Flu Shots...

Last Monday, October 29th, as soon as the boys got out of school. I zipped them to our nearest Walgreens, so the 3 of us could get our yearly flu shot. In America, mostly everywhere gives out "same day" flu shots. Meaning you do not have to make an appointment or anything. They accept almost every American health insurance and you pay nothing as long as you have your insurance card. We do have health insurance here in America and so, I took all our cards. I did debate about going to get them done at Costco, Rite-Aid or Walgreens. Costco was a no, only because they're farther from where we live and that Costco is always so super packed. Like insanely packed. Rite Aid and Walgreens are fine and both right across the street from one another. But it honestly came down to....who I trust more. I grew up with Walgreens always being around. Don't get me wrong Rite Aid is totally fine and stuff. But, it's just Walgreens has been around in America for *ever* and ever. I did call beforehand, while we were waiting for Bran to get home on the school bus. And they said, yep it's easy...just go and get your flu shot. And I was like cool. And so we zipped there around 3:15pm. I went in and since we're first time customers, they quickly and nicely put all our information in their system. And 5 minutes later, we got our shots! Didn't pay a single penny. Since it goes through the insurance and they took all the info from our insurance cards. Just super easy. Anyway, just glad that we are now protected from the flu this year! Peace of mind. : ) 

Our weekend. Flu shots taken. The outlet mall yet again. Typhoon Lan with pics. Lots of good meals at home. And a Costco run...

So last Wednesday, as I was at the plaza picking up Noah from school. As you know Branden came home early because of his 3 days of high school tests. So Bran was home and it was now the end of school day at the local elementary school. Wednesday October 18th and as I was standing outside my car and chit chatting with 2 of my mom friends. They were saying, a typhoon is heading our way. It might hit Chiba prefecture hard this time. And the other one was like...say what? When? And so she said it's coming this weekend sometime. Either Saturday, Sunday or next Monday. And so us 3 sat there. Wondering would it actually hit Chiba prefecture or lose it's steam as usual by the time is goes all the way through other parts of Japan first. Like it usually does. So we wondered. But we all said, we would prepare a little anyway, just in case and thanks for the heads up. So, Noah came down the hill that day and said. Our school said a typhoon is expected this coming weekend sometime. I thanked my kiddo for the heads up too and I said...so and so's mama just told me and.... so and so-kun's mom about this too. So...I think we had 8 rolls of toilet paper left last Wednesday. And we had enough food to last our home until Monday October 23rd. So food, I wasn't worried about and drinks...I had 2 cases of mugicha. 5 bottles of jasmine tea. A brand new carton and a half of milk. About 15 eggs left. And tons of veggies and whatnot. But just thinking about it. So Thursday, I ran to Costco in the morning after both my kids went to school. I went for just a case of toilet paper. And another pack of eggs (there's 20 in the Costco egg packs) and that's it. 

I also went into the Matsumoto Kiyoshi near Costco in Inzai and bought a new tin of shea bath powder. I figured what a cozy way to ride out a typhoon. Or a weekend of rain. I made sure I was back in my town by the time Bran got home on Thursday. On Friday, Branden got home super early and he told me. "my teachers all told us that school will most likely be canceled on Monday because of the typhoon, because most of us use trains to get to school and trains are expected to either be delayed or cancelled all together, that day." And sure enough by 9am Saturday, Branden's school emailed and said they decided to cancel school Monday for everyone. Branden was thrilled. 

I baked a yellow cake with chocolate frosting on Friday on Friday morning, sliced 2 rows and as soon as Bran got home, he had a slice immediately. And I made some delicious tacos for supper after everyone came home. For us to really enjoy the weekend about to start. And with a typhoon expected to hit sometime. We were all set. With plenty of food. And we had DVDs and plus we have excellent American cable TV. So we were set. Here at our house. And well prepared for Typhoon Lan/Typhoon 21. I picked up Noah on Friday after school and Noah also said his school might be canceled on Monday because of the typhoon and sure enough by 10am Saturday for Noah's school...they emailed all of us and also said, school was canceled for Monday. So, both my kids now officially had a 3 day weekend. Woohoo.

Homemade shells. I buy the soft corn tortillas from Kaldi and fry them up my own, so super easy. Branden said...store bought shells are good, but nothing beats homemade shells. We had chicken breast tacos and also I made lean ground beef ones too. And we all had yellow cake with chocolate frosting for dessert. Even though the kids had some cake as soon as they each got home from school. : )

The Amazon DVDs got here Thursday night around 7pm. Via DHL. 

We had movie night both Saturday and Sunday night. We watched Spiderman Homecoming on Saturday night. And Transformers The Last Knight on Sunday. The kids picked which movies we'd watch. And I still haven't had my chance to watch The Big Sick or Everything, Everything. : ( But, I will get my chance, I know. So I am just being chill. And I know I'll get my chance this weekend. : ) So it's cool. So Friday was low key. We all were well prepared for the typhoon. Noboru in the day time Friday....went around the yard and put anything that could tumble during the typhoon away. And I put the Fall wreath that usually hangs on my front door and scarecrow in the shed for the weekend. From Friday, until Monday afternoon after the typhoon had left. So we had the house all free of anything that could possibly take a tumble and go flying through the neighborhood. All hanging baskets on the front porch were put safely inside our shed. And we basically did our typhoon prep Friday afternoon. So by the time Friday evening happened. We enjoyed dinner. Cake. And we were all hunkered down and ready for Typhoon Lan!

Saturday morning. We all quickly woke up and got dressed and quickly ready for the day. We all had a quick fast bakery bread toasted with butter and yogurts. We left the house at 9:30am and went to the Ami Premium outlet mall. Gosh are we getting sick of that place! Hahaha. Our nearest outlet mall to our home. We went into the Gap. With the intention to get Noah 2 sweatshirts and 2 long sleeves. And we bought just that. Also wanted to mention everything was at 30% off sale already for that weekend. However there was a "morning additional sale" And for a limited time until 11am, everything in the store was an additional 20% off and they were handing out white plastic Gap shopping bags and they said when they give the last one the sale will be finished. Only the people with the white bags, they were handing out would get 50% off. So whoever was lucky enough to have grabbed a white plastic Gap shopping bag, they got everything that morning for 50% off. A 1 hour only sale. And we caught that. Wow. Right on! Dressing our sons cute plus while still saving tons of cash...so super happy about that!!! Nothing wrong with grabbing a great deal.

One bright green Gap zip up sweatshirt and 1 bright happy yellow pullover Gap sweatshirt. 

Noah is in the largest size for Gap kids. He's not in the largest size for kids at Old Navy however though. 

And 2 adorable long sleeve tops from Gap too. And for 50% off. We got everything for half off. 

I could tell by Noah's face last weekend that he too wanted to be included and get the same sweatpants as Branden and I picked last week. But, I was unsure if they had a size XXS. And Noah's never worn adults sizes yet for clothes. But, I had Noah try on the XXS and XS sizes this weekend. The XS were enormous. And the XXS were perfect. I asked Noah...would you like to be twinsies with Bran and I? Technically triplets... but when peeps dress the same doesn't matter... they call it being twinsies regardless of how many there are. He smiled and said...sure! I always want both my kids to always feel included. 

So 3 of us are twinsies. We did ask Noboru if he wanted to get a pair too? He was like..thanks but I like my Uniqlo pair. LOL. By 11am, we were heading back to our tiny town. With 35 eggs at home. I boiled 10 and made a batch of egg salad. I rinsed some lettuce. And we all had egg salad sandwiches for lunch Saturday. Our flu shot appointment wasn't until 3pm. Although we left the house around 1:45pm. Arrived by 2pm. And we were out of the doctors office by 2:35pm. 

Before we left to the doctors for all our flu shots. I quickly chopped up curry nabe veggies. I peeled and diced up 2 potatoes. A whole small cabbage. A pack of mushrooms. From 11:30am to 1:45pm. I made lunch and did dinner prep. I knew working hard right then, would lead to a restful night later.

I diced up a pack of chicken tenderloins that I had in my freezer since the week before. I buy these from Japan Meat in Inzai. Less than $4 feeds a family of 4, yes. And I also add in 12 chicken meatballs for Noboru since he loves those. The kids and I prefer sliced up chicken sesami though. I put the diced up chicken in a ceramic bowl and wrapped it with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge until we came back from the doctors from our flu shot appointment. I washed my hands twice. And we left to the doctors office. Flu shots here we come!!!

It's been all over the news but there's a big shortage of flu shot vaccinations in Japan this year. And so whoever waits until the last second will most likely not be able to get one. There are over a million less than less year. Again though, I was glad that I always make our appointment right away for our shots. And so I knew, ours were reserved and waiting for us. It's peace of mind knowing our kids and Noboru and I now have our flu shots. And ours are paid for 100% by Noboru's job. So for us they're totally free. Branden getting his shot Saturday around 2:10pm. And yes, I always have my kids wear short sleeve shirts underneath a sweatshirt. Those poor nurses and doctors always have the darndest time when folks wear long sleeves...yet they need to give you the shot in your upper arm. So...to make things easier for everyone... I always have my kids wear short sleeves. You have no idea how much our nurses appreciate that we all do that, every year!!! : )

Noah getting his flu shot, Saturday about 2-3 minutes after Branden did. I went after Noah and Noboru went last. Flu shots 2017 are done for our family now! Woohoo!

Branden gets about 3 haircuts a month. He loves getting his haircut. He likes his hair looking clean and tidy looking. And plus his hair grows like a weed. He actually needs haircuts that often. Noah's hair on the other hand grows slower than you could ever imagine and he hates going to the barber and he only goes about once a month. But they both go to the 1000 yen barber in the small city nearest our town. Anyways...while at the doctors office, Branden asked. Since we were in the small city anyways...for the flu shots...could he gets a haircut? Honestly...he needed one. And dinner was prepped. The rice was in the rice cooker already set with the timer on. And so...yeah sure. You can go and get a haircut. So, there was no parking space at the barbers because the bakery and whatnot people were parking there, so we parked across the street. However the barber was deader than a doornail. Meaning Branden zipped right in...and got his hair cut. Noboru went with him and waited, Noah and I meanwhile sat in the car and watched TV in the car while we waited. In 10 minutes there they stood together in this pic... about to cross the street and get in our car and go home. Branden was happy with his spiffy new hair cut. And I was happy and relieved we had all gotten our flu shots and Noah now has 4 sweatshirts total. And so...we're getting closer to done regarding our winter clothes shopping. Plus dinner was prepped. And we were already hunkered down at home...all flower planters and whatnot removed and put away. So we were now ready. Saturday around 3:30pm and we were now heading home. 

Sent Branden to take a quick shower since he had just got his hair cut. And sent Noah in after Bran. Meanwhile I threw all the meat and veggies in and things started to boil up quickly and nicely. Before you know it, we 4 were sitting at the kitchen table. Pulling yummy udon noodles out and chicken sesami/tenderloin, potatoes, bean sprouts, cabbage. Noboru was pulling out meatballs and whatever he wanted too. And we sat and just enjoyed the end of Saturday. Sundays plan was to stay home, stay safe. We enjoyed our curry nabe Saturday night. With bowls of rice. We drank mugicha/jasmine tea or straight tea, your choice. I jumped in the shower real quick after dinner clean up. And Noboru went after wards. I popped some popcorn. And when all of us were ready we threw on Spiderman Homecoming. We loved it. A nice way to end Saturday. Sunday. Was raining. And we watched how it was hitting various parts of Japan on the news. It seemed to hit according to 2 of my very close friends who live in Osaka. It seems Osaka got slammed hard by the typhoon. It also seemed to hit Shizuoka quite hard too. I am glad that it did lose steam by the time it got to my particular area of Chiba, near Ibaraki. We got tons of rain. We did. It rained and rained and rained. But, I see no structural damage in my town at all. And on Monday we drove to Inzai to pick up Bran's birthday cake and again...we saw lots of flooded with water areas. But no structural damage like there was in Osaka. So our part of Japan did get tons and tons of water. But...on the news... seems train tracks were broken in Osaka. That was on the news. I hope they got those fixed. Again one of my friends who lives in Osaka saw a shed collapsed. And some roofs torn up. I just didn't see any signs of tangible physical damage here in our area other than gobs of rain. Already harvested rice fields drowned in rain. Smart farmers! But other than that. Nothing really noteworthy around where we live. And that's a good thing!!! Everyone took turns soaking in a hot shea bath at home after showers Sunday evening. I made baked chicken parmesan on top of pasta Sunday night for supper. Comfort food to ride out the typhoon. I also made a delicious bacon and eggs breakfast Sunday morning too. 

We didn't leave our house until Monday. These pics are from Monday. See this picture? Looks like 2 rivers right? Wrong. The water farthest back IS the actual real river. And the 1 closer river is not a river at all. That's flooding. That's usually a grassy weedy area to park your car to go and enjoy the river. And the closest thing to us is a sidewalk.The water should go back down in a day or two. But yep tons of rain in my area.

See the white ripples? That's how windy it was Monday. Monday was super hot weather-wise after the typhoon. I assumed it would be a cool day. I wore a sweatshirt. Needless to say I melted the whole time I was at Costco Inzai. I was not expecting it to feel like summer time outside. @_@  That's Mt. Tsukuba in the background. Yes, I am close to Tsukuba in Ibaraki. In fact the other side of this river is Ibaraki. That's HOW close I live to Ibaraki. I seriously live so super close to Ibaraki. LOL. 

This is sad. Because nobody works harder than farmers in my opinion. Look at the rice fields?!!! Totally submerged. It looks like a lake. It's not. And it looked like that all over my town and all the way to Inzai too. The bright side or silver lining is...farmers are much too smart and they frankly harvested their rice in early September. So their rice fields were flooded yes, but there was nothing the rain could damage. Farmers are too smart. Farmers 1 point Typhoon 0.  The rice had already been cut.  So while other areas of Japan got lots of wind damage and structural damage. We didn't get that. It did lose steam by the time it reached our town. Sorry. However...we did face the wrath of huge rainfall. Flooding types of amounts of rain. Whoever's crazy enough to have built their house at rice field/ lower land level. Perhaps their homes might have got flooded too? I do not know. I honestly do not know. Our housing community is built on a naturally elevated higher part of town. You can see when you see my backyard how much lower and down below the rice fields are. So we're not at flood level/rice field level at all, not even remotely. And our house is not in a mudslide area either. Noboru was really smart when he picked the spot to build our house. The original parts of town/older parts of town are at rice field level. So...hopefully my kids classmates who live near there...their houses are okay. Though I am sure they're old school enough to know to toss sandbags and stuff to prepare by Friday. They're smart folks.So yep...just wanted to share a few pics of flooding. And as for our house in particular. Our house got zero damage. 

Noboru will be working on Bran's birthday October 26th. And Bran wanted a Costco cake versus an ice cream cake. So, I ordered it last week. And 2 weeks ago, I brought home 2 papers and let Bran read his choices and he picked American football. I filled the form out last week and we picked the pick up date to fall on Monday October 23rd. We figured we could take Branden out to dinner at the restaurant of his choice Monday. And we would have cake and ice cream on Monday October 23rd. And considering the cake is ginormous we will be eating cake until the weekend I'm sure. However with the typhoon approaching. Either Sunday or Monday. And not knowing if we would be able to pick up the cake or not. We were relieved that...it did lose steam in our area/part of Japan. Because by Monday 9am it was long gone. Slightly windy Monday and super hot. But other than that not even a drop of rain. Nothing. Our area just got huge amounts of rain Sunday night to Monday early morning ended around 6:30am. And that was it. We were lucky to be able to cruise right to Inzai. Roads were totally fine. And we did grab a weeks worth of meat beforehand at Japan Meat. And then hit Costco. Grabbed what was needed and went back to our town ASAP. : ) My kids took rotisserie chicken sandwiches today to school. With those dinner rolls. You see Mexican style cheese. Mozzarella cheese. Tortillas. Dinner rolls, a rotisserie chicken, a birthday cake. 

Yeah provolone stop trying to hide...we see you!!! ; )

Ice cream. One big container will go for the birthday cake and the other container will be turned into peanut butter ice cream. We went home. Unloaded the car. Brought lunch for the kids. And we relaxed for a few hours. It was a restful Monday. And about 5pm, we went to dinner for Branden's early birthday dinner. celebration. He wanted to go to Jolly Pasta. And we're lucky now that there are 2 Jolly Pasta's in Ibaraki now. There used to be just the 1 in Mito. Which is way too far for us. But now there's one way closer to us. This one just opened September 27th this year. It's a 30 minute drive from our home. Where as the other one in Chiba was an hours long drive. So this ones much closer. And the one in Chiba City has traffic for days. Where this one is all inaka back roads and no stop lights. So we zipped there in no time. 

The most beautiful sunset the 4 of us saw on Monday October 23rd long after the typhoon had passed. On our way to dinner. 

Last Friday, movies with my friends. And flu shots for our entire family...

A pic of Noah about to get his flu shot last Friday evening October 14th. And that's Branden's leg to the right of Noah. Branden's flu shot for this season is 100% done (Bran gets an adult dosage now, so just 1 shot for him, anyone 13 or over). Mine totally done, Noboru's totally done. Noah needs 2 doses so he will go back in 30 days and get his final shot in November. So Noah is half done... flu shot wise, but we are on the case! We're on top of things!

Friday morning, same day as the flu shot. Again, October 14th. I had a movie date with my 2 favorite girl friends. The movie started at 8am! Holy crap was that an early movie. We 3 met at the movies at 7:45am. We're all mothers, I pack 2 lunches for my kids Monday through Friday everyday for school lunch. And they have 1 high school daughter each... so they too pack lunches in the morning. We 3 were busy that morning. Quickly trying to do our lunch making and packing. And getting ourselves ready for the day and meet up by 7:45am. And for me...I do NOT live in the small city nearest me. Where they live and where the movie theater is located. I live way more rural...so I drive from my town to that small city. So, I had to leave even earlier. Luckily for me...Noboru was home that day and able to drive the 2 boys to school. Otherwise I would have never been able to make our...meet up time at the movies. Anyway...so we 3 enjoyed the movie. We saw the movie with Matt Damon, "Jason Bourne." Is this the 4th installment of this movie franchise? I'm iffy on that...but there's others before this one. After the movie we went and had lunch and they went on to Starbucks. I stayed for only a few hours at the lunch spot. The movie let out around 10am or 10:20am. I knew I had dinner to get prepped. Usually I can stay with my friends and chit chat and enjoy our time to catch up and stuff..until it's time to get our kids from school. However...I knew the boys and us had a flu shot appointment since a month beforehand. And we had a very tiny window to eat our supper. The appointment was at 5pm for our flu shots. And they got off at 3:45pm. So we had about 30 minutes to get dinner eaten (considering the drive there and back). And I cooked dinner while Noboru was actually picking up the boys. So...my schedule was super tight that day. Because of our flu shots. I felt super bad I could not stay the whole time with my friends, but I know they are very understanding and kind ladies. The only way I could ensure...dinner  would be ready to eat the second the kids got home from school. Was if I had prepped the ebi fry in the day time. Dredging in flour, tossing in egg, rolling in panko. I had HAD to get everything ready to go in the day time. I did feel really bad about leaving early. But...sometimes you just have to. : (  My kids come home from school hungry...because they're active boys. And considering we had 4 flu shots, plus we would be taking the boys for haircuts at the barber after the flu shots. If we had dinner after all.... that we'd be eating super late. Too late. Everyone would be starving. And miserable. So...I had to make sure supper was ready and on the plate at 4pm. So we could all quickly eat...get full. Then go and get our flu shots! So that's what we did. The flu shots went smooth and we were actually done within 10-15 minutes. They were ready and waiting for us. They had the shots all laid out. And the doctor just gave us each our shot. Our flu shots are free because of Noboru's health care. And so for us...it's nice to get them done and out of the way.  We then drove to the barber and as luck would have it...not a soul was in the barbershop other than us and the 3 barbers. The guy who always cuts the boys hair, cut Bran's first and then cut Noah's. I'd say by 6:30pm we were home and ready to call it a night. We sure had accomplished a whole bunch that day! Hahaha. : )

Anyways...I do have a whole bunch of posts to post. And I will be trying my best to get them up as soon as I can. : )

I caught the Lifetime movie last night. About Michel'le. Called "Surviving Compton" It was a really good made for TV movie. I enjoyed it a lot. It was eye opening. I didn't realize Dr. Dre was so brutal to her back in the day. He denies it of course. But wow...an interesting movie for sure. 

Bits and pieces. The boys dental cleaning, tons of meal pics (homemade tostadas, taco night, chili beans, plus obento pics) The boys flu shots taken. My morning standing and greeting the kids (Aisatsu Undo) and lots more...

Good morning ya'll! My dad is in the air flying to Japan as we speak. Thanksgivings this week, yay! So, as you can imagine things are *crazy* busy here, this week. And this post is so long over due. I have *tons* of tiny bits and pieces of stuff that happen.... every week, every day. And sometimes I have the time to post them and sometimes, I am so busy. I just have time for bullet point type posts for example...The Guam trip. Or going to the movies. Meaning that's all the time that I have to do 1 subject ones. Meanwhile I have many *many* small things going on too. And I do want to document as much as I can. So this is my chance today. However, I will have to do this at lightning speeds. So here it goes! Made homemade tostadas one night. I boiled the beans in the morning and when they were done I turned off the pan. I also fried up the corn tortillas in a little bit of oil in a skillet during the day, that way, by the time everyone came home, everything was ready to go and everyone could dig right in! I also, grabbed 2 cans of that super cheap salsa that I buy at my nearest Besia store and put... in the blender on liquefy. And wrapped with plastic wrap. Cleaned the blender bits by hand in the sink and put the blender away, all this stuff I did during the day again...so that by the time... everyone got home. We were ready to eat!  

About 30 minutes before I went and swung around to pick up the kids. I refried the beans in a big pan and mashed those suckers and seasoned them all up. With a sprinkling of salt and a small handful of grated Mexican cheese (form Costco Japan) to add some creaminess to them. Put a lid on them, turned off the stove. And hit the road to get the boys! Noboru meanwhile came home, while I was busy picking up the boys. And we all ate right away! 

This was a random pic from a lunch in October for the boys. How can I tell? Because all October, the boys used  those Halloween-y black cat fruit forks, for their fruit for their lunch. And the chicken breasts, I prep the night before, I cut off all the skin and fat and then in the morning, I dunk in some egg and then roll in flour and fry up fresh. 

Their lunch that day. Freshly made chicken breast sandwich with Miracle Whip and lettuce. Some fresh apple. And inside their thermos was those envelop packets of soup. I made the soup that morning on the stove. You know...like those Lipton foil noodle soup packets. And these Japanese made thermos are THE best and keep things as hot as it just came off the stove. So a nice thermos of chicken noodle soup, a sandwich and some fruit. Noah only got a half sandwich because his tummy tank is smaller. But a nice fresh lunch for them Monday through Friday. 

Random date pic. My husband and I still go out to lunch once a week. We don't "have" to. But we want to. We love spending time together and talking. This week we went to our favorite Indian restaurant. I had the pumpkin curry. I love pumpkin curry. Though...I do love pumpkin anything really. : ) 

Noboru reading a book at the dentist office. Bran reading his new tablet. Noah was in the back getting his teeth super cleaned. And Bran went afterwards. No cavities for either of the boys. Neither of them have EVER had a cavity! So, they got their cleaning and check up and we went home after that. This visit was last week of October 2015.

Another random lunch pic. Very very lean beef, I had marinating since the day before... in yakiniku sauce. I had skillet fried it up that morning. On a bed of white rice and some veggie on the side. They also took some sliced up apple. 

Out of this entire post, this is the pic, I have the most questions about. Meaning, did I share this pic before? Like mid October? You know...I might have. I might not have. I am really unsure and granted... if I had hours upon hours of free time, I'd back track my blog and find out. But...I just don't have the time this week for that unfortunately. So, if I did share this pic before, I am sorry for adding it here. And if I didn't then here it is. : ) I would not recommend anyone to see Dope. It was a terrible movie. I have not seen Dark Places yet. But, I am sort of saving this.. for after Thanksgiving. I can just enjoy this movie this coming weekend with some movies, I have been saving and looking forward to watching this! 

First week of October, I picked up these for Halloween from Daiso to be used at our house. Nothing major, just thought we could either use these for dinner or dessert on Halloween. 

I baked a yellow cake on Halloween. I also bought a huge tub of vanilla ice cream for our family too. 

About 5 or so posts down below some place, I said, we had tacos for Halloween dinner. And I thought we did. And we did not. I am sorry. It was an honest mistake. I knew we had Mexican food that night. And to be fair, we did have tacos a few days afterwards. So that's where I must have said tacos from. But we did have enchiladas for Halloween 2015 dinner. So while it was an accidental mix up. I don't want to be a liar face! So...hahaha. We did have enchiladas. And for what it's worth, if I had time to blog the daily bits...more often. I wouldn't have made this mistake. Oh well, I am human... it happens. : ) 

We had chicken enchiladas and spanish rice. Not on the Halloween plates because... if we did, we would run out and not have enough for our dessert. I think there were only like...6 plates in that pack. 

Halloween dessert on the Halloween plates. Cake and ice cream, yellow cake chocolate frosting, our fave. 

OMG, I have to post this in here, it's *so* weird. Or perhaps cool? Not sure. You know how every Halloween I decorate the front of our house, right? With lights and Bran made that wicked Jack Skellington real Jack o lantern and stuff. Well anyway, so I go and get the mail from the mail box on Halloween right? It's a Saturday after all. So anyways! Somebody left me these candies. They left 1 candy on this one fake light jack o lantern and another on the other one. Or perhaps they left it for my kids? But...I was like OH... EM... G!! @_@ Who did that??? @_@

The 2nd candy. You know that old song by Rockwell...Somebody's Watching Me? @_@ I could take it... in a freaked out way...a negative way... and think. How *freaking* creepy! Or, I guess, I can take it in a positive way! And say...how wonderful! Somebody obviously loves my Halloween spirit and decorations and perhaps is a bit shy... but wanted to...in a small way. Give us a treat! I opted to take it in a good and positive way! But yeah...definitely a surprise. : ) Hmm, I think my neighborhood likes us! : ) 

And no, I didn't keep the candy, I asked Noboru if we should throw them away or let the kids have them. He looked them over and said the kids could have them. : ) 

Another random lunch. I sliced up 1 chicken breast and marinated it in yakiniku sauce, same as I did with the beef up above and the morning of...I skillet fried it and onto a bed of white rice it went with some veggie and some sliced apple. Halloween was over... so they were back to their blue long neck giraffe fruit forks. : ) 

A rainy cold morning. The boys were already at school with a packed lunch. And I was about to mop the kitchen floor. Don't ask me why but...I love to mop my kitchen floor in Fall and Winter on a cold rainy day. Seems so cozy. With the floor heating all on and the central heating on, the house is so nice and toasty warm!

I seriously need to replace my mop in 2016. However, I do have a few replaceable mop heads, I am still working my way through so....

Not sure if you can see to the right of my shed. But a very polite farmer...only burns his weeds and whatnot on rainy days. He is so very polite! And I like seeing his bonfire! : ) Smells like camping! : ) 

Close up! Fall weather is definitely here! It's been such gray skies. And cold! Not freezing, but definitely colder. 

And taco night. Noah's job is toasting all the shells in the toaster oven. He does a very good job. 

A serious amount of lean ground beef from Costco, taco meat for the guys of the house! And 2 chicken breasts in taco seasoning for me. and of course the salsa from Besia that I zip through my blender and sour cream (not from Costco) and the cheese is from Costco. It was a taco feast, that night! : ) 

And the next day, I packed the kids soft tacos for their lunch. Taco meat inside a flour tortilla, with sour cream and lettuce and cheese and salsa. Bran brought 2 soft tacos and Noah brought 1. And they also brought some fresh apple too. 

Another random dinner pic. Beef stew. I skillet fried the lean beef first and then I boiled the beef all day long. It was fall apart tender. After a few hours, when the meat was tender, I added the veggies. And boiled until the potatoes were soft. 

Added the roux and we had beef stew with rice, we also had a sliced fresh baguette from the bakery with some of that healthy margarine from Costco, on it. 

Another random dinner pic. Wendy's style chili beans. You know, chili con carne. Sides, onions and cheese and sour cream.

A big pot of chili beans. Enough to last 2 dinners worth!

I also fried up a bit of the lean ground beef, I had in the freezer from Costco. Just a bit. And that way if you wanted to add beef to your chili beans you could. Noboru and the boys added beef to their chili beans. I don't like beef in mine. So, I didn't have any ground beef in mine, so mine is technically chili without the carne lol. 

Our 2nd pot of chili of Fall 2015. This was before we went to Guam, because we didn't have cornbread yet. : ) 

First batch of brownies for 2015. The kids had brownies with ice cream. we still had leftover ice cream from the Halloween cake and ice cream we had. These brownies had walnuts in them and were so good. : )

In September, I ordered a huge 2 pack of Miracle Whip from FBC Japan. An online place that sells American food from America. Knowing Thanksgiving and leftover sandwiches and stuff were up and coming. So, I planned ahead and ordered these in September. Plus you know...that big squeeze tube of Miracle Whip, I also brought back from Guam too. So turkey sandwiches...we are ready! 

As soon as my kids started elementary school I started to have to be assigned to do the "morning greeting" once a year for Branden. When Noah started elementary school. Because Bran also went to the same school. That meant I had to only do the "morning greeting" once a year even though...I had 2 boys enrolled in the same school. This was nice! However, when Bran started JHS. We now, once again had to do the "morning greeting" for the JHS and also the elementary school. So, that meant I had to do this twice a year, since Bran has been a student at the local JHS. This usually means once in November and once in February or something you know what I mean. It is just something done here in Japan. And something every parent has to do, if you have a child in elementary or JHS. I did not have this, when my kids were in yochien. It's hard to juggle doing this in the mornings. Especially if you have to make and pack obento for your children...and drive them to school. The awesome thing about my husband is...if he has a work schedule that he is available to do this..he will not mind doing this. And he has done this about 4 times, in all 8 years. So while he doesn't do this every time, he helps when he can. Last year, I did Bran's and Noboru did Noah's. Since they were on different months. Is it fun to do this? Honestly no. It's not hard either though... but it isn't fun. You have to stand there outside looking like a complete dork.. for about 30 minutes. And usually it's Fall or Winter and so it's cold and/or rainy. Bran brought home a sash and Noah brought one too. Bran said we have to do his on Wednesday and Noah said we have to do his on Thursday. Noboru was available on Wednesday. and so he offered and said, I can do Bran's and you can do Noah's since he was not available on Noah's day. Okay. and then...we got an email from the JHS saying they all made a mistake and since that Tuesday was a national holiday. The street greetings was to be held on Thursday instead. So, Basically Noboru couldn't do any of the boys days this year. Though he *wanted* to help. His work schedule just didn't allow it and that's fine. However....again... it's all about how you take things. You can take things super badly and negatively and say...this sucks. And now I have to do this twice as long. Or you can take it super well and say..."you mean, I get both of my boys street greetings, knocked outta the way in 1 day...in 1 fell swoop?" Hell yes! And that's how I took it! I was like...this is sorta cool! I get both kids scratched right off the list, for 1 mornings work! I'll take that! Did I have to wake up at 5am that morning? OMG, yes I did. Did I have to make lunch by 5:30am? Yes, I did. Then I went upstairs and washed my face and then put some lotion on and sunblock. and then I did my eyebrows and eye make up and didn't wear a stitch of makeup anywhere else. No foundation, no concealer, not a drop. I just did my eyebrows (eyebrow mascara), 1 color of eye shadow, one very natural nude color. And that's it, not even eye liner or mascara. I did wear some lip balm though... so my lips didn't get all dried out and crackly... by being outside for over an hour. And I also didn't have any coffee that morning either in case, I had to go pee. I got the kids up. And ready. Noah walked to school with his friends. And I usually really don't care for him to walk. I know Japanese people feel safe with their kids walking. But, as an American, growing up with news stories like...Adam Walsh (abducted at a store), Polly Klause (granted she was taken out of her house during a sleepover), Jaycee Duggard (was abducted on her way to school) Etan Patz (a little boy who disappeared on his way to school) and even in Japan, that girl last year who was abducted on her way home from school. Again, I wish I could *not* worry. But coming from a country with cases...like that in the media. It sorta freaks me out. And so yes...I drive my kids. It just saves me the heart attack. Granted, I know some schools have a "don't drive your kid to school" policy but not all schools do. And our school does *not* have that rule. Our school is very unusual. So Noah walked with his friends. And Bran rode his bike. And for the elementary kids, I was to greet kids from 6:30am to 7:10am. And for the JHS, I was to greet from 7:10am to 7:40am. So, I walked with Noah to the entrance of our housing community. And he stayed with me, until his 2 besties came walking and then he joined them. There was 1 lady from the elementary school also doing hers with me that morning, she was a 5th grade mom and while I know pretty much everyone. I seriously do. I didn't know this lady for the life of me. She greeted me and I greeted her and she went to the opposite side of the road as me and greeted kids and that was nice. I basically greeted kids on my side of the road and she greeted them on the opposite side of the road. When the time was up, she left and we did the "job well done' greetings to one another. And she got in her car and left. : ) She drove from her house to our housing community's entrance and back home. I walked. I prefer the exercise, but then...that could be just me. : ) See the sashes in this picture? And don't forget the sexy arm bands either! Hahaha. And at 7:08am, I put on my JHS sash and so for a 3 minute period, I had on 2 sashes and 2 arm bands. I could tell by that...the elementary school only mom thought...oh wow, she has a JHS kid too. : ) Hahaha. I was the senpai there. : ) 

How does it feel to wear a sash? Well, perhaps if you were in a beauty contest with big beautiful crown and gorgeous dress and your makeup perfectly done and your hair picture perfect. You would maybe feel like a million bucks! You remember that old song..I'm too sexy? LOL. Yeah...maybe you could be all...I'm too sexy for this sash...too sexy for this sash! And do your little turn on the cat walk. Hahaha. But in reality. It is so totally *not* like that. Picture/think along the lines of... regular clothes and almost no makeup and sash. While freezing your butt off. 

See... random stock pic of lady wear a sash with normal regular clothes sans makeup. And you sorta get the idea. Except for it's freezing cold and so you're probably wearing a coat and maybe some gloves and quite possibly shivering to death! So very...un flattering. So very...not sexy. Let's put it that way. However the bright side is...I could get both boys scratched off in 1 fell swoop. So, while lady I didn't really know for the life of me... from the elementary sped off. I waited patiently for my fellow JHS mama's to show. I knew 3 others were to be there... besides me, so 4 total from the JHS. Two 9th grade mama's. One I know very well, her hubs works at Delta so there is a definite connection between us. And the other 8th grade mom. K x 2's mama. Meaning she has a son named K, who has been Bran's classmate since first grade and she also has a 2nd and final kid/son who is in Noah's class, who is also named K. So she is Kx2's mama. And we have known each other for ages. And so right away...they come walking down the road. We 4 greet each other and the two 9th grade mama's go across the street and us two 8th grade mama's stay on our side of the street and we talk to each other and also greet kiddos. She was like..."you're here early!" and I told her in Japanese..."I know...would you believe, I have been out here since 6:28am, I had to for Noah/the elementary school." She was like..."Say what....you had double duty today?" I was like yep! And we were like lol! I tell ya, when you're out there with someone you know...it is so much more fun! And time just zipped on past! Bran meanwhile rode by on his bike and we chatted for a sec or two. And then the older K, her son... zipped on by. Noah and little K walked to school together about 30 minutes earlier and their other friend. And Genki and all the other JHS kiddos we chit chatted and joked with that morning. And Saya-chan had the cutest pancake charm on her backpack. And us 2 mama's were like.."Saya-chan what a cute hotcake charm you have there!" And she was all blushing and stuff. And I swear time just zipped on by. In fact so much so... we were deeply chit chatting about random stuff...when our 2 senpai mom's the 9th grade mom's came to our side of the street and said..."our time is over ladies" and we all bowed and "job well doned" each other and stuff. And we all walked back home... all 4 of us. I was so happy to be home. Yes we 4 all looked super dorky with our sashes! But we were done. And fwiw, K's mom, told me...you're lucky to get both yours out of the way today, and she added, that she has to go back and do little K's in December. Also...interesting...the JHS...a van of the senseis drove around with clipboards and took notes of whose mom was there and whose was NOT! @_@ They do not do this at the elementary school. And so, this surprised me a bit. The helper teacher, who was... in the science room when we dissected that chicken head, remember? He was one of the teachers, in the back seat with window rolled down so he could see us all...and taking notes of which of us was there or not. We were all there...so no worries. 

I snapped this random pic, before the JHS mom's got there. This was "greet the kids" day. Aisatsu undo actually means, "greeting exercise."  Greetings (aisatsu) and undo means like exercise, so it was definitely a "greeting exercise" for us parents to do.  

Random pic while at Beisia in October. I picked up the lavender toilet cleanser. 

Lime Coke. I love lemon Coke! I love cherry Coke. But...this lime coke sucked! I tastes exactly how Mighty Duck at Costco Japan sells.... in the marine scent! I mean dead on...exactly like Mighty Duck marine scent. It was so awful, I didn't finish it. And Noboru also thought the same, totally Mighty Duck marine scent. For me not to be able to finish it...says a lot.

This super nice police car as Noah and I were waiting at the airport the day we got back from Guam. Noah was all excited to see the police car, so we waved at this police car and I took this pic and the policeman nearest this side of the car, he waved at us back! Such a nice guy! : )

Three big luggage we brought back from Guam, all contained food stuff. And the huge Gap package in blue. I don't have time to show what the Gap/ON clothes were in the bag. But they're cool. I'll show them another time. Not this week though. : ) 

Noboru picking up and checking poundage...how much the turkey we wanted weighed. We were looking for the biggest turkey our Costco had. However....

The price...and yes it does say USA. Hahaha. 

However the biggest one they had...had a cut on the wrapper and Noboru was like...the meat could have gotten frost bite because of that hole...let's not pick that one. And I was like...you are so right! So we picked the 2nd biggest one instead. Without a hole. : )

One big huge honkin' bird! Oh and how funny.... as we were buying this, a group of Japanese older ladies walked passed us and one said all loud in Japanese..."look at that huge CHICKEN they just bought!" Japanese people for the most part, feel nobody western can understand them...so they just blurt out anything and everything. Not all Japanese people are like that... but yeah... but many do, assume westerners can't understand. A small part of me... wanted to turn around...since obviously I can understand what has been said and say back...."Nope, it's not a chicken ladies...it's a TURKEY!" But...I said...why? Granted I would have said it in a nice and polite way. Not in an offended mean way. But again...I thought...why? Would I gain anything by saying that? And my answer. No not really. So, I just said nothing. Truly though...I don't get super mad often. Unless it's undokai and you are holding 7 leisure sheets under your arm and you're in front of me. That is a definite trigger for me and I accept that is a trigger for me. But really nothing else... really rattles me. : ) Which is a good thing, I guess. We had a rotisserie chicken last week and the provolone, I bought for our upcoming turkey sandwiches. How many times, have I thought and contemplated a leftover turkey sandwich this 2015? About a hundred times! It's official. : ) 

I wanted the Big Bang Theory calendar for 2016. But it was $9.99. And I am a tad cheap because...it's a calendar for goodness sake. We just need it for our American holidays. And I pencil in all flu shot appointments or dental visits and observation days and gomi zero (street cleaning) or morning greeting days. However when Bran saw it...first thing he said was..."umm, mom we had Wizard of Oz a few years ago!" And I was like...honey, I know. So, no, I won't be buying Wizard of Oz again. Oh well. : ) The bright side is...we have a nice American calendar for 2016! 

Thanksgiving plates! And napkins, gobble gobble! These are something brought back from Guam that somehow didn't get pictured. : ) 

I did make 1 pack of cinnamon rolls so far. We still have 1 pack of cinnamon rolls left. These are so good and so easy! A real blessing... on a Sunday morning. 

Two new movies got here last week. Terminator Genisys and Vacation! We will watch Terminator this weekend after turkey day. : ) Because Bran has been studying his ever lovin' brains out... for weeks. So this will be nice this weekend. And Vacation, we watched last weekend, on Friday and Noboru laughed himself silly! Which made me laugh even harder! We have more movies coming in November, December and 2 last ones, end of January/early Feb 2016. 

You know...this pic should have been way up above since it happened way earlier, first week of November. Our family all got our flu shots. Now that Bran is 14, he gets the adult dosage of flu shot now. So, Noboru, Bran and I only got the 1 flu shot, first week of November, so we 3 are all protected now. And Noah got his flu shot that day too, and this pic is of Noah's arm. However Noah is a child and needs the kids dosage and so he will have to go back first week of December and get his final flu shot. But he's protected now...just not completely yet. And of course no flu shot is 100% guaranteed, but...prevention is key. And early prevention... is even better. Anyway that's enough blibber blabber for now. 

Oh TV Talk...what have I been loving lately? The Blacklist. Black-ish. Little Women LA season ended but I watched every week. 90 Day Fiance is having a new season and I am watching that every week. AHS (American Horror Story), this new season is weird, but so far I am sticking with it. I preferred last seasons over this season. I am enjoying Scream Queens. Supergirl is brand new and I am really liking this! One of my most favorite shows though... is a TV show called "Arranged" it's a reality show, about  3 American couples in an arranged marriage. I love this show and look forward to it every week. 

Christmas plans? We were really on the fence about what to do for Christmas, this year. Should we travel and go on vacation for Christmas. As our Christmas present, meaning the gift of travel. Or should we stay home in Japan. My bil Jun and his family are traveling, they will be in Hawaii for Christmas. However we were just there in Summer. And so we decided to stay in Japan for Christmas and just do gifts and have a dinner for our family of 4 here. So that's what we're going to do. : )