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!