Christmas Parties, A Musical and Christmas Market

The past couple of weeks have been really busy!
The last week of teaching we do Christmas parties for the kids!
Lots of fun but also a lot of work.  I baked over 200 cookies, plus I
made cakes and pies for us to enjoy!  Mikey did his cotton candy art for
a couple of kids1  I think everybody had a good time, there was a lot
of laughter!

Decorating the tree

Good job!

Mikey making cotton candy

heart shape cotton candy

 The week after Christopher, Hannah and I went to the city.  Hannah and I to watch a musical.
Christopher watched a movie.  We had a good time.  The musical was the 65th anniversary of the
musical company that produces most of the top musicals.  Two hours of song and dance, very impressive!
After the musical we walked back to the station and had a look around the Christmas market. Nice but very cold, so we got hot chocolate to drink.  All in all a nice day out!

Dancing water

The musical we watched

Some of the Christmas lights and the Christmas Market

Lovely hot chocolate

What a month

I know it is only the fifth but I have had enough of this month already!
Saturday Hannah and I went to get our hair done.  I have a color put on mine, kind of no choice,
too grey otherwise.  The hairdresser combs the color through my hair.  Everything is going fine
until she drops some of the color stuff on my face and eye lid, that stuff burns!

Then on Sunday David noticed that the kitchen sink was emptying to slowly.  So he decided to
take the waste pipe out.  He has done this before without any problems but this time the
pipe split.  He went to the local home center and bought a new pipe but this house
is a bit old and the newer pipes are slightly smaller, so he bought some tape as well.
I am hoping that it holds as I don't want to call the estate agent as we shouldn't have the cats!

Plus just to really add stress to my life my MIL's situation is getting worse.  She has been in hospital
for 3 months now and they have no idea what is wrong with her.  She has a build up of fluid in
her stomach and the doctor doesn't know the cause.  They have ruled out cancer and infection but
until they know why it is impossible to treat.  Then I was given her bill for October, almost 500 pounds for one month, plus I have to spend about 60 to 80 pounds on things that she needs, adult nappies, tooth paste and other bits and pieces.  I have no idea how we can pay this.  I have my own
medical bills to deal with!

The past few days I have been baking.  It's the students Christmas parties this week.  Made about 200 cookies so far but still need a load more.  My life seems to  be about extremes. I am either doing nothing, just watching TV or reading or running around without a break!  Need to find balance.

Sitting Disease

I'm reading an interesting book called Move More by Amanda Sterczyk.
In it she is talking about how are lives have become sedentary.
According to medical experts we should get 150 minuets of exercise a week.
But according to this author we should be moving more in our daily lives.  Most of
us spend hours a day sitting, our modern world has taken away the need to move.
Office work, sitting cars during our commute, and our free time is dedicated to screens.
As I was reading this I realized how much more sedentary my life is compared to my Moms.
She worked two or three part time jobs, she worked in a small shop where she had to
stand all the time, she also worked as a cleaner, which was very hard physical work.
At home she cleaned, running the vacuum cleaner everyday, hanging laundry out,
picking up the flutters etc. Also she didn't drive, once a week she would go
to the supermarket in her friend's car but for daily things she would walk to the shop
or use the bus.  Her life was active and she never worried about weight or related
problems! I am the complete opposite, I can actually go a whole day and not move
from my sofa.  The summers are the worse as the heat makes me so sick that even the
daily activities don't get done!  But I spend far to much time watching TV, reading or on the
computer.  Even my work is sitting down.  I don't cook everyday,  David takes care of that!
I ask the kids to clean and hang laundry so my physical activity is very limited!
From the first few chapters of this book I can really see that I need to change my
lifestyle.  In the book she talks about how our bodies get stiff if we don't move and that is
so true.  Sometimes when I get up I feel more like an 80 year old.  So I have to
find a way to move more during the day.  But I need to be careful, I tend to over do
things then hurt myself or get too tired.  So baby steps to a fuller life filled with movement!

A Nuisance of Cats

That is not my idea, the collective nouns for cats is a nuisance!
I like looking at the collective nouns for animals as they are very descriptive.
For example; an intrusion of cockroaches,  a tower of giraffes, a plague of rats!

Our cats are a real nuisance though.  They have this mad hour or so two or three times a day where
they race around, attack anything that moves, and things that don't move!  The black cat loves to go near the window where the dog is,  She just sits there and the poor dog works herself up
into a real state, We keep moving the cat away but she keeps going back!
But they are cute and Hannah loves to play with them.  Hannah is stressed because of
tests but spending time with the cats seems to help her calm down!  I think all of the photos
that Hannah took are of the cats.

black one is Alan

Brown cat is Mama, grey one is Fred

white one is Steve

November

I love this time of year in Japan.  The weather has cooled down a lot, days can still be warm but the
nights are nice and cool, makes sleeping a lot easier!  Also my seasonal allergies have
calmed down a lot, which helps!  So having a bit of energy I have been trying to clean up and
get rid of things.
Last week the living room got a good clean because Hannah lost her glasses. She needs them for distance so doesn't wear them at home, unless watching TV.  She always puts them on the
book shelf near the door.  So last Wednesday she followed her usual routine, put her glasses
on the books shelf, had a shower, did homework, had dinner,  played on her phone and went
to bed. The next morning she went to get her glasses on the way out and they weren't there.
We had a quick look but couldn't find them.  So while she was out we took the living to pieces, moved the book shelf and sofa, moved the kotasu table out.  Looked through the draws, even in
the fridge!  No glasses!  After 3 days of searching I gave up, she needed new glasses, but I
was hoping to wait until next spring!  I really don't know how she managed that, glasses are
rather big.
The other thing I have been doing is letting go of more books!  I gave some away to people
on an online group. Have more to do.  But I am slowly making room for things that are
important in my life. Not this clutter!  One thing I keep putting off is going to my Mil's place
to sort out the stuff there!  It needs to go!

A Funny Song

Hannah found this song the other week.  It's in Japanese but has English subtitles.

The reason it is so funny is that it is really true, especially where I live.  The houses here are
built for the summers which are long, hot and humid.  So no central heating, although some newer
houses have under floor heating, but I don't know how good it is!  Also no double glazing.  The most common form of heating is paraffin heaters. Although most air conditioners have an heating element and are very popular.  The house that I am in has city gas, but it is so expensive.  We use a kotasu table, a low table with a heater built in it and covered with a futon.  Gets nice and toasty but like the poor penguin it is difficult to get out.  Each room is heated independently, so moving from room to room is awful.  We are lucky that winter here is not too harsh and it only gets really cold in January and February!

Halloween and Magic Shows

This past week we have been doing Halloween parties for the kids classes.
I have been baking cookies almost everyday.  I got a new oven a few months back so
baking is easy!

My new oven

Mikey does most of the kids classes. He tells the kids they can invite one friend for the party. So it does get a bit crazy.
I have no idea what they are doing but there is a lot of laughter!

Mikey with his class

Mikey also had two magic shows near here this week.  The first one was at a community center near the house.  The mayor of the city turned up to Mikey's surprise.  The second show was at a local cafe, he was asked to do magic and teach some English!

Mikey doing his magic!

I've been suffering with allergies, I get them every year but this year is really bad!  I hope that it will pass soon!
The kittens have really grown!  They are still cute.  A few cute kitten photos to finish.