May

 May felt long; it seemed to drag on.  I felt that the months from the new year until April went by very quickly, but May slowed down. Or maybe I slowed down.

The first few months of the year, I was really trying to get the house and garden sorted. I've been slowly decluttering, sorting the storage area and trying, with little success, to do the garden. The weather in May, however, put a halt to a lot of projects; it's been too hot. May is usually the last month before the heat and humidity set in; this year it has been unseasonably hot.  Today the high was 33℃, too hot to really do anything!

I'm still trying to clean every day. With nine cats, you have to sweep and vacuum every day; otherwise, the hair and dust just collect. I do what I can, then give orders to whoever is around. I think I'll have to start my summer schedule of cleaning in the early morning, before 8 am, and then spending the rest of the day in my room with the air conditioner on. Makes my life very small, but it's the only way to survive the summer. We are planning on getting an air conditioner for the kitchen/dining area, but Christopher has the credit card, and David knows which one is good, but their schedules haven't lined up as yet. I hope we can get one before the extreme heat sets in. I'm coping at the moment, but it isn't easy!

At the moment, I'm wondering if Typhoon 6 is going to hit here. I keep checking to see what course it's going to take, and so far it looks like it will pass south of here. We might get some heavy rain but not the wind. I hope it won't be too bad, as the blueberries are starting to grow. 

The blueberries!

Also, the Japanese plums are almost ready for picking; I don't want them to be blown down.

Last year I made a personal curriculum to finish the year; I'm thinking of doing that for the summer. I do need to learn more Japanese; also, I want to read more about Japanese history and study nutrition. I think the first few days of June I'll be putting together some books, webpages and videos to do that.

June is halfway through the year; I often reflect on what I've accomplished this far into the year and what I need to do to finish the year on top of things. 

If you made New Year's resolutions, have you stuck to them?

From Defeated to Determined

 I'm amazed at what a rest and a good night's sleep do for my mental health.

This morning I woke up feeling refreshed; my allergies are calmer, I feel a lot better mentally, not so down, so I determined not to be brought down by our money situation. I can't make any more, even though I want to; what I can do is cut waste to a minimum and find even more ways to save money.

I have subscriptions to Hulu and Netflix; one has to go. Netflix is the cheap subscription with ads, which don't bother me at all. Hulu, however, is more expensive, so that will have to be cancelled; I can always change back later. That will save just over 1,000 yen a month. 

Other things that are wasting money are buying drinks and something for dinner when we go to the other city to teach. 

On Tuesday, Christopher comes with Mikey and me; he makes sandwiches for us. But we still stop at a convenience store to buy drinks. I always buy water; I should get a flask and bring water from home. On Wednesday, when it's just Mikey and me, we buy something to eat, but I think that I should make some sandwiches or rice balls. I noticed that over the two days I spent about 4,000 yen; multiplying that by 4 weeks makes 16,000 yen, about £75, far too much to waste like that. Also, there isn't much choice in the stores and no real healthy choices!

Another area I'm looking at making changes in is our food shopping. I need to go back to making a week's menu and sticking to it. It's so easy to buy "bargains" but then not use them, therefore wasting money. A few times in the past I've planned out a week's menu and made shopping lists. I remember being able to save over 3,000 yen a week, about £15.

Just implementing those few changes could save me a lot of money. Takes discipline, though. But that's good for me. I need to stop being so lazy and make the effort!

I hope this determination lasts!

Yesterday, even though I rested a lot, I did make an effort to put away my very heavy winter clothes and put out my summer clothes.

A couple of things surprised me; one was that it didn't take as long as I thought it would, about 40 minutes altogether. Another nice surprise was that some clothes that I thought didn't fit actually fit now! I have two new outfits without shopping!

Today I cleaned out the fridge while making lunch. I wanted to roast some broccoli and potatoes; I parboil them first, otherwise they don't seem to cook through properly. While they were cooking, I decided to clean part of the fridge. I like cleaning the fridge when it's hot!

Today's lunch!

Hamburgers, roasted potatoes and broccoli, salad and miso soup. I did plan to make rice, but I forgot to turn on the rice cooker! Never mind! I'll use the rice for this evening's meal!

Feeling Defeated

 Maybe defeated is too strong a word, but definitely overwhelmed.

I would really like life to go more smoothly. I know that having problems is normal. 

I just wish my problems didn't happen all at once!

A perfect scenario would be to have a problem, solve it, next problem, solve that and keep on going like that. One problem at a time. But life is messy, and problems seem to occur in clusters.

Most of my problems are about money and my health!

June seems to be the month when a lot of taxes are due, the new national insurance starts for the year ahead, and we now have another city bill to pay that I really don't understand.

The new bill is about sewage removal. We already pay a bimonthly water bill, which includes sewage. This new bill is calculated based on the size of the land. Because the land we are on is large, the bill is high. The land measures about 1435m², and the house, from which the sewage is taken, is only 204m². We have to pay 149,060 yen, about £700. We can pay monthly, but I think I might go to the city hall and find out exactly what this is for. Our mains sewage is just for the water, not the toilet waste, which we still have to get fixed!

Then, of course, just the everyday price of things is getting to be crazy. I'm lucky that I have wonderful friends who send me stuff, a bag of rice that came just at the right time. Also, one of my students is a farmer; two or three times a month, she gives me some vegetables, which really helps. 

But it is really disheartening to go into a supermarket and see that, yet again, there is an increase in basic foods. It's not a lot, but these few yen add up quickly.  If I can get to the supermarket where Christopher works, with Christopher, he can get a 10% employee discount. We try to do that as much as possible.

My big health problem at the moment is allergies. I have no idea why they have suddenly flared up.  Yesterday was awful, my nose was like a tap, just dripping, and I had to teach. I took medicine, which helped a bit, but I still went through 4 packets of tissues. Today is a bit better, but I'm wiped out. I've slept most of the day, I didn't even make lunch, but I have a good dinner planned.

Then, just to add to things, I came home yesterday to find Christopher sick. He came home early from work with a fever and headache. I checked his fever last night, 39.5℃, very high. I gave him some painkillers and let him sleep. He's a lot better today, thankfully! I know he's an adult, but he's still my kid, and I worry! 

One of my friends reminds me to be grateful, something that I struggle with. I know that my problems aren't that bad, that a lot of people have harder lives, but I think it's normal to see your own problems as being overwhelming!

Three things that I'm grateful for.

1) Friends who help out, who keep it real for me and remind me that life is wonderful even when it feels so hard.

2)A house that is mine, no rent to pay, which does help.

3)Kids who are willing to help each other and me. They aren't selfish with their own money and are willing to lend money or buy things for each other without moaning!

I'm fighting the defeated feeling! Tomorrow is a new day, next week is a new month. I have to find energy to deal with these problems; lying in bed isn't helping!

Cats on the new cooling mat I bought.

It's getting hot, not every day but most days. I got this cooling mat from Daiso for 500 yen, about £2. These are for people, not pets; the pet ones cost about 2,000 yen, about £10. I'm thinking to but some for us to use on our beds. 

Fed Up....

 ...of summer and it's only May!

I always feel that May is the last chance to get things done before the heat and humidity set in. This year, however, May is already too hot! It's already 30℃ at 11 am! Yesterday was up to 33℃! Far too hot for this time of year.

Today and tomorrow are my teaching days, and I honestly don't want to go! The air conditioner in Mikey's car doesn't work, and of course, there's no money to fix it. I feel like I loose 3 days, 2 days going to teach and then one day to recover. I'm not sure it's worth it for me now, the amount I make doesn't justify what we pay in gas and for renting the community centre, but until I have another source of income, I have to keep going.

Which brings me to the next thing I have to moan about.

YouTube and all the promises of making money!

I don't know if anyone goes down these rabbit holes, but I keep seeing these videos with thumbnails that say things like "Copy me and make xxxxx" or "How to quit your job and make money". I've watched them, I've tried to copy them, but I keep hitting a brick wall. One problem is that a lot of the tools they use are not free, and I honestly don't want to pay for something that doesn't work. Then there are all the new rules about using AI to create things. I'm inspired by the idea of making colouring books to sell on KDP, but I can't draw, so I would have to use AI. Amazon has so many hoops to jump through; I guess it's good, as I know that many artists are trying to sell their work but are being pushed out of the market by AI.

I should get lunch and get ready to go!

One thing with going out is the interesting things I get to see.

The other day, we were behind this truck, I have no idea what he had on the back of it!

House on wheels?

I just checked the homepage that is on the back of the truck, it's a florist's. 

The Great Midnight Bug Fight!

 I really don't like bugs, even the ones that some people find pretty or cute, like butterflies or ladybirds (ladybugs). They just make me go cold, some make me scream, like cockroaches and praying mantis. The weird thing is that I'm alright with spiders; I would rather they stay outside, but unless they are massive, they don't bother me.

Recently, there have been a lot of stink bugs on my window at night.

As I'm reading or watching TV, I can hear them flying into the window. It irritates me, but as long as they stay outside, I don't mind. I keep my window open, as it is still cool in the evenings, but I have a screen mesh that I keep closed until there are too many stink bugs on it!

One of the bugs on my screen last night.

Last night, at just after 11pm, I decided to turn off the TV and read for a bit. I just got comfortable with my book when I could hear this very loud buzzing and then tapping sounds. I looked up to see a stink bug circling my light. Every now and again, it would hit the light. I knew that I wouldn't be able to sleep with that in my room. Time for action!

I knew we had some fly spray, I had bought a can a couple of weeks ago. I remembered seeing it in the dining room. But of course, when I went to get it, it wasn't there. I looked around for a few minutes before I remembered seeing a can in the bathroom. I found an almost empty can!

Back to my room, the stink bug is still circling the light. I sprayed the fly spray, but instead of a nice mist coming out, I got these drops of liquid and a tiny bit of spray. I shook the can and tried again, same results. I now have a very agitated bug, going faster around the light and fly spray trickling down my arms. I'm watching this bug. I have maybe enough spray for one last shot. I have to make it count, I have to kill it, or I'll have to sleep on the sofa!

I was watching the bug so intently that I got dizzy! Finally, a chance, a last shot! I managed to hit it! But my arms are now itching because of the fly spray that is flowing down them!

I went to wash my arms, realising that I might have lost the battle and wondering how comfortable the sofa would be!

When I got back to my room, the first thing I noticed was how quiet it was, no buzzing! I'd won, but I have no idea where the body is! I'm still looking for it!

Finally, I can get on my bed, read and then sleep, but of course it wasn't that easy. Because the spray didn't come out in the usual fine mist, I had splashes of fly spray on my bedding, so at midnight I had to change my bedding! 

I really don't like bugs!

Google Photos

 I keep my photos on Google Photos. 

One feature that I love is the collection of photos they put together for you at the top of the page. The photos are curated and displayed with titles like "cuddles and purrs" or "7 years ago".

Some of these photos are then organised in collages to keep.

This is one of our first dog, Lou!

Lou

We had her 20 years ago. 

I like how the photos can be rather random but follow a theme.

Photos of Dad's house

I never would have thought of putting photos like this together.

Of course, there are collages of everyone and the cats.

One of the collages of Mikey

Christopher

And food, lots of collages of food.

This one was labelled "Sweet Treats"

This is one that came up today, "Cuddles and Purrs With Fred"

A Fred collage.  

I've always loved taking photos. When Mikey was a baby, before digital cameras, I would take 36 photos every month. The same for the other kids. I liked having a visual record of them.

There are very few photos of me as a baby or young child, which I always felt that was sad. 

I often wonder what people in the future will say about these photos, these snapshots of our lives. 

Life is so fleeting, even though sometimes it seems long, but things change so quickly. One day, you have a young family, enjoying adventures, enduring sleepless nights, homework tantrums, birthdays and Christmases, then life happens, and the kids are grown. You are left with memories and photos that make you smile and cry!

I hope you enjoy these little collages of my life.

Hannah and I collage

David

I Messed Up....

 A new recipe!

Hannah bought me a cookbook a few weeks ago. All of the recipes can be made in the microwave, which, in the summer, will really help. We are planning on buying an air conditioner for the kitchen/dining area, but the extractor fan over the stove top doesn't work. Even with an air conditioner on, standing over a hot stove is going to be awful.

The recipes are very simple, using ingredients that I usually have on hand. Of course, the recipes are in Japanese, I can read most of the text; what I can't read, I either use my phone and Google Translate or ask one of my kids to help.

My cookbook from Hannah

With my Japanese cookbooks, I usually write out the recipe in English, either on the book itself or use a sticky note.

This time, however, I thought the recipe was easy enough to do without doing that. 

The recipe was breast chicken, Chinese cabbage and green peppers.

Chop the chicken and cook in the microwave, when cooked at the vegetables and seasonings. Nice and simple!

I cooked the chicken, I then looked at the recipe again to see how many green peppers I needed. It was then that I noticed that I should have mixed sake and potato starch together and coated the chicken with that before cooking the chicken. Never mind!

I had to change the seasoning. According to Google Translate, I needed fish sauce. I have no idea what fish sauce is, so I used oyster sauce. Also, the recipe is just for two servings. It said to use two leaves of Chinese cabbage, I used a quarter of one; I wanted more vegetables in the dish. I have a habit of changing up recipes a lot!

Even though I messed up, it tasted alright.

The chicken is under the vegetables.

This made enough for three people. 

I've learned my lesson: write out the recipe before you start!