All done

年賀状 (nengajo) are done!!!
And sent!!

Well ok, technically not all of them are sent yet, but they will be by tomorrow morning.

The Japanese ones are sent. And even though I had visions of them being posted without personal comments, I even surprised myself and found the time to write messages on EVERY SINGLE ONE!!! And they were quite long messages too. Yay for me! lol

The overseas ones need extra postage so I'm off to the コンビニ when S gets home and then they will be sent too. These ones were totally handwritten though which took forever, especially since I had to tell everyone we moved and write our new address out in English as well as their address!!

What a relief it's all done now.
Nothing like leaving things til the last minute, hey!lol

Next year I'm starting them the same day I put the Christmas tree up, December 1st!!!

This and that

Well I guess Christmas is over for another year!!

We're now in New Years mode trying to make, print, and check addresses for all our 年賀状 (nengajo). I really want them sent tomorrow but I don't think that's going to happen somehow. The picture side is all designed but I need the ok from S before that side gets printed. So far I have only printed out the addresses on the cards. Usually that side is hand written but I have given up this year. I mean, who wants to hand write 130 cards when the printer will do it for you in minutes??!!??? No time for that this year!! And probably next year, and the year after. lol

Enough about that.

Onto the wall.

Thanks Illahee for the advice about the toothpaste and hairspray.
I actually used toothpaste to get the ink off the chair (along with nail polish remover) and B's arms when it first happened. It didn't get it all off but after scrubbing every night in the bath for about 4 days he's as clean as!!! I tried it on the wall too but it had next to no effect, so that's when I switched to nail polish remover. I had another go after reading your comment but nothing seemed to happen.

My last hope is hairspray. Which I don't own!! Shock, horror!! lol
Will have to do something about that! lol

And just for your information, I don't own nail polish either. So I have no idea why I had nail polish remover in the house!!! But it sure came in handy! Ha!ha!

Actually I think the problem is with the actual wallpaper. It's more papery than the stuff used on other walls in the house. I've been able to wipe off any small marks off the other wallpaper with A's おしりふき (oshirifuki, or bum wipes) with no problems. Oh well, can't win them all I guess.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!
We're having a quiet day, but to be honest it's actually quite nice that way.
S is at work, the kids and the cat are enjoying their pressies, and I have 5 minutes of 'me' time on the computer.
All is good! lol

Hope everyone has a safe and healthy Christmas!

Another wall update

Ok, I have given up on the wall.
For now, anyway.

Instead, I have turned my efforts into thinking of ways to hide the marks, without actually getting rid of them.
So we now have a pink cloth covery thing with lovely patterns on it hanging up, strategically placed over the marks of course!
And if anyone asks, I think I'll tell them it's there cause it's good feng shui!!!lol

Artistic talents

Today I have cried, scrubbed, and cried a bit more.
B decided he would be an artist while Mummy was busy doing something for a couple of minutes. In the space of maybe 3 minutes we went from having a lovely clean apartment to red marker pen all over the shoe cupboard, wall near the entrance, and the chair from the kitchen he used to climb on and do said 'drawings'. And if that wasn't enough fun for him, he then managed to draw all the way from his hands to his elbows in the process. AAAARGGGGHHHHH!!!!!
It seems I need to start a whole series of ありえない posts.

I have managed to clean off the shoe cupboard with nail polish remover, the chair is not quite there yet, B is nowhere near there (who knows how many more days of scrubbing that will take), and I still can't figure out what to do about the walls. Any suggestions?

EDIT

We are still battling with the wall.
We've tried paint thinner (a kind of turps) which dissolved the wallpaper and turned the red into fluoro pink!!! The wallpaper is textured which is not helping things.

Nail polish remover is also helping it turn pink but doesn't seem to be dissolving the wallpaper as much. Will keep trying with that I think. Have already used a whole bottle of the stuff!

And if all else fails will consider painting over it somehow or if that doesn't work, re-wallpapering!!!!!

ありえない！

Why is it that what seemed like a good idea for a post when I was thinking about it last night now seems EXTREMELY boring and dull??
So to post or not to post.

Ok, I'll post.
But only because I'm still annoyed and need to get it out of my system.
This could be long. Start rant.

Yesterday was my 20th visit to the dentist since August.
Yes, that's correct. Twentieth!!!!!!
And I'm talking about August this year, btw.
Unbelievable, I know.
Ridiculous even. I know that too!!!!

It makes you wonder if they are doing things deliberately slow for the insurance money.

Now despite such a whopping figure, I am actually not one to neglect my teeth. I've had one filling (from when I was about 11), regular checkups for like forever, blah blah blah. But one thing, well two actually, have changed all this.

Pregnancy. Need I say more.
I noticed after having B my gums were a lot weaker and went to the dentist I always went to (which no longer exists) to get things fixed. And they WERE fixed.

Then I got pregnant with A and had a horrendous time of it (more on that in another post, it was pretty bad with B too) and it seems that between getting pregnant, giving birth, breastfeeding and not being able to get to the dentist til nearly a year later has really done me in.

In August I went for a checkup and what do you know, bad gum disease and 8 teeth needing fillings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In such a short time?? How the hell did that happen???

I was in shock.
ありえない！is all I was thinking.
You have got to be JOKING, right!!!!
I just wanted to cry. I'm sure I had tears in my eyes.

Well unfortunately it wasn't a joke, and I have been taking the 2 kids with me ever since which is a hassle in itself. Time restrictions stress me out. Trying to get them both fed, dressed, cleaned up, in socks, then shoes, the shoes being on the right feet, out the door, into carseats, the 20 minute drive there, trying to park the car (this takes time, we have a voxy lol), toilet stops, and into the dentists by a certain time is STRESSFUL! Seriously, I allow plenty of time for things but every appointment turns into a major outing so I'm sure anyone with kids knows what I mean here.

Now the only reason I started going to this particular dentist which is by no means close by, was because it's in a huge shopping complex and they are open on Sundays and public holidays. Which if you remember are S's only days off. So appointment 1 was on a Sunday and S looked after the kids. Every other one has been on a weekday. AGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!! The head dentist wanted me there twice a week and he was like, the receptionists are qualified to look after your kids so bring them too and make sure you come as often as possible kind of tone. So that's what I've been doing.

Anyway, after a HELLISH experience yesterday I decided I'm not going back. It took an hour and twenty minutes to put the filling in, it being dropped in my mouth no less than 4 times during the process, the young dentist (only the 2nd time out of 20 appointments, thank goodness for that) shaking before he even started touching my mouth freaked me out but seriously, it was beyond a joke. Luckily for them I didn't choke. In the end the head dentist had to take over, and after everything was finally finished (there were countless stuff-ups in the meantime) the nurse was like 今日は本当に大変でしたね。すみませんでした。申し訳なかったです。疲れたでしょう。I actually felt sorry for her cause the shaking dentist was so unclear in his directions that the poor girl was like え? so many times. And she was the only one to apologize, despite it not being any of her fault.

I should have found somewhere closer to start off with but who would have thought it would drag on this long? And I felt bad for changing half way through. But there is a dentist with a special kids room and someone there to look after them across the road (maybe a 2 minute walk) from where we live now, so I've decided to go there from now on.

End rant.

Feeling much better now!

The moving diaries

Part 1 Tuesday 1st December

Unfortunately it's going to take another 10 days or so til we can use the net again so this post is going to be in diary form.
Is that even a form? Uh oh, better not let it slip that I minored in English Literature at uni! Nobody would ever believe me!! lol
Sorry, I digress.

I can't believe it's been over a week since we moved.
Time flies when you're having fun, hey.
Well finding new homes for everything has been fun, and the little walks we've been going on too.
But the rest of it?
Packing, lifting, pulling tables and things apart, more lifting, putting things back together, and unpacking come into an entirely different category.
Especially when you're the one doing 95% of it. Possibly more.

The first few days after moving are just a blur- S back at work and me unpacking pretty much covers it.
We were absolutely exhausted for days. Still recovering actually.

Ok, so the actual move.
We knew things wouldn't be done in a flash, but even so everything took a LOT longer than expected to do.
Mainly because B and A needed constant attention. And I stress constant.
A was teething (3 at once, poor kid!) and had no cot so I had to おんぶ her while trying to stop B and the cat escaping from the open front door all day long.
Cleaning, vacuuming, and moving boxes with what felt like a 10kg bag of rice strapped on my back for hours on end was NOT fun at all I'm afraid.
No more exercise for me this year I think!lol

S's parents came and helped on one of the days so FIL helped S carry all the heavy stuff (sofa, fridge, bed, cot, washing machine). S and I did everything else over the next couple of days. In the end (on the 3rd day no less!) my friend Y offered to look after the troublesome two which was a great help, and all belongings, furniture, people and animals got moved.

Things have settled down pretty quickly, and I'm already loving all the extra space.
We've been and done the neigbourly 挨拶 (aisatsu), given the obligatory washing powder, with some 柿 (kaki) or permissons thrown in for good measure.



Part 2 Wednesday 2nd December

Still rearranging furniture and trying to get organized.
The kids have been going to bed earlier and getting up earlier than they used to which is a good thing.
Must be the quiet.

Part 3 Thursday 10th December

We finally have been connected!!!!!!!!!!
Yay, yay and more yay!
Talk about a saga and a half!!!
Am dying to catch up on blog reading but that might take a few more days I think. lol

Last spurt

Packing is nearly done!
We've run out of boxes so no more proper packing til S gets home tonight.
Off to make dinner so I can a) use up stuff from the fridge and freezer, and b) wash up after cooking, so everything is ready for packing.

One more sleep til the big move! Yay!

Take 2

We now have keys! Yay!
Last night S didn't get home til close to 10pm, so unfortunately we didn't end up moving any stuff. Hopefully he will be earlier tonight though.

Today was spent ringing around SO many places that need address changes. Water, electricity, gas, grocery delivery people, and credit cards just for starters. Then I started on changes I could do on the net, still only got through about a third or so of all that needs changing. Talk about information overload! My head is spinning with passwords and IDs at the moment! lol

We've given notice at the post office but that doesn't help with Sagawa or Kuroneko who seem to have taken over nearly half our postal items lately. Which means I have to tell anyone who sends catalogues and things our new address. I know Kuroneko will forward for a year, but we still have to ring Sagawa who apparently don't do forwarding unless you have a nice 担当者 who remembers you. Anyone done this before??

S was meant to be ringing Kuroneko, Yahoo BB and NTT today. Hope he got round to it cause I think it takes nearly 2 weeks or so to be able to use the net again!!! 8 working days not including weekends, it seems. No net will be a challenge, I'm sure!!

Keys

Just found out we will be getting the keys for the new place sometime today, not Sunday as we originally thought. This is GREAT news, because at the moment I have nowhere to put all the boxes I've packed, am finding it extremely hard to get to things not yet packed because of said boxes, and it's getting a bit dangerous for the kids to be running around the place with mountains of boxes piled up everywhere. So this means we can start moving stuff late tonight!Yay!

As of yesterday A has come down with a cold, so I'm in top gear to get everything done ASAP, before anyone else gets sick and makes the job any harder. Wish me luck!

Packing

Today I can see myself doing some packing, some more packing, and then probably some more packing.
One week to go before it'll start turning into unpacking, unpacking and more unpacking.
Can't wait til it's all over!

EDIT
I just published that and freaked myself out when I saw the time.
Take a look for yourself and you'll see what I mean!!!lol

Eleven eleven

So today is the 11th of the 11th.
Lots of ones in there aren't there!

I actually like these kinds of dates.
My husband and I got married on 22/2/2002.

11:11am, 11:11pm, 1:11am, 1:11pm.
Mean anything to anyone?
For something that happens only 4 times a day, why is it I seem to have the uncanny talent(?) of checking the time at that exact time? Usually once a day, sometimes more.

Anyone else out there this happening to?
Please tell me it's not just me!!lol!!

EDIT
Last night when I checked my keitai before going to bed, guess what was on the display!! 11/11 11:11
Why aren't I surprised? lol

Trial and error

Like I said, I've been using a 家計簿 for quite a long time now, but how I use it now is very different to when I first started out. The basics are pretty much the same, but the way of categorizing and recording has changed many times, and I daresay will continue to do so.

So things I have learnt. Would love to do this in point form. Can't seem to find any bullets. Hang on, have I been composing in the wrong part? Just found bullets on another screen!!

So I'm going to try to explain what we do for our daily spending- this is just for food, everyday expenses, toiletries, nappies, kids stuff, and eating out. Rent, insurance, tax, utilities, keitai, medical expenses, savings, car fund (loan and savings for 車検(shaken), insurance and tax) are kept separate and are written down once a month.

• Ok, biggest thing for me is to budget weekly and record from Monday to Sunday. I started off doing it from Sunday to Saturday because that's how the first book I had was set out, but that didn't work! For us anyway. Reason being, we would go out for lunch and do fun things on the Sunday and then nearly half of the weekly budget would be blown on the first day leaving us poor for the rest of the week. Learnt my lesson quick smart.


• No matter what the date is start afresh each Monday and work from there. Sometimes your figures won't be exactly for one month but in the long run it doesn't matter. Some months will have 4 weeks, others 5.


• Write down the name of the shop (abbreviations are also ok) and total of expense. You don't have to write down the price of everything you bought, just make sure you categorize it into food/ household items/other. That's how the book I use is set out so I just stick to the categories they have. At the moment I put groceries in food but eating out and things I don't consider extremely necessary, like a coffee from the coffee shop or donuts or something like that in other. I do this so I can work out how 贅沢(zeitaku) I've been in my spending. Nappies, tissues, pet food and kitty litter would all go into household expenses. It's up to you to decide how you want to categorize things though. Before we had kids I put groceries and eating out in the same category which was fine for us at the time because we were both working and ended up eating out a lot of the time. As an example of how to categorize, say if I bought veges, meat, washing powder, and a present for someone, I would categorize the veges and meat into food, washing powder into household items and the present into others. Then be done with it and throw the receipt away! At one stage I used to just stickytape the receipts into a memo book and add it up each week and not bother with categorizing which worked for a while but I could never figure out EXACTLY where I was spending too much. What was necessary and what was 贅沢.


• I put a set amount of housekeeping money in my wallet and work with that and only that. Depending on what's left on the Sunday we go out for lunch or get takeaway, and I pool anything else leftover. When there's enough there we usually use it to go to an onsen or somewhere. Kind of a ご褒美(gohoubi) for sticking to the budget.

By the way I don't allow for rice in the weekly budget. I haven't always kept it separate, but I have done so for the last couple of years. We usually go through 10kg in about 3 to 4 weeks so I buy that when it's necessary, and just make a note with the date, place of purchase and how much it was to remind myself when I last bought it.

And S gets a weekly allowance so I know how much he uses but we don't record anything in detail. For us it's just easier to get a total figure and leave it at that.

So, that pretty much covers it I think!
Any questions?
Hope I didn't turn anyone off!!!lol

家計簿

Thanks for all the encouraging comments people have left recently!
Quite amazing actually that people have taken the time to read my posts. Thanks!

So to the title of this post.

家計簿 (Kakeibo)
Or housekeeping notes. Very exciting stuff, I know! Ha!ha!

Lily mentioned that she uses one, and so do I. Have done so for a long time. Going into my 8th year now actually!! Writing things down really seems to help with spending, makes me rethink if I really need something or not, or whether I should hang on a bit longer to make that purchase. It started out as a bit of fun but has turned into an addiction!

Anyone who has visited a book shop recently must have seen the piles and piles of 家計簿 displayed. Is it just me who gets all excited by this? Does anyone else out there bother and buy one? Or stand there like me thinking oh this one looks nice, or wow this one even has graphs and envelopes!! What to do what to do... Decisions decisions... Which one shall I use next year?

And then, after 10 minutes or so debating on which one suits me the best, a purchase is more likely than not made. But for some unknown reason I can never seem to bring myself to actually use that new 家計簿. Instead, I end up using the same style of book every year (which comes free in a magazine)!!! So do I buy the magazine which comes out next week with the free 家計簿, or break the habit and use one of the other ones I've already bought. Hmmm, I'll have to get back to you on that one!!

What's in a day?

Dinner tonight was a very simple affair.
Not one box has been packed today.
The kids have become a tad too energetic for my liking.
They're happy laughing and playing away together so I'm not about to stop them though. It's kind of nice actually.
It's just that I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.

It must be Friday.

What a shame the weekend for us doesn't start til Sunday!!!

Giving people a chance

Just keeping this short but you might have noticed I've put a new banner over to the right there somewhere. It's for Kiva, something I discovered by chance only a few months back but think is a WONDERFUL idea and the more people who do it the better. Personally I'm on my 5th loan now, which you can see here, just reinvesting so to speak the money that has been paid back. If anyone is even remotely interested please take a quick look!

Coming or going

What was that cold snap the other day? Very very cold. Brrrrrr....

So the packing has been going pretty well the last few days. Still a long way to go though. There are so many other everyday things going on that make it a slower process. Just your normal preparing, cooking, eating and feeding 2 kids 3 meals a day takes a big chunk out of the day. Not to mention cleaning, washing, washing up, cleaning the cat's toilet, blah blah blah. The list goes on. 家事. Don't you love it when a Japanese word can sum up everything so nicely.lol. I'm busy with 家事, that's my problem!!

Oh yeah, almost forgot. S got the rest of his pay on Monday- thank goodness for that! I just hope they don't make a habit of paying them like that or we won't be able to save for our (me and the kids) next trip home. Speaking of which, my brother sent me this link this morning which freaked me out a bit. We don't normally fly Jetstar but we did in April and it was an absolute disaster. Never ever again!!!!! It was also the day before the exact same flight had major trouble and a fire in the cockpit, and was diverted to I forget where -maybe Guam?. So this story is scary scary scary.

Anyway most of the time we fly Asiana with a free stopover on the way home in Seoul. Suits us much better and so much easier with the kids flying direct to and from Kumamoto. It's the only international flight so no worries about the 2 hours before thing either. Check-in starts 90 minutes before your flight and they don't even open up the immigration bit til an hour before! Much better than other airports in my opinion. Well I've only used Narita, Kansai, Nagoya, Kumamoto and Fukuoka for international flights but still it's the best out of that lot!! Not needing to get to Fukuoka earns BIG brownie points in my book!Ha!Ha!

Ok, A's asleep and B's watching Anpanman. Think it's time for a cuppa!

Progress!

We have progress!
Three more boxes packed. 50 million more to go!
B is being very helpful with it all. He helps me pack and just as quick as he does A pulls everything back out again. So 3 boxes is definitely progress.

We will be moving into the new apartment in 3 and a half weeks so plenty of time to worry about packing later. When I say new I actually mean old but neither S or I are particularly fussy so we are more than happy with the move. It helps when the new landlord is also the equivalent of your long lost mother. Which both her, her daughters, son and my mother agree on. Let's call her N.

N is not only my long time English student and the mother of one of my closest friends Y, she is much much more. She's what I want to be like when I get old. Young at heart. And extremely generous. To everyone.

Over the years I have become English and swimming teacher to her grandkids/ her computer teacher/ in charge of her New Years cards/ keitai mail instructor/ tour guide and interpreter (to Switzerland no less!!)/removalist and unpacker/ fireworks buddy among other things.

So anyway we got a 'secret family' discount on the rent which makes it cheaper than what we pay now even with an extra room. And we can pay back the key money in English lessons. So a pretty good deal all around. Thank you N!!! The place is newer than the 2DK we're in now and a whole lot bigger! Space!! Room for more kids! Yay!

A bit more about me

So a bit about me and the family.

My husband and I have 2 kids for now, ideally increasing to 4, possibly 5! The more the merrier and all that. Are we crazy? Maybe. Time will tell.

Our son B just turned 3 last month and is a typical 3 year old terror. Ahem, I mean boy. To be honest though he has settled down a LOT in the last few months. Of course we still have plenty of temper tantrums but here's hoping the terrible 2's are done with. Our daughter A is 14 months, and is extremely easy going. Total opposite to B as a baby and toddler. A has not only learnt how to walk but recently how to climb as well. On everything.
Well she does have a good teacher in her brother. And the cat of course.

As much as I love my cat (I), he sure does take a lot of looking after. Let's just say he's very demanding. More than the kids! Is that even possible?? Believe me it is!

My husband S is in sales.
Despite the fact he is an engineer.
Go figure.

He leaves at 7:30am and usually finishes around 9pm. Sometimes later, never earlier. Poor guy.
With only Sundays and public holidays off.
And no overtime pay.
Ever.
Poor guy. And poor us for that matter!! The company is apparently in a bad way. Last week he got given half of his total pay. With no official date set for getting the rest of it. He doesn't seem to think it's as bad as it looks though. Well we hope not anyway.

So my new hobby is 節約. For obvious reasons.
Well actually it's not really a new hobby cause we're always saving for trips home and stuff but that doesn't count!!

Ok that's enough for now.
This blogging really IS addictive! lol

First attempt at blogging

Hi there.

So after years of reading other people's blogs I finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and write one myself. Ok, so I'm definitely not promising anything exciting here- I'm writing this mainly for myself so please be warned! To be honest I don't really expect anyone else to be reading this apart from me. But I thought it was about time to put some thoughts down on paper so to speak instead of just contemplating everything in my head and leaving it at that.

Geez did that even make sense??
Ok so now you've got me. Actually the real reason I started blogging is to brush up on my English!
I can't believe I just admitted that.
Anyway, here goes.