oh, where to start. my weekend was nice. on saturday i headed out for a little bit of free time. near lunchtime, yoshi called and said i didn't have to return for lunch, they could handle it. maybe you (that is, me, illahee) could go see a movie. hm. so, i headed out to nogata but the only movie playing at a time i could actually go to was paranormal activity. i'm not really a horror or ghost movie kind of person, so i skipped it. (i was actually thinking of going to see the toy story movies, which are playing together, but are only in japanese and my kids probably wouldn't have enjoyed them.) so i bummed around and read a book. it was nice to be out on my own.

on sunday i went to the city for a series of lectures for english teachers (for children). i actually quite enjoyed it, even though i am not currently employed as a teacher. it helped that it was free. i actually saw a couple of people i knew, and met a few really nice people, so even though sitting for lectures really isn't my thing, i did have a good time. then i went to the bookstore, then to subway for a sandwich. the weather was quite nice, too, it warmed up a bit and wasn't raining.

i can't really remember monday, except i felt rather tired. a bit run down, almost as though i have perpetual PMS. not a great feeling....yesterday i got up rather early and made a carrot cake. and cream cheese frosting. it was really good! after morning english coffee, sasha, tommy and i went to costco for our monthly trip. yesterday was so lovely and warm, it was in the 20s! we got home in time to meet hiro, and then the kids played outside. i even did a little weeding, wearing only a tank top! is this february??

today we went to kita-q for a birthday party. we met a few new friends, and kuri and the pinglet were there. the party was for M, who turned 2. we had a lovely time, though we had to leave early in order to get back in time for the bus.

tomorrow is a holiday, national foundation day. at the moment, our plan is to go to onsen. i am looking forward to this! hm, i hope they have family onsen! friday is a half day for hiro and then saturday they are having a dance recital. that means he has monday off and we hope to get to kuri's house for the day!

well, that's about it for us!

i'm nearly done with sasha's birth announcement， everything else must wait.

don't worry, i'm not going to complain about the weather. i've done that enough. but it was pretty chilly today. the wind is so icy. i feel sorry for the kids, especially sasha, because they want to go out and play, but i do not want to go out there! forecast says next week will be a bit warmer...

today we met up with kuri and the pinglet. it's always great to see them! tommy and sasha didn't nap at all today. *sigh* but i'm kinda glad, because now they're all in bed asleep. yay! i don't really have anything to blog about, though, isn't that the way?! well, i guess i can just go to bed early, too, and get some sleep. after a little bit of TV....

so, we're just doing the same ole thing, day after day. lots of shouting though, need to work on that. but in return, the kids need to work on listening to mommy.

today i took tommy and sasha to SUNNY, a grocery store (and one that's somehow owned by walmart) to get a few things. sasha loves this store because they have kid sized shopping carts. my kids do well with these things (that is to say, they don't run around like maniacs, crashing into people and things. knock on wood.) and today was no exception. sasha got two bunches of bananas, a mickey mouse/minnie mouse snack, a soda and string cheese. tommy got two bags of mikan, a soda, a mickey snack and string cheese. he also got a funky snack (fish and sesame and crackers and god knows what else) which he put in my basket, and which i did not buy. funny kid. at the register sasha managed to put everything in the basket for purchase, and tommy tried but the cashier just let him put most of his stuff on the counter. very cute. then we sat down at tables near the registers (hard to describe this, just imagine small tables with chairs at the grocery store) and had the mickey snacks. then a banana. then some cheese. jeez, you'd think i never fed these kids!! (this was after breakfast.)

then we went home and the rest of the day was pretty typical, play, lunch, video, nap, play, video, pee on the floor, more video, hiro gets home, running around shrieking (it is too cold these days, even for kyushu. i need thermal underwear so we can go to the park!), snack, video, make a mess while mommy makes dinner, video....yeah, i think we watched the care bears movie four times today. oops.

less video tomorrow, methinks!

yes, it has taken me this long to get my shit together and post again. not just because of the awesome weekend i shared with friends, either. you see, i had a not so awesome friend show up, and she took her sweet time about it. fukkin auntie flo and her sly, pain-filled ways....

i had a fabulous time with friends in the city! first, kuri picked me up and after a slight delay (me prying two pairs of hands from around my thighs and trying to bribe childrens with chocolate), we were on our way, bopping along route 3 to fukuoka. we made good time and didn't get lost (i rarely drive in hakata, just tenjin or momoji) and only had to wait a few minutes for the oita ladies to arrive. then we had lunch in a spanish restaurant (delish!) and then did a tiny bit of shopping. jo and GW took ryu to the hotel while kuri, rachel and i had an ice cream at cold stone creamery (which i kept calling stone cold!) for a divine afternoon treat. i still want to go back to canal city!!

the three of us also headed off to the hotel, checked in, and then rachel and i went to tenjin. we hiked around a bit, got a couple of sandwiches (for later) and hit a bookstore (where we found calendars at half-price!) and then back to hakata just in time. as we returned to the hotel, it began to rain! that nixed our plans for walking to/towards nakasu in hopes of finding a place to have dinner. instead, we decided to just go to karaoke (which was in our plans anyway) and eat there. yummy! i had a great time, drinking a few too many beers, jumping on furniture and singing my head off. (i'm still rather surprised ryu slept through most of that!)

back at the hotel, we had just enough time to jump in the bath (it closed at midnight). jo and GW decided to head off to their rooms, so it was just the three of us again. then back to rachel's room for a bit more wine, magazine perusing, foot baths and a bit of hand massage. we then said goodnight and (kuri and i) went back to our own rooms where i read and ate my sandwiches (hey, they were good! LOL) i only got a couple of hours of sleep, though, my room was pretty hot. i turned on the 'air conditioner' but it only blew out hot hair. there were no controls for temperature. i was pretty uncomfortable so i went down to the lobby and got a few (non-alcoholic) drinks. i took them back to my room and found out i could open the window, which i did. i read some more (i love stephen king!), got my fluids and felt better.

later on in the morning, we decided not to eat breakfast in the hotel. i remembered a royal host nearby, but it must have been moved--it was gone. no worries, one can always find starbucks, so that's where we went. then back to the hotel, pack up, say goodbye to rachel and then off to costco. surprisingly, it wasn't bad for a sunday, and we got our shopping done (i only got a magazine, can you believe it??) and had a quick snack. then we said goodbye and headed off, although i think GW and jo hit the GAP before they left.

my thanks to kuri for driving, and many heartfelt thanks to all of you ladies for an awesome weekend!

now for the shitty part....when i got home, only my MIL was there--with the kids. yoshi had a lecture on sunday.........he had told me that all his lectures were done, which is why i felt confident on making plans with my friends, even if the plans changed (as they do.) then he had this lecture come up, and he decided to invite his parents over. so, they came on saturday night, slept in my bed and then were there when yoshi had to leave the house. i'm not going to dwell on this any more, except to say that FIL was out getting bento for lunch.....

i had eaten something at costco so wasn't up for fishy and seaweed-y bentos (especially not on my semi-hungover state) so i managed to sneak out of the house (sneaking so the kids wouldn't notice--it was yoshi's idea for me to get a couple more hours to myself). i only went to joyfull up the street, with my latest crochet project, but i was really starting to feel like shit: lower back pain, crampy tummy, headache of doom. i probably shouldn't have had so much to drink (but hey, i rarely get to go out!) which was making me feel worse, but i did order the drink and soup bar, so that help me rehydrate! when i got back and was feeling like crud, it was still only 2:30 in the afternoon! tommy was really tired so i took him upstairs for a nap, and we slept for a couple of hours. yoshi took his parents, hiro and sasha out for a drive, so it was nice and quiet. we 'enjoyed' the rest of the evening as we usually do, though i felt like hell, and probably didn't look much better!

yesterday was pretty tough, we had no milk in the morning so sasha started pitching fits right at breakfast. i went out to get milk, bread, you know, the essentials but i forgot that someone was coming over in the morning to check out our bathroom (fuckin' bathroom) although i did think he was coming at eleven. yoshi called me at about 10:30 asking where i was and i admit i felt a bit overwhelmed. luckily we could reschedule that and nothing else unpleasant happened for the rest of the day. for dinner i fell back on that old reliable chili (although i actually had plans for making meatballs) and made hiro and sasha go to bed early--by themselves--for being pains in my ass. ha. i was feeling kinda bleak yesterday, overwhelmed and definitely hormonal, so i hope the rest of the week is better!

thanksgiving turkey. uh, yeah, only four months late...[EDIT: or maybe two months late. gah!]



frost on the windshield of the swift:



the kids wearing their michigan hoodies sent by my parents:



sasha is holding her two 'baby bags'. filled with baby dolls.

so, i keep doing the same thing, over and over, and nothing seems to change. i can't decide if this is hell, or a sign of insanity. of course, i'm talking about tidying up. i am not the best housekeeper, i admit it. i'm one of those people who in spite of the outward appearance of mess, actually knows where (almost) everything is. i am also pretty good at giving a thing a place (you know, something called organization) but i'm not always the best at putting things back in their place. however, i now have a husband who dislikes the clutter (but who is a TERRIBLE pack rat, sheesh!) and so i try to work on this. but then i have three things working against me: child the first, child the middle, and child the baby. tommy is the worst, to be honest, though sasha can hold her own. since hiro is in school for half the day, he does the least damage.

for example, we have a sideboard which has basically become a toy storage cabinet. recently we have just been stuffing the toys in there instead of organizing (there are several puzzles with lots of pieces that need to be put together, otherwise they're very messy). there are a couple of baskets for small toys, there's a shelf just for books and stuffed animals can just be...stuffed...inside. anyway, i took everything out last night and fixed it all up (it was amazing, how stuffed it was and how much room there was afterward) and yet this morning, sasha took out a basket and dumped out all the little toys in it. frustration!

or the dvds which are in a bookshelf next to the TV. this works out really well for obvious reasons, but little tommy loves playing with them. we have several scratched disks and broken cases now. and i can't tell you how angry i get when i step on (and often crack) a dvd case. not cool. tommy also loves to play in the kitchen. my kitchen (which i hate) is too small for kids to be playing in there. he also climbs on things, i really don't need the drawers to be broken, or for bread machines (or rice cookers) pulled down on little heads. but he likes it, he tells me. or, why can't he be in the kitchen. very frustrating.

so i don't know...i feel like i picked up and tidied up toys all day long, as well as chased tommy out of the kitchen a million times (and he just coming back...) and nothing has changed. hell, or insanity?