Gingerbread house

A few years ago I was asked to make a gingerbread house for the kids kindergarten and although it was satisfying, it was really fiddly and I got a bit frustrated with it half way through.  My gingerbread slabs weren't all exactly the same size so when I tried to put it together it was pretty lopsided and needed days to dry in order to be solid enough for it to be decorated and transported.

So, with that experience behind me I wasn't overly excited when my daughter saw a kitset for a gingerbread house in IKEA and looked at me with puppy-dog eyes as she asked if we could buy one and make it for Christmas.  Another reason is that usually "we" means "Mum" when it comes to these kind of things....   Anyway, I agreed and the three of us sat down just before Christmas to put it together and decorate it.  And guess what?  It was actually a pleasant experience!  Not only did the icing I made stick it together very fast (it was helpful that all the pieces were the correct sizes!), but both children sat together and designed it, then proceeded to do all the fiddly bits together - right until the whole thing was completed!  We even managed to make some snowmen out of candymelts that wouldn't melt properly.

My gingerbread house phobia is now over and I'm looking forward to finding another set in a shop again next year! 

Snuggling

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but our chickens aren't ones for privacy when they are laying.  They have a total of 6 nesting boxes to choose from, but most days I find about 80% of the eggs in one box.  It is not the same box every day... I'm guessing there is a leader who chooses the box for the day,  lays the first egg, then goes and tells everyone else which box they need to lay in if they want to be part of the in-crowd.  There are always a few rebels, and I think they are probably the ones who have to wait patiently behind while the boss eats the best leaves from the cabbages and weeds we feed them. 

Yesterday I went to check the eggs and found the above scene - 5 completely empty boxes and one box with 3 chickens and 9 eggs in it.  I have no idea how they manage to lay like this, but they do and somehow they never break any of the eggs in the process.  Perhaps I should observe them more closely and see if they get a few more chickens in there at one time so I can enter them into the Guinness book of records!

Cloth book number 2

I said in a previous post that we only sent two presents to New Zealand this year.  The second was a cloth book for my other niece.  Last year I attempted my first cloth book and I figured if I did basically the same thing again for my other niece then it wouldn't take so long and by the time my other sisters got around to having children I would be a pro!  The only problem is that I am not very good at doing the same thing twice, so I ended up using the same basic concept, but completely different designs for each page.  I started early this year though and really enjoyed fiddling away every now and then.  

Some features of this book are (just in case you haven't worked them out, Adele) .... finger puppets that can be removed and played with from the front page, a cob of corn that can be unzipped, Mario Bros. houses with friends inside, and a fashion conscious clown who can change his hat when he feels the need.

Now all I need is for someone to have a boy so I can try out some really boyish designs! 

A big thank you to Jacqui, who once again custom made a great bag to put it in.  She currently has a sale on for anyone who is interested in her great bags!

Piano concert 2013

It's that time of year again.... Emily had her piano concert on Sunday, so for anyone interested here is a video of her two songs. She also had to do all the announcements and introductions so by the time we got home after a celebratory dinner she was exhausted and slept till 10am today. Luckily it was a public holiday (again....). 

Comment question answers

As you have all been so good about commenting on my entries, I think it is only fair that I answer your questions too..... sorry, I am not good at answering in the comment section as I always forget to go back and check on the blogs I have commented on.....

Mum - Big K nudge - anytime after about June would be perfect!  Asparagus may or may not be able to be harvested in the first year.  I'm guessing I probably killed quite a lot of it by slicing it through with the spade....

Megan - I have no idea what the fancy electronic panel on the front of the new fridge does.  The delivery guy said that unless we live in Hokkaido or Okinawa we shouldn't touch it... so I haven't!

George and Erika - yes, the halloween picks are the Genki English pictures - I just laminated them, cut them out and stuck them on toothpicks - very easy!

Clare Maree - I just put all the little houses inside each other and then put them in a big box with some packaging.  I also included some hot-glue gun sticks to make repairs!  Pretty easy to put back together if they fall apart.

Heather - asparagus tips... don't let devil weeds become entwined in it!  Apart from that mulch, mulch and more mulch at the end of each season and it seems to do very well.  And no "fresh" manure - my in-laws lost a huge patch when they broke this rule as it burnt all the new shoots.

Katy - Emily and I ate the strawberry... it was enough for us both and probably would have made a decent pot of jam!

Dawn - surprisingly the strawberry had a lot of flavour.  I'm guessing it was two or three regular ones fused together....

I do realise that I am basically bribing you to comment on this blog in order to motivate me to keep writing, but I really have enjoyed the comments and communication that I have been receiving and I have been trying harder to write on other people's blogs in return..  Thank you! Here's hoping we can keep up both ends of the bargain!  Oh, and this entry is not part of the 3-comment rule.... look forward to some piano playing tomorrow!

Bartering

When we got our first chickens we had an agreement with the neighbours that the kids would take them eggs each week and they would give them 200 yen in return.  We put the money into a piggy bank and the kids learnt that a small amount of money turned into a large amount of money if you slowly added to it each week. 

New chickens meant new lessons to be learnt and this time we have an agreement with the neighbour that each week they will barter something that they have in excess for the eggs.  Every Saturday morning the kids deliver the eggs and come home with something different.  Rice crackers, apples, chocolate, bean rice, cookies, mandarins, jelly, popcorn, yoghurt and oreos have all featured in the past.  I have a feeling that they are not always things they have an "excess" of, but the kids always look forward to finding out what their eggs will be swapped for each week.

Today Masaki came home with a couple of packets of banana oreo cookies and the largest strawberry I have every seen - and considering how big the standard strawberries here are, that is really saying something!  I'm pretty sure it is a mutant, rather than a new breed of strawberry, but considering they grow square melons here it wouldn't actually surprise me if they were trying to grow flat strawberries the size of your hand in order to make them easier to package!  And just for reference, the hand in the photo is my husband's.... he is 6 foot 3 (190cm) and has hands to match!

Christmas Treats

Every year there are a few of my English classes that I feel the need to give a small gift to at Christmas time.  This year Christmas signalled the end of some of my classses and so I put in a little more effort than usual and played around with some different packaging etc.  I ended up making 3 different kinds of cookies and chocolate cupcakes to put in each pack. 

I always find it interesting and sometimes a little disheartening when I go to a lot of effort to make these kinds of things for children here.  The first time I usually get a big smile, sometimes a thank you (although often this has to be forced out of them) and often a comment from them the following week as to how it tasted.  The second time the smiles and thank yous diminish and comparisons are made with friends, complaints about why they got a green smartie, not a pink one, and the following week nothing is mentioned.  This was the third year in a row that I made things for one particular class and as predicted the gratitude diminished yet again, despite the extra effort that I had made.  I'm not sure if this is a universal thing, but the lack of gratitude sometimes really irks me.  I don't expect them to fall over backwards and proclaim me to be the best person in the whole wide world, but a simple thank you without having to ask for it would be nice.  Of course all my students aren't the same.  Some are extremely grateful and I will sometimes get a phone call from a parent or two, but in general these are in the minority.  I would be interested to hear from anyone who is not living in Japan as to whether this is becoming a world-wide phenomenon, or whether it is just limited to my tiny town.....
Fortunately for my students the lack of gratitude doesn't stop me making things though - probably because I have to test the food before I hand it out.  Wouldn't want them getting sick or anything!

Entwined with the devil

A bit of the present mixed in with the past....

The other day I decided to finally get around to putting up the net for the sweetpeas that are slowly growing all over the ground.  Unfortunately on my way to the sweetpeas I saw a blank patch of garden which looked like the perfect size for a new asparagus bed.  This lead me to haul some very large pieces of wood to the area to build up the sides, dig it all out, throw in lots of compost, manure and fertiliser and then fill it all in again.  That took two days to get finished.  

Yesterday I started to dig up all the old asparagus from our outside plot.  Unfortunately all my wonderful leaf litter from the mountains brought a horrible weed thing with it that has completely entwined itself in the asparagus roots and started to take over the patch.  This meant that I had to soak all the crowns that were dug up to remove all the dirt and try to remove all the devil weed before I replanted them in the new patch.  Unfortunately it was minus 2 degrees this morning and the water never really warmed up all day, so by the time I had washed them and pulled them apart my fingers felt like they were about to fall off.  And my arms felt like they were going to fall off from all the digging.  

After another day of work I think I have replanted the majority of the asparagus in what will hopefully be a weed-free bed.... although I'm guessing I have missed a couple of bits of the devil and the whole process will have to be repeated in a few years time.  Here's hoping when spring comes it will have all been worth it.  And here's hoping that I finally get around to putting up the sweetpea net before they all rot away on the ground!  I think I'll just have to put blinkers on the next time I venture that way......

Snug as a frog in a door

I don't know if the saying "snug as a bug in a rug" is a universal saying or just one that was used where I grew up, but I think it should be changed a little to fit the Japanese countryside.  My new version is "snug as a frog in a door".  As I have mentioned before we have lots of little green frogs that join us during the summer months, serenading us with their rather loud croaking and finding original places to hide to escape the heat and scare us to death every time they fall out from their unique hiding places.  This particular frog decided it liked the tiny gap between the screen doors and every time we flung open the doors it would hold on for its life and then just start croaking again.  I presume it eventually moved off to find a quieter place to hibernate as winter approached as I haven't found a mummified one in the door...... like the ones I find when I'm doing the spring cleaning which have been sandwiched in the slat windows over the winter!

Advent Calendar

I know I said I wouldn't write any more posts until I got 3 comments on the previous post and that there is only one comment on the previous post, but.... someone told me they tried to post a comment but couldn't for some reason and another person did post, only the topic was about how wonderful my blog was and how I should check out their blog about hemorrhoids.... so I guess in a way that makes three comments so I'm going to go back on my January first post deal, just this once.....  and get back to my catchup.

This year we only sent two presents to New Zealand - one for each of my small nieces.  I wanted to make an advent calendar for my oldest niece, but for some stupid reason felt the need to do something a little different than your standard hang on the wall pocket one.  In the end I adapted a cardboard house pattern that I found on this site: Cart Before the Horse and made (with the help of my children) 24 different houses of different sizes out of 48 different kinds of fabric.  The kids then made a town map for them to sit on and we wrapped small presents and stuck one inside each house to be opened on each day in the lead up to Christmas.  

After we had completed it I realised it wasn't exactly the most practical advent calendar for a toddler, or the most practical present to try and send overseas,  but it was fun to make and I really enjoyed being able to do it with the kids.  

A word of advice though... if you want to do something like this start it in October... not a week or so before it needs to be in the post!

Feijoa Harvest 2012

It is strange the way that some things we write on our blogs lead to connections with people we don't know in person.  Feijoas are one of those things for me and Jacqui.  I have never met Jacqui, but every year we have random conversations about trying to grow feijoas here and report on our annual successes.  This year my mother was here during the feijoa flowering season and I had the paint brushes ready to get her out there hand pollinating them to help pay her way.  Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and we had continual rain for basically the entire time of her visit.  I presumed this heavy rain would mean the feijoas wouldn't pollinate well, but we ended up with the best crop ever.  The basket above is the first day's harvest... yum!

For anyone on the other side of the world who is heading into feijoa season the two recipes I would HIGHLY recommend are: 

"The most orgasmic feijoa loaf ever": (the website I got it from seems to be expired..)
1 cup scooped out feijoas
1 cup boiling water
1 cup white sugar
50g butter
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 egg, beaten

Boil feijoas, butter, sugar and water for 5 minutes (I then mashed them).  Allow to cool.  Mix in the beaten egg.
Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl.  Fold feijoa mixture into dry ingredients.  Make sure not to over mix.  Pour into greased loaf pan.
Bake for 50 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.
Yum, yum, yum!

Vanilla Feijoa Compote (I didn't bother with the orange rind) - great of cereal or as a base for fruit crumble.

I also managed to harvest my first lot of ginger - it is great to have in the freezer... here's hoping it lasts us for the whole year.

Lazy Holidays

Today is the last day of the winter school holidays here.  I would have to say they have been the most relaxing and laziest holidays since the kids started school.  I managed to go for an entire week without getting in my car and the furthest I ventured was the 50m up the road to my in-laws for the odd spot of mochi-making or meals together.  For one week I didn't go into one shop.  I didn't teach one lesson of English.  I didn't even go and get my car washed before the temple bell rang in the New Year (I'm sure it will bring me 7 years of bad luck!).  I didn't turn into a hermit though - we actually had a lot of visitors over the holidays, but they were nice, relaxing visitors who always seemed to bring more food with them which would mean a trip to the shops could be postponed for yet another day.  

The last day of the holidays here is being celebrated with cinnamon rolls.  Masaki commented yesterday that I hadn't made them for a long time and that he really wanted to eat some, so we made them together and I wish I could send you a vile with the smell of them in it, rather than just the pictures.  Yum, yum, yum!  

I tend to make a lot of baking and bread things - often because I just can't buy the things I crave here in Japan, but also because I am getting more and more amazed at the number of things which are put into food and the amazingly long shelf life that they have.  My husband is also on a "Japanese margarine is the devil" spree at the moment and refuses to eat anything that has come within a mile of any margarine.  This basically cuts out any baked items in Japan as they all use margarine in preference to butter, I'm guessing because of the huge price difference.  I personally think that anything in small doses is not going to contribute to a major health decline and that worrying too much over things is more likely to cause health problems, but at the same time I would never use margarine to make cakes etc. here.  Butter is just so much better!  (I haven't been sponsored by the dairy board to say that....).

Unfortunately life goes back to "normal" from tomorrow.  It will be nice to have the house back to myself for a while and perhaps I will be able to keep the living room tidier for more than 5 minutes, but I will miss not having to do anything in particular and not having to go anywhere.  Here's hoping the car starts!

Tateishi Gaku

As this is the last year for my daughter at primary school each event is labelled "the last time".  She seems a little sad about this for many events, but very happy about this for others.  The traditional dancing that they have to do is one of the things that fits into the inbetween group.  For three years she has had to play the bamboo flute at festivals that she really has no idea about the meaning of. She has had to squash her feet into far too small sandals and has had to blow into the flute in the extreme heat of summer at the sports festival and the extreme cold of winter at the festival at the local shrine.  

But having said that she has actually enjoyed being part of something that has been an important part of the history of this area.  By the end she could basically get her kimono thingy on almost all by herself.  She became the leader of the flutes and in true Japanese tradition was responsible for teaching all the new flute players what to do (because the teachers change so often here it is important for the children to take the lead role in instructing as the teachers usually have no idea at all....).  She gained a lot of confidence and learnt a lot about how to teach and encourage others.  She finally began to understand a little more about the meaning behind the dance and its role in history. 

Her final performance was part of a festival at the local shrine here.  The atmosphere was far better than the bare school ground, but the 1km round trip walk that it involved in their outfits and her far too small shoes, while continually playing the flute, probably swayed the last time pendulum away from the "so sad it's over" side to the "not so sad to give it up" side. 
Now I just have two more years to complete with my son before I can start the "last time" counting!

Halloween 2012

As I think I have mentioned before, I am not a huge fan of Halloween.  It isn't really celebrated in New Zealand and here is seems to be a very commercialised event to sell more goods at the 100 yen shop.  I had hoped to pick up a simple costume for the English school party while I was in Tokyo, but I just couldn't see me in a skimpy maid's outfit or a big plastic poo, which seemed to be the two main options available.  So, I ended up making yet another last minute costume - the simple sheet ghost!  It was supposed to be a very friendly ghost, but for some reason the small kids were scared out of their skins - I wore it to a kindergarten the next day and it took 30 minutes for one of the boys to stop crying.... oops!  

It may have been my most successful costume yet as no one knew who I was, no one could see me having a nap or picking my nose and most of all it involved no face makeup that takes hours to get off! 

It's a small world

Although I love living in our very small community I sometimes question the effect it has on our kids.  The children's school currently has 47 pupils - which is considered big in this area.  Due to the small number of students it is pretty easy to be number one at things - especially sporting things.  My son is always number one in any running activities.  He often watches things like the Olympics on TV and tells us how he could beat most of the athletes.  He has no idea of what is involved in actually training and working hard to be number one at something.  He doesn't have to in our tiny school (where no one comes up any higher than his armpits...).  

In November he had the chance to race at a prefectural event.  He didn't train, but he managed to get 2nd in the 100m.  Of course he was in a bit of shock due to the fact that he thought he was the fastest person in Japan, but I was secretly very happy that he wasn't number one.  It showed him that in the real world you do actually have to work to do well.  Of course at the same time I was also very impressed.  Number two in all of Oita prefecture - to me that was quite an achievement.

What I found was most interesting was the reaction of the children at school the next day.  They all knew that he had participated and were excited to hear his results.  He told them quite proudly that he had got second and the look on their faces was priceless.  They were literally in shock and said they didn't think there was anyone who could possibly be faster than him.  They asked him if he had been injured.... The teachers were impressed, but all the kids saw it as a huge failure.  

I believe that succeeding at things is really important.  As we all know it gives you extra confidence and increases your self esteem.  But, I also believe that succeeding without having to actually work hard doesn't actually mean an awful lot.  I struggle a lot with this in our tiny town.  No one wants to push the kids to get out of their comfort zone and try something new.  No one wants to encourage kids to really push themselves, to let them fail and then get them to try again.  This is not just the case with sports, but with study too.  Everyone is given tests which they can usually get 100% in if they have studied even a little bit.  Everyone is very sheltered from real competition.  In many ways it is a great environment to grow up in.  Competition is often a very nasty thing.  But, what I worry about is what happens when this tiny world gets bigger and bigger as they grow up and join larger junior then senior high schools then move out into the "real" world.  My children have no concept of the real effort needed to be good at something as they have never been challenged to do so.  My daughter starts junior high school in April.  Everyone there seems to be ranked with regards to ability.  Here's hoping she copes okay with this new style of learning... otherwise the kind offers to look after her in New Zealand while she completes her education might be acted on sooner rather than later!

Wastefulness!

A couple of months ago my beloved blue fridge died.  We had bought it just after we got married so it was over 10 years old, but it was perfect.  It was the perfect colour, perfect size and in perfect (well almost!) condition.  It was fine one day and then it just stopped.  I cleaned it out in preparation for the repairman to come and change a little switch and make it all better.. but... apparently Japan does not design things to last.  Fridge parts are only manufactured for 9 years after the last of a given model is produced, meaning that all the repairman did was walk into the kitchen, look inside the door and say - sorry, you need to hold a funeral for your wonderful fridge.  I asked if he was even going to bother fiddling in the back or anything to check if something would work, but went into great detail about the fact that Japan is not like Europe where things are made to last or at least be repaired.  He was actually very nice and apologised profusely and told me that he would "cancel" the callout so we didn't end up paying him a single yen for driving one and a half hours one way to pronounce our fridge dead.

It took me a couple of days to completely give up on it, but the novelty of living out of chillybins wore off quickly and I went to find a new fridge which was as close to our old fridge as possible.  We have a cabinet which it fits into so the same size as last time was an essential feature.  The only problem is that since we bought our old fridge the design of fridges has changed and all fridges are now taller and slimmer to fit into kitchens better.  Unless you have a built-in cabinet where you can't actually go any taller.  

So we ended up having to get the only fridge that would fit.  It is smaller than the old one.  It is not blue.  I am not happy.  I hate the fact that there is so much waste in this country.  There are piles and piles of "broken" fridges, tvs, washing machines being shipped to other countries to be used as scrap, which could easily be repaired if they simply manufactured the parts a little longer.  I realise that this might not make the economy revolve as well as the electronic companies might like, but when you find something that suits you perfectly it would be nice to be able to keep it for more than 10 years.

Tokyo 2012

I'm guessing that my big catch up is going to be in a very random order and will probably have some current activities thrown into the mix.

The first photos I discovered on my camera were from a trip I took to Tokyo in October.  To be brutally honest, I hate Tokyo.  I don't understand why people want to visit there, let alone live there - I am a country bumpkin who prefers to hang out with wild boars and chickens than with wall to wall people!  That being said, this trip to Tokyo was worth the crowds as I got to meet up with my father and stepmother and celebrate all our birthdays together. 
The plan was very simple - we were flying into different airports so I booked the hotel and gave easy directions to get there - "simply go out the WEST exit and turn right. Walk a little bit down the road and you should then see the hotel on the left."  You know, the kind of directions that would work perfectly here (with the exception that any building landmarks would be replaced by rice paddies).  Unfortunately the station we were arriving at was Shinjuku station, which happens to be about the most confusing station in the entire world.  Yes, you can find the WEST exit.. but there are a zillion different WEST exits.... Of course if I had read the wikipedia information about the station before giving my simple instructions I might have thought twice!  

Anyway, I managed to find my way to the hotel by eventually finding an information center and the other two followed later with the help of an old man whose hobby is helping lost waifs and strays to find their way around the most confusing station in the world.  We then had 3 days of eating, talking, walking, trying to find socks, trying to find things to do, getting lost and getting found, getting on and off subways, going up and down lifts, visiting big temples and museums, and most importantly drinking coffee and catching up on things on the other side of the world. 

The big tourist attraction in Tokyo at the moment is the Sky Tree, a big tower that if you are lucky enough (or patient enough to stand in the lines long enough) you can climb for a huge price and see a great view over Tokyo.  Me, being the huge tourist that I am, couldn't quite justify it though and we opted for the Tokyo Metropolitan building view instead.  I think we waited about 2 minutes in the line and got panoramic views of the city from the height of 202 metres for free.  Great views at a great price.  

As expected the 3 days raced by a bit too fast and all of a sudden I was standing on the platform waving goodbye yet again.  Would I go to Tokyo again?  On my own for a "break" - NO.  To meet family - in a heart beat!

Here is a strange slideshow of a few of the highlights... sorry, I can't get the photobucket slideshow function to work and it is my first play with smilebox....

Customize your own free slideshow

Happy New Year!

I have a good friend called Mutsumi.  Every now and then we get together and she produces continual streams of amazing food while the two of us talk.. and talk... and talk...  The majority of our talk focuses around the huge changes we are going to make in our lives.  We are both at very different stages of our lives - she is now caring for her mother and grandchildren, while I am watching my own children slowly move through the school system and gain some of their own independence.  But, despite all our differences we both have some deep down desire to do "something" different with our lives.  Every time I leave her house I feel invigorated and ready to race out and conquer the world.  And then time passes and nothing changes. 

I came to Japan 16 years ago and am still asked by a lot of Japanese people "why did you come to Japan?"  I think they expect some deep philosophical answer about my love for Japanese culture, my desire to inspire Japanese children to be perfect English speakers, my secret love of Japanese animation and all things weird.  But the answer I always give them is "for the money".  And it is true.  I came here after graduating university for a break away from my life in New Zealand and to pay off my student loans.  I did that within two years, but by that stage I had already fallen in love with this country and didn't feel the need to move back to New Zealand.  Of course meeting my husband probably had a little to do with it too... but the area I was randomly placed in definitely helped a lot too.

We had a few "international" families here for Christmas and we were talking about what we would do if we won the lottery.  One of my friends commented that he wouldn't want to shift from where he is living now - just maybe get a holiday house somewhere warm.  I feel exactly the same way.  I love the place I live.  I love the people around me.  Deep down I love the frustrations of dealing with cultural clashes.  If I won the lottery I really don't think I would want to move at all.  But, I would want to change my lifestyle. 

I graduated university with a degree in physical education. Rather than the physical side of the study I loved the sports psychology, sociology and history side of it.  I liked trying to look into people's minds.  When I came to Japan I taught English at junior high schools and elementary schools.  The work was mind boggling boring, but I actually enjoyed it because the whole "Japan experience" was so new that any small thing made me excited to be here and I could ignore the boring lessons I was asked to participate in and the hours and hours and hours of getting paid to sit at my desk and read a book or study some Japanese.

After I got married I worked at several different places teaching English.  After our children were born I increased the number of kindergartens that I taught English at.  I made a few mistakes along the line regarding the volume I was teaching as well as the late hours I was teaching. The family and work balance was thrown out of kilter many times.  English teaching is pretty good money and relatively easy work when you get used to it.  There are times when I actually enjoy it.  But it is not what I want to do for the rest of my life.  Lately my heart has definitely not been in it...

The New Year cards have just arrived and again they are filled with messages of "I wish we could have met more in 2012, I hope we can meet more in 2013".  The cards I sent were full of exactly the same messages.  As I went to sleep last night I kept thinking about the fact that I am determined to make this a "doing year".  I have already made some positive steps towards this - I have given up some of my English teaching and will reduce the load even more from April.  I won't give it all up as I will need some extra money to help with my next venture - which WILL slowly start to take shape in 2013.  I keep telling my husband that free time is something that doesn't actually just appear all of a sudden - it is something that we have to actually make.  Until now I have had this feeling that something will happen which will indicate to me that it is time to make big changes, but I've realised (as I should have many, many years ago!) that is only me who can make those changes.  I can't wait till my sister comes to visit so she can help me, I can't wait for my husband to go and check all the legalities of what I want to do, I can't wait for me to win the lottery.  I just need to do it.  And this year I am going to.  Well I'm going to start anyway.  Of course I'll need to start with a visit to Mutsumi to give me another push, but I am going to!

In terms of this blog, I haven't touched it for 3 months.  It was a conscious decision and not just that I didn't make the time to do it.  But, I've missed it and I am now back!  Although there are some conditions.  As part of me being proactive I'm determined to catch up on the 3 months that I've missed, but how fast I do that is up to you.  I often chat with people and realise that they read this blog.  My family often makes a comment in passing, but there are many, many times when I write and write and write and get no feedback at all.  I'm not complaining - as I have written before I do not write this blog for you, I write it for me as a record of what is happening in our lives here and if you are interested enough to stop by then that is fantastic.  I read a lot of blogs and very rarely comment, so I am not exactly one to speak!  Anyway, my wonderful family, if you miss this blog as much as some of you say you do then... I will post as often as I can in January, February, March and for as long as I can providing I get 3 comments on each post.  They don't have to be deep comments.... just "hi Jo, love the handbag!" is fine.  I'm going to try and do the same with the blogs I read, without spending hours and hours on the computer - because my new life is based in the kitchen.  Which is where I am off to now for a cup of coffee!  

I hope to see you back here very soon.... in the meantime Happy New Year!