I CAN SEE

I had my eye operation last Thursday! I am so glad that it is over and done with!  I NEVER want to go through that again! 
I was so nervous before hand that I was shaking and managed to bring back what bit of lunch I ate!
I know it was silly to get so worked up.  In my mind I knew this wasn't a big thing, I've heard from many others who have had the same operation and also from reading about it online, it is quick and easy.  But sometimes my mind and emotions don't communicate very well!
The operation was strange. They placed a sterile cover over my face and a plastic cover over the eye to keep it sterile.  Then the local anaesthetic was given as an eye drop.  Then a little cut was made under the eye lid.  After that all I saw was bright lights, when the old lens was taken out it was really weird! Nothing to focus with so all I saw was pretty lights!  I was just getting comfortable when the doctors said it was all over with!  No pain, just some pressure around the eye socket!  I came home with an eye patch which made things very interesting! It is very difficult to judge depth with just one eye, so I kept trying to grab things but couldn't figure out where they were!
Friday I went back to check it was okay!
Now I can see all the dust that I missed for the past couple of months!
Looks like getting the spring cleaning done, I've had a great excuse for the past few weeks but no longer!

Playing Catch Up

I am so behind on this blog.  Time just disappears, before I know it a couple of weeks have passed and no time to write!
The beginning of April saw Hannah starting junior high school.  Of course the day of the entrance ceremony the weather was bad. No rain but very cold and windy. The gym where the ceremony was held doesn't get heated, so after sitting there for a couple of hours I was well frozen!

Hannah in her new uniform

She seems okay at school.  Thinks the English lessons are better suited to kindergarten than junior high school and already hates math!  Her homeroom teacher is a math teacher so I hope she can help Hannah a bit!
The most difficult thing is getting Hannah to and from school.  All through elementary school somebody would go with her to school and meet her after but now she needs to become more independent.  But she has an awful sense of direction. The other morning I walked half way with her. All she had to do was walk down to the crossing and turn right, but she got lost. I don't know how she managed that!  The past few evening she came back with a friend which is nice!

Christopher is now in the last year of high school. He has to decide what to do next year.  During the spring break he finally got new glasses.  He looks cool in them.  But Mikey and David decided to play with them!



David is wearing Christophers old glasses Mikey his new ones!

And we have finally made a start on the yard!  Last wekk some my husbands friends came and laid turf.  Half the garden looks good, the other half still needs doing!  The weather on Sunday was so nice, a real spring day but the rest of the week winter returned with heavy rain, thunder and cold winds.  That's my excuse for not doing the garden!

Preparing the ground for the turf!

Spring Holiday...Almost Over

Christopher and Hannah's spring holiday will be over in just 4 more days.  Even though we didn't go anywhere or do so much I have enjoyed myself!  Not getting up at 5am is so nice!  I'm not a morning person!
We had a nice little party to celebrate Hannah's graduation.  Ate a lot and watched DVD's!  Nice and relaxed!

I asked David to whip up the cream for the cake and trifle, but he creamed me!

Hannah spent a lot of time drawing and watching her musicals.  I don't mind so much but she plays the same songs over and over.  Even I can remember the words and they are in Japanese!

Our yard needs to be done.  We have a few flowers but not much at all. I hope to get some done this month.  The camellia tree outside of the living room looks really nice but that is the only thing that looks nice!

 

There are other things that happened but I can't thing at the moment.  Spring brings out my allergies and I am so doped up on medicine that it is hard to think straight!

Hannah's Graduation

Last week Hannah graduated from elementary school!
The ceremony was nice and not overly long.  Hour and half in the gym and thirty minutes in the classroom after. The speeches were short and to the point, no old grandfather waffling on forever this time!
The weather however was awful, rain and wind.  Mikey drove David and I up to the school gate but we had to walk from the gate to the gym. Not far but the back of my dress got soaked and I had to sit in it for the whole morning, rather yuk!  David took photos for me! With my eye still bad I never know if the camera is out of focus or its just my eye!  He got some nice shots until the battery died!

Hannah dressed up for graduation

Hannah waiting, her friend yawning

Receiving her diploma

With her teacher and friend, at the end the sun came out

We have to finish sorting out her elementary school stuff, pack away all the things she doesn't need any more and make space for the junior high school stuff.

Hannah's hat and bookbag have now retired.

For me it is going to strange not dealing with elementary school anymore.  I've had a child in elementary school for the past 17 years.  Really the end of an era.  I feel old! While Hannah was still an elementary school student I felt younger!  Now I have one kid in junior high school, one in high school, one at university and one working.  Not a young mother at all!

weather,eye doctors and brass bands

The weather here has been interesting. It really can't decide if it is spring or not!  Two week ago Sunday was so beautiful, sunny, bit of wind and perfect temperatures!  Mikey managed to trim the trees outside and I gave the bathroom a good scrub.  I started to plan spring cleaning.  It felt good to be able to move around the house with freezing. Japanese houses don't have central heating so we only warm the room we are using, so going room to room is rather unpleasant when it gets cold!  But the weather that Sunday was a false start to spring, two days later it snowed!  Not a lot and it didn't stick but felt like winter had returned.  Since then it has warmed up until yesterday was up 22C.  but from today it will be cool again!

Magpies in the snow, they are building a nest in one of our trees
 

I finally went back to the eye doctor.  I kept putting it off but no choice.  I will have the operation on April 23rd.  One thing that I was very worried about was the local anesthetic.  I know for teeth you get an awful injection but for eyes?  I was having nightmares about this!  Turns out that my worry was for nothing, the doctor uses eye drops.  Now I need to learn the Japanese for numb!  Always learning something new! 

Last Sunday Mikey, Christopher, David and I went to a concert by one of the local high school's brass band club.  My student was playing the part of Jasmin from Aladdin.  There were three parts to the concert, first was classic music, the Aladdin, then "It's only Rock and Roll".  The whole thing was very professional, the teacher really got into the spirit of things dressing up and dancing with the kids!
I really enjoyed the afternoon!

This time of the year there are a lot of beginnings and endings.  Kids are graduating and going onto the next phase of their lives.  One of the first students we had here has graduated high and moves to go to university this April.  We prepared a little gift for her.  She loves "Jackie Tea", the way I have my tea, milk and sugar.  So I bought a basket and put in a couple of cups, some tea and cocoa and a gift coupon for books!  She was really pleased with it!

Saying Goodbye

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our New Car

New to us that is!  We finally got a good deal on a used car.  My husband's friend introduced us to somebody who had a car shop, he is semi retired but still knows about cars! He showed Mikey an auction site and recommended 3 or 4 cars, Mikey went and chose a car but this guy did the bidding and got us a car under our budget!  He took the car to his place and replaced a couple of things, for free. All in all a very good deal and a very nice car!

Nice, new and shiny car!

Hannah is very busy at school. This is her last month at elementary school, so getting ready for graduation and junior high school.  Today's homework was math that she will be doing in junior high school.  She seems to know what she is doing, I hope so because math is the one thing I really struggle with!  She made a nice bag for me in her home economics class the other week!

Hannah with  the bag she made

Hannah has a very interesting way of explaining things!  Yesterday she was very tired and actually fell asleep after school for about half an hour!  Later in the evening she asked to watch one of her DVDs.  I said I thought  she was too tired to watch anything.  Her answer was rather unique.  She said it's like when you eat dinner and too full but then there is cake you can eat!!  Clever answer, so of course she got to watch her DVD!

One Month

This past month has been hard for me.  Lots of decisions to be made. lots of things that have left me feeling lonely.   Most days I really miss my husband!
It all started when Mikey took the car for the shaken test, the roadworthy test that cars have to go through every two years! Mikey took the the car to a local garage, they gave an estimate for the car!  Mikey came back white.  To fix the car would cost more than we paid for it in the first place.  The garage recommended not driving it as where the wheels were attached to the axle was almost shorn off!  So what to do?  I know very little about cars, Mikey even less!  I finally asked one of my husband's friends to come and have a look at the car and the report.  He recommended getting a different car, he also put us in touch with somebody who could help.  So after a month of feeling bad because we lost money on the first car we managed to get a much better car!  A second hand car but it is a lot better than the first.  We have a car loan to pay but I can deal with that!

The next thing was the camera not working.  It had been bad since last October, sometimes working, sometimes not!  The in January it gave out altogether!  I love having a camera, I love taking photos and this spring we have a lot of things happening. So I need a camera!  I had some money left over from Christmas so I bought a nice camera!  David really loves it!  He has spent a long time playing around with it! 

Then came the awful discovery!  Last week the vision in my left eye became blurred. I thought it was because of seasonal allergies! So I went off to the doctor thinking that I would get some eye drops.  Turns out that I have a cataract on my eye and I have to have an operation to change the lens.  I know this is not a big operation, most hospitals you can go home the same day but I felt really unnerved by the news.  I felt so alone, I really missed hubby that day.  So I really hope all the terrible things that are going to happen in this year are finished with and that things can get better!