Sunday

 Recently Thursday, Friday and Saturday have been very busy for me.  New classes and changing schedules, it's good but leaves me with two problems.  Come Sunday the house is a mess and I'm exhausted.  I hate carrying the mess over to the next week so I usually spend most of Sunday cleaning, which means come Monday I'm even more tired and rather grumpy.  But yesterday I managed to get things done and rest.  I got Christopher and Hannah to help out.  I know I should ask for help from the kids more often but I always feel sorry for them.  Their schedules are rather crazy.  David works 5 nights a week, he helps out when he can but he gets so tired!  Mikey is teaching a lot, he is also working for his magic teachers business.  Yesterday Mikey left here at 5am and came back at 9pm.  He is selling cotton candy (candy floss) art.  It's good but means standing outside all day in the cold! Christopher works early morning, 4am to 12 lunch time.  And Hannah has a load of study for university, most days on line plus she is working part time a local after school cram school 3 to 5 nights a week. But I realized that I'm working as well, maybe not full time now but still almost every day I'm teaching and on the days I'm not or only have one class I clean and cook.  So yesterday I asked Christopher to clean the bathroom floor, the cats had knocked over the laundry powder, I cleaned up the main bit but it went into the corners and under the draws.  He also ran to the shop for me.  Hannah dusted and swept the living room. While they were doing that I cleaned the kitchen and baked a cake.  I know baking adds more work but it's one thing that I really enjoy and it helps me to relax.  I'm hoping to get back into it, I have loads of recipes to try and I always feel that home baked goods are a bit more healthy then bought stuff, no corn syrup or chemicals. 

Not the prettiest cake but tasted good.

Managed To Get Out

 No where really exciting just to my mother in laws house to pick up the Christmas tree and decorations, I'm really behind this year as I usually have the tree up by the end of November!  Never mind.

I was dismayed at how bad the yard and house are.  We are still cleaning out everything but we haven't really had time, between work and weather it's been hard to really do a lot!  I can understand why a lot of people hire a company to clear out houses.  Even though I wasn't that close to my mother in law it is still sad to see all her stuff just being dumped.  She kept a load of stuff, some we got rid of when we lived with her but there is still too much!  One day it will be done!

This owl is outside mother in laws house, I might bring it here!

No very clear but one of the trees, the colors were a lot brighter.

After mother in laws I went shopping.  Where I live meat is very expensive, the next city over is a lot cheaper, so when I get chance I try to shop there! 

Feel a bit better, but very tired, might be the cold.  All I want to do is curl up with a nice cup of tea and a good book but I have to start teaching soon!

Feeling Rather Blah

 Not sure why I feel so tired and kind of run down.  Maybe after the stress of the real estate agent coming and recovering from this cold/allergies that I've had for a few weeks.  Maybe because my knee is hurting more even though I've lost 7kgs (taken 2 years) and now my lower back hurts as well!  Maybe just getting old, my body but my thinking is still like a 30 year old, I try to do all these jobs, the yard, deep cleaning the house but after a bit I realize that I can't do it and the kids, who are young adults should do more!  Maybe because I ran out of the supplements I've been taking and keep forgetting to buy!  Who knows but all I want to do is stay in bed!  Of course I can't, cooking, cleaning and teaching keep me busy.  Also reading a lot recently and of course TV for entertainment.  I need to get out more I think, except for shopping I don't leave the house but maybe a walk round the block might help, or to the little park near here! I'll try and see if that helps.

Thinking abut Christmas isn't helping.  Money is going to be tight after paying for the decorators.   Also in Japan it's hard to buy things that make Christmas Christmas.  Before the pandemic I would go to Costco and buy some  nice meat and decent cheese, plus stock up on chocolates and baking goods.  Last year I didn't go but planned to go this year but finding a day that either David or Mikey are free on a day that I'm not busy has been impossible.  I can order a few things on line but not meat.  I've looked at other places but meat seems to be very expensive.  So what to do for Christmas dinner.  Roast cuts or whole chickens aren't sold in Japan at local supermarkets or butchers.  I've bought a little present for everybody but not much, I might be able to buy something else but what?

Finished

 The real estate agent came, changed over the smoke alarms and left.  Took less than 10 minutes!  All the work and money for a guy being in the house for 10 minutes.

Operation hide the cats went okay.  David and I bought 7 more carriers, we wanted 8 but the store only had 7.  But it worked out okay.  The appointment was a 1 o'clock so before that David got the cats into the carriers and drove off.  A few minutes later I could hear a cat crying, David had left one cat.  When he unloaded them later he left one in the car!  The cats are not happy because they aren't allowed out of the living area yet.  Our walls in the hallways and stairs look really nice and I want to keep them like that.  I ordered some clear plastic film but it only covers a small area, I've ordered more but it won't come until Saturday.  If somebody is with the cats to stop them scratching then they can run around in the halls!

So now I can relax and start thinking about Christmas!

This was the state of the walls before

Not the best of photos but this is the hallway now, a lot better!

The Decorators Are Here

 They came yesterday morning, about 8:30.  The first thing they did was to lay down sheets to catch the old wallpaper that they were taking off.  They've striped all the old wallpaper off, upstairs, downstairs and on the stairs.  They papered most of the downstairs and are finishing off the stairs and the upstairs today.  I was surprised they did so much as they had very long breaks, 30 minutes in the morning, hour and half for lunch, then they finished at 3:30!  As long as it gets finished I don't care!

The cats aren't very happy about all this, the noise and strange smells have them freaked out but it's their fault so they shouldn't complain!  They are locked in the living/dinning area and not happy about that either.  But until the real estate agent has been they will stay there.  I've ordered some clear plastic sheets to put on the wallpaper so I don't have this problem again, wish I had known about this stuff 3 years ago.

Sam's tail shows how freaked out he was

Poor David Part 2

 David managed to get to the dentist just before they closed. He had the filling pulled out and the tooth inside cleaned, he has to go back to finish it.  When he came home he looked awful with his face swollen and being so pale.  He managed to get a few hours sleep before he had to go to work.  Yesterday he was back to his normal self, being daft and chasing the cats!

Of course when bad things happen it is never just one thing!  The same day that David got toothache I noticed that Fred, our black and white cat was limping.  He could stand on his feet okay but not walk.  Tuesday was a national holiday and Wednesday the vets are closed.  I checked the leg and joint but couldn't see any swelling or cuts so I've let him rest as much as possible, he has taken up residence in my room.  He seems a lot better today, so I hope no visit to the vets!

Fred

Poor David

 It's a national holiday here, Labor Day, so everything except shops are closed. So of course David got toothache.  He is working nights, so this morning he did a couple of chores for me, then went to bed after lunch.  Came down half hour later for some water, went back up but kept coming down.  After about five trips I asked if he was okay because he was looking awful, very white.  I thought he had caught this cold that is going around but no it was toothache.  I sent Christopher to the local drug store to get some pain killer to tied him over until tomorrow but that didn't work.  I know that in Japan the doctors and dentists have a system set up where they open on holidays and Sundays, they take it in turns, so there is always somewhere to go in an emergency and for me toothache is an emergency!  So Mikey has just taken him, even if they can't do much but at least stop the pain so he can go to his regular dentist tomorrow!  Poor David, he is working hard at this job, it's long hours midnight to 9am and he is very tired but still tries to help out in the house.  He is usually very cheerful, drives me crazy with his antics and daft jokes so seeing him in pain and down is not nice at all! Hope things go okay at the dentist!

Fluffy balancing on David's knee