New Year's Oosoji (getting ready for the new year massive clean-up) Family time at home. Movie night. Tons of good eats and more...

This is basically going to be a bits and pieces post. What we have been doing since Branden and Noah went on Winter break. If you have been reading this blog for a long time, then you will know I usually try to avoid going to Costco during the holidays, if at all possible I try my best and avoid it. Such as avoiding Costco Japan during Spring break. And over Golden Week. And during Winter break. Granted...can't avoid it during summer break. Obviously...but other shorter breaks...I usually try to buy enough a day or two before the break starts. Case in point... to these 2 next pics. I think I went the Thursday... before the kids went on Christmas break. I figured. Since it was 1 day before Winter break, I would be smart to get it done then. Wrong! : ) Hahaha. I was there at 10am. And there were like a bazillion people already there. Yochien age kids must have been on Winter holidays beforehand??? @_@ OMG it was such a packed Costco. Noboru was with me that day. And I just asked him to stay with the cart and I'd do all the running around the store and he could just chill. It was like a sea of carts...like sardines. And to top it off. I was so discombobulated because I had not expected it to be *that* busy that day. I didn't even take a cart pic. We were out of the store in like 25 minutes. I bought pasta sauce. My usual was not there. @_@ So I picked up Classico. I picked up cheese and these danish for the kids and husband for Friday's breakfast, last day of school breakfast. And a pack of Dr. Peppers. So cheese, maple pecan danish and a case of Dr. Pep's.  

30 cans of Dr. Pepper.

For what it's worth...I also did my weekly shopping *this* week too (December 29th). With both my kids. I was in Inzai (where Costco is) and I avoided Costco this week like the plague. Love Costco but not on holidays or breaks. I'll visit Costco after January 8th... after all of Japan's husbands are at work and all of Japan's kids are all at school. 

All December I worked on my deep cleaning. As you know, Japan likes to start the new year with a clean house. Clean slate. So, all houses in my neighborhood work on their house all December. And really give it the hardest cleaning the final week of December. I was done with my deep house cleaning Thursday December 28th. Friday my family of 4 and I went and did the final last bit of food shopping before the new year. We bought 7 days worth on Friday December 29th. Anyway, the first week of December, I went through my food pantry. Checked dates on stuff and rearranged it all. Yet again. 

Baking stuff on one shelf. Grains (rice and beans) on another shelf along with spices.

Side dish shelf. Stove top. Noodles and rice dishes. Croutons and chili oil for Italian. And pot roast seasoning too.

Morning drink shelf along with hot cereals, peanut butter and syrups. Breakfast things basically. 

Scrubbed down my microwave slash convection oven. I never use the oven feature since, I have a regular normal American oven. But the microwave we use all the time. It got a total scrub down.This was week 2. During December. I also scrubbed down the fridge shelves. And mopped the kitchen floor that week too.

Scrubbed the little unit my microwave sits on. This shelf area got deeply cleaned.

Hand dried it but also let it sit in the sun. While inside the house.

Everything squeaky clean. Peanut butter cereal and pancake mix. Also each week in December. I did Noah's room another day and Branden's room another day. Our room another day. The living room the kids helped me with. The year end cleaning for our house... is a group family effort. 

Branden has baked 2 batches of brownies so far. This one without nuts. 

Noah baked a yellow cake and frosted it. 

This Friday after doing the weekly grocery shopping. Noboru took all of us out to lunch at the Ohsho. Our favorite Chinese restaurant. And then for supper, I asked for any requests, while at the grocery store while in Inzai still. And Noboru said he'd love a pepperoni sandwich. So, I made everyone pepperoni sandwiches, Friday night. The baguettes come from a bakery. I made a batch of fries. It was a simple but delicious dinner this Friday December 29th.

Still December 29th. After we ate our pepperoni sandwiches and fries. And after showers. We all watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We went to the TV guide channel and everyone picked a movie and everyone agreed on this. Yes, we've all seen this a million times, but it's so good and perfect. The 4 of us loved this, this past Friday.

Augustus Gloop just fell in the chocolate river and went up the pipe. And so the Oompa Loompas were about to sing their song! Their songs are so catchy!!! Seriously, they are.

With our New Years cards sent out before Christmas. And our New Years cleaning done. all that's left is...our chill time. Our family time. Relax time. Movie watching time. 

I ran out of my Biore face foam and went and bought another one, so this is a repurchase. I have been using Biore for normal skin since August. So for about 4 month's now. I love this face wash. I love the way this smells #1. I love that the foam is so thick and intense, even if you use a little amount. While they do sell Biore in America, it's seems in the US Biore is primarily targeted for pimply faced teenagers. But as you can see by the pic of the woman on this package. She's what, late 30's early 40's? Biore is marketed for women of all ages, here in Japan the land of where Biore comes from in the first place. Thanks to Kao. They do sell a Biore for acne, but they also sell one for people with dry skin and many different types of skin in between. And this regular one is for adults if you can see the woman on the package. It cleans without over stripping my face and like I said... I *love* the way this smells. And it costs only about 300-350 yen. That's just $3 bucks for us Americans. And considering most face washes in the US are what, $5-8 bucks a tube or bottle. The prices in Japan for good face washes are just way better priced. Depending on where you pick up your tube. I also have been using Biore body wash for about 12 years straight, while living in Japan. As for face washes. I have bought Korean wash washes before many times and I do like them a lot... but they're hard to get in Japan. And the one I was using started to give me a slight greasy residue after a while... so I stopped using that. I also have loved Basis Face wash and have used that since high school? The smell is so good for me. And I prefer tubes and that comes in a tube. The only thing I dislike is it is hard to find in Japan and in the US. Also, it doesn't foam up too much. Very little foam. So I still like Basis. But in August I started looking for a product in Japan. Easier for me to find locally. And I tried a few different brands of face wash. And out of them all, this smells the best to me. This Biore one smells tons better then all the ones I tried and makes such a huge amount of whipped foam, I love how much this foams up. And it doesn't strip my skin.  

Yep Biore is made by Kao.

I am currently on a makeup remover kick. You know how in Japan, we double cleanse. I love to double cleanse too. This is a cleansing balm, but in tube form. It's fairly new and see how it says HOT? It warms up slightly... when you massage your makeup off. It says it is unscented. But it has a slight scent of oranges because of an ingredient. It is a balm type texture. Think along the lines of Banila Co's, Clean It Zero (this is very good but it smells like freakin' Hawaiian Punch and is very over powering scent-wise for me)... Clinique Take the Day off, it's okay, the price is outrageous though and considering so many other brands make the same thing now days. This one by Bifesta is like those other 2... I just mentioned except it's in a tube form....it's like a Vaseline type texture but this rinses clean without any greasy residue at all. It does not foam. It just takes your makeup off. I like this. I have used it twice so far. Do I think this is a holy grail for me? No. Would I repurchase it again? Yes. But I would also try another brand too? I do love that this is drugstore and you can buy this for around 700 yen. However Japan has so many makeup removers at the drugstore. Cleansing oils, balms and gels. I will try a few more out... before I decide. Biore face wash in the "moisture" formula which is the one for normal skin... is a definite holy grail. But as far as a makeup remover...I still haven't fallen for one yet. 

This is super nice though. And again...I have just tried it twice....I will finish my tube. And my opinion may change. I'll let you know. But it does take off every dot of my makeup. And it does smell nice. The price point is super good too. One thing I semi dislike is... it is a little hard to squeeze the balm out of the tube. Perhaps because it is so thick. Again I could be just nitpicky. It is good though, it warms up. It removes makeup. It leaves zero greasy residue. And the price is hella on point. : ) 

Exfoliants. In America we have manual exfoliators like Apricot Scrubs. In Japan we use chemical exfoliators. There are so many. Some are scented, some are unscented. This one is super cheap and was #1 in Japan in 2015. This company has been around for ages. 

My thoughts? I like it. I also like the scent. And I'm pretty picky about scents. Granted it's not amazing and lovely like my Biore face wash. But the scent isn't bad at all. If I am not being lazy I will use an exfoliant. But honestly a lot of times, I am lazy and I won't. I wash my face every morning with my Biore face foam/wash and every night, I double cleanse if I wear makeup that day (with either a makeup wipe, miccellar water, cleansing oil or balm and finish up with my Biore face wash/foam.) If I don't wear makeup, I'll just use my Biore face wash at night without double cleaning obviously. : ) And I use face lotion daily. And sunscreen on my face, when I go out. But usually that's it. I have had so many exfoliators in the past half used...and not because they were no good...but because I simply didn't use them regularly enough. I hope I can use this one up. The price on this was about 400 yen. 

Japan is starting to get extremely cold now, weather-wise. And I picked up a new lip balm. This is supposed to be very moisturizing. And it is. Same type of lip balm texture as the Nivea ones, except it smells of delicious yuzu.

The scent is yuzu. I love yuzu. I like to drink yuzu in drinks and eat yuzu in dried snack form. 

My hands are getting super dry now that the weather has gotten so cold. This is a repurchase. I fell in love with this scent last year. Smells like shampoo. Be careful if you buy this... and you don't read Japanese...because there are 3 different varieties. The one in the pink polka dot tube smells like baby powder. I have no desire to smell like baby butt. So don't buy the one in the pink polka dot tube. And the blue one smells like soap bubbles. I have not smelled that yet... but I'm sorta meh on the thought. This one in the pink tube with lace printed on the tube... smells like shampoo and this one smells so freaking fantastically great. Best scent ever for a hand cream. And it's only 500 yen a tube. 

So in a nut shell...I basically have been enjoying my Japanese local drug store lately. : )

Almost forget...one night during Winter break. The kids and I... we all made a dish. Noah made the side dish. Buttered noodles. 

Branden baked brownies with nuts this time. And useful tip. For years. I used a metal knife to cut up my brownies. And they always cut horribly bad. Like chunked up. I let them sit. I checked online and the tip from some cooking site. The Cooking channel. Martha Stewart. I don't remember. Was it the Pioneer Woman? Anyway...wherever I read it. They suggested use a plastic knife and never to use a metal knife. Let the brownies cool though all the way first. I half believed it. But I tried it and OMG it works like a charm every time. Why plastic over metal knife? I don't know. I'm no scientist. But it works. I have since mentioned this tidbit on my blog twice so far. And wanted to mention it again. I made pork chops. We had a store bought mixed salad. To even out our dinner. I love that the kids are on Winter break. We have been baking. Cooking together. Watching movies together at home. I read today that it snowed a bit in Tokyo? Just a dusting for a short amount of time. Hasn't snowed in my town. But, as far as the news about Tokyo for about 20 minutes today...I do believe it though. Because honestly it's been so cold. Anyway...have a lovely New Year all of you. I have been boiling a big pot of beans on the stove all day. I have a big pork loin in the fridge. I will fry it and bake it and dice it later, as soon as I post this. We will have a big pot of pork green chili. A big pot of beans and we have 3 packs of tortillas. And a huge hunk of Longhorn/Colby cheese. So dinner for New Year's is set. And Noah will be baking us a red velvet cake today with cream cheese frosting and we will have vanilla ice cream to go with it. Happy New Year to you all!!!

Finished with our New Year's oosoji! Our New Year's cards have already been sent. Our gallon of peanut butter cup icecream is already in the freezer. And we're ready to ring in the New Year...

How has everyone been enjoying their Christmas break? As for us here, we have been enjoying ourselves. We did have a few days of hard and very thorough cleaning. But we're 100% done with our cleaning and are now just ready to ring in a new year!!! These pics were taken December 26th. We cleaned and scrubbed the entire first floor of our house. We spent 2 full hours in the kitchen. 4 people can totally knock out 1 kitchen in 2 full hours. This pic is when the boys were scrubbing the walls really hard with those Kirkland/Costco wipes. Getting any fingers smudges or whatnot off. These wipes also.... besides working super well, they smell so nice! They scrubbed and wiped all the walls down in the kitchen and they also wiped down the baseboards too. Notice the kids listening to their own music this year. : )

Not sure if you can see all the soap sprayed onto the tiles. Noboru scrubbed and cleaned our stove area super hardcore. He did such an excellent job!

I bleached the counter tops and the sink and the dishwasher. I also had music going for Noboru and I. Sia Chandelier is a current favorite of mine right now. As is Bruno Mars, Versace on the Floor. And Ariana Grande's "Best Mistake", those 3 are my current top ones, that I have been listening to and playing this week.  

Those wipes have a scrubby side and a smooth side. Noah going one by one... on every part of the built-in dish cabinet.

Branden doing the same with the food pantry door. 

After a good bleaching I then scrubbed the kitchen sink too.

I windex-ed the window/sliding patio doors.

I scrubbed by hand... the utensil ceramic bowl that holds most of our bigger utensils. Like spatulas, whisks, potato masher, etc.

Noboru scrubbed our big GE oven. I cleaned out the fridge.

Branden went over the job that his brother did. Only because...Noah missed a few spots. : ) 

Noah swept but then he ended up bringing the vacuum down from the hall closet and he vacuumed.

And all done. The kitchen 100% done. 2 full hours of 4 people working super hard. Feeling was pretty great afterwards. Feeling like...wow we accomplished so much! However we still had the living room and the genkan/entry way and the downstairs toilet to do. 

I love that place above my window that holds some decorative plants. 

The kids wiped down the walls in the genkan and Noah vacuumed in there too. Meanwhile, Noboru was vacuuming the ceiling fans in the living room and I was meanwhile dusting the coffee table in this picture. I just brought my phone and speakers in here and we jammed in the living room as we cleaned.

TV stand. We kicked butt! We worked hella hard, all 4 of us! 

We broke for lunch, we all had honey baked ham sandwiches with cheese, lettuce, tomato, the works... with some Lay's potato chips. And for supper we had ham and gratin potatoes and just...exactly what we had for supper for Christmas. But the lunch sandwiches were so nice! After lunch, I scrubbed the downstairs toilet. And then we all called it a day. We spent about....4 and a half hours cleaning, December 26th. And we were pretty much done. However Bran did have to study for his high school entrance exam that day too. The test in in January. But he just studied 2 hours December 26th (usually it's 5 hours on weekends or non school days). He did not study on Christmas. Of course. : ) But high school in Japan is extremely competitive... so he did get 2 hours in on December 26th. He showered and relaxed all evening and boy did he deserve it. : ) We all rested the entire evening on December 26th. The 27th. Bran and I went to the JHS for a bit. But, after that, Noah cleaned his room super duper and Branden cleaned his. The kids also vacuumed the stairs. And I vacuumed the entire upstairs. And I cleaned my bedroom. I also scrubbed the daylights out of the shower room and laundry room. The 28th, I went to my hair color appointment for about an hour. It was at 9:30am and I was out by 10:30am and I brought the boys plus Noboru home some McD's on the way home. I had a ham sandwich though instead. : ) We finished up basically any last minute cleaning on the 28th. And oh....the Christmas tree we took down the 26th. 

December 29th, we took the day off. Since our cleaning was pretty much done. And we drove to the big city. We went to Ikspiari. For some Kua'Aina for lunch. And also Noboru bought me a beautiful winter bag. : ) It came from Sony Plaza. 

It was originally 8,300 yen. Around $80 US and see the 5,800 yen on the right? It was on 30% sale because the New Year holidays things.... are always on sale in Japan. And so we got it for like US$55. Which is a fantastic deal. : ) 

I like that it's rubber on the bottom. So if you place your bag on the ground it won't get all disgusting. It can be easily wiped down. 

It looks like a fuzzy wuzzy scarf! Hahaha. But it's a bag. And this picture is making it looks small but it's huge. It is good sized. It is like 1 pinch smaller than the black Old Navy one I have been using for the past year. So it is indeed quite big. And as a mom who tends to carry everything in the world in my bag. I like that it's big. 

And it's nicely lined so your things won't get all fuzzy inside. I really like this bag a lot. : ) And I like it even more so... getting it on sale. : ) 

Considering all the study (Branden) and heavy cleaning we all did. We also brought back a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts back home.  Also, Noah is done with his Christmas homework packet. He got that finished in 2 days. His study habits are as excellent as his brothers!!! : )

The kids did eat one along the way though. : ) 

We stopped at Costco in Inzai on the way home from Ikspiari. We picked up dinner for that night. 1 mega sized pepperoni pizza and one mega sized cheese pizza. The kids ate the pepperoni. Noboru turned his cheese pizza slices whatever how many he ate...he put  (Christmas) ham and jalapeno on his, he loved his pizza so much. : ) I had just plain cheese. : ) 

We only went and picked up these few items. New Year's eve.... we always have chicken parmesan with that fresh pasta. And for January 1st dinner... we will be having a taco party, we usually always do that at our house. Beef and chicken tacos. : ) We have the taco shells already and the sour cream, so we are all ready! Plus you know... we have a gallon of peanut butter with peanut butter cup ice-cream here at home in the freezer... that we turned into peanut butter ice-cream already, so we're ready. That way...we can enjoy tonight and tomorrow and for however long it lasts. : ) 

And yes, we did mail off our New Year's cards. First week of December, we all sat down and wrote them out. : )  I hope you all have a lovely New Year! : )