Bits from my weekend...

How's everyone been doing? I've been doing pretty good here. I had a really nice quiet weekend at home, last weekend. And I'll be blogging about it today. But, I must say first. I am having my period right now (sorry, TMI). And I'm just having major major cramps today. I started yesterday and was functional yesterday... meaning I could still clean my house... wash, dry and fold my laundry. Make dinner. But today...OMG! Good thing my house is clean right now, ya'll because as soon as I post this, I am going to go lay down on the couch and rest for today. I feel like death today! It's also raining quite badly today, gray overcast and a slightly chilly day. Maybe a long sleeve top and shorts type day. Not a day needing the heater... but you definitely feel a nice crispness to the air for sure. It should rain all day and stop at 7pm, where I live this evening, we're also getting mid-high winds. And good thing I made a huge pot of curry yesterday because we will be having curry spaghetti tonight and salads. Ugh. Very nice to have dinner 90% done...as a leftover from yesterday. Awesome and surely saves me for today, since I'm having TOM issues today. : ) Anyways...back to the post. These couple backyard pics were snapped last Friday. June 16th. I had just swept and mopped the heck out of the kitchen floor. And washed the kitchen mats, 2 toilet mats one from each of the bathrooms and our stripey bath math that we dry our feet on... after shower time. The weather has been just beautiful all month. Warm in the day about 78-79 F in the day time and 64 degrees F at night. So very comfortable weather. : ) I wish Japan's weather could be like this year round. : ) I'd love it. 

Update on the "hot pink" ahem...although they called these light red? @_@ Remember that? These were duds this year and we took them out of the hanging baskets weeks and weeks ago and transplanted them into the earth to see..if they live...then great and if not...well at least we tried. They still look...meh! Ykwim? Like..they are not dead yet... but they're not thriving either or growing at all. 

They're in this corner. And we do water them once a day. But honestly...I think once the brutal sauna-like unforgiving HEAT that is Japanese summer hits...these flowers will be resting in peace. :( I'll keep you posted. 

Meanwhile the serrano chilis. That are supposedly hotter than jalapenos. Are thriving and getting bigger each and everyday. : ) Yay! : )

These replacement flowers are thriving and growing. They're in the backyard catching as much sun as they can... but since the weathers been considerably colder than in years past. They're not growing as fast...however they are growing and healthy plants!!! 

Flowers on the chili plants. Which is a good sign. And this lets us know...baby chili's will be growing very soon. : )

Noboru liked his last black drone, but he was unsatisfied with the quality of the camera. He felt the camera for making movies...he said they looked rather shaky and he didn't like that at all. So he sent it back to Amazon and got a refund. Meanwhile he now has this drone and he loves this one. 

Noah had a kodomo-kai (kids club) event Saturday at 9:30am. Good thing we could have a gorgeous sit down breakfast beforehand. And Noboru dropped off Noah at the plaza at 9:30am and swung around and picked him back up at 11:20am. It ended at 11:30am. But after going to these for years... we know how the parking lot gets hella full at 11:30am. Noah had a blast, he enjoyed popcorn, soda and all these treats and played games with his classmates. This is only open to first to 6th graders. So this will be his last time going to this one. Which is fine for us. We always have plenty to enjoy at home...plus it saves us a drive. But..I was happy Noah could enjoy this summer event. : ) Noah does have  a few more kids club events this year to attend though. : ) 

Koh Gen Do. It's a high end Japanese brand. Quality makeup. That's super popular in the United States right now and being sold at Sephora. It's also popular and well known here in Japan for people who prefer high end quality cosmetics that are good for your skin. It's also cheaper for us in Japan than you can get it in the states. I first bought a foundation by Koh Gen Do last....was it last October or November? I think last November. Anyway...I really enjoy it. And I saw a bunch of their products at The Loft when we were in the city for Bran's parent teacher conference thing. A week or so ago. I also saw/noticed a brand new product that they just came out with...Koh Gen Do has made a cushion. But there's really no cushion...so maybe we should just call it a liquid foundation in a compact... because there's no cushion with foundation inside at all. Anyway...while I was killing time in Loft...I noticed the brand new compact foundation that just was released in Japan June 1st, 2017. And is not even available for those of you in the states yet. Anyways...I wasn't impressed because the amount of foundation you get is so little. Not worth it. So, no I am not interested in their new foundation pact. However...their powder foundation caught my eye and the fact they had the color 213 which is my color in their range. Which matches me perfectly and I am a MAC NC25. Fwiw. I didn't buy it that day at Loft. But, I did go home and a few days later, I ordered from Koh Gen Do online. It arrived on Saturday morning. The same day Noah had his kodomokai event and the same day we had another barbecue. 

They also gave me a $10 dollars off/ 1,000 yen off coupon and I seriously might use it. But...I'm also biding my time until I hit Sephora in person and Target in person so ...maybe I won't use this coupon after all...yeah maybe not. : ) 

Nicely packed. However I was sad they sent no free samples. In a day in age where... everyone and their mama...gives free samples. It was definitely noted by me. So, I am mentioning it here too. Give samples Koh Gen Do!!! 

I use foundation and always pat my face with powder after wards. I use Mac Mineralize Skinfinish (this powder doesn't make you look too powdery) and I love this. But...the thing that caught my eye is this also is supposed to make your skin look silky and moist and not all dry and powdery. This reminded me exactly of the Mac one I am using. Except this is technically a foundation but a super light coverage one. And I'll use it as a powder anyways. But given the fact that it's sold in color 213...I lovelovelove 213 perfect for me. And so...since they also had this in 213 too...I wanted to try it. And I do like it. And the color is so perfect. Now I can bounce between this and my Mac powder. : )

I like that it's black and sleek and has the KGD initials there. I love good quality makeup, especially if it's going on my face, I don't want to get any breakouts or anything. 

It has a really big mirror. So anyways long story short...bought a new powder. 

This is a pic that I took especially for you guys. This is not available for you in the states yet..but you can at least say you have seen it now. Before anyone else has got to see it. : ) This is what their liquid compact looks like. It's the same formula exactly that's super famous in the US right now. It's their Aqua Foundation. But in compact form. And according to what I read..it's limited edition. So maybe...you in the US won't get this at all? Hmm. If it's limited edition so maybe not. Hopefully they keep in this their permanent line. But they do have shade 213 and all the other shades too. I use the popular... liquid Aqua Foundation (in the bottle) almost every single day... that I do wear makeup (only wear makeup 3 times a week). However that's 30ml. Where this aqua foundation pact in the compact is only like 7 or 9ml. Or something super teeny tiny like that. So...imo. The compact liquid one...is not worth it at all. But oh well...just thought I'd share the pic. It's in a cute red compact though.

Saturdays BBQ. June 17th, This day... we again kept things super simple. If you try to make things super duper fancy. Then...BBQs become a stressful thing or a once in a while thing... where they should be the opposite and low key. But...we BBQ every single week. We don't aim for fancy at all. If we just throw burgers and hot dogs on the grill then that's enough and fine. If we just want yakiniku awesome. But we keep it super *super* simple. Super scaled back. That way no pressure. 

The kids had very nicely marinated beef/very lean rosu. I had chicken breast and veggies. And Noboru picked 2 giant pork steaks in a garlic sauce/marinade. They were already marinated at the store on Friday when we bought our meat for the BBQ. And he really loves that type of meat. Basically...whatever everyone loves...we made for them. I prefer chicken and veggies...the kids prefer beef and Noboru has a strong preference for pork. Every time Noboru eats beef, he tells us how much he prefers pork. Hahaha. LOL. @_@ So...it's okay...just whatever everyone prefers is what we made. The kids meat.. took Noboru a grand total of 5 minutes to grill. Mine took about 7 minutes to grill. And Noboru's took about 5 minutes. We ate quickly! We had flat lettuce for wrapping our meats. We had Garigari for dessert. Again just super simple. I was busy in the morning marinating the kids beef after breakfast. And slicing my chicken after breakfast too. Plus cleaning up the kitchen from breakfast. Which is why Noboru dropped off Noah at the kodomokai and I didn't. I was pretty busy trying to do some house stuff here. Plus I was waiting for my Koh Gen Do shipment from Kuroneko that morning too. : ) 

My chicken and veggies. Again our meal is super quick and easy. Super relaxed and chill. If you're the type who wants the perfect meal. Strives for perfection. That's so *not* us....we just want a chill weekend BBQ. Just us. Just chillin' at home. Not perfect...if you ask me...there's no such thing as perfect and I wouldn't ever want to be. We just wanna be chill. And enjoy the weekend. : ) Just walking barefoot back and forth from the backyard to the inside of the kitchen. *happy sigh* : )

Noboru's meal of choice. He was quite happy about it.  And we just sat and talked and laughed, all 4 of us. And enjoyed the inaka/Japanese countryside views out our backyard. The trickling sounds from the rice fields that filter water from field to field. Croaking frogs. A few birds that had not went to sleep yet! That you could hear off and on. And yeah...a very good Saturday. 

And a 58 yen treat for each of us. About 50 cents American each. A yummy popsicle. And time to close our blinds and then taking turns for a shower for us all. And then time to turn on the TV and just enjoy Saturday night. : )  How was our weekend, last weekend? Very quiet...very low key. Very *us* as usual. Very chill. We love quiet weekends at home. Maybe that's because our weekdays are all so busy, for all of us. That we really need our weekends to just be spent together...recharging our batteries so to speak...and just enjoy our time together. I love these nerds!!! And I know thye love me too! Hahaha. Anyway that was our weekend in a nutshell. Oh and fwiw. How was Sunday? Super chill and nice too. Noboru enjoyed Father's Day here at home being spoiled by us all.  : )

Anyway...anything new to add? Not really. It's Wednesday here. Hump Day. We are coasting down towards the weekend after today. Woohoo. : ) Swimming for Noah was postponed from Monday (because of rain) to yesterday...so Noah swam yesterday... since it was such a nice and beautiful sunny day.  Today is raining crazy hard right now... it's really picked up steam since I started this post. Curry spaghetti tonight for supper with a side salad, I already told you all that. I have Downward Dog tonight, a TV show I really like and American Housewife tonight too. : ) Anyway...I wanna take an Advil right now and rest a bit. Have a good Wednesday everyone. : )  

Chili update...

I shared this pic about a month ago. Was it a month ago? Around then. Anyway I had mentioned that we bought 10 serrano chili plants and even shared this pic, but I haven't updated since then, so I better do that now real quick. 

We planted them about 2 days after we received them. 

We have 10 total... however one is currently sick and in quarantine by us. Hahaha. These are the 9 healthy ones.

Here is the one chili plant that is currently being separated by us, because he looks ill. Could have something catchy. He looks quite bad. His leaves are all yellow. If he has something like a fungus or something catchy... we don't want him to give it to the healthy plants, so that's why he's split up from the others. Also...the flowers in our hanging baskets are not doing too good. Remember we ordered red flowers and they sent  us "light red?" LOL! They're hot pink or purple. Anyway...in years prior, they took off beautifully and thrived. But this year... they're just not thriving at all. Last year at this time, they were triple this size and flowering beautifully. However in contrast... right now...3 look stunted and 1 looks near death. We have no idea why the quality of the flowers changed so drastically from the ones they sent us in previous years. But we're going to try about 2 more weeks to nurse these flowers back to good health. But honestly, it doesn't look good. It doesn't look like they'll make it. So we're already starting to think maybe we can just go to a homecenter in Inzai or in the small city nearest us and replace these flowers with strong healthy ones. Hmmm. What a total bummer because #1 plants and flowers are not cheap or free. And it does cost to replace. So while we can replace them no problem. It's just...sad because we have never had to replace flowers before... but it looks like we're going to have to. So...anyways...the progress in a nutshell is this. 9 of the chili plants are growing and thriving and 1 is sick or ill. But still 9 is better then none. So chili wise... we're feeling pretty good about the chili progress. And about the flowers in the hanging baskets. *Sigh* maybe we'll have to replace them with some healthier flowers? We'll see. I'll keep you all updated in a few weeks. : ) 

Planting some new flowers in my hanging baskets, that hang on my front porch and some TV talk...

For years, I have been ordering bright red flowers from this online shop for my Spring and Summer floral hanging baskets that hang on my front porch. I always purchase 8 for my hanging baskets, 2 each. This year, was very different. It said you may now *not* order less than 20 at a time. @_@ Noboru likes the flowers I grow every year. And so he emailed them and asked nicely and they said, that we could order just 8. And that we have been good customers of theirs for years. But they also wrote back that this year... the flowers are not the shade of red like in years past. That now they are light red. Anyone ever hear of light red before? @_@ We said, sure light red was fine. And so we ordered them. And after a month when they were in season and strong enough to ship, they shipped them.  Umm, I don't know about ya'll but these are hot pink!!! Not even remotely red. Sigh. So...flower baskets 2017, will sadly not be bright cheerful red. But they will instead be flaming hot pink. Oh well. In the grand scheme of things in life. Is it life threatening? No, so best find a silver lining. So the bright side is...flowers of any color still look pretty. So not exactly what we had in mind. But we'll roll with it. I think for Spring 2018, we will more than likely... be ordering from another flower farmer online. And I hate to say that. But yeah...I think this year will be the final year we order from the place we usually do. Because of the whole... now you need to order 20 at a time thing. And sure they granted us permission to order 8 this year. Who knows what the rules will be for next year. Ykwim. And plus with the color change. Ehhh. But again...we'll make it work this year and will dote and love on our bright pink flowers. Granted yeah...I definitely think we better find another shop next year. No hard feelings or anything. So anyways...last Monday morning, after making sure both kids got to their school and/or train. I went and spent an hour outside on the front porch planting these flowers into their hanging baskets. I also petted one gorgeous little weenie dog...lol.. who was going for a walk with his owner/ our neighbor who lives a few houses down. : )

All nicely planted with nutrient rich soil and nicely watered. I also plucked off all the flowers. So that they can grow more flowers and get thicker and bushier. So anyways...these 4 little fellas are now on my porch. 

One of the most popular shows this season in America has been without a doubt. Mama June: From Not to Hot. It featured Honey Boo Boo's mom (June Shannon) on her weight loss journey. And her ex-husband has a new fiance who is pictured in this picture wearing the turquoise shirt. Her name is Jennifer. And she is so mean. The one who should be angry or mean should be June (Honey Boo Boo's mom pictured left) since it was her husband's constant cheating and act of being unfaithful throughout their marriage. And the last person he cheated on June with... was Jennifer. @_@ So you'd think June has a reason to be mad. Yet June's not angry or hateful at all. She just wants to be left alone. And she wants Sugar Bear to see their daughter Alana (Honey Boo Boo) And she wants no conflict with Jennifer. Jennifer on the other hand. Can not say 1 nice thing to June or about June. She called June trash. She said..."well shit floats, so June will be floating"...Dumbest sentence I have heard recently!!! She also called June garbage. Oh and Jennifer, the lady in turquoise called June who is far left, a fat whale! Umm? Can you please look at that pic people!!! The woman in the turquoise shirt is calling the thin woman far left, a big fat whale? Umm? Does she have a problem with her eyes? Has she *not* looked in the mirror to see what SHE looks like?  Honey child...if you are throwing shade about the size or look of another woman... please for the love of gawd... have a good hard look in the mirror first PLEASE. @_@ Jennifer also said she will be the mother to Alana, that June can't be? @_@  I mean she is truly so mouthy. So verbally combative. And June just sits there and takes it, because she wants no fight. She said if I say something it would affect my daughter Alana. So the whole season, it was us audience seeing reality TV. Of June Shannon trying to lose over 200 pounds plus. And she did it. It was not easy for her at all. Sometimes the things that horrible Jennifer would say... would cause June to go in her house and whip out her ice-cream out of her freezer and eat some. She hired a trainer. She paid for her own surgeries. She stopped eating junk. She exercised like a fiend and she lost the weight. Jennifer still said June looked like crap. @_@ Which I thought was such a hateful thing to say to another woman, who truly worked so hard. So the season ended and this woman in yellow (well judge) interviewed them. The interview went horribly bad.

Sugar Bear just went nuts! He started screaming and hollering and carrying on. He stomped off the stage and punched a wall. As he was screaming bad words about June. June's more passive, but her 17 year old daughter is not and she was off stage and she started jumping in for her mama and screaming back. Which is what you see in this pic! And so Sugar Bear then directed his anger out on the 17 year old child, which was totally uncalled for.  He verbally attacked June's 17 year old other daughter. And you can see the mean rude things he said to her on this pic. And well...this was the craziest episode. And I do feel so sorry for Mama June. She seems like one heck of a nice lady. And I wish Sugar Bear and his new wife would respect her a lot more. I truly don't know why Jennifer hates June so much. I mean... Jennifer got the guy. So why the hate? : (

What else have I been watching? I'm still watching American Housewife. Fresh Off the Boat and a new show called Imaginary Mary. Ghost Brothers, I watch every week too. And I'm still watching every single week Little Women L.A.... Little Women Atlanta (my fave) and Little Women Dallas. I am also quite fond of the Investigation Discovery channel which is a forensics and murder mystery type channel.  So basically what have I been doing? I have been deeply spring cleaning my house. Getting used to my new routine of having a newly minted high schooler in the house. : ) And planting flowers in my hanging baskets. Watching good TV every evening. And ohhhh I also ordered 10 Serrano chili plants from a chili farmer in Japan about a month ago. It will be my first time ever growing that variety of chili. : )

Last bits and pieces from our summer, like our BBQ of ribs and getting another JHS uniform for Branden and a whole bunch of other things mixed in there too...

Hi you guys! I am *so* happy to have finished the Denver posts! Phew! That was a load off my mind to get that done. I do have this post. It's the last of the summer 2016 summer posts, I promise! It's just...boy, we had a whole heck of a lot that we were doing in August. And I just never had the chance to post everything. There just wasn't enough time for it. However the silver lining is...that it can be totally wrapped up...consolidated in this 1 post. That way we can move forward. And close the chapter of summer 2016 officially as soon as I post this one. Branden was offered in the beginning of June from Noboru that if he wanted to make some extra pocket money over the summer, he could mow our lawn when it needed it. For mowing the front and backyard he would earn 1,000 yen (US$10 dollars) Branden thought that was a fantastic deal. And so all summer long whenever the grass looked like it needed a mowing, Branden would get out there and mow the lawn. He earned a good chunk of cash by the end of summer. Good kid, good kid! : )  

Chili's were too genki beyond words! They grew like the dickens! We harvested this amount pictured here every single week! @_@ Roasting them, was a real pain in the butt, but it was worth it.

The Olympics happened this summer too! And of course we watched the opening ceremony! I love seeing all the different countries come out and share and bond over sports! And I cheered so loudly when the United States came out. I swear my neighbors must think I suffer from tourettes every 4 years! Hahaha. I am quiet the other times. But...when watching the American team walk out into the stadium I go nuts! USA...USA...USA! I think it's no big secret... how much I love my country. And our American outfits this year? Absolutely gorgeous and stunning! Our household watched swimming. I have 2 boy swimmers here at the house as you know... so they love watching swimming and they cheer so loudly for the USA! And we always watch gymnastics too. America did so well this Olympics. Sadly...Ryan Lochte and the whole...destroying the gas station. Lying about the robbery thing? Totally disappointed to hear that!  As of right now for this season...he's on Dancing with the Stars. And apparently 2 guys wearing anti- Lochte shirts booed and called him a liar after his first dance! @_@ People still seem pretty upset about the whole thing. @_@ But yep, team USA did wonderful as a whole this summer at the Olympics. 

Also in August, I had to replace my liquid eyeliner because mine ran out. I am now using this one. I used this of course during my whole trip in Denver and on days here in Japan when I have to wear makeup. I really like this one. It's better than the Dolly Wink one that I was using before this one and it is rated #1 by looking at this sticker on the package. Great liquid eyeliner. 

What else happened this summer? Oh yes, that's right. Have you heard in the news about Samsung tablets exploding? It's been all over the news recently. Noah had a Samsung tablet which he got for his 2015 birthday. Luckily it wasn't the type that explodes. @_@ However it too... had a funky weird glitch or defect. And the screen would turn yellow then back to a normal white screen then go to a funky yellow and back and forth. At the end of June we got a hold of Expansy's which is who we bought it from. And they turned out to be a very good company! First they asked us to send Noah's tablet back, which we did. And they were so honest. They told us it had a much more serious problem. Even though we were still under warranty. They gave us every last dollar/yen back. So Noah got a completely 100% full refund. I thought that was such an honorable thing for that company to do. So...Noah ended up getting a tablet from Amazon Japan. The same tablet Branden has exactly. Because after all July 2016 of us researching a new tablet for Noah, this was the one with the best reviews. So pictured here is Noah's new tablet, screen protector and case. All paid for by the refund Expansy's gave us. That was very nice and lucky the way things turned out. 

Same model Branden has. Now they both have twin tablets. Good thing Noah got his new tablet before we left to Denver. 

We had a nice backyard BBQ pretty much right before we left to Denver. We had ribs, pulled pork and baked potatoes (grilled potatoes)...

Bush's baked beans too...

Just a random picture from our family BBQ that night. Again we BBQ all the time in summer, so it's impossible to share pics from each BBQ. But yep, we enjoyed our ribs that night. : )

Cart pics with the 3 ribs stacked on top of each other on the left. Tissues and laundry soap. This pic was taken August 12th.

Also from August 12th. Our 2nd cart. Kirkland cheese pizzas. Again with it being summer the kids had lunch at home all summer. So things like frozen pizzas etc... needed to be here at the house for the boys. Chicken breasts, jaga butter these are just steamed potatoes with butter and again...a quick thing for the kids to get if they are hungry during summer lunches here at home. : ) Dinner rolls and a rotisserie chicken, we had rotisserie chicken sandwiches that night. And pasta sauce. Perfect to have on hand for a quick spaghetti and meatball dinner or chicken parmesan. : ) Just so many random little moments happened here. That were nice or fun. And this post just helps give a better idea of our summer. And this post will at least help finish up summer 2016, like I said. : ) 

JHS uniform... take 2! : )

A new blazer. And now we don't have to wonder if Branden will burst out of his old one...like the Hulk. : ) And you can see a glimpse/tiny smidgen of his new school pants on the left of this picture. 

180cm. And he's not plus size, otherwise it would say 180B. He's a 180A...a regular size. On the bright side. And there is always a bright side of everything, I think. The bright side is...Noah will end up with 3 blazers! Which is unheard of considering the cost of these. But 2 will be from his brother. But...nice to have extras, right. : ) He will also get 3 pair of JHS pants from his big brother too. Lucky Noah! So yes there is always a bright side to everything. : )

Omiyage (a souvenir from the Boy Next Door's family) Rice crackers! Such nice neighbors! Alrighty, I think this pretty much wraps up summer 2016. We did as you know go to the beach this summer, wave pool place too, and 1 summer festival plus, we had many backyard BBQ's and we went and enjoyed kakigori (shave ice) too. Plus the Denver trip, so all in all a pretty fantastic summer was had here, in our little neck of the woods. : )

Chili update...

Hi you guys! I sure hope everyone has been having an amazing and awesome summer! We sure have here! : ) Yesterday we went to the beach. It was gray overcast but no rain. It was so fun you guys. We brought a picnic lunch with us and everything. And yes we will be heading to the US for summer break/vacation... as always. It's just this year. We couldn't go at the end of July like we usually do. Because we had a high school to visit. And 2 parent teacher conferences to do. So we will go later and Noboru already got his vacation days off and everything for that. But yep. Just been chilling out over here. Enjoying summer break. And I do have about 6 posts to get up and posted. But for now this one will have to do. It's just a chili update. We have gotten 2 chili harvests so far actually. And I have had 1 friend, plus my dad email me asking if we got any chili as of yet. And we have. So, I thought this would be a perfect short little update for now. Until I can get something a little bit more substantial up. So chili update. Right now. : ) In this pic you see some pretty good looking jalapenos. Many were full size and some not quite full size. : ) 

These were the Big Jim's. And again some full size and ready and some tinier and almost ready...but not quite there yet. : ) But many chili's on 1 plant.

Our first harvest of all the plants. Yielded just this 1 bowl full of various assortment of chili. Big Jim, Hatch's and jalapeno. Our first harvest was taken on July 19th. 

This was our 2nd harvest and was harvested this morning. July 27th. So we are now at the point where we are harvesting this amount once a week. Our second harvest was twice the size as you can tell by this picture versus the picture up above and the amount of chili from the first batch. All chili have since been roasted, peeled and put into freezer bags and put inside the freezer. If we keep getting this amount once a week, our freezer will have a nice amount of roasted chili for Fall and Winter. Anyway that's enough for now. I have a pot roast in the oven. A pot of potatoes boiling away. We'll be having pot roast, mashed potatoes, gravy and green beans for dinner tonight. Have a great night you guys. : )