Our weekend. Nabe. Christmas cookie baking. Family movie night and more...

How was everyone's weekend? Ours was really nice. Spent the whole thing at home. Didn't leave the house even once. We hunkered down for the entire weekend. Last Friday, like I said, we had curry soup nabe. It was super simple. Super healthy. And absolutely perfect for a freezing cold Friday night and the start of the weekend. 

Friday and Saturday everyone munched on the chocolate chip walnut cookies. We were set to bake the Christmas cookies Saturday afternoon at first... But since my family had 3 dozen chocolate chip cookies to finish. We baked our Christmas cookies on Sunday instead. Friday night we watched Young Sheldon and then we watched the movie... Guardians of the Galaxy part 2 again. The kids *love* that one and I admit Noboru and I do too. : )

Saturday morning. I made the kids a 6 egg cheese omelette. And for Noboru and I, we shared a 4 egg cheese and jalapeno omelette. We both like our food spicy. And so we loved it. We had omelettes and toast. Saturday morning. Branden studied. Noah and I set up the Christmas trees. 

Saturday nights supper, I made a big tray of beef and cheese enchiladas and a small tray of chicken and cheese enchiladas too. 

Enchiladas and some Spanish rice. We had cokes with ice to go with our meal. Quick showers and  a bath Saturday night. Before movie night once more.

Because of the highly anticipated new Star wars movie coming out next Friday world-wide. American cable TV... has been airing all Star Wars all weekend long. They did this last year too. We watched Attack of the Clones on Saturday. Does that little logo... say the TNT channel or the TBS channel? Bottom left hand corner? Anyway...some cable channel. Such a great movie.

Sunday as soon as breakfast was done. Noah and I got cracking on the Christmas cookies. Bran was in the kitchen but...he was study for his 2 tests this Monday/today. 

We baked 3 dozen Christmas cookies. Noboru took some to work today. Branden took some to school today too.  

Christmas trees. We prefer our Christmas cookies without the overly too sweet sugary frosting. So we just use the pretty sprinkles. It's perfect for us. Just the way we like ours.

And Christmas stars. Like on top of your Christmas tree. Awww. Very pretty. We will be baking more of these this coming weekend too. Besides us going to see the new Star Wars movie this coming weekend. 

Anyway...anything new to add? Noah has his elementary school marathon tomorrow. Also...our New Years cards got here today. They came out so cute!!! I am so glad I did them early. Tonight, for supper we're having a great big pot of beans, that are already made, done by 11am today. And a great big pot of pork green chili that should be done in about 10 minutes. Why? Because with me being at the school tomorrow.... for Noah's marathon. Us having tasty delicious leftovers for tomorrow nights supper will be super appreciated. So that's why. : ) Thinking ahead and planning ahead. Regarding meals. Really helps us all. : ) Anyway...I'm gonna go give the chili a stir. As for Bran....he has been home since 1pm today. He has half days all this week. Because of it being test week at high school. Talk to you guys in a few days. Not tomorrow though... because you know we have Noah's marathon tomorrow. Bye for now. : ) 

Last Saturday. Buying a gift for a Secret Santa. Drone flying fun. No more Advent calendars for us. And omg, that Christmas Pepsi...

Last Saturday, I slept in until 7:30am. I was so refreshed. I woke up. Set the hot water pot downstairs. And while it was heating up. I jumped in the shower, washed my face with some Basis face wash. Shampooed my hair with some Pantene shampoo and conditioner. Washed my body with the regular scented Biore body wash. And got out. Got dressed. Did my eyebrows with my ABH pencil. And wore no other makeup that day. I went downstairs with a towel on my head with my clothes on/fully dressed meaning no house clothes. And had a nice hot coffee. And read through a stack of emails. Read the online news. Blow dried my hair. Then made some pancakes. Everyone smelled breakfast and came down the stairs. We ate. And I told everyone. We would be leaving by 10:30am. To go and buy Bran's secret Santa gift for the girl whose name he picked randomly in the Santa hat. It's a secret Santa for his English club. The limit is 1000 yen/US$10 bucks. We went out and purchased her gift at a body shop place that sells really nice stuff. Bath bombs, super nice ones. It's a shop in the little city nearest us. Not a LUSH or Body Shop chain. We just live too far from those. But this shop... I have purchased stuff from there... before. I love the quality and scents. We bought her a very nice gift set. All in the scent green apple (there were yuzu scented, rose, all sorts of scents, but Bran picked green apple for her, because he said that smelled so nice). It had bath bombs, 2 of those, a hair wrap thing, when you're in the tub. Some lotion. It was all wrapped up and gorgeous. And it was exactly 1000 yen. I know this girl will love her gift. Bran has to give it to her.... this coming Thursday. I also asked the girls working there, to wrap it Christmas style and they did a fantastic job. We came home. Had lunch. And the 3 of them went and spent about 2 hours in our backyard. Noboru flying his drone. 

You know how the Kingsmen are the British special team and the Statesmen are the American team. Well there is a roping lasso guy in the American team. And ever since my kids have been watching the trailers for that. Bran has been roping things in his spare time, ps they have zero idea I bought them the DVD already. Oh and also important to note. About 3 weeks ago...I saw the new Christmas edition Pepsi. Noah's holding one in this picture. I didn't buy it... but I first wondered if it was Crystal Pepsi. But by one glance... you can tell it's super cloudy. So I knew it would be nothing like Crystal Pepsi at all. Also it looked cloudy, okay I just said that.... and for some reason it looked super overly sweet to me, because it was cloudy, don't ask me why. Something just gave me the vibe of...I do NOT want to try this. So when we were at the mall buying Bran's secret Santa gift. We all grabbed a drink at the store before we left for the drive home... back to our rural town. I grabbed a sugarless jasmine tea by Ito En. My most favorite drink. And the kids each picked a Lipton Lemon tea at first and I thought okay. And then they saw the Christmas Pepsi. I told my kids....you have never tried it...and if you wanna try it...you can for sure, your choice. : )  But I did say....to me...imo... it looks way too sickeningly sweet. They still wanted to try. So...they put their teas back and each grabbed one of these. When we were in the car. We could smell this overpowering sickeningly too sweet smell. Smelled like...Chipu Chaps. Strawberry Chipu Chaps. Or...something but OMG...it smelled super sweet. I didn't say anything, because it's already been purchased and it is...what it is and sips have been taken. Noboru picked a bottled iced coffee, fwiw. As we were driving down the rode. Branden said. It tastes funny. I said...what do you mean. He said...tastes weird. We drove some more. And then Noah said word for word..."I don't like it...it's too sweet...tastes like cookies mixed with cough drops." @_@ That image is STILL in my head even now...cookies mixed with cough drops? OMG. And I thought...just Chipu Chaps was bad enough. In any case...if you ever wanted to drink a liquid strawberry Chipu Chaps...try the Christmas Pepsi. On the other hand...if you don't like overly sweet, like me. Avoid it. I am so glad I avoided it. However I did still...smell it...and smelling it... was more than enough for me. Blech. 

Okay Bran...dad's taking video of you now...that drone takes the best, most smoothest high resolution video. 

Oh my gosh...I'm in the house prepping supper. And throwing the lunch dishes in the dishwasher. 

Branden's gift for his secret Santa person. Squeak. I'm so excited. High school in Japan is so fun, you guys. There is a light at the end of the JHS in Japan tunnel. : ) 

Saturday's simple supper. Chicken teriyaki bowls. Chicken breast, button mushrooms, broccoli on a bed of white rice. Mine was smaller than Branden's and Noboru's. Noah's and mine were about the same size, pictured here. Theirs were double the size of ours, which they need. Saturday was a very chill day. And I'm not just talking about the weather either. It was so relaxed and restful. We made sure to buy his secret Santa gift. They spent some time outside. I meanwhile stayed inside our toasty warm house. We had a nice simple dinner. And enjoyed 20/20 on TV. The Meghan Markle interview called...The American Princess. Loved this 20/20 very much. After that we watched ghost stories on another channel. Saturday was a very nice day.

Oh and...we're not doing Advent calendars this year. When my kids were little they looked forward to them every SINGLE day. Could *not* wait for their daily chocolate and the count-down to Christmas. But last year...I could tell...maybe at age 15 and 11. They just weren't as excited about it last year. I went and bought them the coolest Kylo Ren Advent from Star Wars... from Kaldi, last year. I always immediately bought them right before Thanksgiving. A few times last year...my kids would go... 2 and 3 days and they wouldn't open them. And would open them and eat 3 in a row because they had missed a few days. A clear sign...yes that they just weren't into it anymore. And I quietly got to thinking. Maybe they just outgrew them. And if they did. That's okay. I have always bought Advents for my kids because it made my kids SMILE. Not because it was blog worthy. Do you know what I'm saying. And yeah at the end of last year...I was deeply thinking...maybe I shouldn't buy them next year. So now to this year. I'm at Kaldi...sipping on that free coffee mini sample. Looking at all the Advents. They didn't have any Star Wars ones for older kids this year. Hmm. But I saw a Toy Story one that looked very cute...but my kids seemed a bit old for that...and a Mickey Mouse one. I called my boys...on my cell to their cell. This was a few Saturdays ago. And I said..."Branden...ask Noah if he'd like a Toy Story Advent or a Mickey Advent? Mickey looks very cool and retro." And...he asked Noah..."it's mom...she wants to know if you want a Toy Story Advent or Mickey?" I could hear Noah thinking in the background going...ummmm. And Branden said..."Just get Noah one...I don't need one mom...I'm just not into them anymore, but thank you" And Noah finally answered after hearing that and he said..."can you tell mom, I don't need one either" Like a sucker punch to my gut ya'll...My face maybe looked slightly devastated, shocked or in mild to mid pain???? LOL....Because the Kaldi lady was staring at me, she knows me well and likes me, always chits chats with me and I her but this particular morning she was looking at my face and...she looked a tad worried. LOL. Was my jaw wide open...or on the ground? I never ever ever... want my boys to feel guilty...or feel bad about growing up and getting older. I **want** my kids to get older. Duh. And be happy about it. That's part of life...so while I was still on the phone..as best as I could muster... I tried to...give a non-chalant..."oh...okay not a problem. Talk to you later." And I left Kaldi without any advent calendar this year. And yes, I did tell the Kaldi lady..."seems my kids don't want any of these this year" She's about mid 50's, so I am sure she has kids much older than mine, so I am sure she could relate on some level. And for a few days I was sorta secretly sad. But now...I'm so totally over it. Onwards and upwards. I write these little snippets on my blog... of my true daily or weekly musings. Because maybe...just maybe someday...it will be your kid who has outgrown an advent someday in the distant future. And maybe you will feel a sad twinge too. And you will remember me writing about this from my heart...with all my most sincere feelings....my refreshing candor and honesty. And hopefully knowing someone else went through it too...will make you smile that's it's just something we as parents...we all go through. 

Family movie night at home...

We have been having "family movie night at home" since my boys were toddlers. For like 14 years, we have been doing this. Why did I start it? I didn't....my parents started it with me. Every Saturday night back when I was growing up... my family and I would watch The Love Boat and Fantasy Island afterwards. We would have popcorn. Most Saturday nights we would order a pizza from a small mom and pop place, which this gave my mom a rest from cooking. The weekends were our time for relaxin'. Our time to enjoy our time as a family. And I remember when we'd have Twilight Zone marathons too. And we'd all pop a whole bunch of popcorn on the stove and hunker down in the living room. And be all cozy and watch the snow fall. Colorado winters were/are quite cold and snowy and it was fun and magical to sit at home with my family with a packed pantry and fridge and enjoy the Saturday night movie or TV program. So...I just always did the same with my kids. This weekend. We scanned the TV. On the FXM channel (Fox Movie channel in the USA) was showing Oblivion. Now...I don't hate Tom Cruise at all. But I usually don't watch his movies. He's usually in action movies and those really aren't my type of movies at all. However...this movie, is the exception. I really like this movie. My kids like it too. We have seen it twice throughout the years. But...as we flipped through the TV guide channel. The boys picked this. And so we said...cool. And so we sat and enjoyed this little gem. With freshly popped popcorn. And some Strawberry M&M's and choco mint M&M's. 

The Dairy Queen commercials are always so funny. Anyway...this doesn't need to be a book. I just wanted to share what me and my family watched this weekend. We watched this on Friday.

The movie Elf and Willy Wonka have been playing pretty much all week on my American cable. I am wondering if my kids will be picking that to watch this coming weekend or what they will pick as this coming weeks family movie. I'll let you know. : ) 

Bits from our weekend. Going to the movies and also hitting the outlet mall...

How was every one's weekend? Ours was pretty awesome! It was such a relief to have an actual full weekend to ourselves meaning...not having to go or attend a town undokai/sports day or an actual elementary school sports day or a Culture Day, YKWIM. It's important for kids and parents too...to be able to get 2 days off a week to refresh...recharge. And start the school week yet again. So yeah...while we will *always* attend these events if our kids are in them and with a smile. It is certainly best to actually get a 2 day weekend. And just chill and relax a bit. So that being said. For us having a normal weekend. Thank the lord. And yes!!! Nice to just chill. Anyways...2 of the 5 DVDs arrived to my house via Amazon.com on Wednesday, October 11th. I have yet to see Everything, Everything. We will be watching that this weekend. So I am completely looking forward to it. Last Friday, we were all happy the weekend started. And enjoyed a nice dinner here at home. However we were all sorta tired. So we decided it was best to watch Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 on Saturday. By the way, it's been raining in our town since last Friday. And it's raining even right now as I type. So non stop rain since last Friday. Friday we all just rested after dinner. Watched The Orville on TV after everyone took showers. Saturday. I baked a yellow cake with chocolate frosting. I made a nice supper. And Saturday evening, we all popped some popcorn on the stove. And we watched Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. How did we like it? We loved it. It was honestly better than the first movie. : ) 

Yep, Everything, Everything was indeed a #1 New York Times best seller. I can't wait to watch this with the family this coming Saturday evening. : ) 

Annabelle Creation. Not sure if you can see the date on top in white above the poster? And yes, this movie might be long gone from movie theaters in America. But it barely just came to movie theaters October 13th. Ahem...or should I say...Friday The 13th??? Dundundun!!!! So for Americans in the US, this movie might be old and crusty and just about to be released o DVD... but for us in Japan, it's brand spanking new. So, on Wednesday October 11th, Noboru bought the 4 of us our movie tickets online for Sunday's movie showing. You have to pick your seats. If you are in Japan, then you know this. You just can't sit randomly anywhere in a movie theater. : ) So yep...we have been eagerly awaiting this movie to come out here and as soon as the movie seats and tickets were made available to purchase online, we did. We picked the 12 noon showing, Sunday October 15th. It is also important to note this movie is only being played at 3 places in Chiba prefecture. And 1 place in Ibaraki. As you know we live on the edge/border of Chiba and Ibaraki. And actual Chiba city or Ibaraki city...Ibaraki city is tons closer for us. So we went to the movie theater in Tsukuba City, since that is tons closer for us than Chiba City is. So fwiw, our closer/closest movie theater is in rural Ibaraki and that's the one we mainly go to. This movie theater we went to on Sunday was a different movie theater...and located in the bustling city of Tsukuba at a shopping mall. There's a movie theater in the mall. 

Concession stand. 

We picked 2 large half and half popcorn's and 4 medium drinks. The popcorn's are half caramel and half buttery salt and there is a cardboard divider separating the two types of popcorn.

We love when there are 2 side seats. We also prefer and pick those 2 seats. That way the kids can sit in front of us and we know that nobody can sit near them and we sit directly right behind them and we know that no stranger will sit near us either. So we love those seats and always pick to sit there. Anyway the movie was awesome. And it ended around 2pm. After the movie our plan was to head to the Ami Premium outlet. We wanted to get some jeans and winter clothes for Branden. 

Gap...

These are slim fit.The style of jeans.

And these are slim stretch. Branden tried on many different styles on Sunday. But he prefers the slim style and so he got 2 pairs of Gap jeans on Sunday. 

Two different shades of blue. Bran wears a school uniform, 5 days a week. So, I am relieved at least that now he has enough for a weekend. I do want Branden to get another pair of pants or jeans. But I am relieved at least that he has 2 new pair that he loves. 

Branden also got a new pair of Gap sweatpants and a new Gap long sleeve top. 

Also...for whatever reason... an usually high amount of Japanese high school and college aged girls and ladies (stylish moms) were buying men's sweatpants and not women's and no none of these ladies were big girls either...so it wasn't a size issue at all. @_@ Perhaps the girls sweats were too pink and stuff. I don't know the reason, I can only tell ya what I saw. The boys were basic and gorgeous and preppy colors. They came in 2 styles of navy and 2 shades of gray (one lighter and the other more of a darker charcoal gray) there was also a charcoal black (was the name on the tag), it looked like a light black... were the choices. So very wearable color choices. Perhaps why the ladies preferred these versus a pink pair with hearts on them. Anyways...after seeing the 4th skinny girl pick a pair of men's sweats. And after seeing Bran just try them on and see how cute they were with the words down one of the legs. I said to Noboru and Noah...I'm gonna go try a pair on.  And...I'm sorry... but they were just too cute for words. I picked a smaller size than Bran. But yep...I asked Bran if he minded if we could be twinsies? And he said...I don't mind at all. These were so popular at the Gap outlet. Are we done winter clothes shopping for the kids yet? Not yet. And we're going shopping for Fall/Winter clothes again this coming weekend too. Hopefully we can be done and get it all over with...as soon as humanly possible. It's not fun for any of us, having to waste a day in the dressing rooms but...it's just something we gotta do.  But...the weather has switched to cold. Remember how last time I said...Noah was wearing sweatshirts, but not needing to wear his new pants yet? Well...Friday the 13th morning...the weather outside was so cold that...it was the first official day Noah wore jeans, and a long sleeve shirt and a sweatshirt. He hasn't needed to wear a coat just yet...but you know... he he a new one. From Gap at 45% off too. Anyways...hopefully the kids can get sorted and finished with winter clothes soon. 

There are many Ohsho restaurants in Chiba prefecture, but only 1 in Ibaraki. After finishing with shopping at the Gap outlet. We were all starving by then. And so we went and had Chinese food at the Ohsho, in Ibaraki. We didn't get home to near 7pm. Everyone took turns showering. And Branden went to his room to chill for the rest of the night. Noah went to his room. And I kicked it on the couch until bedtime, Noboru kicked it in the living room with me, watching TV too. How was our weekend? Pretty nice. We saw 2 new to us movies. We saw Guardians of the Galaxy part 2. We saw Annabelle Creation and we even managed to get Branden 2 pair of jeans, 1 pair of sweatpants and a long sleeve top too. His size in tops is still a size large at American stores like the Gap. So...same size in tops as last year. So...he still has about 5 long sleeves in size large from last year, that are practically brand new, though he's still getting new ones too. And his legs/height has changed a lot since last year, though he was still tall last year too...Branden grows like a weed. So...he needed new jeans, the ones from last year were highwaters. He's already 5 foot 10 *and* a half and he's only 15 years old and *still* growing!!!!! He'll more than likely be 5 foot 11 by Thanksgiving, at the rate he's going . All the teachers at his school ask Branden...do you play American football? And his gym teacher asked Branden when he first saw him, do you lift weights??? And at the movies to watch Annabelle Creation the lady taking our tickets... flat out asked to see Branden's high school ID because she thought he was an adult!!!! Branden has a very American body frame, tall, broad shoulders and muscular, where as in Japan... Japanese guys tend to have very petite narrow extremely thin body frames. And that's fine too. But Branden has a very different body type than most Japanese 15 years old's for living in Japan. @_@  Anyways...long story short. A fantastic weekend. We're getting there regarding Fall/Winter clothes shopping for the kids. And we're still going for more shopping this coming weekend too.

Today's Tuesday. I did my weekly grocery shopping yesterday. I also scrubbed toilets and also did a load of laundry yesterday too. The jeans and sweatpants Branden just got from Gap, I washed on the fast cycle and dried them so he can wear them anytime now. We had chicken chow mein last night (Monday). And tonight, I am making karaage (Tuesday). Tomorrow we're having curry soup (Wednesday) I prepare that like nabe in the center of the kitchen table, the family loves when we eat dinner like that. And the day after we're having tacos, ground beef and also chicken ones too (Thursday). Friday will be homemade cheeseburger night to kick off the start of the weekend.

I have a load of bath towels in the dryer as I type. And a load of clothes in the washer. I also washed both Branden and Noah's bedding on Saturday afternoon. I have been washing every one's bedding weekly now that my washing machine is big enough. 

Taking the family to see The Hunger Games: Mockingjay- Part 2...

Saturday, November 21st! We went to see the final Hunger Games movie. The Hunger Games Mockingjay- Part 2. It was only released the day before! November 20th! But we knew with the kids having a full day of school, they'd be exhausted and wouldn't really enjoy it, if we went to see it on opening day! So, we are glad we got to see it, the day after it opened, that way the kids were fully rested! We had bought our tickets a few days before, online so all we had to do on Saturday is go and pick up the tickets at the little automated machine at the movies.... after we punched in our security code and received our tickets. With our nearest movie theater to our house *not* showing the final Hunger Games movie at all. We finally decided, it would be best for us to go and see it at the Humax movie theater in Narita City. It's a pretty big movie theater and they even have an IMAX. They also have really really good popcorn. Their website online says popped fresh daily and that they use real coconut oil to pop their popcorn! Also their popcorn prices are super cheap! A medium popcorn is like 430 yen. Their large popcorn is like 500 yen or around that. And their popcorn is FRESH and so yum. Which is a nice change... because our nearest movie theater nearest our house... has the worst popcorn in all of Japan and it's super expensive and so tiny in size and doesn't taste fresh at all. Everyone was buying popcorn and drinks at the concession stand in Narita at the movies....and no wonder..it's so cheap/affordable so why not! We did too : ) 

We bought 2 small caramel popcorn's, 1 for each of the boys. And Noboru and I shared this regular salt and butter popcorn. We each had a soda, but Noboru was holding his at the time, I snapped this pic. I also brought in a small ziplock of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups for our family to enjoy too!

A bit blurry, but it gives you an idea at least, of what we did yesterday! A slightly blurry pic of Noah, BrannyMcB and Noboru. Yes we still bookend our kids...just in case a creeper sits near one of us. However nobody did. There were about 25 people watching the movie, while we watched it. So, not a full or crowded movie theater, but there were definitely other people in there too. How was the movie? Well, we loved it! It was nice to get some closure and sort of wrap up the series this way! Since we do like and own... all of the other Hunger Games on DVD. We were so glad we got to go and enjoy this movie as a family this weekend! : )

Hope you all are having a nice weekend too. Ours is going good here! We went to see the final Hunger Games movie obviously, I just posted that up above haha. Um, what else. For supper tonight... we're having pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw on top and some side dishes. Yumm! And I am contemplating making a batch of rice krispy treats this afternoon (I think I will). Umm, anything else? I have a load of laundry in the dryer as we speak. Ohh, also tomorrow is a holiday in Japan, so the boys do NOT have school tomorrow/Monday! Woohoo, a chance to sleep in until 7am! I am such a rebel! : ) I am going to be putting the turkey in the fridge soon... so he has time to defrost...because he's ginormous and he needs time to defrost. Bye for now. : )

PS, and yes we are so... going to see the new Star Wars! Comes out for us in Japan, December 18th? But yep, that is the next movie, we plan to see as a family next! Two of my close girl friends in Japan, have already bought their tickets for it for their family's! So, I know many are getting excited for it already. We can't wait either, very exciting stuff! : ) 

Le three day weekend...

Here in Chiba, Monday (2 days ago) was a holiday. Chiba Day. So that means Monday was a "no school" day for Branden and Noah. Last week, I made chicken curry with veggies. I made 2 times the amount (used 2 rouxs, extra veggies and 1 extra chicken breast, so 3 total) because the following day we were going to have curry spaghetti. A family favorite, around our house. : )  Curry spaghetti pictured.

Random pic of some dusting action going on, in the living room, last week. Took all the DVD baskets out, dusted the area where the baskets usually go and also dusted the DVDs. The kids were doing the 3 day weekend, happy dance all week, last week. And I was just trying to get the house in order, before the 3 day weekend.

Friday morning after finishing up the house cleaning and tossing my load of laundry into the dryer, I went downstairs and baked the fam...a pineapple upside down cake. You know...to kick off..."Le Weekend", of course! : ) Le 3 day weekend...so even more reason, to celebrate with some cake!

Lightly buttered a baking pan. Melted a bit of butter in the microwave, which was pictured to the right. And cranked up some jams in the kitchen to keep me company. Thinking Out Loud, by Ed Sheeran...I'm Not The Only One, by Sam Smith. Not a Bad Thing, by Justin Timberlake, etc.

The tad of melted butter has to go down in the pan first. Followed by some brown sugar. It says use 2/3 cup brown sugar. I tried that once a few years ago, I felt the 2/3 cups ruined the cake, totally. It was absurdly too sweet, so I use 1/3 cup of brown sugar and it's plenty. Would never use more than 1/3 cup of brown sugar. 

I have mentioned this on my blog once or twice before. But when you make pineapple upside down cake. Do not use the 1 cup of water that the box says for the yellow cake mix. Save the pineapple juice from the canned pineapple and use 1 cup of the pineapple water/juice/liquid... what was from the can of pineapple. It instantly makes the entire yellow cake mix, now taste like a delicious pineapple cake. Everyone will cheer and clap for you and wonder..how did you get your cake to taste so good. You can either share and tell them. Or just keep it a secret. But I'll share. It's the pineapple liquid from the can. : ) 

Canned pineapple rings are 89-100 yen around my part of Japan. So it's affordable. I have even seen canned cherries and jars of cherries around. I brought the cherries, back from Guam though. : ) 

Again, just substitute the 1 cup of water for 1 cup of pineapple juice/liquid from the can. The recipe is on the Betty Crocker website. But the recipe on the website gives a recipe that many don't like. The recipe makes the cake homemade and many of the comments say the cake itself, is dry and crumbly. However 1 awesome lady...wrote in the comments on the Betty Crocker pineapple upside down cake page told the...changes she made. She said...she used a yellow cake mix and the cake mix is soft and moist. Heck, yeah it is! And she said, to use the pineapple liquid versus 1 cup of plain water. When she's right, she's right! And her cook time, was dead on right too. So it's on the website....it's just in the comments section...the recipe, I use. So, in a nutshell, 1 cup of pineapple liquid not water, and use a yellow cake mix. And use less brown sugar. It's really good. : )  

I had the cake all baked and ready for my family to get home last Friday. I also made some homemade pizza dough in the day, as well. Homemade pizza from scratch...some cake for dessert. The weekend was here. 

You know...my camera on our outside front door, security camera. Shows up very fuzzy lately. I have wiped the lens, obvious first guess... but it still comes out like this. @_@ Noah and 2 friends were outside, last Friday after school. They were riding bikes Friday afternoon. They came back twice. Once so Noah could check in. And the second time was because Noah's tire went flat on his bike. I asked him..."did you ride over any glass or anything sharp, that could have punctured your tire?" Noah said no, so Bran was a good big brother and went and got the bicycle pump from the shed and pumped up Noah's tire. His tire worked like a champ after Bran, filled up the tire. Slow leak...fast leak? I hope not...hope it was just nothing and just needed air. 

Bran and kids, and 1 kid near my TV monitor sorta hard to tell, but you can see the shadow to the left of this pic. 

I cranked up the oven at 5pm. And rolled the dough out at 4:50pm placed them on the pans and waited. Noah and his friends were outside and I had to go outside and chat a bit and ask...are you kids pumped up and ready for the 3 day weekend. They said...YES!!! As they bounced around the front yard. LOL! You know...the way happy excited 9 year olds get! Then the bell rang at 5pm and it (the bell)  let's all kids know that it's time to go home. For our area...a lady gets on the intercom for our town...and you hear her voice at 4:55pm, saying, "kids this is the 5 minute warning before 5pm." Kids start going home. And then the final bell is at 5pm and she comes on again....(is this a recording, who knows probably yes) but she says..."time to be home kids!" Hahaha. So all kids go home at a specific time. Noah was a sweaty old mess at 5pm, so we sent Noah to the showers, to get shampooed and soaped up at 5pm. Meanwhile my right hand man...Bran and I...we put the sauce and toppings on the pizzas and put them into the oven. Noah came downstairs nice and squeaky clean in some PJs. And we 3 went and ate in the living room. We munched homemade pizza. We watched cable. It was nice. Weekends, we sure love you! : ) After dinner, Bran went to shower and I cleaned the kitchen. I took a shower after B got out. Noboru came home later that night, he had a later shift that day.

Saturday. Noboru went fishing in the morning. He got to go out and do what he loves. I meanwhile was getting ready for my big pot of beef stew, that I was about to make. I sliced off the tiny bit of fat that was on there. But really...it was very lean beef.

The stock pot/pan was so hot, it was sizzling hot. I meanwhile put a bit of oil in the pan, and trimmed any fat off and diced up the beef. Really lean beef. I fried up the beef. A little salt and black pepper. It cooked quickly, then I added some water and let it boil for most of the day. When the beef is..."fall apart tender" then it's ready for the veggies. 

1 onion, potatoes, 1 carrot, mushrooms. Boiled for 30 minutes. The potatoes were tender but not obliterated. : )

Turned off the pan and added the roux. I love this beef stew roux. The one with the green bean on the picture/box. It's 120 yen, where we live, but...when it goes on sale for 98-99 yen, I will usually buy like 3 of these beef stew rouxs and store them in my pantry. : ) We watched the DVD Wildcats with Goldie Hawn Saturday night.

Sunday, I asked the boys...would you guys like to play some Monopoly. The boys *love* board games, specifically Monopoly and Sorry. So they said...for sure! 

Both my boys have tablets, both my boys each have a Nintendo 3DS and a Wii. But, I like that they're not addicted to them. I like that they...go out fishing with their dad...go shrimping with their dad. Have family movie night. Go riding bikes with their friends. Be regular kids. It keeps them well balanced and grounded. So, I like spending an afternoon with them playing Monopoly. It's good for them...heck it's good for me too. : ) So Saturday...was spent playing a family board game. 

Branden said he wanted to be the fedora (hat that kids, now days *love*) Noah wanted to be the car. So, I was the shoe. Hahaha. 

This corner area was... Noah owned. He had 3 light blues all with hotels and the bright pinks all with hotels too.  This was a scary corner for me to go around. I didn't want to pay $550 US for landing on something light blue. And some of the bright pinks if you landed, it was $900 each time. Super yikes!

Bran owned the 3 properties pictured here between the Pennsylvania Railroad and Free parking. I owned the property directly across from this picture, near the Chance area. 

Branden also owned this area. 

Noah was winning for a long time, but then, I won! They each had to sell off their houses and hotels. Branden had to mortgage his property. Noboru meanwhile came home from the store after buying some shrimp and 1 chicken breast for Noah, Noboru was happily ready to cook us some dinner. He offered that morning, and I said, heck yes. Please, please! He prepped dinner, breaded all the shrimp and the one chicken breast, he made into tiny Noah sized, mini cutlets. After prepping dinner he went and showered and came downstairs and became our Monopoly banker for a good hour. It helped us out a ton. That way we could concentrate on playing without having to dole out the $200 for passing go each time...he handled all that. : ) 

Thanks Noboru. For making us dinner and being the banker on Monopoly. : ) 

I owned the whole back row, furthest this camera. The property between Free Parking and Go to Jail. I also owned, Park Avenue and Boardwalk. 

Some of my properties. 

It was a good game. Good game kids! Gomen, ne~ Sorry for beating you guys at Monopoly. 

I did bake a yellow cake with chocolate frosting before Monopoly and that's only because Noboru and the kids ate the pineapple upside down cake... to nothing left (and that's fine and it makes me so happy). ...Since it was a 3 day weekend, I thought..oh to heck with it, I should bake them another cake. So, that's why I baked the yellow cake with chocolate frosting. : ) Noah's dinner from Noboru, pictured here. Everyone was offered potato salad and also offered cabbage salad, which cabbage salad is very normal/typical in Japan when you eat fried foods. But Noah didn't want either. Which is fine. He eats veggies often anyway...with beef stew, etc. So, skipping 1 night is fine. 

Noah always prefers to use chopsticks. Which is interesting...because Branden strongly prefers to use a fork. : )

Branden's dinner. Again, Noboru said...Bran please have some potato salad or cabbage salad. Bran said...not tonight, please. So, Noboru designed his meal like this. @_@ Clearly this is not how I plate up his dinner. Bran didn't say anything, but he was like...@_@....thanks dad. Hahaha. Ahhh...it's good that they see how mom and dad are different...heck we even plate up our meals differently and that's A-okay. : )  Noboru's meal for Branden.

And my meal Sunday night. Cabbage salad, potato salad, fried shrimp and rice. It was delicious this shrimp. Branden said so too. Noah meanwhile really loved his handbreaded chicken cutlet. : ) 

Two days ago, Monday the day off school. Chiba day or whatnot. We played the board game Sorry! Branden smiling. Thinking deeply.

I lost and I lost big time. Look at all my pawns in the start zone/area. : ( Noboru kept zonking me back to start. Branden kept zonking me back to start. Noah felt badly and would not zonk me out. He's so sensitive. Aww. : )  And hey...I don't mind...it's just a game. And everyone wants to win, so you gotta zonk somebody out, hahaha.

Noah won! : ) 

Monday, I washed up the bath mat, stripey one form Ikea. Noboru's towel and the boys thermos bags. I like to keep them nice and clean. : ) 

Vitamins for the green chili plants. Come on...drink this...just like Popeye used to eat his spinach! It's good for you. : )

Are they getting any bigger? You know, I see them every single day, so for me personally...it's hard to tell. @_@ Hmmm. : ) 

I loved this movie when it first came out. Soul Man, starring C. Thomas Howell. James Earl Jones. And Rae Dawn Chong. This movie was about a spoiled rich white college aged kid. And his parents had...had enough. So they told him, we are not paying for your college. So he decided to enter school as a black student and he took a scholarship that could have went to a real black student. This was a comedy. There was also some drama. In a nut shell, he realized what a jerk he was. He came clean, so to speak. He had to pay the money back for the scholarship, which was the right thing to do. But it was just a very good underrated movie. I had seen this movie...gosh...about 10 times at least. I should buy this on DVD. 

The 2 racist jerk student neighbors of his... pictured here. Notice that's a young Julia Louis Dreyfus (Elaine from Seinfeld.) And every time the C Thomas Howell character passes these 2 jerks...they say something so racist. Some snide racist "joke" some offhanded remark. In the end...he really lets them have it! And boy did they deserve it! But yes...this movie was just really funny, really real. And in the end...you are left thinking...the kid "got it" he finally got it.  

He fell in love. And he realized...she was to get the scholarship...  he took her scholarship. He felt so conflicted. And I think it was good for him to feel conflicted. I'm not all out to talk for eons here. But the most powerful thing said in the movie came from the legend..the one and only... James Earl Jones (he played the professor character) he told C Thomas Howell..."you got to feel how it feels to be black. You have a deeper understanding yes...*but* you always had the safety in knowing you could go back, to being white any time you didn't like it. We don't have that same option." And at that point you can see...the C. Thomas Howell character...he got it! He understood.  Anyway, it was just a movie...I really enjoyed in the 80's. Flash to now...but in the same vein as the movie... 

I get up... grab a hot coffee, last Friday or something and front page of all the online American news... this story broke. Read the caption in this picture. A white woman pretending to be a black woman? First thing that popped in mind was... Is this story true? I could not believe this story. Second thing that popped in my mind was...this reminds me of that old movie in the 80's that I used to love...Soul Man. @_@ Her name is Rachel Dolezal. She was born white. Her both biological parents are white, they showed her birth certificate where it says...parents race..it says Caucasian for her mom and dad and her at birth. They showed pictures of her growing up all the way to her teens. Here she is pictured in her natural state, on the right. She has fair skin with a light dusting of freckles/angel kisses, she's blond. And that's also her on the left, as she looks now. I must point out...her parents did not "out" her. They haven't spoken to their daughter in many years...but they never did "out" her for living a lie. Apparently on facebook she has even shard a picture of an older African American man saying that's her dad. @_@ Which was not true. Her parents are 2 Caucasian folks living in Montana. But still they kept silent. It was only when....a reporter writing a piece about her...flew to Montana to interview her real parents. They said...they decided they would not LIE for their daughter, so when he asked...are you her parents. They said...truthfully, yes we are her real biological parents and provided birth certificates etc. The second the truth was spoken, all hell broke loose. This story went nation wide. If she were living a quiet private life..I think this story might have not raised more than an eyebrow. The thing and tricky part of this story is. She was the leader/head of the Washington state chapter of the NAACP. She also was teaching at a college teaching...African American studies. She also worked for a newspaper. But the legal parts...and aspects are..when she applied for the jobs...she wrote down, she was black. So...going back to the movie...did she take a job away from a real African American applicant. So it's a huge story in the US right now. And with having American cable here at my house...I have watched this whole thing unravel. And OMG...this thing gets worse by the day. She lost her job at the university she is no longer going to teach African American studies anymore there. They politely said...she won't be back next semester. She was flat out fired from the newspaper. and the NAACP, asked her to resign, some say she resigned on her own. but who knows how it went down behind closed doors...all I can say is...by me watching all the protesters outside the NAACP headquarters in Washington State on the news, with signs that said...hashtag/ #INTEGRITYMATTERS. This thing was growing out of control. The picketers wanted her gone from the NAACP, asap/immediately. Then that news reporter surprised her and asked her...flat out...an easy question..."are you black or white?" She said..."it's a complex question with complex answers" and walked away from the reporter as fast as could be. @_@  I thought personally it was a very easy simple question with a simple easy answer. But...long story short... this story is huge right now. Side note, she does not like to be called African American, she will tell you...she prefers you call her black. The question arose...could she be transracial. If Caitlyn Jenner could be transgender, could Rachel, be transracial? You know what..I do not know. That's a good question though, hmm. On the bright side. I bet Bill Cosby is happy the Duggar news sort of took the spotlight off his story. And then I bet the Duggar's were happy the Rachel Dolezal story broke and sort of took the spotlight off of them.  Oh boy. Goodness goodness. I tell ya...nothing surprises me anymore. But yep, Rachel Dolezal tried to pull a Soul Man. And people are pretty upset about it. And rightfully so. How will this story end? I do not know. But, I'm keeping up to date with the story...same as I try to keep up with other current American news stories too. Anyways...

Today Noah gets out of school at 3:45pm and Bran gets out at 4pm. I am making fried pork chop and baked gratin cheesy potatoes and a vegetable for supper tonight. The rainy season has started for us, in our area of Japan. But it's not raining today. Have a great day everyone.