Bits and Pieces...

Today's just a little... bits and pieces type post. Do you remember a few posts down, I mentioned that I was looking for 2 navy blue twin fleece blankets for B and Noah's beds for both their rooms. And I found them, some really nice Tommy Hilfiger nice navy blue ones for a super cheap price at Marshalls. Anyways, I was also looking for 2 chocolate brown fleece blankets in size twin too, for the couches in the living room. That way, they protect the couch material, plus they make the couch extra warm and cozy. So I have been looking everywhere for chocolate fleece blankets. And couldn't find anything local. So, I found them on Amazon. They were around the same price as the navy blue ones. The color was a dead on... exact match. As for quality? The brown ones are thinner than the ones I saw at Marshalls. But, they do protect the couch and they are cozy to lay on. One thing I liked was the free shipping. But one thing, I didn't care for was... that if you order 2 you didn't get free shipping. But, since I was concerned if the color was a match. I bought just 1. I got free shipping and I was happy they were a dead on exact match in color. 

Can you see the chocolate brown fleece blanket on the couch? It's a perfect match in color. And the thick fleece black blanket I brought from Japan and bought at Sanki. Love the quality of the blankets at Sanki. Anyways, just a little way...that we're slowly getting prepared for winter and the colder months. I still have to order that 2nd chocolate fleece blanket from Amazon. 

I also bought each of the boys a pair of super cheap (price) but super good quality sweatpants. See it says, feel the softness? Inside the sweatpants... it's so warm and fleece-y. They were like super cheap. Noah's is a size mens small. And fit perfect. Both of the kids wear them in the evenings after school and on weekends. They're also a slimmer fit, these are a more flattering more stylish style than the olden days type. My kids love them. A definite...happy Fall purchase. 

$195 dollars. Yep, Noah went on the Tommy Hilfiger website and confirmed that's the rate/price, if ordered online directly. Noah needed a new winter coat this year. We've been checking everywhere. In Japan, it's Uniqlo. No questions asked. He loves those coats. Because they're thin yes, but super warm. Versus American coats being super thick. Like the Michelin man. Yes, we have Uniqlo in the USA and yes I can order online. But I am unsure of Noah's size and won't buy, without us having a try. When we were looking for birthday sweatshirts for B. Noah was also in the men's department looking for a thin winter coat. He kept saying...nope...nope...no way. He did the same thing at Burlington Coat Factory when Noboru was here and it drove us both nuts. But again...at least he knows what he wants and knows what he doesn't. He saw this. Grabbed it. It was super thin. See it says packable? On the label? There's a little carry bag same as the Uniqlo coats too.

Clearly I'm not gonna spend near $200, because I'm not insane! The coat was a fair...near Uniqlo price at $59.00. I'm comfortable with a coat costing under $65. So, this fit the bill. Noah tried it on. It was perfect. Thin, but super warm. Room to grow. Finally! Noah's winter coat saga was done. As a mom, I was elated. Because that means, I am free. No more coat hunt. Phew.

$59.99 With room to grow. Certainly couldn't find a more patriotic coat, by an American designer. And that was just...coincidence. 

Loved the quality and the detailing.

Noah is going to be quite stylish this winter. 

If you watched the Blacklist, then you will recognize this actor as being Elizabeth Keene's husband. How many times has he disappeared and or died and came back to that show? Anyways. I was talking to a good friend of mine on Skype , she's in Japan we talked about 2 weeks ago. Like the day after Noboru left. Anyways, she was saying something about the Blacklist. And how he's gone from the show, I watch the Blacklist too... but she was expecting him to come back again. And I...not wanting to spill the beans. Said...ughhh. And I didn't elaborate or add to it. And she is the type that doesn't really care. You know...some people go all mental if they find out a spoiler. Like it's their only existence to life. But some people don't really care too much. But still...I didn't say. Anyways...she said. Give me the goods. And I was like. You wanna know? And she's like yes. And I'm like...seriously? And she's like...stop girl...I'm serious. Spill. So...anyways. And don't read further...if you don't wanna know. But...I told her. He's the star of a new TV show right now. It just came out in September. It's a hospital drama. It's called New Amsterdam. It's on NBC. I told her, I saw 2 episodes and I liked the show. But, I have something that comes on at the same time. So, I am not a regular watcher of this show, but I think this show is popular. 

I love these garlic herb potatoes. They are mini white and red potatoes, they come with a seasoning pack. And in a tin foil pan. You add a blob of butter or olive oil. And sprinkle the herb mix. They also come in other flavors. It's weird but, I grew up eating potatoes or pasta as our staple side. Very seldom did we ever have rice in my house growing up and when we did, it was Minute Rice. LOL. And then I moved to Japan. And rice became my main side for dinners. And at first, I hated that. And then I just accepted that. And after many years, I mixed things up and made a lot of western meals. But, still..rice was the main side dish for the majority of our meals. When we moved back to America. I suddenly had many other side dish options and I was stunned. Anyways, I'm slowly going back to my original ways. And it's comforting. I'm starting to really love this. Yeah....I'm starting to really get comfortable with my life back in the USA. 

Love the already marinated seasoned herb chicken at Walmart. Roasted herb potatoes, good ol canned peas, oh how I missed the flavor of those and cresent rolls. A very easy to pull together meal. My kids love this meal, it's actually one of their favorites. But then again...they've had this American mother their whole lives. LOL. Their meals are becoming more and more western. We have white rice somewhere between 3-4 times a month, depending on what I cook. But, I still do make Japanese food too.  

There is the regular Chef Boyardee in the red or orange cans and now there's these. Premium throwback ones. And I've been slowly stock piling these. Just 3 cans a week. And keeping them in my food pantry. That way, they're a quick weekend lunch for the kids. 

One thing, I'm really having a hard time is...is being motivated to bake. Cooking? Yes of course... I cook 6 days a week. But baking. It's hard for me in the US to bake. Because there's just so much already offered at every grocery store. So many cheap/affordable baking that's there. For starters at Walmart they sell individual homemade pies, they taste like some grandma made them with love. And they have blueberry, apple, cherry, pumpkin, peach and they're 50 cents each. @_@ So again...why should I bake when you can buy a damn good pie for 50 cents. They sell bread pudding that is OMG...heaven. Pumpkin muffins. The most heavenly coconut cream pie. They sell regular size pumpkin and they also sell sweet potato pie. So many cookie flavors...I even forgot about. I find at the store and for super cheap. Again...it's hard for me to get motivated to bake... when it's so readily available. Does that make sense. In Japan...I baked every week in the Fall and Winter, out of necessity. Because no store close to my house... sold such delicious and such cheap baked goods. Hopefully...I can motivate myself to bake. So, again just keeping it real.

I have delicious 3 pounds of fresh seedless sweet mikans in my fridge, and 3 lbs of honeycrisp apples in my fridge too. And I buy fresh packages of fruit weekly like blueberries or fresh sweet raspberries.

I seldom buy anything for myself. But, I bought myself this cute navy blue sweatshirt from Old Navy. My clothes size have gotten one size smaller, since I moved here. I seriously think that's because of the lack of rice. 

One Sunday, I bought a $4.99 rotisserie chicken at Walmart. And I sliced all the meat off. Only half was sliced in this pic. And I made a quick and easy chicken noodle soup for a Sunday. It was delicious. The kids ate the entire pot of this hearty delicious rotisserie chicken noodle soup.

I also have been stockpiling fruit cups and jello cups. My kids love these. I always have a variety in the fridge here.My kids eat a lot of fruit here. Fresh fruit, fruit cups. They're delicious. Noah especially likes to toss the mikan fruit cups in the freezer and eat them...just like they were shave ice. 

I'm really iffy if I shared this pic or not. But, I wanted a spoon holder, for when I'm cooking. But the trouble is...sometimes it's a spatula or wood spoon and I needed something bigger than a smallish spoon holder. I saw this at the end of September. And it brought a smile to my face. And I use this daily now.

At $3.99. Love this.

Fall flavors are everywhere. Pecan pie M&M's.

Pumpkin Spice rolls. Again, I'm starting to really appreciate being in my home country. Being surrounded by foods, that I grew up with. Flavors that I was raised with. It's sorta cool. It's very comforting.

I snapped this pic one afternoon before Noboru came here. I zipped to Great Clips to get myself a haircut. It was my first haircut... entirely in English in 16 years. I take my kids here every 2 weeks. But, wow...it was so fun getting my hair cut in my native language. I hadn't had my hair cut since March 2018. After my cut, I zipped to Target to grab lunch. Since Pizza Hut's inside. 

A drink and a personal pan. This particular day...I had such a spring in my step and I was like...I am so glad I am living in America. Yeah...I'm adjusting...big time! I'm creating a life here.

Like I said, I haven't had a haircut since March 2018 and I haven't had a hair straightening size March 2018 either. And my hair is naturally wavy. Not curly. But yes...naturally wavy. I could have gotten it straightened at the end of July in Japan. But, I made a conscious decision to go back to wavy. To own it! My mom always threw my hair in hot rollers on important days like picture day, since I was in the first grade. I distinctly remember her putting kleenex near my ears and forehead if a roller was near there. LOL. Hot Rollers tamed the wave and created amazing volume. And so since I'm going back to wavy...I bought these super fat 2 inch hot rollers. And I love this set. 

Karaage pic. 

I am glad that my tastebuds didn't change so much with living in Japan. Because I love these. With teens in the house, I try to keep healthy snacks like fruit in the house and also junk food type snacks too. It's a balance for them since they're kids/teens.

Anyways, any current news? Well, I made lasagna this week. Beef stew last night. Last night, was parent teacher conferences at Noah's middle school. He gets fantastic grades. So, I wasn't really expecting to hear anything major. But each teacher basically said the same thing. He's an extremely respectful kid. He's super polite. He's smart. He's kind. He does all his assignments and work. If a parent wanted to speak to the teacher, they could. It was 7th grade teachers in the library. 6th grade teachers in the gym. And 8th grade teachers in the school cafeteria. So, depending on which grade is where you went. I went to the library. Spoke to each teacher. We parents all made lines and spoke to the teachers. Teachers had laptops and looked at their grades and notes. I brought Noah with me. And he heard the feedback himself. It was from 4-7pm. We dropped B to driving school at 3:50pm and zipped to Noah's school. Talked to all Noah's teachers. And were home by 4:50pm. Some lines moved quickly and some lines took longer. I'm glad I went. Tonight is going to be crazy. Because I'll pick up Noah from school. We'll wait for B to get home. We'll have supper. I made Japanese beef stew last night (already said that) and we will have leftover beef stew tonight. So we'll quickly eat dinner. Drop Bran at driving school. Noah and I'll run to Target to get some stuff for a poster Noah's working on in his langauage arts class (English class) And then after B gets out of driving school at 6pm, I'll zip us all the way to B's high school. Conferences are from 4-7 at his high school. I wish we could attend earlier. But, B has driving school. And, Noboru wanted Branden to be there and hear the feedback and I agree. So, I just hope we can get to the high school in a quick and timely manner. Now that daylight savings time happened and clocks fell back on Sunday. It's pitch black outside so early now. So, I imagine I'll be driving in total darkness to the high school, this evening. : ( Conferences are optional. And since their grades are good, I debated going to them. But I think I should totally go. And Noboru agrees. I don't want it to look like my kids have parents... who really don't care about their progress. Do you know what I mean? Because we do. We do care about the progress they're making and we do care about their grades. 

Next week is Branden's final week of driving school. And tonight, he and his classmates are taking their written part of the test. @_@ He has his 4th drive with instructor this Saturday. And his 5th drive next Friday. And the 6th drive will be his actual driving test. But that won't be until closer to Thanksgiving or past Thanksgiving. 

I did vote. As you all know, I vote every single election. I was a registered Colorado voter the entire 16 years I lived in Japan. I did that online. And I voted for the first time in this state. I registered to vote last Spring when I applied for my drivers license. In this state, you don't go to the voting booths like in Colorado. It's strictly mailing in your ballot. I mailed mine last Wednesday. I voted for every democrat, I could. 

There are 2 movies that are coming out in December that I want to see. Aquaman is a must! And Bumblebee looks cute. And since my kids watched all those Transformers movies. I figured...what the heck...might as well finish this series up. Although it's probably long from finishing up. But ykwim. November, which is right now... has many movies. The Queen movie Bohemian Rhapsody came out, last week? I want to see that. Also, that Fantastic Beast movie is coming out next week. Also that movie...A Star is Born with Lady Gaga came out 4 weeks ago? I know this is the 3rd time this movie has been made. The original. And then the 2nd one with Barbara Streisand. And this one is the 3rd remake of it. So, eh. I'll skip this one, but it has rave reviews. So, I'll probably skip The Girl in the Spider's Web that just came out and skip A Star is Born. The remake of the Grinch, I'll skip too. Only because having seen the cartoon a million times. Plus the one directed by Ron Howard...made with Jim Carey. That was good. So this one, I'll probably skip it. Although Benedict Cumberbatch is the voice of the new Grinch and he's always brilliant. The Nutcracker and the Four Realms isn't for a mom with 2 sons, it would probably bore all 3 of us, to death. So, maybe we'll just see...Bohemian Rhapsody, this month and maybe Fantastic Beasts 2...maybe.  

Bits and pieces...

Today the weather in Chiba and Ibaraki was crazy for our area. The elementary school warned yesterday, that there would be super strong winds and pouring rain today. Possible school delays this morning too. However, I know that our local elementary school did *NOT* want to delay the elementary aged kids school start time at all. When I woke up at 4:50am this morning, I could hear wild howling winds and pelting pouring rain. It frankly sounded like a typhoon out there. Looked like one too. But Branden went to school as planned, such dependable trains. I dropped him off at our usual time at the train station before 6:30am. The weather? Felt really warm. Freakishly so. But again pouring rain and outrageous winds. Dropped off Branden. Noboru wondered if Noah's school would be delayed? It was a fair question because... In the past 30 days Noah's school put all elementary kids on a delayed schedule twice for rain. And today's weather was *way* worse. But I knew....for a fact that the local shogakko was not going to cancel elementary school or even delay it under any circumstances. Why? Because our 1 and only JHS/chugakko in town had graduation today. Yes, and was this the.... worse weather day to ever have a graduation day in? Sadly...yes. But this was their celebration day. We have 2 ninth graders on our street, both boys. One has a 5th grade younger brother. And frankly if school was put on a storm schedule. How could they drive their 5th grade son to school at say 10am for example if graduation at the local JHS starts at 8:30am? Impossible and not everybody lives with extended family nearby. And Noah's classmate...a very good friend of Noah's...that friend...he has a 9th grade sister. So many graduating 9th graders in our town absolutely have younger siblings. And it would piss off all 9th grade parents with younger kids...if their younger kids could NOT start school on time at 7:30am. As a parent with 2 kids. I "get it" I know...how you love both kids and must keep track of both their schedules and not just 1 schedule. So yep....I know...hell or high water...the elementary school would be on their regular schedule. Because of the JHS graduation today. And if chickens and/or cows go flying in the air due to high winds... so be it. Exactly 7 days from now... 1 week from now it will be Noah who is graduating. And our family all dressed up and inside the elementary school for our final time...experiencing Noah's graduation. I hope the weather is better for us next Friday, than today. I really feel for the kids graduating today. Because the weather was just not cooperating today at all for them. : ) Anyway....This pic was from February 27th. After shopping around Costco. We decided to have lunch there, my husband and I. He had 2 hot dogs. I had 1 slice of cheese pizza and we shared this caramel pecan soft serve ice cream. 

Spring break is happening soon. Noah will not have school after next Friday and neither will Branden. So lunches at home are necessary. Mac and Cheese and 4 frozen cheese pizzas. We also always have instant ramen and/or yakisoba UFO type things, quick fast things for lunch. What else is in this cart? Pasta sauce. Mozzarella cheese and great big hunk of Colby/Jack cheese. 

I baked the family a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting, last Saturday. They loved it. 

All this week Bran has been getting out of school between 10:30-11:30am. And gets home around 12 or 1pm... depending on when he catches his train or if he's going to grab a Starbucks with his friends on the way home or make a MickeyD's stop along the way too. So, this week...I had a hard time doing the weekly grocery run. Because I drive 50 minutes to Inzai. One way. So, I have to be *extremely* careful with my time. Which lucky for me.... the one thing I really really excel at... is time management. I left my house by 8am March 7th. Made sure I was at Japan Meat/Joyful Honda by 9am. On the elevator to the first floor. I park on the roof because they have free charging for my electric car. I bought all the weekly meat. Checked out and was back in the car after 21 minutes. I then popped into Cainz, bought toilet paper and shampoo. And had enough time to zip across the street to Costco before opening. I was there before the Costco doors rolled up. I grabbed my cart and picked up these 2 items. Tortillas and dinner rolls. Noboru threw the other quick meal thing in my cart and we were in the car super fast. 

I snapped this pic after we loaded the things in my car. This pic is date stamped March 7th 10:16am. basically I was in and out within 16 minutes. Damn! I crushed it!!! Super crushed it! Told ya...my time management skills are amazing. I truly zip in and out ....get my list scratched off and leave. I was home around 11:40am. Noboru said..."I can't believe you did all that and got back to town with so much time to spare." 

Noah's 2 besties waiting for Noah to grab his bike. I snapped this pic on my security cam/ monitor. There are only 36 kids in Noah's grade/class. And in that only half are boys. However only like 7 live in our housing community and these 7 play together *all* the time. And I do mean all the time. Every day that the weather is nice. No rain, no snow. They're off riding bikes. These rural Japan kids... play like kids in the 70's and 80's played. They ride bikes. They play soccer. They go to the playground. They go fishing or zarigani/crawdad hunting in warmer weather. They're all Line friends too. This specific day they went to one of their friends house to play Nintendo Switch. LOL. : ) 

You can see Noah's green Gap sweatshirt in front of his friend in the right. He grabbed his bike and the 3 of them rode off to go and play Nintendo Switch. : )

Anyway, it's Friday here. Obviously... I already said that. : ) I'm so glad the weekend is here. What have I done today? I washed all the cozy fuzzy warm couch blankets on the couch and then tossed them in my dryer. They're now all nicely fresh. And all fluffy and on the couch waiting for 2 kiddos to chill and relax in them later this evening. I washed everyone's bath towels last night and just tossed them in my dryer before bed and yesterday in the daytime, I did 2 loads of clothes (lights and dark clothing) and don't have enough for a full load yet. So laundry is done for today. And you know Saturday is the day I wash both the boys bedding, sheets, duvet covers, pillow cases etc. I'm also planning to bake some cookies tomorrow too. I made a double batch of pork green chili and beans yesterday, so tonight we'll have bowls of pork green chili, with some beans, some tortillas. It's going to be delicious and awesome since I made it all yesterday. Phew. So no dinner for me to cook tonight. : )

Yesterday Branden had high school tests. Geography and music and French. Branden loves his French class. And today he has 3 other tests. Today he has Japanese (his final Japanese test ever ever ever) and he had an English test (not his final English test, not by a long shot) Hahaha. And some other test. I'm completely drawing a black on what the 3rd subject was for today, oh well, sorry about that. Branden just messaged me and he and his 2 besties are at McDonald's right now. Having combos and celebrating getting through their tests for the week. They have more tests next week too, but just on Monday and Tuesday.  Have a good weekend. We're just going to relax at home this weekend.

Bits and Pieces...

Americans love peanut butter! It's true, we do! And we have a love for peanut butter ice-cream. I am pretty sure... there are at least 3-5 different types of peanut butter ice cream in your average American grocery store, at any given time. And as you know, I even make my own here in Japan with those big tubs of Kirkland vanilla ice-cream as my base. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised to find this for sale in the little city nearest my town last week. Skippy brand peanut butter popsicles with a peanut butter soft inside/filling. So, for testing purposes, I had to buy some. Noboru happened to be with me the day I was in that store and asked him if he wanted one. He was like yikes...and no thanks. : ) Hahaha. So just picked up 3, for the kids and myself to taste test. What did we think? Branden said they were a 6 out of 10 for him. 10 being the best. Noah....said that he didn't care for these at all. And that to me, says a lot because he can usually find something nice to say about anything and everything. So for him to not like these. I was now curious to try for myself. I tried mine last and I have to say... I wasn't blown away by this. And would I repurchase this? Never! And this is coming from a peanut butter loving family....so that should tell you something. Let me explain in better detail. For starters peanut butter icecream is delicious and this was more so a peanut butter popsicle. No big deal...I knew that, when I bought it. But...the outside or regular part of the popsicle had a very bland flavor to it. Meaning if you didn't know it was *supposed* to be peanut butter flavored...you may never guess peanut butter. So the outside Popsicle main flavor was bland and didn't really taste like anything. The inside filling was weird. Granted it tasted a bit more like peanut butter, but it was just really unimpressive. 

Anyways...regular life still going on here daily. Of course. And on this day I made green chili enchiladas.

1 large chicken breast. Boiled. shredded and seasoned. Corn tortillas bought from Kaldi, slightly skillet fried beforehand and blotted with paper towel. Shredded my big hunk of cheese. And started to roll them.

Baked in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. This gave me time to make some Spanish rice. And get some ice out for our sodas.

Chicken cheese green chili enchiladas and a side of Spanish rice some chopped up lettuce on top of my enchiladas for a healthy little crunch. And a coke with ice. Yum! : ) My family love these!

Ordered 2 new pair of Vans for B. Because his feet keep growing. He keeps growing.

ABC Mart is an official retailer/seller of Vans here in Japan. 

Bran is now a size American men's 11 in shoes. And a size 29 cm. 

A preppy navy blue pair and a black and white checkered pair. 

Beats just came out with new ear phones/buds. 

Bran picked black.

Noah picked blue. The sound on these is absolutely incredible. Even better that the last model of Beats ear buds. 

Thanks Dr. Dre.

Cart pic from our Costco run last week. 2 rotisserie chickens. Dinner rolls. Big shrimp and bacon. That's it. Our total came to like $40 or $45. We can have shrimp 2 or 3 times in March now. And we had rotisserie chicken sandwiches last week with these rotisseries for supper that night. The kids also took some rotisserie chicken sandwiches to school the next day too in their packed lunches. 

Noboru and I went to Coco Ichiban Curry House last week for our once a week lunch date.

Anything new to add? My hair is done now...thanks to me going to the hair salon last Friday... and I am happy to have gotten it over with. My hair is as straight as a pin now and freshly colored and trimmed too. I was there from 9am until 1:20pm. A lot of sitting. And 2 hot coffees and 4 chocolates (for free) and an amazing shoulder neck and head massage too (for free too). Still an a-line lob. : )

Branden and I decluttered... the heck out of his room this past weekend too. We were relentless with it. We still have to do it 2 more times to call it done. But a step in the right direction.