A Different Perspective

 After all the problems with my first Etsy order and my meltdown and overreaction, I talked to Hannah.

She had a very different perspective. She said that it was bad, but at least it was only one order; if it had been 10 orders or 100 orders, that would have been awful. She also said that I had learned a lesson and not to make the same mistake again. Wise lady!

So I have learned my lesson. I've spent most of yesterday and today going back through my listings and adding size charts; also, for every new listing, I'll add a size chart.

What I was going to write about yesterday was setting up another curriculum for self-study through this autumn and winter. Of course, Japanese- I think I'll be studying that for the rest of my life. I now have Netflix; they have some Japanese dramas with English subtitles. I plan to watch one, first with the subtitles, then without. Dramas give a more natural language experience than textbooks or even videos made for listening practice. I remember being in England once; I overheard somebody shout "Ta, mate" and wondered if any of my advanced students would have understood that phrase. I think that with language, what you learn from a textbook and real language are very different. I'm lucky because I live in Japan, so I get to hear the real language.

I need to improve my reading and writing. I'm going to ask Hannah to make some worksheets to practice writing my name and address. At least I should get that down!

Other things I want to get into are history, especially the history of Japan and this area. I have a few books to go through, and there are a lot of local museums to visit.

If time allows, I want to restudy nutrition. I've forgotten a lot of what I learned before, and there have been a lot of new discoveries about how food impacts our bodies.

I want to get back into knitting. I can do the basics but have never had the confidence to knit anything that needs shaping. My Mom taught me how to knit, but she always had to undo the part where the shaping was. I could never get it right. Time to try again, a simple pattern to start with!

Plus, I'm still learning about design and selling on Etsy! And this house needs a good clean. During the summer, I kept the main areas clean, but I've noticed that the cats have messed up some places that I haven't cleaned properly; also, there's so much dust all the time.

It's going to be a busy few months, but I actually like being busy like this. One reason I really struggle in the summer is that I can't do anything; I just feel drained all the time. I'm looking forward to the cooler months, until it gets too cold!

Alfie and Toast are being cute!

Oh Bother.....Again

 Why can't life be simple?

I set up my Etsy Shop, I've put links on social media, and I'm paying for some adverts. I'm doing all the things that the so-called gurus on YouTube and the internet say to do. I get one sale, and that has gone wrong!

The customer ordered the wrong size! He wants to exchange it for a smaller size. I've just spent the last half hour trying to figure out what to do. Thank goodness for AI, or it would have taken longer. According to AI, the company that prints the T-shirts doesn't deal with returns or exchanges. I had a choice of the customer sending the T-shirt back to me, and then I buy the right size for him, but that leaves me out of pocket. What I've decided on, and what Etsy policy is, is to give him a special discount for another T-shirt and keep the original. 

I'm now sitting here, almost crying, totally stressed out and feeling so frustrated. All I want to do is make a bit of money. I'm not looking at becoming a millionaire, just enough to pay for living, to have a bit of financial freedom to buy things I like without moving money around to make sure everything is covered.

I know I've travelled a lot this year, but Hannah has paid for almost everything; I pay a bit, like restaurants and entrance to museums. 

I just wish it wasn't so constantly hard. Since the pandemic, our little school has started to go downhill. We never recovered the numbers we had before. We were asked to move from the house we were renting, but I think it would have been impossible to stay there, as I don't think I could have covered the rent.

Moving here means that I save on rent, but we have lost more students and not really gained any. Also, this house needs to be renovated. I'm worried about the toilet tank; it leaks and needs to be replaced or connected to the main sewage, but that costs a fortune. Also, the smell under the sink is getting worse. The sink is a built-in unit, but I think sewage or water has leaked between the unit and the ground, and that is what is making it smell very bad! I keep cleaning supplies in there, but taking anything out makes me heave; the smell is that bad. Plus 100s of other things that need to be fixed. 

Sorry, got lost on a tangent there.

One good thing is that I didn't turn to food for comfort. I thought about it; I even asked Mikey to go and buy me a snack bread, my ultimate comfort food. But I talked myself out of it. I want to lose 5 kg by my next hospital appointment in December, so I can't just eat what I want. I have to try to stay focused on healthy choices; snack bread is not a healthy choice. I made myself a cup of tea and had a small banana instead. 

Hannah had a nice surprise this morning. She went to an electrical store near her apartment to buy ink for her printer. The store is closing down soon, so they had bags of things that they don't need and can't really sell. Hannah got a bag of nice goods!

At the back are two file holders. Some eco bags; the pink things in the front are pen cases;
the paw print thing is a water bottle holder. There's a small tray as well.

These are tubs for the fridge and some freezer bags.

About 3000 yen, about £15 worth of stuff, most of which she can use.

I'm going to go on to my store and add size charts! That is going to take ages; never mind, I've learnt my lesson!

September

A month of sniffles and sneezes, doctor's visits and a nice outing.

The weather drastically changed, from highs in the mid-to-high 30s °C to the mid-20s °C; the nights are especially cool, which I'm really enjoying. I don't need to run the air conditioner, which helps with the electric bill.

However, the cooler weather brings its own problems; allergies are very bad. I don't know what I'm allergic to, but every year as the weather cools down, I start to sniffle and sneeze like crazy. I get rather frustrated because during the extreme heat I can't really do anything, so I look forward to the cooler weather, but then get hit by allergies. At least now I've found a good doctor, which helps!

This year I'm dealing with problems with my neck. I was so shocked by my X-rays last week. Usually, when I get X-rays or other imaging tests, I can't see what the doctor is talking about. The doctor points out anomalies on the screen, but I can't understand what they are seeing. Last week's X-rays, however, were very clear about how bad the structure of my neck is. I could see that my neck is misaligned to the right. The painkillers are helping but not fixing the problem. I'm wondering if seeing a chiropractor would help! Something I need to think about.

The highlight of the month was our trip to Yotoku Inari Shrine.

We had such a lovely day. I hope to go back when I can walk more. I want to see the red torii gates that are lined up. I didn't have confidence to walk that far the other week.

The wind chimes were so beautiful.

The Japanese Garden in the shrine.

There was a small shopping street next to the shrine.

The entrance to the shopping street

A different god from the shrine god.

Hannah stayed for a few days, which was nice. 

To end the month on a high note, Hannah got a 4.00 GPA for last semester, the highest points available. She usually got 3.5 or 3.8, so she is very happy with her result. She worked very hard last semester, and it is reflected in her grades.

Give Up Or Keep Going

 I'm talking about my Etsy Shop.

I've been putting designs up constantly for the past two months and have made only one sale!

I've watched 100s of hours of videos from people making way more than I do. I've read about styling, what's trending, how to find your niche, how to avoid having too many colours to choose from, and where to advertise. All great ideas; I've tried most, but I've had only one sale. I wasn't expecting to make a fortune straight away, but I would love to be able to cover the cost of the store. I managed to do that this month from my one sale, but I'm losing confidence.

The problem is that I don't really have another source of income. I think that the one girl I'm teaching will quit soon, she's in her last year of high school so she will have to start to study for her university entrance tests from next month. I have just 3 other students. Mikey is teaching the rest of our students, so I give him the money for the students he's teaching.

I really thought that I would be able to make some money with Etsy, but maybe I need to rethink things. 

The only other thing is to keep teaching English, but I don't want to teach at this house. It's too small, and if I'm honest, it's impossible to keep clean. In the last house, I had two rooms dedicated to teaching, and I kept the cats out most of the time! Here, I don't have space to do that. The one room that could be used for teaching has been taken over by the cats. I tried to keep them out, but they don't really have anywhere else to go. 

What's next? This is the question that stops me from sleeping. At the moment, I can survive; the kids pay for almost everything, which I know is alright, but it feels unfair. If they are going to pay for utilities, food, etc then they should have their own places, but because they are paying for everything here, they can't save to move out! Hannah is paying for all the trips we're taking! Again, I feel that is unfair because she is working and studying; I would love to help her out more.

At the moment, I'm making Halloween goods, I've come up with some really cute designs.

The model is AI-generated

These are available at JackiesNekoTales - Etsy Japan

Even if you don't buy, please just have a look. It helps my store if more people visit! It helps my heart as well!!!

Rain

The lovely rain I was talking about yesterday turned into an awful thunderstorm last night. It went from a nice, gentle rain to a torrential downpour in a couple of hours.

This morning I had a tornado warning on my phone! It's still raining now; that's over 24 hours of almost continuous rain. Plus, more rain is forecast for tonight and tomorrow.

Mikey had to take Hannah back today. He doesn't mind the drive; it's about 50 minutes to one hour one way. But he was worried because of the rain. All the different routes to Hannah's have underpasses. These are railway bridges; the road under the bridge dips a lot. Some are shallower, but all are hazardous when there has been heavy rain. Cars can get trapped there; it's difficult to judge how deep the floodwater is. During one of the awful rainstorms in the summer, a 60-year-old woman died because her car stalled in an underpass; she couldn't open the doors, and her car flooded. The news showed that the car was flooded up to the roof. I know that the underpasses where we live have warning signs as you approach them to be careful during heavy rain. In some areas, there is no other way into the city without using an underpass. Not the best city planning!

Hannah stayed for a few days; she enjoyed playing with the cats. She gets spoiled by her older brothers; they buy snacks and groceries for her. I've enjoyed having everyone at home the past few days; it's nice, but I know that sooner or later they will all move on. That's as it should be, but without Hisao, it is going to get lonely! For now, when we can all get together, I focus on just enjoying the banter and teasing, the laughs and deeper conversations that go on!

Hannah took this photo during the thunderstorm. Mama and Alfie found a box to curl up in!

A Rainy, Cozy Afternoon

 It's raining; it's been raining since this morning, and it looks like it will continue for a few days. Am I the only one who's happy about this weather?

It's not the dangerous, flood-inducing type of rain, just a constant, steady downpour, and it's very cool! So refreshing after the stifling heat and humidity we've had this summer. Over the past couple of weeks, it has cooled down, especially at night, but the days are still getting up to 30℃!

I feel a lot better with my back and neck problems; the painkiller is strong enough that I actually got a good night's sleep and could make a decent lunch without feeling faint because of the pain.

I made a big pot of soup. No name to this soup, no recipe, just throw in what's in the fridge and hope for the best- my favourite kind of soup.

My no-name soup.

I also put out stuff for sandwiches, including corned beef.

In England, corned beef is normal; I remember having corned beef sandwiches a few times a month. Here in Japan, it's hard to get. It usually comes in these tiny tins, about 80grams, just enough for one small sandwich. I was so happy to find a normal-sized one in a supermarket near where Hannah lives last week.

I think I'll have to go to visit Hannah more often, just to buy corned beef!

The rest of the afternoon I've been reading and dozing! I've enjoyed today, but I don't think I could spend every day not doing things. 

Tomorrow Hannah is going back to her apartment. She's been here for a few days; it's nice having her home. She loves to play with the cats; she has the energy to chase them around, which is good for them!

Next week is back to work; I've had a nice holiday. I got to go somewhere, which really helps. I don't like this house. I work so hard to keep it clean, but it never feels finished; there's always something that needs doing. 

I'm going to have a nice cup of tea and read a bit more!

Doctors......Again

 I seem to be spending a lot of time going to the doctor this year!

This time, it was because of the severe pain in my back.

I have a herniated disc in my neck. Most of the time, it's uncomfortable, especially when using the computer for a long time. For the past 10 days, however, it's been so painful that I can't sit or move my neck. The pain is in my neck and down my left shoulder. 

Then, to add to my misery, my lower back started to hurt, especially after standing for a while; even washing a few dishes has been hard this week. 

The clinic I went to today opened recently; it was my first time going there. Everything is very new; somehow, that was nice.

They recommended a bone density test. The test was simple: I just lay on a bed while a machine scanned my body. The results were surprisingly good. Compared to people the same age, my bone density is 120% better. 

That was the good news. My X-rays showed a very deformed neck structure. It's curved to the right. I was prescribed some painkillers. I hope they work, as the next step is an injection.

I was offered electrical stimulation therapy to help with the pain. The two young therapists were trying to figure out how to explain to me what they were going to do; they didn't realise that I could understand them until I started laughing at their attempts to find the right English words! Actually, I was surprised at how much English some of the staff had; they weren't fluent, but they tried. I never expect people to speak English; this is Japan, and I should use Japanese, but it's always a nice feeling when people try!

I have to find some kind of exercise to help my neck and lower back. I'm tired of being in pain. Some gentle stretches to start with; then, as I feel better, I can do more. I want to be healthy!

While I was at the clinic, Mikey had a magic show for one of the nurseries he teaches at. Hannah went with him to take photos, so now I have loads of photos of Mikey!

The slippers don't really match his costume!!