My hair salon appointment today...

I made my appointment for today...2 weeks ago. I go to the salon for a hair coloring once a month, like clockwork. A hair cut every other month. And a hair straightening, every 3 months or so. Anyways, today was my... get all 3 things done day. My hair straightened. Like straight as a pin. Like Pantene commercial type straight. It's called a Japanese thermal hair straightening and they work super well. And make your hair so shiny. I also got my hair colored. A nice rich medium to almost dark brown color (Katie Holmes or Rose Byrne hair color, if that gives you an idea of my hair color and that's pretty much my natural hair color dead on, anyway). And my usual lob (long bob) slightly longer at the front of my hair. From 9:30am until 2:50pm today. 2 iced coffees later. Read 3 magazines. And I'm done! It was such a long time to sit there. But it's so worth it. I am so happy I don't have to get it straightened until late Feb or early March now. Now when my dad gets here next week, my hair will be done and I won't even have to think about it. Anyways, have an awesome night everyone. I'm making cream stew right now. While Noboru is picking up both the boys. Have a good night. : )

Noah’s observation day and emergency drill at the local elementary school. A Costco run. Branden’s JHS lawn and ground cleanup for the parents. And a few extra bits for good measure...

Hi Noah! : ) I had Noah's observation day and the emergency disaster drill at the elementary school. Tuesday, May 26th. I went to that. Noboru wanted to go, but he had work, he did ask me if he should take a half day off work, but it could possibly affect Noboru getting vacation days off this summer. Maybe he'd get 1 less day, type a thing. And we wouldn't want that. : ) Besides it wasn't anything too overly major. So just me showing up was enough. : )  

I rocked it, right up the hill, around 12:50pm. This is our local elementary school. You see it's up on a hill, and there's rice fields to the right. : ) 

This says the 4th grade class 1. However, between you and me, there's no other 4th grade class, hahaha. But either way...4th grade class #1 it is. : )

This says the 4th grade upper left, I blacked out our last name. And under the 2 kanji..it says Noah. and the main picture...in shuji ink/calligraphy says..hana, which means flower. Considering the old saying..."April showers, bring May flowers." This is kind of fitting, for the season right now. : )

This was supposed to be a 3-D drawing of a hand. Now Branden's drawing and artistic skills, just slay me! We always knew his art, out of his entire class his/Bran's would be top. He just always had that skill. He can draw any persons face, free hand and be spot on! He can see any picture and draw/copy it free hand, like I said. Branden has always had this freakishly amazing drawing and art skill/talent (Noboru doesn't have it and neither do I). Ever since he was really little, even like age 6. That's one of Branden's many talents. Both boys have this crazy insane swimming skill. They have developed since they were yochien/kindy aged. One of Noah's talents though is running. That kid just has IT! He does. Appreciation of both boys talents. And never wanting either one, to be like the other one. Loving and accepting Branden for being Branden and loving and accepting Noah for being Noah. I think that if you are a parent of more than 1 child, you will see how they differ personlity-wise and talent/skill wise too, but you will agree that you couldn't love EITHER child more. You love them, both the same. Do you know what I mean. : ) Noah draws way better than I do. But he just doesn't have...that natural drawing ability that comes so naturally that Bran does...and that's okay, it is. He has the drawing skill of a delightful 4th grader. And that's a beautiful thing too.  It's perfectly and wonderfully a 4th grade level. Noah came up to me, all excited and proud and pointed at his drawing..."the hand is supposed to be 3-D mama" ...I replied..."I can see that...it totally looks 3-D kiddo, I can see, how hard you worked on this!" So, May 2015, a 3-D hand, by Noah. : )

Almost looks like Noah's, giving his friend a Care Bear stare! Ha! Before math class started, most of the kids went for a restroom break, real quick. Noah and his friend were talking and then his friend, ran real quick to his cubby space at the back of the class, Noah was waiting for his friend to zip back. : ) Noah,  meanwhile was not aware, I took this picture. His friend was getting something from his cubby and on his way to Noah's desk to shoot the breeze before class started. My gorgeous boy! : )

Aha, his friend has returned. : ) Chitter chatter, chitter chatter. : ) I like going to observation days. So, I can see how he's getting along with his peers, who he hangs out with, although I know who he hangs out with, because every single day that it's not raining I have a cluster of  Noah's friends at my door knocking..."can Noah play?" Yes..of course! : ) Hahaha. : ) He's very nice, very kind, he's not bossy or aggressive at all. Kids dig him, the boy classmates and the girl classmates too. He's a very laid back Noah-chan! : ) So he has tons of real good friends. At the set time, all of us parents and even some grandparents went outside. We all stood in the basketball area. And then we went and stood next to our child. The sensei, came and asked each child..."so and so, is this your, mom, dad or grandparent?" We were like 5th to the front when he finally came to us, he asked Noah..."is this your mom?" Noah smiled and said..."yes she is" Granted he met me last month at the first observation day of the year....It's just a formality. : )  And we left after that. Noah and I walked down the hill. And to Olive and drove home. We were all ahead of schedule because Noah and I were home by 3:12pm. Not bad, considering the drill was supposed to end at 3:30pm. Pretty good! Much appreciated. : )

May 26th, we had some fetuccini alfredo with chicken and broccoli. 

We had this, with a side of... a loaf of baguette bread sliced and lightly buttered.

Tuesday, May 26th was the Lifetime movie called Grace of Monaco. 

I had been looking forward to watching this. Nicole Kidman played American actress Grace Kelly, who would become Princess Grace. I thought Nicole Kidman was amazing in this! I loved her in the movie The Others. The first 5 minutes, I kept seeing...Nicole Kidman. But after 5 minutes..I saw Princess Grace.  I knew she was an actress, Princess Grace, back when she was Grace Kelly, and I knew, she died in a fatal car crash. But this movie didn't even go there about the car crash. It told the story of...simply after she was married. Her great unhappiness, which didn't last too long. How Monaco didn't really accept her at first. She watched the news and some city folk said..."she'll never be one of us" ...her husband said she could be in the new Hitchcock movie and then after great pressure he said she couldn't. She thought of divorce for a brief time, even talked to a priest and he said...your kids are royalty though! And he encouraged her to stay and grow into her role as princess. And...she did just that. She ended up becoming this amazing lady and tried so hard to learn french. And walked the streets and met commoners along the street. When Monaco was not getting along with France and it was quite serious, she was the one just jumped in there and tried to help. Defuse the situation. And she did love her husband, very much. It basically just showed her...hiccups trying to get used to another country. I wish they would have ended the story a little better...granted... but I am still glad I saw this. Nicole Kidman absolutely, amazing in this and the late Princess Grace...I didn't even know how amazing you were. And you were. : ) Anyway I am now waiting for the Marilyn Monroe movie this coming week, also on Lifetime.  

Wednesday May, 27th. Noboru had to be at Bran's school at 1:30pm. I was going to go to Costco, that morning. Noboru asked if he could come with me. I said for sure! He loves walking around Costco. : ) He loves going in the electronic department and also, there's free samples scattered throughout the food sections, so he enjoys nibbling on the samples along the way. : ) We arrived at Costco at 9:57am and it opens at 10am. We were right on time. I spotted these navy blue turtle swim trunks in the men's department and I knew those would be perfect for Branden. I was debating a size small or medium. I ended up getting Bran, the mediums. : ) That way he has room to grow, besides I kept the receipt and Costco is fabulous about exchanges, but the mediums fit Branden with room to grow, so we don't need any exchanges. : ) Now all I need, is to go to Sports Depot or somewhere and get Bran a navy rashguard. 

Not a bad price and I appreciate they have US sizing at Costco in Japan, because I know US sizing, like the back of my hand. It's easier for me! Also...just a heads up, they have super cute Crocs for ladies for 1500 yen or 1590 yen? Something like that, about $14 US. They even have size 9. They're not a new style, but they're super cute. The ladies Crocs, are the cute semi ballet type with strap at the back, for us ladies (I should have snapped a picture). I tried some on and I may go back next week and get me a pair. They also had another brand of super cute sandals too, but I didn't go and see what sizes they had on the other ones. And they had regular Crocs styles for kids. 

My cart this Wednesday. A huge salad, huge lean ground beef, that I split in 3 freezer bags, which are now in the freezer. Taco night coming soon. : ) A rotisserie chicken, dinner rolls, huge hunk of colby jack and also a 2 pack of mozzarella cheese shredded and fresh spaghetti and 1 navy turtle swimsuit far left corner of the cart for B. 

Split up the beef, split up the dinner rolls too. : ) The ones in the 2 ziplocs are in the freezer, the rest the family ate. 

We were back home from Costco by 12:20pm. We even had lunch there. Noboru took these 2 pics. All the kids doing yard clean up at the local JHS. Also, Branden had left a message on our answering machine at home. He called while we were at Costco, it said..."mom, I forgot my gardening gloves and chisai towel, please have dad bring those for me, if you can" I got the message and pulled 2 chisai towels out... 1 for Noboru and 1 for Bran and while Noboru was loading up his weed whacker in the mini minivan. Bran called again..worried. "Mom, did you get my message?" "Bran, not to worry honey, daddy has your chisai towel and gardening gloves with him already" Huge sigh of relief and we both hung up. Boy oh boy, was Branden happy to see Noboru there. : ) 

Big huge meeting, if your child is in the class A, whether they be a 7th grader class A, 8th grader class A or 9th grader class A, your parent, grandparent, guardian, needs to show up for you and do some school yard clean up! : ) Class B will be here in August or September. Noboru was off work. He loves to use his weed whacker and some of his fathers club dad's could actually make it too, so he was with his buddies, son and his weed whacker. Hahaha. : )  The teachers had a clip board and walked around asking each adult, whose child you were here for. So they will know if you showed up or not. Dundundun. hahaha. Branden's name was crossed of the list, since Noboru showed up. : ) We had rotisserie chicken and cheesy baked potatoes and veggies for dinner that night, an easy dinner. 

Thursday, May 28th, I had my hair appointment at 10am. For a cut and color. I had been really debating and thinking about coloring my hair a very reddish orange-y color for Summer. I am a natural brunette and while I love being a brunette. I wanted something different for summer. So, I showed my hair dresser this picture. My hair stylist who happens to be amazing. : ) Knew exactly the color, I wanted. I also have had an A length bob since March, but this time I wanted an all 1 length bob, shoulder length and so she gave me an amazing cut too. My hair color looks like this picture. It's vibrant and a very rich color. The color and cut, look super classy. A professional cut and color, by a really talented stylist. My hair is credited all to her, not to me at all. Also, this is sort of funny...I did mention to the boys I was getting a hair cut and color, but I failed to mention I was coloring it a different color. When I picked up Noah from school Thursday afternoon, first thing he said as he hopped in my car was..."mama you hair is red!" Hahaha. "while yes it is" Branden said..."you changed your hair color" Noboru on the other hand knew. So he wasn't too terribly shocked, but he did said...wow you look really different. : ) I did ask...bad different or good different. He said good different.  I did have a talk with my stylist about my concerns or worries for July, because I will be wanting another thermal hair straightening and so.. in which order do I book my appointments in July, since I get my straightenings and coloring both from her. She said I can do both on the same day. She'll also give me a treatment afterwards and a haircut in July too. All 3 the same day, cut, straightening and color. Awesome! : )  My hair looks healthier and shinier since I have been going to her. 

What was Noboru doing while I was at the hair salon? He was off spending his day off, doing what he loves! He spent a few hours fishing. We did have a plan though, after my hair appointment and his fishing was done though. We went and bought a weeks worth of meat. Then we went out to lunch. The end of May was the end, of the hand breaded chicken tenderloin at Cocho Ichi. So we went to Coco Ichi for lunch. Noboru had the tonkatsu curry, I had the chicken tenderloin katsu curry with vegetables. 

I made cream stew for supper for everybody. While Noboru went and picked up the kids. Meanwhile, for me, I wanted to have a great big filling salad. See that delicious crunky chicken from the Mini Stop. Love this chicken. It's called crunky not crunchy, hahaha. : ) But it's so good and all white meat. 

This was my dinner last night. It had a bit of mozzarella cheese, avocado chopped up, croutons, a nice salad with different colors of peppers, different types of lettuce. Croutons, black pepper. This had a ton of delicious goodness in there. I could barely wait, to dig right in to my salad! : )  

Everyone enjoyed their cream stew and rice. And I enjoyed a very nice salad.  What did I eat yesterday? For breakfast, I had 1 blueberry greek yogurt with some granola on top. For lunch I had some curry. And for dinner, I had a very nice filling salad, stuffed me for the rest of the night. : )

Anybody keeping up with the Josh Duggar scandal?  It's pretty major news in America and for Americans, as of right now. There is a show in America called 19 Kids and Counting. I watched a few years ago, off and on. It was never one of my favorite shows. But I found the show okay for a bit, because they were interesting. The show centered around a mother, father and their 19 kids. The oldest son being Josh Duggar. The show... shows how they're very good, very moral, huge family values. The mom looks like she's been frozen in the early 80's hair-do wise. The dad Jim Bob has very Beaver Cleaver type hair. The mom went on about modesty. I agree with modesty, I think folks should be modest. But she wore like spandex pants swimming with a long skirt over. They don't believe in shorts for girls or skirt lengths being above the knee. While I do appreciate morals and modesty, like I said. at times while watching. I was often in awe. Often torn between thoughts of..."awe what a good wholesome family' to being torn between thoughts of..."wow they're so super weird" But...as time went on, I grew bored of the show. And when I heard how extremely anti-gay they were, although I sorta expected them to feel that way. But, considering this day and age. Again...I just was over the show... for many reasons. Then last week or was it this past weekend? recently news broke that the eldest son, molested 5 or so many girls. @_@ That was shocking to hear. It was even more shocking to hear for me...because it was from this family which professed to have such high morals. I guess it just came as a shock. It also, came as a shock that the father Jim Bob took about a year before informing authorities about it. The news also said some victims might be his sisters. @_@   Please read this tweet up above. See who it's from? That's right, it's from Melissa Gilbert! Half Pint, everyone! I love Melissa Gilbert. I really enjoyed Melissa's tweet right here! Saying "The hypocrisy in this instance is inexcusable!" She tweeted that in support of Montel Williams earlier statement.

Thank you Montel Williams. Josh Duggar sat at the council for family values! How ironic is that. Talk about the pot, calling the kettle black! @_@

Montel tweeting...he just wanted to speak out against what Josh did, because what he did was wrong..on so many levels. 

Exactly right Mr. Williams. Who was Josh to say or judge, who was a danger to kids?  Like Melissa Gilbert said...hypocrisy! True that..true that! 

And Bette Midler! Also had to tweet her 2 cents on the whole Josh Duggar thing as well. I absolutely adore Bette! I felt her comment was so dead on perfect! Her first sentence was fantastic, but her last sentence was pure gold! "Kids is there anything more delicious than irony?"

I hear that, many commercial advertisers are canceling if their ads run during 19 Kids and Counting. TLC is deciding if they should now pull the show or what they should do? My thoughts on the matter? I feel badly for everyone involved. However, I feel if you prance around like...I'm perfect, my morals are higher than yours. People will indeed measure you with a taller and sharper measuring stick. And if you get caught doing something like this. It's going to explode. Like a mega ton bomb... type explosion like what's happening now. Every morning, I hear another advertiser ...meaning big conglomerate corporation wants no dealings with 19 Kids and Counting because of the whole Josh scandal. I tell ya right now, and I've mention this on my blog before many times... I'm not perfect. Not even a little tiny bit. I make mistakes weekly. I have d'oh moments weekly too. I don't have all the answers, not even by a long shot. Like I always say...I'm human. Far from being perfect. I just try to be the best person/human being, I can. Also, when something slightly similar happened with the Honey Boo Boo family about 6 months ago...TLC immediately as in less than 1 day decided to cancel their show...without hesitation. I think TLC is having a harder time with this because, while 19 Kids and Countings' rating have been slipping this past year, I just read that this morning. Their show was still hugely popular. Especially among more conservative people in the US. I think though this...we need to not lose sight why people are upset with Josh. They're upset for good reason...because Josh molested little girls (if you are a parent, same as I am, this must be something out of, your worst nightmares). And I think for that fact alone, we should at least be all in agreement about that. What he did, was so beyond super wrong. Absolutely inexcusable.  So anyway, I don't want to talk about him anymore for today...we will see how this whole thing plays out. And we'll see what TLC decides about 19 Kids and Counting.  Some people online said, keep taping, but without Josh. Some said, do a spin off with the 2 newly married daughters instead. As for me? I think they should cancel the show. Or at least take Josh out of the show, for sures.

Anyway, today's Friday here in Japan. Both the boys are home from school and we are having sweet and sour chicken & rice for dinner tonight. Have a lovely weekend everyone. : ) 

More Golden Week Shenanigans. Korea Depart order came in. Innisfree, Nature Republic, Missha. Robots wandering the streets of Tsukuba, Japan? BBQ pulled pork sandwiches with slaw on top and a side of baked beans for Boy’s Day...

These posts are still from Golden Week. I need to move a bit faster with the posting, so I am lumping 2 of the Golden Week days, in this 1 post. : ) This post was the next/following day from the last post, the playing a family board game post. This post is from Monday and Tuesday, during Golden Week. May 4th and May 5th. Monday morning, my order from Korea Depart arrived. Also, I was a bit disappointed about something with my order this time. Will, it stop me from ordering from them in the future? No. But, it really disappointed the heck out of me, so I feel, I have to mention it. I hope some of you remember that I ordered that Vitamin C20 deal. I got it on a sale. Buy 2 serums and get 1 cream. The total for the 3, was just $22 US or around that. Anyway, Korea Depart has always shipped things to my house in orders of the past... at lightening speeds. However this time...it had been a full week and I had not got any email saying..."hi we shipped your order, you can track your package and here is the tracking number, etc etc" You know what, I mean, I hope. 7 fulls days and nothing, not a peep. I was patient. I didn't want to be a hot head...jump to conclusions type a person. And one morning, I wake up and sure enough there is an email. Not a good email. : ) Saying basically, sorry but we have to cancel your Vitamin C 20 part of your order...we are out of stock. Yada yada yada. Not really believing that at all. I go to their website and sure enough it is in stock. I am unsure if they realized that deal was too good/too cheap or what. But for whatever reason, they no longer wanted to HONOR, the deal we had. Meaning they made the deal, and at that price, I threw it into the cart and paid. They were now essentially taking the deal back. I emailed them back immediately and said, as nicely as possible...because honestly...there's no reason to be a jerk! The person opening the email doesn't deserve that. So, I say..."if you can't sell me the 3 in 1 set. That is fine, but please send me 1 of the serums if you can." And they emailed back and said, absolutely no problem. Though they did ship the other stuff but they'd ship it separately and give me the refund or money leftover. I think they paid me back, about $13 US. About 1380 yen or so. Since I was no longer to get the 3 for 1. : ( But fine...I was disappointed about that, yes, but...they were polite and professional and so was I. But yes, I felt it important to at least say it here. So, anyway Sunday morning, Kuroneko (black cat) delivered my first package of stuff from Korea Depart. I was happy. : )

I double cleanse, my face and have ever since I moved to Japan. Only when I wear makeup though. It's just gentler on my face. I like oil cleansers, whether, they be cleansing oils, oil sorbet type textures. But I do like oily base cleansers, as my first step. It wipes off... all my makeup off. And then I clean with a normal regular face wash afterwards. This YouTube person. Gorgeous Korean lady, who is so funny. I enjoy her vlogs and she recommended these cleansing tissues/wipes for travel because they have olive oil, same type of oil you'd find in a cleansing oil, but they are in a tissue form. She uses the Innisfree brand. And I have bought quite a few things, from Innisfree before, and like the brand very much... so since she rec'd them, I figure worth a shot. Especially if I am on a long flight for our summer vacation. I can use one of these and then a normal cleansing wipe after. And put on some moisturizer for the flight, since long flights make my skin so dry anyways. These were just $5 a pack, so I picked up 2.  

Two Innisfree olive oil makeup wipes on the right. And my Missha essence in the center. And brow mascara to the left. And samples on top.

I researched the heck out of this essence. I know, I already mentioned this before that, Missha made this to rival SK2. SK2 is the Japanese brand and original, it also is about 20,000 yen ($165 US) for this 150ml bottle. The 330ml bottle is $290 US dollars, I just checked their website in the US. @_@ This was like $24.68 US on sale at Korea Depart and is 4,000 yen at Missha in Japan. This has fermented stuff too. 80% of it. Plus this has niacinamide and licorice root. Which does a ton for making your face white, bright and clear. Sk2 doesn't have those ingredients, where as this does. Korea Depart also gave me a travel size of this, which of course I will surely use. I have been using this for a week and I seriously *love* this. This is so good. I read so many reviews on this and so many people said...it completely changed their skin, this 1 bottle of essence. And I admit, I was skeptical. But it really makes a huge difference on my face too. I love this stuff. 

I love the Nature Republic eyebrow mascara. The wand size is perfect for a brow. The color is nicely pigmented and the price is the best! : ) 

I picked a natural brown color, this color I had the same color last year too. And I also picked a red brown color, because I am toying with the idea of coloring my hair, a tad lighter and brighter for summer. Nothing too dramatic. But, in case I do, I want my eyebrows to be spot on too. : ) 

Am very happy with these. 

Samples. I love that they always give me really good samples. Skinfood BB cream, etc. Anyway, we all got dressed and we hit the road to Tsukuba. Reason being, we wanted to hit Nishimatsuya. There is a WAY closer Nishimatsuya, in the small city nearest our town in fact. However, they had slim pickings already. The moms around here.. buy their kids summer stuff really early. They beat me every year. Hahaha. I think I am fast and yet they are always faster! : ) lol. No worries, the one in Tsukuba has sizes up to 150cm. And their regular shops only go up to 140cm. Noah's size is barely 140cm right now. But, it is nice to be able to buy both sizes, if need be. So that's the main reason we went. 

We were in Tsukuba city on our way to Nishimatsuya. And saw this sign. Robot zone. The words near it basically say..."there are robots that go along this road, so if you pass one, please be careful, when passing the robots" And no, I am not kidding. : ) Hahaha. : ) The Terminator movies are probably some of my favorite movies. A robot relentlessly tracking you down... trying to find you and terminate your very existence. So...hmm. I think if I personally would be walking or strolling this street, my heart might be palpitating seeing one walking towards me. Sweat beads forming near the top of my hair line. : ) Nice robot...please be a nice robot! LOL. : )

Yep, this particular Nishimatsuya has the larger size of 150cm. There are a few shops like this around Chiba and I imagine in other parts of Japan too, just check their online website...if you should need the 150cm size. : ) We only need the 140cm size this year, but it will be helpful next year though. : ) 

We did buy Noah, 1 pair of shorts in size 150cm though. Given he's so super skinny though, we had him try them on and they fit. I did wash them and threw them in the dryer though...hoping for slight shrinkage though, but they fit fine. : )

I like that Nishimatsuya has very cute clothes. Very nice quality clothes, not cheap quality and very fair prices. This is under 1000 yen. So under $10 bucks. Given the exchange rate, this would be about $9 US. So very fair price on a pair of shorts. : )

We loved the print. Really happy and summer like. Really reminded me of Hawaii. Very beach-y. : )

Tee-shirt about $4 US. Fantastic price. 

Is Noah going to go out to a fancy shmancy dinner in this? No, of course not. But he can most certainly, bop to school, in this and cruise about town with us. Go riding bikes with his friends from the neighborhood. Go fishing with his dad or searching for crawdads/zarigani with his friends in this. : )  

Noah's real size. : ) 140cm.

These are so preppy! So cute and will go perfect with that navy blue Gap tee shirt, he just got the week before at the outlet. And this is a Target brand shorts. I have mentioned it on here before twice, that Nishimatsuya has/carries Target brands.  

I have never seen a pair of shorts at Nishimatsuya over 1000 yen. : ) I like that in Japan, the waistbands are soft and stretchy for kids. It's comfortable for kids waists. And they can pull up and down their pants with ease and we as mom's don't have to worry our child just pulled off a plastic button. : ) And the price, I love the price. You really don't have to spend a fortune, to be a cutie patootie. : ) At least, I don't think so. : ) 

Target brand yet again. Again the quality is something, I trust. Since I come from the country that invented Target. : ) I trust Cherokee. And I *love* that price. 

Again, a cute comfy pair of shorts, with comfortable stretchy waist band. 

Final pair. Also a trusted Target brand. Thank you Nishimatsuya. : ) 

Cutest jeans shorts ever! Love the cantaloupe orange color waist band. 

4 adorable and cute pair of shorts for Noah, with 4 comfy waist bands. Noah is now like 95% done with summer clothes. I think he might get a few extra tee shirts. But he's pretty much all set. Now, we just have to concentrate on finishing up Bran's Summer shopping. : ) 

Target brand simple tee. Love this color. Love the $6 US price. 679 yen.

Preppy stripes.

Two preppy tee shirts that will go perfectly with a pair of jean shorts. So 4 shorts this day, plus the Gap pale orange shorts the week before, that makes 5 total. Plus Noah has 3 jean shorts already from last year in size 140cm, that look like brand new still and are nice and big still. So, Noah has 8 pair of shorts total, for this spring and summer, 2015. 8 pair is more than plenty. : ) Noah will probably get a few extra tee shirts and perhaps 1 extra pair of PJ's and that's it. : ) He already has his new swim trunks and rash guard already. So he's just about set. : ) Anyway that was stuff that happened Sunday. 

Tuesday morning, May 5th. Boy's Day. Sorry, but I don't know, if it drives anyone else with boys crazy but it drives us nuts around here.... I know it's technically Children's Day but...we must be fair and even Stevens about things, right. And if we are going to have Girls Day in March. Then it be only fair, that we have Boy's Day. It's not fair for girls to have their own special day, in March. And then make the boys share their day in May. Just sorta seems like the boys get the short/crappy end of the stick. So while technically it is "Children's Day" I am keeping it fair...and even Stevens and so...it will stay/remain Boy's Day. For my blog and for our household. Come on though...we do have to remain fair. For Boy's Day, we just stood home. I did run to KFC in the afternoon to pick up some coleslaw. : ) But that's it. : ) Tuesday morning, I rubbed 2 pork loins with the pulled bbq rub. I preheated the oven very low and slow cooked this pork all day. I should have put it into the crock pot, but, I didn't. However it came out so good. I will use the oven next time too. : ) 

Also, the doorbell rang and it was yet again...Kuroneko (black cat) the delivery man, think along the lines of UPS. : ) He was delivering the tiniest little cardboard box you ever did see. It contained my one and only vitamin C serum. I had badly wanted this. Wish they would have honored the deal they offered. but...oh well...what can ya do. : ) I have 1, and I'm fine with it. : ) They did give me a huge mega ton of sample though. 1 package of samples was exactly of what they sent me last time except it had 1 extra sample inside and the other set of samples had totally and completely different samples inside. I do love those samples. : ) We use them up...perfect for travel, etc.

You know, I have the Shu Uemura Brightening cleansing oil. So, I was excited to see a similar brightening cleaning oil from It's Skin. Because I love It's Skin. My banana face cleanser was that brand last year. I like that brand. I have since used this sample of their cleansing oil...it is lovely and exactly like the Shu brightening cleansing oil. I also tried the Nature Republic Snail cleanser, I felt this was too overly drying for my face. It smelled good though. Which surprised me, I was thinking it might smell snail-y. lol. Granted, not that I'd know what one smells like, I haven't smelled any lately, (or ever) hahaha. But it smelled normal. : ) 

I use this vitamin c 20 every night. I use the Missha essence first though after I double cleanse of course and every morning I wake up, my face looks amazeballs. Noboru told me this morning...and I am not kidding you...I was drinking a cup of coffee, standing in the kitchen with not a stitch of makeup on at all and gabbing to Noboru (I just drove Noah to school and B's on his over night trip though, he gets back this evening at 5pm) and he was staring slightly and I said playfully..."what?" And he said..."I know you're into some skin something or other lately and I really don't know what's up with that, but I must tell you...your face...your skin looks gorgeous...it's all one color and is so white...you're glowing." For the record my skin didn't look bad before, but it did have a spot or two like most folks. I admit, my first gut reaction this morning, was to blush, then roll my eyeballs and joke and go..."oh gosh" But...he isn't one to give compliments unless he REALLY means them. So..I just said simply..."thank you", this morning. It is true...I do not have not 1 spot on my face...it is all even in texture and color. My skin...I shouldn't say it... but it's true...it looks amazing. It's not me. It's the Missha essence and that c20. My skin tone looks better today... then it did 5 years ago. That's really something. Anyway...And no, I am not suggesting anyone to buy those. I have never been compensated to mention a product, although I have been asked before by a few companies to try their products. I have always said no. Because, I would never do that. I feel when people do that...they are no longer a review I can trust 100%. Because what if getting the free product swayed their opinion. I know..they always say their opinion is their own, but I often have to wonder. So, no...on here...if I like something, I say I like it. If I don't like something...which has happened on here many times too, I say it. And no, I am not suggesting anyone to buy either product. I am just mentioning what I am using and that...it is working for me...like crazy! I love it. : )

This pork came out so tender. I took all fat and funky bits off and shredded it with 2 forks. The rub made the pork taste so good. 

Just a little bbq sauce. From a bottle. Noah wanted some pork at first without the sauce, which is why you see a little bowl with pork minus sauce. However Noah tried the one with sauce and loved that even more, so I ended up putting sauce on his too. : ) 

1 container of coleslaw from KFC. Dinners can be made easier by buying ready made slaw versus making your own sometimes. Or using bbq from a bottle, versus making your own. It just makes dinner time easier. : )

Bush's Baked beans. 

Dinner Tuesday evening. Boys Day. Pulled pork sandwiches should be put onto a hamburger bun. But, you know what...in the inaka. Finding hamburger buns is pretty hard. My 1 store in my town happened to have hot dog buns and I was proud of them for even carrying those! Hahaha. So, there you go. It all works. We had a nice causal Tuesday dinner for Boy's Day. We had a very American dinner. Slow roasted pulled pork sandwiches topped with some coleslaw and a side of baked beans. Branden had 3 sandwiches. Noboru had 3. Noah had 1 sandwich and an extra helping of baked beans, Branden and Noboru also had some extra baked beans too. It was a very nice supper. I am glad I bought extra packs of the buns, because I knew we'd need them. We were all nice and stuffed. Dinner clean up was a breeze, since I only used 1 roasting pan for the pork and 1 sauce pan for the beans. And some utensils and 4 plates. So dinner clean up was done in a snap. : ) Noah took a fast soapy sudsy shower. Branden went afterwards. I went after that. Noboru wanted to go last. Sometimes he'll go first. Just depends. After we all showered and I blow dried my hair and put my Missha essence on and vitamin c20 on. It's all clear so you can't see it. I said...anyone feeling like icecream? The kids said...yes! I said me too. Noboru wanted to come too. And so, I drove us all to Mini Stop and we each picked an ice cream, we were all in our house clothes. We were all clean, but we all looked...well... we all looked like... we all just took a shower. : ) Oh well...it's the inaka (countryside), we all know everybody else and vice versa. So it's okay. : ) We weren't in PJ's though. Just comfy clothes. We each picked an icecream and went home. 

I picked choco banana inside a waffle. It was pretty good. The other one that looks like a banana in shape, is best though. : ) Everyone else picked different flavors of ice creams. Anyway that's how we spent Boy's Day. Close to home. Just relaxed and hung out. : )