Price Hike

 From tomorrow, June 1st, prices on 3,165 products will rise.  Wheat products of course but also mayonnaise and cooking oil, frozen foods and snacks.  I'm not sure what will go up but most of the things I buy will be more expensive.  I've bought extra flour to keep in the freezer, I don't use too much in the summer but come the autumn I like to bake.  Also stocked up on cup noodles, enough for a few weeks, we don't eat them that often but if everybody is busy they are quick for the kids.  

My usual reaction is to do nothing, just moan and worry about the situation. Today I decided to use that angry energy for something good. So I baked and cooked.

blackberries 

Apple and blackberry pie.

I picked the few blackberries that were ready and made apple and blackberry pie.

I also made scotch eggs, first time in Japan.  Whenever we went to England the kids enjoyed them.  But I've never found sausage meat here.  I realized today that I make sausage patties from minced pork so I decided to use that.  Turned out great!

Another item that is easy to make, filling and cheap!

Scotch Egg!

I also made a big pot of curry for lunch to use up the veggies in the fridge. Tomorrow I'll make Japanese Doria, basically baking the rice and curry with a cheese sauce on top. I'm looking for ways to use up left overs!

HOT!!!

 Usually May is a lovely month, not too hot or cold.  Average temperature is in the mid 20's celsius.  But yesterday and today have been so hot, 32C yesterday, 30C today with humidity of 54%.  I hate this. Just doing the usual household chores left me sweaty, tired and feeling sick.  Cooking lunch was awful, the heat from the stove made me feel like I was cooking.  So much for being positive, all I feel now is miserable.  I know that many countries went through long lockdowns because of the pandemic the past 2 years, I do a similar thing every summer.  I just can't go out.  May is usually the last chance to go out so I try to make the most of it.  From June until October I stay in, with air conditioners and fans running 24 hours a day.  I try to go shopping but most of the time I come back feeling sick and exhausted.  I want to visit places but if it involves walking or being outside I can't do it.  I really hate the summers here, there's no break in the heat and humidity until October!  So get ready for a lot of moaning!

One thing with the hot weather the cats get free entertainment.  The small lizards climb up and down on the outside of the windows, the cats keep trying to get them!

Alfie trying to get a lizard

Be Positive

 After last weeks shock at the electric bill and then noticing the rising prices at the supermarket I feel in to my stinking thinking.  This is my default mode when things get tough.  I start thinking of all the awful things that could happen and what the worse case scenario would be.  When I stopped and stepped back I realized that the worst thing could happen is loosing the house, we would have to move back to my mother in  laws house.  It wouldn't be great but we wouldn't be homeless.  I'd have to start again, not great but not the end of the world.  So instead of staying in that mode I pushed myself to be positive and proactive.  Instead of thinking about the bad things I started to think what can I do to change this situation.  I asked Mikey to make a new leaflet and to find  a company that will distribute them.  I canceled Netflix, we haven't watched anything on there for a few months, I'm keeping Hulu and Prime Video for now.  I've thought about how I shop and how I can cut food waste,  one thing is throwing out rice because there isn't enough for 5 people but enough for one or two. So I'm going to start freezing the left over rice.  Cut down on instant foods and junk food.  We don't eat out but sometimes get take away, maybe once every two months we get a MacDonald's lunch.  Cooking from scratch and baking if we fancy a treat.  I'm drinking lemon water instead of sports drinks and will start making ice tea instead of buying bottles of the stuff (saves on plastic too).  I know my situation is not that bad!  When I see news reports that people in the UK can only eat once a day my heart breaks. It's 2022, UK is not a developing country (and even in a developing country that is bad) people should not have to choose between buying food or having power!  

I'm also trying to be cheerful.  It's to easy to fall into a negative mind trap.  My kids and the cats keep me amused.  As I posted before Fluffy has a habit of finding interesting place to sleep or sit.  The other day she was using Mikey.  She saw a small lizard on the outside of the window.  She jumped onto Mikey's shoulder to get close to it. She stayed there for about half an hour, even with Mikey moving around!

Fluffy trying to get the lizard.

Cost of Living Crisis......Japan Style

 Let me start with something positive before I get into my moaning session!   The face gel I bought works!  I went shopping this morning, of course had to wear a mask, which usually means I have rivers of sweat dripping down my face.  Today almost nothing!  By the fourth shop I started to feel a little damp on my forehead but nothing like before.  I'm so happy about that, one problem solved!

Before I left to go shopping this morning I found the postman had delivered my electric bill.  I was shocked to see that it was for 15000 yen ( about 94 pounds). This time of year it's usually half that!  That amount is normal in the summer because I run air conditioners!

Then at the shops I noticed that a lot of things have gone up.  I buy these lovely thick pork chops, two weeks ago they were 50 yen for 100 grams today 120 yen for 100 grams!  Most things that I buy have gone up by at least 20 yen.  Things that I want to buy fruits, vegetables, meat and fish are all a lot more expensive, snacks, crisps, snack bread haven't gone up that much.  

To make things worse we haven't had any new students this year!  April starts  the new school year and we normally get 3 to 5 students each month until the summer holidays then another lot in the fall.  This year nothing, no calls, non of Mikey's students from his volunteer teaching or kindergartens!  I'm trying not to panic but when our income only just covers the basics it's hard.  There is little help in Japan. Welfare is based on the family, if you need money then your extended family should help you. Problem is we have no family here, it's just us!  Before anybody asks the kids are helping out but it is still tight and they have their own bills to pay!

I know my situation is not that bad, I've been watching the news and seeing how bad things are in the UK makes me very sad!  I just wonder how much longer until the full force of this cost of living crisis hit Japan!

Thinking

 I came across an old note book in which I had written a list of goals, learn Japanese, loose 3kgs,  clean bedrooms.  The date was July 2013.  Problem is I could write the same thing today.  Still need to learn Japanese, still need to loose weight, the bedrooms got done then undone.  

The notebook

So I've been thinking on how to move forward, get things done.  One thing I have to stop is sleeping in the afternoon.  This is a habit from when I was teaching in the evenings, somedays from 4 o'clock until 9 or 10 o'clock and I knew I wouldn't have energy to keep going if I didn't nap.  At the moment I don't have that many classes, tonight I'm free so I don't need to nap but just want to!  But if I keep doing what I've always done I'll keep getting what I've always got!  So I'm going to try and change things up a bit, not easy but have to try.

Yesterday was a lovely sunset, first time in ages to see such colors.  I took a photo with my phone so not very good but still beautiful.

From my front door

Still trying to figure out my cat blog!

Fluffy finds the most interesting places to sleep.  On the bread one day, then on my medicine box the next day.

Fluffy on the bread

On my medicine box

Plastic

 I saw on the news that many households in UK had volunteered to weigh how much plastic they use.  It is hoped that by showing how much one use plastic is used supermarkets and government will be pushed to do something.  According to an article I read the UK is the 2nd largest user of plastic after the USA.

This got me thinking about my own use of plastic.  Just today for lunch I threw away plastic from lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, tofu, chicken and some meat.  That was for just one meal.  Add to the bread packet that was finished this morning, the snack breads we ate for breakfast and the bottled tea that Christopher drinks that is a lot of plastic.  Also in some supermarkets near here they will put things in a small plastic bag even though the product is already in a plastic bag.  I try to use my own shopping bags when I go shopping but the plastic bags are useful for the dirty cat litter, with  nine cats that's a lot of litter!  So I'm going to try and be careful and find alternatives to plastic.  I remember growing up that in grocery stores produce was open and put in a paper bag, drinks came in glass bottles and the only time my Mom needed a plastic carrier bag was at Christmas when she bought enough to feed an army!  If anybody has any ideas how to reduce plastic use drop me a comment!

Coins to Coupons

 One local supermarket has a new campaign.  They have installed a machine that will accept your coins, you know the ones sitting around in jars through out the house (or maybe that's just me).  This is just one of the jars I have.

Basically one yen coins

The machine then gives you coupons to use in the store.  I don't go to this supermarket very often but a chance to use up all these coins I have can't be passed up. I use to put the coins into the bank ATM and use them to pay for my Netflix and Hulu subscriptions but the banks started to charge for that and it just wasn't worth it.  I'm glad that there is a way to use these coins!

Melting

 That's how I feel when the weather warms up.  I sweat a lot, especially on my face.  The past couple of years it's been worse because of wearing masks when shopping.  I have to stop and wipe my face every few minutes, once I'm in the car I take off my mask and blast the air conditioning.  This has made shopping even more miserable.  I have knee pain that makes walking hard but add to that this sweating I honestly don't want to go out when it's hot!  I did some research and found an antiperspirant for the face.  Great if it works.  I ordered some from Amazon, it arrived on Monday.  Not sure about it at the moment, only tried it in the house.  The first thing I noticed was the strong smell, it doesn't last, which is good.  Also it feels sticky when first applied but I found sitting in front of a fan until it dries stops the sticky feeling.  It's not 100% but I could cook without sweat dripping into my eyes.  Next test is using it when I go shopping, see how it holds up when wearing a mask!

This is the antiperspirant

If anybody knows of a different product drop me a comment!

Overwhelmed

 I've just finished a weeks holiday and I feel more tired than I did before.

I spent most of my holiday cleaning and doing the garden, but it's never ending.  The kids help but they are busy with work and university.  Sometimes I feel like I'm trying to empty the ocean with a teaspoon! But I'll keep on.   I tell myself that one day it will be finished, at least I hope so!

Hannah has decided that I should study Japanese, which is true.  I understand a bit, especially daily conversations but I can't read or write.  Japanese has 3 different writing systems.  Hiragana, katakana and kanji ( the Chinese characters).  I still struggle to read, I can figure out things but not smooth reading.  Hannah has been making me prints to practice.  

Katakana and hiragana prints

I thought this would be a one time thing but she keeps sending me them.  Her train ride is an hour so she spends time on her phone making these and then sends them to me!  It helps.

The cats are driving me crazy.  They are indoor cats but they do escape sometimes.  Problem is we have stray cats coming around and I worry about the cats fighting. The one stray we took back to it's owner but a few days later he came back!

Fluffy

The picture of Fluffy is typical of her.  She sleeps on the edge of things and tends to fall off.  She doesn't get hurt but it gives me a fright!

Hannah's Birthday

 This week was Hannah's 20th birthday! 

Every birthday I let out a big sigh.  I've always worried about Hannah's health.  She was born extremely premature, I was just 26 weeks pregnant and she weighed 900grams (1.8lbs).  She only had a 30% chance of living! Now she is 20 years old, enjoying university and working part time.  She got lots of presents, we had a yakiniku and sushi party!  We sat, ate, talked and laughed for a long time.  Next day Hannah went into the city with her friend to watch a movie. So she's had a nice week!

Looked through photos, found some of Hannah, enjoy! They are not in any order, sorry!

On her birthday!

Yaki niku

All grown up!

about 9 months old

with Dad, 1 years old

with Grandma

and Granddad

Outing, forget where.

Playing Cinderella

6th birthday

rocking out

7 years old

Trying to get a family photo, took 2 hours!

In England, waiting to see Phantom of the Opers

messing around

couple of years ago at a beach

Playing with filters on the phone