Before and After pics. An update on the jalapeno plants and the backyard grass situation...

This post is going to be about the jalapeno seedlings and how they're growing. With pics of them at various stages. And also this post will be about the progress of the grass in our backyard. Specifically talking about, the great big area with zero grass immediately, after our playground was disassembled and given to friends with little kids. And progress on that and what it looks like now and again...in the various stages... during the progress to get to where we are at right now. So first things first, let's talk jalapenos first. : ) This was 3 plastic containers from Seria (the 100 yen shop) with many jalapeno seedlings in there.  

Then we had little teeny tiny baby jalapeno plants starting to sprout from the soil. We ended up with 26 teeny tiny jalapeno seedlings. There was absolutely.... no way we were going to grow 26 jalapeno plants, plus the 10 Big John's chilies that are still coming. I mean, we're weekend/recreational veggies growers. We're not professional farmers or anything. @_@ Hahaha. So we kept 8 jalapeno plants. That's still double of what we grew last year. 

When they were finally big enough, we transplanted them to... where they will call home for the whole of summer. Noboru has been reading a few blogs in Japan by Japanese people who grow chili here in Japan. He reads an older Japanese woman's blog and she grows jalapeno plants year round in a 2 liter bottle. Yes that's right, with out any soil or dirt at all. Noboru was inspired by what she said. And by how easy she said it was. So, we cleaned and rinsed 8 mugicha (tea) bottles and put in some nutrients in the water. And planted them. Also, the bottles must be covered because if suns hits the roots... the plants will die? @_@ That's apparently what the old woman said and so she said to cover the bottles and so we have.  Will this work? Will this fail? We'll see. : )

This was a picture of them from last week! They have grown so much huh? So anyways, that's the jalapeno chili update for now. : ) I'll keep you updated. 

And now here is the update on our backyard area where the jungle gym used to be. This picture was taken the same day that they drove off and took the jungle gym away. After they drove off, I'd say about 2 minutes after they left, I went outside right away and snapped this picture for you guys. At this point, it just looked... really sad. Like... something used to be there... but now it's not anymore. Like this... big gaping spot with nothing-ness. 

I did want and need to say though...that they were very nice and did give our family a *really* nice box of cookies. For us giving them the jungle gym. Granted we didn't want anything. Or need anything, but yeah...it was sorta cool they did that! : )

Wrapped so nicely!

I loved this tin of cookies! Judging by the color of my green counter, it's clear I do like green. : ) I just really loved this box of cookies. And the tin was fabulous! Great color, great design. I'm keeping this tin. I have kept this tin. : )

The cookies were delicious. 

Stage one. Remove the black circular edging that kept that area for the playground. Take away all the bark. This is so.....easier said than done! This was hella hard! The 4 of us spent days and days on it. It took us 2 days to remove all the bark. And physical work like this....left all of our bodies sore sore sore and downright physically exhausted. Talk about a work out for all of us! Plus I still had to come inside and make dinner too. Those were definitely...no blogging days. No computer days at all or very limited. A few of those days. It was...wake up... go outside and pull bark and throw it into the bucket. And as you can see, we each had our own bark bucket. Dirt under your finger nails. Blistery hands. We'd wear gloves. Yet, on the other jobs we'd have to take them off. It was not easy peasy! It was work! Plain and simple. Grueling...back breaking work. But we did it! : ) 

We'd work until it got dark. And for me...I'd go inside an hour at lunch time and prep whatever it was...we were having for dinner that night plus make everyone lunch. Go back outside and help for a few hours. Then pop back inside the house and get supper done. Call them all in. We'd all call it a night... as soon as supper was done and dusted. Everyone would take turns showering. I'd go last... not because I'm an angel...but because I had to get the kitchen back to normal...dishes put in the dishwasher, scrub the stove. Wipe the dinner table. Like on those types of nights. I would get online.... at 6:30pm and tell my dad by email or skype..."good night shutting down the computer, love ya"..."I'm exhausted and want to take a load off and watch TV and unwind some" He totally understood. And I still wanted to be polite and say good night to my dad too because we're super close... but again...I was tired. Flat out tired. : )  And that went on...for a almost a week, a good 5 days. Again...it was really hard work. 

Finally by the 3rd day we started to see some progress. It was bark free. The dirt was all over turned. 

To get to this point. Wow! This may not look like much...but if you saw what it looked like before. And see what it looks like right in this pic. You can see...a whole heck of a lot of work went into it. 

And now we needed to make it a flat level surface. We tried with this heavy bag first. This is about 20 pounds, this bag of stuff right here. However it wasn't heavy enough. We needed something heavier. 

About this heavy! And thanks Noah for helping us out. Noah was a real champ. But he had to hold on real tight and not fall off. Meanwhile Noboru was flattening out the dirt while Noah helped adding his weight to the make shift flattening device. Sod was going to go down the next day. So we did all this flattening out. And then I went in the house... made dinner and the next day, while Noboru was at work. The kids and I went out there and laid the sod down. 

And another day of yard work. Oh the joy! LOL! : ) But again...if you work hard at something. You'll reap the rewards. I'm a firm believer in that. So back to the yard. From 10am, to 4pm, I was out in the backyard that day. I did go inside for an hour at lunch, to make lunch for the kids and myself, the kids went inside for lunch and to rest an hour too. And I did go inside at 4pm to make dinner. Otherwise we'd all starve to death hahaha. : ) But, yeah it was a full... full day for me. And full day for the kids because they were out there with their dad after he came home. The boys were outside until 5:50pm. Almost 6pm. And Noboru, he was at work all morning and afternoon and when he got home... he had about 3 hours of yard work. So we all kicked butt. There are are no slackers at our house. We all live here...we all help out! Those are the rules. That's just the way we roll. 

Laying the sod down. The pieces have to fit. They have to lay right. 

When Noboru came home we had it already laid out like this. That's when I called it a day for being outside and went inside to get dinner done. The kids kept going and going and going.

And then Noboru and the kids covered the new sod with nutrients. Looks weird I know, but he does this once a year and it works. It make the grass healthier. And really take off. 

Go Noah go! He is such a good helpful kid. This is hard work. If you do yard work at all. You know! Your body aches after wards. If you work at it... for a full day. Noboru gave each of the boys 400 yen each day, that they helped in the backyard. Though they would have done it anyways for free. But by the time we finished. The kids each had about 2,000 yen each. About $20 US. Just a little spending money. : ) Which is always nice to have. : ) 

Nutrients all over the sod and all over the grass we already have. And as soon as it pushes through all that. It will be stronger! Look below. : ) 

I took this picture yesterday morning. So, this is what it currently looks like. The grass (what we already had) and the sod (new grass) pushed through all those nutrients just fine! And now it's way greener. And while I still see a faint circular outline of where the jungle gym area used to be...I can see that... as soon as we mow the grass in a month, it will blend in 100%. And by mid summer you will barely be able to see where the jungle gym used to be. : ) 

And these are what the jalapenos looked like, as of yesterday morning. They are now living outside. However they went into shock by being put outside. And so...Noboru has transplanted them to soil. Will the jalapeno plants survive? Honestly I don't know. Their first half day outside they were dying. Like legit dying their leaves changed color their leaves flopped down. I'll keep ya posted on the jalapenos and how they're doing with... being transplanted from a watery home to soil. So anyways, little update on the jalapenos and the backyard grass situation. : )  Happy Friday everyone! I have a lunch date with 2 of my favorite girl friends today at 11am. We'll be going to our favorite Indian restaurant and spend our afternoon catching up and basically have an awesome afternoon! : )  So that's what I'll be doing today. : ) Have a great weekend. : ) You all already know me and the fam-bam are going to the movie theater tomorrow. Anyway, talk to you all later. : )

Planting red flowers for my hanging baskets, family backyard bbq and the story of the Garigari popsicle atari (winning stick)

Every year we order our red Impatiens from the same flower shop online. They came and they were just as pretty as always. : )

One afternoon last week while both Branden and Noah were at school. I sat in the backyard and started planting them.

And all done. I look forward to when they are big and full of flowers. They are now hanging on the front porch and the 2 white planters are sitting near the front porch. : )

Meanwhile the grass was looking like it needed a trim. So, Noboru cut the grass last Friday morning.

The potato plants are still doing well. : )

The zucchini are doing well, they are a little bit bigger right now, then this pic from last Friday. But it's okay, at least you can see they are indeed growing. : )

Because the boys swim Monday's and Thursday's. That's why you see swim towels hanging Friday morning. Nicely fresh and clean. And every one's pillows also sat outside all day Friday and got very fat from the sun. Two pair of jean shorts , 1 of Branden's and 1 of Noah's. And 1 gym uniform. And a few other misc. But anyway that was last Friday. : )

Saturday we had a bbq. We BBQ a lot in Spring and Summer. It doesn't need to be a long drawn out dinner. Not a 5 course meal. Just something as simple as some hot dogs and some grilled chicken. And some canned beans and macaroni salad from the deli. Easy, but a Summer/warmer weather type meal for sure. It's not unusual for us to bbq 2-3 times in a week around here. Especially since we keep it so simple.

Noboru checking out the potato plants. We are all so curious what's under the dirt. Is it going to be lots of gorgeous potatoes? (we sure hope so) Or potatoes ravaged by bugs? Oh dear, we hope not! (worst case scenario type stuff) Or what if the potatoes didn't take off at all...you know what I mean. To put it mildly, we are eagerly waiting. : ) Some websites say the potatoes will be ready in July, Noboru thinks end of June. But my friends also says July too. Front/beginning of July. But yeah we're so, more then ready to see what's under there. Hahaha. : )

Saturday's simple bbq dinner. We had grilled chicken, Noboru had 1 enormous grilled chicken thigh, we also grilled 4 chicken breasts, we used that Lawry's teriyaki with pineapple sauce that's at the back of this picture. we also had grilled hot dogs. Beans. Cantaloupe, if you recall, I had that weird allergic reaction last year to it touching my hands, which is why we cubed some of it and out it into the bowl. Or they could have sliced cantaloupe also. Either way. But I had some cubed cantaloupe after my dinner. : )

Are you enjoying your dinner Noah?

Hi kiddo.

Aha, and the macaroni salad. It wasn't in the picture above. Must have been on the green counter when I took a pic of it earlier. : )  It was a nice way to enjoy our Saturday. Bbq's are always nice.

Now for the atari story. But before I begin let me start by saying, if you know us in real life. We're a really funny family. We seriously love to laugh. We love to crack each other up all the time. So with that being said. After Saturday's bbq. We all cruised down to the local MiniStop (convenience store) to buy 4 Garigari-kun popsicles. Anyway for those of you living outside of Japan. Sometimes certain things here will have an atari on it. Meaning if you buy a popsicle or 5 yen gum it will either sometimes be blank and say nothing or "try again" or it will say atari/winner. And you can take it back to the store to get another popsicle or whatever you won the atari for. I think our family has only won 5 atari's since living in Japan. So, they are semi rare. Anyway on with the story.... during us eating our popsicle's at the table, Branden, didn't win. Noah didn't win. And Noboru disappeared for a second and came back. Anyway, Noboru passed it to Noah and said, "I won, so go head you can take this back tomorrow to the store Noah." Noah says immediately, "thank you daddy" At this point, I put 2 and 2 together and realized it was a total fake! Noah then did a double take at the popsicle stick and he could see something was a little off by his expression. I kidded with Noboru saying, "ehhhhh, yes a fake and a bad fake at that!!!" He cracked up and yes we caught him! hahaha. : )  We must have laughed hard about this one for about a good 3-5 minutes. Noboru kept saying..."I got you Noah...you believed it!!!" Noah blushed and said "yes. You got me." Oh man! We cracked up so much over this. Branden being the biggest defender of his little brother says while laughing... but now we will never believe you again if you should get an atari next time. : ) That's right Noboru said, and for that I'm sorry. But oh dear....we all could see the humor in this and could see just how absolutely silly Noboru is. : )  But man....we laughed so hard over this you guys. Trying to pass off a fake winning stick (atari) to your son, hahaha. This story is going to be a classic for many years to come for us. Anyway just wanted to share this and hopefully make somebody smile with this one. : )

Last Sunday's happenings in our neck of the woods

Let's see so, where did I leave off. Oh yes last Saturday, we spent the whole day basically doing things for the local elementary school. Which was nice, to lend a hand and to do our part and get it out of the way. Anyway, so Sunday was also a community clean up, but this time it was for our housing community. Basically clean up your street. We do regular maintenance on our yard so we had nothing to do where our yard is concerned but we did pitch in and help anyway, we did the edging for the vacant lot next door. Here are Branden and Noah jumping in and lending a hand last Sunday. It was a great way to chit chat with the neighbors. Boy Next Door's mom. The grandma next door is now the leader of the street this year. And we are thinking it will fall to us next year or the "boy next door's house."  The grandma next door passed out drinks to us all afterwards for a job well done. And then we went inside.

We woke up around 7am-ish Sunday morning. I made breakfast, bacon, eggs toast. Noboru and I had coffee and the boys had milk. So we ate before we went outside to the the community clean up. After the clean up was done, that was from 9-10am btw. I said, to the boys let's rest for 1 full hour. So we did. Then at 11am, we 3 jumped in, on the kitchen clean up, I just wanted to get a jump start on the weekly cleaning and I was glad I did. Noah did all the corners and helped with the baseboards with Branden.

I also soaked the 3 trashcans with hot sudsy soapy water.

Branden doing the baseboards. We also listened to music and sang.,while working. We also set the timer on the stove for 1 hour.

Branden antibacterial wiping the trashcan lids etc. American standard dishwasher and American free standing full size stove/oven in the background.

I meanwhile got on with the mopping after sweeping the kitchen floors first. At noon we were done and the kitchen was pretty much spic and span. I had very little kitchen clean up to do Monday. Very little. I made Branden and Noah lunch. I meanwhile had a salad. And besides bringing the laundry in, I was done after 12:30pm.

5 pillow cases dried since the early morning, even before I went and did the street clean up. Also washed up a jinbei and a few misc. shirts of Branden's and Noah's.

Branden's sheets were washed the day before. Sunday's was time for Noah's. After the first load of pillow cases and stuff dried first of course. Noah's sheets dried quickly and I then put his fresh bedding back onto his bed.

I had dinner in the crock pot. Like I have been mentioning on here for years, I often do the early prep before dinner. That always saves me. : ) I sat on the couch and enjoyed TV for the afternoon, which also recharged my batteries too. Branden meanwhile asked if he could make brownies. I said sure.

Like I said years ago, he is the writer of my shopping lists.... well now Noah writes them for me also. : ) Also, them reading the instructions on brownie boxes and the likes is so important. It's a good thing, I feel and something I've talked about on here a bit through the years. So it was nice for me to go lay down after snapping a pic or two of course. And just know and have the confidence that yes...he could bake these all by himself. And you know what....he did! Noah did come in and help too though.

Branden and Noah, you both did a great job with these brownies, they were delicious! Thank you. What a great Sunday we had, last week! : )

My plans this weekend?  Thankfully, no community or school clean up for me this weekend. : )  Besides, a load or two of laundry each day and cooking. I basically am not going to do too much. Enjoy watching the boys having country fun, I think they're going to go looking for zarigani tomorrow,  I'll sit outside on the back patio and watch them play in the tanbo/rice fields from up here. I'll also rest and also enjoy our American cable TV.  Weekend thank goodness you are here. : )