The Results Of My Planning Book

 I finished the planning book today. It's a thin book, so I could only plan for 3 weeks.

But the results, the patterns I've noticed over the past 3 weeks, are very interesting.

The things I thought I was doing poorly at and the things I thought I was doing well or just okay at are very different.

Sleep, especially sleeping during the day and staying up at night, has been a big worry for me for a long time. This bad habit started when the kids were little, and I was working almost every evening. I would get up early, especially when the kids started school, I would get chores done, meals prepared for the day, then rest in the afternoon because I knew that teaching kids in the evening would be hard if I'm tired. I can get very bad-tempered when I'm tired! Most days I was teaching from 4 o'clock to 9 or 10 o'clock. After teaching, I would be too hyper to go to bed early, so I would stay up until at least midnight. This has become a bad habit. Now, however, I'm not teaching every day, but it is still easier to keep that same pattern. What I noticed during the past 3 weeks is that I have a few days where I'm on the go all day, cleaning, doing the garden a bit, teaching a couple of days a week and studying/reading in the afternoon. Then I would get over tired and rest for a day. I need to even things out more, spread the chores over a few days instead of trying to tackle everything in one day. Also, set a bedtime, even if I'm not tired; just wind down the day by reading and relaxing, not doomscrolling or watching TV.

One thing I thought I was dealing with alright was my eating. I've noticed that I do alright with breakfast and lunch, but the late-afternoon and evening things go downhill fast. I'm not really hungry, but I pick at things. Recently, it's been peanut butter and jam sandwiches! Very bad! I don't keep snacks in the house as I know I'll eat them, but it's so easy to send a message to Christopher and ask him to pick up something on the way home. I think I'll have to prepare some high-protein, low-fat snacks to have at hand. Things like tofu, nato, chicken breast, and boiled eggs. I'll see if I can find some recipes to help with that. I'm back to not eating carbs in the mornings, just some protein and fruit. I found a smoothie recipe that I should start making again: plain yoghurt, tofu and some berries. I use frozen berries as they are very expensive here. The recipe called for equal amounts of yoghurt and tofu, but I use more yoghurt than tofu as I don't want a strong tofu taste. I'm trying to get back into having just protein and vegetables for dinner. I've managed that for the past few days. 

I haven't been exercising as much as I thought I was. I'll have to get back into my chair exercise. I thought I was walking more, but some days I do a lot of walking, other days almost nothing. 

I cleaned more than I thought. Maybe because this house is always a mess, I thought I wasn't doing that much. But almost every day I cleaned, some days more than others.

I've studied a lot, not Japanese, but I've been reading a lot of history recently. 

Keeping this notebook over the past 3 weeks has been very eye-opening for me. I had this image of myself that I don't do anything constructive, that I just sleep all day, every day. I thought that at least I was eating alright, with the occasional treat and exercising more. 

For the next 21 days, I'm going to focus on 2 things: eating and exercise. I read somewhere that it takes at least 21 days to build new habits. I'm going to use my diary to record what I do, how my eating is going, and also why I'm eating too much. I know I'm a stress eater, but I think I eat out of boredom as well. So I want to record what my emotions are around eating.

I struggle with exercise; I find it boring and would rather avoid it at all costs.  But I know that if I want a good, long life, I need to set habits now that will get me fit and keep me fit for the future.

I hope by tackling these two areas that I'll be able to tackle the other areas of my life after/

Talking about the future, Christopher bought a few things for Hannah. Mikey and I are going to see her tomorrow. This photo shows some of the groceries he bought.

Grocery for Hannah

The red packages are spaghetti. Hannah asked how long the spaghetti would last; she thought maybe a couple of months. The best-by date on the back says until 2029. Three years, by that time I'll be 67! Somehow this surprised me. Hannah will be 27, Christopher will be 31!  

I hope by then my health will be better, that my kids will finally be settled and living the lives they want, and that this house and land will be in a better shape. 

Here's to the next three weeks!

Hot

 Today the temperature hit 31℃!

That is crazy for May, the usual temperature for this time of year is mid 20℃s. 

Fortunately, the humidity is low, which means that using a fan helps to cool things down a bit! 

According to the ten-day forecast, the weather will cool down a bit next week because it's going to rain. I hope so, I'm not ready for the heat.

I might start my summer schedule earlier than usual. Five days a week, I get up at 5am to make breakfast and obento. I then rest for an hour or so afterwards, then get up again to do chores and make lunch. My summer schedule has me doing as much as possible before 8am, and the latest 9am. After that, I can stay in my room with the fan, and when it gets really crazy, I can run the air conditioner!

I still have a lot of deep cleaning to do. I was hoping that I would have most of it finished by now, but there are still a few jobs that need to be tackled. Being sick with allergies last weekend threw me off schedule. Christopher doesn't have work tomorrow, so he can help a bit! One job I want to do is to put the heavy winter futons out to air out and then put them away for the summer. Just looking at them makes me feel hot! Another job is folding and putting away the clean laundry that is on my floor, again!

The only good thing about the heat is that the cats don't fight so much. I think the heat tires them out. They have started to lose their winter coat, even sweeping and vacuuming every day isn't helping. We are trying to brush them every day. Unfortunately, it's hard to brush all the cats on one day. I think the best time to brush them is when they are sleeping, but it's hard to find them, or they sleep where it's impossible to reach them.

Today, Fred got a good brushing!

It was going well, even if he was complaining, until Toast jumped up!

I'm going to make some iced tea!  I need a nice cool drink!

Another Oh Bother Post

 A few things happened the other day that had me saying "Oh Bother" a lot, and a few other choice words!

The first thing that had me cursing was my weight.

I used to check it every day. I've always been obsessed with my weight. I can look at photos from years ago and remember how much I weighed! That's rather bad.

Recently, my weight has been going up and down by the same 2 or 3 kilos. I'll get down to 93kg, which is very big but a lot better than where I started from 113kg. Then I'll get up to 94 something, then down to 93kg. I can't seem to break this 93 kg barrier. I'm self-sabotaging myself, and I don't know why. For me, losing weight is really a mental game. I know what to eat, I know what kind of exercise I can do and what is good for me, but I keep shooting myself in the foot. I need to spend some time thinking things through and trying to understand why I'm doing this. My goal for this year is to be under 90kg, so near yet so far!

When I got on the scales the other day and saw my weight had gone up, that was the first Oh Bother moment!

The second was to do with David's car.

He bought this car a couple of years ago, basically to help with moving. From the start, the car had some problems. It looks like an older model, no automatic windows, it has the old-fashioned ones with the wind-down lever. The key doesn't have a button to unlock and lock the door; you have to put the key in the door. Not really a problem, but it gave us a good laugh.

After driving for a couple of months, the engine started to make a strange noise, so he took it in to be checked. Some belt needed to be changed, then the engine light came on, so he took it in again and got a few more things fixed. Since he's had this car, it feels like every couple of months he has to take it to the garage to fix something. The roadworthy test is due in August, the mechanic estimated it would cost over 300,000 yen to fix it, about £1400, it's not worth it. David has decided to sell it and buy another one. He called a couple of companies to come and check the car to see if he could get something for it. The one mechanic said that the odometer had been turned back!  My reaction when I heard that was not Oh Bother, but a lot more colourful language. David basically got scammed.

David's car.

David isn't too upset, he said, it's only a car. When I said that I'm angry because he worked hard to make the money for the car, he said that it's only money! That's David, very relaxed about material things.

And because misery loves company, the tax bill for the land came! Another year of paying tax on land that doesn't make an income. I really want to sell or rent out the land, but until we change the name, we can't, and to change the name costs a fortune. I was hoping we could do it bit by bit, change the name on one plot of land, sell it, change the name on the next plot. But we have to do it all at once!

Feeling Better....

 But exhausted! 

My allergies flared up at about 3 o'clock, Saturday morning. From that time to about 1 o'clock this afternoon (Sunday), I'd slept for about an hour, and that wasn't a good, deep sleep. In 34 hours, just one hour of sleep is a bit crazy! Also, the allergy medicine makes me sleepy, but every time I lie down to sleep, my nose would just run, also the mucus would go down my throat, choking me! I've sneezed so hard that my ribs are painful! I'm hoping that the worst of this attack is over. I have so much to do, and being sick doesn't help at all!

New week, new plan!

According to the weather forecast this week, it's going to start getting hot, up to 29℃, the week after, up to 30℃. Help! Next week, I really need to finish deep cleaning the house so that it's easier to do the basic chores every day! Wish me luck!

One big chore is cleaning the cat hair; it's that time of year when they start to moult, everywhere! I swept up so much hair the other day that I could have made another cat! I'll have to find the cat brush and give them a good brushing a few times a day.

Mango

Christopher just came back from work, he bought me some nice fruits for Mother's Day! I haven't had mango in years; it's rather expensive. 

I'm going to go and enjoy my mango!

Bad Day

 Today has been one of the worst days for my allergies this season. This year, I haven't been too sick. This might be the third or fourth day that I can't function because of allergies so far this season. By now, I've usually been sick for over 10 days. Big improvement!

Last night I sat down and planned out my day. Get up at 7am. Christopher doesn't have work on Saturdays, so I don't need to make obento for him. Have breakfast, clean the kitchen a bit, go outside and pick weeds, cook lunch, then spend the afternoon reading and studying. 

But I woke up at 3am with my nose just dripping. I took some allergy medicine and tried to sleep again, but I started to sneeze, a full box of tissues later, and I was still sneezing. I realised that it was going to be one of those days!

I tried to sleep but could only doze between sneezing fits. I crawled out of bed at about 9am. Not too late, I decided that even if I couldn't do anything else, I could clean one area of the kitchen. I decided to clean where the kettle and cups are. It was a small enough job that I could do it in a few minutes, I also managed to clean off the dish drainer.

Lunch was last night's dinner. I had made a big pot of curry, so I just cooked some rice. 

I really wanted to sleep a bit, but it's hard with a constant runny nose! I watched TV a bit and tried to read, but I couldn't really concentrate.

I hope that this will pass! I want to get the house cleaned as much as possible before it gets too hot to move!

A photo of Sam in my window. Christopher was around the back of the house near my window. Sam had been relaxing on my lap. He heard Christopher, jumped on the windowsill and started hissing. His tail is all fluffed up!

Sam

Oh Dear

 I was looking for inspiration for today's post. I decided to look back at last May. I came across this post, Jackie's Japan Journal: Breaking Habits

Not good! One year and I'm still doing the same thing, still getting up too early, then going back to bed and sleeping most of the day away.

I have three questions that only I can answer. The first one is why do I sleep better in the day? I've always been a night owl; I've never been fond of early mornings or any mornings, actually. I know I'm able to get up and keep going all day. I did it when I travelled with Hannah earlier this year, also when I've had days out. So I don't think it's a physical problem, more an emotional one.

Another question is, do I want to be awake, to get things done or is escaping into sleep the only way I can cope with stress? My stress levels are high, but so are every ones elses! I'm not unique in this day and age. I worry constantly about my kids, and yes, I know they are adults, but the worry is still there. I worry about Hannah and her health, David's job and all the driving he has to do. Is Christopher alright in his job? Can he deal with all the walking once it gets hot (the nearest bus stop is a 40-minute walk from here; he's okay now, and it's good for him, but once the heat and humidity start, will he be alright? Heatstroke is a big problem in Japan)? Also, money always seems to be a big worry for me. We never seem to have enough, so I spend hours at night looking through YouTube trying to find a simple side hustle. The problem is that nothing is really simple.

The last question is, can I break this cycle? I've tried sleeping tablets to help me sleep at night, but they didn't really work. I need to find a good rhythm for my life. I know my health isn't that good, but sleeping constantly isn't helping. Looking back over my planning book for the past couple of weeks, sleep is always marked as bad! All the other areas are either ok or good. 

As much as I don't want to, I think I'll have to make a schedule, what time to get up, what time to rest, what time to go to bed. I feel like I'm going backwards with my life! Five days a week, I get up at 5am to make breakfast and obento. I know I don't have to, that Christopher can make his own obento, and anyone else who wants breakfast can help themselves. But I feel it's the least I can do! I then stay awake until 7am to call Hannah. She has to take her epilepsy medicine between 7 and 7:30. Most days, she can get up by herself, but sometimes she doesn't have confidence that she'll hear her alarm. I send her cat photos, so her phone is pinging a lot. After that, I doze with the idea to get up at 9am to start my day, but some days I don't wake up until 10 or 11 am! That's bad, my whole morning has gone! I definitely need a schedule!!

Another thing that has me worried is that it's been a year since we started advertising our English school here, and there have been no calls at all. I don't know what to do.

I was hoping that we could get some students so David could teach; it's better than the job he has now, which is making him ill. He's lost so much weight he looks gaunt!

David, he doesn't look good!

But still fools around, he was driving when Hannah took this selfie!

I asked why he doesn't get a full-time job at a company. He said that it's hell working full-time, the income is about the same, and you are expected to work overtime and go drinking after work. The Japanese have a word for death caused by overwork, karoshi, which shows how often that happens. People are literally worked to death.

I'm going to suggest he tries to get students online, even a few would help. I need to teach more as well. I'm wondering if the time of just advertising and getting lots of students has passed.

Sorry, I'm just rambling here!

Goodbye Hannah

 Hannah had to go back to her apartment today, because she has classes from tomorrow morning.

It was nice having her here for a few days, but it's always kind of sad when she goes back. I know her life is there now; she has classes and starts two weeks of teacher training soon. But the house feels quiet and empty, even though the other kids are here. Is there another word for adult children? It always feels weird to say kids when they are adults, but my kids!

The weather was really nice today, so I decided to go along with Mikey. Part of the journey is along the river.

I like this part of the river; it always looks clean.  It's the last day of the Golden Week holiday, so a lot of people were out. There are a few golf courses, or maybe just practice areas, along the river.

We did a bit of shopping. Hannah needed a few things from Daiso, the 100-yen shop, and some bits and pieces from the supermarket. I thought about going to a few other places, but we were both tired.

Of course, we got lost! But I actually enjoyed that, got to see some other parts of the city!

Lovely temple gate

Even in the middle of the city, there are so many green spaces.

As we came back to Kurume, we saw the tail end of the shinkansen.

You can just see the Shinkansen as it pulls into the station.

The building on the left, with the cranes, has gone up very quickly. It was started just over a year ago! Mikey and I were wondering what the appeal of living at the top of these kinds of buildings was. Not for me, I don't like heights, and I would worry about earthquakes.

I need to rest, I have a few busy days ahead, I really want to make the most of this good weather before it gets too hot and humid!