Last night (his birthday) Keita got his 2nd glove this month so he's a very happy boy. I didn't realise that this one was also going to have his name on it as well but since the Mizuno one has it written in Roman letters, it's good that the ZETT one is in Kanji. The true colour of the Mizuno one is the one where Keita is holding it (for some reason the other one looks brown).

On Saturday Aya and I went shopping for something for Keita's birthday. He's already had part of it - 2 prs of leather gloves and also a pitching practice net thing - and the only things we could come up with was even more bb related things - undershirts, socks and pants!! Hopefully Lisa is going to think of something a bit more exciting for him.

It was nice to be with Aya though and after going to the sports shop, we went on to Costco and as always, I managed to spend over 10,000 yen on things that I didn't really need but since it was unusually quiet for a Saturday, it was quite pleasant. Because of the space and high ceilings, I usually come away feeling relaxed (until I have to cart it all up 3 flights of stairs that is).

Edited to add what I can remember buying at Costco

One tray of muffins - I freeze them
One tray of muffin-type cakes - freeze
4 packets of hot dog rolls - freeze
1 big pack of pork mince - freeze
large pack of thinly sliced belly pork (we were having okonomiyaki that night) - half frozen
20 eggs
4L milk
sun dried tomatoes
prawns in a basil dressing
2 big pizzas (I'm having a get-together with about 15+ people at the end of the month)
cream cheese
cream cheese and dipping biscuits
pack of cheddar

- that's the majority of it but there may be something I've missed out.

Ironically, after I'd brought the sun-dried tomatoes home, a box full of ripe tomatoes arrived from Setsuo's aunt so although I really want to eat the sun-dried ones, I'll have to wait until we make inroads on the fresh ones.

Last night was another night on the town, this time with 3 (different from usual) mothers from Keita's last BB team. It was a good night out as usual but that's got to be the last of over-drinking for a while!

Lately I've been getting lazier and lazier and really only doing the basics so today I decided to make a list of things I need to do daily and then another one for things to be done weekly. I always do everything on the lists anyway but just not often enough so hopefully it will give me the impetus to get moving and maybe lose a few pounds too (one way would be to cut down on the beer but since summer is just around the corner, that looks unlikely!) Wonder how long my good intentions are going to last....

Last week when I was having a coffee, there was an advert for a steam cleaner on TV and although I'm not usually tempted, this looked like it would be ideal for the staircases as well as inside the house. When it arrived a few days ago, I tried it out inside the house and it cleaned well but was only slightly less effort than the mop I usually use (it needs to be plugged it whereas the mop obviously doesn't!). This morning I decided to get started on my list and try it out on the staircases and there it was great - a lot less effort that having to scrub the floors and then mop up. It hasn't taken off all the dirt - we'll get the cleaners in one last time and then should be able to keep ahead of it from there. With all the students, the dogs and Keita trailing half the bb pitch home with him, the staircases start to get pretty grotty and that is one area where I need to do more than I've been doing. Right now, from the entrance hall right up to the 3rd floor looks good but I just couldn't face doing the final 2 lots of stairs and 2 landings - the'll have to wait until tomorrow.

Well Lisa has a new boyfriend! She met him when they both went to the same company during their 'looking for a job' campaign.
They got speaking and obviously clicked. Lisa must have mentioned Keita and then he'd told his father who's a baseball coach in Kyoto and it turns out that the father had been to one of Keita's matches a couple of days before!

Anyway, they have been out a couple of times with friends and then on Tuesday they went to Universal Studios together on a proper 'date'. I got to meet him since he came to collect her by car and he was quite chatty - very unusual for new boyfriends but then again it's also unusual for the parents to meet girl/boyfriends unless it's serious. For a change, he's quite good looking!! Wonder how long this one is going to last!!!

Oh and Keita's glove arrived last night - you can imagine his face when he opened the box! We were going to keep it until next Tuesday - his birthday - but decided to give it to him last night. He is one happy boy but now has a dilemma - he has this new glove and will soon get one from the Company that makes his shoes and he doesn't know which one he should use without hurting anyone's feelings.

I had quite a leisurely weekend for a change. Nothing on Saturday with the added bonus that everyone else was out of the house and then on Sunday, although it was an early start for Keita, I didn't need to be out of the house until 11 am so got a few extra hours in bed. After we got back from BB, Kana agreed (surprisingly) to go out for dinner too so there wasn't even any cooking! We only went to a family restaurant but it was nice all the same although I'd forgotten that Keita had been up since 5am so he was completely done in by the time we got home - 10pm.

Lisa has been away overnight to some hot springs with 3 of her friends but will be back tonight. For being a student, she manages to have more holidays than any of the rest of us put together.

As always, my photos are coming out in the wrong order but these are from Kana's birthday last week. Aya wasn't feeling well and didn't think she would make it but rallied round at the last minute.


Birthday cake


A snoring pig from Keita


Something from Lisa - can't remember what it was but Kana seems happy with it!


Hand rolled sushi for dinner

Next it was our 25th Wedding Anniversary a couple of days early (actual date is in May but since the wedding ceremony wasn't until June 3rd, that's when we celebrate it). Aya and Lisa cooked dinner for us and there was a big bouquet of flowers from M & D and also a picture from the kids.






Finally a couple of Keita that were taken a couple of weeks ago by one of the BB fathers. Both were 'posed' photos but look more like him since most of the ones I have of him in action look like he's grimacing!




I got a phone call from Mizuno the other day to say that the glove Keita is having order made will be ready around the 11th June so it's going to be ready in time for his birthday. He is really excited about it and loved being able to pick all the details himself. He picked a rose brown leather which is a new colour that's not yet in the catalogue. I'll take a photo of it once it arrives.

I reckon I need to check what I've previously written before adding to the blog since the last two entries were almost the same!

Because of the holiday, I managed to go out twice - once with a teacher friend and the other with 4 of the BB mothers. Both were very different nights but both enjoyable.

On the first night out, there were only the two of us so we managed to have a good catch up - I hadn't seen L since last November - and the restaurant we went to was quite posh with lovely food but of course plenty of beer too! I'm glad it was with L because she eats/drinks as much as I do so I came away totally satisfied on all counts! With one thing or another, I never seem to have time to catch up with friends so must make more of an effort.

A couple of nights later it was a much rowdier time with even more drinks consumed! We did order quite a lot of food but I think with the amount of alcohol, we should have had more to eat. The result was 4 rather drunk mothers. I had intended taking a taxi home as I was the only one coming back in this direction but ended up walking the whole way - 40 minutes - which paid off since I worked off the 'what would have been' hangover. I also stopped part way twice, first to go into McDonalds to pee and then next to buy some bread which I ate on the way home.

Now it's back to work with no more holidays (apart from Sat/Sun) until August.