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!