Top 10

Top 10 Reasons I'm Looking Forward to Going Home for the Holidays
(beside the obvious...spending time with loved ones, of course)

10 - Christmas is lonely when your hubby is deployed
9 - two words: real tree
8 - I need to test out the family's "Cat Whisperer" theory*
7 - It's been many moons since I've seen snow
6 - time to gorge on my mom's cookies
5 - meet the new baby in the "family"
4 - my MacBook is broken (already...) - I need an Apple Store ASAP.
3 - serious Uno playing with Papa
2 - Silver Maple Chinese food
1 - getting to use the porch as a second freezer - genius!

*When I was home last summer, the family cat, Bailey was having some issues with marking in the house. During my stay, he had very few "incidents," giving me the title "Cat Whisperer." We'll see what happens this time around.

Light Conspiracy

I was planning on sharing some holiday decoration photos tonight, but unfortunately it seems that the Christmas lights are out to get me.  I set up my classroom tree last weekend, only to find midweek that one of the light strings burned out - in the middle of the tree!  Of course, being the perfectionist that I am, I HAVE to fix it.  Add lights to the shopping list - check.

Which brings me to tonight.  Even though I won't be here Christmas day, I decided that I couldn't forgo having a beautiful tree set up in the living room.  So, I began to set up our lovely, prelit, and much to my chagrin, artificial tree, by flaring out all the branches, making sure there are no gaps, etc.  Then I plug in the tree and what do I find - a section of the lights are out.  "No problem," I think to myself.  I bought an extra set of light in case this happened this year.  As I was putting on the new string of lights, half of them suddenly go out on my new string.  Seriously?!  You've got to be kidding me.  I was so frustrated that I just stopped and now my tree is only partially set up.  Now I need to get more lights for both trees.  Grrr...

Thankfully, I can find solace and Christmas tree beauty in other places.  Our church always has beautiful trees set up in the sanctuary.  Last night at a women's event I got to sit right by them and enjoy their glow.  The pictures just don't do it justice!

For those of you artificial-tree-experts, I have a question for you: do I take off the old lights that don't work and are intricately wound around each branch?  It bugs me that they are on there and don't work, but at the same time, I can't imagine trying to take them off.  It's quandary, I tell you....

A Week's Worth

I've got some major blog catching up to do!  Last week started out so well - probably because my dearest sent me a dozen red roses to school.  Now, that's the way to start off the week!

Thanksgiving was spent with friends.  It was a delicious meal with everyone pitching in (I brought the cranberry relish - something I couldn't burn!).  Here are some of my closest girlfriends here in Oki: Tritia (top), Emily, Jennifer, me, and Laura (left to right)

The following morning started with a trip to CoCok's with friends.  My toes are the silver and white ones on the bottom.

Then off to the annual Thanksgiving Bazaar on Foster to stimulate the economy in time for Christmas.  It was fun to peruse through each table and display and still learn about this crazy culture that I have learned to feel comfortable living in.  I have always loved looking at the glass ball buoys that are found up north on mainland Japan (these were used long ago by fishermen), but I had never seen these cylindrical ones before.  Apparently, these were used in netting octopus.  Interesting....

Of course, I loved seeing all the various Shisa statues.

That night, a bunch of friends rented a room for karaoke.  As always, it was a blast.  Here we are getting down with the YMCA.  

But, some of my favorite moments of the week, especially on my days off, were spent cuddling with my two furkids and watching the turbulent ocean waves outside.

I have much to be thankful for. 

 And now, on to holiday decorating and crazy hours at work!

Fan Mail

I got a heartwarming letter today from one of my students. 

This makes it all worth it.

Random Updates

You would think that I was hosting Thanksgiving this year with all the grocery bags I had to carry into the apartment tonight.  Hmm, actually now that I'm looking at the photo it doesn't seem like that much, but it did take awhile for feeling to come back into my right arm. This year, I'm just responsible for the cranberry relish and rolls.  Half of the stuff I bought today is for cooking projects with the class. I'm already trying to stock up on Christmas supplies too, since that stuff always sells out fast.

Notice the little nosey Nellies checking out all the loot.

It's been a little hectic around here lately as I've been gearing up for the holidays at school.    At the end of the day, it's nice to come home, chill in my big armchair with my dogs and take a moment to rest...which usually ends up with me falling fast asleep in the chair.  Then I wake up at 2 am and realize I need to go to bed.  I blame the dogs for making these little rest sessions so warm and cozy.

Lots of people have inquired on how Noa is doing on his deployment.  He's doing quite well and we're past the halfway mark (woohoo!).  Since his patient load is lighter than over here, he's had time to exercise and participate in races, dabble in playing his guitar, go on a few trips out in town, watch movies, etc.  He even picked up some great clothes and jewelry at the local H&M for me: check out these beauties!

This past weekend I was able to squeeze in some fun time and go to the annual White Trash Party at Tom and Laura's place.  I didn't get a ton of photos since I arrived later, but someone got a shot of me talking with Joe.  Like the look?  Everyone said I looked like I was going to beat someone up with my "tough" sleeveless shirt.  I also had loads of eye make-up on, but the picture doesn't do it justice. 

Joe had already taken off his wig/hat ensemble (he kinda looked like a red-headed Joe Dirt).  

And now, I leave you with a little Engrish.  Have a lovely week!

Confession

I have a confession to make.  Some of you will not be happy when I tell you.  Please don't hate me.

I don't know if it's because I'm lonely or because Noa is away or if it's just because it gets dark earlier and earlier each day.  And, yes, I know it's habit-forming, but I think I can keep it under control.  So I do it when I'm alone.  So what?  That doesn't make it worse.  I'd do the same if I had a whole house full of people.  In fact, I would flaunt it - make them join in with me.  So hah - I'm not ashamed - I'm proud of my boldness.

And you know what I'm talking about.  That's right...I've started listening to Christmas music.  I can't help it.  I know that December will be here sooner than we are all ready for and I love Christmas music so much.  It's simply not fair that it's only "acceptable" to listen to it one month of the year.

Adorable Smell

I went out tonight to look for some curtain hooks and stumbled upon some Japanese ingenuity.   These "cards" are to be put in a special frame and put out on display like any other framed pic, except these give off a pleasing scent.  They are art air fresheners.  Apparently, a company called Kaoru Art creates these.  There were lots of designs to choose from - these especially caught my eye with their English randomness.

The bulldog: "I'm a bulldog.  Sleeping is my hobby.  For your information, I snore."

The pig: "I'm a pig.  Neat and methodical.  Don't think about eating me."

The rat: "I'm a rat.  Some people hate me but I love everyone."

The duck: "I'm a duck.  Walking with my tail feather shaking."

Sorry the pics are kinda blurry.  I didn't want to take them out of the packaging (they are scented after all).  I love how each animal has an introduction, as if I couldn't tell it was a picture of a pig.  Who would actually use these?  And who would ever consider these art?  Talk about kitsch.  Nonetheless, I had to buy some.

And no, I did not buy the corresponding frames.

Staplegun Fun

Since we've reached the halfway point (woohoo!) of Noa's deployment, I've decided to take a good look at some of the goals and projects I've planned while my better half is gone.  I have a bunch of "little projects" left to tackle, like making a beanbag cover for my classroom, hanging some pictures, going through boxes, etc.  So, I picked up one of those little projects this weekend and created this:

You may remember over the summer I visited Jess and helped her decorate parts of her house.  We found these matching bulletin boards and decided to make them into necklace boards using pins to hang the necklaces (see link above for pics).  Unfortunately, in the shipping process, my cork board got busted and the frame sustained a few dings.  So, I ripped off the cork, stapled on some screening (thank you 100 Yen store!), touched up the dings with a Sharpie and - voila! - my new earring screen.  Functional and decorative!

Freaky Friday

For our Kindergarten Storybook Parade, I threw together a costume at the last minute.  Since I couldn't find the book for my original idea, I decided to dress as the spider from Diary of a Spider.  Since the parade started about a half hour after school started, I began class with my costume on and accidently kept hitting things (and some kiddos) with my extra legs.  Whoops!  Good thing they were just stuffed socks!

Sadie and Gunnar reluctantly dressed up for a few minutes.  I actually picked up these cat costumes this summer with Traci.  Always a planner....

Happy Halloween!

Say Cheese!

One of the "perks" of being a teacher - at least in this district - is having a school photo taken every year. I really enjoy seeing the students' photos come in, but I still cringe, like I did in the "old" days, when I look at mine. Even though it's not horrible, I always see the flaws others don't. But, I guess that's the nature of the beast. So, without further ado - my 08-09 school year photo:

Hungry?

I found this photo from a blog I was reading and it really cracked me up.  Be watchful of furry thieves if you put your pumpkins outside this year!  Ha ha!

On a random note, I really miss squirrels.  I don't think we have squirrels out here.  But we do have a lot of bats.  Perfect at this time of year!

Little Rays of Sunshine

So it's been 2 weeks.

Two weeks since my last blog.

I've been dealing with stuff....mostly school, but other stuff too.

Thankfully, not everything is doom and gloom.  In between worries are little rays of sunshine - like going to dinner with friends or spending an afternoon with my loyal pups.

I came home the other day to find a rainbow right off my back porch (it's kind of faint in the picture, but it's there!).  What I want to know is where's my pot of gold?!?

Or today, when I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my thoughtful hubby.  Funny thing is, my substitute para (my para took the week off) also had flowers delivered today.  So, I took a picture of our beautiful bouquets.  Thanks, Babe!

31

Look who's celebrating a birthday today!

Happy Birthday, Noa!!

>

Saturday's Scene

Isn't funny how the weekend turns out? Sometimes I never know what one weekend will look like from the next. For instance, last Saturday I woke up to my 2 friendly dogs, this Saturday I woke up to 3 friendly dogs: Sadie, Gunnar, and Miko!  I'm dogsitting for Jen and Perry who are away for the weekend.  

After running my long list of errands, I headed over to Torii Beach for a birthday party for Emily and MaryAnn.  It was a perfect day for the beach.

Here are the birthday girls:

Some of my best gal pals in Oki:

Unfortunately, the day wasn't all sunshine and dog paws.  On the way home from the beach, a motorcyclist t-boned the Capa.  Anyone who has been to Okinawa knows the roads are frequented by motorcycles and scooters.  They have a whole different set of rules here for 2-wheeled vehicles and it can be challenging at first to be on the lookout for them.  Anyway, both the motorcycle's driver and me were fine, but the Capa has a small dent.  Thankfully, there were some very helpful folks who witnessed the whole thing and the military police were extremely helpful.

See the dent near the bottom?

Up close - ouch!

Why I Love & Hate 100 Yen Shops

We don't have Target, Gap, or Pottery Barn here for me to walk in to and "casually browse," then end up spending a couple hundred bucks I don't have (although there is online shopping....).  However, we do have the illustrious 100 Yen store.  There's one right around the corner from my apartment and all over the island.  They are similar to the Dollar Store in the U.S., but wwwwaaayyyy better.  

Let me illustrate.  Tomorrow, my class is going on a field trip to a Sweet Potato Farm.  The kiddos are going to dig the potatoes out of the ground and will need to bring their own garden shovels/spades.  I wanted to pick up some extras in case some kids show up without some so I drove over to the 100 Yen Shop to grab some.  Not only did I get 5 shovels for 5 bucks, but they are sturdy, metal shovels with spongy grips to keep those little hands callous free.

While picking these out, I realized that my porch plants are in dire need of some soil replenishing.   No problem - bags of soil were right around the corner.

And although I was so excited to find new dog dishes this summer for only $3.00 apiece, the dogs have decided they make better toys than dishes (I've been finding them under the bed).  So, I happened to grab these cuties for only $1.00 a piece, complete with paw prints.

So - you see what's happening here - I go in for one thing and come out with a bag full of items.  Thankfully, I am limited to whatever amount of Yen I have on me (they don't take credit/debit cards), so I can't buy out the whole place.  Additionally, not all items are 100 Yen.  I bought this tray for my classroom for around $2.00.

I also snagged this pretty wooden air freshener.  It smells like green apple.  I think I'll put it in my office at work.

Although the 100 Yen store carries many useful things, such as tools, city-ordained garbage bags (we have to use specific bags), office supplies (gotta love getting white-out for a buck), and dishes, there are plenty of odd items that make shopping in Japan all the more fun.  For instance, this.  I couldn't resist this little guy.  He now keeps my phone company.

The Sniffles

My nose is stuffy and runny at the same time.

I'm hungry, but I feel nauseous.

I've got that annoying cough that comes at just the wrong time.

Ugh.

I hate being sick.

What's in a Name?

I found this salad dressing quite funny.  I mean, it is Japanese salad dressing with the name Mrs. Natalie!  It kinda reminds me of Mrs. Butterworth's with the picture of the woman on the front.

Sneak Peek

Open house is this week and there's a lot to be done in the classroom.  These are just some of the things that have kept me busy at school lately...

Feeding our new class pets

Putting student work on display

Sorting, labeling, and putting books out in the Book Nook

Putting the class contract up for all to see

All Work...and Some Play

In case there is anyone still reading this blog....

I've become my own worst enemy with school starting back up again - I've become the epitome of a workaholic.  Moving from Kinser to Killin has not been easy and has kept me up at school late into the night trying to figure where to put stuff, how to organize with different furniture, and finding that perfect room arrangement.  Since my perfectionistic tendencies prevent me from showing the finished product of my new classroom (I'd like to show pictures that have student work displayed in the room), I can show you the mess that was my classroom about a week or so ago:

However, it hasn't been ALL work and no play.  I've been able to fit in a few fun things here and there.  Over Labor Day weekend, for instance, I went to Jason and Emily's place for a barbecue.  It was a fun evening with friends, kids, and dogs.

Meanwhile, Jackson enjoyed showing off his little sister Grace.  

In the few hours that I'm home, I make sure to take the dogs out for a lengthy romp around the neighborhood.  One night this sweet Shiba Inu followed us all the way back home.  I think he was hoping he'd become the 3rd member of our pack.  Unfortunately for him (and fortunately for Noa), I used great restraint in keeping our pack at a healthy 2.  However, I did make sure he got plenty of water before heading back to the seawall.

After learning how to jump start a car (thanks, Jay!), I got the "Turtle" back on the road again.  I love getting my car cleaned on base.  For only 13 bucks, the car is cleaned both inside and out.  Check out the operation they have going here.  I was in and out in 10 minutes!

Finally, I made it to Okinapa, the annual and very popular wine festival, this past weekend.  Thanks to some pressure from Tom and Jason, I decided to go in spite of my lack of sleep from the past week.  It was a good decision as I had a blast.  Good friends, good wine, good food....it doesn't get much better than that!