The Midnight Fight

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 It wasn't a cockroach this time.

Actually, I haven't seen any this summer. Maybe one or two small ones. But not the massive ones I was expecting.

I think one reason is that we used this stuff a few times before we moved in.

Just add water to make a smoke that gets into every corner.

https://amzn.to/45XS1e2   This is the link for the product on Amazon.

I would love to do it again, but not sure what to do with the cats!  It says it's safe for children, but I think you have to be out of the house while it's working!  Trying to get the cats into their carry cages is not fun! I'll have to see if there is a product that is alright to use with the cats. Any ideas?

Anyway, last night's visitor was this little guy!

A little lizard.

I don't mind them so much; they don't make me scream or give me goosebumps like insects do, but I didn't like the idea of it hanging around my room while I was sleeping!  

I called Christopher to catch it for me. But it ran away and hid somewhere; it's still hiding now!  

I wonder how it got in. My windows have screens on them. Another mystery!

Sixty -Three

 That's how old I am today!

I can't decide if that's old or not!

When I was in elementary school, we were asked to imagine what the year 2000 would be like. This was around 1972, when there seemed to be endless possibilities for the year 2000, including flying cars, robots cleaning houses, and computers that responded to voice commands, much like those in Star Trek.  I couldn't write anything for ages because I figured out Winventions!

Now 38 seems too young! Just the beginning of life!

When I hear of people passing away in their 60s, 70s, or even 80s, I think it's too young.

When did this mind shift happen?  I used to think that living until your 70s was good, a life well spent, but now I think it's too young to die.

Maybe it's not to do with the number, but what you are doing every day. 

Am I living my best life, squeezing in as many conversations with those that are important to me, having little adventures every day, growing and discovering new things about myself, my life, this incredible planet that we live on? Or am I mindlessly binge-watching TV, ignoring my loved ones, and focusing on the things that aren't working instead of living in gratitude for the things that I have?

I feel that I'm not living my life with purpose; I am wasting too much time watching TV or messing around on social media instead of focusing on what I should be doing!

As I said yesterday, today is the start of another year for me. I don't want to be in the same situation this time next year. I want to be healthier, I want my business to grow, and I want to start a new business. I want to see my kids' lives getting better. 

So I start now. I start by doing some exercise before I go to bed tonight. I start by reading a page in easy Japanese. I'll make a plan for tomorrow and follow through with what needs to be done. 

I was looking through some photos to add to this post. I always feel my life was so hard, and in many ways it has been. But looking at these old photos, I've come to realize that it wasn't all bad. I was loved, first by my parents and siblings, later by my husband, and now by my kids!

I was, maybe, in my late 20s here.

With Mom, Mikey, and Alan.

First time in Japan.

In my 40s with the kids in the UK.

I always feel that I'm not photogenic. This is from last year with Hannah.

Not too bad!

So here's hoping this next year will see a lot of improvements!!!

Feeling Overwhelmed

 I haven't really looked around the garden for the past month. It's been too hot or raining very heavily, the kind of weather I try to avoid.

I decided to have a quick look this evening. I wish I hadn't!

The one good thing I found few more blueberries. I thought they had finished! 

Another bag of blueberries

There are still some that aren't ripe, so maybe another bagful.

The garden is overgrown again. All the work we did there has been lost. 

I think it needs to be done constantly! The way we've done it is to focus for a few weeks and then do nothing for a few weeks. I guess that doesn't work. 

The weeds are back.

Not doing things constantly or consistently is really my problem. In all areas of my life, I make the same mistake. I'll start something, for example, studying Japanese, make a good go at it for a while, but then stop for whatever reason, and I always have a good excuse, too busy, too tired, or just fed up!

After seeing the garden, I realized that I have to change that habit. I have to follow up on the things I'm doing, not just daydreaming about things, but taking action to make things happen.

Tomorrow is my birthday, a good day to start some new habits. Not a lot of things to start with, but something that I need to do to live a better life. One is exercise, find a routine that fits my lifestyle. Another is Japanese study, do a few minutes every day and do the garden, again a few minutes in the morning!

I'll try to revisit this post in a month! I hope I've made some progress.

Learning Lanuages

 Yesterday, Mikey and I did our monthly volunteer class. I was looking around the class, about 20 adults, wondering why they were studying English. Most of the students are my age or older; a few are in their 20s or 30s. I can understand the younger students wanting to improve their English so they can travel or to help in their jobs, but the older participants, what motivates them to come every month?

For myself, having a reason to learn Japanese really helps me to keep going when I get stuck, which is often.

I have never been motivated to learn Japanese just because I live here. Somehow, I've managed with my broken Japanese; I haven't learned how to read or write, I never saw the need!

But recently I've been rethinking things. I need to really get down to some serious Japanese study. I want to communicate with Mikey's in-laws. His father-in-law speaks a bit of English, but I feel it would be so much better if I could speak Japanese; this is Japan after all.

Also, I dream of traveling in Japan. I don't know if my kids would want to go with me, so I might have to take the plunge and go alone. At the moment, I have a hard time shopping by myself, I have an irrational fear of the self registers!  After teaching yesterday, I wanted to run into a supermarket. Mikey wasn't feeling too good, so he asked if he could rest in the car. Getting what I wanted wasn't a problem, but being faced with the machine to pay sent me into a mild panic attack, too many buttons to push! Fortunately, it had an English menu, which was easy enough to use, but what if I don't have that option? I need to be able to read the basic instructions! 

Another problem I have is collecting materials to use, but then not using them. I have loads of books that I've bought over the past 30-something years, I have books I've downloaded onto my Kindle and web pages marked to get back to, but never do. I keep looking for that magic formula that would make learning easy, but I know that the only way to learn is to make an effort! I am trying, I've found a few YouTube channels that are in Japanese that I like to watch, some have English subtitles, some don't. There are a few cooking sites that I really enjoy watching. I usually write down the recipes in English. If there are things I can't understand, I ask one of the kids to help me out! I've also found some videos that are made for listening practice; these have subtitles in English and Japanese, which are very helpful. 

One thing that I worry about is mental decline as I get older. Every time I go to the hospital, I see these old people who are really not aware of what is going on around them. I don't want to end up like that. I've read that "exercising" the brain by continuously learning can help with staving off dementia! 

Just a couple of photos from yesterday. Recently, the sky has been so dramatic, and the cloud formations are really incredible.

It's hard to see, but the mountains looked white.

Opposite view, I love the clouds on the mountains

Tomorrow morning, I have to get outside; there's a typhoon approaching. It just suddenly formed off the coast, very unusual! I want to try and clean up a bit more. If it isn't raining!

Goodbye Hannah

 Mikey drove Hannah back to her apartment yesterday. I went as well. She needed some groceries, so I took her shopping!  She has teacher training soon, the school she is going to is a 20-minute walk from her apartment, so she needs to take an obento. She said that she is lucky, as her apartment is so close to the university campus, allowing her to just pop home for lunch. I think making an obento will be good for her!

One thing I've realized is that my sleep pattern is really bad. The past 10 days or so, I've been staying up until about 2am, talking to Hannah and chasing the cats! Then sleeping very late in the mornings! Last night I went to bed at about 1am, but just couldn't sleep. My mind went into overdrive, thinking about all the things I need to get done, then the cats started. I fell asleep after 3am, but woke up again at 6am.  I have sleeping tablets, but I don't like to use them. I really need to get this sorted. I feel I'm wasting my days! 

Another thing I've realized is that my health, especially my stamina and my ability to walk for a long time, is bad. According to the app on my phone, the day I went out with Hannah, I walked about 5,000 steps, but the pain in my back and legs I felt as if I had walked a marathon. I need to do something about that! I really want to travel in Japan, there are so many beautiful places to see, but there is a lot of walking involved. I would love to go to different places with my kids, but I don't want to spoil things for them by not being able to walk far. I'm hoping to go to the doctor for my back. I've had back problems for years, so I should check to see if there is anything wrong. And, more importantly, start exercising regularly! I'm not getting any younger, and I don't want to be one of these old people who rely on others for everything! I don't mind asking for help when I need it, but I don't want to feel like an invalid! My Dad is in his 80s and is still independent; he cooks, cleans, and even does a bit of gardening. I would love to be like that when I'm that old!

Tomorrow is back to work; I had a nice week off. I'm looking forward to seeing my students again!

I'm also hoping that the weather will start to cool down; today was hot, up to 33C.  I'm already looking at recipes that I can make once the weather cools down!

Just a couple of cat photos!

Frodo and Sam are in my room

Alan in a bag!

David

 Today is David's 31st birthday!

Birthdays now are more about reflection for me! How did I get to have two kids in their 30s?

Do other parents wonder if they did their best for their kids?

I'm also wondering what will happen in the future. I really hope David can find a better job. This night shift work is making him ill; even having two nights a week off, he is constantly tired. I think the commute is long. Maybe not that long, but driving at night is more tiring, especially on roads that are badly lit. Also, driving in the crazy weather we have had doesn't help!

Anyway, we celebrated David's birthday with sushi! He loves sushi, but not supermarket sushi. He orders from a proper sushi restaurant!

Todays lunch

I did pizza, chicken, and salad!

Found some photos of David from years ago!

Trying on Grandma's boots

I love this one!

One birthday, not sure of the year

He loved catching these beetles.

Playing in the rain with Mikey

With one of the rabbits we had!

When he broke his arm

He actually broke both arms in the same year!

High School Graduation

When David and Mikey had bad hair year!

With Granddad

So another birthday, another year!

What will the next year bring?

Daiso

 Daiso is one of the 100 yen shops in this area; the other one is Seria. I've heard them described as being similar to pound stores or dollar stores, but the variety and quality of goods are a lot better.

These two stores are my go-to places for destressing shopping!

I had to do a grocery run today, so I stopped into Daiso with Hannah!

The first thing that caught my eye was the calendars for next year!  We haven't done Halloween or Christmas yet. Why 2026 calendars?

2026 calendars

Hannah needed some dishes, of course, she found the ones with cats on them! I wanted to buy one of the dishes with cats on it, but Hannah got the last one! I'll check next week to see if they have any more in stock!

Aren't these cute?

These were a bit more expensive, 200 yen for the dish and plate, about £1 each. 

I bought a glass for here and a cup for Hannah. Again, 200 yen each!

Nice cup and glass

I love that it's so cheap to buy these kinds of things. We seem to break a lot of dishes, so having Daiso really helps!

Another thing I buy from there is cleaning supplies. 

The brush is for cleaning the runner on the bottom of the windows.

The pack with a face is baking soda for cleaning, great for getting rid of the cat smell.

I buy a lot of dishcloths and cleaning clothes. The cleaning clothes, called zoukin, come in sets of three. I use them a lot. They are a very absorbent and rather thick cloth.  They get used for almost all my cleaning and any accidents, because they are so cheap, I don't worry about throwing them out once they become too dirty to wash.

I was good today and stayed away from the stationary corner. They have so many lovely things there, it would be easy to spend 1,000 yen (£5.00) just on pens, notebooks, and other bits and pieces!

When I was teaching a lot of kids, I would buy sets of coloring pencils for the holiday lessons. Everyone would want the same color at the same time. I still have a basket of coloring pencils and pens! Also, notebooks for the kids to practice writing.

I love Daiso, I love that I can get good quality stuff without breaking the bank!