Eccentric and allergys

Christopher is studying for the 2nd grade Eiken Test at the moment.  One of the words that came up was eccentric.  This word comes from Greek and means out of the center.  This describes my kids to the T.  They' re all eccentric to one degree or another.  David, my 2nd son, will come up to me and say the strangest things, the other day he said "Did you know that if cats eat dog food they go blind"  then he walked away! This comment came out of no where, he didn't wait for a reply or to start a conversation on feeding cats, he just said his piece and left.  Of course that leaves me with my head spinning with question "How do people know this, do they feed cats dog food to see what happens, how can you tell that a cat is blind and how can you tell it is blind because of what it ate/ And why in the great order of things is this important and how does David know such useless information?"  David wants to study Buddhism next year and dreams of travelling to India.  Even that is not really normal.  Why don't my kids dream of having normal jobs?  Mikey is trying to become a professional magican, Christopher wants to be a writer.  Hannah's dream is to be a teacher, which is normal enough but she is possessed by the story of  'The Phantom of the Opera'  she has gone through 3 DVDs of the musical, has read the book 5 times and watched the other movie versions of the story, yep eccentric!
And allergies are bad, VERY BAD.  I can't stop sneezing and snuffling, my eyes are teary and itchy and I feel totally miserable.  This drives me crazy, the weather has cooled down enough to get somethings done but then I get sick, every year this happens!!!

Strange Week

Not really strange strange more of "what happened?" kind of week.  I have been really tired the past week and have spent a lot of time just sleeping.  I think the end of summer heat has caught up with me.  The past couple of months have been extremely hot, up to 35C some days.  My body doesn't deal well with the heat so when it cools down I tend to collapse.  But I managed to get a few jobs done, there is always something that needs to be done, something that needs to be put away or thrown away.  Never ending!
Sunday was the field day for Christopher, so I got up early to make a lunch box for him.  Christopher left for school at 6:50, he had to be there early to help set up the tents.  At 11 o'clock Christopher came back, the rain hadn't stopped at all so the event was canceled.  But Christopher still had a nice obento!

Hard to see but I made hamburgers, bacon and asparagus roll and salad, nice!

Looks a lot better, can actually see the sign

Hubby managed to get the front of the yard tided up, looks a lot better.
The back is really like a jungle but we have some veggies, pumpkin and beans and of course goya!

Pumpkin and beans!

I hope that this week gets better, at least the weather is a lot nicer for me!

Bomb Threat

Yes the title is right.  A bomb threat.  Here in Japan, the safest country in the world.  A bomb threat at the junior high school that Christopher attends!!
Yesterday morning at 11 o'clock Christopher came home from school.  Very strange.  The school is practicing for the annual field day, so the kids have 6 lessons a day which means finishing at 4 o'clock and then most days they are a bit late.  Coming back at 11am is unheard off.  I asked why he was home so early. Christopher said that a note had been found in the school entrance saying that there was a bomb in the school.  All the students were sent to the gym where they were told to go straight home while the police searched the school.  Christopher said that there was yellow crime scene tape across the school entrance and at least 20 police officers.  I just can't get my mind around the idea of bombing a junior high school, there is no reason that I can think of.  This is a small city, a nice place to live but not important enough to get the attention of terrorists, especially not the school.  So why a bomb threat?   The one thing I can think of is a kid not wanting to do the sports day practice, but would kids think of such a thing?   A lot of questions, I hope that Christopher has some answers when he gets back tonight!!!

Quiet

Christopher and Hannah went back to school on the 3rd!!  It has been so quiet around here the last week. I love having the kids at home but I have really enjoyed the quiet of the last week.  I am exhausted from the heat of the past few weeks!!  Even though I have had a few days holiday I am still wiped out and the allergies I suffer from have started up!!  But at least the weather is cooling down....a bit!
Last week we had the most incredible thunderstorm.  I hate thunder, it freaks me out.  I pull the antenna from the TV and the computer lines.  Hubby and the kids complain but I would rather be safe than sorry.  Last week I was very glad that I pulled all the lines.  Lightening hit very close, turns out to be  one of my students houses that got hit.  The kid lives just 5 minutes walk from us, very close call.
Hubby has been busy.  The front garden has taken on a life of its own!

Hubby hard at work, looks awful doesn't it!

Hannah has been busy, making up newspapers for her soft toys!!  She has a great imagination.  But she writes in Japanese!



top is Hannah's newspaper, bottom picture is Hannah in her back to school outfit

 Last week I made marble cake, I found the recipe on Bakegirl blog   http://buddingbaketress.blogspot.jp/
I love her site, the recipes always turn out wonderful.

Very nice, soft and chocolaty!!

Well I think that is all for the past week, I will try to update more often!

New Desk

I finally got a new computer desk.   For most people taking out an old desk and putting in a new one would take a couple of hours.  But we are not most people and of course it has taken a few days!!  Still not finished!!   When we removed the old desk hubby had a bright idea to move all the other furniture out of the living room and put the carpet right.  The carpet kept bunching under the sofa and driving me crazy.  Sounds easy but it wasn't.  Last week some time the air conditioner poured water into the living room, basically near the TV.  When it happened I mopped up the water that I could see but didn't realise that most of the water had gone under the unit that the TV was on.  When we moved the TV we found that the floor under the carpet had gone moldy and the TV unit was also moldy.  So we had to throw out the TV unit and buy a new one.  So 3 days after putting in the new desk I am still waiting to finish the living room.  The TV is on a dinning chair at the moment and every time somebody walks past it I stop breathing!!!
Today is the last day of the summer holidays for Christopher and Hannah.  The time has flown and as always I didn't do all the things I had hoped.  This year my health has really taken a turn for the worse and I have very little energy to do anything.  As the weather cools down I should feel better but then my allergies start.  I can't get a break.

Typhoon or not typhoon

Typhoon number 15 of the season is passing by.  The center of the storm is out at sea off the coast of Nagasaki.  Here we have been treated to some rain and a lot of wind!!  A few things that weren't tied down in the yard have gone flying and a lot of the goya have been blown down,which I am happy about!!
 We are in the last week of the summer holidays, the past six weeks have gone very fast and as always I haven't done half the things I had hoped to do.  Tomorrow I want to spend some time with Hannah doing some sort of craft.  I am not very crafty, great ideas but reality turns out different.  Still should be fun to try!!  Also have to get Christopher to do some cooking, these kids need life skills.

Today I found a great recipe for cabbage.  At the moment cabbage is very cheap but of the course the kids don't want cabbage everyday.  This recipe is very simple, quick and delicious.  First cook a few rashers of bacon, I use the microwave.  Chop cabbage, place in a pot with a little water so it basically steams, stir occasionally, when it is cooked add black pepper, pinch of salt and margarine.  Mix in chopped bacon and serve.

Bacon and cabbage, even Hannah enjoyed it!!!

Birthday Blues

It was my birthday this week and I am so down about it!!  I had a lovely day, some pressies, went out to an all you can eat restaurant for lunch, picked up a load of DVDs to watch after and basically just hung out with my family all day. I didn't cook, clean or do laundry, of course I had to do everything today, but for one day I just relaxed!!  Nice.  So why the blues?  Because I am now 50.  The big five oh, half a century.  No escaping the reality of half a life finished and what to look forward to!!  I know the kind of life I want, travel, fun and seeing my kids marry, few grand kids but we are broke, living month to month with no savings and no way to save and to be honest it scares me!!!  Japan is not one of the cheapest places to live and the welfare system here sucks.  So I guess from now on is the super frugal time.  But I want to buy things, go places and enjoy life, not worrying about every single yen!  Such is life!!   I will get over this and start to think more positive about things.....one day!

Got my hair cut and colored the other day and Hannah got a trim.   We both look a lot better!



Hair looks nice but Hannah is pulling faces!!!

And the table got cleared off, I am so happy about that!!

From this  to

to this, still a few bits on the floor that need to find a home but a lot better