Spring Holiday

Started my spring holiday yesterday.
Spent most of the day sorting out things that we no longer need.
But it turned out to  be a lot harder than I thought it would.
There was a large box with Hannah's soft  toys. She has out grown them, the ones
that she really loves are on her bookshelf.  But sorting through the toys yesterday
was heart breaking!  So many memories, things that my husband bought for
her. It was hard to box them up. Plus I found more of my husbands clothes
at the very back of the closet. I thought I had finished sorting his things but I found
some shirts and a jacket.  The jacket that he wore constantly was from my parents.
So many memories.  But I have to tell myself that the memories will still be there and I
need the space!
After a couple of hours of sorting and going down memory lane with the kids I gave up.
I went and baked some chocolate chip muffins, they disappeared very fast.
David mad a lovely sponge with a thick chocolate icing.  Very nice.

David's cake.

We also got a photo of the cat that we gave away, he looks happy in his new home.

Celerbrating

I realized that most  of my posts have been me moaning!  At the moment things are
really tough.  Dealing with my mother in laws situation is so hard. I feel sorry for David
as he has taken on the burden of doing all the paper work and calling people.  On Friday
we went to visit my mother in law at the care home.  Took over an hour to get there! It's in
a housing area and there are no street names in Japan!  We finally had to ask a staff member
to meet us at a post office and follow them there.  Poor David was so
tired from driving around these small roads at one point he went down a road that just
ended, he had to do a 3 point turn, but the road was so narrow it ended up being a 30 point turn!
Anyway my mother in law seems a lot happier there.  The staff have a lot of energy and there
is an up beat feeling to the place.  We will visit every week and make sure she is taken care of.

The reason we are celebrating is that Hannah finished her first year of high school and has
done really well this past year.  Her school report was good and reflects how hard she worked.
Her name is posted at the school gate because she came 3rd in the prefecture for an English
test.  I am so happy for her because her junior high experience was very bad.  Bullying that led to
her getting really sick and missing a lot of school!  We found that the city has an alternative
class for kids who can't go to school so she attended that.  It really helped!
So we are having a nice dinner and David is baking  a cake for tonight!

LIFE

Is what happens when one is busy chasing your own tail!
At least that is what it has been like for us the past couple of weeks!
My mother in law had been in hospital for almost 6 months. One thing I
didn't know was that the national insurance only pays for 180 days, after that
you have to pay full price to stay and would of gotten very expensive.
So a couple of weeks ago David and I got called to the hospital to talk, yet again,
to another care manager.  She knew a place that would take my mother in law cheaply
as an act of good will. I am actually rather upset my the city and social welfare system.
There is no way my mother in law could go home, she can't stand up for more than a
minute without being in pain, she can't use the toilet or bath herself.  I can't take care of her
as my health is not that good either!  But because she owns a house and land the welfare
won't help her. The land has not value, it is in the wrong place and zoned for farming.
Even if we could sell it the money would be finite and once finished what then.
Last week we had a meeting at the city hall to discuss my mother in laws situation, it took FIVE
members of staff to attend the meeting. Out of the five only two had anything to contribute and the
situation is still not resolved.  So for now she can stay in this place but only for a few months. Then
will be back to finding another place for her!  It really is a nightmare!

Onto better things.  David got in the kitchen yesterday and made a lovely sponge cake, it was
very light and rather yummy!

This was really good.

Of course the cats give us a lot of laughs.  This morning the grey and white cat, Fred, was rolling around on the floor.  When he got up he was covered in turmeric, he turned yellow!

Yellow cat!

Earworm

An earworm is a song that gets stuck in your head, no matter what it keeps going round
and round!  Hannah loves musicals and most of the time she will listen on her phone
using headphones.  But sometimes she like to use YouTube on the TV.  I don't mind
but that is how I keep getting these songs stuck in my head!  Last week in was "High Flying
Adored" from Evita, before that "Music of the Night" from Phantom of the Opera.
This week I am going crazy because it's a German song that is stuck in my head!  I don't
speak German but Hannah has been listening to "Elisabeth" a German musical based on the
life of an Austrian Empress.  This musical has been translated into Japanese, so Hannah
understands it.  We watched the German version with English subtitles.  It's interesting
but rather heavy, death is a character that stalks the Empress and her family through out
her life.  The song that is stuck in my head is a duet between the Empress and Death.

This is the song with translation.  Hannah actually sings along with this song and she doesn't know German either!

End of February

The second month of 2019 is finished and things have not improved!
I was really hoping that this year would be a lot better than last year but
it looks like another hard year.
Christopher got turned down for another job.  He keeps trying, goes to loads
of interviews but everybody is looking for some one with experience but how
is he to get experience if nobody hires him!  The hard part is that he has to
pay back his scholarship and pay into the pension scheme but with what? There
is no welfare so I have to support him but it is really hard!
Of course my mother in law's situation hasn't changed, spent an hour and half talking
to the care manager and somebody else about the options available but again it
is a money problem.  Of course mother in law had to open her big mouth and keep
on saying that she isn't selling the land which ties our hands.  She doesn't realize that
saying she will sell the land is seen as an act of good faith. The land is not sell able, wrong
area and wrong zoning.  But just saying that we will sell it means that the city can
help out more.  She is running up debt staying in the hospital, which she has no way of
paying off.  Guess who gets the bill!
This is all so depressing, my health isn't that good and the stress from all this is not helping at all!
I am really hoping that things will look up soon but I am not holding my breath.
And of course the cats are driving me crazy. I left my computer on the other (m*o=======================-/*55555, that was the cat jumping on the keyboard)
morning and one of the cats sat on the keyboard when I went to use it again nothing would
work. Somehow it had cut the wifi connection!

Mikey with his big fish, it's not real!

Over Stressed

Life with cats is not the fun relaxing thing I thought it would be.  They seem to spend
most of their waking hours trying to kill each other or peeing where they shouldn't.
The three kittens are all male so of course this aggressive behavior is part of what
they are!  I want to get them spayed but the vet we use isn't doing the operations until
April, so another month of staying awake until after 1 o'clock or finding another vet!
As for the peeing I will have to buy another litter box, so that is easy to fix, I hope.

The biggest stress though is my mother in laws situation.  She can't get welfare to cover
her staying in a care home.  She can't go home and she can't stay with us.  So a care
home is the only choice. Problem is that on paper she looks rich. She owns her own house and a lot
of land.  We are willing to sell the land but it is in an area that nobody wants to buy, plus
it is zoned as farming land and changing the zoning is a nightmare.  The care manager
said that her pension can cover her stay in hospital but reality is that I am spending
about 200 pounds a month on her, she needs adult nappies and other things that are
not provided by the hospital, plus we have to drive out there. about an hour each way,
to pick up her laundry each week.  The money I am using is money I should be saving for Hannah
to go to university!   I am losing sleep trying to figure out what to do!  Looks
like another round of talking to people who aren't going to help!

Pschyic Dog?

I suffer from insomnia.  I've suffered for years but the past 6 months or so it has been
getting worse!  I go to bed at about 11pm and fall asleep only to wake a couple of hours
later and then unable to sleep again.  I have to get up at 5am to make breakfast and lunch box for Hannah.  So most nights I only get about 2 hours sleep.  That meant the next day I am tired
and rather miserable. Plus getting up at 5am makes my day very long as my working
hours are usually afternoon and evening, I feel like I'm starting to work when everybody
else is winding down for the day.  To help me get through work I try to take a nap. I find a half hour to an hour nap really helps. But the dog won't let me sleep!  Before I go upstairs the dog is
quiet, if I'm reading up there or cleaning the dog is quiet.  As soon as I get comfortable and
start to doze off the dog starts to yap.  If this happened once or twice then I would think it's
a coincidence but it happens every single time.  It feels like the dog knows I want to sleep and
doesn't want me too!  She barks or yaps at other times but she really isn't a noisy dog but this
is driving me crazy!

The cats are also driving me crazy.  The white cat doesn't like to use the liter tray. He walks around making this awful noise, so we have to scope and run with him.  The problem is that he is the
biggest of the cats, weighing about 4kgs!  The other morning I had to run upstairs 3 times to
grab him,  now my back and arms are really painful, but they are still cute!

Christopher and Fred

Alan

Steve and Mama

Steve on my printer

David with his head stuck in the cat carrier!