Just a very quick post to add the photos of the table - I took them in a hurry before coming into the office so maybe they don't do it justice. There are actually six chairs although it looks like just 4, I took one away so you can see the curved 'leg' of the table. Also there is 'walking space' behind the sofa even though it looks like they are pushed up against each other.

Guess what Setsuo brought home last night - 2 boxes of beer (48 cans) but....... I was good and resisted them all. Very good really because they were even chilled and calling my name!

Today the new table and chairs arrived. We thought we were having to wait for the 5th and 6th chairs but they all came together. I wondered how they would look since the colour of the table is just a bit more orangey than the walls and floor and thought it might be too much of the same but it looks good. Now I just need to remember to bring my camera so I can take a photo. I'll also have to go shopping for place mats to use with it but doubt I'll get that done before Sunday (MIL's ceremony) so I'll just have to put an 'Out of Bounds' sticker on it - only kidding........ I think!

Before Sunday I also need to get in and tidy up the boxes that are in there and generally clean up. I was amazed at the amount of dust there was when I vacuumed this morning - considering there is no-one really living there yet, there was a lot.

I'm on a diet!

There I've said it so it means I have to stick with it. It's not the normal run of the mill diet -I can eat anything I want - MY diet is a specially invented one for me, the 'No beer diet'. It's especially special in that I can drink it if I'm outside but not when I'm just sitting at home.

Over the past couple of months, I've really put on weight - belly especially - to the point where I can feel all the extra flab when I sit down and this morning got a shock when I weighed myself. I've put on about 6kg, although don't know since when. So for the time being, the beer has to go! Wonder how long I'm going to last?

Actually often when I'm drinking it at nights, I know it's become a habit rather than enjoyment - like needing a cigarette in your hand (in my case I have beer in one, cig in the other!).

So, wonder how long it's going to take to lose 6kg........

On another blog that I visit from time to time, the subject of small kids being picky eaters came up (she has triplets plus a baby - I'm in awe of her, PLUS she is a gifted blogger - her posts are so funny).

Anyway most of the comments that she received said that their kids were just the same and it got me thinking about why mine aren't. They have had their moments of not liking some things - Aya won't eat chinese mushrooms, Keita is not keen on a certain kind either but will eat them from time to time, Lisa isn't keen on carrots (although she ate them all the time she was in NZ) and with Kana it's peas but even she is eating them in NZ too! Other than that, I really can't think of anything that they'll refuse, especially if they are at somebody else's house. I know they are all older now but I really don't remember them being any different when they were smaller either - maybe I have just forgotten although I don't think so. I think the main reason that they are like they are is that they were always made to TRY something - if they didn't like it they could spit it out right away, the rule was that it had to go into their mouth first. A lot of posters were saying that if their kids didn't like something, they brought it back out for the next meal and then the next until it was eaten which to me is the surest way to make sure the kids ends up HATING that particular food. Perhaps it was also easier for me being here in Japan since we usually have 3 or 4 different dishes on the table anyway so I didn't have to cook what I thought they would eat, I could just do what I planned and if they didn't fancy one thing they ate another. Whatever the reason, I'm grateful that I don't have/didn't have the same problems that a lot of them seem to.

On Saturday it poured down from morning til night and then during the night too. Keita should have had a baseball match early Sunday morning and because of the rain, we didn't know whether it would be on or off so I still had to get up at 4.45 to get everything prepared (we had to leave just after 6am). As I thought would happen, it was cancelled at the last minute - last minute being 6.30 so by 11am I was ready to go back to bed!

In the morning, Setsuo and I went out to a sports shop while Keita stayed at home doing homework and then when he went out with friends, we went to a furniture shop to look at dining room tables. We went thinking we would buy a light coloured one but there was a dark brown one in the shop on sale that we liked so we put our name on it and then went home to measure the room just to be sure (we could 'keep' it for 3 days). Once Keita came home, we set off again (the shop is on the 4th floor of the airport building in Hotarugaike). Keita was tired and constantly moaned about feeling sick in the car - which I don't believe - and then when we arrived and got out of the car he kept saying things like 'this will only take 15 minutes won't it' and generally being a pain in the ****. By the time we'd reached the 2nd floor, Setsuo said 'let's go home' and since there was no talking him out of it, that's what we did.

Anyway, maybe it was just as well because today when we headed off to go back yet again, we decided to go to another shop first and we found a table we liked much better! This one is a lighter wood and although quite a bit more expensive, I think it'll look better in the room. It is 2m long and 95cm wide and although we were originally going to buy 8 chairs, we've decided to just get 6 as there will be few times there are actually 8 of us eating together and at those times we can just use different chairs. The table and 4 chairs will be delivered on Friday but we'll have to wait about 10 days for the remaining two. Once it's in the house, I'll post a photo.

It was Kana's birthday yesterday. In her email this morning, she said she'd got a lot of cards and presents from her host family, friends on the school bus and classmates and then from the other girls she is in the show with. She'd also got 4 birthday cakes! Now I know why she isn't homesick!

I think she's settled in a lot easier than the other girls that went to the same school. One of them is on her 2nd home-stay and is wanting to change again (the advisor has said that she can't so I expect it wasn't so much a problem with the home-stay family as the girl herself) and another girl doesn't seem to be making an effort to join in when they all speak English. Sometimes I think Kana feels torn between wanting to talk to the Kiwi girls but also not wanting to leave the other girl on her own. Her show has it's closing night tonight so no doubt there will be have a party afterwards.

On the home front, Aya has started to look for a job here and I think has applied to a Police Hospital but am not sure what the job entails. I think she is quite happy with her decision to stay in Osaka although she said she was dreading the heat of the summer - aren't we all! Even though she is here with us, we still see very little of her and most nights she eats out with friends and is rarely home before we are all in bed.

Lisa is enjoying her part-time job and I just hope she is going to Uni as well! She says she is but knowing Lisa ........
I doubt we'll see her before June 1st when we have the ceremony for Setsuo's mother. There will be all of us, all of S's sisters family, his brother, Aunt and Uncle and cousin and wife. After the monk has finished, we'll all go out to the same restaurant as we did last year. After this ceremony, there won't be another one for a few years.

Today the Monk came to do the house-moving of the O-Butsudan (the shrine for Setsuo's mother). First he chanted and prayed in the old house and then did the same (or what sounded the same - who can tell) in the new house after Setsuo and one of the carpenters moved it in. So, lucky O-Baa-chan, she is the first to officially move house! I just wish all the other furniture and boxes and things could be moved as easily!

The monk is a young guy - probably in his late 20s, early 30s and is very, very handsome and has eyelashes to die for! If it wasn't for the fact that he also has a young wife, I think Aya would drool over him especially since he also drives a Mini Cooper, her dream car!

When we built the house, I knew we would have to have the shrine in the living room (otherwise it would have been in the guest room and I didn't think our visitors would appreciate that) and we had planned where it would go only to find out that that place would be no good because it shouldn't face North. So we have had to re-assess all our furniture because of it. Luckily we don't have a lot of furniture going in there but still.........You'd have though Setsuo would have realised what way it should be facing but as with a lot of things, I seem to be the one that either knows or at least remembers when it's pointed out. (His solution was to keep it in the same place but facing a different way - sounds okay until you know that by doing that, it would be blocking half a window. I sometimes wonder at the way his mind works!)

A photo from Keita's Nursery School Reunion.

Since today was the last day of my 'long-lies', I didn't get up until about 8am even though I was teaching at the nursery this morning and also had to do a round of the banks (which I left until the afternoon resulting in a call from them) Tomorrow it's back to the grind of packed lunches and early rises!

Yesterday we also got a phone call from the people who are wanting to buy our house to give us a definite YES. It now means that we REALLY HAVE TO START PACKING. Our problem now is that we probably won't be able to find somewhere for Setsuo's father in time so I think we will go ahead and build his room as planned (but it also means that we won't be able to get the mortgage as opposed to the normal loan we have at the moment). Actually, apart from the high pay-back on the loan, I think it's a good idea to have the room anyway as there is no guarantee that he is going to adapt to a home in any case so it will be better to have his room just in case things don't work out. Of course it also means spending money when we 'may' not need it at all but I'm sure we can put it to good use in the event that he doesn't live there permanently. We'll see......

Today we had a 're-union' for Keita's nursery school class. One of his last teachers left to go and work for an NPO and then met and married a Philipino, had a baby and is back in Japan until tomorrow so it was a chance for her to see everyone. Not everyone went but it was surprising that most of the boys did. (I would have thought the girls would be more inclined to go but not so). I don't think the nursery thought there would be so many coming either but they prepared lunch for us and a good time was had by all.

Other than that there is really no news. Keita was on a school trip on Saturday and Sunday hence the reason why they are on holiday today and tomorrow so I've been able to have long lies for the past 3 days (especially nice not to have to get up for BB!).

Well that's my holiday over. I started working again on Saturday but it wasn't too bad really.

On Saturday, Aya was attempting to pack her suitcase for going to the UK (and actually had it done) when she called me upstairs. She was in a quandary about whether she should or shouldn't go. She's been having doubts for a while now but was still going to go in a 'going on holiday' frame of mind but when the crunch came, she decided not to go at all. Obviously I'm happy about it and happy that she decided herself that she would rather stay here. She'll start looking for a job in Osaka and I don't know if she plans on living with us while working or finding a flat later on but at least she will be nearby whichever decision she makes.

On Sunday we all had to go to the baseball ground to mop up the rain - mop up is the right term since we used buckets and sponges!! When I arrived at 7.30 am and saw all the water, I thought it would take hours but with the amount of people there, we managed to get the ground cleared in just over 1.5 hrs. After that there was a tournament for the 2nd year team (4 matches) and nothing for the first year kids or mothers, so it was pretty boring. I was very tempted to go home but I knew that they were going to be handing out one set of uniforms plus the parents' t-shirts so had to stay. Keita's new number is 18 which he is happy about since it is the number for the Ace pitcher for professional baseballers! Another good piece of news is that the manufacturers that are making Keita's shoes have decided to make a second pair as a present to him so that at least cuts the price in half - whatever that price is going to be. When I got home, Setsuo had been the perfect housewife and had also cleared the roof verandah!

Since I thought I was going to be going to the airport this morning and didn't think I'd be back in time, I cancelled my adults 2pm class so I don't have lessons until 4.30 this afternoon.

This past week has been quite hectic but at the same time relaxing knowing that I didn't have classes. On both Saturday and Sunday there were two practice matches each day. Saturday's match was at the back of Kyoto which meant an early start, traffic jam, a mountain road and a lot of sick boys! One woman was unlucky in that her car was brand new and she had one of the car-sick kids in it! The two matches were with a very strong team and not surprisingly, Keita's team lost both matches. Sunday was better although another early start (6.30am) and they won the first match and drew the second which made it worthwhile. Since Keita's new shoes still haven't arrived (they are having to be made from scratch) he was allowed to play in his running shoes. At first I thought he wasn't going to be allowed to pitch (due to the lack of proper shoes) because he was in a different position for the first match but then he pitched in the second. Usually he is the starting pitcher but they kept him back because the second team they played against was the stronger team. Anyway it was 2 long days!!

On Monday the club had a BBQ for the new boys and parents which was quite good although the weather was pretty cold (and so was the food!) It seemed even colder since it had been red-hot the two previous days but it was nice not to have to get up early and also get home at a reasonable time. This coming Sunday is another early morning for both of us.

On Tuesday - my first day of not needing to do anything - I was bored!! I set out to go shopping but then met Keita's last coach who said the new 6th graders were about to have a match at the other end of Juso so I went and watched. I used to be frightened when the ball came towards me but after experiencing the new team, they were very tame in comparison!!

Yesterday I did the bank rounds and then took Aya to get her Int'l driving license. Because she (maybe) won't be here when it expires next February, they advised her to renew it at the same time. Good advice but they forgot to tell us that since she is a new driver, there would be a 2hr long video that she had to watch before getting it. It was a looong afternoon for me.

Now that the time for Aya to go to the UK is just around the corner, she is having doubts. I've said to just go thinking of it as a holiday and to decide once she gets there. I don't know for sure but I think there is a good chance that she'll be back. She has a lot of friends here and compared with the UK, there is so much more to do here. Job-wise, she could probably get a better job in the UK but life-wise, I think she would enjoy herself better here. Only she can decide though.