Thankful Thursday

Continuing project...this week's thanks are:

I am thankful for my Aunt L. There was a period of my life when I was in high school when she seemed like the only adult I could talk to. I shared pretty much everything with her and because of that, she has always been close to my heart. She taught me (without even realizing it probably) that adults were human too and that they could be trusted with our dramatic high school lives when we needed them to. She and my uncle would sleep in the living room with us kids on "camp outs" on the weekend and we would stay up late watching scary movies (back in the days of only 4 channels on the TV). Her special relationship with my mom, even after they weren't "related" anymore has always been amazing to me. What a great example they set for us kids in their friendship.

I am thankful for my cat Chase. While she does drive me crazy at times, I am glad to have her around to keep my company when I am on my own. She loves us unconditionally and shows it in her headbutting (which she learned from Madison) and her licking. She loves nothing more than being the center of your petting attention and of course a few treats. I know she has been though a lot moving with us all over the place but I am glad that we have her and she has us.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Almost Done

New Art

I went to an art auction the other night where some of the proceeds were for charity. It was being hosted by a local organization but the art was all being provided by the same gallery that I bought my Norikane etching from a while ago. They were donating 10% of the profits to the organization along with all the proceeds from a few pieces that were labeled "special donation".

I had gone through all the items up for bid and circled on the ones I might want to bid on. I also went through the pre-sale items just to get an idea of what things were worth so I wouldn't go too crazy during the bidding process. Some friends and I went there together so we got some food and then settled in for the auction.

One of the pieces (I don't have a photo of quite yet) that I had my eye on came up right away in the bidding. I held off until the bidding slowed down but was still under what I thought it was worth. Then I made my move and I ended up getting it for about 60 dollars less than I thought it was worth originally.

Now it turns out that because it is an artist's proof, it is possibly one of a kind and worth quite a bit more than I first thought....this of course works for me. It is a Norikane print like the one I purchased from Kanda's before but this one is called Spring. It has a thatch roofed house in it and it has some of the artist proof items still in the printing, like the title and artist's name in writing in the corner but in reverse. I'll have to take a picture of it soon since I couldn't find an image of it anywhere on the internet. I don't think it is quite as well known as some of his other prints.

The second print that I bid on was much later in the evening. It was a special donation which meant that all the proceeds went to charity. I had thought someone had told me it was worth about 200 dollars so when the bidding got near there, I slowed down but then I was then told it was much higher than so I started to bid quite a bit and managed to get that one for about 185 dollars less than what it is sold for at the same gallery. I was very excited. This too, was a Norikane print and it is called Engawa-6. It has the shoji screens on it and I just love it.

Overall, I feel like I made two great deals. Now I have the Engawa-6 hanging in the living room, the Miyajima-2 in my office near my computer, and the Spring in my bedroom so I can see one of my prints no matter where I am in the house...haha.

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One Year Ago on In My Words...Freedom Writers

Naha Harii

May 5th is Children's Day in Japan. It is marks one of the holidays that all fall during Golden Week (one of the biggest holiday seasons in Japan). It is also the traditional date of the Naha Harii (Naha Dragonboat Races).

I competed in the races for 3 years when we were living here before. I always enjoyed being a part of the culture and the experience that comes with it. It was a lot of fun. Twice now I have gone to the races as a spectator and experienced the festival side of the event. It also is a lot of fun.

This year, I went with a few friends down to the port. The weather was not terrific but while we were there, the rain stayed away and we were able to watch some of the races and get some festival food without getting soaked.

I'll probably blog a bit more about this in detail on my travel blog when I get a chance but I did take the opportunity while I was there to take some pictures and I wanted to post a couple of the ones I liked the best.

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One Year Ago on In My Words...Mom Visit Update II

Boat carrying Myanmar aid sinks; toll climbs beyond 28,000 - Yahoo! News

I am amazed at how some humans treat each other and this planet...how do they sleep at night? It makes my heart ache to see this kind of thing. What is wrong with us?

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Corona

Super Typhoon Rammasun

Looks like it is going to miss us but we are still getting a few gusts from the out of season biggie.

The wind has been great this morning. I have all the windows open and the fresh air is awesome. The air is surprisingly, dry. The sun is shining, so for now, we don't have any rain coming from it. I think I might even get some sun today on the porch and then save my walk for later in the afternoon when the sun is not so potent so I don't accidentally double dip.

I might even make to the Makeman store to get some things so I can finish up some yardwork this afternoon...wouldn't that be great??? This kind of weather really motivates me to get outside and get things done.

Repotting

I managed to get off my butt and get some repotting done yesterday. I waited until late afternoon when our backyard was in the shade and then I took all of our house plants out back and moved them all up one size in pots.

I also got all the flowers I purchased last week put into pots and placed around the yard so it looks nice. I need to go back to the store and get more dirt and herbs so I can plant the last pot of herbs.

Once I am done with that, I need to get some yardwork done....there is really no excuse for the state of my front bed, other than procrastination. I am sure the owner drives by and just cringes. There is a dead small tree in there that has to come out as well.

So while I was able to cross off 1 1/2 items off the To Do List above, I still have some work to do. I don't know if the weather will cooperate for actual planting today but at least I can get the shopping part done.

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One Year Ago on In My Words...Mom Visit Update

New Feature

I just found out this new feature on my digital camera. I can save pictures that I might want to use in blogs or email to people as a much smaller file while the pic is still on my camera. Then when I download them, they have a different file name and I can pick them out and put them in my blog or email folder.

Cool beans...saves me from having to reduce them in a photo editor just to blog about them.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...80 Years Old

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

For me, her birthday was yesterday, but for her it is today. I sent her card and gift in my Mother's Day box to her house so she probably doesn't have it yet but I hope it gets there before the weekend.

As you can tell from my last week's Thursday Thanks....my grandma means an awful lot to me. She is the best and she deserves to have a great 82nd birthday. We love you Grandma, have some fun on your birthday. We wish we could be there.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Me, Myself, and I

Thanks on This Thursday

Continuing project...this week's thanks are:

I am thankful for my Aunt C. She has been a light in my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up, she mostly lived in California but I always looked forward to the annual trips we would make to see her and her family. She has always seems like an icon of fashion and trends to me. She is so cool. Today, she lives in Oregon near some of my other family and I am priviledged to see her everytime we are in town. She is a beautiful person inside and out and has always gone out of her way to make everyone around her feel good about themselves. She has a huge heart and is always trying to help those that have less than her even when she doesn't have a lot herself. She is there for my grandparents, should they ever need her. She is one of my favorite people and I am so glad to have her in my life.

Today is a hard day for me to find something else to be thankful for. I am burnt out in general, but I think that is why these kinds of projects are so important. They force me (and hopefully others) to look deeper to see the beauty in things even when things are hard. So I guess I will say that I am thankful for the willpower to find something beautiful in the small things in my life even when I don't want to. On my walk today, I saw some amazing flowers in bloom and said "ohayo gozaimas" to some friendly people working on their fields or fishing at the beach. The sun was on my face and the breeze was at my back and overall the day is just awesome. I need to take my camera with me tomorrow so I can get some shots of the flowers.

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One Year Ago on In My Words...They Arrived

Antique Sake Cups

I picked up three of these the other day when we were on a antique shopping run. I think they are a great little piece of history. They are WWII military sake cups. I don't know if I will collect anymore of them but I thought having a small token set of them was cool. Two of them are from honorable discharges and one is from victorious return from mission.



Note: I left the link in so you could see a larger version if you want.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Checking The Items Off

Tropical Cyclone Death Toll in Myanmar

It keeps rising. I might see if I can send some money via the Red Cross but I hope that it gets to those that need it and not just to the pockets of the government there that doesn't seem to care about it's people.

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One Year Ago on In My Words...Mom Visit

Antique Kokeshi Dolls

Here are a couple of shots of my current collection of antique kokeshi dolls. I tend to like the ones that are hand painted but the striped one did grab my eye. Some of these, I have had for a few months and then some I have had for a few days.

I didn't get any on the most recent antique expedition, but I plan to go back there. Rumor has it that sometimes the owner gets in the itsy bitsy ones that are almost as small as a grain of rice...this is just something I have to see.


Amongst my group of friends, the antique ones are becoming much more popular than the newer ones you can find at the various gift shops. I like both but the newer ones have to be unique to really get my attention.

Some of the antique ones have heads that squeak when you twist them...the owner gave us the impression that the sound is specific either to the doll or to the family that made (makes) that particular style of doll. We were quite astonished when he grabbed one of the dolls and squeaked its head but once we knew what he was doing, we readily walked around the store twisting doll heads ourselves.


Some of the other antique ones have bobble heads. You can see in one of my pictures that the head of one of mine is tilted off to the side...that is a bobble head. I found a bunch of small antique dolls in a clearance bin at a store one time and I am planning to send some of them to the States to friends and family...I think there are some bobble heads in there too.

Note: I left the links to the bigger pictures in so you could see the detail if you wanted.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Whew!!!

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is creeping up on me (at least it didn't come early like daylight savings and Easter did) and due to my distance from those I like to acknowledge for Mother's Day, I have to get my stuff out a bit early.

I am trying to finish up my cards, and packaging so I can get it all in the mail by Monday in hopes that it will reach it destination before Mother's Day. Keep your finger's crossed for me. This is probably the latest I have ever sent this stuff out. Thankfully, it is all going to the west coast and the mail seems to get there pretty fast.

I am already going to be late on my grandma's birthday since her gift is in the same box with the Mother's Day stuff, but I am hoping she will forgive me.

Right now, it is only the cards that are keeping the boxes from being taped up so I better get going on those so we can be done before Monday and ready to go.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Come Back Birds

Update to Mishka's Reading

I was able to update my reading blog today with the books I read in April. Check it out if you have time...

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Passive Aggressive

Thankful Thursday

Continuing project...this week's thanks are:

I am grateful to my grandma. She has been there my whole life, helping to mold me into the person I am now. When I was young, we would see her off and on, since we had to share her with our cousins who lived in California, but by the time I was in 4 grade, she was permanently living in Oregon with us or near us. I remember watching movies with her in her room and having her there after school everyday. She taught me to hand embroider (something I do to this day), and still makes beautiful linens and blankets for those she loves. I get my neatness and cleaniness from her via my mom (I am sure). She is a great cook and some of my favorite recipes are ones I grew up eating from her kitchen. Nothing says home like pintos, potatoes and cornbread. I am sure she doesn't know how much she has meant to all of us grandkids but I would like to hope we give a bit of it back to her now. Her birthday is this month...she will be 82. She was like a second mom to me when I was a kid and still holds one of the closest spots to my heart.

I am thankful for the postal service. If mail was not as fast as it is these days, it would make staying in touch with my family much harder than it already is living so far away. It makes it possible to pass back and forth needs and gifts that help all of us feel so much closer to each other. I realize that it costs more than it used to, but it is much faster than it was a long time ago, and relatively speaking, it is much cheaper than other options out there.

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One Year Ago on In My Words....Barely Moving

Art Purchase

Yesterday two of my friend's and I went to a little hole in the wall Japanese antique store. We had heard about it from another friend.

When we first walked in, I didn't think I was going to find much. We came specifically to check out the antique kokeshi doll options (since we seem to be into those more lately than the newer ones). I have a few of them that I will post about later and am always looking to see what might be available.

As we were walking around looking at things and saying "oh how cute" about a gazillion times, we started to unearth a few things. The owner didn't seem to mind if we dug through boxes or opened cabinets so we went ahead. He would tell us in Japenglish info about whatever we happened to be looking at. He had several books he would reference and it seemed like the longer we were there and the more interested we seemed, the more free flowing the information became. It was a great experience.

In the cabinet below the big kokeshi doll display there were all these handpainted little cups. Turns out they are military sake cups from WWII. I ended up with three and he gave me a sheet that tells me what the writing in them is for. I'll post about them later too.

Next to the cabinet was leaning a reproduction print from a famous artist that did pictures of kabuki actors. I have been wanting a woodblock kabuki print for some time and told myself I would get one before we left this time.

Well, I have one now. The owner told me that the print is 85 years old. The original is in a museum. The back has some information about the artist and the subject of the print. I realize that it is not an original but to have something that beautiful and old is still an awesome thing. The artist's name is Sharaku and the subject's name is Otani Oniji.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Poison/Oak Ivy

Patio Turmoils

I wake up this morning, and the umbrella, that was in the center of my table stablized by a stand underneath my table last night, is sitting on the deck next to the table. I am lucky it wasn't in the pond or worse, in someone else's yard...haha.

When I got home just now, I found a little beautiful moth in my pond. At first, I thought it might be in there on purpose but then it seemed to be struggling, so I went out there, picked it up and put it on the patio chair so it could dry its wings. It stood there for a bit letting the wind flutter through its wings and then it took off flying again...I felt good about saving it.

The pic is from last summer when I found one outside our house...but it is the same type of moth.

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One Year Ago on In My Words....Soccer Woes

Rain Is Back

Some of my projects are on hold because the rain came back today. I did get a couple of boxes in the mail this morning and I paid some bills at the Family Mart yesterday so I am not completely worthless. I also went to this cool festival that I will blog about on my travel blog later and leave an update notice about. I rode my bike to the festival so I got some exercise as well. I spend the last of the afternoon at the beach with a friend and took some cool shots.

Overall, a somewhat productive weekend. How was yours?

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Made It Home

Beachin' It

Yesterday was the official season opener for the beach down three blocks from my house. I beat the traffic and parking mess by just walking down....works for me.

I met some friends there and we watched the kids on the waterslide and tried to keep them from drowning when they came out. We had some lunch and just enjoyed being out in great weather that is not yet hot and humid....

I managed to keep from getting sunburned, just a bit of pink on the top of my feet but otherwise, I am good. This is great because usually the first day out in the sun here results in an uncomfortable few days afterwards.

There was a lot of seaweed on the beach, it smelled great. There was one man in a less busy part of the beach shoveling it up into his truck...he must use it for mulch or something because there was way too much sand intermixed and I don't think people eat this type much. It was not nori. I bet it makes his garden smell like the beach....what a great air freshener.

On the way back home, I saw a guy taking pictures (which I should have done more of) and he asked me in Japanese (which I only speak a few words of) if he could take my picture. This conversation was accompanied by hand motions and head nodding. He took my pic while I stood up on a big volcanic rock on my way back home. I would have loved to see how it turned out but probably never will...oh well, it was fun.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Updates

Busyness

Wow, Friday was busy for me. I had a get together at a friend's where we made some awesome Mother's Day cards (although I'll keep most of them as examples to use to make more from to send to family). That lasted most of the day because we had some breakfast and lunch to consume as well. It was fun hanging out with some of my friends in a relaxed and fun environment.

In the evening, some of us were heading to a bunco party being hosted by a service organization we are close with. It was fun, but not quite what I was expecting. We had a good time of it though, we always do.

Later one, K and I had told a friend we would show up at their get together for a bit and we did. It was fun even though it was cold out and I wasn't really dressed for it. We were able to get in some people watching (drunk ones can always be very amusing). We hadn't seen our friend for several months so it was great to catch up and retell some of our hilarious stories. Now we have heard another friend might be in town in a few week so we might have to schedule some food or something....that would be great to catch up. We'll see what comes about...

Anyhow, I got home late and decided to sleep in a bit....and I was actually able to...miracle of miracles...haha.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words....Utterly Ridiculous

Thanks on Thursday

Continuing project...this week's thanks are:

I am grateful for my dad. He chose to be my dad even when he didn't have to and without him, I would have been lost. He also gives me perspective when I come to him with questions and opinions. He is my friend. He has always brought out the goofy, spunky, and spontaneous side. He taught me to not let things get to me and ruin my day. He rubbed my back at night when I had a nightmare and told me that everything was going to be okay. He always had a lap big enough for me and my sister.

I am thankful for the sun. Today was a beautiful day and it really makes me think about how lucky we all are to have this wonderful planet to live on and enjoy (assuming we don't mess it up). Spring is in the air and the flowers are in bloom, the birds are chirping and the cycle moves on. It is refreshing to see.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...Technical Difficulties

Car Is Back

I was able to get a ride from my friend yesterday to pick up my car from the shop. It seems to be running like normal but the brakes feel a million times better, there is no pull to the side, and the windshield looks like new.

Next month, I'll have to pay the annual road tax and when I do, I'll have them fix the stupid sticker situation on my windshield but in the meantime, I am just glad to have my car back.

Now I need to run my friend's car back to her house and walk home...it will be good exercise for me and the weather is cooperating today.

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One Year Ago on In My Words...Mystery Bump

Bunco Success

I had my bunco party last night. Even though I didn't get every little chore done I wanted to get done beforehand, I did get the main and noticable ones out of the way. The house looked good and we had plenty of room.

I made Yum Nua (Thai Spicy Beef Salad), Massuman curry (Thai mild curry from the southern region), and then for dessert Khao Neao Mamuang (Mango with sweet sticky rice). I had Chai yen (Thai tea) and a couple bottles of wine as well. Everyone liked the food and some even took leftovers home so I didn't have to worry about running out. The mango dessert could have been better but overall the food was a success.

The gifts were a hit (rice baskets from Thailand) and the weather was awesome so we had all the windows and sliders open and one table was set up on the deck and everyone loved it. Too bad this weather won't last....warm and sticky is on its way..in fact just this morning the humidity is much higher...

I had a ton of fun last night and I think my guests did too. Now I can start focusing on a few other things...

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One Year Ago on In My Words...Almost There

Flowers

Saturday, I spent a few hours at our local DIY and got myself a flat and 1/2 of flowers. They had a gardenia and a jasmine for 680 yen each and then I bought a bunch of little perennials for some of my pots near the door. I also plan to plant a herb container to augment what I have growing naturally in two of the owner's beds here.

So I plan to get some breakfast in a few minutes and then get out back and weedwack our back yard. I have a luncheon I have to go to around noon but then I will be off on some more errands and duties before my bunco party tomorrow night. I don't know if I will get the flowers and herbs planted before bunco but if I don't it is no biggie...the yard will be dark by the time we get started anyhow...

I just can't wait to have a little bit of spring around the house where I can see it (our flower beds are out front and we can't see them from inside the house). At least one of the big pots is going on our deck...

I am keeping the jasmine in the house until after bunco...who needs air freshener with that beauty around?

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One Year Ago on In My Words...Water, Water and Wasted Plastic Bottles

At The Shop

I had a friend help me drop off my car at the shop yesterday. Every two years here, all drivers have to have a safety and maintenance inspection and purchase a special kind of insurance. This helps the govt make sure that cars on the roads are up to standards and are not polluting more than they do naturally. Japan has very strict emission codes (something we could learn a thing or two about in the States). I never mind doing the inspection or insurance but it does take some time.

The garage will have my car at least until Monday. I asked them to call me when they knew for sure what it would need to pass inspection. Turns out that I need front brake pads and an alignment (which doesn't suprise me because it has been grabbing to one side when I brake), and it needs a brake rebuild (which I think means a cylinder rebuild) in the back. I also have a chip in the windshield (which was there when we bought the car) that has to be repaired before it will pass. I will talk to them today and make sure that they also check the charging system because every once in a while it will sound like it is having issues in that department.

Overall, when I am done, I will have a car that I can rely on, and hopefully will have no mechanical worries for another 2 years. In the meantime, I have a loaner from a friend to drive for the weekend and one more thing checked off my list.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words...Bad Idea

IMHO

it is rude to tell people about an event/party/get together if they are not invited....

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Two Years Ago on In My Words....Flashing

Thanks For This Thursday

Continuing project...this week's thanks are:

I am grateful for my mom. Unfortunately for her, she had to be the heavy my entire childhood and I know that was hard on her but I am a directed, and independent woman because of her. She is my friend. I can turn to her with questions, or opinions and always get a new perspective on things. She made some hard decisions in her life when I was little just to give me a better life and I am so thankful for that. She pushed me to be a better person and look outside of myself. I have learned more from her than I can even remember. She always finds the beauty in things.

I am thankful for my education. While it has cost a pretty penny and I probably haven't gotten my money back out of it yet, I will never feel that learning is a waste. I hope to be learning until the day I die. We can never be too educated in this life and that doesn't mean all education has to be book or school learned. I realize that my education has opened doors for me, and kept them open in a world where doors are so often slamming shut on people. I hope that I can use my education to improve upon someone else's life, even if it means just convincing them to continue their educations. I know that my education has broadened my horizons both literally and figuratively. I hope to do the same for another.

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Eighteen Months Ago on In My Words....Interesting Finds

Golf Clubs

I have got them in the car so I can be ready to hit some balls at a moment's notice....that has got to be a good sign right?

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Three Years Ago on In My Words....Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Nothing Is Easy

Yesterday I got pissed off at IE because no matter what I do the Link folder in Favorites always comes back and it makes itself show on my toolbar and it also moves my Google toolbar around. My spyware blocker sees it coming in even though I have used every registry edit option out there to keep this thing from coming back.

So I decided to switch to Firefox....which is okay. The fonts and size of fonts are not my favorite and I am not used to the whole tabbed thing but I am learning.

There are three things missing though that really bug me....

1. No word wrap for long urls....hello, Firefox has known about this issue since 2006 and still they do not have a fix...well when CSS3 becomes the standard I guess they will be forced to deal with it.

2. There is no "apply" button in the internet options area...so you can't try something out without exiting out of the area you are in.

3. There is no way to block third party cookies....this one bugs me a lot as well.

So while I have searched all over Blogger and Google today to find a solution to the word wrap issue (my biggest peeve), I find that there is not going to be a solution, at least not for a while. This SUCKS because now my Testing Blogger blog looks like crap in Firefox (of course it always looked like this, I just didn't know). I might have to change templates just so I don't have to deal with seeing it look so crappy for now....this really does piss me off.

Get with it Firefox....this should be an easy one to fix.

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Two Years Ago on In My Words...In Memory

Stinky Lotion

I recently tried a bottle of Suave Cocoa butter with Shea lotion on the recommendation from my mom that Shea butter lotions are great for your skin....well they might be, but this one in particular turns on me. Not immediately, but as soon as I start sweating at all, I start to stink like I haven't washed under my pits in a week. This is very uncomfortable for me because I am kind of phobic of BO on my own body (don't mind it on others much).

Now that wouldn't be a complete issue if I lived somewhere else but here, sweating is a way of life and I can't have it turning into stinking sweat within ten minutes of getting out of the shower....that will just not do.

I don't know if it is the shea or the cocoa butter that is doing it but I know that I am not going to use that particular one again. I was trying to finish out the bottle but yesterday I got fed up with it, so it is out of here....I am using Nivea for now...when it is gone, I'll try something new again.

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Three Years Ago on In My Words....Trips and All The Chaos

Dreams

I had a very strange dream about J last night that might turn into a story later. I woke up from it around 4:30am and felt terrible (sometimes happens when I have bad dreams about him), but amazingly enough I remembered most of the dream, even the details, at 7am when I got up so I wrote an outline of things so I can flesh it out later if I so desire...we'll see.

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One Year Ago on In My Words...Time is Flying

Making Headway

Okay, so we have narrowed down that my project issues are genetic...haha. I am doing much better at breaking things down now that I know it is not just me...

I have finished the Okinawa kanji squares, I just need to write my name on them and give them out to those that I am giving them to. I am still working on the wave ones...I have 5 done but the cutting is hard so I can only do a few at a time before my hand gives out. I obviously need to stitch the ones I am keeping for myself.

I put our tiki torches out and took inventory of the big pots I brought with me so I can get some flowers and herbs planted and pretty things up outside. I will probably need at least a flat of flowers from our local DIY store. I cleaned all the windows I could reach without a ladder the other day on the outside...this will take much more time since we have a wall of glass on every room in our house, including the bathrooms. Fortunately, I don't have to clean them often.

I was able to visit a friend I haven't seen in a few days due to schedules and we got caught up. I need to get some flowers sent to another friend that is having surgery in the morning in WA. In fact, she is probably in surgery right now.

I have done some updates on two of my blog templates and will probably do more soon but for now, I like what I have done and am happy to leave things as is.

I feel like I got some things accomplished today even though I didn't hack out the whole list and I didn't get any one full project completed...I guess I am in project remission though and that is a step in the right direction...haha.

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30 Months Ago on In My Words...Image History

Losing Its Appeal

I went out geocaching the other day after dinner. It seems like it has gotten a lot more complicated to geocache here than I really want it to be. Some caches here are hidden near or in the water and can only be gotten when the tide is out which means coordinating the tide schedules (terrible for me to deal with). Others are camouflaged micros in very busy areas that really don't take me to a new place, but seem to be a test of the hider's ability to stump everyone and cause us to seek caches only in the rain or at night in order to not be seen. Then others are hidden amongst trash in dark scary caves that homeless people live in making finding them almost impossible.

It has been ages that I have gone to find a cache in a nice hidden away place that doesn't require me to beat off habu snakes, or tourists and still shows me something new. It makes the sport very frustrating for me. A lot of the fun has been taken out of it for me. I do it because I want exercise and to see something new. I don't do it so I can drive up to a little spot on the side of the road and find a cache 5 feet from my car, unless the spot is cool and I wouldn't have seen it otherwise.

One other issue is that if a cache is not hidden properly, it is found, quite frequently, by either tourists, landscapers or others not playing the game. Many times because NO ONE here thinks to put a Japanese translation page in their caches, they are tossed in the trash. So many coins, and travel bugs have been lost in just the last few weeks because of this....this makes me not want to put any of my travel bugs out there.

Now all of this is not on the hiders alone...the nature of this place adds to it. The parks here are very manicured...so finding a hiding spot that won't be weedwacked every 6 months is very hard to do. This place is also very crowded so it is hard to find a spot where there isn't someone else already sitting enjoying the space. Creatively camouflaged micros are sometimes the only option.

Okay, that is my bitch session for the day. I want to go out geocaching today but my frustration from the other night, might just lead to me to find other things to do instead...grrrrr.

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Two Years Ago at In My Words...Typical

New Square Prototypes

Here are two jpegs of the designs for squares I want to make for my quilt. I made these designs so I could figure out what will end up looking the best. I already have the material...just finishing up the prep work so I can get started....





I think the wave will need some detail stitching on the white part...maybe even in a light blue...

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Three Years Ago at In My Words....The Somewhat Downside

Not Motivated

I am fighting the procrastination bug big time. I did finally manage to get to a store I have been meaning to visit for over a week, today. I got what I needed, now I just need to mail it. I was telling my mom via email this morning how I am getting bogged down because I can't just let something be a task....if I have two yardwork items to do, it becomes a project rather than just two items. Because it is elevated to project status, I tend to not start unless I have a huge block of time to tackle it in. I like to be done with it rather than have it sitting around half done (although the way I have been tackling projects subconsciously lately, you wouldn't believe this about me).

So, instead of repotting a few house plants today and then weedwacking the yard tomorrow and then weeding the front yard the next and planting some spring flowers and herbs the next, I just keep putting the whole thing off as a "yardwork project" until I have everything I could possibly need from the store and the weather to tackle it all at once....this can mean that it doesn't get done. I refuse to live this way anymore.

Right now, I am experiencing the 4pm drowsies....so I need to get off the computer and doing something physical so I can get past it. I have windows to clean outside and that would be another one that I have turned into a project rather than just doing a few at a time....grrr...sometimes my personality conflicts with my reasoning....and then none of us are happy.

Update- I did get some exercising, geocaching, yarding, and window washing in...none of it is complete but at least I made a dent in a few things...I guess I had a break-thru because doing a bit rather than all didn't kill me.

Thursday Thanks

Continuing project...this week's thanks are:

I am grateful for my sister. She is my closest friend. I can tell her anything and not be judged. She is my secret holder. She motivates me and drives me to be more like her. She is fun and alive and makes me get out of my shell and live it up. She is beautiful inside and out and brings out the best in people when they are around her. The room lights up when she comes in. My childhood would have been boring without her. She helps me to keep perspective and focus.

I am thankful for my health...for a few weeks I haven't felt that great (most likely a bug I picked up traveling) but I seem to be okay now...it is amazing how you can feel less than 100% and it can change your entire perspective. Then when it hangs around longer than you expect, it really starts to knaw at your brain and the worrying does you no good either. I am glad to be worry free, sleeping more peacefully and able to get back to my regular life.

Observations

Yesterday I did a bit of errand running and hopefully got some things done. I did fine the fabric I am going to use for two more squares I am making for my quilt. I'll have enough to make a few extras of each so I'll put those up for grabs when they are done. I know my friend K wants some of them.

I updated the ToDo list this morning and I noticed that every time I try to type strike to put in the cross out html....I misspell it....every time. Don't know what the deal is but it pisses me off.

I talked to the local authorities about the speeding on our road the other day, but I don't know if it will make a difference. Until someone gets hurt or killed, I am sure no one will do anything.

I need to do some geocaching since I have a coin that needs to be put out.

I had a very weird dream last night about my husband's work...very strange indeed. Can't go into it here because that would blow some of my anonymity so you know how that is.

I managed to sleep (kind of) in until 7am this morning...don't know what the deal is but 6 am seems to be my body clock time to get up, even if I read in bed until 12 at night.

I am reading a book that is only okay right now...actually, I am reading two books but I thought the second one would be a quick fast read so the first one was put on hold. If you want to get technical about it, I have a third one I started ages ago in my night stand that I need to finish too....oh well.

I have been doing my brain age training on my Nintendo DSLite in the evenings...it still tells me my brain is 56 years old...I am wonder if I have a younger brain in the mornings.

I spent an hour at the 100 yen store last night on my way home from my friend's house. I got some things to mail out but also some things for the house. We could learn so much from the Japanese on economy and efficiency...it is amazing. I could sit in one of those stores forever thinking up ways to use the stuff in there. I even found some little screen repair things I am going to try out in the office screen. We'll see if they work. I did find some big soup bowls. They aren't matching to the ones I have already but they are blue, white and black so they will go with all my other stuff. If I ever come across my other ones, I'll grab them up.

The sun is out and I am meeting some friends for coffee at the Starbucks that opened a few weeks ago less than a mile from my house.

New Furniture

Okay, I promised I would post a pic of the new furniture I bought when I got it situated. This is a pic of our dining room looking from our living room area towards our kitchen. The two chairs stacked on each other on the right are not there anymore...I found homes for them in another part of the house. The table expands to seat six and it is countertop height. All of the furniture is made out of mango wood and is pretty heavy and hard.

I Found Them

I guess I never blogged about this before because I did several searches and couldn't find this one...but ever since we got here, I have not been able to find a pile of giftcards that I had. I knew I put them somewhere safe but in my organizing way, I couldn't find them any where. I mean it was to the point that I started a Word doc on my computer to keep track of the places I already looked for them just so I would stop looking for them repeatedly in the same spots (which all seemed like logical spots). This reminds of me of when I "lost" all our foreign bills when we moved back to the States last time because I stashed them someplace safe. It took me months to find them too and I just happened upon them one day.

Same thing today. I was putting some coupons away and found all the giftcards in my coupon organizer (you had to know I had one of those, right?). When I think of it now, I am not sure why I put them there and not one of the logical places I already looked but I am happy to have found them...J will get a laugh out of this one when I tell him.

Lazy Day

Today has been a totally lazy day for me. The only thing I have accomplished besides watching movies that I need to return, is coloring my hair. I hope to get a square of my quilt stitched but we'll see if I can even knock that out or not. I don't know what the deal was but I figured I would not fight it and just enjoy a day of doing almost nothing...

Now I do have to go because I am hungry and that can't wait for another day.

Thursday's Thanks

I was reading today, about a girl I don't know, that has cancer. She is a mom, and has beaten cancer two times, but now it is back and might be back to stay. I have never read her blog before (I was directed there by someone else) but it struck a cord with me and really made me think. Her blog is in my reader now and I am sure that I will be adding her to the list of Internet "friends" that are made through the communities we all have when we put ourselves out there on the Web. Note that, because I tend to stay pretty anonymous on the web, my community (minus those that know me in real life) is probably pretty small and non-substantial but it is still there.

So anyhow, she asked us what we are grateful for and this got me to thinking. I have a ton to be thankful for, much of it is small everyday things, but the bigger things are probably things I take for granted everyday and don't really even think about. Those are the things that I would incredibly miss if they were gone for even a second of my life and probably need more attention than I give them. They are things that if they weren't in my life at some point, would have changed the person I ended up being. This is a good exercise for my brain because I think I need a good dose of reality and perspective. I tend to sweat the small sh1t and I need to think about all I have got and realize that those small things that I can or can't control on a day to day basis are not the things that matter. The things that matter are bigger than that.

So each week, on Thursday, I am going to put up a post that talks about what I am thankful for. I have so many things that if I tried to put it all in one post, it would be huge and the thanks would get lost. So if I spread them out over the weeks, it will keep the posts at a readable length but also give me a chance to focus on the things that I am grateful for over time. Bear with me, since these might get a bit sappy....

I am grateful for my husband, who is also my best friend. We have a lot in common while still being different enough to keep it interesting and we love each other for those differences as much as we do for the things that are the same between us. We stablize each other, keep each other sane, and in the here and now. I would not have grown into the woman I am without him in my life the last 16 years.

I am thankful for the spring weather (even if that means days of rain as well as sun). It makes me feel alive when I go outside and breathe in the air. It motivates me to get exercise, enjoy the outdoors and tackle projects. It makes my skin feel good. It tells my brain that everything is cyclic and we can always start again.

I am grateful for the Internet because it allows me to stay in touch with my friends and family when I am far away (which seems to be how I always am). If we lived in another country 20 years ago, phone calls and letters would be our only option. And while letters were cheaper than they are today, phone calls were not. These days, I have email, blogs, IM, VOIP, texting, letters, and phone calls, and that makes it so much easier to still feel like I am apart of something that is not near.

What Was the IOC Thinking?

These stories are making me so sad....the three YouTube videos (one program) are somewhat sensationalized but that doesn't take away from the fact that there are serious problems in China right now and the fact that all eyes will be on them is not going to be easy for their government to deal with....seems though, that they are not choosing to deal with it in a good way...instead they decide to demolish homes and hope that all the the sad or poor people will just not be seen rather than trying to actually fix things.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6hwhDnlNUY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVtdzVPCvCk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMBFCr673H4

I saw a segment on NBC Nightly News tonight that made me cry. They were destroying some of the ancient areas of the city (note these are historic areas as well) and those that were displaced were crying. There was an elderly man in a wheelchair with tears in his eyes and it just made my heart break. The stats stated that 13,000 people were being diplaced per day and that the number is expected to be 1.5 million by August of this year.

I just don't understand why they have to do this. It makes me not want to watch the Olympics this summer.

Mishka's March Reading

I updated my March reading list on Mishka's reading if you want to check it out.

Birthday Wishes

For me, today is my sister's birthday...of course, for her, it is not until tomorrow but I going to wish her a happy one now and hope she has sweet dreams and a great day tomorrow even though it will be a Monday.

Happy Birthday Sis!!! You are the best and I miss you like crazy....come visit me (I'll pay, you just need to get the time off)!!!!!

I LOVE YOU

Moving

Well, I spent almost all day yesterday moving furniture around. I am sure my back, leg and arm muscles will thank me later for it.

I tried moving a bookcase out of the tatami room so I could put the curio cabinet that the new hutch is displacing there, but it looked terrible so the book case went back in, along with all the books I moved.

I had to move the old dining room chairs to the laundry room so I could start unpacking the new dining room chairs. I have not even started with the new dining room table. I have the boxes stacked in my garage for recycling.

I managed to put four things in the paper for sale/giveaway and the giveaway ones are already gone. I meet the girl today at 11am to drop them off. Hopefully the sale items will go as quickly so I can have some space to work with.

Today, I have to get the banquet table out of my office and put the old dining room table in there (it is a dinette really and it will fit better). Then I can unpack the new dining room table and get it set up.

The new hutch looks lovely in its new home and I have put in the stuff that I want in there....and while it looks like I have room for more, I have to remember that I didn't bring all my stuff here and I don't want it to be overcrowded when we move back...just means I'll have to be selective in my purchases...and I need to get the pictures out of what I already own that it is in storage.

I'll post pics as soon as I get everything situated.

Snail

Last night it was sprinkling when I got home after we had a pretty nice day over all. I went through the house closing windows so that rain would not get in. I had used the bathroom at my friend's before leaving her house so I never went in the bathroom that has the toilet in it before heading to bed.

I woke up at 7:30am to use the bathroom and found that it was pouring outside and not only that, it was blowing towards the one window in the room. The OPEN window....Needless to say, the floor, the bathmat and the toilet were all completely soaked. I had to go to another room to get a towel for the floor, and when I came back (note, I did not have my glasses on or my contacts in), I noticed a dark spot on the toilet seat. As I moved closer so I could see it, I realized it was a little snail making his/her way across my toilet seat because it was soaked as well. I thought for a minute of flicking him/her into the toilet itself but decided to be nice, and picked it up and put it outside. I guess the screen we have on that window is not a completely tight seal....

It's Here

Our new furniture was delivered today but it is not unpacked or set up yet...you'll have to wait for pictures until I get that done, but since I have a party happening here at my house on the 14th, I am very motivated to get it done and move on to other projects....

I just wanted to announce that it was here....

Caved In

Okay, yesterday, after discussing it with J, I caved in and purchased the new dining room set and the hutch (yes, it was still there when I went back). So I need to call the guy that delivers and see when I can get it here and how much it is going to cost me (it just won't fit in our little cube car).

I have to move things around again (not the TV stand) but the couches because I think they are too crowded looking right now. I have to move a curio cabinet I have in the diningroom, into our tatami room so I have room for the hutch...I think it will fit well. The fish might have to move down a bit and one of the plants will get moved too but oh well...we'll see how it goes.

J is not big on crowded spaces. He would rather not have a lot of stuff filling up each crack so I need to make sure I don't over do it, especially since I still have some things on my list of things to get before we move.

This also means that I need to get my folding 6 foot table in my office on the market as well as the 4 solid oak dining room chairs so that I have room for the new stuff. I'll probably just sell them in an free newspaper that goes around here that is in English, rather than trying to sell them at a flea market or something.

I'll put our current dining room table in the office where the 6ft table is and that will give me some room in there (the dining room table is smaller).

I really need to do a flea market but the yen rate is bad right now so I will hold off for a bit. If it comes back up to even (100 yen to the dollar) I will get to it as soon as I can.

Fragrances

Somebody tell me, what is the purpose of fragranced soap, shampoo, and conditioner? While it smells great in the shower, as soon as you get out, you put on lotion and hair products that cover it all up anyhow....or is it just for the shower?

In Case You Were Wondering

For my location...

Length of Day 12h 13m (on 24 March 08)
Tomorrow will be 1m 34s longer.

Gorgeous...But Busy

I woke up today after a very rainy Easter, to a beautiful sunny, breezy, dry Spring day. I guess Spring did officially start the other day. I managed to take down my snowflakes off the window that I leave up for winter.

I also cleaned all my silver and did my bi-annual switch over to silver. It tells me that Spring is here and Summer is not far off and I am really looking forward to Summer this year in particular.

I have a little list of things to do, and I plan to get some of them tackled today if I can...hopefully I won't be inside too much and can fit a little bit of geocaching in as well. Days like this are the kind we live for. The birds are chirping and the wind chimes are dinging happily outside my office window.

One of the things to do was added by the workmen that were here for three days recaulking all the windows in this house (it is definitely a three day job when you consider how many windows we have), and they got caulk all over them so I need to clean them. Today is a great day for that, not too hot, but warm and dry enough that cleaning them will be easy. Oh, and cleaning my car....I can take it do a little gas station down the road from here and have them wash and wax it in their machine, then clean the windows, wipe down the interior and vacuum the whole thing for about 10 bucks (1000 yen). Can't beat that.

Hope you having a nice Spring day where ever you are as well.

Just Add It To The List

Well, I have been wanting, for a while now, to change my livingroom around*. We are kind of limited though, because every room in our house (including the bathrooms) have one wall that is completely glass. This means, no putting leather couches up against hot drying sunlight, and therefore limits the options. Since I have a 96 inch couch and 70 inch loveseat and a huge oversized chair and ottoman...we are talking some work trying to figure it out. Our livingroom, because of the tatami room and the dining room, only really has two walls and since I need outlets for some things, I can't put all the sitting spaces on the walls.

The easy fix I thought I would do (just switching the couch and loveseat) didn't work. I have now completely rearranged the whole room (which means getting out more cable so I can hook the TV back up to the satellite) and I am not sure if I like it much but it will have to stay for now. My husband will probably be pleased because I rarely move furniture around after I get it like I want it, and he likes to change it up some. Of course, he is not the one that connects all the electronics either so that might be why it seems easier to him...haha.

Oh, and in the midst of all this, I had to condition the leather since I had everything out and that added to the mix but it sure does look good now.

Update----First let me mention that rearranging the livingroom and treating the leather was never on my list of things to do but I am glad to have done them. That said, I don't know if I like the way the living room is set up and might be changing it around again next week. It depends on if the hutch/cabinet I have my eye on is still available and if it is, then I might not be changing it much. If it isn't, then I will move it around a bit....Right now, it seems a bit crowded....

*The loveseat was being sat in more than any other piece and I don't want it to look more worn than the others.

Finished Taxes

Okay, I finally sat down and finished up our taxes today. I had started them a few weeks ago but couldn't finish them until I got info from our rental company. I talked to a tax professional and because of the depreciation issue on the house we sold in WA, I also had to do amended returns for 2004 and 2005. So I guess knowing that I had so much to do still on it, I kind of stalled.

Well, we had workers here at the house all day so while I was waiting around, I decided to tackle the taxes and see what I came up with. I was able to get the two amended returns out of the way pretty quickly although since I no longer had the software for the 2004 ones, I had to fill out forms from the Internet and print them based on my PDF file for the tax pages I filed in 2004. It wasn't that hard once I found the forms.

When I had those two done, I could do the final stuff on our current year and while I am not getting as much back as I had hoped, I think we fared better than we could have. We were able to get a capital gains exception on both houses we sold last year rather than on only one. I did have to pay gains on the depreciation but if we had had to count one of the houses too, we would really have paid.

So that is my exciting day....aren't you all glad you checked in?

Post Secret

Lately, I haven't been able to read post secret's blog. It is just too depressing....

February Reading Update

Just wanted to let you know that I finally got around to updating Mishka's Reading with the February books.

Check it out if you have time and are looking for something to read.

Nekid as a Jaybird

She was cut yesterday. I think it was a bit of a shock to go from full winter growth to nothing but she seems to be comfortable with it now. This photo was taken shortly after getting home. I left most of her tail intact so it looks like she has it wrapped around her for warmth...but she really isn't cold. It is in the 70s here...she just looks so much littler to me when she is cut. Like a kitten almost...

Koi and Fan Quilt Squares

Okay, I finished the stitching on both of these tonight...and here they are in all their glory. These are the ones I am giving to the donation quilt along with the drum square I showed on here. I have not even started stitching on my own squares that are going in my quilt...and I have a couple of other ideas for squares that I want to do as well so it could be a project that stays with me for a while.




I left the link intact so you could check out the detail if you want.

Hoping Against Hope

Last night while watching a movie, I started hearing sirens. Because our house is located in what constitutes farm country here, we rarely hear sirens but this was a lot of sirens and they were coming down my street. Now, my street if you follow it to the end runs into the East China Sea and when I got outside, that is where all the emergency vehicles were parked. There were two fire trucks, two trucks with trailers (one with a boat, and one with a jetski), 3 cop cars and an ambulance. It was about 9:30pm at night. I put shoes on and headed out the door. Wanted to see what was going but also wanted to help if a search party or something was needed. By the time I got the three blocks in, there were lots of neighbors outside waiting to see what had happened.

Turns out that an elderly (and elderly here is completely different from elderly anywhere else...Okinawans live forever) who frequents the beach at the end of street for octopus and other staples, had not come home that evening and her family was worried. We stayed out there for over an hour watching the truck with the big lights scan the ocean and beach, snorkelers with rescue printed on their wetsuits suit up and run down to the beach. We thought perhaps she just didn't come home on time but was going to be okay.

Eventually a lot of the searchers came back up. Some of them left. One set of snorkler's came back for a surf board. The truck with the big light manuevered even farther down the beach. Then I started to see flashing lights at another beach down the way and realized that they had moved the search down the beach.

I came home without knowing what was going on. I have heard sirens on our street twice today. Finally I decided to walk down towards the water and see what I could find out. Apparently they haven't found her yet. The Japanese coastguard has a big boat off the beach searching for her and the helicopters are out as well. I hope they find her okay but I am thinking that it is not looking good now. I feel terrible for her family. The live in our neighborhood because she just walks to the beach in the evenings.

I guess if I see the black and white stripes in the next few days, I'll know it didn't turn out good.

Update on 3/14: I still don't know the outcome but today I have not heard any sirens and yesterday they were looking for her all day. Heard a rumor that she turned up at home but I don't know anything for sure.

My Vice

I am a member of the Stephen King Library. Have been forever. I got hooked on Stephen King when I was in junior high school after my mom read The Shining and told me how much it affected her. I had already ventured into some horror on my own in grade school but Stephen King is way more than horror, as any loyal reader will know.

I don't know what it is about his books, but he always sucks me in even in the first few words. He just has it down and I connect.

So, as a member of the library, I get the hardcover books as soon as they come out and at quite a discount off the jacket price. I received his latest in the mail on Monday and having forced myself to finish the other book I was reading yesterday, I was primed to get some reading in last night before bed.

As soon as I opened that damn thing, I was hooked. I didn't even get to bed until after 1am but still had to read because it had been something I was looking forward to all day long. I managed to only read for a bit before the need to shut my eyes took over but first thing this morning, I cracked open that book again.

I have no willpower...I could easily make some food, go out on my back porch in this great weather and lie on a towel and read all day long.....any other plans out the window. That is how much I love reading his stuff. Of course, because I am also a very fast reader, the book would be over in no time if I just took the day off to read.

I know I must sound like some kind of freak but his stories are always just so good, and these days if there is horror in them, it is a new kind of horror. Gone are the days of vampires, and clowns in the drains....now the horror usually resides either in the book or in the character and the reality of it all is the anticipation that keeps the story moving along without knowing it is going to get you.

So try as I might, I will get some things accomplished today but I can't promise that there won't be a part of the day spent on my deck with the fountain running, the sun shining and me smiling at my 609 pages of pleasure...if I could only make it last.

I Won!!!

It didn't actually change what I pay in taxes but at least I made my point...they lowered the value down to what we paid for the property instead of their inflated figure they had....whoooeee!!! So nice to be vindicated.

Perspective

Okay, this is going to be a rambler so if you want duck out, I completely understand.

There is this thing about me that I have noticed in recent years that I may have always had and just didn't notice or just noticed because it just appeared. Regardless, it has come to my attention that I believe that in sharing something with someone else about myself, I change the way that person perceives me from that point forward.

I think I have started keeping a lot of things to myself because I don't want that permanent imprint to be there, unless it really is something that is permanent. Meaning, if I tell someone something about my history or experiences, that is fine because it is factual and happened and is part of who I am permanently, but if I tell them about something I am feeling or thinking about at that moment, it is not permanently part of me...just momentarily part of me but I am afraid it will be part of me in their mind forever more. Does that make sense?

Obviously there are things that I don't mind making a permanent part of my memory for others, like how I feel about saving the environment or cruelty to animals but I guess it is more the internal fears or questions that worry me will cloud a person's perception of me in a way that I can't stand. Sometimes I even find myself keeping anger to myself because I don't want to imprint them with me as being an angry person or a fly off the handle kind of person or a person that is not cool and collected.

I remember as a college student, who has kept a journal from the age of 12, that my mother asked if anything ever happened to me, could she publish my journals. Now the idea of being published is fabulous...I would love to be a paid writer, but I was scared that someone would read those things (which are all marked by date and time) and think that I felt all of that all the time, rather than just in that moment. This is kind of the same thing.

The other day, one of my friend's nicknamed me Oracle on the bowling scoreboard. I didn't get it and asked what it meant. She said because I know everything. I know, of course that she didn't mean this in a mean way, but all of a sudden I started to wonder, do I come across as a know it all? I do like to be informed on things....in my life, it is best to be informed (those of you that actually know me, will agree this is so) and I like to help keep my friends and those I love informed as well if I can but I don't want to be thought of as a know it all....that is for sure. I guess it seems like a negative thing to me but probably to others it is not.

I shared some things with my sister the other day, and then I started to think about it today that now she probably thinks of me in a different light. I know deep in my heart that this is probably not true that she just thinks of me the same as she always has as her big sister and none of it was a big enough deal to really dwell on for long anyhow but there is still that nagging little part that worries about it. Weird huh? Because I know things about her that are very similar to what I shared with her and none of that changes at all how I look at her so why should I think it would change how she looks at me?

Those are just two examples of what I am talking about overall here. I feel like even with friends and family, I am keeping more of myself close to the cuff so I don't leave a permanent imprint that I didn't intend to leave....at the same time, I feel like if I don't share myself, especially in the moment, will I end up leaving an imprint at all?

The thing is, because of my belief system, this life we have is the one and only final run, no rewinds, no do overs. As humans, we tend to think we need to have meaning to our lives (I don't know that any other animals think this way), and perhaps that is a good thing. It instigates us to make a difference and try to do some good. But at the same time, it fills us with this feeling like we don't amount to something if we aren't creating Pulitzer prize books, or curing cancer. Do cheetahs care about if they have made a mark on the world? No, they live, die and the world moves on....they can have a short life or a long life and the only difference will really be on how many offspring they ended up having.

As a human, I am stuck wondering if I am making a mark on the world, even a little one, and if that is enough to count my life as worthwhile. Should I be doing more? Should I worry about the permanent imprint a rash comment or outburst might cause or should I be focusing on the big picture and the fact that I am here for a very short time and should be enjoying this life I have for what it is worth and just try to help those around me enjoy theirs too?

For those of you reading this and going "ahah, she is having a mid life crisis"...don't think you have everything figured out just quite yet. Number one, I am not in mid life (in my thirties)....I plan to live a very long time (assuming I don't get hit by a bus), so this is in no way my mid life, and number two, I think that this age is a great time to think about these things because I still have tons of time to make changes if necessary and still affect the outcome.

I don't want to be a clique, so I hope that sharing this part of me has not left a permanent clique imprint on you.....(see, I am still worried about it).

Makes My Back Ache

This is my friend's dog....his name is Matix and he sits in the strangest positions. It is hard to get him on camera because he is afraid of the flash but I did manage to get this shot of him the other day...and this is not even the worst of his positions...

Seventh Generation

I have happened upon a socially and environmentally responsible company that I am proud to do business with. According to their website (link also in title), they have been around for 15 years but I only just found them. I use their toilet paper but will be on the look out for other products that they put out so I can make a small change in whatever way I can to make this earth a better place for those that come after me.

They have a blog that I have added to my reader so I can get an idea of what other options might be out there. I might end up linking them on my blog as well, but for now, I will be happy to just read and educate myself.

I have put a button my sidebar to the company website so you can check them out anytime you want. I know that at least a few of you will find this as interesting info. In the meantime, here are some astounding facts found on their label that might help persuade some of the naysayers...
"If every household in the US replaced just one-4 pack of 400 sheet virgin fiber bathroom tissue with 100% recycled ones, we could save:

• 1,450,000 trees
• 3.7 million cubic feet of landfill space, equal to over 5,500 full garbage trucks
• 523 million gallons of water, a year's supply for over 4,100 families of four
• avoid 89,000 pounds of chlorinated pollution.

Recycling paper prevents unnecessary landfilling of valuable resources. In addition to saving trees, producing recycled paper uses less water and energy than paper made from trees."

Update- had to remove the button on my sidebar because they redid their website and no longer have gifs or jpegs to use as buttons....unfortunate but true.

Itunes

I hate that iTunes is not intuitive if you need to move your music to another harddrive, file or spot on your computer...I should be able to point the whole damn program to the new folder and it should just say okay rather than making me point every single damn song to the new folder.....grrrr.

Taxes

Well, I started our taxes on Thursday around 2 in the afternoon and pretty much finished them up around 8pm....I had a question to ask a tax person today so I had to wait to get that done this morning. I have to file two ammended returns for depreciation I didn't take for our rental (I can only do 2004 and 2005) because we are going to have to pay capital gains on the depreciation even if I didn't get it so I might as well get some of it...

I also don't have the final paperwork from our current rental company for the house so I just estimated for now and will wait to print it and get it done completely when their stuff gets here...got to have those numbers match.

I am thrilled though with all the massive amounts of things we did this year that they aren't going to be completely impossible for me to do and we should come out getting some back...not as much as I would have liked, but at least some.

Quilt Squares

On Wednesday, we did the exchange of quilt squares with most of the people involved in this quilt. There are some really cute ones out there. I guess I have some stitching to do, huh????

I still need to finish up my fans and the koi for the quilt we are donating so I won't post pics of them until I am done but I am excited to see what the finished product is going to look like.

I still have a few squares that I want to make for myself (and a few that have asked me) but those will have to be a bit later, because I have a lot on my plate this week and can't get out to get fabric. I want to do a Japanese motif wave, and then also one with the kanji for where we are...there might be a few others I can think of too...

Answering Machine

I found out the other day, quite by accident, that a couple of my friends have ones that work just fine here and they are also American made (not really but at least sold in America). So I decided to get an American phone/answering machine and see if that would be my answer. When we lived here last time, you couldn't use American phones because the frequency was the same as the emergency services, but this time, the phones are at a different frequency so they sell them all over the place.

So I will put my 900 mHz Sony cordless phone away for a while (probably in the same place I have my ATT digital answering machine), and will use my new Uniden phone w/answermachine and two handsets for now. I am currently only charging the one handset for now so I can see how the reception is in this house (the other phone can't be used everywhere because of our thick concrete steel reinforced walls). If I can use it all over, then I'll find a spot for the other base station and charge the second handset up as well....this new phone is 5.8GHz so it might be a much stronger signal...we'll have to see.

The reason for this rabbling post is that I wanted to announce to the world that I have an answering machine at home now!!!! Yeah!!!!!

Finished Taiko Drum Square

Even though I have had the applique done for a while, I still needed to do the stitching before taking a picture of the final product. My name is stitched on it as well but I blurred it out. That was probably the hardest part (not the blurring, but the stitching) because I was doing it without any thing to direct me (no lines). I think this one came out the best of the three square designs I did. It has the most color and the most detail. I'll finish stitching the others and get pictures of them up there as well.

PS I left the link to the larger photo so you could see the detail if you wanted.

Toenail Woes

GROSS WARNING!!!! I am warning you, my toenail woes are a bit gross...

A while back, I rolled over my big toe on my right foot with the back motion on the vacuum. At the time it hurt like a bitch but I didn't think much of it. Well, apparently, it damaged my toenail quite a bit, but only on the left side. When I took my polish off a few weeks ago, you could see some discoloration on my toenail but it looked like it was going to be okay eventually.

Now it has started to grow out and because a new healthy nail is growing under it, the part that is damaged is starting to lift off. Problem is, it is only on half of my nail so the right side of the nail is completely fine all the way from cuticle to edge. This poses a problem. It is not like I can just cut the damaged part off and not leave a jagged edge that might get caught on something. I have tried filing down the edges to keep them from snagging but since I don't trust it and I can't have the entire thing just get ripped off my toe, I started wearing a piece of tape over it. I am hoping that it will keep it from getting snagged but will not keep it from continuing to grow so at some point I can cut the damaged part off.

So I look like a bonehead with a piece of tape on my big toe but since it is nice, I mean really nice weather today, I can't not go in sandals...so bonehead I will be I guess for the time being. My friend is trying to get me to go to a pedicure with her soon (which I have never done before) and I really think I should wait until the new healthy part gets long enough that I can take the damaged part of...no point in paying to paint the damaged part, especially if I am going to cover it with tape...haha.

Free Rice

My record having only played once so far is 160 grains and some of those were guesses...how high can you get?

Breakage

My french press that I have had forever (my sister bought it for me when I first got married), finally died. Today, when I went to plunge the grounds down, the whole screening part moved up the stick...there isn't a way to fix it and since it is 16 years old (I haven't used it the whole time), I can't get replacement parts for it.

I have ordered a new one from the same company on Target's website today and it should be here in a few days. I'll drink tea or coffee from the vending machines. I don't have coffee every morning but the french press has been used a lot since the winter started.

My friend from Taiwan is bring me a water heater similar to the one that she has lent me for the last 6 weeks so that she can have hers back. It warms up about a teapot of water but if you forget about it or take some of the water out, the weight difference will turn it off...only in tea drinking countries would they come up with such a great thing. Anyhow, I am excited to have my own because I have been using the heck out of hers every morning for either tea or coffee.