Blanket washing...

Exactly 7 days ago. Last Tuesday May 16th, was my great big blanket washing day. I wash everyone's top and fitted sheet and pillow case once a week like clockwork, because it's thin and can fit easily in my washing machine at home. However every 2 weeks, I wash the whole kit and caboodle of every one's bed. Thick comforter. Duvet covers. In winter the thick fleece type blankets in summer the thin towelket type summer blankies. With 1 queen sized bed of bedding and 2 twins. On big blanket washing day...it's best for me to just run everything to the laundry mat and do it all in 1 fell swoop versus doing load after load to infinity at home. So, everyone knew where mom (me) was going that morning. And as soon as Bran went to the train station and 45 minutes later I dropped Noah off at elementary school. I came home stripped 3 beds down. Put everything inside my trunk, grabbed my dryer sheets and headed to the one and only laundry mat in town. I used 2 huge blanket washers. This one has a lot of stuff from every one's bed. 

This one has the duvet from everyone's bed. The plain white comforters that go inside all our duvet covers. Duvet covers were washing in the other washer. After getting my 2 washers started. I sat in my car and read my magazine that I had brought. About 10 minutes after I arrived... here comes Saya-chan's mama. Saya-chan is the sweetest kindest girl who had been Bran's classmate since the first grade. She's also an only child. Anyway, so her mom was blanket washing too. : ) So a quick wave and smiles between us both. And back to my magazine I went, S's mom is about 8-10 years older than Noboru and I, super nice lady though. : ) 

Then I came inside and tossed my blankets now into the dryers. I used 3 dryers and put 3 coins each because I wanted my blankets hot and toasty and fresh and clean. At that point in came Saya-chan's mom too. Her laundry had finished and she put hers into the dryer. And she asked how Bran has been enjoying high school. He absolutely loves it, I told her. How's Saya-chan doing, I asked. She's really happy with her school too. Aww. Cool. : ) And after a brief chit chat, before you know it, my laundry was done. And I said good bye, see you around. : ) We live in the same housing community so of course we will still see each other. : ) And I left. : ) 

And now I was home and back to making all the beds now. I put Noah's fitted sheet down. Then this quilted yellow elephant fitted one on too. And now that the weather is getting hotter. I packed the warm fleece blankets away the day before. And I washed the towelkets for everyone. Noah's is Paddington Bear. These are perfect for sleeping on in the summer. And they also have one to cover up with too. 

Noah. : )

Now it was time to put Noah's freshly washed white fluffy inside blanket inside his duvet cover. 

And nice and fresh and clean. Smells so wonderful! You will have wonderful dreams in your bed kiddo. : ) 

Branden. : ) Yep, I made Bran's bed too. All nice and fresh.

You will sleep wonderfully with fresh bedding!

After making the beds. I vacuumed the upstairs. Then the downstairs. Swooshed and bleached both toilets. Bleached the kitchen counters. And then I took a 1 hour much deserved rest. I had a ham and cheese sandwich. And a jasmine tea. I laid down on the couch and watched a little TV. Oh yeah...I forgot to mention I also switched the couch winter blankets to the summer towelkets we lay down on the couch. So they're fresh and clean too. I laid on the couch after my lunch and about 60-70 minutes later of rest, I got a jump start on dinner. And then of course, I made my after school pick ups. Picking up Noah from school and then Bran from the train station. After supper. I quickly cleaned the kitchen and threw everything in the dishwasher. And I went up and took myself a nice hot soapy shower. And I relaxed on the couch in my night gown/sleep tee would be more accurate (knee length) and I felt myself starting to doze off around 9:30pm. I was exhausted. Really really tired. So, I went upstairs to sleep. : ) 

Cool Japan! Clear tea, have you seen it yet? Suntory Premium Morning Tea...

Has anyone seen this yet? Or tasted it? I took this picture about a month ago, it's in my April 2017 file. Let me go and check for the exact date brb. I snapped this pic April 26th, so a few days shy of a full month ago. I also must point out, that I do a once a week big grocery shopping in Inzai City weekly. I hit at least 3 shops on that day. Costco, Besia and Joyful Honda. Sometimes others. So, I do get to see what's new. What just came in to the stores or shops for us in Japan. I also go to a handful of stores in the small city nearest me on a different day but once a week too and I do go to the 1 store in town too. So, I do go to many different grocery stores and get to see all sorts of new products. Remember when I snapped that Calpis Water? Yeah now it's everywhere and doesn't raise an eyebrow, but I remember when it first came out and I shared it here. Anyways back in April, I spotted this right away at the Besia grocery store in Inzai and I bought 2. One for Branden to take to high school the next day. Kids drink their own drinks or can buy them at the school. And I bought one for Noah too. Noah had it that very day, as soon as he got out of school. This sort of reminded me of Crystal Pepsi. Does that make sense? Because when most people think of a cola, they think a brown or caramel colored soda. That's the color I think of when I think of Coke or Pepsi. And so when Crystal Pepsi first came out, I thought...clear Pepsi? 7-Up, Sprite are clear, but a clear Pepsi was a tad mind blowing at the time. I do think the world did get over it. But yeah it was a bit surprising at first. And now...when I think of an iced tea in summer time with a twist of lemon in it. I think a nice light brown tea colored drink. So yeah as I was cruising with my cart at Besia and I saw this @_@ I stopped for a second and thought to myself...Crytsal or clear tea? What the....???@_@ So, like I said, I bought 2 for the kids. 

Branden said when he took it out at lunch back in April, the whole class was like..."what's that?!!!" He said, "tea I think...but I don't know either, my mom just bought it at the store the day before." : )Bran said he likes the taste of this too. Noah likes the taste too. And this is now everywhere in Japan and even at conbini's/convenience stores near Bran's school so even though I buy him/make sure he packs 1 drink from home daily... he also buys one at school or along the way to school too. And he often buys this. That's how much he likes this. : ) Anyway...would you believe I have not tasted this one yet? Maybe I'll give it a try this coming week. : )

Anything new to add? We went to the Outback Steakhouse last night for our anniversary dinner. It was awesome. Today, tomorrow and Wednesday Bran has major tests. However in high school you only take 2 tests a day and get to come home early. For example, Branden got out of school at 11am today. He will get out that time tomorrow and Wednesday too. His tests today were just math and science. High schools here don't want to stress kids out. And that's probably why Branden has zero stress at all. In JHS though, at least for ours...they tested you all in 1 darn day, all 5 subjects, so it was like 1 day of hell. And kids were stressed to the max. High school is *so* much nicer than JHS. I will be picking up Bran from the train station soon. What's for supper tonight? A nice tender big ol' pot of beef stew. Tomorrow night it's going to be American style fried chicken tenders and mashed potatoes and gravy and veggies. But tonight just a nice simple pot of beef stew and a side of rice. Anyway, I better hop in my car and get myself to the train station to go pick up Bran. Noah gets out at normal time 3:45pm, but we'll both be there to pick up Noah as soon as school lets out. : )

Today's our 20th wedding anniversary...

This pic was taken at the free-standing Tiffany and Co. store inside the Narita airport after clearing security and immigration. They were expecting us and even had our names. : )

As soon as we gave our name we were seated down in a private table and chairs at the back of the Tiffany store. Noboru had been wanting to buy me a platinum ring for our anniversary and he trusts Tiffany and so we went with that. : )

Twenty years ago this very day. May 21st we were married in a Roman Catholic church in Osaka, Japan. His family was there. My family was there. And I married my best friend. 20 years later, 2 sons later. We're still head over heels for one another. And we dated for 5 long years before that, so we were super sure we were each others soul mates by that point. I'm not going to make this long. Not going to make this sappy or emotional. I'm just going to say, I love you honey! Thanks for always making me laugh in the best of times. Thanks for always holding my hand in the hard or sad times. Thanks for being "present" in our relationship every single day. Thanks for taking out the garbage every single week. Because you know..it's your guy job! Hahaha. Sorry! : ) Thanks for doing all the driving and letting me be your co-pilot (ha!) and letting me always get to pick *all* the music we listen to in the car! But to be fair... I do play good music though, so we're good.  Thanks for attending 99% of all Branden and Noah's observation days, you truly care (hey, sometimes he just doesn't get the day off and I *always* understand when he can't)...because you're such a rock star dad and husband and we know it! Thanks for every time that I see a spider... all I have to do is scream and I know you'll come running with a tissue to kill it! Thanks for the 2 times we saw a snake in the yard. I screamed and you without fear grabbed a stick and removed them to the field next door. You are truly a protector of this house and I love that. Thanks for taking such amazing care of our grass, we seriously have the best most fantastic lawn in all of Japan, because of you! Thanks for taking me for our once a year big vacation every summer, because you know how important that is for an expat living in a foreign land to go back to the US every summer. Thanks for taking me on husband-wife dates once a week for the past 20 years. That means to me... that you truly value me and value our marriage and so do I. Thanks for manning the BBQ grill like a total bad ass, all summer long too. Thanks for being such a wonderful family man, you truly put your family first. Thanks for just being you. If given the choice, I'd pick you and do it all again. 

What are we planning to do today or this evening to celebrate? I made everyone a special breakfast feast this morning. And after that Noboru went outside and did some yard work. Japan has suddenly been super hot the last couple days, but Noboru enjoys being outside in our yard working on things. It's been like 86 degrees F the last couple days. I miss the cooler weather days. Now I can see the hotter days are fast approaching. I rearranged my living room after breakfast this morning with the help of Branden and Noah. The furniture is totally flipped and looks totally different now and I love it. Remember I switched the boys furniture a few weeks back. Now the living room is complete. Anyway...in a nutshell. Our anniversary day has been rather uneventful and been spent at home. This evening the 4 of us will go out to dinner to celebrate as a family. And we're all looking forward to that. : ) 

Throwback Thursday. Good eats from May 2008...

Happy TBT everyone! I thought today would be a good day to share a handful of pics of my family sitting down at the dinner or breakfast table enjoying some family time and some good food. I like to cook and also bake as you know. And I like it when my family gathers around the table to sit down for a good home cooked meal. So here's just a miscellaneous bunch of pics from May 2008, okay? : ) This day, we all had our own salads and we all had my ginger karaage on top of rice. Like a karaage bowl basically. Also, I used to *really* love this salad dressing in Japan. It was like a very garlic-y Italian type deal and it was so delicious. I really miss this salad dressing. : ) 

For those in the know. Know that Ibaraki prefecture is like superly famous for their melons. They're super sweet and super cheap in price. I mean like honey dew, watermelon, cantaloupe. You name it...if it's a melon Ibaraki sells it and it's super sweet and delicious. Also we live like seriously teeter tottering the Cbiba and Ibaraki border. And we live about 5 minutes from Ibaraki. So melons of any kind around where we live... are always super cheap. And frankly...any fruit around our part of Japan is super cheap. Also, in the Spring and Summer we BBQ at least once a week. We BBQ burgers, ribs, yakiniku. You name it...we'd gladly throw it on the BBQ grill. : ) This day our family was just kicking it with some yakiniku, some lettuce for wrapping out meat with. And some superly sweet watermelon of course. 

Another day, I baked the fam a coconut cake. 

Just a little whipped cream on the top and because fruit is super cheap around here, like I said, I added some super sweet fresh strawberries. 

Cooking is a life skill, same as swimming (which is why my boys have gone to swim school since age 3 for Noah and age 4 for Bran and why they grew up swimming and even both swam competitively in elementary school). So, I always taught my kids how to help in the kitchen. How to peel potatoes, slice veggies, crack eggs, dredge chicken. You name it, they grew up learning how to do it. Here Bran was chopping veggies for our salad. Same day as the coconut cake btw. : )

And even the teeniest tiniest not quite even 3 years old yet Noah, helped clean the spinach in the salad spinner. Look how happy he was. Kids really do love to help. It helps them feel useful. 

Fantastic job Noah! 

And the 3 of us ate dinner this night. Noboru was at work. But, we enjoyed the gorgeous salad Branden made for us all. And enjoyed the super clean spinach Noah helped with. And the homemade chicken cutlet, I made. And of course, we had Ibaraki melon on the table too for the boys to enjoy and some cake for the kiddos to enjoy too! Our dinner this night was a real family effort. 

Weekends, both Saturday and Sundays always mean 2 things. I will sleep in until 7am. And I will be making a nice leisurely breakfast for us all. Everyone in our house looks forward to my weekend breakfasts. This day we had blueberry pancakes.

Oh my good helpers were back for more helping! : ) 

Crispy American bacon on the table from Costco in Japan. Melon of course because melons are super cheap around here. And fresh fruit is so good for kids. And you see some pancake toppings. Blueberry jam, some margarine and some pancake syrup.We also had whipped cream.

Good morning family. Noboru diving right into that coffee. : )

Aha, whipped cream now we see you! See, I knew you were there. And Noah tucking right into that bacon! 

Branden had like 2 melon slices that morning besides the pancakes and bacon. 

Philly cheesesteaks. I miss those good ol' American sandwiches. However ever since we moved to Japan, I have been making my own version of it for my family. Now days the kids prefer beef too. But back in the day Noboru preferred the beef and the kids and I preferred the chicken. I also have sliced up bell pepper, onion and mushrooms. And a little cheese to top it off when it's done. And I use the teeniest tiniest teaspoon of this yakitori sauce. Not so much you think...am I eating yakitori? But just the tiniest teaspoon like I said... to give your meat and veggies a tiny bit of flavor. Nobody even knows what I add. But I'll tell you guys. Put it this way....if your family can tell...you used yakitori sauce...you officially used too much. If they go..."hey, this is so good...I wonder what she used" Then you used the right amount. : ) 

Noboru hates onions as you know, so he just wanted mushrooms and beef. I placed it in a fresh bakery baguette and called it done! : )

Chicken done, veggies just trying to get cooked...

The tiniest amount of sauce. Little salt and pepper. And I added a small handful of cheese. And plated it up for Branden and also for Noah and myself. 

Gorgeous! And everything is available here in Japan. And it's a good meal to add in your regular recipes. Just gives you 1 more thing to try out. Plus it's super easy to make. If you like it, that makes me happy and if you don't...truly no worries. As always...just always trying to help. : )

A little handful of fries. And the whole family enjoy whenever I make my version of Philly steak sandwiches. : ) I make these about 5-6 times a year, even now. : ) 

Branden was a pika pika ichinensei (first grader) and he and all his classmates had to show up Monday with an increased number of jumps that they could jump with their jump rope. So all afternoon long, Noboru and Noah were outside encouraging and cheering Branden on! I was meanwhile in the house making supper for the fam-bam, garlic bread, meatballs, we were having spaghetti and meatballs that night. But, I was watching and giving Bran the thumbs up a lot. And would open the door periodically and tell him...what a good job he was doing! 

Garlic bread nicely done, but not time to whack in the oven yet. The onion nicely caramelized for the meatballs. The veggies diced for the salad. And the mushrooms and bell peppers for the up and coming spaghetti sauce. Meanwhile Bran was outside with his little brother and dad and counting how many jumps he could make with his jump rope. : ) Hahaha. 

Another breakfast. A cheese omelet with crispy bacon inside a croissant. And a hash brown toasted in the toasted oven. And I'm pretty sure... we had some melon to go with this breakfast too. 

Backyard BBQ happened again. And yes that is watermelon as our dessert. : ) 

This day the kids and I made chocolate peanut butter chip cookies from scratch. 

I love their cheesy innocent grins. True and honest happiness. And quality time with their mama (me)

And of course they wanted to try 1 cookie from each batch. I think we had about 3 dozen cookies when we finished. : )

Eggs, bacon, rice and some peaches for breakfast. And some juice. I like knowing they eat very filling meals 3 times a day. With yes some snacks in between because hey...they're kids. : )

Ebi fry night. With some fresh fruit and a delicious cabbage and mini tomato salad on the side. And I'm sorry to bring this up again...but I really miss this salad dressing. I wish they'd bring it back. : (

You know you have an American mom when you are outside on a weekend in your backyard in Japan on your American jungle gym and it's lunch time and you and your brother are eating grilled cheese sandwiches. LOL. : )  Anyway have a good night everyone! : )

Anything to add from today? I went to Costco today. And did my weekly shopping today too. I'm now all nicely stocked up until next Thursday.  From the regular grocery store and Costco too. : ) I also bought my summer bag from Costco today too. A huge navy blue tote from Ralph Lauren, with great big red polo player and horse on it. The red plaid one I bought for winter that is like wool scarf material or whatever..it's too warm looking for the weather now. And I have been wanting a basic bag that's big/huge. That's nicely made. And it has to be under ichiman yen (US$100) So nice, but not outrageously fancy shmancey and expensive, if ykwim. Anyways, I'm happy to have a bag for Spring weather and Summer weather now. : )

Noah got off school today at 2:50pm. He's home. He just finished his homework. Bran will be home around 5-ish. And I am making yakisoba tonight for dinner. As soon as I end this post. I'm going to go in the kitchen and kick on my music. And get dinner made. Omg... Bran just LINED me just now...he's already on his way home... right now. Holy smokes. I better get dinner kicked into gear right now. 

Looking for a MAC lipstick dupe at the Narita International airport Duty Free. A new Amazon order arrived (2 DVDs and 1 book), 10 serrano chili plants arrived too. Plus the rice Noah grew at school...

I wear makeup about 3 times a week. However I like my makeup to not *look* like I'm wearing makeup. Do you know what I mean?  Everyone has a MLBB out there. Some of you have found yours, some of you maybe haven't found yours yet. And maybe you're more so a bold red lips fan and hey that's okay too. But as for me...I have always avoided a strong lip. Strong makeup. In high school and college, I would just use a clear lip gloss and call my lips done! I just don't want my makeup to mask or overpower my face. And then I was listening to a beauty Vlogger and she said..."my lips but better" and explained it as a shade "just" like your lips but just better. And she's a brunette and is about 1 shade darker skin color than I am. But since her hair and coloring isn't too off from me and I trust her suggestions anyways. I wrote a few she liked down from the drugstore and tried them, when we were in Hawaii last time. I think I tried about 3 or 4. They were all from the drugstore. And while I did like all her suggestions. The one that was truly my MLBB was this...the Loreal Glossy Balm in the shade Lovely Mocha. She too said this was her closest match too. And it's mine too. I have since gone through a full one of these and this one is nearly out too. I do have 1 brand new spare upstairs. And I will forever repurchase this one. Because #1 it's affordable. Plus it suits me the best. The only down side is... after a while the tube looks old. And my lipsticks stay in my small cosmetics pouch in my bag...meaning they don't float all over my purse. So it's weird it looks this scruffy. My high end lipsticks look like new, but this one looks...well...like it's seen better days. And add to that...it's a tad embarrassing to touch up my lips with this scruffy lippie on important days like graduation day or entrance ceremony day. So, while this is my ride or die shade. I will use for typical normal days. I knew I needed to find a dupe. Except...where as most people look for cheaper dupes of higher end products. I was looking for a dupe in reverse. LOL. I needed an exact 100% identical dupe that I can use on important days and the tube won't look all old and busted.  

Yep color #200 but also has a name and it's Lovely Mocha. 

On our way to Guam last week. We had about 2 hours to kill before our flight. And the reason we wanted to get through the TSA at Narita Airport and go to the Duty Free area is because there is a Tiffany and Co. Free-standing shop downstairs (meaning not inside a duty free store but an actual Tiffany store all by it's self, a free standing shop, but everything you buy, would still be duty free) and Noboru was set to buy me my present from Tiffany and Co. From a month beforehand and considering buying at the actual free standing store and considering it was 20% off, was a fantastic deal. We had already knew what I was going to be getting. Noboru had phoned them at Narita airport twice to make sure they had my ring size I needed in stock. And so when we went in there, they had my size and 1 size smaller and 1 size larger set aside for us. They took us to a nice table and chairs and I picked the right size, that I felt was a perfect fit, the lady checked and said that was her pick for the size for me too and Noboru agreed too, he thought the same and then Noboru paid and that only took about 25-28 minutes. It didn't take too long at all. We thought we'd be in there longer, which is why we ended up with so much free time. So...after we exited Tiffany's. A fabulous cosmetics Duty free was right near with Addiction (a great brand) and may other brands but they had Mac. And I love Mac and I asked Noboru and Noah to help me find a lipstick dupe of my Loreal one and I pulled my Loreal out. And the Japanese makeup artist. An amazing wonderful makeup artist. Asked me if she could swatch my Loreal? And I said "of course, please" An she swatched it and she went through about 30 MLBB shades and she said this ones too orange... this one leans too dark.. this one leans too pink. I mean she was relentless. She even said...this one is close, but not an exact match. And she went through every shade and if you know Mac they make hundreds of shades. And then she had a hit! And she said compare these. She also said, I think this is a match. And I swatched both on my wrist too and sure enough. An exact match. This lady was like the best lady. She has no idea, how much I appreciated her help. Also at the duty free in Narita airport all their Mac stuff is in English. Where as if... you buy in a regular shop in Japan the names are in Japanese. So a plus buying at duty free plus they're loads cheaper. 

Cosmo. I have heard of this shade before on YouTube and would have never guessed this would be the perfect dupe for Loreal Glossy Balm in Lovely Mocha, but it is. Go figure. : )

I'm really glad to have a dupe. : ) Next time I fly out of Narita airport and I have some time to kill, I will definitely be hitting the makeup counters again. They rock at Narita airport and they're so helpful too. : ) 

One of my Amazon.com orders arrived. Two more are on the way too.

Fools Rush In with Mathew Perry and Salma Hayak, this is such a cute movie, I have loved this movie since it first came out. Rogue One (right on) And sadly...can't believe it's been a full year since Prince died. His ex-wife Mayte Garcia wrote a book about her life before Prince, during Prince and after wards. I watched her on a reality series, I think it was canceled a few years ago, but it was called Hollywood Exes. I really liked that show. And she was always pretty quiet about Prince. When I heard she wrote this book, I was curious what she had to say since she's always been super quiet about him, even when he was alive. And I read on Amazon that so many people thought she was so respectful of him. In the way she wrote this. And I thought...wow! I should read that. And so yep, I will start reading this, this coming weekend. : ) 

Ya'll know we live in a real rural town here in Japan, right? Online the term "rural" usually only applies for folks who live in a town with less than 15,000 people in it. The fact our town has barely 5 thousand people in it. Means yes...we live in a *real* true rural town. Anyways...all 5th graders in our elementary school plant rice. Branden planted rice when he was a 5th grader. They even helped cut it down. Anyways Noah also planted it last year and they looked after it for the full rice growing season...they even cut it down... it's been drying. And was finally ready to be given to the kids who planted it and looked after the schools rice field all last year. All the 6th graders received a bag of the rice they grew. 3 cups of rice for each child/student. : ) Noah proudly brought this home last Monday. And I made it to go along with our dinner... that very night. Good thing because I was just about to make the rice after I brought Noah home. : ) The rice is very white and such high quality. The kids did such a good job with their rice crop!

What beautiful rice. Yep Noah and his class did a great job. It's little things like this...that make me love living where we live. I love living in rural Japan! The kids get such a fun upbringing! These cool smart country kids! : )

In other news our chili's came. 10 serrano chili plants! These are supposedly hotter than jalapenos. And we need the heat for my pork green chili. Noboru and I spent about 30 minutes outside together this morning planting the 10 into bigger planters. 

A random pic of Noah about to hop on his very cool mountain bike (used to be his brothers) and go and play with about 3-4 of his classmates. As long as the weather is good. And his homework is finished. He is more than welcome to go and get some country kid play in! Which means being unplugged and not screened on any device. It means actually riding his bike...or playing tennis up at the tennis courts in our housing community. Just being a regular kid in the outdoors, getting plenty of exercise. This summer more than likely they'll be off trying to catch zarigani/crawdads in the streams or beetles in the trees. Typical inaka/rural boy stuff. : )