Hospital Visit

 Today was my 3 month check up for cancer markers, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Good news is no sign of cancer and the blood test for diabetes showed a slight drop in the number for diabetes.  According to the information from the hospital normal A1C is between 4.5 and 6.1.  When I was diagnosed with diabetes my number was 7, very high. Today it was 6.  Down .1 from last test.  I was very surprised as my eating has been awful the past month! I'm still on meds, but if I can focus, clean up my eating a bit more then maybe I can get under 6 by my next check up in March!  Something to aim for!

Only problem now is my blood pressure, still high, upper number is between 130 and 160.  My meds have been doubled so I hope that helps. I explained to the doctor that we are moving, he just laughed and said that explains a lot! I think, I hope that once we are moved that my blood pressure will settle down. Part of my plan once we move there is to get more active, clean out the garden around the house and as my health and stamina improve I can walk up the road to the other fields and start cleaning them out. I can't so a lot to start with but I think if I do a bit everyday, even just 10 minutes to start I should see some positive changes in my health. Also I'm looking forward to having a functioning kitchen again. I miss being able to cook and bake!

Yesterday I made big pot of soup.  Loads of veggies, a bit of bacon and pasta to make it filling. I though there would be some left over for today but it was finished off very quickly!  

Yesterdays soup

One thing that I like about the cold weather is being able to cook up some nice soups and stews!  Great way to load up on vegetables!!

Tomorrow we should have Wi-Fi set up in the other house. After that it's a case of getting a stove top, moving the last few bits and pieces and the cats! I'm still trying to figure out the best way to move the cats!! Should be fun!!

Still Not Moved

 But getting there. Even though I messed up with the real estate agent this extra month is helping a lot. There is still a lot to do to get moved 100%.

This morning David, Christopher and I went to the other house. The drive there was rather surreal as there was a lot of fog, at some points visibility was just few meters in front of the car. I actually enjoyed it, poor David not so much. I think this is the first time he had driven through such dense fog!

The sun trying to shine through

I love the outlines of the trees

The poles seems to disappear

Better shot

Only half the bridge is visible

This part of the drive was a bit scary

I spent most of the morning sorting out the kitchen. There isn't a lot of built in storage and I don't want to crowd the area with tall kitchen cabinets. My mother-in-law had three tall cabinets which made the room seem a lot smaller and darker.  I've put one cabinet in the corridor to use as a pantry for now, it isn't the best solution but until we have money it will do.

From the window looking in

Opposite view

Just showing the fridge

The door next to the fridge is Christopher's room. It should be the living room but no space.

Christopher and David cleaned outside. I'm not sure what those two got up to but Christopher came in like this.

Christopher's blackened face

David was all grins!

David grinning!

On the way there we saw this truck.

Colorful truck

On the way home we saw the same company's truck. I thought it was the same one but the pictures are different.

Same company

Tomorrow is my 3 month check up for diabetes and blood pressure. I think the numbers will be bad as I haven't been eating very well and my stress is far too high. Also a blood test for cancer markers!  The tests are okay, just a blood draw, it's the waiting that gets to me, anyway I can read a bit!!!

November

 I really hoped that by the end of November we would be completely moved to the other house!

But we aren't and having an extra month here does help even though it's going to be hard paying the rent here and buying what we need for the other house.

Hannah managed to move out and is settled in her own apartment.  She seems to be settling into her schedule and figuring things out, when to shop, do laundry and clean the room. These might seem like natural things but until now they have been done for her, she has to learn time management and how to make the best use of her time and energy.  She finds shopping stressful because everything has gone very expensive. She called yesterday to say that she went shopping for a few basic things and it cost over 1000 yen!  I think she understands why I don't like to shop. 

She is learning to cook, she has some basic skills, she's cooked a few times for us but cooking for one person is very different to cooking for a family. She usually cooks enough for two or three days. It's just easier that way. Her work and university schedule is very uneven, some days she will be out from 5am to about 6pm other days she has nothing scheduled. I've encouraged her to shop, cook and clean on the free days.  I think it helps to have something prepared in the fridge on the very busy days.

She sends me photos of her meals. They look very nice.

Some of Hannah's meals. The ones with the plastic box are the days that she is reheating stuff from the day before. She tries to eat some vegetables every day, which is good.

We are still moving stuff over to the other house. Tomorrow we will take my bed and I will stay there. David bought a heater for the dining/kitchen so I'll be able to stay there without freezing!  I want to take time to set up the kitchen and organize my bedroom. I thought I would have a lot of room but putting things in have made the house seem smaller. Never mind, I will work things out, somehow!  

I need to be more mindful of my health. My blood pressure is high, even with meds! Part of that might be the sudden cold.  Also my eating has been out of control the past few days, I picking at things, not because I'm hungry but more to calm myself and deal with the stress. I know it's a bad habit and one I need to break but seems so hard. Grabbing some kind of snack is so easy to do. I have a doctors appointment on Wednesday, cancer check and diabetes/blood pressured check.  

I really hope that this month can be productive, get things sorted at the other house and find a way to make money!

Also, once I have a working kitchen I want to go to Costco and buy some nice roasting meat!!  I'm looking forward to a nice roast dinner!!

WHY????

 Yesterday I spent the whole day and most of the night convincing myself that having access to this house, even if we are basically living in the other house, is good. Financially hard but somehow we will be okay.

There are a lot of small bits and pieces to take to the other house, plus cleaning and tidying the yard will take more than two days. My energy is low, the lads are doing a lot but they are working as well (except for Christopher who has been given most of the jobs).  I still need to finish cleaning the kitchen and do the windows.  The room we use for teaching still has one bookshelf and the tables and chairs we are using.

So being here is good, we can take care of things a bit better.

That's good but of course things aren't that simple!

Mikey's car broke down!! Of course!!  Something to do with the electrical systems. It's fixable but will cost money and also means that we will be back to one car for a few days!!

Just when we need both cars!!

Typical!!

Never mind. We will get through this, somehow.

This morning I went to the other house with David. It is really starting to look like a place we can live in. It doesn't feel like my mother-in-law's house anymore.  There is a lot to organize, especially the kitchen/dining area.  There is very little storage and we seem to have a lot of things.  I guess moving from a house that has 6 rooms plus a large open plan kitchen/dining/living area to a house with 3 rooms and just a kitchen/dining room is going to take a lot of work and thought!

On the way we saw some lovely trees with autumn leaves. The autumn leaves are very late this year, the peak for this area is supposed to be in December!

These trees were in the grounds of a high school.

Autumn colors

I asked David to take the photo, so of course he had to take a daft selfie!

David shouldn't have a phone!!!

The weather has gone cold and rather wet.  I like the cold weather but would like more if we were settled and I could relax with a nice cup of and a good book.

Rainbow

On the way back we saw a rainbow. It doesn't look that bright but it was!!

Oh (Enter Favorite Swear Word)!!!!!

 Messed up again!

The plan was to have everything moved out by Friday, then come here Saturday and Sunday to finish cleaning! 

But of course that hasn't worked out!

Yesterday Mikey called the real estate agent who said that we have to give a months notice, so we have to pay for another month here!

I'm upset by that as I wanted to use the money from the rent to buy some heaters and to go to Costco!

Mikey told them that we don't have money and asked them not to take the money form my bank until the middle of the month. I'm thinking of going and offering half of the rent, explaining that we had to buy new heaters for the other house. Probably won't work but worth a try.  I guess going to Costco will have to wait!

Since we have another month here I'm not going to make myself sick trying to clean everything in a couple of days! I have to come here a few times a week to teach, so on those days I'll come and clean and tidy the yard. 

As much as I don't want to move I do want it finished with.  To be in one house. At the moment most of our things are in the other house but we are still here!! It's kind of hard. I can't cook so we are living on obento's and cup noodles, not nice at all!  

Also it's gone very cold!  I have city gas heaters for this house but I don't want to use them as they are very expensive to run. I'm keeping warm by trying to move round and get cleaning done. My bed is nice and warm but it's hard to get out of it in the morning!  I like the cold weather but I like to have heating available, to get comfortable with a nice hot drink and a cat or two!

Get a bit more cleaned up. I'm waiting for Christopher and David to get back. They took more stuff over plus somebody is coming to hook up the gas. At least we can get hot water!!

Just a photo of the cats sulking!!

They have no where to lie down, so not very happy!!!

Empty Rooms

 Almost everything has gone to the other house!

Yesterday a moving company took the fridge and air conditioner.  David took the washing machine.

Toady David and Christopher took the TV, oven, rice cooker, toaster and another table.

Empty living room

The kitchen is reduced to two very small counters, I feel that I'm not cooking but doing a balancing act.

This move is a lot harder emotionally than I thought it would be. We've been here for 15 years. I have so many memories of this house and area.  

This morning I didn't want to get out of bed, it's cold and raining, all I could think was that if this was a normal Wednesday I would get up to clean a bit, figure out lunch and prepare a couple of classes.  Now I'm having to deep clean every where, pack up the last few bits and pieces, deal with stressed cats, cook in a cramped kitchen.  It all seemed too much this morning. I think I'm over tired.  Plus my allergies are very bad!

By the end of this week we will be living in the other house.  

Still not that happy about that!

Still no gas, no stove top and no Wi-Fi!

The other house is clean but the yard needs to be done. We have dumped a load of stuff in the car port and garage which needs to be cleaned away so the cars can be parked there!

Plus I want to take down a lot of the trees and bushes that have taken over the yard.  I guess I'll be getting a lot of exercise!!

Moving In

 I spent most of the day at the other house.

We have moved a lot of stuff already and the place is starting to feel more like our house and not my mother-in-laws house. That's good and I hope that as we find a place for everything that it will have more that kind of feeling.

This is part of the kitchen.

Need to figure out where stuff goes

The empty shelf was the Kami Dana, the God Shelf, it's coming down!

I need some kind of closed kitchen cabinets because of the cats. The cabinets above the kitchen unit are too high, even David has a hard time reaching them!  The cabinets and drawers below never feel really clean, I don't want to put food there.  Need to think what to do. I guess as we live there I will figure out where the best place to keep things is.

Then there is the why question.

pack of ginger

This pack of ginger was on a bookshelf that's in the room Christopher will be using. Why and how it go there is a mystery.

The other thing that keeps moving around is the toy lizard, it keeps turning up in different places.

Toy lizard

Today it was in the tatami room above the door, I wonder where I'll find it tomorrow.

Also David and I went to the other land just to have a look. The weeds are taller than David!

I like this land and want to use it for something but I don't know if I have the energy to cultivate it properly. I asked David if he was interested in growing things to sell but I didn't get an answer.

Monster weeds

I like this view

Tomorrow the fridge and air conditioner are going.  

We took the sofa today and a lot of other bits a pieces. Mikey went back and forth three times today.  Looks like doing the same tomorrow as well.

I'll be glad when this is finished!!