Bits and Pieces

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

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

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

Lunch one day for me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

This color is my favorite for the boys.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stepping into the Gap Tuesday night. Gap Inzai/Chiba New Town

I swear the people who read my blog are the nicest! : ) Kind,  helpful, info sharers! And I try to do the same too. Anyway, it was mentioned to me in the comments section below that Gap.co.jp ships now and was having a sale and free shipping to boot. So, I went to the website. I saw 3 things I liked. I was really on the fence on choosing a size for Noah in particular since he's so thin. And I went to sleep. The next morning, I get online to order the 2 things and decide to just go to the actual Gap shop to try the shirt in question with Noah in a day or two. However get this, the 2 things were sold out already! Bummer. You know, I have only myself to blame, I should have ordered faster.  Anyway, the info did help me a lot because it made me realize I should get myself to Gap kids and see if the sale was happening also in the stores too. Which they were. My closest Gap is Gap Inzai. Unless you count the Ami Premium Outlet.

They had 2 of the 3 things I was looking for, so a good trip down there. So feeling quite happy.

I would have never known about this sale on this particular scarf if I wouldn't have gotten the helpful comment about the Gap sale, so thank you! Originally 2,400 yen about $25 US. But we got them on sale for 390 yen about $4 US. So a great deal.

Dark navy blue about the same color as the bag, hahaha. And bright happy yellow. Fleece so it's washable. And with boys these will need a weekly washing I'm sure. : )

Pure yellow on the other side with navy border. A really good deal. This was the deal, I was most happy about when we went to Gap this Tuesday evening after the boys got out of school.

I had been eyeballing this particular long sleeved top for weeks at Gap.com. And the comment that  a grandma left on Gap.com saying how she usually buys only Ralph Lauren for his grandsons and she loved this particular shirt etc etc. Yes I do read those Gap comments and they help me often decide which size, does it run big or small, though size wise I pretty much know anyways if it's from Gap or ON. Did it look like the picture, you know those types of questions. Anyway that grandma's words were etched in my brain. However someone also left a comment saying it ran big? @_@ That was what made me hesitate ordering from either Gap.com and gap.jp. This was the shirt I needed Noah to actually try on. Because he's usually a 130cm. In tops however as you know, he's freakishly thin, super thin. Pants he's usually a slim, when he was 6 he wore a 6 slim. This year he got size 7's slim. So yeah someone saying this shirt ran big? Sorta made me hesitate especially for my skinny minnie. Anyway, I went to Gap Inzai and Noah tried this on and the 120 fit him width wise best. But considering arm length, he has long arms and legs. Noah's arms were a better fit for 130cm. Plus he's constantly growing not shrinking, lol. So I got the 130cm size for Noah. I will roll the sleeve a pinch at first but I think that was the best size for him. That's all we got the 2 scarves and this 1 top. I wanted sweatpants for Branden. But the pair they had were slim fit, which Branden needs a normal fit not a slim fit. And the price was absurd, 4500 on sweatpants. No way am I spending $46 US on 1 pair of sweatpants. Sorry but not happening. especially slim skin tight ones on my normal build/to athletic build older kiddo. Nope. *shakes head*

Also, this shirt was sold in one or two other colors at Gap US (some of the colors are sold out now but they had more originally). Where in Japan it's only being sold in red with blue stripe,green with white stripe and navy with yellow stripe and the cream color with navy stripe (we bought the cream for Noah). I wish they'd make all colors available here for us in Japan. So, since I had to get the sweatpants for Branden anyway from Gap or ON US. I ended up also getting this color for Noah in size medium. From Gap.com the US site. I love this color and think it will look fantastic on Noah with a pair of khaki shorts and his brown leather flip flops this coming Summer. And I had a 35% off coupon and the price was $14.99 to start with so 35% off of that made it a super deal. : )

I also picked up this dress since it was affordable. The second I saw this dress I loved it. I have my Gap leather ballet flats already. And think this will be perfect for the warmer weather months. I picked this up from Old Navy.

And I like this one too and ordered this one also. 2 LBD's (little black dresses) to switch back and forth with once the weather heats up. Pair it with a little gray cardigan or pink cardi. Ballet flats. I'll be ready. I'd also love to own this dress in the orange color it's currently being sold in, but I'm holding off for now.

I have been going full throttle on my treadmill lately. I am way past this number now. But I am going strong on this.  I'm #3 now. Yay me! Go me! ; )

Two pair of these sweatpants in gray from Gap.com at $16.95 each. For Branden. Picked them in size 12, he's only 11, but that way he can wear them next year also. And we got these with the 35% off coupon since Gap was having that sale, so even cheaper. I was much happier about the price after the 35% off was totalled. : )  Anyway, nothing hugely important or life altering in this post, I know. But it's what we've been up to lately. : )

Summer shopping

Here's some of the things I've ordered lately from Gap and also Old Navy.

Two pair of Gap shorts for Noah. Navy goes with anything and orange, well Noah digs orange so a great buy.  Plus I had an online coupon so all of these purchases were a great deal.

What the orange ones looked like online.

What the navy ones looked like online, I also ordered Branden a pair in the navy.

2 T's from Gap for Noah. That light blue one will go perfectly with a pair of patchwork madras type shorts Noah has. And the yellow one is cute and he loves yellow.

2 T's for Branden.

1 navy blue American flag T for me, will be wearing this for The 4th of July and all Summer. And the cute patchwork madras shorts, I love them.

With all the walking and fitness I've done, I can't wait to wear these!

I liked this thin Summery Gap cardi and like I said, I had a coupon so ordered it.

This is so cute.

Scarves are hot this year. I picked this one and another one pictured below somewhere.

It's nice, black and it still has lots of color, great with many outfits.

This is another order completely. From Gap and ON.

I picked this bright orange-y yellow infinity scarf, love this! And the 2 striped things on the right are cute preppy dresses.

I wore this the other day, with a white fitted 3/4 sleeve ballet/boat neck top, tan/khaki shorts and this scarf and a pony tail, bangle bracelets. Just running my errands and shopping in.

Again with all the fitness minutes, walks and stomach crunches I've done, I can't wait to wear this simple but cute dress. And ditto the one below. It's the same but different color.

The olympics are coming soon enough. And I have to show my support for team USA! So, Branden got a team USA T and 1 hat.

Noah also ended up with the same. Go team USA! Go!!!!

Branden's Gap navy blue shorts for just hanging in the house or enjoying time around the neighborhood.

I do always like to buy a new navy blue polo top and a new black one. Every Summer.

They are preppy but also feminine in their fit.

This navy one I will be wearing with the patchwork shorts and navy flip flops this Summer.

Branden and Noah have new swimsuits I picked for them in March. But this one was so cute...I had that 30% off coupin code and it was on sale also on top of that so, I picked this for Noah. Branden didn't want another one. He loevs the one he just got this March.

These madras patchwork swim trunks rock! Seriously they are cool! And the white rashguard looks cool with it.

Love the hibiscus flower detailing.

Also not from Gap. But from Japanese online ordering, we bought Branden 5 pair of shorts total. 4 pair of jean shorts and 1 pair of tan shorts. Only 3 are pictured, the other 2 pair came in a different shipment.  But Branden has enough shorts now.

Branden and Noah also ended up with cute pirate pj bottoms. Again from an online Japanese retailer. These were so cheap (890 yen) and they're so cute.

Noah ended up with 2 pair of jean shorts. I love the pull up shorts for kids in Japan. These were 990 yen per pair.  Such a great buy.  Anyway this is just a quick glimpse/peek of some of the stuff purchased recently.... some of our getting ready for Summer purchases. ; )