The House

 We managed to get to the house today.

When I'm here I think that there isn't so much to be done but when I get there I feel overwhelmed by just how much is left to be thrown out before cleaning and restoring the house can start. 

The weather didn't help today.  Yesterday it rained all day, so everything felt damp and we couldn't start a fire to burn some of the trash. It was so cold and cloudy making the place look dark and dismal, not a good feeling.  Also, I discovered that a lot of things in the entrance and tatami room are things we dumped there.  A lot of Hannah's toys or things from her school days.  I've decided that at this time I can't deal with the extra emotion of throwing away her stuff.  Part of it has to do with my husband. Just seeing those toys reminds me of Christmas and birthdays.  Yes, I know they aren't my husband but sentimental things are hard to let go of.  Also, I have too many strong emotions dealing with this move as it is, I can't handle any more.  So I'm going to put these things in our storage area and when we have settled in take time to go through them and say goodbye.  Let them go slowly.  I feel for me that is the best.  Maybe in the grand scheme of things, not a good idea but I don't know what else to do.  

Hannah yelled at me.  I found a box of clothes that I packed up and put there.  I started to look through the box, but Hannah caught me and told me off.  She said that I had decided that the stuff in the box wasn't worth keeping and I should just throw away and not go through it again.  She's good to have when sorting out things!

Managed to get the shoe box sorted.  There must have been about 50 pairs of shoes!  Most belonged to my mother-in-law but I found some that belonged to my brother-in-law, he passed away before I came to Japan, so over 33 years but she was still hanging on to his stuff.

I also found a lovely set of geta (Japanese shoes) and a bag.  We took it to a recycle shop but they weren't interested in it.  When I checked after I could see that the bottom of the shoes looked worn.

Looks nice but the bottoms are scuffed

Took some photos of the back of the house.  Having all the bamboo taken down has made a big difference.

bathroom windows

The door leads into the bathroom!!

One of the bedrooms

Looks like I'll have to check the wood next time.

I'm also suffering from bad allergies, I've been sniffling and sneezing all day.  It's that time of year!!