Found 'em

Nicki recently sent me a note about hard-boiled egg molds used by insane Japanese mothers when making obento (lunch boxes) for their child. Only a woman with one (and maybe a baby who often sleeps) would do what these women do. We were several months into the semester when I saw the obento section in the department store. It is bigger than the hair care isle at Wal-Mart. There is such a selection of lunch making paraphenalia - I mean character shaped molds for rice balls and vegetables, sparkley seaweed sprinkles, stuff I never dreamed of. I was completely ashamed of what I give Alex for lunch. (But she likes PB&J.) These moms must seriously spend an hour putting this art form together. They are over the top gorgeous. I think Alex is lucky when she gets a left-over burrito. Her teacher grills her every day on what she is eating. I'm so pitiful, I get a thumbs up from her teacher when I put in a note for my child saying "I love you!" One day I cut hearts in her nori (the seaweed covering her rice ball). The teacher did cartwheels and so did Alex. I am so ashamed of my weakness.

Now, back to Nicki's note. She told me they have these really cool molds. You boil the egg and peel it, then immediately pop it in the mold, smash the lid on and rest it in cold water. When it's cool, your egg is in the shape of a fish, rabbit, teddy bear or car. Found them tonight at the Y100 shop. The kids were with me and Alex yelled, "Hey, all the kids in my class have eggs like those!" You see, when asked how you know that your mother loves you, a Japanese child will respond, "Because she makes my obento." I am a total failure.

But in the hopes of redemption, I bought the molds.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Thank you, Mr. Voight.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jul/28/voight/

dreams

I was just rescuing the boy from some restless sleep when "onechan" (o-nay-chan) talked in her sleep - in Japanese! How cool is that? My 5 year old dreams in Japanese.

Guacamole

Dateline: Sunday, July 27, 2008, 6:16 PM

After a Sunday without a husband (business travel) and without counselors (leisure travel & sick kids) I go home completely exhausted, but not in tears. A minor victory. Primary was hysterical. Andrew needs a diaper change just as I'm starting Sharing Time and strangely, his diaper is fine. Later, in the middle of sharing time, Caroline is throwing a fit, Yuuto is standing on the chairs and Chiemi is opening and closing the curtain. Brothers Hiten and Naofumi are fighting over Ammon's headband; Naofumi has the upper hand as his right fist is cocked back ready to fire. I catch it just in time. And in walks the Nursery leader with Andrew, asking me to change is diaper. Again? A mommy-test comes back positive. You see, Andrew turns 2 on Friday and he has just figured out that he is going to need a change in the near future. The nursery teacher doesn't speak English and doesn't have kids so she's not getting it. (I know, I'll potty train him soon.) Nakao Kyodai, the CTR5 teacher says, "Can I help?" Yes! You finish the Ammon story and save the sheep. I'll be right back. He says, "Can I change the diaper instead?" What? No! He's dirty, you take Ammon, I'll do the dirty. Nakao Kyodai says, "I'd rather do the diaper."

Scott has been working for this particular career victory for many moons so he gets a pass, but I'll never forgive my counselors.

So we get home and pick up the living room from Sunday morning's disaster. The quickest meal I can think of is Sloppy Joe's on re-hydrated mashed potatoes. I think my mom invented it. I've only tried it once before on my kids and they didn't eat it, but I'm tired. While I'm cooking the ground beef I remember that we went to the farmer's market yesterday. I can serve fresh vegetables and still remain mother of the year. So it's a beautifully multi-colored plate with Sloppy Joe's on mashed potatoes, fresh picked garden tomatoes and okra. Sweet.

This morning before church I made brownies and thank you cards for all the Primary teachers. I had one mini brownie loaf left over and told the kids if they ate all their food they could have a brownie. Andrew literally ate IN HIS SLEEP at the table. I've never seen anything like that boy. His eyes were closed and he was falling over, putting pieces of brownie in his mouth. Every last chocolate crumb. The man will die at the dinner table. Mark my words.

So a little later, I say to Katie, who has been staring at her plate for a little over 30 minutes, "It's OK Katie. I can save your brownie and you can try to eat your dinner tomorrow night."

Katie says to Mom, "OK."

Brief pause...

Katie: "Tomorrow, can I pick dinner?"

I laughed. That girl doesn't miss a beat. So I said, "Sure. What would you like to have?" She replies, "I don't know. I can think about it while I sleep. I'll tell you later."

6:21 PM

Katie to Mom: "Can we have burritos tomorrow?"

Mom: "Sure, Katie."

Katie: "With guacamole?"

Smart girl.

Costco Japan

This is one of the best things about living overseas today. One can experience the culture of a new land...and still get a big box of Quaker Oatmeal when you need it. Costco has a store in Osaka and Scott made the trip for us on Saturday. We all wanted to go, but if you take all the people there's no place to put all the food. Japan has this wonderfully innovative thing called cheap domestic shipping. It's about 600yen per huge box to ship the stuff from Costco to your door, even cold or frozen. But to save on shipping - and get the grapes to us faster - we kids stayed home and let Dad fill the van with the goodies. And I'm writing this post to tell you about the grapes in particular. I need someone to tell me what you are paying at home for the 4lb box of grapes in the warehouse stores. I think we set a record. 17 Bucks. Scott called me and said, "Is this a good deal?" I choked. NO! It's not a deal at all. So he put back something else and bought the grapes. It all evens out. Sunday when I was munching on them I said how incredible they tasted and they were totally worth the 17. Scott said, "Oh, maybe $14, but not quite 17."

On a happier note...

The girl likes carrots!

The Worst Thing in the World

It happened today. The most terrible thing I can think of. The stroller broke. Or I broke the stroller. Whatever happened, it is horrible! We bought the world's most wonderful, incredibly expensive double stroller and one of the shock absorbers broke today. The screws that hold the two pieces of the shock absorber together stripped, horizontally, away from their holes, not through them. I mean they went where one would say they could not go. I sent a frantic email to the stroller people. I don't know if I ever registered the warranty! That stroller is my life. This means I have to carry the baby on me and chase the boy! I can't physically do that. I'm not sure anyone can. I feel incredibly anxious. Frightened. Overwhelmed.

J's 1st Meals

J had her 2nd semi-solid meal this morning. A little rice cereal - she loved it. We'll be straining some carrots and potatoes a little later today. She even stayed in her chair. That's amazing because put her in it any other time and in 1 minute she has turned over and wiggled out on her belly. The girl can move!

The first semi-solid meal was a lemon ice from the convenience store across from the school. J, A and I got roped into going to the swimming pool with A's class. I thought, "the teacher must need me; she's begging me to go." It must be an emergency policy to have 2 mother's standing around doing nothing on this walk across the soccer field to the pool. J & A were forced to sit in the stroller and I fanned them furiously to keep them alive. Alive, not comfortable, not calm. It was so hot & humid I thought they were going to pass out. Pouring with sweat, I was not far behind them. After half hour of watching other kids in a pool, we couldn't take anymore. Big boy A had been in tears since he saw the water. I asked the teacher if she really "needed" me and we bailed. We only live 7 minutes from the school, but if we go home, 20 minutes later I have to put the little guys back in the stroller and go get the twins. There is no way in the world that A would get BACK IN the stroller after having been freed. So, we went to the convenience store and got a cold drink and a lemon ice. J ate the lemon ice. No child has ever had more sugar in the first meal and no mother has ever been more desperate.

Patriots, all of us

Real American Stories is a cool link I saw today. Check it out. We're all just incredibly fortunate, if for no other reason than this.

Letting Go

It sounds like a real emotional moment, doesn't it? Letting go. Really, we just didn't want the thing to die in our kitchen. So this morning Stan the Crayfish went home to the water ditch. Andrew, Caroline & Scott did the honors. I saw a tear in Scott's eye. Caroline said, "Where is he? I don't see him." Andrew was just happy that someone was using the water. Andrew loves water. Now every time we leave the house he can run to the ditch, yell "water!" and think of Stan. Stan, what a great pet!

Price of Gas

Someone asked me what we paid in Japan. I responded, "70 to fill it up."
There has been a revision. It took Y8500 to fill 'er up last night. Roughly $85.

Here are some other prices, just for fun. (just make it easy, figure Y100 = $1)
Apple - 150y
Quart milk - 150y
Orange - 88y
500g Cherries - 600y (about 2 Cups)
6 slices bread - 108y
small watermelon - 1800y
grapefruit - 100y
Jac's formula - 1550y/can
avocado - 150y

Keep in mind that I am a bargain shopper by breeding. I've seen 3600y cantaloupe. It is easy to pay 300y for a quart of milk, and we go periodically to another town where it is only 100y. It's worth the drive because it's also low fat milk.

I like to shop at the local farmer's market. They are open 3 mornings a week and have only what you would grow in your home garden, but I can get 3 carrots for 100y there. And potatoes! They have more than 4 in a bag there for 100y. It's great and I love the people.

A.D.D. & the 4th of July

I'm adding Glenn Beck to the list of sites I like. Glenn is a little frenetic for me - I need my pundits a little more sedate than he is sometimes, but he really moved me this week. I have gotten a little frenetic myself lately in planning our future. I'm not frantic, but gravely serious about taking care of our family and not having to rely on anyone else. We talk of buying land, raising a massive garden, home schooling our children, building a giant fence around said property... lots of things like that. As if the end of the world is tomorrow. Maybe it is, who knows. There are a few reasons for my chaotic, often frenzied head of ideas. 1.) Main Stream Media. I have just a few minutes every day to read the headlines. I should listen to Rush instead, but I hate to compete for noise in the house. The MSM is negative, down on the US, and hoping we fail miserably so they will have something to say/print/publish. 2.) Takata still hasn't said anything about where we might be heading next. Most days I don't care - but I can't have a frenzied plan about multiple locations. It drives me crazy! 3.) There are other reasons, but let's get back to Glenn Beck.
Glenn spoke at a patriotic festival in the western US this week. Afterwards he wrote in his blog that he was going to focus his work in the media on the family. Here's what he said:
"GEEZ, when will I get to the point ….A.D.D. IS KILLING ME … well actually it is probably worse for you than it is for me but … wait…. NOW I AM OFF TRACK AGAIN!!! THIS IS REALLY WHAT I AM TRYING TO SAY: I don’t know really why I do what I do, I am glad that you seem to enjoy it, but as I promised my wife, I will never do what I am about to do again. God shoved me down the stairs a couple weeks ago on a rainy night in Connecticut to tell me rest. Sleep. Don’t burn out, because there is much left to do. He is right, what a surprise! There is much to do. Now that the rest of the country and media is aware of the coming perfect storm, I can focus on what everyone else is not. Solutions, Hope and Family. I think you will agree with me that if you follow those in Washington or in the MSM all three of those things will be in short supply. Together, we will show them how wrong they are for I know it to be true that through our families we will find those solutions that will give us more than just Hope … they will give us a peaceful and bright future."
So, I've never written a fan letter before (not even to MARIE OSMOND!). But, if I were going to write one it would be to that insane man on CNN and say thank you for reminding me of what I already believe so strongly. It's my family that will create and provide solutions that serve and save our country. It will be your family and mine that prosper - which means our country prospers. I like living abroad. It's an enlightening experience. And it reminds me that I love the United States of America like nobody's business. God bless America. And God bless my family. We are going to buy that land and raise that garden and we will teach our children how to succeed and we will serve the Lord our God and we will protect our Constitution. And we will be blessed. Happy Independence Day!

Andrew & Stan

Every spring, every kid in Japan starts collecting living things - bugs, crayfish, beetles - if it moves, they have it in a cage. The country is lined with small drainage canals that serve to collect rain water as well as water from homes and rice fields. It looks to me like an irrigation system; it's relatively clean water. Caroline dropped her hat in the canal yesterday and there wasn't a speck on it. So we are always looking for critters. Most of them have spent too much time in the sun and are fried dead, but on the way home from school this morning Andrew hit the jackpot. We found Stan! We saw him and ran home to get a box. He knew we were coming because he was running for his life when we got back. Scared little guy. He doesn't walk very well on the plastic so he's a little irritated right now, but Andrew is thrilled. Boys are so much fun!