Bits from last week...

I know, I purchased Noah 2 packs of undies 3 weeks ago? A month ago? Well, 4 pair... weren't enough and I knew that but they didn't have any better designs in his size at the store I bought from originally....so this time I went to another branch of the same store...because I wanted to toss all his 150cm undies away that he outgrew. So, I went last week and bought Noah 2 extra packs of 160cm undies. That way he has 8 pair of undies now and that's enough. I tossed all his 150cm undies away. And now he's using just this size now.  I also made sure Branden got new school socks and new undershirts for school too. 

With winter weather approaching fast. I picked a slightly longer length of socks and again Bran only likes this particular style of undershirt and since these are more common in summer. They only had 1 pack of undershirts. I bought what they had. But 6 pair of school socks...a total score. Will keep my eyeballs peeled for undershirts for Bran to wear under his uniform shirts... for high school. He has about 8 of them (undershirts), but some needed replacing. 

I made a really big pot of pork green chili last week. And this random pic captured was...a breakfast burrito that I was making for my kids. Branden got 2 and Noah got one. These are humongous sized. Scrambled eggs, tons of pork green chili and shredded colby cheese. The kids were totally filled up for their day of school with these in their tummy's. They took beef bologna and cheese sandwiches to school that day too. 2 for Bran and 1 for Noah. A container of fresh fruit too, 2 mikan each for each of them. Bran took chips and cookies... because it's high school and those are allowed. But Noah just took the sandwich and fresh fruit. : ) 

What have I been watching on TV? We do enjoy TV weekly after supper, kitchen clean-up and showers. We love Young Sheldon, my entire family loves this show. Here is young Sheldon knocking at his grandma's house. He is very close to her. She lives near them, but has her own house.

This is Meemaw. Also known as the actress Annie Potts. I always think of the beautiful Annie Potts. As the older friend (Iona) to Andie (Molly Ringwald) in Pretty in Pink. Who gave Andie her prom dress. And her shooting that shoplifter in the face with a stapler. And the kid said..."you missed my eye by an inch" and Annie Potts said..."half an inch!!!" LOL. 

Sheldon grew up in Texas. And he wrote to NASA, one location is also in Texas. And waited for a return letter. And in his typical Sheldon way...he was very upset... not getting a return letter. Drove the entire family bananas. So one weekend Sheldon's dad said they were all going to drive to NASA and get Sheldon his reply. They sat and waited patiently for hours at NASA. They were getting blown off big time. Until Sheldon's dad burst into the office and got Sheldon heard. Finally. In this pic...the dad just burst into the office. After wasting hours in the waiting room.

Sheldon had his say. Explained what he had to. The guy said...Sheldon's stuff was just too advanced. That answer...totally satisfied Sheldon. And so they left. 

Sheldon's very nice mom and dad. 

The entire family...even including meemaw...driving back home after visiting NASA. Sheldon told his father....thank you for driving me there. It was super sweet...the whole mood in the car. This show is just so good. 

His brother and his sister. And Sheldon in the middle. I do love the Big Bang Theory. I have watched from day 1. But this show...Young Sheldon. Is so fantastic. It's hard not to fall in love with this family. Sheldon is so completely different than anyone else... in his entire family. But they still love him, just as much as everyone else. And they support him fully. 

Bits and Pieces...

What have we been watching on TV here at our house? Lots! There are so many new good TV shows out now and also some older shows in new seasons. One brand new show that I totally love is a spin-off of The Big Bang Theory. Usually spin-offs are not nearly as good as the original. But this one, I like. It's about Sheldon Cooper's life when he was little. How he grew up. If you have ever seen The Big Bang Theory then you already know Sheldon is a genius and he's very square. The show is called "Young Sheldon." He has 2 siblings. 1 brother and 1 sister. And he's only 9 years old, but a genius and so he was bumped up to high school. And his older brother who is actually in high school pictured on the left of this picture. Is a typical kid and dreading his genius nerdy young brother to go to his high school. Their dad is the football coach at the same high school. And his older brother is on the football team. 

His mom is played by a different actress than the actress playing his mom on the Big Bang Theory. But this actress does a great job. She asked her family to join her at church during dinner the night before. The husband made up an excuse why he couldn't attend church. The daughter made up an excuse too. And the football playing older brother also made up an excuse. But young Sheldon said he would love to go to church with his mom, who he clearly adores. The sister said..."Sheldon you don't believe in God, why are you going to church?" And young Sheldon said without missing a beat ...."I don't, but I do believe in mom so I'm going" So here is the pic of young Sheldon at church with his mom. 

Sheldon's first day at high school. He memorized the dress code of what's allowed and what's not!!! He raised his hand. And pointed out about 9 kids in class that he felt were in violation of the dress code. And then he raised his hand again and said...the teacher was also in violation too because she has a slight mustache and facial hair is in strict violation of the dress code. Hahaha! : )

Another brand new show debuting for the Fall Season is a show called The Good Doctor. The Good Doctor is played by the same actor who played Norman Bates in the TV show based on the movie Psycho, simply called Bates Motel,that ended in the Spring, his real name is Freddie Highmore. The Good Doctor's character is Dr. Shaun Murphy. If he looks familiar to you, you might remember him as Charlie...in the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory remake with Johnny Depp. In The Good Doctor he plays a brilliant surgeon who also has a very high functioning degree of autism. However it doesn't stop or hinder the fact that he's nearly a freaking genius and can diagnose patients faster than other doctors. He's kind and soft spoken. The head of the hospital is his biggest supporter. But there is another doctor who doesn't think Dr. Shaun Murphy should be a doctor at all. He gives him all the crap jobs at the hospital. He treats him like crap and for now Shaun is taking it. Also, Dr. Shaun Murphy is all alone in the world, he has absolutely no family or anything, he has no one. My entire family immediately fell in love with this show. We watch this every week and cheer on Dr. Shaun Murphy!!! What else have I been enjoying on TV? Mondays, we usually watch 90 Day Fiance. My Giant Life and a new show called Ghosted. Tuesdays we watch Young Sheldon and the Good Doctor. Wednesday's, I watch American Horror Story Cult. Thursdays we watch the Blacklist. And Friday's we watch the Orville. I also still watch the Little Women shows. Right now the new season for Little Women Dallas has started again. So we're watching that too. So while...I'm no couch potato, at the end of a busy day it is most definitely nice to sit down after supper and dinner clean up and after showers and sit down and relax and watch a TV show or two.

Also have been doing Fall cleaning. Plus the regular weekly 4-5 days a week of house cleaning. This was snapped the day, I scrubbed all the window sill areas. Now that the weather has cooled off. The cool weather dry days, I will open the windows and recirculate some air. But if it's too hot or too cold, I won't and we'll use either central air or central heat, though we haven't had to use the heater yet. However I need the window area clean. And they get super grimy each month and so need to be wiped down once a month. 

Also pulled out 2 pair of my Fall/Winter boots. I sprayed them with waterproof spray when I first bought them last year. And I will spray them every year that I own them. To keep them looking nice. And free of water spots. I sprayed them down last week in the backyard.

Bought some cute Halloween napkins. The top pack came from Seria which is a 100 yen shop. And the bottom 2 packs came from the Daiso, which is also a 100 yen shop too. They all sell different varieties. And it's nice to have variety. : ) I pack 1 napkin each in both my boys lunches Monday-Friday. : )

Oops, we did it again. : ) We BBQ-ed outside in our backyard. We had this BBQ, October 1st, the day after Bran's Culture Day. As you know we BBQ a lot. Again...we make our BBQ's ultra simple. So we do them very often. This night we all had BBQ chicken. The kids and I had chicken breasts. And Noboru had thighs. We BBQed them with just salt and black pepper and when they were done, we brushed some Yoshida's sauce on them. I also microwaved 4 giant potatoes. They were all soft, but I had Noboru take them outside for the last 10 minutes, 5 minutes on each side. The potatoes got nice and crispy skin and gave a fantastic flavor to the potatoes. We also had macaroni salad and regular salad too. I also made 2 cups of white rice in the rice cooker for whoever wanted some. Noboru wanted some, so I was glad I made the rice too. : ) 

A pic of my breakfast from this morning. A bowl of peanut butter cereal. 1 slice of bakery bread toasted with some butter. 1 small banana and 1 cup of coffee that tastes like a cinnamon roll. : )

Noah is off school today. Sunday was town undokai/sports day. And so all schools in this town have the day off. Noah won't go back to school until Wednesday. Branden meanwhile was off yesterday because it was a holiday. But he's at school today.

What else have we been doing? I placed an order of DVDs/movies from Amazon.com. They haven't gotten here yet. The kids don't know what I picked for them, but I picked. Guardian's of the Galaxy Volume 2 (part 2 basically), Transformers The Last Knight and Spiderman: Homecoming. I meanwhile picked for myself 2 movies. Everything Everything. This was a popular book made into a movie and I can't wait to see it. And the other movie is called The Big Sick. The Big Sick looks so funny to me. It's about a Pakistan born comedian, named Kumail. Who starts dating a white girl, named Emily. And there's culture clash. I saw the previews and after they spend 1 night together. He would like to talk and cuddle, but she just tries to leave his apartment immediately. And she says...I'm gonna call an Uber and go. And so she gets her phone and rings for the nearest Uber driver to come and get her. And on his night stand his cellphone starts pulsating. And he says...Let me put my pants on and I'll drive you home! Ha! That's funny! It's downright hilarious actually. Very smartly written. I have been wanting to see this movie all summer. I have no idea when this movie will ever reach Japan. But I wanted to see this. And this looks like a movie I would see again and again. I love smart witty romantic comedies. This looks like such an authentic love story. And it is... because the person playing Kumail is actually Kumail and he wrote this about his real life love story. So, I am so happy it's coming to my house soon. : ) Also...his parents want him to meet and marry a woman from his country, Pakistan. And they keep bringing  girl after girl to his house. Kumail's parents really don't seem on board about their relationship. And at the same time Emily's parents aren't really crazy about them dating either. And then Emily gets sick and ends up in a medically induced coma. And Kumail is left dealing with her parents. And again...I haven't seen it. Have absolutely no idea how it ends. Hope she lives and they end up getting married. But I can barely wait for whenever the delivery man brings this movie to my house. 

Bits and pieces. Winter clothes shopping for the boys.The Orville and AHS Cult. Good eats. And that rockin' cool Amazon dog in the lion costume...

Good morning!!! Today is TGIF day. We made it!!! The weekend is almost upon us! Granted, I will be at Noah's school tomorrow for undokai. But other than that. Friday's are *always* something to be happy about. So...what is up. What has been happening here? It's update schmupdate time! Now that the kids are back into the full swing of school. My honey bunny and I, have gone right back to our weekly....just he and I, lunch dates. This day, we went to the Ohsho in Inzai. The Ohsho is a chain restaurant in Japan that serves Chinese food, really really excellent Chinese food. 

Yep, we sure did turn both huge containers of Kirkland vanilla ice-cream into peanut butter ice-cream. I have been doing this for a few years now and we love this. We still have 1 container of peanut butter ice-cream in the freezer, even now as I type. : )

One day last week it was super raining all day long and I made a great big pot of chicken soup. It had the chicken boiling all day long and in the afternoon, I added mushrooms, celery, carrots, 1 large potato, and I kept debating... if I should ultimately make chicken noodle soup or chicken and rice (soup) and about an hour before the kids were to be home, I decided chicken and rice was what I was wanting. So, I quickly made some rice in the rice cooker. I went and picked up the kids from their pick up spots. And when everyone got home, I added the rice at the last second into the pot of soup and the four of us... had soup. Noboru had 3 servings of soup, Bran and Noah each had 2 full servings. I too had 2 servings. We had actually finished the entire pot of soup. I had none for lunch the next day. hahaha. Which was totally fine. And I was super happy they loved it so much, that they finished the pot. Perfect for a rainy evening dinner. : ) 

Four pair of jeans for Noah, I usually shop at Shimamura or Paseos, for kid jeans or shorts. Noah likes the stretchy waist band. Branden always did too... when he was younger. I like the quality of the jeans. You frankly can't tell if these jeans come from the Gap or what. And most importantly I like the cheap price. 1,500 yen a pair. That's about $14 US. Size 160cm. For Noah. 

I like to buy my kids jeans and shorts early, because they always run out of stock fast in the boys section. Tops and stuff...there's always plenty. But pants or shorts...I find in my area of Japan.... you have to snatch them up faster than you think. Again...it could just be a my specific area type thing. But, I know...for me...I have to buy them as soon as they starting rolling in the cooler weather clothes. I got this pair. I liked the color. It had the soft stretchy waist band and the jeans stretch too. And at 1500 yen a pair. Awesome.

My magic number for Noah... since he goes to elementary school and needs regular clothes 5 days a week for school, plus weekends too, so he needs enough jeans for 7 days a week. That magic number for me is 5. I'd like to get him 5 pair of pants. However...I only found 4 pair so far that I liked. So, pants/jeans-wise I am almost done. So a huge step forward. 4 pair is not bad. And these only cost 6000 yen for 4 pair of jeans. Which is an excellent price. So...if for some strange reason... it should get dead cold next week...I would be okay because at least Noah has 4 new pair of pants now.

Also went to the Gap. I have mentioned this on here before many times but I find Gap in Japan to always have such good deals. They are always 40% off. And as always when we went there the 4 of us last Monday evening...sure enough the sign said...the entire store is 40% off. Plus in addition to that, 5% is you are registered with them online too. Which we are.

Two new sweatshirts for Noah. They will get more stuff in stock...more variety soon. I know. But for now..these 2 were perfect. And at 45% off. Hell to the yes!!!

Winter coat seems pricey at 8,900 yen. About $85 US. And no, even though I could afford to pay full price...I would *never* pay full price. Because that's not penny-wise at all. It's wasteful. I do however...love this coat even more now... because we got this for 45% off. This was nearly half off, by the time we waltzed out of the store.  So Noah's winter coat 45% off. I will be smiling every single time I see Noah wear his new winter coat now. I like my kids dressing cute...while still saving a ton of cash too. So super happy.

This coat is one of those super thin lightweight coats, but super warm. Like these are super seriously warm. These are just like the Uniqlo ones. 

Gap logo that's also a reflector on his sleeve.

All different sorts of blue for Noah's winter coat from Gap this year. So 4 new pair of jeans. 2 new sweatshirts and 1 new 45% off winter coat. Not totally done winter clothes shopping, but a huge step forward. So that's a positive.And at 45% off to boot. 

Branden's necessities. He needed a new school belt. I cut the tags off and he wore it, so only have the belt hangar on the left. Sorry no pic of the actual belt. Also he needed more inside shirts that he wears under his dress shirts to school. He prefers this style in summer or winter. So picked him up another pack too. So school belt, school inside shirts. Just basic necessities for school. 

Branden only wears regular clothes twice a week. On the weekends. So he needs less clothes than Noah. But he still needs clothes too. My goal is to get Bran, 3-4 sweatshirts. But so far...we bought him 2. Reason? There were a few others to pick from... but Branden didn't like them. No worries. We'll keep an eye out. And a pair of preppy socks for Bran's Vans. Yes, that rhymes. : ) Again...super happy Bran has 2 new sweatshirts. Because if it should get super cold all of a sudden... he'll keep warm. Plus he also got a new pair of Vans for the Fall already, as you know. 

No show socks. Yep...these are socks that are on the down low. People will never know you are even wearing socks. 

Preppy and cool...perfect for my kiddo!!!

While I was at Paseos looking for under shirts, high school belts for boys and jeans for my elementary school kiddo. I saw they had a huge selection of women's winter scarves. All sorts of plaid patterns. So gorgeous. Some 1000 yen and some 1500 yen. I saw one that was my favorite pattern. And it is the same pattern as the winter bag, I bought last January. 

I bought this for myself and I am so happy. 

Pizza did happen this week. I made so much pizza dough that morning. Enough for 1 huge pizza for Branden and Noah. And enough for a smaller pizza each for Noboru and one for myself. Everyone had plenty of pizza. In fact Noboru and I could... only eat 2 slices from our own pizzas. The kids pizza was just pepperoni. My pizza is pictured and it had pepperoni, mushrooms, black olives, jalapenos and onions. Noboru's just had pepperoni, mushrooms and jalapenos. We each added our own toppings. Homemade pizza night at home is always a good night. : )

And this night, we had homemade chicken fettuccine alfredo

Sliced up 2 chicken breasts. And made the sauce. Meanwhile boiled the pasta for 5 short minutes, after the sauce was done first. Rinsed super well and then tossed in the sauce. My family devoured their dinner so fast. They loved it so much. : ) Which made me happy. 

What have I been enjoying on TV lately? A new show started recently. It's on Fox. And it's Seth MacFarlane's show. This show is called The Orville. I love Seth's sense of humor. I think he's a comedic genius. He's pictured here. He's the creator of Family Guy, which I love (he voices Peter, Brian, Quagmire and many other voices on that show). He created American Dad. He also wrote the movie Ted and was the voice of Ted. He also wrote and starred in A Million Ways to Die in the West, which I love...it's so funny, I own that on DVD. And have seen it *at least* 5 times. His sense of humor just cracks me up. So, when I saw he had created this new show called The Orville. I knew I'd have to check it out. It's basically the same concept as Star Trek... except insanely funny. He's the ships captain. His crew is all quirky and weird, in their own ways. And he was waiting for a first officer. One was not available. It turns out...his ex-wife that he recently divorced... because he caught her cheating on him with another person. He caught them in the act. Anyway...his ex-wife is his first officer. So there is tension. But it's hilariously funny tension. 

American Horror Story is back again for another season. This looks like it will be my most favorite season to date. This seasons version of AHS is called Cult.  AHS Cult. This is season 7.

Sarah Paulson's character Ally. She's very upset that Trump won the election (aren't we all). And because she is so upset about that. It unleashed some dormant phobias she has always had. She has a fear of homicidal clowns (don't we all) Anyway, in the show she and her wife and their son live in a house. And Ally... by all accounts seems to be coming mentally unglued. Unhinged? Are the clowns real? Are they in her imagination? She does have a therapist. And she does have a gun. She had a power outage. The nanny left to go home. Leaving Ally (Sarah Paulson) and her son Oz at home alone. Her wife was meanwhile at their restaurant running that and was also affected by the power outage too.

Billie Lourd. I love Billie Lourd. She is obviously the late Carrie Fisher's, super talented actress daughter. She was in Scream Queens and was amazing in that. Anyway Billie is playing a nanny to Sarah Paulson's characters son. And Billie's character is super weird and creepy. 

Billie pinky swearing Oz. Anyway...so in a nutshell. Just cooking meals here at the house. Doing my weekly grocery shopping haul. Cleaning the house. Getting the kids clothes ready for Fall/Winter. Bit by bit. Enjoying some new TV shows. AHS Cult. And "The Orville." Anything else I am loving right now?

Yes...this Amazon commercial is life! It's so cute. Every time I see this commercial, I stop dead in my tracks and watch it...even though I have seen it a million times over the past year. This dog is so adorably sad and cute. Trying and wishing *so* hard for their baby to like him. This commercial might have originally run in Japan for Amazon first. But I have American TV...American cable...and it runs all the time in the US. I love this commercial. And I love this dog so much. I hope that little baby, starts to like this dog. Because my family and I *love* this dog so much! We love you rockin' Amazon dog! And that papa in the commercial seems so nice too...like he's really trying to help the dog out. : ) So 3 cheers for that papa too. But most of all... 3 cheers for the Amazon dog. : )  We love you adorable Amazon dog in the lion costume. : )

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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