Pssst, thanks Illahee! : )

Ever since you mentioned on your blog about these warm chocolate buns, I have been buying about 1 a week! Oh man, you were not kidding that these were good! They're great! They have a super hot/beyond warm chocolate pudding or fudge pudding in the center of these! Truly delicious! Reminded me a bit of the bundt cakes from the 70's and 80's with the pudding centers. But these choco buns are actually a billion times better then that! Anyway, just wanted to say thanks! You have given me a few happy mornings, that I have run down to the Mini Stop after I sent Branden to school and picked one of these up, headed home and ate it and drank my hot cup of coffee, while surfing the net or watching TV, in pure bliss! Yummm and thanks! : )

Fridays steak dinner! : )

Since we were at Apita and just finished with the their haircuts. We knew we were having a stay at home type weekend. Mainly because we are just trying to stay home until we leave for vacation. So we thought why not make a wonderful night of staying in! So we went into the bakery and bought 2 loafs of gorgeous tasting bread! And seriously this bread is so airy and so buttery, it tastes like a croissant. Seriously, not kidding, this was amazing bread! Good to splurge on this, for a lazy weekend at home! : )


We picked up some gorgeous looking steaks! I was really thinking steak and Noboru was as well!


The veggie was a tough choice, Noboru suggested broccoli. But I'm broccoli-ed out! And I suggested corn on the cob but they had none. So we settled for spinach. Branden's not crazy about spinach but I give him the ol' you will be strong like Popeye, speech my mom and dad used to give me. It works because we get Popeye on satellite here and he watches it, so he knows what I'm talking about, but he's still isn't crazy about eating it! Ha! But I do have him eat 2 bites of it at least. Poor Branden! : )



I tenderized the steaks with the fork in the picture. And used the Japanese steak seasoning and fried them up! Noboru likes his steak medium, so I cooked it that way. The boys and I had well done. Man this, steak was so good! : )

Our dinner consisted of, seasoned steaks we also dunked in A-1. And rice, and spinach that I stir-fried in some butter and salt and pepper. I made a simple salad whith lettuce and tomato and cucumber and we had goma dressing with that. We also had 3 croissants left over from the ones I made out of Branden's obento from this morning. So, I slightly toasted them in my toaster oven and then buttered the top of them! Dinner was fantastic! We all stayed in all night and showered and then we all watched TV until we couldn't stay awake anymore! : )

Noah's hair cut!

This evening right after we took Branden swimming, Noboru wanted to run to Apita to get himself one of those 1000 yen cheapie haircuts. They cut his hair pretty well, he has no complaints about them ever. So as we were driving there from the swimming school. I was really thinking if I, should get Noah's haircut there, or not? Hmmm, what to do, what to do! I asked Noboru and he said, I do great haircuts and having someone else cut his hair, would most likely result in, they'd screw his hair cut up. Noboru's biggest worry about Noah's hair is the bang area, being cut way too ridiculously short or super straight bangs like Moe from the Three Stooges or as I call those bangs, Dumb and Dumber hair, you know from the movie? Ha ha ha! And I did that once to Noah about 6 month's ago and we had to end up buying thinning sheers to give it more of a shaggy edge versus the straight across Moe type bangs. So we were chatting away like crazy in the car about it! I brought up, he hated my last hair cut I gave Noah, as well and said I botched the area around his ears.

The reason Noah's haircuts are such a pain for us, is because his hair is very fine and very thin. He has typical western fine hair and his hair takes forever to grow back if it gets messed up. Where as Branden's hair is very thick and grows back in a weeks time! ha ha ha! Lucky Branden! : )

I finally decided to just go for it and if they screw it up, we won't ever do it again. So, Noah went first. Also Noboru was worried Noah would cry or throw a fit. And he did cry, I won't lie....however it lasted about 1 mere minute. He was afraid and he quickly got over it and sat quietly on my lap until it finished.

The guy who came out to cut his hair, is the stylist, we have been seeing there since we moved here and I really think he owns this shop actually. Because there were 2 other stylists out there cutting people's hair and he came out when he saw us. He cut my dad's hair once when he was in Japan. The stylists used to live in Seattle. He also has a 2 year old son himself, so he knows kids, which made me happy knowing he'd know what to expect when cutting little kids hair with the moving their heads and whatnot. So Noboru told him to cut the back, "but not too short." Ha ha ha! And to trim the sides, "but not too short". And to *barely* trim the bang area, but we wanted them still long and very shaggy bangs. Not like a bowl cut/ Beetles bangs at all. Then after he finished telling him. I told him in Japanese myself the same exact thing. I told him give Noah just a typical longish little Japanese boys type haircut. Angled side burns and the likes. Mostly long, and shaggy. And when he started cutting the bangs, I said, very little please...chotto chotto chotto (yes I know my Japanese sucks but at least I can communicate the main message and I do try, ha ha ha) So as I chanted chotto, chotto and shaggy shaggy, lol how hilarious now that I think of it. There were other people in the hair cutting place but you know what? I don't even recall them at all, while I was in the seat, perhaps I was too distracted. I was distracted and worried because I knew what Noboru said in the car.....that they'd surely screw it up! I really wanted to prove him wrong and get Noah a good haircut.

Turns out, the guy who used to live in Seattle, gave Noah a perfect haircut. He gave him a little Japanese boy hair cut, long and shaggy still. He gave him V shaped side burns exactly like I asked for. I was really pleased. Even still, I wish his bang area was a bit longer. Noboru wishes too. But his haircut looks pretty darned good and the bangs are still long enough and so we are both pretty happy. However, I think I will still give him home hair cuts though. But, I might go and get his hair cut there every other time though, who knows. But Noah's hair grows, so slowly anyway, he probably won't need another hair cut for the next 2 month's, ha ha ha!

I also offered Branden to get himself a hair cut as well. Being that daddy and Noah got one, I thought he should get one too, as to not feel left out. He said, no way! He did not want one at all. Ha ha ha.


A typical Japanese little boy's hair cut. Long shaggy bangs still, phew! Long sides with a V shaped side burn (exactly what I asked for.) And a medium length back but it's greatly cleaned up to how it was and it has a much cleaner style then how it looked before. The back was way too long before, like mullet hair in the back, blech! But now it's all normal and short (but not too short) and clean looking!


Looks so much better now! : )










My oldest cutie, who successfully avoided getting a hair cut. But then with him being at school all day long and then swimming school. He must have been totally exhausted! : )

Today at swimming school! : )

Noah and I again picked up Branden from school this afternoon. And then we quickly headed to the swimming school which is pretty close with just about 5-8 minutes away. All the other kids from our same Catholic school and their mom's and siblings started arriving in their cars in the parking lot as well. We all walked to the little boys changing area (well those of us who have sons that is, ha ha) and then we all changed our older kids from their Catholic uniform to their swimming suit, goggles and swimming cap. And they left. Meanwhile us mom's and our younger children all filed upstairs. And unzipped our bags and rolled out the snacks!

Here's Noah today wearing Branden's school hat. Don't ask me why, but he is greatly attracted to this hat! He loves putting it on and wearing it! Ha ha ha! On the bright side, I kinda know what he will look like when he enters yochien in a few years! Ha ha ha! : )

Bacon egg and cheese croissant for Branden's lunch today! : )

I really like making Branden a breakfast croissant in his lunch for school, ever once in a while! Because, in the US, breakfast isn't really just for mornings. Breakfast is good anytime! Whether you make an omelet for dinner, if your hubs is working late, or whatever the case. It's good, tasty and filling and Branden loves American breakfast stuff, so I know he won't go hungry at school. This morning right away I cranked up the music. Today I listened to my new homemade CD of Japanese stuff that I burned. I have the new Mr. Children song on there, man I love this song so much! The new Bennie K and the new Kick the Can Crew remake of that christmas song! So as I was rocking away in the kitchen and frying bacon in the pan. I managed to get lunch made rather quickly this morning!

He had an over easy egg on top of a croissant with cheese and crispy American bacon and toped it off with the top of the croissant. Man, it honestly looked so good, I was wishing I could have eaten it! ha ha ha! I shoulda made an extra, but I usually only stick to his obento making and have my own breakfast while he's at school. Drats! : )


As I sat looking at the size of the small obento box and then looked at the sandwich itself and back again. I knew this sandwich would clearly not fit. I guess I coulda crammed and smashed it in there, but then where would I put the fries? Hmmm, you know I might have to go looking for a larger sized metal obento box because I'm just not sure I can squeeze or stuff it all in a 300 ml size at all! : )

Half a breakfast sandwich. And a small amount of fries. And a mikan and 1 jellie. Where did the other half of the sandwich go? Nope I wasn't lucky enough to eat it. Ha ha ha! I asked Branden if he wanted it for breakfast, as well. He said no, he wanted Frosted Flakes instead. So, Noah ate it happily in his high chair! : )

A new "Cook-Do"...chicken chili : )

I *love* the Cook-do's in Japan. I love almost all of them. This is a new one and it's chicken chili. Now, I love ebi chili. Ebi chili is a pretty common meal in Japan. I figured, if I love chicken, and I love ebi chili. Why not try chicken chili. So that's what I did! : )


I fried some chicken breasts in some olive oil.



Now the veggies they said to use on the box is green onion, oh man I love onions of any kind! But Noboru and Branden both hate onion, so I had to leave the onions out. The only other thing they suggested was to use carrots. Somehow *only* chicken and carrots sounded too blah. So I added more veggies on my own.


After everything stir fried. I added the sauce and it said boil until it gets "sticky", so when it was about to that consistency, is when I knew it was time to eat. I was wondering how we'd all like it. Noboru and I loved it. It was a bit spicy for Branden. And much too hot for Noah. Noah had to have some instant egg drop soup with rice and Branden had a bowl of that as well, after he ate about half of the chicken chili. Would I make this again? Absolutely yes! Next time, I will make the kids a separate, better meal and next time I'll know! : )

On our way to pick up Branden from Catholic school and off to swimming school!

Here's Noah on the way to go and pick up Branden at school today!


The back of his hair is getting a bit too long. Hmmm. I might either cut it myself or go to a barber. I totally prefer home hair-cuts, but last time Noboru complained about a part on Noah's hair that he said I messed up a bit. It irked me, because cutting your kids hair is hard and they move and sometimes it comes out better then other times. So, who knows.


Here's Noah while he socializes with all the other little boys and girl's upstairs. These are all the siblings of the kids Branden goes to school with. There's about 4 or 5 little boys all around the same age and about 2 little girl's.


There's Branden doing lap after lap back and forth. You know, I was telling Noboru, I think if we got ship wrecked, I think Branden swims good enough where he could grab a paddle or anything and cruise back to shore! I mean knock on wood anything like that would ever happen, but you know what I mean! Ha ha ha, : )

Branden's class is busy getting instructions by one of the coaches. Meanwhile I glanced in the background and remembered when Branden was back in the class in the back (the easier class and a whole lot more fun, lol) Wow kids change so fast, don't they? Kids really amaze me! They grow in a blink of an eye and before you know it, they are all grown up and it's over! So for now...I'm trying to enjoy it! : )

Well at least until Noah drives me bonkers again, and then I'm wishing for him to get older, ha ha ha! Ahhh, the ying and yang of motherhood! I love it! But yes, Branden is at such an easy cool age right now...really cool age actually! And Noah, isn't doing too bad either really. Knock on wood! : )

First lunch in his little metal obento box! : )

Today is the first day Branden will be taking his metal obento box to school. And yup, it's sure small alright! Much smaller then the 600 ml. Half smaller actually with it being only 300 ml. I am frankly wondering how I will be able to cram everything in 300 ml every day? Hmmm! : )

Anyway making his lunch was easy today! I just warmed up the pasta from last night. The loaf of garlic bread was gone from last night. So I made some more garlic bread out of some regular bread and it came out just fine. Sliced up a yellow apple. And added just 1 jellie today and it was done. Only thing I want to say is that metal lunch box stays super freakishly hot! I made the mistake of touching the bottom of it and it was like burning hot! : )

Dinner, yumm! : )

Tonight I made a shell pasta soup dish. To start I stir fried some pasta shells with some olive oil to get a nice golden brown color and flavor! The flavor is gorgeous by doing it this way!


I started boiling things as soon as everything got nicely browned. I added, garlic salt, regular salt, and black pepper. I also use crushed red pepper for flavor and a mild kick! And I use tomato sauce and some tomato paste to thicken things a bit.


I boiled this and soon my kitchen started smelling so amazing! Garlic, crushed red pepper and a homemade quick sauce boiling away! Yummm! This is one of Branden's and Noboru's favorites. They always end up eating 2 giant bowls of this when it's done!



Funny or lucky for me, at my small rinky dinky country store, they actually sell 100% mozzarella in slices. See? It says 100%. So, I buy two of these every week without fail. I know I'll use it. I used 2 slices of it for tonight's dinner.


I didn't want it drowning in gobs of cheese. Just 2 slices to mild everything and give it a tiny cheesy taste. And Noboru and Branden always add an extra slice to their own, but that's because they love extra cheese!

We had this simple easy cheap homemade meal. It took absolutely no time at all. I shoulda made a salad but I wasn't feeling the salad tonight. We had 1 big loaf of crusty french bread. And I made garlic bread from that! Great for dipping into the sauce! Dinner was so great tonight and so simple! Perfect for staying warm on these chilly yucky looking nights! : )

Obento boxes! : )

For those of you in the states, my family included. This is a picture of comparison.Considering the size of our typical American lunch boxes, especially the ones from the 70's and 80's. Whether they were the big tin ones with thermos inside or the plastic ones with thermos inside. Also, in American sized lunch boxes, you could fit almost anything in there, right? A sandwich placed in a sandwich bag, a whole apple, a small sack of chips and perhaps a Twinkie or ding dong, lol!

So, look at this Japanese lunchbox. It's about the equivalent of a slice of regular bread! Now is that not ridiculously small or what? And us mother's who live in Japan have to cram the sandwich, the side dish, rice and veggie all in that one tiny little box! Ha ha ha! That's exactly why I think in the US, taking lunch is easy and it's simply taking lunch! But in Japan, trying to widdle your lunch down to fit that itty bitty teeny weenie of a size and it's truly become art! Anyway....just thought many of you in the US, might like to see exactly how small these obento boxes really are! : )


Looks like a few obento boxes for sure. And I actually have another Spongebob one that broke and another Thomas, he is using at school right now. When Branden first started yochien. He got 1 obento box, because 1 is plenty. But then you make some stew and you need a bigger one. or summer comes and your obento's are smaller and lighter so then you buy a smaller one. And suddenly you got obento overload! Ha ha ha. Also, they are super easy to break! If they fall just once, especially the lids....forget about it! Go buy another! Sigh! Ha ha ha! That's why I like the bigger Spongebob one in the back, it's all plastic and it is darn near unbreakable! Ha ha ha! But yup, obento boxes have a funny way of adding and multiplying in a household in Japan! And now we add the winter metal one I just got today.....see what I mean? Ha ha ha! : )


A few month's back, I was finished making Branden's obento and suddenly the lid fell. Didn't even fall very hard. But sure enough, the lids to obento boxes are made like fortune cookies, meaning they break so easy! Can you see the crack on the right?

And here is one of my biggest obento boxes, I think this one is 550 ml oh wait, I take that back. My 100% plastic Spongebob one is 600 ml! And that is freakishly big for a child's obento box! Standard for an adults size, but huge for a child's obento box. The smallest one I have is the metal winter one and that's only 300 ml!!! Really small isn't it? Anyway, I hope this was interesting. I know many of you don't live in Japan and are curious about our obento's and obento boxes. Also about the word itself. Obento, means lunch. Obento bako, means lunch box itself. Obento is the polite way to say it. And just plain bento is the normal way. : )

A metal lunch box! Winter obento! : )

So, all the little kids started wearing navy blue sweater vests as the weather has been so chilly and downright cold! Since Branden didn't attend this school last year, we didn't know, so I had to run to Nishimatsuya to find one. Clearly I was out of luck there! They had 130 cm but as I needed a size 120 cm, I knew I better head to Apita. So Noah and I headed there. And I was in luck, I found a plain navy blue vest exactly what the school recommended. Phew! : )

Oh and the school also informed me, that during the Christmas recital, plain white undies are mandatory! No characters allowed at all. What a weird request, especially since nobody would be seeing their undies anyway. Hmmm! Errr, okay! I got them. Still wondering why it matters, but I got them any way. : )


There's a cute little store on the second level that sells Spongebob stuff. I hoped they sold a metal Spongebob obento box, but they didn't. Bummer. But on the bright side they had a different/new Spongebob chisai towel/handkerchief. Kids use these in Japan and if you have kids, you probably have a huge assortment of these. We have tons, 2 Cars ones (the movie Cars), 3 different Spongebob's and Elmo, and 5 different Thomas ones and a Buzz Light-year. Just many and they are cheap. This one was only 115 yen. I also got him a cute mask, ha ha ha! Yup in Japan, not only do we wear masks to protect our kids and ourselves from germs. Or to stop spreading germs, if your kid is the sick one. But you can also find cute ones like this one. This one has a cute little car on it and it was only like 98 yen. So not too bad of a price at all. I put Branden's name on both of these things, and he is now taking the mask with him to school and uses it if he wants.


Then I went looking for a metal lunch box. Now again, Different school means different rules. At our last yochien, plastic lunch boxes were okay to be in the winter lunch warmer, it was up to the parents either way. Because the plastic lunch boxes are safe to be placed in the warmer, during winter time but, yes they will get a bit warped by the heat but just slightly. This happened to ours last year. However, yesterday, the teachers mentioned that some kids plastic lunch box was ruined last week and all contents of their lunch as well, what the hell? Yikes! So they are now changing the rules at this school. And from now on, all kids are required to have a metal lunch box during winter! Not a choice, it's a rule! Sigh, ha ha ha! So, I said, okay. And so today, I looked at Nishimatsuya first when I was there for the vest, they had only a Hello Kitty one and the rest were all plastic ones! I checked Apita and the selection was so slim! They had Ultra Man X and that gokiburi/cockroach character looking thing, the Mushi King and Thomas. Branden's not into Ultraman yet. And the Mushi King, thing, totally yucks me out! Ha ha ha, sorry if any of you are into him. : ) So, Thomas was the one. Granted he's sorta outgrown Thomas, but Thomas is fine, everyone likes Thomas. So Thomas it was, especially considering the selection was so slim!

The price of Japanese obento boxes is high anyway, but the price of the metal ones. Absolutely ridiculous price! Plus including the elastic band to keep it closed that you have to buy separately. It's about $20.00 US/2,000 yen when you buy both the metal box and the band. And if you knew how small these obento boxes were, you'd really think the price was even worse! Ha ha ha! : )

Tuesday : )

Today's obento, I left 1 shrimp unfried from last night's fried shrimp dinner. And wrapped it in plastic wrap last night. So, this morning, I woke up and fried up the lone ebi fry and 3 mini chicken cutlets with cheese inside (these are so fantastic and real chicken breast not processed, I buy them in a bag from the freezer section from the Co-op store), I also had a left over butter broccoli from last night that I added, I wished it woulda stayed a bit brighter green and it was in the beginning, but when I nuked it this morning the color faded a bit, which is okay...I am sometimes a bit hard on myself, when my kids lunches are concerned! But that's okay, nobody's perfect, he he! : )

I peeled him a mikan and I also added a small handful of very sweet grapes, for color and variety! Added a few jellies and voila! I usually got music playing in the kitchen loudly, meanwhile I am walking back and forth from cutting board to pantry to fridge back and again. Sometimes new stuff, sometimes old 80's music stuff. This morning, was old music stuff, I was listening to a mix of stuff on a CD I burned myself it had, Salt and peppa's Push it...., Mars..Pump up the Volume, A very old but good Madonna...Borderline, Sinead's song...Mandinka and other's. It was too darned cold to walk this morning, so I drove Branden to the bus stop with Noah strapped in his seat! Oh, I glanced at my US thermometer that I have and it tracks the inside temp and outside temps. Outside our house was actually 32 degrees F, this morning, which is like 0 C, right? Freaking cold indeed! No wonder we have been staying indoors in our house! It's just too cold outside! Brrr! : )


Noah, this afternoon while on our way to go and pick up Branden from the bus stop. The sun sorta peeked through the clouds this afternoon, but the crisp cold air was relentless all day long. I had to throw long John's on Noah, and a turtleneck underneath his little jogging outfit as well, so he'd stay warm. We also drove to the bus stop and only got out of the car, when we saw the bus pulling up. But it was still cold!

I baked some gorgeous big baked potatoes for dinner tonight, and we also had a pork roast and some veggies and I also baked some corn bread tonight for dinner as well! It was a nice quiet night! Just hanging home and watching lot's of TV! : )

Ebi furai/fry tonight! Have a good night everyone! : )

After a semi-hectic morning. I totally enjoyed my early afternoon ( I did pull the shrimp from the freezer to the fridge early enough) I sat on the couch and just vegged out until about 11:30 am. Then I got a bit done around the house and around 1:30 pm is when I started getting dinner prepped for tonight. I peeled and cleaned and broke the backs on the shrimp. Salted and peppered and breaded them with egg, flour and panko and stuff. And threw the shrimp into the little cheapo tupperware plastic dish and stuck them in the fridge with the lid on and that's where they are right now, even as I type this.

So fried shrimp will be on the menu at our house tonight. And steamed and buttered veggies and a yummy simple lettuce and tomato salad with some goma dressing and rice of course! Have a good evening everyone! : )

What a shitty morning so far! : )

What a crappy morning! On the bright side it can only get better right? : )

You all know I'm not a morning person at all and Monday morning's are just the absolute worst for me, because I've gotten used to sleeping in on Saturday and Sunday and like it...so Monday's early wake up, feels like a punishment ha ha ha! So anyway, the alarm wakes me up this morning at 6:40 am, I snoozed it twice, the second time, I actually missed the clock entirely and whacked the bed post, seriously! Lucky for me I managed to find the alarm "by touch" without having to actually open my eyes! Ha ha ha! So all was good.

I dragged myself downstairs. My routine is, hot coffee stat, 5 minutes of CNN and then make lunch, then go and get Branden and make sure he gets his uniform on and his teeth brushed and hair combed, make him breakfast and then he gets to watch 5 minutes of cartoons before we run out the door. All of this is possible because Noah usually sleeps until I wake him up and we go cruising down the street or Noboru will walk Branden to the bus stop as well and I'll stay with Noah depending on his schedule. And then I'll come back home and watch a full hour of CNN.

Or sometimes, Noah will wake up freakishly happy like most days (which is amazing to me, because I usually hate waking up and am a complete grouch in the mornings) and sit quietly in his high chair nibbling some toast.

But this morning? OMG! Noah woke up screaming and crying, down right inconsolable! No chance for coffee, no chance for CNN. All he wanted was to be held. Which woulda been fine *if* I had all the time in the world, so this made making Branden's obento rather difficult with the use of only 1 hand! Yup, slicing bread crusts off with one hand, spreading Miracle Whip with only one hand. Making an entire lunch one handed? Not fun at all! I finally hand enough and let him sit in the high chair where he could throw himself a fit and I could make the lunch! What else could I do? Cancel Branden's school for the day? Of course not! It's days like today, when it's *so* hard to have a tiny tot *and* a school aged toddler at the same damned time!

I threw on a sweatshirt and slipped on my Crocs, only because going back up the stairs, to get some socks was outta the question (I was already holding Noah at the genkan and all the yochien stuff), so I slipped on the clogs, with my standard housemom outfit, 1 of my 4 pairs of my yoga pants and a zip up sweatshirt, messy pony tail and holding a Noah with some footie pajamas and in the other hand I held Branden's backpack and school bags. Threw it all in the car and we drove to the bus stop today. Sorry but after all that....running down the street and up the hill just seemed out of the question at this point! We sat waiting in the car with the heater blowing nice warm air. With the weather as freaking cold as it's been here in Chiba....it's certainly going to be good to go away to someplace hot for the holidays, I tell ya! : ) We had an Old Rolling Stones CD on and we waited. Next thing you know the 2 female teachers came in the school bus. And I got out, and helped Branden with the bags and backpack into the school bus and hopped back into my car with Noah. And by this time, he was calm but a minute earlier he was crying his eyes out, go figure! He must have got all cried out, he was done with it, oh thank god!

We got back home, I finally just got my hot coffee and I'm now on my second cup of joe right now. About to blog this and go sit down and watch some CNN, before I have to start cleaning the house! What's for dinner tonight? Oh man....I'll have to think about that one a little bit later! : )

Bugolgi tonight!

I love Korean food, and I really like the Cook- Do Korea series they sell here in Japan. Tonight, I made some bulgogi beef and veggies. Just fried up some very lean beef in some sesame oil, for flavor! And then I fried up the veggies and added the delicious pre-made sauce and yumm! I'm so glad I decided to fry the meat in the sesame oil, as it made a huge difference in the flavor. Yummm! : )

Japanese women and their little Minnie Mouse type voices.

I was just wondering if any of you western women living in Japan have noticed that many Japanese women (but to be fair, not all) tend to, oh what's the word. Strain their voices? No maybe that's not the word. Hmm, anyway they sorta try to sound really child like. Like they are really little tiny girls, like around 3-6 years old maybe. Sounding almost like they have been sucking on helium almost in many cases. Whether I am watching Japanese television and hear many Japanese TV personalities do this. Or whether I am just out and about in Japan, I hear many Japanese women make their voices 5 octaves higher, then their voices probably actually really are!

I watch a lot of TV and many movies. I love TV shows and movies from the UK and America. And I can tell you, I have never heard a western women sound like this or do this thing with their voice. Even Marilyn did more of a sultry type voice not the ...I've been sucking on 20 helium balloons type voice we get here in Japan.

And not all Japanese women who strain their voices like this are cute little Japanese ladies like you'd think either! I've seen like Japanese women in their mid 50's with a punch perm, smoking a ciggie, skin looks so tan, it's practically orange and sun beaten, and looks like she'd been around the block about a billion times, yet she sounded like an 8 year old girl with a smidgen of Marge Simpsons' raspy voiced smoke-aholic sister's voice mixed in here and there! Yikes!!!!

You know, when I went to the salon a few weeks back. I sat in the back as the shampoo girl washed my hair. Meanwhile I heard this tiny little peep of a voice from the front of the salon. I can usually tell if it's an adult Japanese lady just doing that *thing* with her voice. However this time, I was totally fooled. At first I thought that helium type voice was from one of my kids? Did Noboru swing by the salon with the kids to tell me something? Maybe they were heading fishing or something? I picked up my head and looked to where the tiny little kid voice was coming from. And sure enough, to my surprise this time, it was a grown Japanese women talking!

Saturday

I ran to the grocery store this afternoon. Got another weeks worth of food.

I came home and unloaded the groceries. Noboru meanwhile started hanging some lights on the fence. Then dinner time came, not feeling like cooking and also not really feeling like a home-cooked meal this evening either! Ha ha ha. We all hopped in the car and headed to Mc Donald's. Noboru got the Big Mac combo, I got the grilled chicken combo with fries, man they make great fries! And Branden and Noah each got a happy meal/set. We didn't rent any movies this weekend. We watched the movie White Chicks. And then later after baths and stuff we watched American Pie on satellite on the Fox channel and then after that, we switched channels and caught the last hour of The Other's with Nicole Kidman. We've seen both of them a few times already but they're both good movies, so it was nice. Just a really quiet night here.

For Sunday, nothing is really planned either. Noboru works on Sunday from 6:00 am to 2:00 pm. So with waking up so early, like 4:30 am early! He will probably come home tired. I'll make dinner and we'll just be hanging out at home with the boys.

My brother in-law Jun and Satoe just came back from Guam Thursday night. It was both of their first time being there. They both loved it! I'm really happy they had such a good time! And my MIL Mitsuko flew out of KIX on Friday October 1st to head to Honolulu herself. She'll be there for 4 nights. She is in Honolulu alone right now, she wanted some private time to herself and she often travels alone like this. As for us, we won't be doing much ourselves until we leave in a few weeks.

Christmas plans? : )

So what are everyone's plans for Christmas?

Anyone going home for the holidays? Anyone going back to the states? Going back to Canada or perhaps the UK? Or if you can't, are you all planning a nice cozy family holiday here in Japan? Please, share your family holiday plans! Anyone going to an onsen or anyone going sledding? Doesn't matter what the plans, whether they be big or small they are all special, so what's everyone up to for the holidays?

I'll share our Christmas plans with you all. : )

We are all heading to Honolulu, Hawaii on December 22nd. Which means we will also arrive on December 22nd as well, since Japan is a day ahead of the US. We will arrive at like 7:30 am Honolulu time. We will stay in Waikiki from the 22nd to the 28th. So 6 nights in total! 7 full days! It's going to be cool!

Those of you who knows me, know we always go off someplace every Christmas. We usually head to Guam or Hawaii or Denver or Los Angeles. But with my dad no longer in Denver. And the flight to Los Angeles is packed, so seeing my mom for the holidays is out. And Guam...we go to Guam all the time. So, we are hitting Hawaii and with the rental car, we will be cruising the whole island (thank god we used to live there, that way, we know we won't get lost, ha ha ha) Going someplace tropical for Christmas is beginning to be our Christmas pattern here and I really don't mind!

Last year's Christmas morning was spent, waking up in our hotel room in Guam, the boys opening up 2 small gifts each and then we hit the breakfast buffet at the resort where we were staying, wearing shorts and flip flops with our swimsuits on underneath and then hitting the sandy beach afterwards all day long, ordering lunch from the pool restaurant and then having a gorgeous dinner. I imagine our Christmas this year will be pretty much the same, except this year we'll be in Waikiki. So a bit unorthodox, yes maybe, with not waking up and shuffling down to the Christmas tree to unwrap 100 presents they'd all forget about in a weeks time, lol. But we will be together as a family and that's what counts. I don't want the boys to grow up to expect a ton of Christmas gifts as a given. I want them to concentrate and remember how we were always together as a family and happy on the holiday and not stress the "how many gifts they got." Don't get me wrong though, they will get a few gifts and a filled Christmas stocking each, but it won't be the focus of the holiday that's for sure! : )

So, what are your holiday plans? I imagine many of us will be zipping through Narita airport this month! Ha ha ha! : )

Swimming school on a Friday afternoon! : )

And even though I haven't been blogging much about Branden's swim school. He's still be going to swimming lessons every week (minus the 2 weeks he was sick though). You wouldn't believe how much he has been progressing! He loved water always. But it's still amazing to me that in July, when he started he knew nothing really about swimming except he enjoyed the water. His skills are getting better and better. He was diving into the water this afternoon head first and as I watched him through the glass, I recalled how far along he's come! Today's pic, is of Noah looking through the glass while eating a senbei and watching his brother. I think Noah will be more then ready, when he finally gets to go to swimming school.

Meanwhile this gave me time to socialize a bit with the other mom's from the same Catholic yochien. We were all talking about the upcoming Christmas recital. And the play will be... get this, Jack in the Bean Stalk. Branden has a small role of a goblin in this, which is perfect for me, less stress and worry if my kid messes up, ha ha ha! : )

However....as I sat smiling and nodding in agreement with whatever they were talking about, lol, I was really wondering. #1 what does Jack in the Bean Stalk have to do with Christmas? Anyone..anyone...Bueller??? And also #2 where in the Jack and the Bean Stalk fairy tale, was there a goblin anyway? I recall a harp and a goose? But certainly can't recall any goblin! And seriously again...what is the Jack in the Bean Stalk/Christmas connection here? Anyone, anyone? Ha ha ha! : )