I can't believe we're a third of the way into September already. The cool mornings and nights are a welcome change but it's seems to have arrived much too early this year. Probably because the kids are all older so summer holidays are no longer a challenge plus having a week lopped off the end because of the flu scare in June(?) made summer just whizz by.

This week I've been trying to get myself a bit more organized because my Mum is going to arrive for a holiday tomorrow but with Keita and Setsuo both being ill, not a lot has happened. (Keita is now over the flu and went back to school today and poor Setsuo is still suffering from stomach pains. He's been to so many doctors but they've finally booked him to have a gastroscopy (camera) on Saturday so hopefully they'll find out what is causing all the pain). Luckily I don't have classes tonight so it'll be a mad clean up all round!

Kana needs to get one of her applications for Uni in the post by today and one of the forms has been going back and forth between her and her teacher - he wouldn't okay it until she'd written it to his satisfaction - I got a phone call at 2pm to say that it's finally finished but because I have classes from 3.30 and her school can take up to an hour to get there, Setsuo has had to go and get it to post it off. Hopefully it's going to be a lot less eventful than it was with Lisa's application - again, Lisa had left it to the last minute and on the way to the PO, Setsuo got knocked off his bicycle in a 'hit and run' accident and ended up in hospital for over a month. Same Uni, same course, same deadline but hopefully a different outcome for Setsuo at least!

Edited - the application got posted off okay and Setsuo also made it home without any mishaps this time!

The day before school started I took Keita to Mizuno to buy him some shoes (nowhere else I knew was likely to have his size) and because I knew there was a machine to measure your feet on the 4F (baseball) I asked if they'd do it first. Turns out they have an even better machine on the 1F so after getting all measured, the girl said he needed at least a 30.5. Because Mizuno doesn't do half sizes, she brought out a pair of 30 and 32 cm - no 31 in stock. Needless to say the 30 was too small but the 32 fit fine. The pair he tried on was the only pair in the shop and because it's such a hassle to find shoes, I decided to order another pair too - there was only that particular style and colour so he now has two pairs the exact same - good if he wears out one of a pair I suppose!

Here's a picture of one of them next to a 2L bottle!



After that we went upstairs and asked about 'up-shoes' thinking they would have to be order made. We struck lucky because not only do they make them in his size, they had a pair in the store room that had been there since the last sale and were 50% off!

Now the only snag is that he should wear white based shoes for school and although they do have white on them, they are mostly red! If the teacher says anything I'm going to tell them to find a white pair in his size!

Here's another photo of the dogs snuggled up next to each other!



All of the above was written a few days ago but left until I had the photo to add.

On Saturday Keita came home with a high temperature and since the boys who sit behind and in front of him have had the flu, we took him to the doctors and it turns out that he also has it (probably most of the team will catch it too because they all use the same cups during practice). The temperature only lasted 2 days though and both yesterday and today he's been fine (and totally bored) and wants to go back to school. We'll see how he is tomorrow and then probably he can go back on Thursday if his class isn't cancelled. One 2nd year class and one 1st year class have been cancelled because of the number of kids off sick but so far, his is okay.

Yesterday afternoon Keita asked if some of his friends could stay overnight so I said yes before asking how many - turns out there were 7 of them! Luckily they all ate dinner at home first and also brought their own pillow and blanket so I only had rustle up 7 futons for them to sleep on. Apart from the normal rowdiness that you'd expect from 14 yo boys, they are all good kids and Keita has so little time to do sleepovers so I don't mind. Since I knew the amount of bread we had was never going to be enough for breakfast, after dinner I went shopping to the supermarket that just happens to be next door to my friend's restaurant. Since there were only another 2 customers in, I decided to go and keep them company and of course have a couple of beers while we were chatting! I ended up coming home after 10.30 so just as well all the kids are of an age that they can look after themselves! Actually they always sleep in the classroom so I never see them until morning anyway. This morning saw me making 12 hotdogs, 12 hotdog rolls with ham and egg and I also took down oranges and 2 family packs of sweet breads and all that was left was one orange segment - thank god I don't have 8 boys to feed every day! It's so funny to see their sleeping arrangements - the classroom is huge - about 45 tatami mat size - but they always have their futuns really close to each other in one corner and end up in a tangled mess!

Last week Setsuo was complaining of a pains in his back and stomach (high up) so after a lot of nagging agreed to go to the doctors, albeit one for muscular pains. He was okay for a few days and then again this morning woke me to say he'd been up half the night with the same pain. Around 7.45 after throwing up, he asked me to phone the hospital to see if they'd see him and although it did take a while to get transferred and then explain everything, by the time I'd talked to the nurse he was nowhere in sight (the nurse wanted me to ask him if he thought he could wait until 8.30 or needed to go in right away). He was already in the car and ready to drive off and wouldn't wait until I'd taken the phone back upstairs and grabbed a bag. I was so pissed off with him I decided if he felt fit enough to drive, he was fit enough to go by himself so came upstairs and after ranting a bit, decided if there really was something wrong I should be there. So, albeit still fuming, off I went in my car. He had a load of tests done and they put him on a drip so rather than just hang around, I decided I might as well drive HIS car home and then come back again and take him home in MY car. By the time I got back again, he was finished. All the tests came back OK and the doctor said they didn't know what was wrong with him. It was almost a replay of what happened a couple of years ago at New Year - including the fact that he was adamant he was driving himself then too (in the end Aya drove). He can be so childishly stubborn and although I'm sure the pain was genuine, can't see how waiting another 2 or 3 minutes would have been such a hardship. Right now he's upstairs in bed and I've come downstairs to cool off. It didn't help my mood that I'd phoned my adult class students to cancel their lesson because I didn't know if I'd be back or not and didn't want to have to cancel at the last minute - normally I would be quite happy to have an unexpected 'holiday' but just feel more pissed at him because of it (my turn to be childish I know!) Oh to be single!

Last week's work went by surprisingly quick and was actually less tiring working than it was being 'on holiday'!

Yesterday Keita had to be at the BB ground by 6.15 which meant me getting up at 4.30 but as it was the last match for the 3rd year boys I reckoned the mothers might want to be on their own so went back to bed around 6am and read, slept, read, slept until about 11am. It was so nice to have the day completely free of obligations. At night I was in two minds whether to go walking or not (I'd already had a beer!) but decided at the last minute to go. There was only the two of us and K had also had a beer too so we set off wearily thinking there was no way we'd do it in an hour but lo and behold we managed it in 55 minutes (our record is 50). Today when I weighed myself, I'm back to -2.2kg again so tonight, walking I will go!

This morning I didn't need to be up until 7am and only need to go for the meeting at 3pm - wonder how many feathers are going to be ruffled - so it's another relatively relaxing day especially since everyone is out of the house at the moment!

Poor Kana is still having to go to school every day although seems a bit more relaxed lately. She is thinking about going to the same Uni as Lisa but isn't confident that she'll pass the test. Talking of Lisa, she hasn't been home for over a week and doesn't plan on coming back until next weekend so wonder what she's up to. Usually when she stays away for so long, there's a boy in the picture and I've a feeling it may not be the boyfriend she brought to the firework display!! Aya and Daisuke were here the other night to bring souvenirs from Hiroshima - they'd gone for a couple of days - so it was nice to see them. I've a feeling they are thinking more seriously about getting married although Aya still blows hot and cold so we'll have to wait and see.

Suppose I'd better go and hang out the (3rd lot of) washing and then rustle up something to eat before heading out to BB.

Over the past month we've had pressure to decide on a new captain for the team - which was easy as all the boys were more or less in agreement that it be Riku - and also a new Kaicho (head father) and fujin bucho (head mother). The choice for father is usually made by the fathers and Riku's dad was the choice but he didn't want to do it so over the past few weeks there's been quite a lot of animosity and cliques forming. In the end we had another meeting on Sunday and although he finally agreed to do it, he let it be known that he wasn't doing it willingly (and it was quite an eye-opener to see not only that side of him but also a different side of Riku's mum too). The Kaicho usually picks out someone he thinks he can work well with to be the head mother and Riku's father gave 3 names and said they could decide between themselves. One of the names was a mother who had already offered to be the fujin bucho so that was easy but the other two have now become her deputies. Both of them are okay on their own but I've a feeling it isn't going to work well with both of them. They are both friends and are usually the ones that end up causing a lot of friction when they are together. I hope I'm wrong but even if not, I'll just keep out of any arguments that happen. I never thought baseball could cause so many headaches!

I've been out walking for the past couple of nights and when I weighed myself today, it looks like I've put on about 400g over the past week which isn't really surprising since the whole diet, no-beer policy went out the window (plus I had a beer on Mon and two last night!) Still at least 5.5kg to go.......

I'm back!

Although I had no English classes, I had BB for 4 days straight so can't really say I had much rest and relaxation but it was nice to have no time schedules on the days I was free. The week went by much too quickly though and since everyone had different timetables, we did absolutely nothing together as a family. It's times like this that I wish the kids were all small again (even though I spent those years hoping they would grow up!)

I'm envious of everyone who is going/has been back to their own country and wish I could just hop on a plane too but it definitely won't happen this year and probably not next either but at least it's something to look forward to.

While I was on holiday the diet (read no beer policy) and walking got pushed to the side but I'm starting up again tonight - just hope it cools down by then.