Hospital Visit

 Yesterday was my check-up for diabetes and high blood pressure!

No change at all. My A1c number is still 6. Between 4.6 and 6.2 is good; the lower the better. 

All my other numbers came back as okay, but not great!

The other problem was the result of the sleep apnea test that I did. The doctor explained that it wasn't a detailed test, but it gave some idea of my situation. I don't have sleep apnea, but I did stop breathing a couple of times, and I snored three times. I'm in the mid-range, so I don't need to wear an oxygen mask, but it could come to that if I don't lose weight!

So I have to lose 6kgs by my next appointment in December! Oh bother!

The doctor offered me one of these medicines that is taken by injection. I don't know enough about that medicine to make an informed decision. I don't know which one he was offering. I've heard of a few different ones. I think they can help, but I'm worried about side effects. I'll try by myself until December, but if I can't lose enough, then I might have the injections!

So I restarted my diet today. It's now 6pm and I'm miserable. I want something sweet, some toast and jam, but I can't, I have to stop sweets and lower my carbs!

The weather isn't helping; it's cooler, which is nice, but pouring down with rain!

I need to find something to do with my hands. I eat when I'm bored or not active. Doing something helps. Reading or watching TV allows me to snack. I think I should find out my knitting needles or crochet hooks.  I've realized that in the morning, I don't get the munchies because I'm busy with cleaning, gardening, or cooking.  In the afternoon, I'm free to do what I want. Also, I have to be quiet as David is sleeping. This house is small, so it's easy to disturb him!

Get ready for a lot of complaints! One thing I've realized is that dieting is not about willpower; it's about consistency, doing what works over and over again. I know I'm not in the right headspace to start, but no choice, if I wait until I'm ready, I'll never lose anything!

Just to end on something interesting! This is a screenshot of my TV, I was watching YouTube. The first short is my video! That was such a weird feeling! I was scrolling down to get to the news. I saw the shorts and thought that the first video looked familiar. I clicked on it and it was my video.

I never expected my video to turn up like that! It got 900 views! 

Catnip Party

 Recently, Mama Cat has been getting out! We aren't sure how, but she manages to escape every few days. I think she stays in the garden, but there are so many wild creatures here that it could be dangerous. My biggest worry is the wild hogs and snakes. Even some of the insects are rather large and venomous.

One of the most frustrating things is that she comes back to the window and just meows. We open the window, but she doesn't get in! This was the situation last night.

She came to the big sliding window in the dining area. David opened the window, but she just sat, out of reach, meowing. The other cats could hear her and headed for the window. This could have gone downhill fast, 5 cats trying to get out, Mama cat mewoing, David, trying to stop the other cats and reach for Mama, at the same time. Finally, David closed the window, but the cats were crowded around it. There was no way to open it again with them charging out! We tried moving the cats, but it was a case of moving one and two took it's place! 

I came up with the brilliant idea to get some treats and catnip. The treats to entice Mama Cat, the catnip to distract the other cats!

This was the result!

Yes, they are on the table!

But it worked, the cats were so busy with the catnip they didn't notice David opening the window and grabbing Mama Cat!

We think Mama Cat is racing out when the door is opened, especially at night when Mikey goes to work. The past couple of nights, I've put her in the kitchen/dining room and closed the door. She can't open it, but some of the other cats can! Need to find a better solution!

I'm still not feeling great from Sunday. I guess it's part of getting old, not recovering quickly! Hannah called this morning at 5:30, just to say good morning!  A bit early, but I got to see this lovely sunrise!

Sunrise

I get to see the sunset a lot, but not the sunrise. It's starting to cool down a bit, so maybe it's time for some walks in the morning or evening!

Feeling Blah

 Not a good way to start a new month!

Yesterday, Mikey took me to Hannah's. I wanted to take Hannah shopping. She has two weeks of teacher training. She'll be at a junior high school from 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. The school is a 20-minute walk from her apartment. I know she'll be too tired to think about shopping, so I thought I could take her and get her some stuff to last for the next 10 days or so. We managed to get a lot of meat for the freezer, some vegetables, fruit, milk, yoghurt, and bread. At least she doesn't have to worry about meat; the other stuff she can pick up at the convenience store near her apartment! Also, she has to make obento, a lunch box, every day! This was today's.

Hannah's obento

Unfortunately, I got sick.  The air conditioner in the car doesn't work very well. It's about 50 minutes from here to Hannah's, but the air conditioner only worked for about 20 minutes. We had the windows open, but hot air blowing doesn't really help. Then driving around the city made me even hotter. We got back about 5 o'clock, I slept for an hour, hoping I would be okay, but I was so exhausted that I went to bed at 10 o'clock. This morning I woke with a headache and feeling nauseous! I made lunch, but couldn't eat. I've spent the day in my room, with the air conditioner blasting, just sleeping! I feel a lot better, but rather upset that I lost the day, but I guess no choice!

There's a lot I want to do this month. One is to do a deep clean. I feel that I haven't been doing too much cleaning because of the heat, but I need to deal with the cat smell. One YouTube channel I watch is a Japanese lady, in her 60s, who has 8 cats. Her videos talk about her daily life, finding peace in her area, and taking time to cook or bake. Nice, simple, slow life. Her house always looks clean. In the latest video, she talked about how she cleans every day because of her cats. She has to sweep up the litter and then vacuum the area. Simple thing, something I know I should do, but somehow got put to the back of my mind. So I need to start, no more excuses! I want to get students, but I can't imagine having anyone visit the house at the moment!

Also, we are having lots of little visitors!  I found this in the kitchen the other morning. I think the cats got it!

Poor thing!

Not nice to see first thing in the morning!

And just for a laugh, this was on the soda I got Mikey yesterday.

The story of the hare and the tortoise

I don't know if you can read the story, but it says that the tortoise won because it drank this soda!

August

 I know there's one more day, but I'm going to Hannah's tomorrow and won't have a chance to post.

August is tough for me; it is the hottest month. We usually have a break for holidays, but I never really did anything during that time. This year, however, turned out to be different and somehow better.

The heat and humidity were the same, relentless. I managed to survive without an air conditioner in the kitchen/dining room. One thing that helped was that the humidity was significantly lower than usual, until this past week. Most years, as the temperature got higher, so did the humidity. Having temperatures of 35 °C plus and humidity of 80% was normal. This year, however, humidity stayed below 60%. That really helped. This past week it has been higher, but I can deal with a week or so, not a few months!

I enjoyed staying at Hannah's for a few days, and having Hannah here for a week was nice. I proved to myself that I'm not as helpless as I thought. At Hannah's, we went out almost every day to eat and shop a bit. Also, when Hannah came here, we could get on the bus and go shopping, something I never thought I would do in August!

The other highlight was David's birthday! As I said, birthdays are now a time of reflection and wondering how did I get here?  I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that two of my kids are now in their 30s!

I think I pushed myself to do things this August instead of just hanging around the house moaning! I realize that the summers aren't going to get any better, so I should adapt to the heat and humidity and live my life as best as possible. Spending almost half the year just complaining isn't going to help me in the long run; making an effort and doing things will help.

I have a couple of things to look forward to in September. On the 20th, Hannah and I are going to see the Les Misérables World Tour Concert, in English. I'm beyond excited! On the 26th, I'm going for a day trip to Hita with Hannah. There are also a couple of places I want to visit near here that I can get to on the bus. I'm hoping the weather will cool down so I can do that!

Just a couple of photos from August!

Hannah's new desk

Sushi for David's birthday

Fluffy with her collar to stop her over-grooming

I found this photo of Hisao the other day. I think this was from when he was in junior high school.

Decluttering Disaster

 I was reading some posts from last year, I wrote about how I was going to declutter, throw out things that we don't need, really downsize! 

I did, I threw away a lot of stuff. I remember Hannah helping me; she was ruthless! She would tell me that I don't need to keep every single thing that I have, that old notebooks, that belonged to students I don't even remember, can go!  That textbooks that are so out of date should be thrown away. The clothes that are 5 sizes too small and outdated should be in the trash, not hanging in the closet. She could get a bit scary!

I threw out so much stuff. I thought I was winning the clutter war. Until I went to find something in the storage room the other day!

The storage room

According to Google Earth, this building is 9 meters long; this room spans the entire building.

If I did so well with decluttering, how come I still have so much stuff up there? It's not just my stuff, but everybody's things!

Once it cools down I will get up there. I need help, as many of the boxes are quite heavy.

Another space is the cupboard in my room!

Sigh!

The bottom is alright, my books.

The top has become "I don't know where it belongs, so put it there for now"

I promised myself I wouldn't do that. That moving here would be a new start, and I would stop collecting things, holding onto things, because I feel it's a waste to throw them away.

So another thing on my list!  

I'll wait until the weather cools down a bit, then tackle these problems.

Another area is the kitchen. I love kitchen goods, pots, pans, bowls, any gadget, and of course, tableware. The problem is that this kitchen has very limited and awkward storage. The cupboards under the counter are difficult to access. I would love to have big drawers, so I could pull them out and see what's in there.  I have a lot of very big pots, which were great when there were six of us, but now we are only four, soon just three, so I think some of the larger pots will have to go in storage.

I keep thinking I don't have anything to do, but I think it's more a case of not wanting to do things, just putting them off.

I will get this done!!!

Yet Another Storm

 This summer, so far, the weather has been rather wild!

Throughout Japan, there has been a lot of heavy rain.

One term that has been used over and over in the news is gerira-gou ゲリラ豪雨, guerrilla rain. It's a sudden heavy downpour. These storms develop quickly, within 30 minutes, and can be very localized. Usual rain or thunderstorms can be predicted days ahead.

I'm not sure what type of storm we had yesterday, but it was another heavy rain storm with thunder thrown in for good measure. Of course, the storm started just as we were going to the other city to teach! Typical!

I was amazed at the many different clouds and the colors in the sky. Mikey is pointing at where the rain was already falling.

This was about 5 minutes later. The rain got really heavy. I don't know if I caught it on the video, but there was lightning about!

Again, a few minutes later. It's hard to see, but the roads were already starting to flood.

One of my students that evening was a bit late. When I asked why, she said that the train from school had stopped because lightning had struck the train signal.

One thing I'm worried about is the price of fruit and vegetables this autumn. These rainstorms have caused significant damage to farms. In one news segment I was watching, a vineyard had lost all the grapes; every bunch of grapes was moldy!  I'm wondering how bad other crops have been hit! 

The Midnight Fight

There's an affiliate link in this post.

 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!

I Went Out...

 Twice!

Yesterday was just a little walk around the neighborhood. I wanted to see if there was any damage from the storm! There wasn't, but the weeds really enjoyed the rain and have grown even taller.

I took a little video. I'm always amazed at how green everywhere is and the different shades of green.

Today, Hannah and I got on the bus to the city center.

This is where I had planned to go with Christopher the other week, but I changed my mind!

I'm glad I made the effort today. It was difficult, not the heat (although that didn't help), but the walking exhausted me. Hannah found a small recycle bookshop that she wanted to check out. Most recyle bookshops are the same, part of the BookOff group. This one is a newer chain of stores. They run on an honor system; there are no clerks, you choose the book you want, and put the money in a box! Most of the books are 200 yen unless otherwise marked. Hannah got 10 books for just over 1,000 yen. Very good deal!

There's a long shopping arcade between the train/bus station and the store where Hannah wanted to go. We took the bus there, I couldn't face walking 15 minutes each way! We walked back. It was very interesting to see the sort of stores that are still open there. A few vintage clothes shops, a couple of lovely, expensive bouquets, lots of bars and restaurants. 

view of the arcade

It helped that it was covered for the most part. Also, there were a few cross streets that had nice breezes.

Not sure what this shop was, but it had some interesting items in the window.

One of the little side streets, a few little bars down there

The sign at one of the entrances

A flower shop

We finally got back to the station.

The station

By this time, I needed to sit down somewhere. We were going to go to Baskin-Robbins, but there was no seating and a long queue! Opposite was McDonald's, so we went in there. I was feeling a bit dizzy, maybe a combination of low blood sugar and the heat.

Hannah just wanted ice cream, but I needed some kind of protein, so I got a cheeseburger.

Our order!

I actually enjoyed that. It was just enough without being overstuffed or feeling sick from the grease and sugar!

We had a little wander around the station shops, but my energy level was dropping.

On the way back, Hannah took some photos from the bus.

One thing I was impressed with was the bus itself. Very clean and the air conditioning was good! Also, the display at the front of the bus showed what the next stop is in English and Korean, very helpful!

The bus display

A few photos from the bus

A very nice day! I just wish my back didn't hurt and I could do more walking!!!