Final day of 30 day challenge

At the start of this month I set myself 4 goals. I think I have probably succeeded with two of them....
1. 1 blog entry every day - I did it and it was much easier than I thought. Hopefully I can keep up with more day to day happenings here from now on.
2. 30 minutes exercise every day - oops! Started very well, but things like strained calf muscles, lots of holidays for the kids etc. got in the way a little!
3. 30 minutes housework every day - nope! I tried, but there is just so much to do outside right now that the house gets neglected..... I did it on the first and last day of the month though!
4. 30 minutes of "me" time every day - probably the majority of days this was achieved - and the days when it wasn't were made up for by longer periods other days.

One thing I am very hopeless at is answering people's comments on my blogs. I read them avidly and reply in my head, but often never get around to answering on the blog itself. For this I apologise! Another reason is that I often forget when I comment on other people's blogs to actually go back and see if they have replied to my comment.... a pathetic excuse really! Anyway, as the final blog for this month here are a few answers to some of the questions and a few updates - I bet you can't even remember what you wrote! Of course there were many more.... maybe that should be my challenge for next month!

thefukases: The only reason I have strawberries to make jam at this time of the year is because I freeze them.... cheating perhaps, but easier than making 20kg or so of jam at one time!
I think we must have the same pants from uniqlo! I bought a few pairs out of excitement when I discovered them a few years ago.... I'll check out the other stores you mentioned too.

Mickey: I agree about the LLBean japan fit clothes. I don't buy clothes from them anymore because they started making all the sizes too small!

Solar Panel update: our last electricity bill came through and instead of paying for electricity we ended up getting paid 1,800 yen. It was a very sunny month! Vicky - I know that the direction of the house really makes a HUGE difference in the electricity you can produce, but I don't know how the snow would affect the panels. We get a couple of mild snowfalls a year, but probably not enough to cause any damage. It is amazing to see how quickly the electricity production reduces even when small clouds roll in, so I am guessing that if they are covered in snow they are not going to be producing much! In terms of payment for the panels - we are paying them off over 10 years at a fixed rate, but at this stage our previous electricity bills and the loan payments are about the same so in theory in 10 years the system should have paid for itself... in theory! I mentioned the vacuum cleaner before, but I have also discovered that the iron and the coffee maker also use about 2 times the entire houses' energy when they are on. Another reason not to do the ironing!

Masaki's arm update: seems to be okay - he uses it all the time and says it only slightly hurts... final x-ray tomorrow.

Fish eggs: never hatched making me think we either have all females or the males are not quite developed enough to be of any use yet.

The big flowers in the photo are called "yugao" 夕顔 in Japanese

My leg: I am walking on it, but still "pulls" a bit with each step. Feet up whenever I can!

Rice pudding: definitely best made from scratch, but when time is limited cooked rice works for me!

Spider: I swatted with the fly swat.... I have no idea what kind it is I just know it is big!

Sports Day: sorry for the confusion... yes it is 3 down in total with 5 more years to go! 8 in one year would be just a little too much for me!!!

Thank you to all those who commented over the last month - especially those who introduced themselves for the first time. I look forward to hearing from you AND replying to you all more regularly in October!