Throwback Thursday...

October 15, 2008. I had made curry and rice for supper. I had also according to my pics with dates. I baked a batch of homemade from scratch oatmeal raisin cookies that morning too. So the kids had already eaten supper, had some cookies and taken nice hot soapy sudsy showers and were in their PJ's. As you know all October long we watch Halloween movies. And since they were just wee little kiddos. We watched "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Sally is very mad that she wasted her whole night in the pumpkin patch with Linus versus going out trick or treating and getting candy!!!

Everyone got candy except for Charlie Brown. He received rocks!!! Poor Charlie Brown.

Noah enjoying, "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown." Wearing his green dinosaur long johns from Target. And he has a nice cozy fleece blanket he can cuddle with too. 

Branden also enjoying the movie. Wearing his Spiderman PJ's from Target too. And just a disclaimer, our house is centrally heated, so every room and everywhere in our home is super hot all winter long and we also have heated floors downstairs and it feels like you're walking on a pancake griddle. So our kids don't need super thick fleecy PJ's. In our house they'd be overheated wearing those. Thinner PJ's in winter... but still long sleeve and stuff is enough for our home. Americans you will understand since all your homes are also centrally heated. But most homes in Japan are not centrally heated. And so they wear super thick winter clothes. Sleep with hot water bottles and the whole shebang. So I am sure people living in houses without central heating probably thought wow...her kids must be cold by looking at these 2 pics. And so just thought I would nip that thought right in the bud real quick..."no, our house is not cold and neither are my kids." It's actually super hot all Winter long. So if you saw this pic of my kiddo in just long johns or just Spiderman PJ's. Rest assured...it's perfect for our home with central heating plus heated flooring, any thicker PJ's and they'd overheat and melt.  

The batch of cookies I baked from that day. Good thing, I took pics of almost everything. : )

Anyway so anything to add? Yes! Branden has mid-terms this week. In high school they break it up in days rather than lumping all subjects in one day. So Wednesday, Thursday (today) and Friday (tomorrow) Branden is taking 2 tests each day! He took 2 tests yesterday and then came home. Today he will take 2 tests and come home too. And same for tomorrow. Yesterday, Branden was at our train station at 1pm! I went and picked him up! So, I imagine today he will also be arriving back in our town at 1pm too. Why do they get off early? The kids are getting off early, so they can go home and study for the next days tests. Branden left this morning feeling very comfortable for today's 2 tests. He studied and prepared a lot yesterday and frankly since last week he's been studying in his spare time.

Our entire family has a flu shot appointment for this Saturday. I made the appointment the last week of September. Seems every weekend we had something. Undokai. Town undokai. Culture Day. A movie. So, I made sure this weekend was just reserved for flu shots. Which shouldn't take longer than 30 minutes for us all. And we also have to do some Winter clothes shopping this weekend too. And hopefully relax, especially for Branden... with all his tests being finished... heck rest and relaxation for the weekend for all of us sounds super excellent. And watch a movie at home Saturday night. Oh, I swapped dinner nights. Instead of making curry soup last night how I was supposed to according to the menu I write for myself. I made tacos last night. And I am making American style fried pork chops tonight with either Rice a Roni or buttered noodles and a side of broccoli. And Saturday we will be having curry soup. I did that because if we go out shopping Saturday in the day...a nice easy curry nabe is super easy to do after a full day of winter clothes for the kids shopping. So that's why I switched/swapped a few of the meals set for certain nights. We might go clothes shopping Sunday though, so it depends. And it's nice that I have ingredients for all meals, but can swap or switch nights though. : )

Anything else? This morning, I washed Noboru's and my bedding. It's in the dryer right now as I type. I have been washing the kids bedding on Saturday's like I said. But ours I wash on the weekday whenever I don't have a load of regular laundry in there. And today, I don't have enough laundry for a full load, so I decided it would be a good time to throw our blankets in the washer as soon as I dropped Noah off at school. And as for the dry time at home...they only take 30 minutes to dry. My dryer is amazing! Dries up stuff in no time.

How's the weather in our part of Japan? It's raining quite hard today. My windshield wiper blades were on the fastest setting all day whenever I was driving my car. It's very gray and just an ugly looking day outside. So glad I am home inside all toasty warm. Have a house full of groceries. My house smells like Gain dryer sheets, since the bedding is in the dryer, lol! Anyway have a great day ya'll. Stay warm. : )

Oh also sorry one more thing. The last 3 DVDs were shipped from Amazon.com already. I think the hold up was because of Spiderman Homecoming not being released until a few days ago on DVD. Anyways...3 DVDs coming to my house. And the DVD, I am most excited about is...The Big Sick. I can hardly wait. And the delivery time said it should be arriving on Friday/tomorrow. I hope that...delivery date is accurate. Would love to watch that this weekend. Although we only watch 1 movie a weekend. So that would mean Everything, Everything would have to be put on the back burner. Hmm. Decisions decisions. And if we watched everything in one weekend...that would mean we have no other movies for the rest of Fall to look forward to...but if I space them out...1 a weekend. We will have plenty of movies to last us...until Thanksgiving at least. : ) Anything else to add? I'll be having leftovers for lunch today, so that means I will be having tacos for lunch. Also the Blacklist comes on tonight. American Horror Story Cult was on last night and omg it's getting so good. Anyways...I'm gonna go. Have a great Thursday. And a nice weekend. And stay warm!!!  : )  

Bits and pieces...

Did everyone have a nice weekend? We had a fantastic weekend here. Stayed home Friday and Saturday ate delicious food and watched amazing new release movies at home and good TV. Yesterday, we all went to Tsukuba City and went to the Gap and to LOFT. I bought Noboru's Valentine's gift at LOFT, while they were preoccupied looking for stuff. Anyway, I have a little bit of misc pics that I have about 30 minutes of free time to get them up right now. What have I been up to? Honestly.. same stuff I am always up to. Cleaning the house like a crazy maniac 4 times a week and I do mean thorough super hardcore type stuff. Plus the light picking up daily and wiping down type stuff daily ykwim. : ) And cooking nightly etc. : ) I also have still been logging in my daily 10,000 steps or 4 miles for us Americans. Back in November I was logging half in the mornings and then logging the final half at night...for a nightly walk. But now my walking time...it's switched again and I have been kicking out my walks first thing every morning on my treadmill here at home as soon as I drop the kids at school. I come home... throw a load in the wash and slap on my headphones and music on my phone and jump on my treadmill and walk for about 42 minutes or however long the washer runs for. And then I get off. Run upstairs and throw the load in my dryer. Run downstairs and clean the downstairs. Swoosh toilets... wipe the kitchen counters down with bleach and clean-up from breakfast and obento making. Vacuum. Then jump back on my treadmill to knock out the final whatever... how long I have to finish up. After that... I go and have some breakfast. Croissant or toast with peanut butter and banana with a side of yogurt and 1 cup of coffee. And then. I clean my house for about 2 solid hours hard core. Fold up my laundry. Jump in the shower. Scrub the shower first though... before I scrub my sweaty ol' self. And then I come out, blow dry my hair. Do my eyebrows with eyebrow mascara. Wear no other makeup most days. And I will have an hour break. I will rest or blog. And then I will prep for dinner. Do I have veggies or meat to marinate? Do I have to preset the rice cooker? And then I swing and pick up the kids. And that's honestly 4 days of my week. One of my days is devoted to doing my weekly grocery haul. And that's also my 1 day a week I'll eat lunch outside of the home. And that's 1 day of the week I won't treadmill. But frankly speaking... walking all over Costco and my various grocery stores I do get quite the workout anyways. : ) So this pic just means...4 days a week I focus on maintaining my healthy body. Being fit. Still respecting my body and making damn sure it's in good health. 

During one of my Costco runs, I have a Gap right in Inzai. And I pop in there from time to time. And they *always* seem to have a 30% off deal. And I like saving money, that makes me so happy. But I also like my kids looking cute too. So 30% off sales work for me. : )

February is still hella cold around our part of Japan and even March too. So bought Noah 2 new sweatshirts while Noah was at school on a random weekday. At Gap in Inzai. I thought this green sweatshirt was super cute. And I like the striped wrist and waist area. Nice detailing and love the American USA one too. : )

Noah's barely 11, so a size 12 is perfect. 

Loved the back detailing on this even more. These were only 1900 yen each. Quite the bargain for a good quality... name brand sweatshirt. : ) 

Shrimp happened. Cutlet for Noah. The Costco shrimp is a very good sized. And the flavor is really good. : )

I love the seasonal soft serve ice cream they sell at MiniStop, it's a convenience store here in Japan. They sold roasted sweet potato flavor last time and we tried that. A few weeks ago... they were selling banana with a chocolate sauce and the chocolate sauce hardened like a hard shell. Like DQ. With the hard chocolate shell dipped cones. Anyway, of course we had to try. I'm fun like that... with the family. I always let them try all the seasonal flavors. : ) And we're fond of banana ice-cream. This was so delicious!!! It's not being sold anymore, at least not at the one in my town. : ( But it was so good while they were available. Choco banana soft serve...delicious. : ) 

While I was doing my weekly shopping and at Besia/Cainz store... I saw these, little square tissue boxes and they reminded me of those Puffs tissue boxes in the US. These were only 99 yen. And while I buy our Kleenex tissue at Costco because of price.The cheap price. I saw these and the Batman ones. And I thought...you know what. I think I will buy both of my kids one, I will make the splurge. And so I did. They are identical and have cute Superman different patterns on the boxes. All around the box. I put one in Bran's bedroom and one in Noah's bedroom and they both noticed them as soon as they got home from school and they *love* these! I am so happy I bought these for them. 200 yen well spent. : )

Now that high school is in the bag. What has Bran been doing? He's back to being a kid again. Thank goodness. And he and his brother have been playing badminton and also tennis like crazy at the tennis courts up the street. However on this day... they just played badminton in our backyard. It's so nice to see them play together again. And now that Branden doesn't have to study his brains to death anymore...he's free to be a kid and I really think that's important. : )

The kids and I baked peanut butter cookies together from scratch last week. Me and Bran and Noah had such a great time baking these together. 

Setsubun happened in Japan too. And I bought 2 of these chocolate roll cakes with a bunny wearing an oni/demon mask. : )  The bunny is their regular mascot of these cakes and they're always 98 yen at my nearest store and they're so delicious. and inside is chocolate whipped cream.

TV talk and movie talk. The Blacklist is getting so good. And so is Emerald City. What movies have we seen lately? Storks was awesome, we saw that recently here at home. We also saw, "A Monster Calls" That's a good movie too! Storks is funny and I actually would buy the DVD for that one. A Monster Calls is a little more serious. And I don't think I would buy the DVD. But it's an excellent movie. And definitely worth watching. What were we watching on this night? We were watching the movie Passengers. I would not read ahead because there will probably be some spoilers. But I will not tell you the ending, I promise. But I do definitely...want to talk about the movie. And I don't want to possibly spoil anything for anyone either. So will just put this here. 1 ship full of people (like thousands) from earth on a ship planning on moving to another planet like 100 years away from earth or something like that. They're all asleep in sleep chambers Anyway 1 person accidentally wakes up. He wakes up because a huge asteroid hit their ship. And it jolts him awake. This is the guy from Guardians of the Galaxy. Anna Faris' husband. Chris Pratt.

He spent 1 full year awake all alone. He was so lonely. Like Castaway with Tom Hanks in a way. He did have a funny android bartender to talk to though. But he was seriously thinking of suicide until he saw another sleeping passenger and watched her video and felt like she was his soul mate or whatever and he contemplated should I wake her up... to keep me company or not? He chose to wake her up. Keep in mind if he wakes her up. She will basically die of old age before ever reaching the planet. So he essentially gives her a death sentence. Yet he chose to wake her.

Played by Jennifer Lawrence. 

She's sad she woke up. Very sad... but she accepts it, she thinks she is awake because of a malfunctioning sleep pod. She actually falls for Chris Pratt's character. BTW, Chris Pratt's character Jim. Confides in the bartender not to tell her...that he purposely woke her up. And he honors that and does not tell. And then one night. He foolishly tells the bartender....he and Jennifer Lawrence's character have *no* secrets between each other. And the android bartender asks him..."is that so?" And so while Jim goes to the bathroom... the bartender tells Jennifer Lawrence how Jim purposely woke her up. The bartender didn't do it out of meanness or with evil intent... he did it because he is an android and didn't say it... to cause trouble. Anyway...as you can imagine Jennifer Lawrence flips out. And she should! She should be pissed. 

In fact here she is... telling him off right now. And seriously...she has every right to be mad. 

The amazing nice bartender. Who truly meant no harm. 

Jim planted her a tree. 

Another crew member woke up but he died super soon. And turns out... the ship was jacked up with the asteroid hit. And do they fix the ship? Do they all die? I can't and won't ruin the ending at all. You just got to see it for yourself. Is it a fantastic movie? Yes it is. Am I glad I saw it? Yes. Would I watch it on a long haul flight for a second time? Probably. Would I buy the DVD? Probably not. But it's a really good movie though. This coming weekend we're going to watch the movie Split and the movie Jackie. And most definitely Doctor Strange too. It's nice to just sit at home and watch a good movie and relax. : )

Noah's 5th grade class trip to the Nissan factory and Bandai museum in Tochigi prefecture. More homemade cookies from scratch. And a Jenga night...

Noah had a class field trip to a totally different prefecture. To Tochigi prefecture. Utsunomiya, Tochigi. It was a 2 hour limousine bus ride there and 2 hours back. That's pretty far away, for a field trip. : ) But the 5th graders were looking forward to it. They went to the Nissan factory. And yes that picture on the booklet is Olive's sister! Hahaha. : ) It is a Nissan Leaf, same car, as my car, except my car is black! Noah said the Nissan tour guide asked...does anyone own a Nissan Leaf? Noah's entire class including his sensei know what I drive, so they all looked at Noah. And a blushing Noah raised his hand and said, "yes my mom has one!" And the sensei and class chimed in and said, "yes she does!" And yes, I do, and heck...even ya'll can confirm that one! : ) Hahaha. Anyway Noah said the Nissan factory tour was very nice. And then they went to the Bandai Museum. They had lunch at the Bandai museum, somewhere inside the building. : ) I made sure to pack Noah a very nice and big lunch that day. 

This is what our kitchen/dining table looked like last Friday. I baked yet another batch of homemade chocolate chip with walnut cookies. And of course in Japan all Fall and Winter long we eat mikan. These ones are so sweet. And we have gone through 2 more bags of mikan since this picture was taken. : )

Noboru, Branden and Noah all read my blog. And after seeing the TBT last week, they all mentioned Friday at breakfast, "let's play Jenga tonight!" I said, "I'm down!" And everyone else was down too! So after a filling supper. Some chocolate chip cookies and showers last Friday, we whipped out the Jenga game and got down to business! We played 3 rounds! Noboru smiling! Branden taking a turn!

Noah smiling and Noboru flat out laughing! So...who won? Noah knocked them all down the first and 3rd time. Noboru knocked them down the 2nd round. And Branden and I managed to somehow...not lose this time. However....we were just lucky. : ) It was a whole lot of fun! What else did we do last weekend? We watched the DVD Home Alone! : )

This coming Friday as you know, we have Star Wars Rogue One... that we're going to watch. I already have the movie snacks. And our "family home weekend movie" will be Elf on Saturday night! : )  Japan's been super cold! So stay toasty warm everyone! And stay safe.

What's for dinner tonight? Well...Noboru is taking the boys to the barber as we speak. And I have had karaage marinating all day, since 12 noon. So it is so gingery and marinated, I am sure. We will be having, karaage tonight, with broccoli, macaroni salad and a side of rice. The boys will be taking the same thing inside their packed school lunch tomorrow along with a mikan each. And tomorrow night we will be having curry nabe, yum, I bought all the ingredients today. And on Friday, we will be having family cheeseburger night at home with fries. I figure a little fun meal before we go and watch Rogue One! And Saturday night will be...homemade pizza night when we have family movie night! And Sunday night will be Chili concarne (Wendy's type of chili, you know what I mean? Like a Texas style of chili beans) We will be having sour cream and shredded cheese and I have that bag of Fritos that my dad kindly brought us, so I am thinking it will be more along the lines of ...chili beans on top of Fritos. It's a dish in New Mexico. And we had that at school lunch in Denver too. I will have a side of lean ground beef...so if you want to add some ground beef fine and if not fine too. : )  So anyways...that's some of the meals we will be having for supper the next couple nights. Anyway...I am about to go and turn the TV on and see what's on. Noboru already knows to message me as soon as they leave the barber so I can start frying up the chicken before they even get home. : ) Have a good night everyone! : ) 

Bits and pieces...

How's everyone been? As for me, things here have been super! I haven't really had the chance to catch up with you all. You know...just the day to day type of stuff. So let me give it my best shot right now! September 16th. I had a free day and a plan to meet a good friend. House was all clean and in order. And the kids had a full day at school. And so, I drove myself to the Aeon in Ibaraki to meet a really good friend of mine (fellow foreign mom friend, that we have been friends for ages, like since before Noah was born and Bran was a toddler) We don't get the chance to see each other too often in person, since we don't exactly live the closest to one another. So it was nice we could meet up for lunch halfway between where she lives and halfway from where I live. She was looking for some stuff at the Disney store for her daughter. And I was wanting a foundation. Which was in the Aeon cosmetics area. And she ended up buying a coconut face wash also in the Aeon cosmetics area. We also had lunch and a look around the Body Shop. I had grabbed a sandwich downstairs after we left the Disney Store. And she wanted to have something to eat in the food court, so while she was placing her order, I quickly snapped this pic of my sammy and foundation in the bag as she was ordering her lunch. We ate in the food court, our plan was to eat in the food court... it's just Subway is located downstairs and not in the food court. : )

I had a footlong veggie and cheese sandwich on white. No sides and no drink. I didn't want the calories of a soda. Should have probably picked up a jasmine tea downstairs at the Aeon, but eh...I was fine. : ) Her daughter will start JHS next year so she wanted to ask me some questions. It was so nice to be able to chat and catch up in person. We parted ways after lunch. I had a bit of a drive and kids to pick up from school. : )

I picked up the Koh Gen Do Aqua foundation. This foundation is really popular in America right now. has been for the past year. Kathleenlights. So many people are in love with this. However in America at Sephora this is super expensive. $70 or 78 US? Something like that. It's pricey let's put it that way. However since it is a Japanese foundation it's like 4,000 yen for us in Japan. This foundation is for dry skin. So if you're oily, I wouldn't try it. If you're over 35 you might like this a lot. If you're over 35 and have dry skin you will really love this, if you can find the right color/shade. They say this foundation makes you look like you have just had a facial or been to the spa. Like a radiant glow from within type of look. It's light to medium coverage so if you want super thick full coverage foundation this isn't for you. If you just want a light to medium foundation this could be a good one to try. As always am I suggesting you buy it? Derr...no I'm not. However if you're in Japan and you want to try it... you will be able to buy it here way cheaper. If you're a Mac NC20-25...color 213 will be the best color match for you. 

My thoughts? Do, I look...like I just come from the spa? No I do not. Does it give me a beautiful look? Yes, totally. Would I repurchase this? No...but that's only because I bore so easy with foundations. I'm like a tumble weed rolling and blowing in the wind regarding foundations, guilty as charged and hey I admit that. Also...I find this color matches me 98% perfectly. However I feel the one I bought in Denver. The Make Up For Ever Ultra HD matches me 1000% maybe even a million percent. As in best color match ever in my life. As in..would I repurchase the MUFE Ultra HD? Hell yes, I would. Without question. But am I glad I at least tried this and own this? Yes, I am. Because I am wearing the Koh Gen Do right this second even. So, I do really like it a lot. Anyway...enough foundation talk. Moving along. : ) 

Pic right next door to my house. Pheasants gone wild! Seriously there are so many pheasants next to my house. They are so smart! And the first monkey in our town has been spotted this season already! Last year 3 were spotted! Rural Japan living stuff, I guess. : ) 

This one was sure the little fatty! He's very lucky, I don't eat pheasant! LOL. : )

Good night dear pheasants. We'll just pretend we don't know you have a big family living in the wilderness that is next door. : ) 

What else have I been doing? Once a week, I will throw the comforters outside to air and get sun! They get so fat in the sun. In japan they believe blankets get disinfected by the sun. Whether it's true or not, I still do it anyway. I'll go out and whack the blankets with a futon stick. Flip them around and whatnot. And the day after this. I usually will unzip the duvet covers. And wash the duvet/comforter covers. The insides are still fat and fluffy but the outside has just been laundered. 

If you live in Japan then you know October 1st means time to switch into your winter uniform. Noah wears regular clothes to school, but Bran wears uniform. So, I had to pick up 3 dress shirts for BrannyMcB at Sanki last week. 

Also picked up 2 wash clothes for face washing. This side is floral.

This is what the other side looks like. So each side is different. 

This side is navy with white polka dots and the other side in white with navy dots. 

3 dress shirts. I washed on the quick wash. Hung them outside to dry. And since this Monday Bran has been wearing his winter uniform.

Noah needed more name tags for school supplies. So, I ordered these. I love the colorful banner above Noah's name. And I picked the yellow frame too because that's Noah's favorite color! And these name stickers come in all sorts of sizes...super big stickers  large stickers, medium, all the way to itty bitty stickers. 

I mentioned I have been enjoying the new TV show called The Good Place which stars Kristen Bell. She was a very very bad person on earth. Super bad. And so she died. She was supposed to go to The Bad Place (yes that's what they call hell in this show) and some sort of mix up occurred. And a person with her same exact first and last name was supposed to go to heaven. But Kristen Bell went to heaven by mistake. She is still behaving badly even while in heaven! It's not a religious show. It's just a funny show. 

This week she found out her neighbor, pictured here is also here in heaven by mistake. 

This guy pictured here holding the book is a good guy and actually belongs in heaven and he knows about her secret and so he is trying to teach Kristen Bell how to be good. He was an ethics professor. It's not heavy or serious or deep. It's just honestly a fun 30 minutes of my evening. 

Monday morning/yesterday after the boys went to school. And I vacuumed the downstairs. And cleaned the downstairs toilet. I baked 3 dozen peanut butter cookies from scratch. The fam-bam has been enjoying them ever since.

If you are living in America, you know that JonBenet Ramsey has been all over the news for the past month! Though she died a day after Christmas. Apparently this is the 20th anniversary this coming December. And because of it being the 20th anniversary it's all over the TV now. There have been like...5 documentaries about it this past month. Plus the TV movie where they flat out say Burke (the brother who was 9 at the time) was the killer. And he's flat out suing. And he should sue. This JonBenet Ramsey murder happened in Colorado. It happened in Boulder, Colorado. Noboru and I were actually living in Denver at the time. Because it happened in my home state. And I was living there at the time. I can tell you, the news people from all over the world came to Colorado to cover this case. It literally captured the whole world's attention. Some people thought the mom did it. The dad did it. Some thought an intruder did it. And some thought the little boy did it. Then the case seemed to drop off the face of the earth. The Ramsey's moved back to their home state, which was not Colorado. Now this case is huge all over again. I have watched nearly all of the JonBenet stuff this past month, the new shows. And from what they say, Burke found out they were going to make a TV movie about him and basically say he did it. He was mortified. And he and his dad will sue. And they should, as I said. But, I wanted to hear from Burke. Not hear say. From him. And so, I tuned into the interview on the OWN channel and I watched it. 

His dad talked a lot privately with Dr. Phil. 

And no, I do not think her dad did it at all. I just don't. 

And I watched Burke answer all of the questions Dr. Phil asked and I don't think he was involved at all either. In fact, the grand jury that convened and the Boulder county officials years and years ago said Burke was ruled out 100%. Also...if you have seen that 3 page ransom note. It was quite lengthy. And a bit sophisticated and I just don't think a 9 year old boy wrote that letter. I don't think he wrote that letter at all. With phrases like..."don't grow a brain Jon" To the father. "we are from a small faction" ummm...doesn't really sound like a 9 year olds' type of wording to me at all. Who do I think killed JonBenet? I honestly do not know. Sometimes, I think Patsy did it. And sometimes I think an intruder did it. But, I do not think Burke or the dad had anything to do with it. And to make a whole 2 hour movie where Burke's the killer in the end? OMG! Can you imagine how mortifying that would be...to have someone make a movie about you like that? Sue the pants off them Burke! They deserve it. Anyways...anything else? Oh my gosh. American Horror Story is so good this season. It's so weird and creepy. Seems like a haunted house with 2 nurse sisters haunting the house. This looks like a good season. And OMG, The Blacklist is getting so good too. Freaking good! : ) 

This pic was taken this morning. Obviously it is a filter. More than one.. so filters. This morning, after I vacuumed and scrubbed my sink room/area upstairs. I decided to jump on the step stool and pull the filters out of the heat exchanger for the central air conditioning unit we have. I clean all house filters every season, every single one we have. Once in summer, once in Fall, once in winter, and spring. I took this outside and scrubbed this filter down with some green tea dish soap. The neighbor was hanging her laundry out and greeted me! Good morning, she said in Japanese! Good morning, I replied back in Japanese! What are you doing, she asked? Cleaning the filter, I replied! She said...you sure stay busy! I said, thanks, you too! : )

Tonight's supper? American style fried pork chops and Rice and Roni and steamed broccoli. We'll have peanut butter cookies for dessert if anyone wants any. : )  Anyway, have a great week everyone!