the random-themed blogpost typed up in 7-8 minute intervals....

tomorrow is issei's undokai (sports day) at school and tonight, as i was doing dishes, he asked if i could make some cookies for dessert.

"for tomorrow?"

"well....yeah."

....

.....

(picture me, giving him a "really??" kind of look)

......

.......

"okie, dokie, then....."

and once again, i will prove to my son that i can pull the proverbial rabbit out of a hat....or....

cookies out of the kitchen at a moment's notice.  

(and thank the goddesses above that i accidentally bought too much oatmeal awhile back!)

even as i type....some very yummy smelling oatmeal/chocolate and caramel chip cookies are baking.

hence....the 7-8 minutes.

let the randomness begin.......

so...i turned 50 in april.

remember that.

yeah...i got a bit wigged about it there for a bit, but...meh. it's all good.

i do have a suggestion for those of you who are going to help a friend celebrate a momentous birthday....

tiara.

yep. t-i-a-r-a.

she'll need one.

when i was in the states, my one of my very bestest friends in the whole wide world friend, dena, gave me one to help start the celebrating.

it was very cool.

i'm sure i look even more fetching that what i imagined.

(and yeah...i'm giggling as i'm typing!!)

ANYway.....

fast forward to the party my friends and i had.

it just so happens that one of my friends has the exact same birthday (she's just a little older) and another friend (who is the same age) is the day after.

cool, huh?

so....i went to "that american accessory shop that is in every shopping mall "to see if they had tiaras.

of course, they did.  even in japan.

so i bought two for my friends.....and...yeah...okay...

one more for myself.

(a girl can never have too many tiaras!)

aren't we lovely? 

that's us...and some young'un sneaking into the picture!!

we had a great dinner...much to drink...and then dancing.

 i seriously think that the tiaras might have really 

helped the fun along.

really.

they did.

you need one

(or two!!)

******************

last week was our 'golden week' holiday.

we had monday and then thursday and friday off  and since the k-man only got the last saturday and sunday off from work, we chose those days to do something.

so we took a drive.

we drove to a small island about 3 hours away and it was lovely.

we went to a museum that focused on the dutch trading connection that was around hundreds of years ago....seriously....the original building was built in 1639.

while it wasn't "whoohooo! that really blew up my skirt!" exciting, it was pretty interesting.

the drive was nice.

we went over a cool bridge

and another one to the next island

we climbed a hill (getting a great view of the newly planted rice fields)

and we went to my personal 'power spot'....a kannon, a goddess that has powers of some really good stuff for me...i could just stand in her glory and.....breathe. 

relax.

refresh.

power-up, baby.

it really was a great day.

**************

i just put i the last batch of cookies into the oven.

the recipe said that i could get 48 cookies....

i just counted and there will be 65!!

(not counting the two that i ate fell on the floor!)

booyah!!

**********

and the cookies are done which means that i really need to get to bed.  it'll be a 'regular' day tomorrow, with issei getting up at 6:00.....i'll have to get the bento ready before the rest of us head over to the school, about 9:00.

by the way, this years bento will be a bit different.  instead of being like everyone else (as we usally do...spicy fried chicken, onigiri, various veggies.....), we going to live dangerously and stir things up a bit.

i'm making......*wait for it*.....a french bread sandwich.

i know.

crazy right?

we'll see how it goes.

there will be pictures.

**********

oh...and one more before i go....

hApPy MoThEr'S dAy

to all you moms out there!!

i hope your day is just fabulous.

oh...yeah...by the way...i'm back...you know...in Japan.....

so, it's been brought to my attention that i sort of came back to japan a little over a week ago and i seem to have neglected telling you about this/letting you know what we did/sharing the fun we had.

yeah.

sorry about that.

after the last post, the boys and i were going great guns and our schedule got wicked busy.

(but, wicked in a really great way!)
we went back to denver...met friends and family again...had some great food and some awesome beer....
then flew to seattle to meet more friends
and had some more great food (mmmmm sushi!!)...
even did some sightseeing.
**quack quack quack**
(^-^)
in seattle, we stayed with a friend of mine from university...after we graduated, we kept in touch for a bit
and then we sort of "lost" each other.
thanks to the internet and its wonderful 'social networking system',
we found each other again....after 25 years!
("hi, terri!!")
aaaannnd....the proverbial 'icing on our vacation cake', was the
meeting of three people i have loved and appreciated for many years, here in the blogging world.
yep.....Mrs. G....GinaAgainandAgain...and Bad Mom.
What a great afternoon that was!!!

one of the most interesting and yet, not so surprising (when you really think about it) things was that
meeting Terri after such a long time...meeting face-to-face those blogging Goddesses....seeing my friend Ken, after almost 12 years....and spending time with our good friend Kim, after almost 7 years....
not. one. time. did it feel, i don't know, uncomfortable.
you know?
like sometimes when you meet up with someone you haven't seen for awhile, the first few moments are weird.
sort of like , "so....hmmmm...how are you?"
and you're looking at the clock, praying to the 'powers that be' that time would hurry up.
yeah...
that didn't happen....not one time.
even with the friends meeting for the very first time.
THAT....was awesome.


so....to borrow an idea from yet another blogging sistah
(at whose house i do plan on camping out at someday in the near future...count on it!!),
i'm going to do a bit of a
'photo dump' of pictures taken during the last of our trip.
(or was it 'picture purge'? i forget which one she used....)
in order for me to be really lazy to save time, there will be no explanations....if you have a question,
please, ask and i'll try to give you an answer!!!
mahalo, on that.
so...here we go....

~~~southeastern colorado~~~

*no, that's not a real knife...just dorky, yet very lovable, nephew!  

~~denver~~

~~seattle~~

*and, yes...that would be heidi...and jenn...and janet...on sticks...'cause we love 'em*

the other day in class, i was explaining to my students that, when they go on trips overseas, they go to see things...to
visit popular touristy/full of history kind of sites.
me?
i go to see people.
i love my people.
(^-^)
if we happen to do some sightseeing, then that is just
extra special something-to-do with friends.

and yeah...that last picture?
totally an album cover.
you know...if i ever have an album.

have a super week, everyone.
it's monday morning here and the sun is shining and it looks to be a
most
superb kind of day.
hope yours is, too.
you know....superb-like!!

a vacation that was definitely needed......

you know, when there comes a time in your life, when you know....

you just know...

in your heart of hearts....

that if something really good doesn't happen soon....things might get ugly?

well....for awhile, i was feeling the stirrings of this thought.....i wasn't even sure what it was i needed and.....i wasn't 100% sure that a trip to the States was that something but...you know what?

it was.

the boys and i took a big plane across (as my cousin will say) "the big pond" on march 16.

do you know that from the nagasaki airport....to the denver airport...

it takes almost exactly....24 hours.

that's right.

twenty. four. hours.

but....for once...(and i am knocking on wood as i type...) there were no troubles...no

lost luggage...no missed planes...no nothing!!!

it was great!!!

we get to denver and our incredibly wonderful friend dena meets us there and from then on...

oh yeah.

gooooood.

we had some baseball, where the boys sat and did what every young people who don't really like baseball spectators do....

eat sunflower seeds.
...oh yeah...we do so love our sunflower seeds!!!

we met friends....from home, from university, one (of the very best) that we met in nagasaki...some we hadn't seen in a very long time...and some we were meeting for the very first time.
it was great.

then....with family, we drove south....to meet with more family...
aunts, uncles, cousins and cousins' kids and even a boyfriend.
we had good food....and there was even a cake among all the other goodies....

an uncle:  "so....did you see the cake?"
me:  "why yes i did, but really? i'm going to ignore it for a bit longer."
(^-^)

i guess you could say that this was the unofficial start to the
"oh my freakin Lord....i'm turning 50!" denial-a-rama festivities.
i guess.
(the cake WAS good!!)

the family....

i know i'm a bit partial to this particular group of people, but...
we are a very nice family.
really.
we are.

then....another car ride, even further south and east in this beautiful state.
to home.
to my mom.
and my brother and his wife and their kids.
and....my friends.

and speaking of friends...last night, some of them were kind enough (cough, cough) to invite me to their weekly "poker night"....no, we didn't play poker, but we did have some awesome margarita jello shots and, in case those weren't enough, we also had margaritas.
it was such fun.
the talking.....the laughter....the singing of karaoke.
oh yeah.
turning 50 won't be so bad if the celebrations are anything like this!!!
thank you ladies....my face still hurts from laughing!!!

coming home in the winter/early spring is very different from coming home in the summer.
yes, the time is shorter, but...the things we do are even a bit different.
koji went to school today with his cousin, who is also a 3rd grader.
issei will go on monday with another cousin, who is also an 8th grader.
(isn't that cool?)
i went to the 3rd grade class and took some things in for the students...anyone else familiar with the "flat stanley" story in the 3rd grader reading books?  i figure that i have done this project about 15 times....and just for the record...i'm hoping it was the last! oh, i know, it's fun and the kids like it, but really?
i'm tired.
i need a break.
'nuf said.

tonight....we took a bus to a town just to the north of here and played bingo.
yes. bingo.
though a bit pricey when purchasing cards and daubers and food for three....it was still very fun.
the proceeds to a few of the games went to the high school's 'after prom party' that the parents do for the kids.  they plan a great evening for the kids....great prizes for them and lots of things to do.
i don't mind donating money to something like that.
(and no, only the youngest cousin won something and he had to share the $50 pot with 2 others...he was still pretty damn happy.)

and so....that brings us to thursday night....and time to call it a day.
tomorrow koji is going to some 4-H thing with his cousin...there will be cooking and robot making and...not really sure what else is happening, but...i'm sure it will be fun.
issei will be doing something...still not sure what, but he will be busy, too.
tomorrow night is drinks and friends again...a haircut (before the drinks, thank you, very much) for me...here at mom's house. saturday, mom and i and the boys will go to watch the high-school-nephew run track (while another nephew is playing basketball and yet another one is wrestling...all in the three different places!) and possibly do some shopping!!!

life is good.
i hope that your days are also good
and that you have something that makes you smile....
or even laugh so hard your face hurts.