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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Family movie night at home...

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

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

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

Throwback Thursday...

Happy TBT everyone!!! Since it's November...I went to my November pics from years ago to get today's throwback. Noah swinging on the swings on our playground that we used to have for our kids in our backyard when they were little. It was a sunny but cool crisp Fall day. Good thing Noah had on his warm and fuzzy fleece lined jeans and a long sleeve and a sweatshirt.

I loved that the boys could play in the privacy of our fenced in backyard. Get all their energy out. And if they got tired of swinging and riding their tire swing and sliding down their slide or rock climbing wall on the jungle gym. Yet still wanted to be outside in the country fresh air...they could play with their DS games together. Play some Mario Kart. Come in for lunch time and if they felt like playing after lunch then they could for as long as they wanted and if they wanted to come in and bake something with me or watch TV or play upstairs they could do that too. 

Another pic also from November. Branden and I baked a batch of chocolate chip pecan cookies. They wanted you to see the chocolate chips and pecans before we gave it a few quick and final stirs. 

Noah taking a rest...meanwhile his brother was swinging on the swings. I loved that I could always just peek my head out one of the 2 huge patio windows and see what my 2 boys were up to while they played and had fun in the backyard. 

A crisp November morning. My pika pika ichinensei Branden was about to be driven to school by me and I thought...better take a quick pic. It wasn't full on winter mode. But it certainly was...a crisp Fall morning that definitely felt cold.

Family movie night in November. And yep...we still have family movie nights... even now. I just want my kids to know...doesn't matter if we go to the movies. Or we watch a movie at home. The important thing has always been....togetherness...we enjoy a movie together. We have special snacks. And we get all snuggle-y buggle-y and we have pillows and fleece blankets. And it's just our special 2 hours. We take time out for our family. No computer, No phone calls. Just us. And just fun. We need to carve that special time out for our family....and that's just something we have always done. 

Yep that time it was a 3D movie. And boy oh boy did the boys LOVE that. : )  Anyway just a few miscellaneous snippets from a November of years past. How cool! : )


Anyway...anything new to add? Yesterday I went to Noah's observation day at the local elementary school. It was pretty good.

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!!!  : )  

Last week's Costco cart pic. Some new movies from Amazon.com. And The Gong Show reboot...

Last Friday, June 23rd Noboru and I made a Costco Chiba New Town run. And also a Besia (regular grocery store run) and also we hit the meat store in Inzai/Chiba New Town too, which is of course Joyful Honda. But only this pic from Costco is what I am sharing today. No other cart pics from that day. : ) What's in my Costco cart from last Friday? Let's see. 3 big jars of Ragu pasta sauce. 4 Kirkland frozen cheese pizzas. Tortilla chips (nachos are coming up for us, this coming Thursday night according to the weekly menu that I make) 2 types of grated cheese (mozzarella and a blend they call a Mexican blend.) Tortillas, dinner rolls and a rotisserie chicken that we had a delicious quick dinner from last Friday night. So an easy dinner last Friday was very nice. : ) 

We did stop and have lunch before we left Costco and went on our way to a few other grocery stores that morning. : )

My Amazon.com order arrived too. 

Split...we watched it yesterday and it's really good. We also enjoyed Get Out. This movie was *so* excellent. And it's funny because... one of the guys who was in Hawaii for the couple years of training when we were there. He's a good friend of Noboru's. Anyways he was telling Noboru...he had seen Get Out and he loved it and he told Noboru. "You have got to see that movie" That it was so good. And 2 days after his friend told him that. My fellow American friend in Yokohama emailed me and she's so super nice. Anyways we were emailing about fun stuff. You know movies and food and good stuff like that. : ) Anyways...she told me...."Gina, you should totally watch Get Out." I told my husband..."now my friend, also told me to see the same movie your friend mentioned too." @_@. So, I went and checked the trailer on YouTube and was like...wow this looks so good. So, I ordered it. And I won't spoil anything for any of you, except to say...everyone is totally right!!! This movie is so good! No wonder there is a buzz about Get Out. Because it's totally a good movie. I am so glad I have this... because I will be watching it again...probably this week. Beauty and the Beast. I remember being in middle school and watching an old black and white version of Beauty and the Beast all in French in my French class. Thank gawd for subtitles. LOL. And yep...wish I woulda took Spanish instead. But anyways. The story though...I fell in love with the story of this. And I have loved Beauty and the Beast since my French class in middle school. I guess I love the story of the Beast... how he was tested and turned that old poor beggar woman away... when she was seeking a place to stay for the night. And no wonder he was cursed because she was not truly an old beggar woman at all. As we all know. I think it just makes me always think...don't judge a book by it's cover. And...always be kind. Kindness *always* wins. And perhaps the Beast should have been kinder in the beginning. No wonder he was cursed! And then the Disney cartoon version came and I loved that one too. And I frankly know some folks like this new version and some don't. But...I know for me personally...the story I love. And I wanted this in my collection. I'll let ya'll know how I liked it. And the other movie...looks like Groundhogs Day but modern. And I have not seen it yet...but I have seen the previews and I will let you know how I like it. But...we are saving that for this coming weekend, same for Beauty and the Beast for...family movie night. : )  And as for Star Wars...we are the biggest Star Wars loving family and same with Terminator. You guys know that. One DVD is not shipping to my house until first weak of August, it's still too new and not released yet. : )  

Is it just me or is *everything* being rebooted. The TV show Roseanne is being rebooted too. With Roseanne Barr and the whole cast. Anyways...anyone remember the original Gong Show??? It was a popular American TV show in America. It ran from 1976-1980. I was like too little for preschool, then preschool aged... then kindergarten aged when this show ran. I might have even gotten to the first grade or 2nd grade during the run of this show. I was a little kid when this was on. But I do remember how popular this show was. If you performed good, you finished your act. If you were horrible they would gong you!!! I remember when I was little...Kids would ask other kids..."hey did you see the Gong Show last night?" Everyone did! It was just that popular. Anyway it's been rebooted and it just started in America again. I decided to catch the first show. And I read online that in America they're once again saying it's going to be the funnest thing all summer. So, I did make sure to tune in. And it's hilarious. I watched it Friday evening with my family. We were laughing so hard. This lady here. Dressed like Little Bo Peep. She had a tarantula. And put it into her mouth. Grossed out the audience. The host. Grossed us out over here too. @_@

They had 3 famous/actors as guest judges. 2 were from The Hangover. Ken Jeong the funny guy who played Mr. Chow. He's so sharp and so funny.

Putting it in her mouth. Bleh! Yikes. @_@

Yep the audience was totally grossed out. By the way...sorry the spider just reminded me.. speaking of rebooting shows. Fear Factor was also rebooted on MTV. Ludacris is the host. And my kids love Fear Factor!!! Bran and Noah watch every single week. And I watch with them. And Noboru watches it with us too when he's home and not working.

And of course went a warning on the screen. Please do not put spiders in your mouth. Ummm duh! : )

More audience members too. Again everyone was totally grossed out with the whole spider in the mouth thing. Us too.

Will Arnett.

Zach Galifianakas. He's always so funny. My whole family really likes him. Same for Ken Jeong, my kids crack up whenever they see Mr. Chow. : )

Anyway, Noboru did get his vacation days off. So we will be going on vacation at the end of July for sure 100%.  We can't wait!!! I'll give more details a bit later. : ) But...if my blog does go a bit quiet, between now and then. It's just because...I'm starting to watch a bunch of YouTube videos lately. You guys know...I always get caught up with everything new in the U.S. before I get there. I'd like to know...what's new. What's good. And so...I have started a small list so far. And just...you know slowly getting a list gathered up of what I'd like to bring back to Japan with me. : ) So if my blog doesn't get updated in 4 days. I am either just enjoying my family time. Or watching many makeup...what's new at Sephora or what's new at the drugstore videos. But, I am here. Anything else to add? : )

Noah has observation day July 4th at school. Holy smokes....didn't Noah just have observation day...not too long ago too? I could swear he *just* had observation day about 3 weeks ago...pretty recently/not too long ago. Hmm.

I'd like to get my hair straightened again. Before Japanese summer and humidity hits. I'm thinking either this week or next. Maybe this week. Hmm. Decisions decisions. : )

How has the weather been? Outside it's been warm to almost hot in the days and cooler at night still, but the humidity is really starting to rise outside though. Last week it started to get really humid. It's quite dry in our home, so we don't feel or notice a change inside our home. Thank goodness for central air conditioning. But it's really noticeable the second you leave the house.

My last 2 Amazon.com orders arrived with my DVDs. And some TV talk, good stuff I've been watching lately...

Okay where did I leave off? This was the last Amazon order I received that I mentioned on here already, so this pic you've seen before. The nearest weekend to when we received this batch. We popped popcorn, bought chocolate bars and treats from the grocery store in town. And we 4 watched Rogue One. Granted we 4 went to see it at the movie theater when it first came out, but this was so awesome to see this at home. After we all finished dinner and took showers and were in our comfy PJ's and stuff we enjoyed watching Rogue One. It is such an excellent movie. We love Rogue One. This past Sunday, the kids and I watched Fools Rush In, while Noboru was at work. I enjoyed this when it first came out and the kids enjoyed it too. We watched with movie with some homemade pizza I made. My book, I still have not started on it yet, but I will, however I am half finished with the Barry Manilow story right now that's in my magazine and as soon as I finish that.. I will start this book. : ) 

Fifty Shades Darker. I watched this by myself in the daytime. Kids at school, husband at work. And I bought a chocomint ice-cream and sat in the living room and watched this. My thoughts? I *really* enjoyed this movie a lot. Sometimes part 2's suck, if ykwim. But this didn't suck at all. Many good mini stories all happening in this 1 movie. I enjoyed this one movie very much. Think Noboru and I will have to watch this one together... when we have time this week. 

A Dog's Purpose. I heard this movie was good. And they're so right, it's excellent. My kids LOVED this movie. Noah cried and I cried too. Noboru really liked this too. I loved it too. We 4 also watched the movie Silence together. And Noboru straight up *loved* this movie... so much that he talked about it for 2 days straight!!! Our whole family enjoyed Silence. Very deep. Makes you think. And a true story. So educational too. 

Downward Dog is a new TV show on the ABC channel. The dog is narrating this show and it's so funny. This show is truly so well written. It's light funny not heavy or deep at all, but perfect for unwinding from a busy day!

The Blacklist is as good as always. Some serious stuff went down last week. 

Don't read ahead...possible spoiler. Although it ended last week and we still know absolutely nothing. But just in case... if you're worried... don't read any further. The one thing I love about this show is...this show is like a set of those Russian nesting dolls. With one doll inside the other doll and another inside that one. This show is about this lady she wants and needs to know many secrets. About who she is. Who her parents are. Yadayadayada, And each season you *think* you will finally find out who she is. And who her parents are/were. And *every* time you think..."ahh well we solved that mystery" You find out...there's more secrets and more lies inside. And we are back at square one and don't know jack squat! That happened again last week. Last season we thought she was Russian and had Russian spy parents? @_@ Or does she? Dundundun!!! And last week. Her boss took a DNA. Of Raymond and her and he said Raymond is her dad. @_@ And this pic shows she is all happy...she is hugging him warmly. Saying..."I don't mind if you are my dad, I'm just relieved knowing." And we think...yet again...well gee mystery solved. #notevenclose

And then the last scene is this one...where Raymond is talking with his #1 right hand man and he says..."Elizabeth *thinks* she's my daughter." @_@ Ummm....so was that just another lie on top of a lie on top of another lie? To infinity? I think so!!! Sounds like he's not her pops at all!!! That's why this show is so wildly popular. It's well written. It keeps you on the edge of your seat. You always wind..... right back at square 1..yet we really don't mind starting from square 1 every week. That's just how enjoyable this show is. Who is she? We still don't know. Who are her parents? Yep, we don't know that answer either! Again...I didn't give anything away... because even I don't know. They will probably string us along for a few more seasons and we'll enjoy every second of it. : ) Love this show! : ) 

Anyways...anything new to add? I am baking homemade peanut butter cookies today from scratch. I made the mixture about an hour ago and put it in the fridge for baking a bit later today. As soon as I came home from dropping off Noah from school, is when I made my cookie dough. Bran was dropped off much earlier. I had yogurt for breakfast (cherry flavor) I'm thinking about having an amazing filling salad for lunch today. And we had karaage for dinner last night. So I'm thinking of making baked ravioli for supper tonight. And we have those Costco dinner rolls, so I'll probably make some garlic rolls from those. Yummo! Alrighty, I have a walk to take. A house to clean. And a load of laundry ready to be tossed into my dryer. Talk to ya'll later. : )