat. And then hit Costco. Grabbed what was needed and went back to our town ASAP. : ) My kids took rotisserie chicken sandwiches today to school. With those dinner rolls. You see Mexican style cheese. Mozzarella cheese. Tortillas. Dinner rolls, a rotisserie chicken, a birthday cake. 

Yeah provolone stop trying to hide...we see you!!! ; )

Ice cream. One big container will go for the birthday cake and the other container will be turned into peanut butter ice cream. We went home. Unloaded the car. Brought lunch for the kids. And we relaxed for a few hours. It was a restful Monday. And about 5pm, we went to dinner for Branden's early birthday dinner. celebration. He wanted to go to Jolly Pasta. And we're lucky now that there are 2 Jolly Pasta's in Ibaraki now. There used to be just the 1 in Mito. Which is way too far for us. But now there's one way closer to us. This one just opened September 27th this year. It's a 30 minute drive from our home. Where as the other one in Chiba was an hours long drive. So this ones much closer. And the one in Chiba City has traffic for days. Where this one is all inaka back roads and no stop lights. So we zipped there in no time. 

The most beautiful sunset the 4 of us saw on Monday October 23rd long after the typhoon had passed. On our way to dinner. 

Bits and Pieces...

I love these types of posts. The ones with all sorts of various different topics and sorts of things happening. A little something fun to read for everyone. All these things happened during Summer break. But didn't warrant a full post... all on their lonesome. The final DVD of my Amazon.com order that I placed in June arrived the first week of August. This was really funny. I adore Goldie Hawn so much. Loved her in the movie Overboard, probably my favorite Goldie Hawn movie besides Wildcats (and yes I know Overboard is being remade/ getting a reboot). "Death Becomes Her" was cute, but not my favorite but still okay. Deceived (nobody ever talks about this movie, but I personally really love this one) Wildcats (have this on DVD and have loved this since it first came out) Private Benjamin, also another good Goldie Hawn movie. I also really like Amy Schumer.

When did Bran get his last pair of Vans you guys? I blogged about it. I forget when. Was it May or June? His last pair. Anyway...Branden outgrew them. He needs a 10 and a half size now. That's American sizing. Since Vans are American, obviously. 

His last pair were 10's. But these are 10H which is a 10 and a half. I had to go to the Vans website and have Noboru check online at ABC Mart in Japanese for me. Branden's feet are normal size in the US, but too large a size to be found available at an ABC Mart in person. I think in store... they sell up until a 9 or 9 1/2 men's in Vans. But if you need larger you need to order online. Which is fine. But gee whiz... wish we could just walk into a store and buy my son a pair right away. Sports Authority carries some shoes in larger sizes, but they don't sell Vans. And our 3 nearest ABC Mart's don't sell larger than a 9 1/2 men's in their stores, or keep them in stock. @_@ It's okay...we just order Bran his online. 

His last pair were navy and I always tell my kids. Simple is best. So these ones we ordered in navy too. These arrived the day after we went to the beach. So...when was that?....I forget, but a long time ago...anyways... he's had these for quite a while. Again, just didn't have the time to post about it. But in this Bits and Pieces post, it can fit nicely in here. : )

What else happened. I made a batch of cheesy gratin potatoes.And fried chicken. I made 4 pieces of chicken. The other 2 were frying up. We also had a garden salad and fresh sweet corn on the cob with butter, salt and black pepper.

Tyson Foods. Americans, ya'll know what this is. If you're thinking chicken. You're right. They make chicken and nuggets. And they sell stuff in bulk too. Now...I also want/need to point out. You know...I am a little cruiser in my car right? Meaning. I get to where I am going under my own steam. Meaning I drive my own self ...to all sorts of grocery stores, I don't depend on anyone else to drive me, because I can drive myself. I drive here. I drive there. First question I asked Branden's yochien friends mom's when we first moved to where we live now while at swimming school a billion years ago. "which store sells the cheapest groceries? Who has the best deal?" I asked that, because I know...women know this stuff!!! We do. And they warmly welcomed me and told me. This is the cheapest place for meat. This here...is the cheapest place for veggies. I wrote that down. They added this is the cheapest place for drinks and snacks. Again I jotted it down. And all these many many years later. I have been adding stores. Driving farther. Trying new stores in nearby cities, I have never went to. Ventured myself all the way as far as an hours away. Bottom line. I know 2 of the cheapest meat stores around. One's in Inzai. One's in the small city nearest me. Both are like meat wholesale type places. Their meat is fresh. And dirt cheap. I always shop those 2 stores first for meat. I also have 1 place that I prefer for veggies and fruit. and I still buy my snacks at the same store my friends told me back when Bran was age 4 because like they said, it really is the cheapest store for snacks. Yep. So...since those meat stores are like wholesale places. They often sell wholesale stuff. And no... these places are not Hanamasa. That store is okay. But sometimes not so fresh and their prices are only okay.. but not the cheapest, these stores are cheaper. Anyways...this one meat store in the city nearest my town. Often sells stuff from America. It's often you see it once and will *never* see it again ever. 

1kg of sliced pepperoni from Tyson Foods. An American brand that is very well known. 500 yen a bag. The only other place to get pepperoni in Japan, is a shop in Japan that is selling pepperoni online for 2600 yen or 2500 yen a bag, plus shipping. Again if you live in the states...you'd never need this deal or to buy this much. But if you live in Japan...you will know what a good deal this 500 yen a bag each was and how rare/uncommon it is to find it..in person, if you live in Japan. I bet...this came from Dominoes or Pizza Hut in Japan, maybe they had a surplus of it. Costco Japan should really start selling pepperoni too. Who knows/who cares why this store had it for sale this one day, that I happened to be there, what luck. Now I have 3kg (6 pounds) of pepperoni from America from Tyson. I will only pull out a handful or two at a time when we bake a pizza. This is currently in my freezer. I'm glad that I know all the best places/cheapest places to buy meats, veggies, vegetables. Groceries in general. And the wholesale type places always sell the darndest things. The other meat store... has been selling all sorts of cuts of lamb. Granted, I am not a fan of lamb, at all. But they have so many different types of cuts of lamb, that I often think...I bet someone would be really happy to know this store existed in Japan. Sadly, I don't enjoy lamb at all. But yep, I have been seeing it for sale all month at one of my meat stores. 

Besia has been selling this American water super cheaply all summer. We have been buying it all summer long too.

The water nearest this pic you can probably see a lemon wedge, although they all have lemon wedges in them. I buy a whole lemon and slice lemon wedges and throw one, in each bottle and then toss a whole bunch of the waters in the fridge and all summer long the kids, Noboru and I would pull out a nice cold lemon water. Some bottles, I even toss into the freezer for a nice slushy of lemon water.

One day this summer. I drove the kids to Narita mall. And bought Branden a pencil case from Muji, some mechanical pencils from Muji, some pens from Muji and some erasers from Muji too. Branden also picked up a metal ruler from Muji too. Noah only wanted a metal ruler from Muji. But he did pick a pack of snacks to munch in the car on the way home. Also 2 weeks ago, I made sure to get Noah a new pair of inside shoes. 2 notebooks he will be running out of soon-ish. I always want to make sure both the kids are well prepared for going back to school. And Branden's uniform, I took his high school uniform, the summer one *and* the winter one to the dry cleaners before we left to Denver for summer vacation. 

New cleaning rags from the Daiso, I like the ones in packs of 3. That way if anyone needs a new one, I always have a spare to give them. Last week, I made sure both the boys were all packed up and last Friday they went to their first day of school since summer break. 

An Old Navy order came to us. Thank you dad... for always forwarding Old Navy to us. You rock! These 4 Denver Broncos shirts are for the kids. 2 for Branden and 2 for Noah. The back 2 are for Branden. And the front 2 are for Noah. 

And while yes...for me too. Love you Denver Broncos!!!

If you've been reading here for years, then you'll know we start slowly getting Fall and Winter ready in August. And slowly gather stuff all September. And by the time there's a chill in the air and October has come...we are pretty close to ready. I got 3 shirts, in the same style just different colors. Hey, by now... I know exactly what style flatters me the most. And so, I stick with what works. And 1 shirt in a different style. 

Semi fitted looks best on me. And boat neck. I personally find boat necks flattering on all women. It makes you look so feminine. Makes everyone's neck look even longer and more graceful. It's a very flattering neckline. I love this color. I was very happy to try it on. You never know if it will be a hit or not. And it was a true hit for me. I love this top. And I find that at times Old Navy tops are made thin material-wise. This was not the case for these though...this was a thicker weight material. A very nice quality weight. I can't wait for the cooler weather so I can wear this. 

You can never go wrong with a preppy navy. It's what I always tell my sons too. I mean duh...look at the color of Bran's Vans. lol. I loved this top. It's so perfect and feminine. I will be wearing this all Fall. I also picked up this top in black. You can never go wrong with black. And since I love this style of top anyway, it's perfect. 

Such a graceful neckline. 

Also picked up this sweatshirt, it says Good Mood. I'm usually in a very good mood. So thought this was perfect for me. : )

Branden's best friend since kindergarten moved away from our town as you know. He has been asking Branden to come over and stay the night at his house. I have been putting it off all summer, only because we were in Denver. Then after we got back, we did a lot of activities as a family, so it wasn't intentional. But it is true, I didn't make the sleepover my priority #1. But, I finally said yes! So, I dropped Bran off at the train station around 8am one morning, Bran brought his Jansport. With a change of clothes. Deodorant. Toothbrush. Towel for nightly shower. I gave him 7,000 yen, gave him 2 drinks and his bestie met him at the train station, near where he lives. Us parents did talk on the phone, 2 days beforehand and we each knew and gave permission. He lives in a bigger city now, his bestie. And they hung around his house all afternoon. His mom was there. And sister. They had pizza for lunch. And then for supper, Bran and his bestie went to a nearby udon shop, and they ate supper. And then went back to his house and hung out all night. I had told Branden to make sure he was back to our town by 10am the next morning. And I was at the train station to pick up my kiddo. : ) He had a lot of fun. 

Unless, I am doing my weekly grocery haul. I usually will spend 2 hours each day cleaning my house Monday-Friday. Two hours isn't a lot of time, it isn't. And it keeps my house tidy. And one thing that I love is that...in summer or winter break, my boys will always help me for the 2 hours. Granted, I will take them to MickeyD's. Or go and buy them some shave ice. Or take them to the movies as a way of saying...hey thanks for helping me around the house, I appreciate it. But yep, I get twice the amount done in the same amount of time. This day we spent 1  hour in the kitchen (I always set my timer on my stove). And then 1 hour in the living room. With 3 people doing it, it was *deeply* thoroughly cleaned. Noah scrubbed the heck out of the water pot and rice cooker. And yes, my rice cooker is in English. Electronics in English are super easy to find in person in Narita City since there are so many tourists, they're also available at Amazon Japan too. LOL. My water pot is in Japanese, but then again... we got that a bazillion years ago, before we ever lived around here. 

We also went and took absolutely everything out of the food pantry. Started checking dates. Anything expired? Anything expired got tossed. Seriously I have the most helpful kids. I must have done something right.

Noah checking dates too.

Vacuuming. My sons are going to make fantastic husbands one day. : )

I took everything out of the fridge. 2 big squirts of green tea dish soap in a filled up sink with hot sudsy water. And I started dunking my sponge in the water and scrubbing the insides of my fridge. And scrubbing the heck out of it. Srubbed twice and rinsed twice. Then dried with paper towel and put everything back. 

Food pantry. And no, we're not Blendy freaks. We got them for free, which is why, we have so many. The Knorr pasta/rice side dishes though, I do stock up on when I got back to the US for summer and since they're not available in Japan, I stock up a bit, to make sure they last me a little while at least.

Homemade pizza night happened in August too.

This is what I packed up back when Branden went to British Hills. I had Branden all packed up and ready to go. I too packed him 2 drinks for the long bus ride to Fukushima prefecture. Made him a filling breakfast. And zipped him to the train station by 6am that morning. His meals and everything were included. Meaning we paid for all that beforehand. But, this money was for souvenirs. And the little container was in case Branden had a headache while he was away from home. The note from the school said, pack your child any medications he or she may need. This container came from the 100 yen shop. Seria. 

You clearly know you have an American mom when... she packs you a little container with 6 emergency Advil in it. LOL. Hahaha. : ) And yes I name sticker-ed his container. That way the teachers would know...okay yes, that's clearly Branden's. And no, he didn't even use one. But still better to have it. Just peace of mind. 

Has everyone been using this? This came out in July, and I have been using this since it first came out. It says cuts the smells of raw meat on your hands. Like fish and pork smells. In America, we have something called Kitchen hand wash. And it's usually lemon scented. And it works perfectly. I have bought the one from Bath and Body Works, many times. And the one at Target before too. They have never sold anything like this in Japan before, for kitchen use to cut smells. This says it's citrus scented and to me it smells more grapefruit-y than lemony. But I love this scent. And this works *just* as good as the ones we have in the US. When I made hamburger patties at home this summer and my hands smelled all disgusting and funky from handling raw ground beef....I washed my hands with this twice and you can't even detect at all, that I handled meat after I used this.  

It's by Biore. And like I said... when I handle raw ground beef or something strongly scented. I wash my hands with this and it takes the smell away. I love this. The other scent is unscented. Which for me, I would *never* use unscented in the kitchen..I *need* the citrus to take the meat smells away. Raw eggs smells away, when making cutlet, ykwim. I would not ever be interested in the unscented one at all. 

Anything else to add? The weather has been cooling off some.... in my area/part of Japan. The edge of Chiba/edge of Ibaraki. The nights cool down to 68 degrees F and the day time...well right now... it's currently 74 degrees F outside right now. So no blistering sweltering sauna summer type heat. But still warm in the daytime for sure.

As you know Branden had his Sports Day in June. But, Noah has his in about 2 weeks from now. 

As for us, how's life? Things are quiet here. The weather is slowly cooling down. The rice fields have mostly all been cut in my town. I went and did the weekly grocery haul yesterday. But was back by 1pm at home, so that I could get a pot of beef stew going and do an hour of cleaning my house at least. I couldn't do 2 hours, because I was out for a bunch of the day.  This morning, I spent an hour mopping my kitchen floors. Then scrubbing and bleaching the downstairs toilet, vacuuming the living room and stairs. And now I am currently washing all of Branden's bedding in my new 9kg washing machine...it's going to beep any second and I'll be throwing it into the dryer as soon as the washer beeps. Then I'll move on to Noah's bedding next. Meanwhile, until undokai, Noah will be at school until 5pm except Thursdays, he gets out at 3pm Thursdays. So, I know I will get both their beds all washed up and dried before they both get home from school. Tonight for supper we're having chicken cutlet/sesami chicken cutlet (chicken tenderloin breaded in panko breadcrumbs), fresh corn on the cob, macaroni salad yet again (we love mac salad) and rice. Alrighty, I better end this here. : )