L gets a haircut

After my post a few days ago, I finally gave in to L's demands and cut her hair.  I almost cried doing it, but it's done.  She's cute, and it will grow back, and she loves it.  What more could you want, right?

Before (with her Great Obaasan in Japan) (3-11-2012)

After, front view (3-30-2012)

After, side view (3-30-2012)

Posing with E (3-30-2012)

Little things...

Yesterday was a bad day in general for me.  My girls were a pain, there were a million things to do (my fault, really), and I felt like no one really cared about anything or any effort I made for anything.  Frustrating.  When I went to work in the evening, I had to go get some copies in the faculty resource center and check my mailbox.  Of course the secretary in the FRC had screwed up my copy request, so I had to do it again.  Typical, based on my day.  Then, in my mailbox, I found the evaluations for my course I taught last fall.  I didn't look at them until after my class was over, but when I did, they just made my day.

I had 15 students do the evaluation last semester.  All of them either strongly agreed or agreed with the following statements (note:  they could also have selected disagree or strongly disagree):

1.  I feel that I am performing up to my potential in this course.
2.  I had a strong desire to take this course.
3.  I would recommend this course to others.
4.  I would recommend this instructor to others.
5.  The instructor motivates me to do my best.
6.  The objectives of this course were clearly explained.
7.  Work requirements and grading were clear.
8.  The instructor uses course time well.
9.  The instructor gives clear explanations.
10.  The instructor makes good use of examples and illustrations.
11.  The instructor appears to have a thorough knowledge of the subject.
12.  The instructor is accessible to help students.
13.  The instructor makes it easy to get help.
14.  The instructor creates an environment comfortable for student interaction.
15.  I had adequate time to practice during class.  (my question)
16.  I am interested in continuing to the next level of this course.  (my question)

Awesome!  Then I flipped through the actual evaluations and read the comments portion.  There were only a few comments, but they made me almost teary eyed.  I really needed to see these:

She is the most amazing, helpful, and patient teacher i have ever met or had in my life

Class is very enjoyable.  I feel that with [KKJW]'s encouragement and instruction I can do better and better.

Awesome teacher.  Hope she teaches me more in the future.

I wish I could rock the piano like [KKJW], and hope to continue learning.

Then, I got a burrito from Chipotle for dinner, which made my evening great.  THEN I got some amazing news that made my evening absolutely fantastic!  I need to stop being so bitter about people walking all over me (or ignoring me in general) and focus on these little things that make me happy.  Easier said than done!  

excellent (bad mood post)

It's great to know that when I need an opinion, I don't get any.  When I don't need one, I get a million.  Thanks, really.  On top of everything else this morning, getting no opinions whatsoever makes me feel like a million bucks.

A hairy dilemma

L has beautiful shoulder-length hair.  I love being able to brush it and put it up for her every day.  It's got a bit of curl to it (a curse from both Mommy and Daddy), so it's super cute in the back. 

She HATES it.  She has told me everyday since we came back from Japan "I want my hair short, like Daddy and Grandpa and Ng-Ng.  I don't like long hair, I want short!"  Every time she says it it kills me on the inside.  It's so pretty!  It's so gorgeous!  You can do so much with it!  WHY would you ever want to cut it???  Didn't you want to have Rapunzel hair?!???!!!!

When I was a kid, I wasn't allowed to have long hair.  Too much upkeep, I suppose, for my mom.  I finally put my foot down when I was 7 and was allowed to keep my hair a bit longer (shoulder length), but it still wasn't hugely long.  I have long hair now, and while I've had both short and long throughout my life, I love having long hair.  My husband would rather cut it all off, but that's another story. 

So, what would you do as a parent?  Would you consider this a phase and just ignore it for awhile, or would you get it cut?  I realize hair grows back but I can't bear the thought of her wandering around with a haircut that looks like my husband's or even a bob.  ACK!  What do I do?!??

Play, bump, scream, cry, and gushing blood

Yes, the subject line is a little odd, but consider that all those things happened to us last night within two minutes.  Let me explain:

The husband was trying to make E stop crying, as she was in one of her I-want-Mama-only moods but I was doing other stuff.  So, he started playing the backward game with her like he often does.  In this game, he holds her upright in his arms and then releases her so she falls over backwards (in his arms).  She loves it, and it was calming her screams and cries.  L spied the game going on and asked her daddy if she could play too.  He said okay, sure, but he didn't expect her to come running immediately.  She ran straight into her little sister coming upward with Daddy.  Cue me, cleaning the kitchen, and suddenly there are two little girls screaming and crying at the top of their lungs with Daddy cursing and panicking.  Wtf just happened?!??  My husband yelled at me "TAKE ONE OF THEM!," so I took L since she was closer to me.  She was screaming, crying, and I finally got out of her that her nose hurt really bad.  Okay, I can handle this - I went to the freezer with her and got out both boo-boo items we have for bumps in the freezer.  I used one for L and handed the other to my husband for E.  Apparently, when he was bringing E up, he smashed her forehead really hard into L's nose.  Ouch.  Total accident, but we still had to deal with the girls and their pain/injuries.

And that's when the blood started gushing.

I had put L on my lap on the couch and was helping her hold the boo-boo freezer pack against her nose.  All of a sudden, there was blood gushing out her nose, over the freezer pack, and onto her shirt.  I'm sure it wasn't a huge amount or anything, but I just thought "oh SHIT."  However, not wanting her to panic since she was wiping at it and asking me "what is it, Mama!??", I asked my husband for paper towels and took it from there.  We wiped up her face and hands, stuck some paper towel bits in her nose to stop the bleeding, and gave her some big hugs and soothing words.  My husband took E upstairs so she could calm down on her own (two kids screaming and crying just feed off each other) and that helped get it quiet again in the house.  As of this morning, L looks like she has a slight bruise around her nose (but no more bleeding), and E has a bruise on her forehead.  If that's the worst of it, I'm okay with that.

Now I just have a blood-stained shirt to clean up.  Good thing I've got Shaklee laundry detergent - that stuff is amazing at getting stains out!  I just hope the husband isn't still feeling guilty about it all - it really was an accident and both girls are fine.  Poor guy, he was totally frazzled.  C'est la vie when it comes to kids, I guess!

Concert is DONE!

Today was the performance that I've been working toward.  Thank goodness I only had one piece to do, and my part wasn't that hugely heard.  The recital started at 3pm, but I was there at 1:30 to rehearse.  Finally met the fourth pianist (and met him directly for the first time), and rehearsal was so-so.  Then, I couched out in the adjunct faculty office with my Nintendo DS.  HA!  One of the other faculty members saw me, shook his head, and said "I forget sometimes that you're a part of that generation."  It made me laugh.  Found my FIL and MIL at about 2:40 wandering around outside and talked to them, and then went to pop in to the first portion of the recital.  The volunteer at the door asked me for my ticket.  "I'm performing on this recital, I just want to sit inside for the first portion."  She said she didn't think that would work, would I please go get a ticket at the ticket office?  I was a little floored - I'm playing in the recital, and my freaking picture is in the program, and you still won't let me in without a ticket?!??  Are you KIDDING me lady????????.  Pissed off, I went to the ticket window and asked the lady there if I needed a ticket since I was playing.  She looked at me like I was an idiot and said "of course not!"  That's what I thought.  So, back to the volunteer.

Me:  Hi.  I don't need a ticket.
Her:  Oh, she said that?
Me:  Of course she did, I'm playing on this recital!
Her:  Wait, you're playing on this recital?!??
Me:  That's what I told you!!!!
Her:  Well, of course you can go in, I thought you were a student trying to get in for free.
Me:  Next time, please listen to what someone says when they explain why they don't have a ticket.  It might be someone performing, like me.
Her:  ...what?
Me:  *facepalm*

Luckily, she let me in.  I sat with my FIL and MIL through the first piece (a Mozart sonata for four hands) that ran 25 minutes.  Ugh.  I exited as soon as it was over since I was expecting my husband and girls to show up about then.  It's a good thing I did too, as he was going to bring the girls in at that time.  Instead, we went outside and let the girls run around for awhile to burn off energy (and wait for a more appropriate time to enter with them).  Husband didn't end up going in with the girls until the next to last piece (I played the last one), and then it was our turn to play.  Four pianists, three of whom are used to being the star soloist of the show, trying to play a piece meant for coordination amongst all the players?  LOUD and just...off.  At least the audience didn't notice.  Everyone else was trying to be louder than the other (instead of blending!), our tempo was all over the place, and it got so quick at the end that I ended up playing with just my left hand to keep my main portion going.  Eek!  The audience, however, seemed to love the concert and not notice any problems.  Yay!  Pictures afterwards, collect family, thank people for coming (including the girls' pediatrician, who takes lessons from one of the other faculty members!), and off to home we went.

I think the cutest thing I was told about the concert was when I came out with everyone else to play the last piece.  E was sitting on Daddy's lap and apparently started chanting "Mama!  Mama!  Mama!" when she saw me, and continued to do so while I was playing.  Daddy had to hand E off to Grandpa so he could find a pacifier to stick in her mouth, and even then she only sucked on it for a bit, pulled it out, and started saying "Mama!  Mama!  Mama!" all over again.  Such a cute thing - I wish I had heard her!

Here we all are, after the concert (and doing various things)! (3-25-2012)

Unappreciated? Well, okay then...

I do the newsletter for our local music teachers association.  It's a volunteer position that I have held for almost two years and will be done with in June.  Thank GOODNESS, because I'm plain sick of it.  I email all the membership multiple times during a month telling them when the deadline is for submitting things to me and 90% of the stuff submitted to me is after that deadline.  Then, I only get about two things to put in.  I've specifically said if you don't submit stuff about your event to me, I won't put it in.  Period.  Then, after I put out the newsletter, I get reamed by various people for not including their events.  Worse, after emailing it to everyone and mailing it to those without email, 90% of people don't actually read it.  I get harsh words regarding content, formatting, when I actually put it out, etc., even from the board members who are supposed to be helping me edit it prior to publication.  I'm just plain sick of it.  I've had it.  The deadline for submitting stuff for April was this past Thursday, and I haven't bothered doing anything with it all weekend.  Why?  Because it makes me angry when I work on it.  Angry that I took the position in the first place that everyone says is important but in reality isn't.  Angry that no one seems to appreciate the time and effort I put into it to try to make it nice.  Angry that people can't get their act together to do things in a timely manner to help me make it good.  Angry most of all that no one has bothered to help me with it in two years and no one has responded to any emails, phone calls, or postings I've made regarding finding a replacement.  FINE, then.  When my time is up, I am taking all my materials over to the president's house and she can deal with it from there.  I'm done with it.  I'll do the evaluations (because I have help and people actually care there), but that's it.  Thanks for nothing, local association, because your lazy incompetence at doing anything regarding the newsletter has contributed to my jaded view of it and you in general.

Farmer's Market

We went to the OV farmer's market this morning, on the recommendation of my FIL and someone he knows.  It was fun!  All the different vendors, the guy singing with his guitar, all the dogs being walked, and the crepe vendor all made it worthwhile.  We even ran into some of my FIL and MIL's church friends, and one of my piano students and his dad.  L tried playing with my piano student (he's 12) and loved being around him, to the point that she was clinging to his waist when he went to leave and cried her eyes out upon his departure.  Poor child, lol!  E was just happy to have all the food and attention from her Grandpa.  She can now say "bam-pah," which is L's word for "Grandpa," much to my FIL's excitement.  E is definitely a Grandpa's girl.  I think we may have to go back again some time for crepes, the baked goods I saw, and maybe some of the canned goodies there.  The weather was perfect too (not too hot but not chilly either).  Great morning!

Running, again

The last time I ran was February 29th.  My first run in three weeks was March 21st (Wednesday), and then I ran again today.  BOY have I missed it.  Yes, I'm tired, and yes, I'm more sore than I remember, but it felt so freaking good!  I did 2.5 miles with the girls on Wednesday and ~5 miles today by myself.  I love getting out there and watching the scenery go by.  It's also fun to see how it changes, the people that are out at the insanely early hour I run at, and watch the sky get lighter and lighter.  I actually did my entire 5-mile run this morning between first light and the sun coming up.  Wahoo!  I signed up for a 5K on the 1st to motivate myself a little more, though I don't expect to do super well in the 5K.  However, it will be fun, and there is a kids' race for the girls to participate in. 

So glad being busy and traveling is over and now I can RUN!

Japan trip - post-trip notes

I really just wanted to post this information for my memories later on.  Some of these things I know I'll forget in the future otherwise!

1.  When we were on our flight from Tokyo to LA, the pilot came back to say hello to all the children.  Being Japanese, his English was a bit limited, but he was able to have a very light conversation with us.  I told L "look, it's the pilot, can you say hello?"  She looked awestruck and got super bashful, not saying anything to him.  I prompted her "L, this is the pilot, what do you say to him?"  She then squeezed one eye shut, looked right at him, and went "ARRRR!"  Apparently, she thought I said pirate instead of pilot.  Oh dear.  I was dying laughing, and once Mom translated what happened to the pilot, and he started laughing too.  Oh what a moment!
2.  My uncle (that lives with my grandmother) is completely cut off from the rest of the world.  With the economy the way it is, his factory isn't running anymore.  He spends all day doing stuff around the house and "taking care" of my grandmother.  I say taking care in quotations because he basically sticks her in a room by herself, ignores her requests or conversational attempts with him, and feeds her.  It's really sad to watch.  I'm glad that my aunt lives nearby to come by and check up on her, and that she goes to senior daycare, because otherwise she'd be cut off from humanity as well.  My uncle doesn't have any friends that he spends time with, has Internet but never uses it, doesn't get the newspaper, and just turns on the TV for background noise.  To be honest, he really doesn't know what's going on in the world, the country, or even his own backyard.  Sad.
3.  My grandmother's house has a landline and that's it.  No cell phone.  No Internet.  No cable TV.  Nothing.  It's so very backwards from the very-connected Japanese society as a whole.  It makes me wonder if it's just the younger generation that is that connected.
4.  We had two earthquakes while we were there:  Wednesday night (6.1) and Friday morning (5.2).  I slept through the 6.1 (at 9pm, lol!), but woke up for the 5.2 (3:30am).  It felt like someone was making the floor vibrate and everything in the house was rattling.  I think I said previously that it sounded like a large train was going by right outside, and it did.  Kind of disconcerting.  Also, Japan has this awesome earthquake/tsunami alert system that the US should adopt:  it basically cuts into every TV, radio, and cell phone in the area to be affected and tells them what happened, approximately when it will hit, and what people should do to evacuate/get ready.  It's one of the reasons why so many people were able to evacuate the Sendai/Fukushima area prior to the March 2011 tsunami (though 20,000 people still died, it could have been much much worse). 
5.  The childrens' shows were hilarious.  They broadcast in 15-minute increments (perfect!), and one that L and E loved involved a Barney-esque show that featured chairs.  Yes, chairs.  It was bizarre.  There was also a show done in very simple English to teach little ones English.  I joked to my mom that this must be where washed-out American actors went to get work, because it was all Americans featured on the show showing the children how to do things in English.
6.  SUMO!  There was a tournament going on while we were there, so every afternoon we go to watch the tournament on TV.  I love me some fat men pushing each other around in a circle.
7.  The toilet seat was heated at my grandmother's house.  When it's 50F in the house, it is a very welcome comfort.  :)
8.  There are no street signs on side streets.  Apparently you're just supposed to know what street you're on.  It amazes me that the mail ever gets delivered knowing this.
9.  The bakery down the street was AMAZING.  The chocolate croissants alone are worth returning to Japan for.  I haven't found chocolate croissants in any American bakeries I've visited!  They also used whole cream, real fruit, and everything had a slight taste of fresh butter to it.  So.  Freaking.  Good.
10.  Japanese porta potties are amazingly better than their American counterparts.  I mean, where else do you find stainless steel, plumbed, sinks, and towels to dry your hands?!??

Porta potty!

Japan trip, Part 3

Our last full day in Japan.  I spent a lot of the day collecting our stuff from all over the house to make sure it made it into our suitcase.  L and E spent most of the day playing with all the things I was trying to put in the suitcase, making it a real case study in futility.  I gave up after awhile and just took the girls to the playground.  However, it was ice cold outside and super windy, so playing at the playground was another lesson in futility!  The girls enjoyed the bit of time we did get there, and L was super excited that some other girls were there (6-7 years old) but they weren't interested in playing with L (poor kid).

L on the slide in the cold windy playground

E swinging with her Obaasan

That night, I woke up at about 3:30am from Mom telling me to move my feet.  What?  What the hell for?!??  Then I felt the earthquake and heard everything in the house rattling around.  I moved my feet away from the bookcase and just lay there thinking wow, my first big earthquake!  It went away soon enough, but the rattling reminded me of a train going by right outside.  In the morning, the news said it was a 6.1 earthquake that struck just off the coast of Chiba/Tokyo.  Wow!  There was even a tsunami warning along the coast, but it was only a 10cm tsunami when it actually hit.  Nothing like the one from March 2011 that struck the coast. 

Friday morning was spent getting together last minute stuff, talking to my grandmother, playing for the girls, and then heading out.  My grandmother made me cry - she very frankly said "I know I'm not going to see you again, but please stay well and take care of your girls.  You've made me so happy just letting me meet my great-grandchildren."  Wow.  Tears!  We went off to the bus station, rode the 2.5 hours to the airport, hung out there for a few hours, ate dinner, caught our flight to LA, watched the girls sleep most of the way (thankfully!), went through customs in LA and caught our flight to Tucson, and CAME HOME TO DADDY!!!!  L saw him at the airport and went running for him screaming "Daddy Daddy Daddy!"  So sweet.  He was so happy to see all of us (even my mom), and took us home.  HOME.  THANK GOODNESS.  Got the girls taken care of, ate dinner, bathed them, put them to bed, took care of a few things on my end, and went to bed myself. 

L playing at the airport

E eating dinner at the airport

Going home!!!!

It was a great trip but even today I'm still recovering.  Can't sleep well yet, and that sucks.  It's good to be home!

Oops

I had meant to do part 3 today of our trip but life got in the way.  Not only did we have the ducts in the house cleaned today, I also made a cover for the dog door (it is SO drafty), organized some stuff for the music evaluation program, and took care of two kids that are still recovering from their trip abroad.  Oy.  I'll continue tomorrow, I promise.

Japan trip, Part 2

Tuesday was the first day the girls kept their normal schedule.  We were in dire need of finding some foods that L would eat without issue, so we decided to go to the grocery store.  First, though, we had to see off Great Obaasan as she was going to her daycare for the day.  In Japan, they have this awesome program where you can take seniors to a "daycare" for the day to be cared for while you work.  She goes twice a week from 9am-4pm and gets entertained, can take classes (i.e. painting, origami, history, etc.), is given a very thorough bath (great for her because she can't do it very well anymore), and fed very well.  Anyway, she left and we walked the half mile to the grocery store.  Along the way, we stopped at the playground again, played for a bit, went to my aunt's (by the playground) to clean up, and then headed down to the store.  My mother doesn't understand that when there is a one-lane road and a car is coming, you should probably get out of the road.  But no, she stayed right where she was in the middle of the road, only moving off to the side when I asked her to get out of the vehicle's way because my daughter was walking with her too.  Argh.  Thankfully, we made it to the grocery store (Ozam) and back without issue.  Picked up food, got souvenirs (thank goodness for the 100 yen stand!), paid, and walked back.

E playing at the playground.

L getting into the child seat on the shopping cart.

L "mastered" chopsticks!

At night, though, E kept waking up at 3:30am everyday.  Drove me nuts.  I have a feeling that she probably does this here at home too, but since she's in her own room in her crib, she just plays by herself for a bit and then goes back to sleep until around 6am.  However, with me there, she felt the need to shove her claw-like nails into my nose, mouth, and ears to get me to wake up and play with her.  Do you know how hard it is to hold down a 14-month-old child in the middle of the night so that she doesn't get up and wander away, be quiet while everyone is sleeping in the same room, and keep her happy?  It's exhausting.  Not only was she kicking off the covers (in a 40F room!) and I was trying to keep them on, but she wouldn't go back to sleep.  The first night it was two hours I held her down.  The second was 45 minutes.  The third night she nursed and went right back to sleep (yay!), but after that she would be up for at least 30 minutes before going back to sleep.  All I can say is:  thank goodness I hadn't weaned her yet!!!!!

Wednesday we had lunch at my aunt and uncle's restaurant.  Boy, talk about delicious!  My uncle was a professional chef at a restaurant in Tokyo until he retired about 8 years ago, so they built the mini restaurant connected to their house so he could continue cooking (FYI:  a lot of small businesses in Japan are run out of the house or connected to the house - you see it everywhere, and it's very common).  The food was absolutely fantastic, the restaurant section seemed very well put together, and I was so glad that we were able to go.

Lunch!!!!

L, me, and E at our table in the restaurant.

My uncle, his wife, and my young cousin all came back that afternoon to see us again.  This time they came bearing gifts:  a doll for L and a stuffed Hello Kitty for E.  L was so happy, she played with my cousin Tenei for a long time.  Tenei even played with E this time, and E was thrilled.

E, elated to be able to "dance" with L and Tenei.

Bathing the girls was a trip:  Japanese don't take baths like you or I do.  Instead they have a deep deep tub and a tiled area all in the "bath" area.  You soak yourself in the broiling hot water in the tub, get out, wash and rinse yourself in the tiled area (using water from the tub that you dish out for yourself), get back in at the end as a quick rinse, and you're done.  That way, multiple people can use the tub without having to drain and refill it.  Both of the girls flipped out at how hot the water was (even for me, Miss Hotter-Is-Better), and then they shivered while I scrubbed them.  I am willing to say they didn't get good wash downs while we were there because I was in a hurry to get them warm again, so it was kind of a dip-scrub-dry-throw-into-clothes technique that we adopted.  Thank goodness neither of them cried after the first time.

Thursday and our trip home tomorrow!

Japan trip, Part 1

I guess starting at the beginning of our trip would be the best way to start, right?  I couldn't sleep Thursday night (8th/9th), so I was actually up at 2:45am before my 3:30am alarm.  YAY.  That meant it was 7pm on Friday in Japan, my destination.  We got the girls up at 4am and were out the door by 4:30am to catch our 7am flight.  The guy at the ticket counter was really nice and even got my husband a pass to go to the gate with us.

Daddy saying bye-bye to his girls for a week.

We got on our flight to San Francisco, and that's where the biggest fireworks of our entire trip happened.  My mom and I don't see eye to eye on many things, plus her hearing is going and she doesn't feel the need to talk about things, so she told me "oh, my brother is picking us up with the car at the bus station when we get there."  Um, what?  We specifically didn't bring the car seats because we were going to take buses the whole way.  We can take buses the whole way, thankfully.  Her answer?  "I didn't want to have to carry around those big car seats, they're a pain."  So, my daughters' safety is a pain in your ass?  You didn't bother to tell me these plans until it was TOO LATE TO DO ANYTHING because it was a "pain in your ass?"  I really didn't care that it was 7am and we were on a plane full of people, I screamed at her for a good five minutes at her idiocy, how we would NOT be riding in a car (guess what, Japan has car seat laws too!), and who the hell gave her the right to withhold this information from me until now and decide what was safe for my children???  She was pissed and embarrassed, I'm sure, and when we got to SF, told me that she was leaving me there and catching a flight back to Columbus.  Fine, go, you're being a total bitch and I don't need you.  The only thing that convinced her to stay was L bursting into tears because we were fighting and saying "Don't go!  I neeeeeed you!"  Ugh, drama.

L & E playing at SFO while Mommy and Obaasan duke it out.

Our flight to Tokyo sucked.  E refused to sleep in the bassinet the airline provided and didn't want anyone but me, which resulted in me basically holding her for the 11.5-hour flight.  That was horrible.  L didn't want to eat anything but was starving (damn toddler pickiness!) and only slept for a few hours the entire time.  My mom tried to ignore both of the children so she could watch TV (one damned addiction she's picked up from my dad that drives me literally insane), so both girls were crying/screaming for quite a bit of the flight.  The stewardesses tried to help by bringing toys and offering to hold the girls, but they just wanted Mama Mama Mama.  Just shoot me now.

Upon landing in Tokyo, we got our luggage, went through Customs, got bus tickets to Hachioji, pottied, and rode the bus for 2.5 hours to the other side of Tokyo (Hachioji is on the western side of Tokyo).  It was raining and cold.  YAY.  We arrived at the bus station and, of course, Mom had lied to me again:  she said she needed to call her brother to get him to pick us up, but since I had blown a gasket, she wouldn't call him to pick us up and we'd take the bus.  No, she had called him from the airport (while I was in the bathroom with the girls) and he was waiting for us at the bus station with the car.  WTF could I do?  By the time I figured out what to say in Japanese to him, he'd already loaded the luggage and Mom was pushing us into the car.  So pissed.  Went to my grandmother's house, unloaded, got the girls fed, and then went to bed in the coldest room in the world (between 40-45F nightly).  It was after 8pm Japan time, so I'd been up for well over 24 hours.  I just wanted to murder my mom and put E in a box somewhere so I could stop holding her.

Sunday (with the time change, we arrived on Saturday afternoon) was quiet.  We stayed at the house so that the girls could recover.  Mom went to the grocery store to get food for the girls, and we hung out in the only (tiny) room in the house that was heated.  L fell in love with my uncle and played with him tons and tons while she was awake.  She fell asleep around 1pm for a nap and didn't wake up.  I kept telling my mom that I needed to wake her up after a few hours (around 3-4pm) so she'd sleep that night, but she insisted that I should let her sleep, she'll wake up on her own, and then she'll still sleep through the night.  Still sleep deprived, I let it go.  L slept from 1pm-12am.  At midnight, she was up and ready to go, hungry, and loud.  Mom was pissed off - I remember her yelling at L to go back to sleep, she was too tired to deal with her (even though she'd told me she'd take care of her if she got up), and then she eventually got her food to eat (E wanted some too).  I think L basically lay awake most of the night afraid to move or talk because of my mom.  She was asleep when E got up around 3:30am (up for the day, lol!), but not for long.  I eventually took the girls out to the heated room by 4am so that they wouldn't wake up my grandmother or uncle, but I was just super disappointed that my mom was being so mean and cranky with the girls when she had promised certain things to them and me.  Granted, she did all the housework and prep of stuff for the girls and I while we were there, for which I'm grateful, but she was a total bitch to me most of the time and wanted the girls to basically be "seen, not heard."  It was so frustrating.

L playing with my uncle.

Monday was better.  We actually got out of the house for awhile and that helped.  We went to the cemetery to visit my grandfather's grave, got to take a nice long walk, and went to the playground.  Keeping ourselves busy definitely helped, and L went to bed at a much more decent hour (4:30pm, lol!).

Me with L & E on a rickety bridge to the cemetery.

The cemetery where my Japanese family rests.

E sleeping in our futon arrangement, in the cold cold room.

More tomorrow!

HOME. YAY!

Well, we're home.  We got back to the house here at around 3:30pm yesterday and I've been relishing having all my own things again.  First thing I did was brush my teeth!  Amazing how good it feels to have your normal toothbrush again (I had a travel brush, and I forgot my toothpaste so I had been using kids' toothpaste all week, lol!).  Showered, scrubbed myself squeaky clean, put on clean non-travel-smelling clothes, and relaxed in my own room.  I didn't sleep as much as I wanted to last night (6-7 hours), but I did get another nap this morning.  The girls, however, slept great last night and through their naps this afternoon.  I'll update with details from our trip starting tomorrow, but I just wanted to say:  hi, blog, I'm back!

Japan trip - Day 8

WE'RE FLYING HOME TODAY! 

1.  Leave my grandmother's house, walk to bus stop.
2.  Board bus, go to main bus station.
3.  Board bus to airport.
4.  Arrive airport, check in for flights.
5.  Fly from Tokyo to Los Angeles.  Leave Tokyo at 5pm on Friday, arrive in LA at 10am on Friday.  Bzuh?  Oh, you time zones you...
6.  Go through Customs, fly from LA to Tucson.
7.  Find Husband/Daddy, give lots of hugs and kisses (my mom too!).
8.  Drive home.
9.  COLLAPSE.

I cannot WAIT to be home again!!!!

Japan trip - Day 7

Last full day in Japan at my grandmother's house.

Do you ever think about what things will be like the next time you get to come there again?  I remember making a time line of my life for a class in high school where we had to map out our life until we died.  On mine, I put that I would travel the world when I was in my 20s and then do it again after I retired.  I still think that's what I'll do, since I've been able to do so much traveling before I got married.  One place I remember in particular is visiting the Trevi Fountain in Rome.  As the tale goes, if you toss a coin into the fountain, you'll be able to come back again someday.  The coin is literally littered with thousands of coins (the Italians must have to clean it out all the time!).  Anyway, I was 20 when I went there and tossed in a coin.  I remember looking really hard at the entire place around me and wondering what it would be like when I came back again in the future.  Would it still be just as crowded?  Would it still feel so light and beautiful?  Would the water be just as brightly colored?  How would the statues age?  I really do want to go back and see it again someday.

I can't imagine what it would be like to come back to Japan again someday.  By the time I come back again, I know that my grandmother will be gone.  My aunt and uncles will have their lives, and my cousins will too, and there really won't be anyone to come back and visit, stay with, and experience things with again.  The city has changed an incredible amount since I started coming as a child - it's not the same place I remember from my childhood.  I wonder if my mom feels the same way when she looks at the place now versus when she was a child.  It truly makes me wonder if I'll ever come back, which is so sad to me.  I love this place.  It's a part of me and has been since before I was even born.  It's almost bittersweet to prepare to say good bye to a place that has held so many wonderful, new, and sweet memories.  It makes me incredibly happy that I've been able to bring the girls here with me to see and experience some of these things, and I hope that L will remember some of it long after we've gone (E probably won't, but I know that already).  It's like a second home to me, and I'll always be grateful to my grandparents and the rest of the family for being able to do that for us.

Time to pack.  Off to America we go.

Japan trip - Day 6

On my dad's side of the family, I have six cousins:  Jenny, Melanie, Jeremy, Patrick, Ginger, and Billie.  We're not close at all - in fact, I can't recall the last time I saw any of them or spoke with them.  Jenny, the oldest, is 41.  My brother is the youngest at 30.  So, there's about 11 years between all of us.

On my mother's side of the family, I have three cousins:  Koichiro, Daihuchi, and Tenei (all boys).  Koichiro is 30, Daihuchi is 21, and Tenei is 6 or 7 (I can't remember).  I've never met T and I'm hoping that I get to this trip.  K and D are brothers (different dads), sons of Mom's sister, and Tenei is the son of my Mom's youngest brother, the priest.  K actually came to my wedding in 2005 and has since gotten engaged to a girl.  I hope I get to meet her too!  I'm the oldest and only girl, at 31.  T is the youngest at 6.  There are 25 years between us.  I find it amusing that T and my daughter L only have three years between them in age but are completely different generations in the family.  Well, not that amusing I guess - my dad has two half siblings that are younger than me!

What about you?  How did things work out with your cousins, especially age-wise?

Japan trip - Day 5

I hate flying in planes.  9 times out of 10 I get air sick.  It's humiliating and awful.  When my husband and I went on our honeymoon, I was so excited and thrilled that we were actually getting away (we went in December but got married the previous May) that I told myself I would not get sick.  I promptly got violently ill as we landed at our destination.  So much for that.  When I get on planes now, the first thing I do is find the air sickness bag(s) in the seat in front of me.  Gotta be prepared! 

It's always landings that get me.  I think it's the whole descent-from-really-high-up thing that gets me.  When I was little and we'd fly to Japan, I'd always try not to look out the window to help myself.  Sometimes that worked, sometimes it didn't.  I finally discovered (in college) that shorter flights helped a lot, and it was the motion of descending that made me sick, not the actual looking out the window.  Luckily, that meant I could go back to a window seat!  However, when traveling overseas, you can't really take short two-hour flights to get there.  A flight to Japan takes anywhere from 12-16 hours from America.  12-16 hours on a plane, filled with people, getting weird smells from plane food, at 40K+ feet.  Nice.  Dramamine helps some, but it makes me so sleepy. 

If you think of me today, please cross your fingers that A) I didn't get sick going to Japan, B) I don't get sick coming back, and C) neither of the girls inherited my air sickness.

Japan trip - Day 4

My grandparents' house is small.  It sits on a plot of land between the old house that my mom grew up in and the small textile factory my uncle runs.  There's a bit of yard (rare for over there!) that wraps around the house, providing the perfect place for my brother and I to run bikes around when we were little.  The mailbox is attached to a tree near the entrance, and it always entranced me to watch for the motorcycle the mailman and newspaper man rode when they delivered to that mailbox.  All the windows on the south side of the house are sliding glass doors that you could leave wide open in the summer for ventilation.  The giant room inside the house could be divided in two by partition doors.  The bathroom always annoyed me, as there was a toilet room and then the sink/bath room.  You'd have to potty in one room, and then go to the next room to wash your hands.  Ugh!  The bathtub rocks though - you could sit in it and have the water up to your neck!  The only bad part of that room is the windows that point directly into the neighbor's living room.  Hee hee hee.  The kitchen is infinitely small, but from the table there's a great view of the stoplight on the street out the window!  All my grandfather's tools and machines for his rice fields were kept around the property in the back, and the washing machine stood right at the back door facing towards those things.  I honestly don't know how we managed to have six people living in that house for a month on end in the summer but we did!  Good times.

Japan trip - Day 3

In Japan, cemeteries are divided up by families.  When you see a certain plot with a bunch of headstones around it, you know that that is all one family.  There are many, many generations put together there.  I remember Mom telling me that one huge section we saw had about seven generations buried there.  Family is important, as well as lineage and staying true to family status, which is reflected in the cemeteries.

Mom's family has an area in the cemetery far from where the entrance and temple/funeral home are.  The entire area is set on a gently sloping area with many, many plots.  Her family's plot is on the hill, near the top, with a great view of the entire area from it.  There are quite a few people buried there (I say buried but in reality everyone is cremated), and I always loved hearing the stories of who was there and what they did.  Since it's my grandfather's side that is buried there, it's a lot of stories regarding their farming family.  My grandfather's brother is buried there, and his headstone is the size of a monolith.  Seriously.  If I had to estimate the size, I'd say 10 feet wide and 12 feet tall.  Why so huge?  Well, I guess he was considered a hero:  he was a pilot for the Japanese Army during World War II.  He died two weeks before Pearl Harbor in a training run (it was foggy, he ran into someone coming down while he was going up) for the Pearl Harbor mission.  I'm sure he would have been in Hawai'i that day, had he not perished beforehand.  So, hero to the Japanese.  My mom's cousin's wife is there - Kazio, who died in 1990 from a brain tumor.  Such a warm, wonderful woman.  I can still remember having breakfast in her kitchen many mornings and her being just bright and cheerful as can be.  Now, my grandfather is there.  Not only did he live to be 96, he did so much - he was a cook in the Japanese Army during World War II in China, married a woman far above his farming family's class (my grandmother's family come from shoguns, but there weren't a whole lot of men left after the war, so my grandfather had his choice!), raised four children, worked as both a farmer and in a textile factory, had five grandchildren (I'm the only girl!), and two great-grandchildren.  I miss him, but I'm so glad I'll be able to see him.

To me, cemeteries have always been happy places to go and see those that have passed.  I'm hoping that today I'll be able to go and see my Ojiisan, as well as the rest of the family, and say hello again.

Japan trip - Day 2

If you can't tell, I wrote these posts in advance of our trip.  So, I'll have actual information from our trip upon our return to the USA.

The last time I was in Japan was after I graduated from college.  It was May-June 2002, and I stayed for about three weeks with my grandparents (my grandfather was still living).  It was great being able to help them around the house, see family, and have a solid block of uninterrupted time to make my way through Lord of the Rings (first time I read it).  The traveling by myself was fine - I can't remember if it was going or coming back, but I sat by a Chinese lady who didn't speak English or Japanese.  The only thing I knew in Chinese was hello (nihou), and so I said that to her.  She launched into this long speech in Chinese (she must have been a gossiper!), to which I had to just shrug and say "I'm sorry, I don't speak Chinese."  Poor lady.  She kept talking to me occasionally throughout the flight but to no avail.  In any case, I also spent some time in Yokohama with one of my mom's cousins and her family.  It was so fun!  I'm hoping that I'll get to see them again this week.  I had a great time visiting, but at the end of the time, I remember almost being in tears as I left because I was afraid that I'd never see my grandparents alive again.  They were 87 and 81 at the time.  I was half right - my grandfather passed away in August 2011, but I'm so grateful that I'll get to see my grandmother again.

I'm most looking forward to seeing family, visiting my aunt and uncle's restaurant (new since the last time I was there), visiting my mom's cousin's son's ramen shop (yum!), seeing my grandfather's rice paddy with the girls (many happy memories of catching tadpoles there in the summers), and being back in a place that holds so many good memories for me.  It will probably be the last time I get to go there, so I plan to make the most of my time there!

Japan trip - Day 1

If you're reading this post, kudos to you for coming over to my blog when I haven't posted it on Facebook!  Today is the day - today, I leave for Japan with my mom and two daughters.  We leave Tucson at 7am, fly to San Francisco (I'm excited about this as I've never actually been there - I know I won't see anything, but still!), and then on to Tokyo.  The 12-hour flight from San Fran to Tokyo scares the crap out of me, but the 3-hour bus ride afterwards to the city my mom's family lives in scares me equally so.  And then the ride on the city bus!  Excited!  Not.  So, I'm getting up at about 3:30am MST on Friday.  I'll probably arrive at my grandmother's house around 3:00am MST on Saturday.  That's going to be lovely.  I sure hope the girls (and my mom) let me sleep on the flight.

So, if you're thinking about me today, wish us well on our travels!

My Mom

My mom arrived yesterday to travel with us to Japan tomorrow.  L screamed and attacked her in the airport when she saw her, which was hysterical and touching at the same time.  E keeps crying every time she's left alone with her, but I think it's just because she's unsure of who she is and what she's doing here.  L threw a fit last night at bath time because she didn't want anything to do with Daddy and wanted Obaasan (Mom) to do everything.  This morning, when both girls got up, they both hopped in bed with Mom and were so happy.  It's nice to see them having such a good time with her, and I know she's enjoying it too.  I can't wait to take them to meet Mom's mom, my grandmother, and their great-grandmother!

Mom, E, and L (3-8-2012)

Crockpot

I love crockpot meals, but we don't do them enough.  Tonight, since Mom is arriving, I'm putting together chicken and sausage gumbo.  We've done it before and it's fabulous; plus, since there's no seafood in the gumbo, I won't die!  Double good!  But, the prep work drives me crazy.  It took me over a hour last night to chop everything up, and then another 30 minutes this morning to make a roux and then throw it all together in the crock pot.  I need to A) find a faster way to chop, B) make crockpot meals more often, and C) not panic when my mom shows up.

We'll see how it goes.  Also, maybe I should start packing since we leave on Friday...

Oh, barf, how I love thee...

L barfed last night.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day (I know you can't hear my sarcasm here, but believe me, it's bleeding through).  Not only did E scream at me for two hours in the afternoon and then refuse her dinner (and then screamed more afterwards), L kept dragging the laundry to different corners of the house to "sleep" on, causing me to keep gathering it up before I could wash it.  ARGH.  Then, L made faces all through dinner that she didn't want her food, but our policy is you eat everything on your plate.  She did, but it took her 45 minutes.  Then, my husband took her upstairs and she promptly vomited everything up on her letter/number mat.  If you don't know what those are, here's an example.  If you do know what they are, you understand that the mat comes apart and there are a million little corners and edges that things can seep into.  So, while the husband cleaned up both girls (don't ask me how E got it on her too) in the tub, I got to use Lysol wipes and wipe down every.  f*ing. piece. of that stupid mat to clean and disinfect it.  JOY.  Then, the husband basically thrusts her barfed-on clothing (and his) at me.  Thanks.  It's good to know that, in the chain of everything in this household, my duties are on par with barf.  I'm just as good as barf.  Barf and I should mate.  ...  After getting everything cleaned up and tossed in the wash (my sixth load of the day), my brother called to chat.  No problem, it's very nice when he does that, but the phone died on me.  Not once, but TWICE.  Two different f*ing phones in the house die on me while I tried to talk to him.  Just...OKAY UNIVERSE, DO YOU JUST WANT ME TO CRY UNCLE?!???  YOU WIN, PLEASE JUST STOP WITH ALL THE CRAP.

I'm sincerely hoping today is a better day.  No barf please.

Presenting...me?!??

As you know, I've agreed to play on the faculty recital at the end of the month with the rest of the piano faculty.  Yay.  Speaking of, I should practice...but I digress.  So, there's one thing I have to do professionally that I haven't done in ages.  Joy.

As of Saturday, I also will be co-presenting at the state music teachers conference in June.  Huh what?!?  Well, as the story unfolded, the entire committee sat in silence while not looking at the president when she announced we had a time slot at the conference and who would like to present?  Finally, the one lady that had presented last year said she could do a reprise of what she did then, but it wouldn't be anything fancy or new.  Me, with my big mouth, asked "well, what if you do your information session for half the time, and someone else did a presentation on a related topic for the rest of the time?"  And she lit up and said "oh, that'd be great if you did that!"  And, of course, everyone else there quickly agreed.  Cornered.  Damn.  Oh well, it could be fun.  I've already been talking to the other lady and we've got a few ideas we're kicking around.  I'm going to email the committee again and see if anyone has other ideas; if not, we're going to go with one of the two we've come up with.

The last time I presented to a large group at a meeting/conference setting was 2004.  This will be rough getting back to the point I feel comfortable enough on any topic...

So, if you're in Phoenix on June 1st, come see us!  I'll post more information later. 

Late nights

Yesterday, I got up at 5:45am and went to bed at 12am.  I haven't been up like that in a loooong time.  Suffice to say, by the time 8pm rolled around, I wanted to go to bed.  I'd driven 250+ miles, attended a meeting, gone to a birthday party, and loaded/unloaded a minivan full of ribbons, plaques, and papers that I got at the meeting.  SUCKED.  However, I was determined to get all the stuff done for the program I'm doing (see my post on juggling 300+ pianists) so I stuck to it.  Got out the proper amounts of various forms for each of 40 teachers (didn't do myself, lol), put them in envelopes, inventoried all the stuff I got, wrote down each teachers different schedule, and put them all together for mailing later today.  Doesn't sound like too much, but when you have 40 different things (no two were the same), it's laborious.  I had to start double-checking everything I was doing by 11pm because my head hurt, I couldn't see straight, and I didn't trust that I was doing the right thing.  There was no way I could do it today because the girls would have made a huge mess of everything I had laid out, so I had to finish last night.  UGH.  Here's hoping I didn't make too many mistakes.  My lovely lovely husband let me sleep an extra hour this morning, and now I'm going to take a short nap.  Let's hope there aren't too many late nights in store for me anytime again soon...

Burgers

The husband and I like burgers.  That being said, there have been a lot of burger joints popping up within the last couple years around Tucson.  You'd think that people would try to vary it but it's just burgers burgers burgers all over the place.  In the five years since we've moved here, the following burger joints have all come to town:  In & Out, Zinburger, Five Guys, Culver's, Freddy's, and probably a few more I just can't think of right now.  Crazy!  In any case, we've tried a burger at all the places and come out with our fair share of places we will and won't go again.  With all the hype at Culver's recently, we tried that and thought they were awful.  Recently, a Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers came to town and it's right on my way home from work.  Stopped there last night and it was AWESOME!  Highly recommended.  The fries are a bit weird but they're not too bad.  In & Out is good but there's always too many people there.  Five Guys - well, I didn't actually have a burger there (GASP) but I will!  So, there's my burger recommendation for anybody in the Tucson area - try Freddy's.  You won't regret it!

Not a lot to say

I've been sitting here for about 15 minutes trying to decide what to write here and I have not a clue.  So, this will be a random post about mostly nothing.

I had a dream last night that the guy I had a crush on when I was an undergrad and I ran into each other at Target (looking for batteries, of all things).  He had a mullet in my dream (BAD LOOK!), and we sat down in the middle of Target to chat.  I remember asking him if the fact that I liked him back then ever sunk in, and he said "well, aren't you glad that I never pursued that now?"  I had to agree, because now we were great friends, and that nothing ever came of my crush.  Still, when I woke up, I decided that A) I needed to email him and tell him DON'T GROW A MULLET, and B) we really aren't as great of friends now as we were in college or my dream.  It happens, I suppose, but I miss how good we were together back then.  I guess the biggest difference is that he's still single and totally focused on music, while I'm married, with a family, and doing music more just because I can and not because I really really want to. 

E wakes up every morning and greets me with a huge smile, big hug, and giant poop.  So glad she's regular.  :p

I wish L could tell the days of the week.  She keeps waking up every morning this week asking me if it's Saturday so that she can go to her cousin's first birthday party.  No, not yet, sweetie.  Thankfully, today, I can tell her that it's tomorrow.  She insists that she's going to help open presents because her cousin A is "too small," so I don't know how to tell her that she's not going to touch one single present (except for the one we give her).

My class enrollment has dwindled from 19 registered students to 11.  Spring semester seems to be the time of year when people pay to attend and then never show up.  Dolts, don't waste your money if you're not going to do it!  At least the students that are there are dedicated.

I have absolutely no energy because it's Friday.  I don't even really get the weekend to recoup because the girls are still demanding on Saturday and Sunday.  However, I'm thankful that the husband is around to help out - that helps a million times over!

That's about it for today.  I've got to start working on posts for the week I'm gone this month, so that way something pops up on here even if I'm not here.  Have a great weekend!

Humor is...

Humor, as a parent, is having your child yell the most obvious things in the world to you.  For example, while out running lately, L feels the need to yell at me not to hit things alongside the road.  "Don't hit cars, Mama!  Don't hit cactus!  Don't hit horse!  Don't hit rock!  Don't hit bush!"  It makes me laugh, a lot, which is hard to do while running because you're out for breath already.  Silly child!