Bits and Pieces

Fruit is pretty affordable where we live! Great for us, because we eat tons of fresh fruit all Summer long. We also have a freakishly good cheap meat store also. I think groceries are cheap in our area because we live way off in the countryside. Or maybe a lot of fresh farm produce comes from Ibaraki and we live literally teeter tottering along the border between Chiba and Ibaraki. Or I don't know really...but I do know our veggies, fruit and monthly grocery bill in general is quite low. 500 yen for 3 cantaloupe. It says the name for cantaloupe in Japanese and in parenthesis it says where it came from, it says in parenthesis Ibaraki. Remember the cantaloupe ice cream we had during Golden Week. Well melons in particular are dirt cheap around where we live, since Ibaraki and melons go hand in hand : ) Anyway.... 

Three farm fresh large sized cantaloupe, for 500 yen. We buy this a lot. And a few days after this, they had small watermelons 3 for 500 yen also. And of course they have 1/4 of a big watremelon always for dirt cheap also. The 3 mini watermelons fit in this box type size. : ) They were *so* sweet. They have honey dew and all sorts of yummy melons. : )  Anyway moving on....

I buy a head of lettuce twice a week. And wash it real good, rinse it and throw it through the salad spinner to dry it. Ykwim. Chop of a cucumber and green pepper and then place the mix into a ziplock. And when anyone wants salad it's there already basically (I make salad twice a week). I have been having salad for lunch off and on the whole past week. The 2 zucchini in this pic are from the garden. Oh and this avocado had a few bruises so that's why this avocado was not diced up cute like. Hahaha. : )

Lunch one day for me.

With us about to leave on vacation, I am trying really hard to get the house in order before we leave. And with the rainy season here and some days are rainy and some days aren't. I try to take advantage of the nice days. So one day after the laundry was brought in from outside. I decided to use some sunshine and so I threw the couch cushions outside to get sun. Meanwhile I vacuumed under the couch cushions. Boy did they need it! : )

After these 3 were done and fluffy, I tossed out the rest. And just rotated them out.

Diced fresh pineapple is so cheap and really in season. So we've been eating lots of fresh pineapple, many types of melons. Just lots of fruit basically. : )

Fanta Ume. remember the jam Noah and his class made the other week? Now there is, plum flavored soda. : )

When Old Navy and Gap had a sale, I bought a few things and didn't get a chance to post them until now. Kool Aid T for both Branden and Noah.

These short sleeve T shirts from Gap, I really liked.

This color is my favorite for the boys.

I meanwhile picked up a Rolling Stone T, 1 pair of jean shorts and 1 pair of olive green shorts. That's all.

All these are just from 1 zucchini. These were so good. All of us loved these.

1 navy blue rash guard for Noah. Swimming at the shogakko/elementary school starts this week. And I had the boys try on their swim stuff from last year. Noah could wear his swim trunks from last year, he's just that skinny. Too skinny. @.@ Branden meanwhile needed a new pair of swimming trunks for school. So between getting ready for our trip, I also have to make sure, the boys are ready to start swimming at the school. And all the little bits and pieces in between. Which isn't bad. Piece of cake actually, it's just I need to write myself lists, notes. And it all manages to get done. Knock on wood. : )

I made homemade pizza from scratch. We had that before movie night.

About once or twice a week, we'll make an evening trip to 7-11 or Mini Stop and pick up some ice cream. What do we have here.....minty choco chip Crunky (for Branden), Kiwi Garigari (Noboru), says Black Thunder but it's like a triple chocolate ice cream clearly Noah the chocolate lover of the family had picked that one on the top. : ) And I had the choco banana ice cream. Very good. : )

Okay, not the most good looking picture of breakfast. Granted. Just a simple bacon, egg and skillet fried potato breakfast. The reason I'm sharing the pic, is because those potatoes came from? Yep, our own potatoes. : ) I tell ya, we've been eating them so many different ways. We had french fries, added in curry...baked...steamed (jaga butta)....we're indeed using them. : )

Usually I just vacuum the binds with a vacuum attachment and it's easy peasy. But last week, I just manually wiped all the blinds down with a hot wash rag (and it wasn't so hard either). And kept ringing it out and rinsing it again. Again...just trying to make sure the house is in order before we leave on vacation.

Two Wii games arrived via Amazon.com. Just Dance 4 and The Hip Hop Dance Experience. We've been having fun with this, this past weekend, since the weather was rainy and the boys couldn't play outside with friends, in the day time. They're so fun! : )

We watched this movie and loved it. The only other DVD, that's on it's way to our house right now, is Oz the Great and Powerful.

Any other tid bits to throw out here. Hmmm. Oh yes! I do. My feet started peeling like crazy last night. My feet look like brand new feet underneath the parts that have peeled. So, I really am happy with that foot treatment.

Also, Noboru, took the boys for their haircut on Sunday. I mentioned to Noboru the boys have to get their haircut before we leave on vacation, their hair was getting way too long. And so I asked what day was best for him, he said Sunday, so he took them Sunday morning. They look much better now. Phew. : )

Also, I am really iffy on that Innisfree face cleanser right now. I have now used it for a week. Maybe 5 days. I am worried that it could be too gentle on my skin. And what I mean to say is.... I like a face cleanser that makes my face feel squeaky clean. Granted not too overly stripped and tight. But yeah a nice squeaky clean face is what I personally prefer. And point blank, my face can tend to be a grease pit in Summer. Otherwise, Fall, Winter and Spring I'm combination skin, but Summer I'm grease pit central. So, anyway....I wash my face with the Innisfree apple face wash. And no it doesn't feel squeaky clean, but it feels so so. But this is the kicker, about 30 minutes to an hour afterwards, my face feels moist...sticky, dare I say greasy? So the past 5 days or so. I rub my pointy finger near my nose area, creases around my nose to feel for grease. Let's put it that way. So yeah....5 days later and I don't want to say...straight up.... I love this cleanser and I don't want to say I hate it. Blech blech, but I am saying....I'm not convinced of a match as of yet. And I am starting to think I will use this up.... but replace it with something else. The cleansing oil and makeup remover are fine though.....and yep, I'm still testing them and deciding still too. But...the cleanser....nah. Not crazy about it (I need something stronger, I think). An considering what my face will feel like mid Summer. Hmm. yeah not 100% convinced on this one yet. I'm thinking about replacing it with Etude House Happy Fresh Foaming in Witch Hazel. For Summer since like I said, I'm a grease pit in Summer, face wise. lol. And also am considering Etude House Melgem Fresh oil control toner, since again we all know how my face is in Summer. ;P Again nothing life threatening to report or say granted. But, yeah I think I need a stronger face wash and I might switch to the brand Etude House. Because 2  women who have combo to oily skin in Summer (like me) both swear by Etude House. And 1 guy on Youtube also says the same. So....again I don't want to jump the gun here. But, not 100% sold on the apple face wash. Plus throw in the whole going to be near a Face Shop and Tony Moly etc. gah, so I hope I don't get too side tracked. With all the choices. And I'm also really worried about making a wrong purchase also, if that makes sense too. Gah!!! But then I know...I am human and it happens : ) Anyway, just thought I should update that.

TGIF! My hair appointment today, our bbq ribs tonight, and DVD later tonight, Idenity Thief

My hair straightening and cut went really well today. OMG! It took forever, like 3 hours! @_@ But on the bright side, my hair is as straight as a pin and so freaking shiny. I asked my stylist to barely barely cut any length off. I said less then a trim, type of trim and she "got me" exactly (she has long hair, so she knows).  And she took literally the tiniest dot off my hair. She said I didn’t have many split ends at all this time anyway. Plus she knows I’m growing it out. Anyway, as usual I now can’t wash or wet my hair for 24 hours. So, I will wash it tomorrow night. I usually wash it every night. Aw well, I have a couple shower caps from past hotel stays, so I' guess I’ll just throw on a shower cap tonight when I shower. Hahaha. : )

Right now we are bbq’ing the ribs out in the backyard. It is lightly sprinkling rain right now, not a down pour, but a light mist. It’s fine anyway because we eat inside anyway. We will have baked potatoes from the potatoes we grew and also some veggie, some zucchini (we grew) and corn.

Tonight we will be watching Identity Thief after the kiddos go to sleep. With Jason Batemen and Melissa McCartney (she is so hilarious!) I ordered this from Amazon.com and it arrived this week. : ) Am not sure which movie the boys picked for the family movie tonight, we will watch after supper and showers of course first though. : )

Foot peeling pack/treatment update: Today marks, day 2 on the feet and I see no peeling but I have read and heard it’s normal and that I shouldn’t see any peeling until day 3 or 4. So, I’m being patient.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Lunch date with the hubster. Pizza Hut and enjoying the weekend. Potato and zucchini update. Upcoming...Observation Day, Big health exam and Oblivion at the movies, this coming Saturday

Last Thursday, May 23rd, 2013. Noboru and I went on a lunch date.  We went to Cocoichi curry. It was great. I had the basic pork curry (you can have a choice of pork or beef) and I had veggies. So pork and vegetable curry for me. And Noboru had tonkatsu curry. And fries were 100 yen and so we munched some while we waited. It was a nice lunch last Thursday. : )

The new Dexter seventh season was just released on DVD mid May and it was shipped to me as soon as possible. Quite happy to catch up with these. : )

Last Friday was trash day and so I decided to also clean the heck out of the trash can. : )

Rinsed the trash can, then I filled it up with about a half cup of Gain scented Mr. Clean and a whole lotta water, let it soak and then I rinsed it twice. I Clorox wiped the lid, Orange Cleaned the lid and then Clorox wiped the lid one more time for good measure. ; )

Let it dry on the back patio, then ran upstairs to wash my hands and get the laundry out of the washing machine.

First load from last Friday. Swimming towels and bath towels of Branden and Noah's. 1 pair of shorts each and 1 shirt/top each, basically what they wore from the day before.  The trash can was on the patio also at this time. After the trash can dried though, I brought it back into the kitchen.

Second and last load of last Friday. Every body's pillow case in the entire house, including the 2 pillows we keep on the couch. Noboru's bath towel (yellow stripe) my bath towel (blue stripe) and both Branden and Noah's swimming cap and swimming trunks (swim school uniform). And Noboru's gray house shorts with orange stripe on the bottom pole. House was cleaned and ready for the weekend.

Friday night, Noboru went to his Father's Club gathering. And the boys and I had the frozen lasagna, a simple salad and 1 baguette from the bakery, which I made into garlic bread. Meanwhile, Saturday, Noboru wanted to relax at home with us and have movie night, and we did too. So we decided what the heck. : ) And we ordered some Pizza Hut for dinner Saturday evening. Weekends are for relaxing, and I couldn't agree more. Monday through Friday I'll go back to the ol' grind and cooking regular meals and cleaning up. But yeah, a weekend for enjoying some pizza and whatnot. For sure. : )

We had a large order of baked fries.

We had 2 large pepperoni and mushroom pan pizzas. Japanese size large/ American size medium. And we even bought a couple bags of curry potatoes chips and we also had a nice sized bowl of fresh crunchy sweet grapes for movie night also, after everyone took turns showering and stuff of course. Saturday night was awesome. Very relaxing, very fun.

Sunday was a bit of a time crunch. From 9am-10am we did community street cleaning. Yet at 9:30am to 12 noon the boys had the kodomo kai (like a kids party for the kids that attend our town/local elementary school) at the plaza. So, I went out and pulled weeds in the empty lot next to us and swept the street, chatted with my neighbors etc from 8:50am. And then at 9:17, I left, went and dropped off Branden and Noah at the kodomo kai. And then I came back home. By now it was 9:45am-ish. And it was ending as I was pulling the car back into the drive way. The boy next door and his brother are quite shy in real life and so they prefer stay home inside most days, so their mom told us, her sons weren't going to the Kodomo kai, which is fine every kid is different and that's okay. And Rin's dad was dropping off their 2 boys, they're pretty out going. Branden and Noah wanted to go too. And you had to check it off on the kairanban weeks in advance, about the kodomo kai.  Meanwhile. Noboru being the hancho (block leader) and Fuku kaicho (community VP) he was busy so I was the only ride for Branden and Noah, so yeah I did have a 20 minute absence but all my neighbors understood. I was actually talking to my girlfriend on the next block last week and we both were both wondering about these 2 things, community cleanup and kodomo kai all happening on the same day virtually similar times, maybe someone didn't realize it until it was too late. I know many mom's could not street clean at all which is because they were working the kodomo kai. Anyway, not really a big deal really.... when you think about it, but yeah....it was just unusual both things fell on the same day. I'm lucky all my neighbors are cool and the grandma next door knew about the kodomo kai and they all said, "no we understand you go ahead and go, we'll take care of the rest" : ) So....I cruised there and back.  Anyway....this is Noah's stuff he brought back from the kodomo kai. Each child gets a card it has many spots to stamp, 1 is for  a free soda, when you get it they stamp your card. Free hot dog. Free balloon... fishing game and if you use it, they stamp your card. That type of thing. And at the end... everyone gets a bag of snacks. So this is Noah's. Corn and lemon eraser. There was also popped popcorn and everything for the kids to enjoy for free. The mom's handling this event always do a great job.

These were Branden's things he brought back. And his 2 erasers were a chocolate ice cream and grape eraser. Anyway the boys had themselves a blast. I went and picked them up, when it was over. And brought them home. : ) The Jinbei boy was at the kodomo kai event too. And around 12:30pm. After everyone ate lunch. he rang our doorbell. Jinbei boy and his little (5th grade) sister wanted to play tennis with Branden and Noah. They came with rackets. The boys were like, right on! They grabbed their hats and their tennis rackets also and cell phone and went to the tennis court area in our housing community. They played for the afternoon. I meanwhile watched a few episodes of Dexter. : )

The weekly potato progress report. hahaha. Update. ; ) They are pretty big. They flowered already. Their leaves look healthy and green.

Really tall.

Did the zucchini not double in size, since last week? I'm right, right? lol. I looked at that pic from last week and yeah it totally looks twice the size. And also look at the plant to the left, see a small yellow flower? : )  Yay.

Many teeny tiny zucchini on here already.

Anything else to add, hold on, let me rack my brain here for a second. : ) Ah!

I have my great big health check up this coming Thursday morning. Barium anyone? Blech. : ) Necessary of course, but still. Yuck. : ) Will be glad when it's done and won't have to think about the taste for another year. : )

Branden and Noah have observation day this coming Wednesday. And it's also disaster drill practice. Where all parents show up and walk the kiddos home. I will be there. : )

Our family is going to the movies this coming Saturday. We're going to see Oblivion with Tom Cruise. It looks good and like our cup of tea, as far as movies go. Anyway, that's what's up around here. : )

 

TV Talk, Oprah's interview with Rihanna. Glee's graduation episode and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo and a few extras

I know a lot of you reading are in the US. So what has everyone been watching this Summer and recently? Lots of good Fall TV shows and new TV seasons coming up or are already up.  Anyway I haven't talked about what I have been watching over here in a good while so I better update a bit. : )The Rihanna,  interview with Oprah back in August on the OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) channel had been airing commercials for it. And I like Rihanna's music and I remember the whole Chris Brown thing that happened a few years back. I know they're friends again but seeing so many commercials for that particular interview, I couldn't wait to see it. My thoughts? I'm so glad I caught this interview. She loves her family a lot! She actually bought her mother a house and gave her a key at the end of the interview. Oprah helped her surprise her mom. She had a ton of love for her grandmother who sadly passed away not too long ago. She loves the island where she came from. She's just really a laid back person. Then Oprah asked her about Chris Brown. I was sort of expecting she'd ask. Rihanna spoke about how she didn't like how the whole world came down on him. How she made peace with what happened and him. How she said in 1 night she lost her best friend. Hearing her say that got me. : (  Then Oprah asked her, do you do still him? Her answer was yes. And that she will always have love for him but he has a girlfriend and she is single. But anyway....it was a really good interview and I'm glad I watched it.

For those of you in Japan who might not want to read a spoiler don't read the Glee parts ahead. But for those of you in the US. Wasn't last weeks episode great! Most of them graduated. The seniors. Santana graduated. Rachel, Finn, Kurt, Mercedes. Etc etc. It was just a really great episode, one I was looking forward to a lot.

Finn reading his university acceptance letter. Did he get in...did he not?

Finn and Kurt didn't get in. The 3 of them were to each read their letters together. Rachel read hers last and she got in. However she said she'd stay until next year and then the 3 of them could all go together.

Next day or whatever and she gets in Finn's car ready to go someplace else when he tells her. I'm taking you to the train station. And your dad's are waiting for you in New York and you just have to go okay?! It was pretty sad.

They were all waiting at the train station to say good bye to Rachel. A tearjerker of an episode for sure. : (   This weeks episode looks like a good one also.

I like reality TV. I think it's no big surprise. And I know a lot of Americans do too, otherwise these shows wouldn't keep multiplying. Anyway a new show started this Summer called "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" She's a little girl. Her real name is Alana. The whole family has real names and also nick names.  Her dad's nickname is "Sugar Bear" and so on. I didn't quite know what to make of this family at first when I saw the commercials for this. But I admit I was curious because I've never seen a family like that in real life.  See this picture they're all showing us, their fat. : ) Or belly's. I think it was Sugar Bear who said frankly...."we're rednecks" and then one of the other daughters said..."no we're not, because we still have our teeth" @_@ But seriously they are funny and refreshing.  They do not put on airs. And they're really likable. Folks are talking about them online, they're on Anderson Cooper, I mean they're what's current right now.

The mama, June is not married to Sugar Bear. And the other girls have a different father, only Honey Boo Boo is Sugar Bear's biological child.

This caption says it all! The things Honey Boo Boo says. Seriously crack me up.  In the picture below, Honey Boo Boo was given a pot belly pig named Glitzy....read the caption below!

She's got phrases that are quite popular right now and even some ringtones, lol. Instead of recognize. She says..."you better redneckonize" Get it redneck and recognize. lol.  Anyway they are a great little family to watch. They do have a lot of love for each other. And they are so funny.They are very real, honest. A breath of fresh air. And like I said no wonder this show is catching on. It's nice after a busy day for me...of Kumon drop offs taking Noah to swim class. Dinner and homework all getting done. To just sit down after everyone takes their shower and get to watch 30 minutes of this.

What else have I been watching? Still enjoying the new season of the Duggar's. Breaking Amish is also a new one, it's about 5 or so Amish boys and girls, they're all young adults anyway they want to just go out and see the world. However their family's warned if you go, you won't be allowed to come back, you'll be shunned and we won't ever be able to sit down and eat with you ever again. This was sad to me. But they went. I caught the first episode last week. I am also really liking the new reality show that just started called "Married to Jonas" I admit I was expecting to not like this reality show.....Married to Jonas. But I kept an opened mind and one night, I watched it and you know what? I really liked it. It's about Kevin Jonas and he's married to an Italian American girl/lady named Danielle but everyone calls her Dani. I immediately liked Dani and I swear it's not because she's Italian American. : ) I like her because again she's really down to earth.  I didn't know this until I started watching but Kevin's mom is umm, what's the polite way to say this. She's very opinionated, she's very vocal. She has no real boundaries even when it comes to Dani. Dani on the other hand I can relate to because she's a pinch on the shy side,  and out of her 2 other sisters she's the quiet one. She openly admitted saying she was nervous and afraid her in laws were coming to visit them in New Jersey. His family lives in Texas. She told her mom and 2 sisters. her mom and sisters told her...speak up. She asked them to help her cook the meal. And they did. So they helped her cook a beautiful Italian meal. And then her mom and sisters left. Dani was so nervous. And then his parents came. His mom starts taking over Dani's kitchen right away. Saying something about you better put that in the oven or else you will give us salmonella or something along those lines. Dani just does it. I think Kevin's mom doesn't believe Dani cooked it all herself because she says something along the lines of..."wow you look so good and yet you cooked all this by yourself too." @_@  Another episode they went to Texas to visit. And not only did Kevin's mom bring up when she thinks *they* meaning Kevin and Dani, should have a baby in front of about 20 other family members and poor Dani just stood there. But while still in Texas, Kevin's mom said to him and thank goodness Dani wasn't present to hear this. Anyway his mom made, some horrible snarky remark about when they were in NJ and Dani didn't use real cloth napkins she used paper napkins. Insert eye roll here. @_@ Personally I also, like Dani.... use paper napkins, I personally get that completely. Less laundry. See, I get that totally! Sure for Christmas or a special occasion I don't mind pulling out the cloth table mats or cloth napkins, but for everyday use we use plastic easy to wipe down dinner mats and paper napkins! Our dinner time is about sitting down and enjoying the meal as a family unit and enjoying my son's stories and husband's story of the day and them hearing mine. A time of day where we all sort of reconnect and catch up. And growing up in a family very similar to Dani's we had huge Sunday dinners at my grandma's house every Sunday after we'd all get together for church and go back to our houses to change clothes, but yeah every Sunday evening we'd all meet and have dinner together and we also used paper napkins, ever single Sunday! Nice napkins but paper nonetheless. Holidays my grams would whip out the cloth stuff but for regular family meals she used paper.  And besides why all the harsh judgement for, from his mom? I will never and I do mean never pick apart Branden and Noah's future wives. Obviously Kevin will side with Dani and stay even farther away from his mother if she keeps this up. I mean it's just a no brainer. Anyway it's hard not to get pulled into the Married to Jonas show. And like I said, I was fully expecting not to like the show, boy was I wrong. I'm glad I watched it anyway though and kept an open mind. And again, Kevin loves his family, Dani loves her family. They are a great couple together. But when Dani is around her mother in law you can almost see the claws come out from Kevin's mom. You can see it with her behavior, her faces she makes/pulls, her expressions or little backhanded compliments and/or comments. Anyway....

So long story short, I have been enjoying the Oprah interviews and stuff on OWN. Here Comes Honey Boo Boo is a light hearted show that will surely give you a chuckle and an excellent way to unwind.  Married to Jonas is such a good one. Am liking the new season of the Duggar's.  And I am eagerly waiting for the season finale of Dance Mom's it looks so good, this week maybe, I think is when it will air! And I am so happy Long Island Medium is back! Also The Locator on the WE channel is really very good also.

Shows I wish would hurry up and come back on the air are. All-American Muslim. I love this show and I love the families on this show! I am also waiting for the Jennifer Love Hewitt show to hurry up and comeback called....the Client List. But I think the Client List won't start until Jan 2013 (?) so I  have a long wait for that still. : )

So what are you all watching and enjoying lately?  I'm also still watching and enjoying Cold Case reruns. That show is always good. Anyway, that's what I've been watching lately. : )

Movies at the theater or DVD''s I'd like to watch. I'd like to take Branden and Noah to see the movie ParaNorman. If I lived in the US I would have taken the boys to see it by now. By the time we get to Guam it will be pulled from the movie theaters for sures. : ) lol. Oh well I'll get it for them on DVD maybe. What else, Hotel Transylvania looks good for the boys also and hopefully we can catch that.  If not dvd city for us. Two movies I'd like to get for myself on DVD are, The Hunger Games and I'd also like to get Ted. Have you seen any good movies lately or rented anything good lately?  Oh yeah, I am also eagerly waiting for the final Twilight to come out also.  The trailers that I've seen online look so good for this.