Rice

 Towards the end of August there was a shortage of rice. I remember going into stores and seeing empty shelves. I heard a couple of reasons for this, one was a bad harvest last year, the second was panic buying because of an earthquake advisory put out after a large earthquake near the Nanki Trough.  Now there is rice again but it's so expensive. Last year 5kgs of rice was between 1900 yen and 2100 yen, about 9 to 10 pounds. Now the cheapest is over 3000 yen, about 15 pounds, big difference.

So I'm trying to find other carbohydrates to use, pasta, noodles, bread and potatoes!  Problem is Japanese cuisine is based on rice. Having a pot of rice cooked is so convenient, just add some soup, which is quick to make, fish and salad and there is a meal in about 20 minutes. If I prepare some of the dishes in the morning then just warming up again when we get back from the other house is so easy.  For example the other day I made a pot of miso soup, and a salad in the morning, when I came back I just cooked up some fish.  Having a pot of rice ready really helped. Also there was enough rice, soup and salad for dinner.

I love potatoes and would eat them everyday but they take time to prepare, noodles and pasta are okay but finding what to do with them is hard.  I spend ages looking for recipes that I can use but most recipes aren't doable because the ingredients aren't available here. I've done spaghetti bolognaise a few times this past couple of weeks. I would love to make a meatloaf and mash potatoes but the minced beef here is so fatty that it just doesn't work. But Costco is opening near here, they have minced beef that is 80% beef, very good for meatloaf, I'll just have to wait on that.  It's still warm enough for salads, so a big bowl of pasta chicken salad would work, but Christopher doesn't really like pasta.  Plus I always make too much, so we are eating it for two or three days!!

We've had sandwiches and pizza a lot as well. I could eat sandwiches everyday but nobody else is keen on them. Fillings are a problem, basically just ham, cheese or eggs. I would love corned beef but it's only available in these very tiny tins, that are very expensive.  I wonder if Costco does that?  Also Japanese bread is not so good, tasty but not filling!

I guess I'll have to think about what to make, we have rice but I would like to last for more than a , couple of weeks.  We might end up eating a lot of take out food for the next few weeks. We are planning to go to the other house almost everyday, there will no one here to cook, so picking up something is the easiest thing to do.  But I'm not that keen on having obento that often!  

I'm also wondering how the cats will handle the move!  I'm expecting a lot of marking and fights, should be interesting!

The weather is a bit cooler, the cats are starting curl up together!

couple of days ago!!

Another Problem

 Went to the other house again today and found more problems!

The floor in the smaller bedroom is very spongy, it had basically rotted in places. There's a stain, looks like something was spilt but never wiped up. This will be David's room, the place that is rotten is where he wanted to put his bed, need to rethink things in there.  I think we can just replace the rotten floor boards for now but in the future we will need to replace the whole floor.

I knew my mother in law wasn't really cleaning the place, even before she got sick. The doors to the small bedroom are sliding doors and I've left them open. Today I closed them to clean them and found white streaks on the frosted glass and the door frame. It's milk. I know it's milk because when we were living there before, my mother in law threw it at me, the whole carton, I moved, so it caught my side but smashed against the door. I cleaned the floor and thought she would clean the rest. But she never did, she had about 10 years to clean it up before she fell and ended up in hospital, then a care home.

The other problem is food storage! Here there is a nice big pantry and one set of cupboards that I use. In the other house the only cupboards are under the sink and stove. The cupboards above are too high, even David can't reach them without a step.  My mother in law had a few tall cabinets along the walls but they made the room feel a lot smaller, darker and claustrophobic. There is a space in the area just outside the kitchen, where the toilets and bathroom door is that I could put some kind of cabinet but I don't know if that would be practical or not. Need to think on that. I need something cheap and practical.

Outside the house

I took that photo while I was waiting for Mikey to take me home. Standing there, looking at the house, I was trying to imagine living there, but it's still difficult to believe. I really love this town we are in now, it is so convenient, almost everything is within walking distance. I also really like this house, even though it does need a lot of work done on it. It's not just the damage done by the cats either but just living here. The kitchen needs replacing, the water systems need to be checked, the sink keeps getting blocked, the plumber thinks there might be some damage near to the main sewage pipe. The garden is a disaster, even though David keeps cutting down the trees, bushes and weeds they grow back very quickly. Even with all the problems I would have been happy to stay here. If I could get a mortgage I would have bought this house!

But in another month we will be in the other house and even though I'm resigned to it I'm not happy. There is protentional but we will need to put a lot of money into the property. And we don't really have any! I wanted to stop work, travel a bit, have some fun time while I'm still healthy enough to enjoy things. Instead I'm moving and having to start over again!  Not my idea of fun!!

It's Finally Cooler

 Yesterday's high was 31C, today 18C!!

I'm so happy, I like this weather, it's cool and rainy.  But it's not going to last, Saturday and Sunday will be back to 31C, according to my app, I really hope it doesn't get that hot. I'm finished with hot weather!

I made chicken stew for lunch today, there's enough for dinner as well, plus I'll steam some sweet potatoes for after. Nice autumn food!! Being able to cook without sweat dripping off my face makes me happy.

The cats are starting to sleep together, that shows how cold it is!  Mama cat got on David's lap this morning!

Mama on David's lap

Cats sleeping together

Hannah went on an adventure this morning to a teacher's training college, two hour train ride! The library there has the books she wanted to check for her thesis. She spent just over an hour there but got dizzy and decided to come back early. This was the first time she's been on a train since she had her seizure, she is still worried about having another one, I guess it will take time for her to have confidence in her body again!

I'm sitting here enjoying a nice cup of tea, I don't drink tea that often when it's hot, so this is a nice treat.

Need to do more packing, hope to go to the other house Friday or Saturday, both days would be best!

Just a month until the move!!!

Can't Win

 I'm trying so hard to be positive.

So before the reason I feel defeated, yet again, I'll post something good!

This morning Mikey, Christopher and I went back to the other house.

Got Mikey and Christopher started on the office in the storage room. It was very bad, I explained what I wanted doing but didn't check when we finished, I'll have a look next time!

Managed to clean the windows in the engawa, the windows are divided by a trim. Small windows that don't open on top and large sliding windows on the bottom. They were filthy!

This was the water after I finished!!!

From the windows and trim

I guess they have never been cleaned!!

Also I saw a lot of these little guys.

Tiny lizards

In just a few minutes I saw 4 of these little things.

I have no idea how to get them out of the house! They don't bother me but I really don't like things creeping around the house. I wonder if the cats will deal with them.

I've almost finished setting up my reading area.

My reading area

Opposite end

View from my reading area

The chair in there is an old massage chair. I want to buy a nice, comfortable chair but am willing to wait until I have money and can find what I want. I want a nice reading light on the table. I can imagine spending afternoons in there, with a good book, a cup of tea and cats for company. I'm planning on putting some bird feeders out, entertainment for the cats!

And the reason I feel I can't win?  Hannah got a letter from her university, she has to pay 33,0000 yen, almost 2,000 pounds for her college tuition!

She had scholarships but because she's been working part-time she lost one scholarship. Poor girl. She has worked hard, to the point of making herself ill but is being penalized for it. One reason she has had to work is because I can't help her, also she has been saving to move to her own apartment for graduate school. I'm racking my brain trying to figure out if I can get some money from somewhere, maybe a bank loan?

She will have to go and see if she can get some help or divide the payments.  She was hoping to have time this week to do her thesis and prepare for her next teacher training. 

Time Flies!!!!

 It's the end of September!  I keep thinking it's still August, maybe because it is still hot, although not as intense as it was!

We now have 38 days until we move. I know we can stay until January 2025 but I really want to be in the other house before it gets very cold.  Also I want to stop paying rent here so I can use that money buy things for the other house.

David, Christopher and I went again yesterday.  I managed to put away a lot of things that we have bought over, photo albums and five more boxes of books.  I've been struggling with where to put our teaching materials, we have a lot of books, flash cards and prints that we use. At first I was going to put more book shelves in the tatami room but decided to clear out the office in the storage area. I don't want to teach at the house, the house is just too small for that. I think we will use community centers, if we get enough students then we can think about renting a place. That is all up in the air at the moment. A lot depends on what Mikey wants to do. I would be happy to get a few online students. I really want to stop working but have no pension and no savings. If I could work for a few more years and save money then I could just retire, again, something that I need to think about.

David cut down a lot of the trees, weeds and bushes. Looks a lot better.

Last week

This week

Not much difference in the photos but it is a lot clearer.

Also I found a nice picture that I want to put in the entrance.

Picture I found

    

Most of the things that were on the walls were not to my taste but I like this picture. It's simple and beautiful.  I'm thinking of buying a few frames and putting some photos on the walls. The tatami and corridor are typical Japanese walls, in this awful green color. 

Green walls

Not very clear on this photo, I'll try to take some photos next time. I want to paint these walls, another project for when we have money!  But until then I'll put up some pictures and photos!!

I'm tired but have a lot to do.

Just another month! Help!!!!

David's Car

 David works nights so he sleeps from about 1 o'clock.  On Monday he asked Hannah to listen for the phone as he was expecting a delivery and somebody had to sign for it!

Hannah and I thought it strange, David orders the cat food and cat sand but we never have to sign for it. We were wondering what David had ordered that was so important that somebody had to sign for it!

I was talking to my friend on the phone when the door bell rang. Hannah answered it and came back with a piece of paper. She said that there was a car outside and that was the delivery! I hung up my phone and went to see, and sure enough there was a car parked in front of our house!

Apparently David had gone ahead and bought a car. He had been talking about it for a few months. He had to get a loan and I thought he was still thinking about it! He never said he had bought one!

It's a little van type car. Rather old, about 10 years but it was a company car so well maintained. Also it had it's roadworthy test just a month ago, so all the parts work.

The weird thing is the key is not an automatic key, you have to put the key in the door to unlock it. Also the windows are the old fashioned kind with handle that you have to wind up and down.

But it's nice and spacious which will help with the move and once we live in the other house it will be good for taking equipment to the fields that need to be cleared!

David's car, Mikey is moving it off the road!

We are now a two car household!

We drove in David's car to the other house yesterday.  I was having problems with the window handle.

Haven't seen these in years

It's more effort than I remembered to open the window. David was trying to demonstrate how to open the window, while he was driving. But he hit his elbow very hard on the door frame. This led him to not driving properly as he was rocking back and forth in pain.  We stopped at a red light, David moved his knee and knocked the gear shift out of drive into 2nd gear.  I was laughing so hard I was crying!!

From the side!

We got a lot done at the other house yesterday. The intense heat has broken, still hot but 30C is easier to deal with than 38C!

I've was trying to clean out the tatami room and the engawa, which I'm turning into my reading nook.

View from the engawa

I want to cut down as many of those trees as possible, and put in some bird feeders. I think this little area is going to be nice! But I've discovered that what I thought was a ledge around the room and engawa is actually very deep, great place for all kinds of insects, lizards and mice! I tried to clean it yesterday but I wasn't very confident on the ladder. 

With having two cars we can go more often to the other house. Mikey uses the other car for work, so that means even if David is free we couldn't go. I really hope that we can get things done before the end of October!!

Hannah

 Last Thursday Hannah had a seizure!

All started just after lunch. Hannah and I share a bedroom. She was lying on her bed, I was on mine reading. She suddenly raised her hand, as if stretching. At first I thought it was nothing unusual, but I noticed her fist was clenched. I called her name, asking what she was doing, but no response.  I went over to her as she arched her back and pulled her knees up. The movements were strange. I screamed for help as I realized she was having a seizure. The boys came running I told them to call for an ambulance. As I was saying this her body relaxed and started to shake. I kept her on her side until that had finished, I then rolled her onto her back to rub her chest to wake her up. No response, David was her bed by that time, calling her name, getting her to sit up.  She opened her eyes but was out of it! I asked her what day it was, no response. David asked her birthday, she said May but nothing else. She was totally unresponsive and unfocused. We tried to keep her awake but she kept closing her eyes. 

After what seemed like a life time but was probably just a few minutes the ambulance came. I'm sorry to say this is when I totally freaked out, I was shaking and felt faint. Mikey held my hand and helped to breathe through my panic attack. 

They loaded her into the ambulance and we went to the hospital I had spent the whole morning at the day before.  

I was in such a state the nurse was asking if I needed to see a doctor, I told her I would be alright, just needed some time to process what had happened. 

They were very thorough in their exam.  I'm not sure of all the tests they did but there was a CT scan, heart check and some check on the nervous system.

After a few hours she was admitted to the hospital for the night, just to keep an eye on her. 

We went up to ward with her, then came all the forms for that had to be filled out. Mikey took care of that.

By the time she was settled it was after visiting time but I asked if I could just go in to say goodbye and see that she was alright. At first the nurse said no but he asked the charge nurse who said a couple of minutes was okay.

Hannah said she had no memory of the fit and couldn't figure out why she was in the ambulance when she woke up! 

She was discharged the next day. The doctor said that she couldn't rule out epilepsy but she didn't think that was what it was.  It might have been a combination of the heat, exhaustion and stress that triggered the seizure. She might have more or never have another episode. 

One big stress for Hannah was the test for graduate school that she took on Saturday. The plan was for Mikey to drop her off, the test started at 8:30, then she was going to come back by train. But Mikey decided to wait in the city and bring her back by car. That helped my stress level a lot.

I haven't slept properly since she had the seizure. Every time she turns over I wake up and she is a restless sleeper!

I realize that I can't cope with these things. Hearing the ambulance pull gave me flash backs to when Hisao passed away. A sense of hopelessness came over me and that is what started my panic attack.

I'm exhausted now but need to push to get things done, moving day is creeping closer!

At least the weather has cooled down, it's just 26C today, high will be 30C. Still hot but bearable!

I hope my next post is not so dramatic, I really don't need this drama in my life.

google collage of Hannah and me